e for for e for so that's change the calendar today we to dat we have used three out of our four allocated sers also course selection for 24 2 school year was completed on January 22nd I also want to mention next meeting of the special education parent advisory group is scheduled for January 31st tomorrow night at 6 PM in the district office these meetings are held a few times a year and are open to any parent of new District student with an i few other recognitions I want to throw out there congratulations to the model un delegations from both of our high schools who reive the recognition of outstanding delegation at the YMCA Model United Nations conference in her that was held on January 5th through to 7th um some model UN members also receive individual recognitions which are posted on our district website I'd also like to congratulate on I believe Adine this last month last week but I didn't cover it again uh congratulations to 11 students from our high schools that were selected for the Central Jersey music educators Association symphonic honors B by 85 students from 23 high schools in central New Jersey for dishonor and the students performing a concert together on January 20th at sville high school and again more information is available on our district so at this point I'd like to uh mention that since our last board meeting we had five total hip cases uh two of them were founded so those will be firm next month uh and then we also have I need to call for motion call for a motion for in a second to affirm the determination of the hip incident reported at the November 28th 2023 board meeting so moved second all in favor I opposed obain two yeah same sorry so in addition we have our um uh School Bus emergency evacuation Joe for vores high school um that was conducted back in no and we also have our monthly reports for November and December if there's any questions okay thank you so before I begin with my president's report I just wanted to give a brief statement to all that attended last Tuesday's board meeting my apologies again that we were not able to complete the meeting due to concerns for safety of everyone in attendance to address those safety concerns we have moved the meeting to this larger setting I want to thank all of you for coming back out tonight I want to especially apologize to our students I do not believe we the collective Community provided you last week with the best examples of how to have an open respectful conversation or how to engage in civil discourse and I am hoping we can do better tonight I also want to particularly apologize to warhe unified students and advisers and to North's s Zang who I understand were in attendance last week to be honored for their achievements the Vorhees unified students and advisers participated in the Special Olympics annual turkey Splash and Dash November 18th for a fifth year in a row coming away with two trophies for their fundraising efforts and Selena Zang was named by the society for science as one of the 40 finalists in The regeneron Science Talent search for 2024 and we have extended invitations to these students to attend a future meeting so that we can properly honor them the board has received numerous emails over the past few weeks regarding library books and North hunon certified library media specialist I personally read all of the emails several of which asked that I read them aloud during the board meeting it is not our policy or practice to read aloud at these meetings correspondence that has been sent to the board however copies of the emails are available in the district office for anyone who wishes to read them by District policy the process to review any book in our libraries can only be started by a formal written complaint submitted to the superintendent reading aloud from a book or commenting about a book during public comment does not start the review process to be very clear at this time North hund and Vorhees board is not reviewing any books currently in our libraries I would like to note that this board is confirmed committed to the free exercise size of the First Amendment as one of the foundational bedrocks of our educational system we believe that it is the free exchange of ideas and positions that leads our students to ask questions to learn and to grow I want to again say that the board supports all of our students whether they are persons of color in our lgbtq plus Community or any other members of our driers community at all times every single student counts and we will continue to work to make sure that each IND student feels respected and welcomed in our schools the north hund bores board of education is absolutely and fully committed supporting our students as an integral part of that support for our students the board is fully committed to supporting our staff in the proper performance of their educational duties while the board of education has no ability to control what or how members of this community or people outside our community may choose to express themselves on social media let me be very clear we will not and do not accept or condone the use of violent or threatening language or resorting to disparaging or profane profane language directed our staff or anyone else any email communicated [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that any any email communic communication that is disparaging or uses profane language to a staff member will be addressed appropriately including in some instances blocking the sending email address it is the admin if the administration becomes aware of any violent or threatening communication regarding any staff member the police are notified and we will work with law enforcement in any investigation that being said as an effort towards continuous Improvement I will ask for a motion later this evening to have the policy security committee to review the current policies and procedures regarding Communications directed at our staff overall I ask everyone board members the community and the staff to please use social media in a constructive and professional manner that is focused solely on supporting our students