[Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands Nation indivisible andice for [Music] [Music] all open public meetings law is been acted to ensure the rights of the public to have advanced notice and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the ACT importantly board of education has caused notice this meeting to published on January 11 2024 and posted on the district website at www.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspapers the record and the Star Ledger filed with the cler of the B courtly and mail to all persons if any who have requested said notice please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and may be broadcasted on local TV and online on a future dat the open public meeting act allows to remote participation at board meetings at def meetings at any Gathering [Music] whether thank you or by means of communication equipment which is attended by or open to all of the members of the public body held in the intent and on the part of the members of the board present to discuss or act on a unit upon the specific public business of the body roll call please Mrs buers Kang here miss kbak here miss Curry here Mr Knight here Mrs kotang here Mr Lopez here M Morel here Mr Rino here this is RoR here will be convening to Executive session to discuss legal personal and other confidential matters the board will reconvene into public session at approximately 7:30 p.m. May I have a motion to go into executive session second so it was Miss Curry and so we're now all in favor any opposed we're now in ex e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] [Applause] [Music] the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to Ure the right public to advies which any busting their interest is discuss in accordance with the provisions of the ACT board of education has meeting to be on January 1124 posted on the district website at www.f.com published in the board's designated online media Outlet newspaper the record and Star Ledger F cler of the B of for Le and mails all persons at requested said no please be advised this meeting is being recorded and broadc on loal TV and online at dat the open public meeting act allows for remote participation at board meetings and meeting as any Gathering whether tutorial or by means of communication which is attended by or open to all of the members of the public body the intent members of the body pres to discuss body please Mrs V K miss kbat here miss Curry here Mr Knight here Mrs kotang pres Mr Lopez here M Morel here Mr Rabino here Mrs RoR here the board convened executive session at 6:30 P.M to discuss legal personnel and other confidential matters I was begin Shing there we go good evening and thank you all for attending tonight I'd like to first start off by congratulating Olivia Reed one of our eighth grade students who happens to be the e8th grade North champ in May she will be going to Washington DC so congratulations to Olivia uh I would like to introduce our high school students who will be speaking about what's happening in our high school Alexa Lopez and H so um free fortly students were awarded the distinct honor of national cyber scholar and finalist one scholar and two finalists spring Sports have officially begun and we look forward to all of our student athletes having a very successful season on March 22nd 23rd and 24th our Academy of Theater Arts will be will be performing The Mean Mean Girls please come out and support our [Applause] program on March 14th our junior class ran a very successful basketball game between District faculty and the Harlem Wizards fun was had by all the 11th graders completed the njsla testing last week finally there will be a delayed opening on Wednesday to April 10th for students in 9th 10th and 12th grade the 11th graders will be taking to SATs okay I would like to introduce our school business administrator Miss be presenting an overview of this year's budget actually the 24 25 school year budget thank you I know Jason's going to put up the U presentation so you can go to the next slide please so in order to prepare um the School District budget we always have meetings with the principal supervisors and directors we review all the program propal staffing needs any Capital requests we did the budget through committees also um the finance committee actually met last week on Wednesday to actually go over the 2425 um budget the budget has to be the tenative budget will be adopted tonight because it has to go down to the county office by Wednesday the county has about a month to review the budgets and the actual Public Presentation will be um on May 6 so there's like all timelines that we have to adhere to you go to the next slide Jason so right now we're going to review the revenue sources as you can see the bulk of our budget is made up by tax levy that's um and for 2425 in the general fund we had a 4.41% increase and we also get um pilot money that's a Lo of taxes that's for various I think building projects that occurred in the town instead of getting a regular tax Lev L we also had to use Surplus to help balance the budget as you can see over the last couple of years we've had to use Surplus to balance our budget we are going to be discussing for next year ways to reduce that number because it's very hard to always balance Budget on Surplus extraordinary Aid that is um an application that has to get done every school year and it's money that you get back for special need students depending upon the type of programs that they attend and the type of services they have that determines how much money you go back to the state so we have seen some increases that we were able to increase that Revenue our miscellaneous Revenue in one category went down that's like for rental incomes any like refund of Prior year expenses our interest um Revenue has gone up we've seen a significant increase in our interest Revenue so we were able to um budget for that Revenue transportation fees are the fees that we charge for subscription busing so those fees were able to get budgeted the tuition is we have a preschool program where we have about 32 children who come to the district for Reg reg preschool we also have some other students who come to our district either special needs or regular um programming where the parents actually pay tuition for them or we have the districts that pay tuition we do have a capital uh Reserve withdrawal and I'll be going through that a little bit further on in the um presentation of what we're going to use that for the maintenance uh Reserve withdrawal in our facilities there's a lot of infrastructure items that we need to start addressing so part of the things that I want to start addressing next year really has to start doing with some Plumbing electrical concrete um sewage problems I know I think it was school number four School number three and I believe School number one have had some sewage problems and backup with toilet so we really need to start addressing those um and then the semi- revenue again that has to do with um the special needs population and based on bu um Services they get we can get a money a piece of that back from the federal government then we go down to our grant area Esa Ida State entitlement those are the grants that we get every single year so Esa that's your title one your title two your title three your title four um IA is your individuals disabilities Education Act that is also based on Special Needs students and the state entitlements that all has to do with your non-public so we get money for the non-public schools whether it's chapters 192 193 nonpublic technology non security Aid nonpublic nursing next nonpublic technology and that also goes to the nonpublic schools Christ the teacher is the one that um that the teacher death service is um items that have been voted on in the past and that's the repay the repayment of the de service so I know probably need to do this building here and projects that happen did but that's that's all can you go to the next slide Jay one of the things that we wanted to highlight upon is that we have been seeing an increase in our state aid I mean it's going up slowly but at least we are seeing that number increase instead of it going downward um as you can tell from the previous slide where are the bulk of our revenues come from property tax levy because the total budget you saw about 75 75 million was coming from tax levy and we get um 55,800 th000 from state aid so it be nice if the state could kick in a little more so we could get a little bit of tax relief but unfortunately it's based on formulas and we don't really have much control over that next slide please now to show you the breakdown of where all this money is spent as you can see almost 54 million is spent on your regular and special education program so what does that mean that includes all your regular programming and special education which includes the tuition for out of District placements um um transportation is another area that we're seeing a lot of increases in um just to send a child to an aders placement sometimes depending upon where the location is we can wind up spending like $80,000 for one route alone and if there's no other kids that we can't even um share the cause with another District if another child from another District does not even go into that the district has to bear that that cost completely employee benefits is another area that's very big that makes up 6,480 th000 those um rates keep increasing every year we were told that prescription benefits are going to increase 25% next year regular health insurance is going to be anywhere from 9 to 12% at this point in time is what they're projecting next slide please this is just a quick summation of the Appropriations for the year and that's what your revenues are paying for slide again it's just a comparison from last year to this year and how much more we're spending for regular program special education um out of placement which is out of District to isue you can see that number went up a lot we have a lot more children who are being placed in out of District placements you can also see the transportation the significant increase that also happens as you get more kids who are place and out add dis replacement the transportation costs do increase as I said before the employee benefits amounts did go up next slide please this is tentative when I spoke to Matt at the um the town they don't have the 24 tax rate information yet so this is just based on 2023 tax information but on that average house that's assessed at $478,000 the property tax increase for the year is expected to be $133 eight again this most likely is going to go up because this is BAS on your 2023 tax figures Matt said by the time we have the public hearing I should have the 2024 numbers next slide please um before I mentioned to you that we were going to do an appropriation from capital reserve what we're um appropriating this for is for the high school shop and training program this is a really excellent program that we want to bring in District it's going to teach uh students Plumbing electrical HVAC and um hopefully right build and building maintenance we're hoping some of those special needs students who do go out a district but having a program like that here we bring them back into the district and then maybe we it could even be like a revenue driver where kids from other districts would want to come to our program next slide please some of the uh projects that are currently underway is actually um the Middle School the last part of that building that needs to be air conditioned is the academic Wing we actually just had our pre-bid walk through last Friday and the bid opening is scheduled for April 2nd and we're hoping to have that done over the summer so that comes September I believe now all the buildings will be air conditioned next slide please next slide please so exactly what is all your money going to it's sustaining um all the existing academic programs including the addition of new High School courses andies it supports our gifted and talented your honor courses your IV your AP your academic intervention all contractual obligations you know we have flea and flag so all the contractual obligations there are fulfilled as I said before we have increased costs in special education for at District tuition related um Services Transportation cost supplies it also supports the alignment of the district curriculum to njsls it also provides for professional development opportunities for the staff next slide please what this is is comparing Fort Lee to other districts with our per pupil costs and so you can see we're actually you know not too far off we're kind of like right actually on the lower end of the spectrum compared to all the other districts and what we spend for pupil for the um education next slide please those are all our board members next slide please and any question questions does anybody have any questions on the budget for the board not so much questions thank you Lina may I ask a question on the budget yeah um I just want to appla um for the first time that that presentation is very clear and um it Compares year to year um transportation needs is a Forefront topic for the area where I live near gr 3 there's constant demand for it and I see that there is actually Surplus from that service is there any plan to expand it um to more students I know that many parents have asked even though they live within that two mile radius we're actually in the process of having TR um come in and actually do the assessment of where all the kids live and actually what the distance is so at this point in time until we have all that data for all the students I don't know if we can expand it or if it's going to have to be more like a subscription busing type situation so in the past we presented excuse me we presented this to the finance committee that we discussed one of the things we notice is that um you know we want to make sure all the Mage is correct to all of the students make sure that we utilizing we have nine buses we have nine drivers nine drivers who are busing our students and many times they're doing multiple routes the transfinder which is a program will allow us to analyze each route and determine what what is cost effective and what is not we have multiple routes that we Outsource in South per jointure which is a school district but they also operate programs for districts to help Outsource the busing that's why we use companies like John lacky or first student so with transfinder does an analysis of all of your bus routes both inhouse and out of out of Outsource then we determine what's the best economics moving forward with all of our buses because we also have to take into account the long-term use of our bus there are a lot of our buses who are coming to the life end we are required by State Statute of how long they have um usually they have like a 12 year life and most of them are at the end of their life so we also have to look at the pleet of our buses and see what we can do maybe to get some new vehicles in and maybe some of them are not going to be buses because with some of the routes if they're a little bit smaller maybe we can get some minivans which will actually be more effective also we have like some of these shorter routes so we are looking at busing actively because it is a significant cost for the district and how do we become more cost effective thank you um the projection that were made um I I see that youve made many considerations population growth is the key metrics that I know our district doesn't have any way right now I mean I I haven't seen any reporting or any um any model to try to predict what our student growth is how do we address that as actually when I looked at the Assa report over the like the last four or five years our enrollment has been relatively flat so even though maybe there's more building here I I don't know if that comes with students or if the parents are sending them to a different school but from the Assa report our enrollment has not increased so for example from 2020 to 2021 we've had 4,443 students 21 to 22 we have 4,464 students which was an increase of only 21 2223 school year we had 4,435 which is a drop of about 29 students and this year our in rollment has a recently is 4,139 which is a drop of almost 35 students so even though the overall population may be flagged what we're hearing anecdotally from parents they are bubbles within certain school or certain grade level um how is that addressed so that that's correct there are bubbles and also there's a disparity when you look at the class sizes among Aller K schools so you might have a Kindergarten class with 14 in one building you may have that same Kart class and another building 26 EXC me 24 students so that's all when we start to talk about a long-term strategic plan that we that board should be discussing how do we utilize our resources and make it effective for everyone so there's some apparity among the schools uh you know we have we have P open to all ideas that's something of a concern when we start to talk about that because it's a whole changeing dynamics of how we do things in some cases our programming as well because we are a district where we every school has a specific program regarding special need students and things like that so when we look at all of that that's that's a long longterm project to try to change that but yes there are bubbles on the schools thank you that's the end of the superintendent report thank you do we have any committee reports the policy committee met uh immediately prior to our executive session um I think I could say honestly the sole topic was uh policy 5756 and how it would operate under different scenarios uh regarding school records um student requests to teachers um it's clear that the situation remains very fluid um we were provided with new information um our Administration has met with the owner of Genesis in understanding the the capabilities of our student information system um and then finally um at the urging of community members and board members the idea initially uh originated with Casey Knight um a request has been made to establish an ad hoc committee uh that would include a medical professional School Personnel beo members uh community members parents Etc um to look at the revised policy to look at the original policy to look at the guidance um and see if some common ground and compromise can be reached and that request is with um president reor may I have a motion to open the floor to the public before we do that um can we make comments about today's agenda or do we wait until I'm sorry I skipped over that excuse me TI okay um questions or comments On's agenda or any other topic if I may um good evening thank you president Victor vice president morale um fellow board members Dr kravits Mr buies Miss Baker M meury thank you so much FY parents students teachers neighbors and community members um we have another full house so thank you so much for taking your time to really care about our community and be here um to voice your perspective and and and allow that to be heard um across the Spectrum as some of you may know that I am a longtime resident of fortly and a fortly high school alumna my siblings and nephews are also forley High School alumni my other nephew and children are currently