and not our self-interests and has set a good example for our students I would also ask everyone that when we open the floor to public comment tonight to please keep your comment respectful and non defamatory and to maintain the level of the Quorum appropriate for public meeting especially given students are present in the audience in particular if a person is addressing the board please allow the person to speak without interruption turning back to the agenda agenda so January 2024 is School Board recognition month in particular is resolution 01324 D3 which has two resolutions one that the school board recognizes the service of local Schoolboard members throughout New Jersey and that this school board urges all New Jersey citizens to work with the local school boards of education and public school staffs towards the advancement of children's education I like to call for a motion as second to adopt resolution 01302 4-3 second oops all in favor I opposed exensions the uh 20124 board committees and representatives and delegates have been formed if you they're all on the district website I will say the first meetings took place and uh new members and existing members I would say they're very spirited so it was a good first round of meetings so I look forward to the year our next meeting is February 27th 2024 at 700 PM in The District administration office so I'd like to now open for public comment so during this portion of the meeting the public is invited to address the Board of Education with comments you are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to state your name Municipality of residents group affiliation of applicable and direct your comments to the board president while all comments will be considered by the Board of Education and a response may be forthcoming if and when appropriate individual school board members may not respond to the speakers at the time of their appearance the public comment period will be a maximum of 30 minutes in length unless there are unusual circumstances you will be allocated 3 minutes to speak and no one will be permitted to speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard please keep your comments respectful and non defamatory and maintain a level of decorum appropriate for a public meeting where students may be present and in the audience can I just ask that if if people are in the audience tonight that want to address items on our agenda specifically can we can we at least give them an opportunity to speak first and I realize there a lot of you want to talk but can we at least have them speak first want have any comments on agenda items only please come forward all right n first public comment can I also ask I just I I know I'm not going to dictate order I know you have students here tonight and I can't tell if students want to speak but please also make sure that students get an opportunity to speak I didn't whatever you like just please make sure they also get a chance testing you can okay good no may go okay sorry hello Eric Linko um I live in a community I'm in Franklin Andale New Jersey I do have students that go to North hunon uh I have been here multiple times to speak to the board uh in regards to the sexual content and the obscenities within some of the books that have been distributed within this Library um the book that I had read on November 28th I believe the date was in 2023 was not about any specific sexuality it was about all sexualities and the and the content within it was is very obscene however these times when I have come to the board I've never explained my why on why I'm here okay and because it's very private to me but I think it's time to go public so that way I can protect children I was sexually assaulted and molested when I was 7 years old my assault my the person who sex me lost me was 15 years old she was my babysitter I just want to give you a stat real quick all right one out of seven students that go will be sexually assaulted before they graduate high school I know that because I am um and also within that one out of seven 40% of them it would be done by another minor my perpetrator was another minor so when I come to speak to you board I'm not coming as in yes kids have a freedom to to read but I'm coming here to speak with speak in terms of something that have happened to me my perpetrator showed me I remember to this day in a room my mom was away it was a Sears magazine that had RAC it it had regular pictures in it it then progressed to um more obscene photos that had to do with Playboy um and I can tell you right now the pictures that were prived on these books it triggered me but I'm not here to be triggered as a victim I'm here to actually try to speak out to I think we're not looking at really what the true issue is here if we put this in the hands of miners with there's when there's no um no regulatory there's no nothing there's no control of it it just gets put into the library and no one knows these books can be used and in appr in an inappropriate manner that it was used for me I had to deal with the trauma of being molested by my babysitter for years on end without going to my parents I was embarrassed about it I was ashamed about it in fact it took me a lot many times to come up to speak to all of you on really why I was here on why but my why is because I'm here to protect children to get this material that is being distributed in terms of how to go to Kink PL how to go on porn and look at Kink a how to within that book let's talk about it okay a book that actually says how to sex and what to do with sexting a book that gives you instructions on how to masturbate on how to do all these things that if my perpetrator showed this to me while I was in that room when my mom was gone at six years old she would have been more successful so I want you to think about it Bor when you're thinking about these books and right for read on who they harm and there is no one speaking up for sexual assault victims at this school [Applause] hi hi good evening um I think when it comes down to this book I agree with the point that a lot of the content in it can be considered