enroll in the district my entire family tree is deeply rooted in forley we're all proud product of the fortly public education and we choose to be here Among Us is a former Financial Service executive a physician a high school science teacher a P body winning producer in short forley public education had elevated many in my family so the following remark I make in my capacity as an alumni a parent a board of education member and a proud community members of forly to say the least the last 13 days have been unprecedented in fortly on March 4th a walk-in resolution was motion and voted in favor by five members for the for first vote to abolish policy 5756 now two voting sessions are required for it to be repealed a walk-in resolution means an item was not on the agenda so board members including policy committee members were not pre previously informed or consult with on this walked in power resolution and that was less than two weeks ago on March 13th a special meeting was requested for a second vote to abolish policy 5756 that's free business day before tonight's schedule meeting in nearly three and a half hour special meeting that cost the district thousands of dollars to recap The public's commentary 39 members of the community appear before the board to plead for a dome repeal and D revise to policy 5756 11 members of the community appear in advocated in favor of appeal one of whom caution against any revision nonetheless a motion was made to table the repeal pending a review of the revision and that was supported by five members of the board and let me repeat a special session was called only to have the motion to be table for followup review on March 16th so this past Sunday we review the revision to 5756 a version was emailed to board members and only to find out this may not be the final version we vote on tonight as committee chair Miss Kath has alluded to um there were various scenario that was discussed in the policy committee and the situation is fluid so we're going to vote on a fluid situation repeat fluid so let me repeat the version of 3319 that is shared with the public may not be the same version we vote on policy 5756 is a significant policy one that took experts years to develop and we still don't have the final draft yet we're supposed to read it digest it without consultation with any expert and so I welcome the earlier invitation to invite a a border community and experts to opine on this and let's be clear again it's only been 13 days to review a policy that's took years to write to abolish or revise policy 5756 in matter of dates despite the plead that we have heard don't repal don't amand that's reckless to repeal and leave our district without any guidance would be irresponsible a revision subject to our a revision would subject our district to increase litigation risk and that's just irrational so I POS two key questions as we ar rush and Usher to another vote how was this revision draft it wasn't draft with a panel of experts as 5756 was there was Educators counselors School psychiatrists Advocates and parents were they one-on-one interviews who conducted them who were invited how were these interviews promoted were their minutes kept in short where is the due diligence so I repeat this policy is supposed to serve the community while also ensuring that there's guideline to our staff and to the district's teachers leaderships to know what to do don't all of our student not just trans transgender students deserve deliberate measure and thoughtful review before changing policies of this rity that affects them I have learned that 3319 were authored through the lenses of maybe two or three board members who are just as unqualified as I am to draft these nuances we just learned today about how our Genesis system some work today at 5:30 it's been 13 days how much time the second question how much time and attention should be afforded to our community to review since it's been table proposed there's been versions and there will continue to be versions so I ask all of us know every word in a document whether it's a deletion or addition changes the intent the effect of a policy and we plead for us to take time to work together we heard the community loud and clear that you want to keep separate record in Genesis I've been confirmed that those are the two concern that we can keep separate records in Genesis and then the application of policy 5756 among Elementary School age kids address regarding to Genesis as I mentioned earlier we've been told tonight at 5:30 that that capability is there regarding the second concern relating to the policy among Elementary School age student there's absolutely nothing mentioned in the revision that would address that so I'm appealing to you parents students friends neighbors to demand a process for a public hearing to create expert panel before board before the board requests for any repal or revision to policy 5756 I'm just simply asking us to think slow down I encourage my fellow board members if you fully understand the relationship between policy 57 56 policy 3319 and the law against discrimination if you if you have one shred of doubt and hesitation if you don't know what the term nonbinary or cisgender means or have uncertainty over the policy and how the policy would expose District to litigation Risk please we affirm 5756 affirming 57 56 allow the district to stay in compliance and offer an opportunity to learn the nuances of policy 5756 in closing president Rector I don't know um if I need a to hit my Jeopardy buzzer first this time can I put forth a motion can I put forth a motion to resend the resolution for the abolishment of policy 5756 and a firm policy um 57 [Applause] 56 because the motion resend was not priorly noticed to the other board members it is subject to a 2/3 vote super majority it's not the normal five vote it is 2/3 so six vote but last time when one bought up as a Walkin why don't we need the 23 because this is a motion to resend the previous uh uh I suppose you it's supposed just to walk on to approval and another resolution maybe better off with it all so I just wanted to just briefly touch on something I don't want to speak a lot but I did want to touch on a few things and one of the things that I wanted to touch on was the Genesis of of 339 the Genesis of 3 I am not qualified to do many things in this life I'm not qualified to fix my car qualified I'm not very good at marriage apparently but one thing that I'm definitely qualified to do is to cross off something that I do not agree with something that is against my problems I am I qualified to do that so I just wanted to address that so and again it's my turn and I appreciate if you could give me a chance to speak thank so that's the Gen the Genesis of of 33:19 is that whole bunch of people showed up a whole bunch of people shared their opinions their life experiences they shared a lot of stuff and we we absorb that we listen to and I had long conversations with people there are people in this room who I show my cell phone I had three-hour conversations with people who will not return my PO call after tonight I can assure you okay I listened I listened to to the children that wrote letters we listened to all that and we came to the conclusion that we needed to keep a lot of these Protections in place for these kids we needed to keep most of them we needed to keep most of them and that's why I took my pen my magical pen which I'm so skilled at using at Crossing off things I don't agree with and I crossed off one section one one section section five for those who are who have in front of them right and and it doesn't discuss record keeping in general our problem with it was that with 5756 if a six-year-old child walks into a classroom and says I want to wear a dress and I want to be called this name right now a file is pretty much at least they are they're going to sit down with a child they're going to figure out a plan they're going to create another set of school records that are the name that the parents can't access I think it's too early at age six or seven or eight to do this that's my personal thing and and it's okay if I get voted out of office it's okay I'll have a lot more free time on my hand to get else but I got to say I got to stand up for what I believe in and I know this is not going to make me popular at all and I don't care I just simply do not care since old children 6-year-old children I have a 7-year-old daughter sitting at my home right now I love her to death anyone in this room knows me knows how much I love her okay my seven-year-old child is not going to walk into and she's not old enough and I'm not okay with her walking into a room and asking for an adult to create a unique set of records that will be completely inaccessible to me without any without any du process whatsoever I think one of the scariest sorry I think one of the scariest things that's happening here is is that while we're trying to take care of the kids we're trying to look out for them we're losing no not yes he is the public will stop it's my turn to speak and you'll have a to speak too and I'll listen just like I had okay um again and and I've kind of lost my Chain of Thought um again what I'm trying to say is for a seven-year-old kid I I don't think it's appropriate for us I don't think it's appropriate for unique set of Records I think if a child walks into school age six seven8 and wants to um wants to dress how they want to dress they should be that decision should be honored should be honored if that kid wants to go to school and and and share their gender identification with their teacher that should be a trusted adult that should be completely private that conversation should never go to the parents and anyone that would insinuate that any of the five of us that voted to make this one slight modification is it is so just in closing in closing no continue I was just going to ask the members of the public please allow Mr M to speak in closing I know this is a super super um important topic and one that we're really passionate about and that's why you know when when Paula just mentioned that during the policy committee they had discussed the possibility of having an ad hoc committee and I support that 100% I would love nothing more than an opportunity to sit across a desk for aming um and and have some of these discussions I would love it and I would love for members of the community to come and I don't think we're in a big rush to do this I agree with you I I don't think we're in a big rush we do need to take our time but I think we need to we need to protect parents too we need to protect kids but we need to also protect people who have done everything in their power to these are the people who are caring for their kids they're the ones that are dropping them off in the morning they're the ones getting them dressed if we're so afraid of these parents how are we sending these kids home to them every night if our parents are so dangerous if our parents are so dangerous we need to take a look at ourselves as a community we really do so I just want to say one last thing I am in full support I am not for the support of the repeal of of uh of this policy prior to having a replacement I'm not I never was I don't want our kids to go one day without the protections of 5756 and until we have something in else in place I certainly hope that I won't be forced tonight to vote one way or the other about it without an opportunity to further discuss it I really hope that you will give us a chance if if you really want to sit down and if you really want to compromise like you say you do and if you really want to come together with members of the community like you say you do then I would suggest voting to uh voting to table the repeal again and creating an ad hoc committee which can explore this further and can do so in a in a in a more relaxed way thank you I can't say anything better you know than what Casey just said I'm obviously in favor given the um the the the comments over the last few meetings um to establish an ad hoc committee and I hope that decision can be made tonight um I do want to comment on a couple of things though um in in Fort Le we we we enjoy we we want to have robust discussion we want civilized um discussion we want thoughtful and respectful discussion um this Saturday as as I think you all know because I was on the zoom and people were criticizing me for being on vacation and calling for a special meeting the special meeting was called long before I left for vacation but because of certain notice requirements our central office couldn't get the notice done in time and so that's why the meeting took place it didn't wasn't asked for while I was on vacation but while I was on vacation one of one or more of you took it upon yourselves to prepare an email signed Fort Lee lgbtq community and you sent that email to the managing partner of my Law Firm the general councel of my law firm and three other partners of mine seeking to have me fired for coming here and speaking publicly at a meeting about my views the email is filled with outrageous lies and for for that your community to try to interfere with someone's livelihood because I volunteer my time I come I do my homework and I have a view that's different from yours is Despicable and we're going to find out who was behind sending this but we don't do this in courtly we come we express our opinions we don't try to get the nine people up here fired and and you know it it talks about some of your facts were wrong but that I'm leading and I'm spearheading this horrible right-wing conspiracy with douc Lopez and Casey Knight and Tanya and it's just outrageous and and and I would hope that this would be the last time you send anyone an email of this sword if I I'm I'm embarrassed to even read it with what was put in it not an ounce of Truth not an ounce of Truth in this all designed to have me fired you know I I have a son in college and it's just absolutely outrageous that that the people that consider thems the fort Le lgbtq Community would send something like this an an anonymous email to my partners so on the policy this process that we've been undergoing while while brutal to some and time consuming and emotional is exactly the way this process is supposed to work you have a policy people want changes they they bring forward the changes there people give comments and so there's while while it's taking more time than any of us would like it's how this process works a school board is charged with two things they set the policy and they hire a superintendent those and Well on our agendas we approve hirings and things of that sort the two primary things that a board does so this policy is important and we are listening to everyone and revisions are being made and suggested in response to your comments and so again I I under the circumstances I mean I'd be very happy to vote tonight and have the five people and and and we get the new policy in but that's not I think the best thing for our community right now I'm not trying to rush this through I I I I am someone who listens to the community and reacts and so I would hope that everyone who goes up that en endorses the establishment of an ad hoc committee that will include parents community members um you know the the different categories of people you'll you'll endorse it so that it can get done and it can get done quickly thank [Applause] you so the um the notion of an ad hoc committee was brought to my attention at 5:30 this evening um I never said that I was against an ad hoc committee I wouldn't call it really an ad hoc committee because our ad hoc committee is only consist the board members so I would think that we would have to call on something else um but I was ask at 5:30 to have a decision by 7:30 but the start of tonight's meeting of whether I was in favor of this or not and I I just think it's another rushed situation I am tired of playing games with the children of this town we had a walk-on resolution a few weeks ago to abolish 5756 which protects the children we had a special meeting and we sat through hours of comments from the public and board members to Simply have a resolution to table it and kick it down the road a little longer and now we're having that same discussion and while I am absolutely in favor of listening to people from this town and the children and the parents who experience these situations as well as the children and the parents who have spoken against 5756 I am not in favor of kicking this down the road again and saying let's table another resolution that is on the agenda we need to make it decision keep the policy in place or take the vote to get rid of it but we are not continuing I am not in favor of continuing to table and table and table and let another meeting and drag everyone out of their houses every single night to stand here for three hours and scream at each other in the audience that is not the town that I moved to to raise my children in everyone is allowed to have their opinions not using the children of this town in one way or another as bait and as a game so that the adults can have their feelings and voices heard we are all allowed to voice our opinions and disagree with each other but the the way I've seen people communicate with each other online and in public the past few weeks is disgusting whether I am on your side or not on your side I will still respect you I see plenty of people who are clapping when others are speaking and they know how I feel about this issue and I still see them and say hello to them and kiss them when they walk in in the room and they are still people I will acknowledge even if we don't agree on this issue and I wish the rest of the people out there would do the same thing we can all be neighbors and get along even if we don't see eye eye on everything so I really encourage us all to start learning how to function like some of the children who have spoken the last few weeks have presented themselves in a respectful Manner and not being so uh disrespectful to each other but um as I said not going to keep repeating myself I am in favor of let's take this vote and end this because I'm not kicking the can down the road anymore and if we do want to form a committee of people to discuss this further great but I'm not dangling this carrot in front of the horse anymore I'd like to make a motion to vote on an ad hoc committee meeting please I think I'm looking at policy 0155 right now and it we should refer to it as a standing committee and it states the board the board May authorize the establishment of such standing committees from amongst its membership as it finds necessary to study operations in specific areas and to make recommendations for board action so I'll second the motion to establish an ad hoc committee uh relating to policy 5756 and related policy I I didn't I raise a motion before you you guys did doesn't my motion gets to be voted on first I motion earlier to resent the repeal of the abolishment of 5756 you phrase it as a question you didn't actually make the motion okay well since we're doing the [Applause] discussion of policity 576 and I would do related [Music] policies standing committee policy 57 okay so um we discuss on thetion the table is that what this is about okay so the um in regards to the motion that's on the table T could we still have a vote