graphic but I think it's also important to acknowledge that in the world we're in can I just have your name in your oh sorry my name and what I just your name name and where you live my name's Chris I I live in Glen Garder okay thank you I I wholeheartedly agree with the point that there is obsene content in this book but I think it's also important to take into account that we're high schoolers in the digital age and I think it's really important to put into perspective that if people aren't kids my age your kids my friends aren't going to the library aren't going to pick up resources to talk about things in a healthy manner where are we going to get it the internet what are we going to find on the internet not Progressive content not anything that's going to help us we're going to find the worst of the worst I know I've seen it in people around me that they look for things they find things they share things because it's funny not because it's productive and then the reality is that there are people my age my grade level younger that are engaging in things that they really shouldn't but at least they have resources available to them in public libraries and in books and things they can go over and over on how to be safe about the things that they're doing because nothing is going to stop people my age from being curious from figuring things out from feeling emotions and experiencing the changes that come with puberty hormones things of that nature but if we're not going to get it in a safe environment then where a couple of my friends personally have been victims of sexual assault there was a time I was with friends and we were having a sleepover it was a lot of fun we were on the floor we were telling stories we were being girly we were being cute and we were talking about boys and my friend chimes in and she asks about something that happened to her with a family member and she didn't know that it was sexual assault she brought that in front of us and it was hard for her to talk about not because she understood what was going on but because she didn't I remember how it felt to be in that room with her when she started crying and it was terrible and I wish that there was something that I had to rely on and to talk about that was not strangers experiences on the internet and that was not bad things that I can find in the corners of other people's brains I wish there was something concrete something about what it means to give your consent something about what it means to experience trauma something about how to be safe and how to move on that's all thank you I would like to preface this by saying that my speech includes a fair amount of crude language that is being quoted and must be heard here sorry can I have your name again my name is Mitchell I'm from Lebanon um my name is Mitchell dasta and I'm a junior here at North two years ago I stood in front of you as a small scrawny 14-year-old freshman fighting for students rights to free speech and expression which were being put under threat now once again I stand here after seeing the same thing happen again as well as what has been said to some of the students and staff on your jury Extinction if I were to say to the board or someone at school you are a vile and disgusting seword and a danger to young people I could and should be escorted out of this building by the police this is the exact language that has been sent to our school librarian by a group led by the spouse of someone on the board with these messages being spread to 100 with absolutely no repercussions this and other lines such as may they burn in hell and the esler have been shared in context of students and staff at your schools when you were elected as members of the board you made a promise to those who supported you to quote make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing it also includes the lines to support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties as well as not to administer the schools but to see that they are well-run if you truly believe in the oath that you took when you were elected as members of this board then you must understand the importance of protecting your students and staff from these words and threats being sent out by those within the district you must understand that not just the students to be able to perform but that your nationally accredited librarian who has given speeches from here to Sweden is able to per properly perform her duties without fear for her life two years ago I stood in front of you as a child who was called slurs on a daily basis I stood in front of you as a son whose parents were worried about their child going to school due to the amount of threats that they had sent to a 14-year-old I stood in front of you as a student who had to walk the halls with seniors under fear of what may happen to them now I stand in front of you at almost 17 who has had to become one of the students who walk with others to protect them now I stand in front of you watching beloved students and staff being threatened once again so I will ask the board this will you protect the oath which you swore when you joined the board will you protect the librarian who lives under fear due to the actions of those close to the board will you protect our first amendments rights which we had to fight for once before okay may I have one final thing since [Music] [Applause] um good evening my name is Piper Doyle and I am um a junior here at North I will be reading a letter on behalf of a former student good evening members of the board my name is Phoenix Thomas and I'm a transgender Alam of Wares High School graduating class of 2023 roughly two years ago many of my peers and I work together to keep a group of queer books inside our school libraries and now there's another board the same group of parents that want to open up these Old Wounds I've heard countless pointless arguments as to why these books should be banned and each one of them leaves me even more disappointed than the last from calling these books examples of pornography to being shoved down in students throats it really shows me how how little