on um the can someone else make a can am's motion still be made afterwards and we can still vote on the other policy okay thank you procedurally if we still have question we out of the discussion yet I'm going to voting or you're discussing this motion right now okay so I just want to point out to the public the revision if you were to go and pull up I don't know how many we're we're having discussion on their motion first then we can go back to your anyone have discussion or questions on the motion made by Mr Knight can you state the motion again you want to say do you want to or you want me to either way like to make a motion to form an ad or standing committee to discuss uh the repeal of 5756 [Applause] [Music] Mrs Byers Kang yes Miss colbath yes Miss Cary yes Mr n yes Miss kotang no Mr Lopez no M Morel no Mr Rino no Mrs RoR did you say obain yeah it's John 44 I'm trying to read I'm reading on can make out polies right now question Poli standing [Music] commit can create a standing committee and commes um if look the B the the board pres can actually create committee but this is for standing comme you can vot to dis you can vote to dissolve a committee the president presing [Music] rules and you can select categories or [Music] individuals what I'm trying to read up on I know in in the motion Mr I know that's what I think we can give it any name that we want historically when we were uh doing the referendums a number of years ago we had an adhoc committee and it included members of the public in different groups we called that at the time an ad hoc committee uh because it was for a unique purpose I don't think the name that we give it is all that significant um what do we call it the ad hoc standing committee it can be disolved when its work is done I think we're waiting for your vote it was 44 if you it's 44 it's 44 okay the motion doesn't em motion there sure before that I just want to point out there were a couple of revisions that are proposed in the current policy 3319 the very first sentence the board of education is committed to providing a safe supportive and inclusive learning environment for all student was struck out Diane can you please address that [Music] good evening everyone so historically the way that our policy revision process operates is that you take the proposed revision you compare it to the current policy and whatever language whatever new language is proposed is reflected in bold print whatever language is is not proposed that is in the current policy I'm sorry that is proposed that is not in the current policy is stricken so upon receiving the draft of 3319 on Thursday last Thursday we had to by process by policy revision process compare it to the current 5756 the draft that was provided to us was actually the New Jersey Department of Education um guidance for transgender students it wasn't necessarily an actual revision of the of the current policy so what my office does is we compare the two and so because that sentence that Miss kotang referenced or any language that was in that draft that was not in our current policy that was strien that particular sentence did not appear in the document and so that is why it was stricken on what was posted to the agenda that is an example of why why we're not qualified these Provisions are made in a haste 5756 has worked without any negative issues and therefore I motion for the resent to resent the repeal of 5756 there's a motion on the table to resend but repal 5756 so that is the vote that taken as the walk March 4 meeting cor by Miss Mor discussion question you just clarify what she made a motion to resend the vote to repeal 5756 that was walked on and voted on on March 4 two weeks ago at meeting that typical I'm asking our attorney is that is that something that typically happens it's something Prov [Music] for question so she's there was a walk on motion exp this there was a walk on motion on March 4th made to repeal 5756 and that one 5 to four this Kang is now making a motion that we send that repeal which would then mean to affirm me me clarify clarify so so under your bylaws to approve repeal resend amend any policies requires two votes you had I wasn't at the meeting but my understanding is you had the first vote on March 4th so you need another vote for the repeal to be come m c is making a motion to resend that first approval so then if you wanted to repal that assuming get that motion passed you have to have two more votes again to repal 5756 is [Music] that discussion discuss s that previous Flor leave it [Music] correct I have it's a motion to resend hold on the walk motion to resend the walk on motion of 34 to repeal policy 5756 on March 4th you say again it's a motion to repeal the walk on motion from March 4th motion to resend it's a motion to resend the res the March 4th resolution abolishing policy matter that that was Ted already no tbling it just defers action to a different time okay so it's a motion to resend the walk on motion on 34 to repeal policy 5756 it's to resend to the walk- on motion from March 4th to repeal policy 5756 yes that's what this will that's yes that's what I'm saying right and we're still having public comment after okay I yes V would be to resend the prior motion to yes the answer yes I just want to make sure it basically means that if there's another meeting where someone makes a motion toal 5756 that they would have to have a second meeting after that right now there's only one meeting okay so we have a motion by and a second okay Miss k i we're at the discussion process so okay so then obain okay Miss colbath no Miss Curry yes Mr Knight no Mrs kotang yes Mr Lopez yes Mrs Morell yes Mr Rabino yes Mrs RoR yes okay so that motion carries majority a motion S without the per that's I to than you had two3 could you have six yes I know I was just thank you um okay comments and questions so there n i not have anything to say thank you all right um motion to open the floor to the public second qu saying all in favor anyos exensions okay um we'll hear first from members of the public that are physically located in the cafetorium then we will take questions and comments from those participating please address your comments to the board for remote public participants select the raise hand button District technology coordinator Mr J will recognize each Community member in the order to raise hands please unmute your microphone s your name and home address for the record and your comments please everyone limit your comments to three minutes and I know there's a lot probably so if you want to get INE do that all right St name and address for could you give me one second this is Jason I just want to troubleshoot the audio real [Music] quick just one second I'm sorry okay sorry about that hello my name is I live on 12 I have a kinderg district and one-year-old need to get home I'm a medical professional and my sisters are in education as well I know that we are all obligors and we are constantly Sur and this policy just confuses because as parents and Guardians we constantly urge to be on the same page as Educators we are asked to help students with their behavior their homework their activities and volunteer this policy contradicts all of that and erod the trust between parents and Educators who need to be on the same team to help develop productive members of the society that's all I'm going to say have a amaz [Applause] night Brad Rondo 2298 I would like to congratulate the board of education on the vote you just took I would like to congratulate the board of education on taking the action that is consistent with the code of ethics that you all s to uphold as members of this SCH a code of ethics that includes the phrase I will uphold and enforce all laws rules and regulations of the State Board of Education so I congratulate you on voting to keep in place the best practice guidelines from the New Jersey Department of Education on how to safeguard the civil rights of lgbtq students your code of ethics also includes the phrase I will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children so I want to congratulate you on the V note you just took to create a safe and supportive environment for lgbtq un your code of ethics also States I will help to frame policies and plans only after the board has consulted those who will be affected by them and so I congratulate you I'm listening to the voices of the lgbtq Youth of this community to the fortly teachers union to the parents both of lgbtq Youth and allied with them who have come to these meetings and spoken out in favor of keeping this policy in place and your code of ethics includes this perhaps most important phrase I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups and so I congratulate the members of this board who understand that doing the right thing for our students doing the right thing to Shield our district from potential litigation outweighs any obligation you may feel because of a deliberately vague political slogan you may have adopted during a campaign and I want to congratulate the members of this board for recognizing that this circus has gone on long enough then the message of callousness and unwelcome towards lgbtq youth in our town created by the March 4th vote has lingered long enough and congratulate this board on restoring their integrity and the Heart of our town by voting to resend that vote from March 4th thank you thank [Applause] you [Music] evening I'm I'm here speak today because I am transgender and the and the vote and the vote to repeal 5756 has been pushed back and I here to speak against ever bringing it up again the repealing of the policy would permit the school to out trans children to their to their parents and do will be absolutely detrimental to the kids in inly we can all agree that children should be safe and happy that is a baseline everyone can agree with that in mind forcibly outing a trans child to their parent does exactly the opposite first of all scientific research has consistently shown that gender dysphoria is a legitimate condition that represents in congruence between someone's gender identity and their sex assigned at Birth this has been demonstrated across hundreds of studies for every one study find that it is not a legitimate condition or that it is being overstated there are upwards of 50 more showing conclusively that it is and the burden of proof relies on scientific consensus not a single study here or there claiming otherwise it's also been consistently reported that parents can be incredibly hostile to their child identifying as transgender of course not all parents but many parents children may not choose to come out to their parents for a multitude of reasons however one consistent reason that is a major factor is fear of retaliation this is in fact the reason I didn't come out for quite a while and is the case for quite literally every single one of my friends that I know the fear of retaliation whether emotional or physical is real children have been kicked out of their homes for being transgender have been abused psychologically and physically and that can and that causes irreparable damage to his mental health the consistent response to this is that is that is that is that you are trying to defend kids from gender ideology however without parental consent kids can't get any kind of gender affirming care all forms of medication require pregnant and said so all that 5756 allows children to do is to is to have a safe space to explore their identity free of any free of any possible retaliation from their parents by repealing 5756 all that would be changed is a safety net for children to have a safe exploration of their identity would be removed and children would be at risk to that retaliation for more personal know I know that if I had been forcefully outed to my parents I would have been completely devastated it took me a very long time to figure myself out in some respects I still can and having myself outed before I felt the time was right would have eternally destroy me now before I finish I wanted to touch on one more thing there is some talk of there is some Talk of the political group monst for Liberty being here and I so for any possible speeches that may come after that I wanted to preface all of those speeches with with the fact that according to the Southern Poverty Law Center bonds for Liberty is an extremist hate group that has advocated for Banning books spreading hateful rhetoric against every minority group for the complete abolition of the thank you your time up just wrap up your thought all right ination ination for all of these reasons for the safety and protection of kids and their continued well-being do not ever bring a vote to repeal 5756 again and completely abolish any notion of [Applause] 33 uh hi I'm Matthew Alexander Dominguez and I live at 213 sou Street hello I'm Matthew bronsky and I live at for Horizon Road and we're Juniors at High School uh so I want to start off saying um good job on coming into a consensus on on the vote um it's my first time in the halls of government uh kind of a crazy first time I'm going to be honest but it was really crazy to me seeing how like like these Halls where you know supposed to be cordial and stuff having so many people fighting and arguing and throwing insults at each other in the back and also having this lady over here having basically her livelihood um almost being stripped from her because of people who though because people who just I don't know we're mad and I don't know I don't think whatever for any fure F discussions that we have that may be a partisan or may fall close to partisan lines I don't think that us as a people should be arguing with each other and I think we just be more cordial with each other and be more friendly with each other so yeah and now my friend matth is gonna take it would it also be able to would I be able to ask what exactly it is you guys want to change from the policy if not to take away the rights of transgender students what exactly is it that is need to Chang ask I'd say generally the policy doesn't call for a Q&A although know past practice maybe sometimes we do a little Q&A but I would generally now that that's not being voted on I don't know it's necessary to answer that question are you finished asking all of your questions yeah I just don't understand what why we're all so partisan over if trans transgender students rights aren't being affected and why is everyone you know so partis that's why I don't understand what exactly being change reformed what wasy okay so I want the people who were of the drafting of the new proposed um address it but it's just not going to get back and forth so if they answer and I'm going to be supered I'm going to be super breed listen I'm looking in the when I say this to you we didn't want to strip anything from these KS we didn't want the only concern that we had the concern that I had the Bria I just voted the way I did which inside but I forc to do so the only thing I was concerned about is that the six-year-old child should not have separate school records any name that their parents don't have access to if that happens later on that's completely blind with me or well I won't say that but I I'm not going to argue that but um just for the youngest kids I I think they before they have permanent records uh created they should have a chance to actually explore a little bit first I mean we don't know if what their situation is they don't know they're exploring why are we creating records that their parents don't have access to at age six and seven so that's it thank you for your time thank [Applause] you my name and I have three kids of mine AG 24 I and throughout their lives they can change their minds right and I need to be as a parent I need to be invol in everything I need to know what going if scho if they go to school and something happens and the teachers know more than I because the kids actually have majority of their at school I need the teacher or the school to reach out to me and to inform me what's going on with my child so I have I have knowledge I have I can support my child in every situation I have a seveny old child right now and I'm concerned if I would not be informed of what's going on with my child I'm seven year old you know she listens to little mouth and whatever she heard something something she didn't even understand what's going on and she already talking about she came two days ago she came to my to scho and she said mommy you know what school is more most important thing the teacher is the most important in my life and you are the secondary and this is not okay with me I need to be a part of her life I need to have I just cannot TR to bring my child to school where I don't have any knowledge what's going on with my child so please I really want to consider this especially for the younger children and the sen I have a 17y old she can decide on her own and she can already decide what she wants to talk to me or she doesn't want to talk to me yet even then I would love for for school to reach out to me and tell me you know what you have to look into this you can look into speaking with psychologist or anyone else and accept it but you have to you are as a parent you have to be involved in the child's life that is my hi is this work [Music] [Music] Jason can you restart the timer when she start thank you J andage five dur Lane I have five children in the district I would like to say that the policy itself was introduced in 2014 so these are some facts that I heard last meeting the policy itself was introduced in 2014 but the specific guidelines we're talking about today were an update to the original policy brought in 2019 um this that the parental rights we're talking about are settled constitutional law Supreme Court case dril versus brille I have handouts for those who want to see this I have about 20 with me I can email more if anyone's interested and now to the to my key point is that parental involvement is key for preventing suicide there is a 2017 study from South Korea that shows parental support was independently related to a decrease in suicidal ideation uh P value less than .001 which is very statistically significant again I have links um signing for from The Psychology today publication as I understand these are psychology experts who say that research between 2015 and 2018 found that suicide attempts were significantly higher for students who are identified as gay lesbian by sexual or questioning parental support pear group support and online support can be crucial with parental support in the first place in buffering and working with school or Community situations that may be less receptive so what is the biggest reason protein suicide I would argue social media and we can see a steady increase in seen suicide from 2000 on because of social media uh I mean correlation is not cation but it's a pretty telling Trend now please tell me uh I can log up to Genesis and look at my kids' grades anytime I want and I know there are tensions between parents and kids over grades so why why are you reporting graes to us and to be honest I can't believe those board members who got elected on this isue who just voted to resign this and I have one more important thing to say those people who are afraid to speak if we are afraid if we don't say anything people who dare to try and intimidate members of the community like the paa are just going to get stronger we have to speak up [Music] my name is Marina I will be very brief I have two kids in this District um if the audience could please stop please State your address for forly inas 1 2 2 3 I have two kids in this district and I'm against policy [Applause] 5756 I have a 13y old [Music] [Music] myself and I feel that having him was a responsibility and life is B about decisions that we my son was my responsibility responsibity and um so my heart to here that other people can make decisions and two months me not knowing he was born with um left and po as well bilateral I him making all the decisions and he to my heart to even think that all people can hide things from me not knowing the things I with him and the things that through a lot of also thoughts good thoughts he was able to say things to me then that as well he start to know he and he opening up all those doors are gone and I son we love and we all as parents should make the decision to teach our kids all of us to love each other and I think that there is hate or we discriminate or we look like no we love each other my son loves everyone we love here to not to to each other and and take our rights as [Applause] Ralphie Elli Bergenfield New Jersey I come tonight and I listened carefully to everyone who spoke and the concern that keeps rising up is well the children aren't going to be safe with their parents if they go and tell them that they are different sexual orientation I have three kids I have 13 grandkids raging from all different ages and we come from a loving family and a family which I'm sure live in Fort Le because I know many families in fortly that have loving parents that truly care about their kids mothers that bore their kids that they go to the school system and policies are made by people like you that are not looking at a family unit families are functional where they can speak into their children's lives give them a place of comfort have a place of rest in their home when they come out of the public place in the public school that they can begin to live their life and what we're doing here and what you're doing here this wonderful Board of people you're saying we're going to take children from kindergarten and and grammar school and middle school and we're going to expose them to a different type of lifestyle that may not agree with their parents but listen in the western civilization it's the parents freedom to bring their children up the way they choose it's an American Constitution we aing people generated by a political agenda or maybe a personal like or dislike what you're forgetting is that you my friends are are are choosing the future of children and taking it out of the culture out of ethnicity out of where we live in a melted pot of people who come from all around the world who have very close ties Eastern Europeans the South American families very close family ties and what you're forgetting is you're putting a spin on it to allow an American mindset that's quite liberal from a lot of different places in the world and you're allowing this to take place where you want to not re sin 576 56 and things like that listen if folks want to live transgender God bless them but don't implement it into a family that has a family unit and then hold back information from the parents you're going to call them and tell them about the dirty gy clothes and the grades that they have and that the kid lacked it out in class and the bullying I think and excuse me if I'm speaking at a turn maybe you're bullying parents yeah thank you good evening U my name is Sarah crian I have two children in the district and I live on Second Street ply second uh yes in the district sorry um I love Fort Lee I love my lgbtq neighbors I love my transgender family member and I love our teachers and staff in forley who are incredible uh I want to thank the board members for their vote tonight um I'm very supportive of this I think that the Attorney General said it best when he said repealing 5756 transgender students lose protections the specificities Lost in the DI um I also want to say for parents that are concerned from fortly that are concerned that they lose that information the policy clearly says again for the health and safety of a student the school district May disclose a student status so they're allowed to in those cases um for our Board of Education members who may not be aware a moms for Liberty put out a call on Facebook and as I look around the room I see a lot of faces that are very unfamiliar reply for those of you who are not familiar with moms for Liberty it was designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist group a hate group across the country and across the state they've been Banning books they've been ending references to racial discrimination and lgbtq people they've been Banning books about Martin Luther King and Ruben Bridges they've been attacking teachers Librarians and staff as groomers and the chair of moms for Liberty Bergen County put on a call for dismantling public education uh for those of you not from Fort Lee we have a sign in our town that says be Fort Le and I'd like to say those values are not fortly and I want to thank this board again for upholding 5756 excellent [Music] [Applause] job child in District system and I here to tell you that I am very [Music] diso with him while I sent him to school I sent him to school to n i don't send to school or teachers who are qualified to decisions and to make up rules for my child I was proud to be [Applause] important me my name ises years I was present during the meeting last week and here tonight great concern for you our community I believe as parents we are inherently well meeting who we want with us for our kids it is also our nature to protect our young as seen by the outpour of attention that has been paid to policy 5756 however protection does not mean control I can say firsthand it is imperative that a child of any age experience a sense of agency in their process of self-discovery in coming out this means they need to play a major role in each decision each stage each choice if our child children can find Solace and Trust in their team of Educators that is okay our children don't tell us other name that is okay it's actually normal we as parents need to step aside and let our kids figure it out that is okay too if a child confides in an adult other than their parents that is okay too because building trusting relationships with people outside of their family of origin is a very important LIF skill this can allow for helpful and emotional grow our kids need their independence but they also need our flexibility if policy 5756 is removed or alter they run the risk of disempowering our children to find peace within themselves growing up takes time patience and an overwhelming amount of energy for every it's sometimes difficult for parents to Bear witness to the immediate which our children can change through childhood this fear can drive us to want to control must we over involve ourselves in our child's life for any parent who has tried knows this it does not work actually have some developmental psychologists call this stage qu separating from childood it is hard for kids and arguably harder for parents policy 5756 was created by policy professionals who share everyone goal to guard against child and we are here as a community to protect our children let us continue to protect and care for them by allowing policy 5756 to remain in and [Applause] unchanged just give me one second we're just troubleshooting the audio again okay thank you okay you go ahead thank you thank you Gabriel Cleveland five Verizon road kind of winging it here but I felt compelled to come up both to express my gratitude to each of you including those who voted in a way that I didn't personally V for um for your thoughtfulness for your consideration and for what I believe is ultimately your resp respect for the children of Fort Lee I don't have any children of my own yet Perhaps one day um what I do know about parenting though is that a meaningful well cultivated relationship between a parent and their child is not something that will be changed by one policy or another um that said policies such as 5756 gives children the autonomy and freedom to explore the world in and of themselves uh especially at school a place which is meant to be an opportunity for learning for personal growth uh to find one's own autonomy in the world 5756 allows that it does not prevent a parent from fostering a um a supportive nurturing and open relationship with their child such that their child would feel comfortable coming to them and talking to them 5756 does not establish a a dynamic where parents and children are separated from one another at all it gives children the trust and respect and freedom that so many of us claim to uh believe in deeply in this in this country the freedom of self-expression self-exploration uh the freedom to discover one's own identity and place in the world and I'm very grateful for those of you who uh voted to repeal the you know we went through the all the terminology there um I have a great deal of respect to again to all nine of you for the process by which you've gone through this and uh all I will say to wrap up is for those parents who are concerned that your child might not talk to you or trust you that's something that will not be solved by a school policy that's something you need to do yourself thank you so much hi my name is sel Martino I live in the med North building believe it or not this is the nice edit of this speech I'm honestly like very pleasantly surprised that have the the B turned out but I feel like I really do need to say this so that this never happens again going to go ahead and start this by making sure that you all reckon with the fact that you brought the attention of a recognized hate group to into our town again you brought a hate group here I moved to Fort Lee a year and a half ago I bought an apartment where money I've been saving my whole life and I chose to start my next phase of adulthood here in this town and you brought a hate group here it's actually infuriating so I already have enough of a hard time convincing friends and family to suffer a gwb traffic to come over here now I have to also explain to my trans friends that no my town doesn't actually hate you they just don't want trans kids underneath the age of 12 to have civil [Applause] rights I also want to speak to some of the behavior that I witnessed last week fend remorse clutching in your faces acting as if this vote is such a hard moral conundrum I never want to see similar reluctance from this coming from this board to do the right thing ever again um we can see when you are chitchatting with casting side glances at and kiking with people who will stand at this Podium and call your teachers child messers I hope to see you all at Fort Le Pride because I know my community will be there ready to remind you all that you brought a hate group into our town Happ he [Applause] [Music] you [Applause] please please W I came here uh to show my support for the board members who complained on parental rights and who kept the board thank you very much very disappointing to those who complained on Parental right but fit uh I have more respect to the opposite board members who comp who complained on um up holding 5756 this they were honest so he I knew what to expect now regarding the other side um what Paul said it was ridiculous and uh the other side labeled a few board members as an extremist this is ridiculous and unacceptable so I have to remind everyone that this board members were were legitimately elected by majority of forly residents so does it mean the majority are extremists can you anyone tell me no so uh basically from my personal perspective I'm okay with 5756 as long as paragraph number two is reversed or altered because if the parents the parents want to know the information about the child school should be obligated to deliver it that's [Applause] it just before you start uh oh yeah I'm just okay just everybody gets to go before hi I'm Bri and I live at7 I just turned 14 like I just turned 14 like three days ago and school was hard it was hard when I was in elementary school and um this affects my peers this affects my friends and when I speak I speak to my my teachers because I can't speak to some of the kids and a lot of people can't speak to their friends and they can't speak to their parents and and so we speak to our teachers the because we can't talk to anybody else and when we can't talk to anybody else and we can only speak to our teachers [Music] then okay doing fine we can only speak to our teachers and it if we like go with this with this um 56 um then and we can't speak to our teachers and we go to this and we go through this thing then my God [Applause] okay and we don't let the when we tell the parents and we know that we're not comfortable with it then a puts us in a box and puts us in a box that we can't like talk to anybody else and it's really hard CU these teachers are are therapists basically when we can't talk to anybody else and we feel comfortable with them and if they just tell our parents then we have no one to talk to yeah this this is about Choice there will be parents that will open their arms and there will child and there will be parents that won't and this is what we are worried about the parents that won't open their [Applause] arms hello good evening um well yeah my name is Chris no n I live at 2100 would have more uh actually I'm going to talk about something completely different and hopefully hopefully not you know kind of controversial um so yeah I wanted to talk about uh doing a bike bus in Fort Le um so if you don't know what a bike bus is yeah I I emailed I emailed um it's where some adults like parents and perhaps some community volunteers um kind of escort students you know from the neighborhoods on their bikes and deliver them to their schools and uh and then they can repeat that on the way home as well and it could involve perhaps um a police escort as well so um you know there's so many advantages to this and it really just kind of like dawned on me when oh yeah after have to mention so I'm a substitute teacher in Fort Le Leonia I was a high school teacher in Dober for 10 years um but anyway coming to school now in my own neighborhood I noticed these huge lines of cars and you know mostly SUVs that are just uh it's parents who are there Dro off their kids at school and for's pretty small geographically I I walk or ride my bike everywhere um and you know that so this is just adding to the traffic congestion and the air pollution and general chaos in the mornings and so if a bike bus were to kind of catch on like Montclair does it once uh once a week and it's done in other other parts of the country in Brooklyn you know I mean like we think like oh you know it's so dense in Fort Lee well they can do it in Brooklyn so you know that takes cars off the road increases exercise for kids reduces pollution increases socialization it just look like you know incredibly fun but I know I emailed Dr kravits and his Baker about it and then uh weisa Le with Easy Ride followed up as well so they're really going to provide a lot of support for arranging one of these we want to set one up in May um which is you know National Bike month and it doesn't have to be on National Bike school day which is May 8th but there's an O I was going to mention you know a lot of kids want to ride bikes here in Fort Lee um I was at the high school last week and there were 20 bicycles 20 E Scooters and seven e assist bikes parked outside and here's the Middle School media school on Friday there were 10 E Scooters four bikes two e bikes and one regular scooter and my bike so I mean it's clear that their kids want to ride bikes when you look at the elementary school there's hardly any so some parents will escort their kids on their bikes to school but I think that you know they're not well I mean you know today it's very different than when I was young but I think that they're a little worried you know about the safety of their kids going to school on bikes on their own um but i' I've been speaking up Le Town Council meetings and also Bergen County Commissioner meetings Okay so we've also expressed that this could help Bergen County stimulate bur County to adopt complete streets policy as well and the county road are the most dangerous in Fort we so anything we can do to help with that would help everybody as well okay thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you 26 Department Avenue I'm still against this policy I'm shocked that the that it came back after we voted against it there's a lot of parents in Fort Lee who are against this policy but they're afraid to speak out so what are options home schooling or bring the kids to Catholic school so there's so much wrong with the policy it separated our community and it brought on a culture War we already have the law against discrimination we don't require another sub policy because at this point we're marginalizing certain beliefs and Lifestyles there's nothing Progressive about certain groups of children having more care and empathy from the school I grew up in a time where it was just Live and Let Live or just mind your own business the confidentiality is the beginning of a one-sided ideology which may result in many other policies curriculums to be exposed and discussed to our children behind our backs we live in a diverse town where families have different religions and beliefs the school is looking to be a safe space for transgender students but what happens at 3:30 when the school premises are vacated or in weekends holidays and summer break we can all pretend the school is a safe space but there's nothing like a parent love to guide you through life struggles that [Music] socalled that so-called School con confidentiality is taking away the child parent open relationship how are we as parents how can we as parents safely send our children to school not knowing what happens in the bathroom facilities my child is a second grader who still believes in princess fairy tales in the same thought where I voted where I opted out of sex education I would like the same respect as a parent to not worry about about who my child is going to the bathroom with and what they'll see that they don't already that I don't allow them to see on movies the school is taking away the privacy and safety of our children we have parental rights over what shows and movies our children watch but the school wants to lie and hide what goes on in school so parents are left in the dark and to the students who State their afraid of their parents the only people who will care for you and suffer for your well-being are your parents your [Music] parents your parents are the only ones who will worry for you to come home safe at the end of the day I too was afraid of my parents when I was a child but as I grew up I came to the realization that they just wanted me to be the best version of myself yes that's [Applause] it um I'm Paula s I'm at Horizon Road in so I wrote this before that here today to resend the re um which I do want to thank you for I know everyone's decision but glad um at the same time you really can't erate what's happened these past few