some parents actually understand what school library is for a library is supposed to be a place there that is safe for everyone to learn to explore their deepest fies fantasies and fiction to understand different histories and to craft better future one book at a time so why are these parents trying to limit our enjoyable Library experiences is it because they're afraid that books will make their children queer if that's the case then why not just have them read extreme extremely c/ straight book straight books afterwards to undo these effects is it to protect these CHS children from harm harmful books if so is it is if so then why are there so many books that have been banned book list Memoirs true stories that have mean to be told is it because parents are too afraid that these books are quote unquote pornographic is it because they don't have any problem with books such as Catcher in the Rye and Twilight both of which contain more than sexual content material um career books are an opportunity for students straight queer scks and trans alleys alike trans to understand the experiences of others they provided goge that it isn't taught in history in sex ed classes book Banning has absolutely no history and being benefit to anyone other than those Who Silence the voices of others people such as Adolf Hitler and troops who burn books that had ideals of not aligning with his fascist rule if these par parents wanted really wanted to protect these kids the best way to do so would be to allow into all possible information so they be make informed decisions rather than trapped in dark and be forced to believe prejudices that will cause the past evily be repeat all these parents really cared about was protecting protecting kids then why have so many students received death threats and violence threats from these parents who just to exist in peace as far as I'm concerned these parents should show respect to our students or expect our resistance thank you [Applause] my name is Kelly Shanklin and I am from Clinton Township good evening everyone I am a sophomore at North hunon High School and I've come here to speak not just about one book that people are attempting to ban but about all books being banned the first amendment protects the freedom of speech the freedom of press and which is essentially the right to receive information and ideas does Banning books not violate these rights for high school students books are a window through which we see the world and help us understand different perspectives and ideas books provide a safe space where students can relate to characters and their experiences Banning books is an attempt to limit our view of the world and deprive us of valuable information connections and for some the safest space they have another group of people that tried to ban books were the Nazis along with the calculated Slaughter of millions of people they deemed inferior they burned and banned thousands of books many of which were centered around race and sexuality the books trying to be banned today are eerily similar to the books that the Nazis work to ban Banning books is a violation of what is argued ably the most important right we have in a country built on freedom violating the vital rights in the first amendment is the first step in the breakdown of our democratic government and the first step in the direction of tyranny thank you for your [Applause] time my name is Lucy Harris I live in the town of Clinton and I am a freshman at North Hunton high school I want to begin by saying that this book is educational high school is the point in our lives when we are learning more about our bodies and begin to explore them the book let's talk about it allows students to do just that in a safe and responsible manner to put it into perspective this book is the teen is teen pep for queer students if you don't know what teen pep is it's a peer-led sex Ed program that is held at North while teen pep is certainly an important part of our curriculum it mainly focuses on heterosexual students experiences meaning it can be difficult for queer students to relate to and F fully learn from them this book allows them to do just that as students they are entering adulthood they now have more freedoms as well as responsibilities this book book educates us in a structured and Safe Way the type of person who is checking out this book is not impulsive but thoughtful and responsible I would also like to address the fact that our librarian Mrs Hixon is being harassed she is a wonderful and kind teacher who works to make sure that North Hunter's library is a safe environment for all kinds of students the book being discussed today is under Under Fire because it supposedly promotes inappropriate behavior couldn't one argue that the ways in which Mrs hixen is being traded are inappropriate don't we want to teach our students to be kind and promote good behavior I attended Clinton Public School our motto was stand up be a bulldog and I've been taught anti-bullying tactics since kindergarten if what Mrs Hixon is being put through were to happen to a student would it be tolerated why should we let this happen to a teacher thank you all right hello my name is Bowden Lan I'm from Union Township um I'm class of 2024 on set to graduate uh the message I'm about to read is actually on behalf of a friend good evening my name is is Grace and I'm a senior at North I volunteer in our media center with Miss Hixon and I'm confused as to why she is continuing to receive disparaging messages about her management of the library and the book she houses there miss Hixon has been and continues to be a wonderful light in our school community and is always willing to help a student find necessary information or have an educated conversation with them as if they are her peer her job is to provide students with accurate information and allow them to explore their interests in a safe man manner that part in a safe manner is incredibly important an adult raised a fantastic point when I was telling my peers about this meeting and encouraged them to attend they said why would the board be concerned about