weeks we hear these words been said so here we go um I'm the mother of a for Le High School freshman who's been in the district since kindergarten he proudly identifies as gay so of you know him he spoke here March 4th meeting telling you his personal story begging you to keep 5 7 56 he was also here last Wednesday supporting his friends while they bravely spoke and pleated with you not to be here tonight um Hudson like so many lgbtq plus wasn't quite sure of his gender identity starting at a young age as early as elementary school so yes element school as parents we saw this and many times parents do see this I know that there are situations where they don't if you open your eyes you have an open mind a lot of times you see these Hearts not always um but we made sure that he thought nothing but love so we could be free to explore who he was he tried sports like little leave him soccer but after a season or two he made it clear there wasn't for him and he told him that's okay we go to the Gap he'd pick out some clothes from the boy side and then he'd ask to get some shirts from the girl side because he said that side had prettier clothes he told me sure that's okay through intermediate and middle school he continue to figure himself out figure himself out just as kids do he on her hair he sometimes purse to school which I know mentioned saw this not to um he sometimes bring me a purse to school or wear shirts that were considered more femin wasn't easy for him kids can be mean and the comments were not always nice but he had an inclusive supported environment at home and at school within the teachers and counselors who he chose to speak with about there were days he spoke with his counselor or trusted teacher he'd come home and tell me right away there were times mentioned his conversation he had weeks later and I'm sure he had conversations I was never aware of and that's okay because the whole time Hudson was trying to figure out his identity no counselor no teacher or anyone at the school was ever trying to push him to identify a certain way and they certainly not trying to convert and again the comments that we heard so these accusations against our teachers and school professionals are ridiculous my son was given empathy support and space to discover his own identity and for that I am grateful looking back at those years I cannot imagine if his gender expression triggered a phone call at home or a conversation with a trusted teacher um 5756 as it is in its entirety protects the civil rights of gender non-conforming and transgender students of all ages under state and federal law I had some other things I'm noted that way so I do commend you it does make me nervous still that there's some of you that still might bring this up again because I wanted to be the perspective of a parent or a child who certainly saw you know went through this at a young age at the fortly SP and I felt fully support thank [Applause] you uh John McAn 1045 Anderson Avenue I've got two girls in the school system here I had many things that I wanted to say based upon last week's meeting but I'm very happy with happen been necessary but one in particular keeps coming up tonight and that's a parents right to know their children and I agree with that 100% but that's the parents responsibility to bloster that relationship not the scho if a child comes to a teacher and says they've got a crush on somebody you don't get a call home if the child says I like ham sandwiches not turkey sandwiches you don't get a call home this shouldn't be the scho responsibility of the school to tell the parent what the child is like that's the responsibility of the parent the Child leave it between me thank you so much for the vote tonight with that said I don't know everybody's name but to the board member who had um their their what was contacted as somebody who will fight you with every ounce of energy I have I find what happened disgusting and somebody [Applause] [Music] in hi stephanie3 Horizon room um I prepared something for tonight which I'm not going to say but I'm going to just respond to a lot of these comments you know no one is saying you can't know if your child is transgender if you think this is something your child's considering you ask them why do you need to rely on the school to share with you you're so concerned talk to your kids and if they feel safe talking to you they will you're concerned about the school driving a wedge between the family unit you want a secure family unit make your child feel welcome open open the dialogue if they are comfortable and if they're not comfortable you need to recognize their autonomy thank hi my name is christanis and top Hunter Ro Fort Le resident grew up in Fort Le graduated from fortly high school came back to live in fortly to be so I've heard people talk about inclusivity equality acceptance and tolerance and yet I've witnessed and read witnessed by those same people some some of the most underhanded cruel attacks against people who not only think differently but voice those concerns what I've witnessed and experienced is both appalling and disheartening this is not this is not about personal identity everyone has that right this is about the fundamental principle that underpins the very fabric of our society the unbreakable right of parents to direct and oversee the upbringing of their children actually we're talking about children as young as six this principle is not just a cultural norm it's a constitutional guarantee protected under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment the right to doe process is there for a reason it's not merely a procedural formality it's a buffer against unwarranted intrusion into the sanctity of the family it ensures that any action that may affect the parent right to the care custody and control of their child is subject to the highest scrutiny this is because the framers of our constitution recognize the family as the primary nurturing force of American life not the state they understood that the parents worldle is a Paramount is Paramount in protecting and guiding their children not just in matters of Education Faith or health but in all aspects of Life the family is the Cornerstone of American life it's within the family that values are passed down the character and integrity is formed and where children are nurtured into the citizens who will shape our future and as a proud parent of three beautiful souls I bear that responsib responsibility with love with dedication and a solid commitment to their safety and prosperity and I will die for them yet once again we find ourselves face to face with a rule that undermines this fundamental right rule 5756 as I've heard here is a place to protect children but in reality it's sidelining those who have their best interest at heart their parents let's be clear here the state despite all its resources and Authority cannot replace the unique role that a parent plays in a child's life it's the parent who loves unconditionally who sacrifices without hesitation and protects with Fierce determination the bond between a parent and a child is unparalleled and the in and the intuition of a parent for their child's welfare is unmatched to keep parents in the dark only about their child's sexual identity under the pretext of protecting them is wrong and a great disservice to the very children this this policy claims to Pro defend it's the parent who stand up in the dead of night to sue the nightmare who work tirelessly to provide opportunities for growth and learning and will fight against any harm that threatens their child the state's role should be to support and Empower parents in this Mission not to replace it no you got we also I'm going to speak in fact I ask you to finish your thought please what just wrap up your thought please yeah I'm wrapping it up right now thank you in fact if you don't repeal you're substituting the family with the transit opinions of any stranger holding a degree make the right choice you didn't this is about the kind of society we want to build for generations to come let's prioritize the values and roles to hold our community together and I'd like to just end I was going to end with something else but I'd like to end that the parents the the board members that ran on parental rights I've never been involved politically but I can't wait till the next election [Applause] comes first my name is Stephanie ciis I'm on Tom Hunter Road I'm a I'm a gender non-conforming biological female who believes sex-based rights are essential to Human Rights and that puberty is a human right a human right puberty I have been filmed through this whole thing by someone sitting in the back harassing saying shut the f up every two minutes to people that are speaking up here I think it shows the mental health of the people pushing this on the children I think it shows uh that we have really deviant older people pushing an agenda on children an agenda that has no basis in reality that's rude 41% of lgbtq young people seriously consider attempting suicide in the past year including half of the transgender and nonbinary people and nearly three in 10 normal average everyday male and female 14% of lgbtq young people attempt suicide that's nearly one in five transgender among this community ages 13 to 17 two to five think of suicide 1 to five attempt suicide four out of five want mental health with a family member all science shows that a child a child child needs their parent and a medical health professional when dealing with gender dysphoria no one in this school is qualified to deal with it you are going to get Su it's just a matter of [Applause] when and the absolute vitriol that has been said about my family my children I didn't even know who moms for Liberty was that they were putting out there but I will make this one last statement the word transphobic as used here does not mean an irrational fear or dislike of trans people it means refusing to use gender identity IDE ology jargon refusing to Parrot its slogans refusing to accept that sex doesn't matter when it comes to sports and Single Sex spaces refusing to believe a bearded heterosexual man becomes a lesbian when he declares himself one and refusing to believe an abusive misogynistic male is a woman because he likes to wear mini dresses and pout on Facebook JK Rawlings wrote those words words she's been called a trans exclusionary radical feminist if she's one then so am I because I believe that women have a right to Safe spaces without men in them period females and I am not letting my daughter share any space with any male and I thank God that the NAACP is taking up the issue because women's seat at the table are getting taken by men Miss thank [Applause] [Music] you hi my name is Candace and I'm at 427 West place with two kids in the one kid in the system one um I thank you for your vote to resend the repeal of 5756 today have the pleasure of reading a letter from a fortly high schooler who despite the Despicable accusations that these letters are fake or coorse is asking for this to be read out to all of you as they are the ones of this policy offense this message goes out to parents at this meeting whose children may be closeted in fear of being put in danger for coming out and to parents who are afraid of the world as I am a product of both constantly living in the shadows to shelter myself from the potential Wrath of my parents when your child comes out to you as gay or trans don't tell them that you love them no matter what of course you do but that's what you say to a child who's done something wrong and does and didn't meet your expectations it's what you say when they've been caught stealing a candy bar or cheating on a test instead maybe convey something that tells your child there's nothing wrong with being lgbtq+ if you truly love them so much convey to them that they are safe secure valid and protected by their parents not creating a space where your child has to walk on eggshells at the mere topic of sexuality and orientation this Harbors the so-called secrecy your child feels needs to be implemented within your relationship to feel like they are out of Harm's Way it's not the fault of the district that your role as a parent isn't being met or that your child finds Security in trusted adults who aren't you instead please tell them everything I learn about you makes me love you more I find I I love finding out who you are and I'm so excited for the world to do the same it may be a complete Readjustment to how you see your child trust me they've been thinking about it for months maybe even years as a parent you may need time to catch up but it doesn't mean you should love them any less and do not tell your children that you are afraid life will be harder for them it's not your children's responsibility to carry the weight of your fears they'll be plenty capable of discovering fears on their own as any productive member of society would that's life let your children live they don't need your fears too all we want to all we want is to seek acceptance when a child comes out the only emotion you need to express is Joy that's their letter and I did want to add just because I have a little bit more time I'm grateful that I had the privilege to read this letter on this day that Six of you recogn recognized with your vote that this is not a policy with the aim to keep secrets from parents and that you hear this child and their peers again this policy is a guideline for schools as to how to adhere to the New Jersey law against discrimination and continue to provide a safe space for all children to learn like I said last week nice I as a teacher i' really prefer to just say nice necklace tiny come to the rugs MTH your beloved 3319 is far more involved thank you again for your vote and please continue to keep me [Applause] safe hey good evening Annabella one Executive Drive one child in the district and I use she her pronouns um I just want to express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the six board members that took the actions that they did that voted and obstain to get us off this crazy freight train that we've all been on um for the last two weeks uh I also want to thank you because that means I don't have to read my original speech and be up here for the full three minutes but I do want to include um a part of it and it's a a fun historical fact that you may or may not know the very first Department slbo of Education was established in 1867 making the nine of you a part of a legacy that is 157 years old um I think that's quite cool However unfortunately Boards of educations throughout American history have often voted on the wrong side of History none so evident as when they wanted to keep uh schools SE racially segregated in the 50s for example and just with that Legacy I hope that we can all in this room all of us remind ourselves that despite our own personal views human beings evolve the world is in a constant state of change societal Norms evolve what we think we know evolves all the time and that Forward Thinking is what we need to ensure our utmost survival please do not roll forly backwards let's think forward and work together stay off this crazy freight train I mean for while there I felt like I was in the backseat of fman Louisa's car you know at the end of the movie when Gina Davis is like let's just keep going um anyway to soon for humor thank you so much very thank you peace [Applause] peace I just happen to walk in was listening ing in at home a little bit because I was working late um I just want to say it's it's Aston sorry can you just state your name and address sorry my name is Constantine Ru I live on 244 Mel Avenue you it's astonishing to me that we have to discuss fight for parental rights because I think that is what the issue is at hand in my opinion you know I don't think for me it's a lesbian gay or lgbtq right issue at this stage for me it's parental rights I think God has bestowed me and given me has blessed me to have children my wife and I have raised two children through the fort Le school system I'm a product of the fort Le school system and to me I think it's it's something that I I just can't stand the idea of the parent not having the final word on what happens to their own child now everyone voted here those six people we keep talking about I don't know who they were all I'm saying is that they cannot be the Endor of my child or anyone's child for that matter God has given me the ability he's trusted me to raise my child and now I have to come to a point where I can only take a 9/10 of the way or 8/10 or seven because it's going to be now it's maybe 9/10 tomorrow could be 710 at some point I may not even have a say in what happens to the job and I think that's the road the slippery slope that IR here you know everyone go to have everyone to you know for for people to for parents not to know or protect the child from the parent which is astonishing against to me I keep using that word you know what would happen if the roles were reversed what would happen if a child who was being raised happily gay got confused and decided to seek protection from his parents who raised them dead and came to you all they said hey I want to be straight are you going to keep that from the parents thank [Applause] you hello hello board event members my name is amiry call I live at One executive Dragon Portland New Jersey and I'm a junior at forly high school I moved here with my mom after 12 years of growing in Clips side park and first and foremost I want to thank this town and all board members for welcoming me and my mom into this community from the moment I met my classmates the school staff and the marching band I knew that moving to this town was the right decision and that opinion has stood for over two years now absolutely unchallenged the wonderful Minds I have met and continued to meet in this town are also diverse and sensible in the perspectives and makes me feel that moving here almost moved me to the Future at the same time so I hope hope you can imagine how distraught I was when I learned the issue I had how policy 5756 was to be mangled and Frankenstein into a new policy which puts into question the job of the Board of Education and puts certain children in danger especially at a time when my physic teacher who I very grateful for had to be pulled out of retirement to fulfill my educational needs due to the current teacher shortage as a child I admit it's hard for me to see eye to eye with the many experienced parents sitting in front of me but I know you all understand the importance of a child growing up in a safe and caring environment and I understand that as parents you are concerned about all there is to know about your child but I must urge you to re-evaluate the root of your concerns because if it were about children growing up safe and and care for there are far more pressing matters you could have chosen to address instead like the teacher shortage the vote tonight to maintain policy 5756 was incredible and I give my deepest gratitude to the board but I still worry I worry because this should not be a matter of politics it's a matter of civil rights I feel the need to inform the board that the changes suggested in policy 3319 all in line with the parental rights movement which is a GOP censored cause spearheaded by extremist groups I urge the board to ensure that the decisions they make from here on out are not influenced by political pressure as is mandated by the sixth code of the Board of Education Code of Ethics I wish that the Lord would continue to hear and accept the demands of their students who for the last two weeks and Counting have been writing and speaking and writing and speaking again to keep policy 5756 as is lastly I urge the board to think critically of how they will be viewed five or 10 years from now when the tide of time lowers and reveals the correct side of History I hope that the board continues to make decision that will Define this town as one that will Bellow in the face of backwards change because after getting to know this town I realize that if you choose wrong those at the True Heart of this community will not follow you back in time thank [Applause] you hello my name is haran Masters I live at 1018 jasine way though I have to confess I think what happened here tonight is confusing for many reasons I'm glad the votes that happened earlier went the way they did and I thank the board for that action I think we have to remember what has happened so we don't repeat this process again I hope that we never again are in a situation where the board moves to take action in so Hasty and unconsidered a manner to me the most concerning thing about this process has been the lack of consideration being given to students who could find themselves in danger without the protections of 5 5756 because sadly not all parents are as supportive as we all would hope they would be I think the key here is to listen to what the students have told us in the last few weeks through statements and letters please don't do this again and make students be their safety again please leave 5756 in place and do not refresh the black eye on our T thank [Music] you good evening Brian drungle n JW Lane Fort L as a parent with two kids in the school system I ask and I beg that you all be please come to together emphasize together to address the various topics before you and can continue to build upon the great work that you have all done in the past we all know what you can do in the future when you are together alongside our great superintendent his administration and every member of this education and school system I know that each and every one of you care and love this community but when we are together we are for president RoR knowing firsthand what you endured the last 48 hours for you to be able to be here this evening shows how strong of a woman you are your commitment to this community to the children and the parents and most definitely highlighted your leadership skills thank you to each and every one of you for your service and together we will be for thank [Applause] you okay Mr rero oh one more person if there's anyone else out there in the audience who wants to speak please stand up so we know thank you my name is clire I live ony I have I do want to thank you for the vote um was absolutely shocked when I heard what had happened in the recent weeks and I that was resolved I don't actually want to talk about that particular policy though I don't want to bring up the fact that I I don't think we should have people who are not residents of the Town speaking needs I think that a lot of the fear and politics that happened around this meeting happened because we felt political groups were coming in to represent their agenda and any parent here who disagrees with me have no problem of course with them speaking anyone who's a resident who has an opinion to share their opinion that way the opinions that are heard here reflect the community opinions which I think is what the board wants to hear so um with respect to everyone who had the courage to come up and speak especially the kids who are very inspiring I just want to say I think the board should consider looking at their public speech policy and ensuring that the people who get to speak are residents and [Applause] um Mickey lywood Park I'm a proud transgender man who is strong advocate for the transgender Community I sit on three different executive boards organizing transgender conferences throughout New Jersey I oversee several teenage transgender support groups I run a support group for parents of transgender children um and I sponsor other transgender men who are live in states that can't get surgery I'm not an expert on transgender issues but I'm more aware of the struggles of the transgender issues that probably than probably anyone else in this room so I hope you will listen with an open mind Casey and Paula are proposing to only change one section schools being allowed to keep separate records from the parents of kindergarten to fifth grade only does not affect high schoolers they are not proposing to out anyone they're not taking away anyone's rights they're giving parents rights so a lot of you are misinformed who are getting up here speaking about maybe being outed to your parents a parent brought the child into the world raised and Ne that natured that child now the school system wants those parents to hand over their 5-year-old child to school staff who are not trained on transgender issues to keep secrets from the parents 5657 is not mandatory many schools in New Jersey many schools are in the process of repealing 5756 nobody is perfect parents teaches School staff so you can't say teachers are better to raise a child over their parents you cannot take away parents' rights for children 5 to 10 years old I would appreciate it if you disagree with my opinion or question have any questions have the guts to talk to me BAS face don't hide behind your computers when you get home tonight and Bash my name all over and attack me on social media thank you okay Mr rerro yes Howard lipof you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Howard lipof hello uh thank you um I want to thank the um business administrator for her very interesting presentation tonight on the budget I do think that I somewhat disagree with her perspective she voiced regret that we um although we got uh an increase in state aid it wasn't enough well yeah we always wish for more but this is the first time that I could remember uh the state um formula for funding public schools has been fully met and it's an increase and I think that's positive and I also think um that the vote taken earlier tonight was a positive thing as well um let me ask about the budget um will the summer bridge program be funded this year so that's one question I have the other question I have and I asked it um at the last board meeting and I didn't get an answer um there was after having that um poorly thought out idea of repealing that policy on transgender uh youth the same uh board majority voted against professional development for I think it's new teachers to explore the principles of culturally responsive teaching as I said there was no answer to that question the uh by members of the board the only comment was from a former board member who came to the microphone and said she noticed that the presenter um uh on his social media account had a rainbow flag a gay pride flag I guess um behind him and that that becomes very troubling that we're forced to conclude that maybe the board is taking a discriminatory stance on people who come and work in any capacity for the uh Fort Le Public Schools I'd like that addressed because with our current shortage of teachers our shortage of Education support professionals I have a feeling that if word gets out that this board will discriminate even if there is a um recommendation from the uh the superintendent that that will have a negative effect of getting people to come in and work in the Fort Lee Public Schools could also have a chilling effect because maybe some of the administrators will not recommend some of these people to work in our schools because they're afraid the board majority will vote against them for discriminatory reasons uh so I'd like responses to this thank you very [Applause] much Mr Le thank you for your questions as far as the Cent bridge program uh as of now we will not be running that program thank and again as you know it's public comments All com K KRA you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes good evening uh my name is Tesa or Sarah and I live at 484 Main Street my child is attending public schools in Fort Le um thank you for allowing me to speak um now first of all I wanted to bring to the attention of Mr Kravitz and the others that we should be uh following the rules and people that have nothing to do with our Public Schools like they're not parents neither are they students they shouldn't be attending it's time-taking nerve consuming to hear their feelings about different agendas um I personally don't don't I'm not part of any political groups or any religious groups I'm a free person who have chosen to uh submit myself to the power of the almighty Lord now have noticed and I have brought it to your attention and this is probably the last time that I'm bringing it to your attention that our children are um um we as parents have our rights to protect care and provide for our children and we need our rights to stay in place for those children that or those parents or those teachers that feel that they are discriminated based upon their um how they feel about their gender or based of race or color and we always have the institutions as corrupt as they are like Child Protection Services child abuse hotline our corrupt forly police and others report report and report no matter what so everyone is protected at some point we have our institutions we don't need to bring 56 and 57 now um we already have our conditions in our schools that are so poor we walk into the bathrooms there and it's like you're going to get a urinary tract infection pandemics cuz they smell so bad the Bro broken sidewalks the gravel all over the the grounds that can get to the children's eyes and all of that so we already are you already are having the um violations of title 2C of criminal codes for New Jersey and we're not pushing ourselves to go into the extreme of following up and lawsuits at this point in time but you want to add the 56 and 57 and they have an underneath agenda on on their own because they already we already have the institutions in USA against discrimination as I said that is like dragging ourselves and dragging our children into the mud and darkness meanwhile that we're deviating them so far um our enemy has penetrated our government to the point that our leaders start from our president to the others who are leading our schools and communities are simply thieves that are stealing our tax money and funding Wars on innocent people I do a last blasting call to all the parents to get together and do a last blasting call to the fortly board of education to stand up against 56 and 57 and release and free our children and our parents and give them full rights thank you for your attention and have a good [Music] [Applause] night fb.com groups you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the rec record you have three minutes can you hear me okay yes hi Kyler Denine I'm actually an old bridge and I see everyone's getting tired so I'll try to be brief um good evening Fort Lee and congratulations on your decision to uphold 5756 and the vital protections it provides board there were so many courageous speakers this evening including students and your district is fortunate to have such incredible people come out to this meeting again I'm Kyler Denine I represent NJ voters for church and state separation you can find us on Facebook NJ voters for church and state separation and I just wanted to say that overall this policy is a beacon of progress ensuring that transgender students are afforded the same rights and protections as are all other students within our New Jersey schools it is a clear statement that our commitment to equality transcends any singular belief system and that our public policies must reflect the diverse Society we live in policy 5756 is not about upholding the rights of quote unquote just a few as some have tried to claim rather it's a reflection of our broader commitment to civil rights and the non-discrimination principles that are woven into the fabric of our nation to the extent to which they are not already the protections this policy affords will be codified into state law one day history will not remember fondly if it is to remember at all those who sought to subject their neighbors children to discrimination and harassment you can try to claim that attempting to decimate this policy doesn't mean that you don't care about the safety of lgbtq students but nobody who actually does care about them believes you least of all younger people like me I hope your District never again has board members who attempt to subject lgbtq students to the potential for harm because fort you have allies this evening from all across the state unrelenting allies who will continue to show up if ever and whenever you and your loved ones are targeted for this we ask for you to return the favor to help others in towns like mine who need support to battle against bigots who want to take us backwards because no matter who or where in this state we are we are stronger together but thank you again Fort Leo members chrisan lval you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Christian can you hear me yes wonderful good evening my name is Christian wval I'm a former Fort Le public school student and my family has lived in Fort Le for about 20 years I'm here to condemn the vote to resend the repeal of policy 5756 both 5756 and 3319 violate parental rights as well as Fort Lee schools safe and inclusive environments it is it is my sincere hope that the board especially those who ran on protecting parental rights and removing gender ideology from our Public Schools but failed their Community tonight will have the courage to correct their catastrophic error and repeal the policy in its entirety many of the ideas expressed by both sides of this argument are frankly and unfortunately irreconcilable there can be no compromise between them one idea prevailing necessarily means that another will not some ideas are right others are wrong that's ultimately at the root of tonight's debate and this board will have to make the difficult decisions of either enabling delusions or protecting reality and Sanity in our community policies for all of American History schools have been understood to be a partnership between parents and teachers where teachers educate children with the informed consent of their parents why because children belong to their parents and parents are Children's Primary Educators not the schools or School te 5756 violates the primary role of parents in their children's lives and over A Century of established American law by removing parents from the equation and allowing teachers to enable life-altering social transitions without parental knowledge or consent in their youngest years children's minds and emotional development are easily influenced in their teenage years children face all sorts of identity questions as they seriously begin to figure out the kind of person they're going to be when it comes to questions of gender it is the parents job to raise their boys as boys and their girls as girls while some while some may neglect to do so it is certainly not the job of teachers to hide a child's gender dysphoria from their parents all available research tells us that anywhere from 80 to 95% of pre-teens and teens who are not socially transitioned when they first Express gender dysphoria will return to identifying with their biological sex after their adolesence there is nothing safe there is nothing safe about enabling a child's confusion about their gender when in nine out of 10 cases their gender dysphoria resolves itself with time a safe School environment is one in which parents know what's going on with their children everything that's going on with their children a safe School environment is one that doesn't jeopardize Girls Athletic achievements by making them compete against boys a safe School environment is one that doesn't allow boys to be in girls locker rooms and vice versa an inclusive School environment is one in which parents are included in the process of their children's education and have the most influential voice in directing it because children belong to their parents first we don't love those with gender dysphoria by enabling it we love them by helping them reconcile their identity with their biological sex policy 5756 [Applause] policy 5756 and 3319 and any other versions that may come up only serve to exacerbate a child's gender dysphoria and removes them from the ones with whom they are often the sa sir you please wrap up your comment policy 5756 and all of its other forms should be repealed in their enti Naomi bovic you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Naomi you're muted can you hear me yes awesome uh let me just start the video I am the mother of two children my name is Nami bovic I reside in 2337 Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee New Jersey um it's appalling to me that from the moment of conception I've been tasked with taking care of children feeding them taking care of them emotionally and physically from the moment of their birth I've have been tasked of making sure that they are safe anything from falling down to wiping away their tears anytime they are involved in anything where it might be a fight in school or just an emotional stress of some sort it's appalling to see that now as I'm getting ready to bring my children into the schooling system I'm not being tasked with even questioning that these educators will be possibly influencing them to do something that religiously I'm not for and secondly apart from religiously something that they do not have the right to do I was given god-given authority over my children to be their parents their aside from having God Almighty as my highest Authority secondly I was given the constitutional right which protects us and aarental rights to protect our children against from what we're seeing today if we hear the comments that were made tonight our children's choices and our parental rights were being compared to something as crazy as ordering a tuna sandwich at school come on guys we need to do better by our kids we need to do better by the parents of this town and generally as a society as a whole we need to make sure that parental rights are in place if a child is not able to speak to their parents has no place in school for them to fill the need of the parent we need to figure out other counseling or other means or other reasons that's [Applause] all Bob you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Bob you're muted hey guys how you doing can you hear me yes awesome hey everyone uh my name is Bob I live on Bridge Plaza North Fort Le I have few kids here in the school system uh some of me some of you know me from coaching your kids and baseball and football and I love being part of this community uh thanks for your time I was at the meeting last week I did not speak because I wanted to just uh sit there and take it all in and listen to everybody's point of view uh there's a lot of emotion coming from both sides which is understandable both sides feel like they're going to lose something whether this policy stays in place