books when you can get all of that on this they pointed to the phone that's the truth our cell phones contain unrestricted access to anything you believe is detailed in our library apologies sorry anything you you believe anything is detailed in our library but in a way anything could actually be pornographic although two words although the two words can mean the same thing there are slight differences pornographic can mean obscene but pornographic and obscene may not mean explicit pornographic and obscene is not educational explicit is I encourage the board to reward their notes of discussion to be in line with what these books truly describe if parents are concerned about what their children are reading I can guarantee that the books in this Library are significantly milder more more informative and less intrusive a book may be explicit but students read that on their own often with self-induced guilt and shame that isn't warranted people in power are the ones who place this discomfort this the internet is a dark place with no true restrictions the library is moderated I have volunteered there for 2 years I been heavily reading since 8th grade spanning many different genres authors and levels never have I seen a book in our library and said that's not appropriate I encourage you to reconsider your different types of your I encourage you to consider how different Avenues of moderation can replace this attempted censorship of educational and beneficial materials in our school thank you cosmosis um CH pery uh Township um i' just like to say that book burning as a whole regardless of the context of the book and unless or although there are some examples of books going too far some very few examples and if that CA and if that were the case I'm sure there' be I don't know a police investigation or something more serious than a a school board meeting um I and the the fact of the matter is that usually when books are being burned or banned both um it usually it usually it doesn't end well the Nazis did this what happened to the Nazis they lost Hitler Hitler killed himself oh well the the fact of the matter is that book burning and B and book Banning are always are almost always uh used the target minorities um especially queer people with you know the Nazis and the and the fact of that matter is that it doesn't end well it never does because book Banning is a is a is a reactionary and idiotic measure of a of continuing the oppression of minorities that just want to be just want to be themselves this is ridiculous and the fact that that this is happening well so many are more important things are things are happening in this country is [Applause] ridiculous hello my name is Dan Klein man I'm from World's Library Association I'm the executive director from bave Texas first thing I'd like to say is thank you to all the students who spoke they really did very well and maybe should start a Toast Masters Club here in the school um it's very good I just want to tell you that when it comes to book Banning in schools first of all it isn't Banning there's been no books baned since 1963 right what we're talking about is the removal from schools of inappropriate actually the words are um educationally unsuitable or pervasively vulgar that comes from a Supreme Court case Board of Education versus Pico um sorry for that distraction so um that's the issue here the issue is can you re you're a school you are in charge of what goes on in the school to protect these children you have a Supreme Court case behind you that helps you to do that what's your fate what's your facing however you're facing an organizational group that comes together to try to put pressure on you and that pressure comes from well the American Library Association in Chicago Illinois so you have you you received letters that you were asked to read well you got them because that came from an American Library Association Source called every Library uh you received a librarian who hands out um a little thing that says free people read freely well that's U registered trademark of the American Library Association you have a book review policy perhaps that's worded by it's based on a Model by the American Library Association you don't realize how how much the American Library Association from Chicago is controlling the ideas that go on around quot so so-called ban books but it's you people who have the power to act on behalf of your community and your children and not just do what the Librarians say because they've been Guided by by somebody from Chicago Illinois yeah I got to say it's uh it's shocking to hear Eric lewin's story tonight about uh something he came out with that was very personal about why he's in this situation in the first place and the harm that comes to children from this kind of stuff we're not asking they're not asking to remove all books about gayness or anything like that just a few of them that are clearly educationally unsuitable or pervasively V which which is allowed under the law the whole purpose for this bully campaign is to make you think that uh in fact you really uh should do what the the bullies want instead of doing what is your job your ethics probably says that you're responsible for what happens in this in this place and not outside groups well the American Library Association the American Library Association is your ultimate outside group thank you very [Applause] much hello unlike the previous speaker I'm a local my name is Haron tinger I reside in hybridge where I've lived and paid taxes in the school district for more than 35 years my two now adult children attended and graduated from high school in this distt so I feel personally invested in the Civic health of the north hund Vorhees Community freedom to read is essential for intellectual Freedom the freedom to think for oneself freedom to read is especially important for high school students navigating their Journeys from childhood to adulthood for some of these kids books help them feel less is isolated less alone better able to cope with who they are and where life is taking them defend our high school students freedom to