or is taken off the table uh much respect to those raising your concerns on both sides of the issue without fear-mongering and calling people extremist and bigots and all that stuff um three minute windows don't really allow us to have discussions but just bullet point conversations you know uh but a question if you were to send out flyers to all the parents of this community to see if they would waiver or give up any rights to their child for any policy lgbtq aside what answer do you think you would get remember these are the parents of the Board of Education members represent what do you think the consensus would be this is uh most parents are not uh not concerned with this lgbtq stuff they're concerned of the barrier that's being placed between the school system and our young kids in our in our in our homes once you once you put that barrier between us we're gonna put a barrier between you and the teacher us and the teacher us and the superintendent Us in the Board of Education transparency has not been your biggest asset in the school system so look we're all here for our community we love the community we live in right I I coach these kids I spent thousands of dollars and hours over the several years I've been here Fort Lee is inclusive town and people to say oh I'm ashamed of this town that I moved here there's bigots that's that's nonsense there's nobody hunting down for any lgbtq reasons on the street that's ridiculous this is a very loving Community policemen firemen council members parents they donate all their time to help these kids in sports and other program amounts of money and effort and time of their companies to help these kids but now placing this one little barrier will hurt that fabric of this community parental rights come first no matter what especially for junior high level and down these kids need to talk to their parents parents need to be involved with their kids and teachers and Board of Education and superintendent to say that you can make a file that where I can't I can't review it because my seven-year-old wants to wants to disclose something to you my seven-year-old thought a black hole was going to open up in his room the other night and wouldn't go to sleep because he watched a video on black holes what what do you think is going through these kids' Minds it's us as parents to guide them we don't send our kids we don't birth our kids feed our kids and send them to school they're our kids not the state's kids not Fort Le's kids they're not the federal government's kids they're our kids we raised them [Applause] Alex W you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Alex W thank you thank you Jason hello everyone I'm Alex I live at 24542 Street uh I'm an educator myself and uh repetition is definitely one of the keys to learning so let me repeat something that has been said already this policy does not create a barrier between parents and their children if you if you want to know something about your child all you have to do is ask them you want to know if your child is transgender ask them you want to know if your child is gay ask them if they don't tell you then that's probably because they don't want to and if they don't want to maybe you should ask yourself why they don't want to the policy sorry the poliy does not create barriers between parents and their children I also wanted to uh comment on the the reference to the constitutionality of parents rights um I feel like it's aopo that previous speaker spoke of the framers of the Constitution and what they wrote about children and what I've heard from a lot of people is this idea that children belong to their parents that children are the property of their parents well you know the framers of the Constitution also believed that there was another group of people that they could treat as property and those were of course I'm talking about the forcibly imported millions of Africans who served in this country as enslaved people now tell me do we want to go back to a time when all we learn about the framers of the Constitution is that they never told a lie and that they were wonderful people and that they only had the best interest and that all men are created equal or do we want to learn the truth that many of them own slaves many of them did not mean the words that they wrote all men are created equal we know that's true the people here who are arguing for parents right and who are arguing that children should be the property of their parents this is a right-wing movement that is intending to ultimately destroy public education and the first thing they want to do is take us back to a time when all we learned was to be patriotic uh to support the USA no matter what we learned lies about the presidents we learned lies about many things is that what we want to go back to is that what we want for Le to be I I certainly don't and I know that there are many many parents in this town who may have questions who may have uncertainty about this policy but I feel like they are certain that they want their kids to learn the truth mom for Liberty wants your kids to learn lies and it starts here thank you Sharon qual Lee you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Sharon quali you're muted I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry this is my first time doing this sorry about that we can hear I don't want to speak too long because I know that it's been way too long it's been um this conversation has been going on way too long and I know there has been a vote already uh I would like first to thank each and every Boe member no matter what your opinions are I respect the fact that you all are there to serve our children and our students um I understand parental rights I believe in parental rights however what has been going on tonight which is really frustrating is that I feel that people did not actually read the actual policy and I will read through some of them um where your parental rights and every single person who spoke about their concern with parental rights it's right there it's in the policy it's in 5756 it's even in the revised proposal which I read both of them read every single word please I everybody who has concerns because it actually did say policy five well 5756 number three school districts May seek a variety of professionals including counselors and school psychologist to provide emotional support So anybody that had concerns about getting mental health professionals it's right there number four confidentiality and privacy the counseling for student and students family be facilitated in any safety issues in any uh issues of harassment and bullying H1B policy actually that parents be told about all this I don't understand why parental rights becoming an issue when it shouldn't be 5756 protects parental rights it protects both sides of us we need to come together we do not need lies we do not need we do not need misrepresentation and that is what is happening tonight and that is what has been happening for a long time now we need to actually read the policy out a way when somebody said there is no compromise division by saying that we do need to compromise we all need to figure this out but the way to do it is to listen to each other and to actually read the policy that is what I urge every person who has concerns read the policy your parental rights are protected in [Applause] 5756 jpf you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes jpf hey good evening how are you can you hear me yes hello hello everyone uh out of curiosity how many people are on the line tonight there's 10030 amazing great hi everyone Jay par fre here my pronouns are he and him and I'm a resident of one Wall Street I'm a parent to a first grade child in the district I'm married to a man who is a public school educator and I'm gay still gay for those of you still keeping track every single time that I come out to this group of people uh why am I coming out to you again tonight because I must I do it because I'm reminding all the people tuning in tonight young and old that coming out is personal and lifelong self-identifying as a member of the lgbtq community is not a linear path it's deeply personal it's convoluted it's lifelong I still am and I will always be G and I will tell you this that it's not always easy we are always othered by more times we care to admit but that doesn't mean that we don't hold value and worth because you are worth it even after this meeting's conclusion I will go back to my life as a gay man and can continue to fight the fight of being seen as an equal member of this country this County and this community during the emergency meeting I along with many community members pleaded for you to reconsider the repeal of 5756 tonight you made the right choice but just know this the members of the LGBT community are now viscerally aware of how you the elected members of the Board of Education move we see you move you Proclaim Love Is Love Is Love Is Love and display rainbow backgrounds on your public platforms but only for pride month I encourage you to do it more than just to be social media ready with your support speak out when you hear homophobia happen in everyday life don't tolerate hateful speeches call it out listen to the lgbtq youth and ask them what they need yes they are young but also yes they are brave they're full of ideas of how to combat homophobia in a meaningful way and I sincerely hope that you continue listening to them they asked you to listen we ask you to listen and we're satisfied that you did you did right so keep doing right thank you all Al Bruder you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video we state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Al buer you're muted Al Brer you need to unmute yourself can you hear me now yes okay so my name is Al Brer my address is 555 North Avenue I'm a 31 years resident of Fort Lee and I'm also a retired Fort Lee Public Schools teacher for 15 years I work as a speech and language specialist in school number one and in all years that I work there I never witnessed any incidents of discrimination of students based on their race culture religion abilities or sexual orientation I just want to emphasize how big is the role of parents in raising their children in our district since I was a part of special services my colleagues and I had to constantly collaborate with the parents parents were essential members of the IP team and none of our students could achieve success without their parents some parents were very difficult to deal with some of them were in denial of their child's problem but with continuous counseling providing resources to them and just talking to them face to face we had achieved tremendous success for their children I can say that I as a professional could not have done my job without parental involvement and I work with the most vulnerable population we can't take away rights to care for their children from the parents who for the most part are very loving and supporting we should provide necessary resources and counseling for the parents on such difficult and delicate topics such as gender identity if you keep this policy in place it should be definitely revised and instead of limiting parental rights broaden them by giving them the necessary tools and resources this will increase their responsibilities in creating a safe environment for their children at home the thing that everyone is emphasizing that they don't have many of these children don't have the safe environment so give them the tools how to do it if a student especially young one is afraid to talk about their gender identity to the parents and then comes to school and confides to the teacher and the teacher keeps it a secret from the parents what good would it do to the child at school the child will use his preferred gender identity but then will'll come home after school what to be another person one this create psychological and mental problems and develop something like a personality disorder I can't even list all the harmful effects of such approach instead the school should follow this is my opinion it's not that I'm telling somebody it's my opinion the school should have a protocol in place just we have an anti-bullying protocol or what to do if such situations occur if the child talks to the teacher then the teacher should contact trained professional who then should contact the parents and bring them to the table and only together they can decide what to do in their child best interest there should be people in the district train in this area so they can Cel the parents okay I will wrap it up if it's the parents not this just the school who care and provide for their child that they love are the schools and the community ready to take all parental responsibilities upon themselves in the best interest of our children I encourage the board members to give a big thought about this policy and revise it and make appropriate changes particular when it concerns young students I want to say one more sentence one more sentence please I strongly believe that using threatening and insulting tactics on your opponents are not the way to go in Democratic Society thank you m m you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have 3 minutes Mel uh hi M kesco uh crazy at Tom Hunter Road as we heard it last time on the camera yeah I heard it you whispered your microphone was on and we deserve an apology on that one uh in regards to this policy this policy has no place to exist in the school district because uh the parents that don't want to be in their children's life and don't care what happens to the kid and they want the kid to talk with whatever stranger they can perfectly neglect the kid without the policy in place for everyone else that has a kid we see what what's happening on Tik Tok kids itat Ty pods and they put challenges kids uh put stupid challenges on ing random people overall kids cannot be trusted even with their laundry and you're telling me that they're going to be trusted with random talk with random people um so with that in mind I think as as a parents we're fully in our right to be involved in what's happening in school and in which direction the school takes the conversation especially when other people talk with our kids because as you know kids are highly influential and they can modeled into whatever the parents or the teacher combin uh push them into so that's one thing the other thing is one of the people on stream mentioned that uh there's actually a cat in the school and the school provided accommodations for that said person uh meaning they gave him a litter box at the bathroom so we're beyond the girl boy dress whatever thing we're having animals so my question for the school is how many kids identify as animals and how accommodations for these kids look like are you allowing them to Le their genitals in class cuz that's what the cats do randomly do you call Animal Services when they get sick or you send them to the nurse the other question is you know I have a kid that identifies as Spider-Man because he's a prek are you gonna I don't know we webs and put them on the walls so he could drop around because that's why he thinks [Applause] nowadays so please answer how many cats do we have at this moment in the school district because I'm curious about that one and also are the parents notified on or is it the policy 5756 that prevents you from doing that there are no cats that we are [Music] aware Deborah Masters you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Deborah hello my name is Deborah Masters I live at 1018 Jasmine Way in Fort Lee uh I'd like to thank the board for their vote earlier this uh this evening and uh but in case we revisit this issue which is uh very likely I'd like to make the following comments giving vulnerable children as many options as possible to be able to confide in a responsible and caring adult can only be viewed as positive sadly it's unrealistic to assume that all children come from safe and nurturing homes policy 5756 provides protections and options for those children who may need them and any reduction in those protections is protections is unacceptable I urge you to keep policy 5756 in place as is please put the needs of vulnerable Children First kindness and understanding should be in the Forefront of our minds when making decisions concerning the welfare of children thank you Esther Han silver you've been promoted to panelists please mute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have 3 minutes okay hello um I would be there with you tonight but I am homesick with the flu so I could not be there in person um one of the things that I I notice people keep saying is you know like oh you should only listen to the parents I just want to clarify the Board of Education represents the community all right the parents are obviously a segment of the community I'm not saying saying that they should be ignored but I'm just clarifying that they're not the only voice that matters when it comes to decisions like this um I do wanted to clarify um is one p one p is still on the agenda right I don't think there was any motion regarding one p on tonight's agenda all right finish your okay all right so if if it's still on the agenda I would say someone should make a motion to strike one p from the agenda before you guys start voting on all the agenda items um so thank you for the vote you took tonight um seriously this has gone on long enough and and too much time energy and resources have gone into this um and you guys have to kind of go back to to doing um one of the things I did want to point out is that you know some of the things that I heard a few times you know if a doesn't accept a child all right that does not equate to abuse or it does not mean that child services need to be called all right um so I would say don't jump to those kinds of conclusions all right um just from personal experience I can guarantee you that if any point in my life either even now or 20 years ago all right if I told my parents that I was not a CIS female heterosexual all right they would not have accepted me all right because of cultural and religious differences does that mean that they were abusive that it was not an un that it was an unsafe home no it just meant they did not believe in that all right so I I just don't I just want to disabuse that notion all right that just if a parent doesn't accept it it means they're abusive all right um I know Howard brought it up I want to make sure I bring it up again um I will follow up with the five board members who did vote no on 3C on that March 4th meeting um you know just to kind of find out you know was is there something that we didn't know that you found OB objectionable about this professional development all right um because I think actions like this it it Paints the district all right and you don't want people to see it and you know we're you know I hear a lot about the teacher shortage guess what when people are looking at where they're going to work next they're going to be looking up you know they they do that with companies you look up the the company people are going to be looking up the district this is what they're seeing all right and they may not want to be working here all right in a place that doesn't value you know providing them professional development that doesn't value inclusivity all right um I have 15 seconds left I just want to point out that you know we were told that only the objectionable lines were removed from the policy but the first line was removed and that's said the board of education is committed to providing a safe supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students that's something we should strive for not strike thank you m philippin you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes hi everybody good evening um hello again um Michelle philippin 2298 Le Moine Avenue um so first I just wanted to say thank you to those six of you who stepped up to make the right decision tonight um I know you all must be exhausted um and when I've spoken the last two times I have mostly spoken about being a teacher but of course I am also a parent um and I wanted to contribute tonight that I also believe in parents parents rights but please don't put quotes around those words I do not mean it the way that moms for Liberty means it which by the way feel a big no thank you to having a designated extremist group feeling compelled to speak on behalf of our town tonight I know that there was a big call out to them in berden County um no thanks um so I really feel there's just no place for that in our town um and for those of you who feel like this is a stay out of my home or stay out of my family's business kind of issue I feel pretty strongly that I have some great homeschool curricula that I can refer you to is public education and every kid is exactly our business that's what the business of school is it's that every kid is our business um we're in a community so I believe in parents rights in so far is that I have the right as a parent to build a relationship with my kids I have a right that relationship I have a right to make my home a safe haven and to keep them well fed and as healthy as we can manage I don't know if you have toddlers But It's Tricky uh and to be in dialogue with their school and as a partner in their education as a teacher I welcome that partnership and as a parent I engage deeply in that partnership and I will tell you that no one and nothing include ining 5756 or least of all 5756 is preventing me from engaging in that partnership with my child's School my kid is five and technically he'll be five and three4 in just a few days and he won't let us forget it um he is an absolute magical creature and he has been wearing dresses since just before turning four and wanting his nails painted since he was three in one of my favorite pictures of him he's in a police officer's cap and a giant glittery red tutu and he thinks he may be a little bit of both a boy and a girl they're his words not mine and this may mean something or absolutely nothing about who he becomes but the point is that it is my responsibility to create a home where his dreams can be made whatever they are that's my job those are [Applause] Jamie Jamie Zug you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Jamie Zug thanks hi I'm Jamie zg I'm I'm gonna take a out because I'm hearing an echo myself I'm an uh I'm an attorney I'm from Bordentown New Jersey my pronouns are he him I'm also a transgender person uh I wanted to stay on so that I could offer the board a perhaps a different framework for thinking about these issues a non-political framework um and that is just uh more of a practical approach this very issue that we're talking about a lot tonight whether a child should be able to come out when and how how they want to is being litigated in four cases in the that are pending in the appet division right now and there are parallel components of those cases being litigated in the office of administrative law so if this board decides to regroup um and to take action in which they prevent children from being able to come out when and how they would like to I think it's very likely that that too would be litigated there have been a lot of school districts where the school boards have decided that irrespective of whether there's going to be litigation they care enough about the issues that they're going to vote um to amend policy 5756 anyway the thing that would make your school district different is that you are coming to it so much later that your your litigation wouldn't actually matter this issue is going to be decided ahead of you so as a practical matter this conversation we're all showing up here because we care about it but this conversation isn't going to make a contribution to this issue it's being decided in the court ahead of the school district so I think those of you who have constituents who are very concerned about this issue and you're worried about how to talk to them about it um you're worried about well you know how am I going to talk to these parents that are concerned you can tell them that you're not going to do something that's not meaningful for your School District that you're going to focus your attention on something that is Meaningful for your school district this doesn't have to be political um stepping away from amending policy 5756 this as the court case progresses we'll see how it turns out and then that's going to be an opportunity for the school district to reflect on what it wants to do next but I just don't want anybody to feel like there need to be big lose Big Winners and big losers here this is this is emotionally really hard meeting I don't know if you feel it I do this is hard really really hard we don't have to be here we don't have to keep doing it there are other school districts there taxpayers are paying for it already you don't have to you can focus on the other things um all of these arguments are already being made so I just want to offer you that that it doesn't have to be about this versus that or winners and losers tonight we can all go home put this behind us watch it play out in the courts um thank you so much andice Ramba you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Candace Ramba coming we can hear you you can hear me oh thanks Jason um I just wanted to thank uh president Victor first of all for handling this meeting so well and I just want to say a few quick things that um I thank the board for their vote tonight but Everyone's entitled to their opinion and uh they have to realize that both sides whichever way the vote went last time or this time that there's been bullying and threatening on both sides and I just respected everybody that came up on either side and spoke with dignity and respect to everybody in the audience and I especially respect the children that got up and spoke on behalf of themselves and friends because I know it's very hard thing to do uh I just had one question I guess the gentleman that just spoke the attorney that just spoke I had a rhetorical question that I felt is that I don't know why all of a sudden this became it's been an effect in our district for years we haven't had any issues with it and these past few months all of sudden became such a big issue for us it's return IAL question I know I won't get an answer for that but I just had to bring that up it's been in effect we've had teachers in here for the district for years and said it's never been brought up we've never had any issues with it but just something to think about and again I would just want to thank the board members that voted and again uh president RoR for her dedication to being here tonight also with um very important things going on at our home and we respect you for your dedication thank you good night everybody eldri you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes eldri hi everyone can you hear me yes hi everyone and esteemed members of the board I sit in my car before you today not just as a product of the fortly system but a testament to its unwavering dedication to nurturing and protecting every child under its care hi my name is eldric etra um 2100 lywood Avenue as a young boy growing up in Fort Lee I faced the harsh realities of being different I was gay and the cruelty of my peers weighed heavily on my shoulders but in the midst of Darkness I found light in the familiar faces of my teachers particularly my mother who taught me not just in the classroom but in life in seventh grade when the taunts and jeers became too much to bear it was my math teacher Miss Murphy who became My Sanctuary every day she welcomed me with open arms offering not just a safe space but genuine compassion and understanding our lunchtime conversations became a Lifeline grounding me in a world that often seemed hostile and unwelcoming thanks to the unwavering support of Educators like Miss Murphy I found the strength to embrace my identity and pursue my dreams their love and acceptance saved me from Despair and set me on a path of self-discovery and empowerment today I sit in my car before you an after school educator in Fort Lee and I am a living Testament to the transformative power of a nurturing and inclusive environment my journey is a testament to the values that Define Fort Le's educational Community compassion empathy and acceptance as we chart the course for the future of Fort Le schools let us remember the impact we have on the lives of our students let us vow to keep Fort Lee a beacon of safety and love just as it was for me and in continues to be for me as an educator thank you for allowing me to share my story with you all [Applause] Margarita the Gardner you've been promoted to panelists please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Margarita Bodner uh good evening everyone um so I just want to talk about a general tendency that I don't like regarding what is happening during the meeting and regarding the pressure that being put on the board members if the vote or decision of the board is not what people want to see if you don't like I don't even talk only about this 5657 policy now we see pressure on the board for some kind of vot about the policy that we don't even know you know it's called diversity or inclusion but you know we don't know anything about it and if the board members felt that it's something you know that is not for the uh for the not in the interest of current importance for the children that's their right it looks like you know I left Russia 30 years ago and I I really couldn't believe that I will find myself in a situation when people are scared for their you know children being treated differently School people are scared for their walk if they say something during the Board of Education meeting or if they vote differently based on what Paul revealed I'm not even sure that board members who flipped their voice uh running on different platform did it voluntary I'm scared maybe they are not because there was an option even not to repeal completely the policy Casey sest Ed a discussion I don't know if you even read the policy the policy said even for you know for psychological very significant issue really critical cases of mental issues the district May communicate with not must May Comm so people who tell me to read the policy you read the policy there are several things that need to be that need to be corrected so you who who actually took what vs of thousands of people you did not even give a chance to discuss some small you know changes so the community can come together that's very suspicious that reminds me of communist Russia talking about extremist organization they have some kind of new form Communist Party of Fort Lee and they have a method if they don't like something they would paint you extremist they would paint you you know far right they are being far left okay and I believe and exactly at the same point okay board members remember not all I'm not this is a very sensitive issue I can understand that but overall you have to remember parents no most of the parents don't talk they silently voted for you okay they silently voted for you you took their votes and now you're flipping you had to give a chance for the discussion you have to a chance for the discussion shame on [Applause] you Christina amendolia you've been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes Christina amolia hi thank you good evening everyone my name is Christina amolia I live at 2175 Hudson Terrace I've been a fortly resident for nearly 20 years and I have a child in Intermediate School the place we're starting from is one we actually have in common we love our kids me everyone who's there tonight attending this meeting everyone on the school board who has children we love our kids and we want what's best for them we want them to be happy and fulfilled we want them to be safe but actually the kids are all right we're the ones with the problem as parents I think it's really easy to lose sight of the fact that our kids are human beings because they're smaller than we are but they have their own minds and their own bodies and they have their own Hearts we raise our children children we share our knowledge we instill them with our values but we must also trust them and Trust ourselves that we laid a good foundation my child came out as non-binary and changed their pronouns to they them about a year and a half ago except I could have told you when they were two and a half three years old but I didn't impose my observations on them I didn't introduce the concept or the language it came from them it came from their heart and they told me and what did I do nothing I listened I held space for them and when they told their teachers the staff the administration at their school what did those folks do nothing except see them accept them and hold space for them and most importantly keep them safe we all know the indoctrination is not happening in our schools the teacher staff and administration are too busy they don't have time their plates are overflowing with the actual business of running the schools of educating our kids and of keeping everyone safe happy and [Music] healthy they don't have any agenda they're not trying to drive a wedge between kids and their parents we parents can do a very good job of driving that wedge ourselves if we choose to and to suggest that the people in our schools are doing so is insulting and demeans the excellent work that they do every day because if we thought otherwise we wouldn't put our kids in the schools if we thought otherwise we wouldn't live in Fort Lee the push to repeal policy 5756 by some of you is illc conceived and the proposal to amend it is downright fool hearty the current policy has been in place for five years and it is working my child is a perfect perfect example of that if you take for example another child I know who was trans came out to their friends came out to the teachers didn't come out to their parents right away for no particular reason they just weren't comfortable but if you go to the other end of the spectrum the child who cannot tell their parents because it is unsafe to do so you are directly putting that Child In Harm's Way if you continue this path of repealing and even replacing this policy let's put this behind us now thank you for your vote tonight thank you for your [Applause] time [Music] Michelle Perez you have been promoted to panelist please unmute your microphone and feel free to share your video please state your name and address for the record you have three minutes hi it's almost 11 o'clock is anybody tired great I I had so much to say but I don't have to anymore thank you for voting appropriately I'm really proud of all of you um I'm proud of you for saying what you think uh even if I don't agree with you I am proud of for your time not that you need me to be proud of you cuz you can be proud of yourselves um I just want to have a couple of things and I will hopefully finish well before three minutes um in New Jersey civil rights start at the time of birth not in fifth grade A parents constitutional rights are not infringed upon in 5756 according to the Court's decision in the Handover decision if you read it you would know that and I know a bunch of you have and I'm sure you'll come at me and yell at me that I'm wrong but I know I'm right because I read it also a parent is not kept from finding out information the these are all fallacies that just keep getting repeated and repeated and repeated just because something gets repeated doesn't make it correct little details like May or must have serious legal implications in a policy they are not small words be careful what you change so let's see what the courts say I'm sure you have plenty of curriculum and building and grounds issues to discuss at your next meeting thank you to our teachers our administrators thank you to the board for your time thank you Jason reier for your hours of patience andic we appreciate all of you and thank you for maintaining that the board of education is committed to providing a safe supportive and inclusive learning environment for all of our students thank [Applause] you there are no more raised hands floor to public have a motion to close the floor to the public didn't have the first I did oh okay I you didn't wait for me to ask the question so I was itat second K any um all in favor any opposed or exensions okay moving on resolutions may I have a motion to approve items 1B through 3B moot motion Morel second Rino moot roll call please Mrs buers K yes M KB yes Iain on my name on 3D Miss Curry yes Iain for my name on Mr Knight yes standing on Mrs Kang yes Mr Lopez yes abstain on 3B my name m moral yes Iain on my name on freb Mr Rubino yes Mrs Rick there yes abstaining for my on 3B may have a motion to approve items one one CR through three CR Mor second buy k please Mrs buers Kang yes this is kback yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs kotang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Rino yes Mrs RI yes I have a motion to approve items 1 F through 14f motion motion Byers Kang second call please Mrs buers Kang yes Miss colbat yes and a big thank you to Acme and the portly Chamber of Commerce who donated over $5,000 to the district Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs kotang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Rino yes Mrs RoR yes may I have a motion to approve ads 1 p through 12p motion second motion Morel second call please Mrs buers King yes M colbat yes Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight yes Mrs cang yes Mr Lopez yes M morel yes Mr Rino yes Mrs RoR yes I have a motion to approve item one [Music] p you can move this the way it's stated and just vote now or you can move to withdraw it we be take from the agenda ition to agend miss Morel has made a motion to withdraw item one p from the agenda and M goang has seconded that sorry I oppose okay this is buyers K yes Mrs colback no Mrs Curry yes Mr Knight so for uh for one p I vote Yes on policy 33 the vote is to withdraw oh then I vote no Mrs kotang yes Mr Lopez yes M Morel yes Mr Rino yes Mrs RoR yes okay is there any old business any new business motion to adjourn I I just want to address the three C that people keep inquiring about um so there had been some discussion since that was a contract and in in private um and so I voted no on that because I asked a number of questions and the answers weren't readily available um and I wasn't satisfied with the information that I got so I I voted no on it it it keeps coming up so I just wanted to explain my personal vote okay thank you a motion to adjourn motion motion Morel second Kath all in favor oppose no thank you good [Applause] night