read defend our high school students freedom to think for themselves and I think you saw wonderful examples of high school students who not only think but Express themselves well I'm gratified that you reiterated that this board has a policy on challenges to books and that you intend to insist that people follow that policy I'm also gratified that you express broad support for not only students but also faculty and staff in this District but I think more is necessary tonight more is necessary because people who want to deny our high school students access to some books and Library material materials they don't like have subject have subjected North's librarian Mar the Hixon to an extended yearslong campaign of personal attacks this is wrong because the personal attacks on Martha hickon have been so widely disseminated and publicized letting this Behavior go unchallenged also encourages bullying and harassment by their peers of North hunon and Vorhees students who do not identify or who are not perceived as cisgendered and heterosexual this too is wrong and you have a duty to prevent these students from being harassed or bullied student in this District students in this District are taught they should be upstanders not bystanders when they witness bullying or harassment what Behavior are you modeling for them if you won't stand up for a member of the north Hunter inv Voris Community who is being so publicly bullied and harassed for doing her job you have a duty individually and collectively as a Bo board to stand up to stand up like we expect our kids to stand up publicly and formally defend North's librarian for doing her job publicly and formally denounce the personal attacks on Martha Hixon and demand that the personal attacks stop don't be intimidated stand up to promote the Civic health of this [Music] community hi my name is Morin mcweeny I'm a resident of Clinton Township my twins graduated this school district last year I am here to show support for our very own award-winning librarian Martha Hixon as well as our other teachers coaches School admin and all of the students at North and VOR I find it both disturbing and disappointing to see adult members of this community continuing to try to challenge and remove books books under the guise of screaming pornography just some facts for you North hun in VOR school district is a public school that serves our entire Community which by the way includes many families of different races colors Creeds religions and sex the world that we lives it includes people that are lbtq I A plus some of the kids at school have two moms Two Dads single mom single dad grandparents as caregivers they are definitely kids at this school who already identify as gay non-binary trans Etc the vast majority of book titles that are being challenged go against the LBT LBT qia Community or people of color like black or indigenous people these are just plain facts um and it's not just challenging the books that is a problem with this it's the ideology so now you have parents going against professionals sometimes leading to threatening situations and outcomes for the Librarians teachers and administrators talk about mob mentality you should see how these extremist folks have tried to radicalize the public to then do their dirty work and scare and intimidated our school staff members it is shameful I repeat shameful that a teacher or a librarian can be harassed or threatened for doing their job I believe it's the job of the school board and Mr Bender the superintendent to keep all of our School Employees safe if a School employee is constantly harassed bullied and threatening on a threatened on a school email account the school should use their budget their resources and the taxpayer's money to hire a private investigator and find out who's criminally responsible for such actions this community should demand it sorry this community should demand it in my opinion it's also the Board of Ed superintendent and school administrator's respons responsibility to make sure all and I mean all of the children feel safe and welcome at school if some children are not comfortable reading some of the books they should most certainly not check them out of the library it is completely voluntary and no one is asking them to what is not your right is for some of the minority to decide what they think is the moral choice for the community North hun and vories is a public school if you do not want a public school then by all means find a religious or private school to your liking or you okay or you can homeschool and then you can be your own librarian teacher and control your entire curriculum to the students I just want to say hang in there you've got they clap too much you've got this High School seems like it would take forever but sometime soon you will be a great big wonderful world okay so so we're at 30 minutes but can I entertain a motion to extend for another 30 minutes so second second all in favor opposed exension okay so we'll continue for another 30 minutes can I can I just ask again please when someone's speaking can you make sure you let them speak and don't don't you know talk over them good evening my name is Reverend Gregory quinland I'm from the center for Garden State families we are Christian family advocacy group Lo at here in New Jersey I live in Washington burough just up the road had this we've had this discussion there also I'm here because I was asked by parents who live here who are residents here who did not feel comfortable and actually felt threatened to be here and did not want their children exposed if they testified so I'm here to represent them I heard the issue of burning books and banning books what we're asking for is nothing like that we're asking for restricting books age appropriateness matters it is a thing we use it in the movie theaters we should be able to use it in the public school [Applause] library as someone myself who was sexually molested when I was 10 years old I understand the shame the hurt and the consequences that go with you for a lifetime I'm also EX gay that means I'm a former homosexual left the homosexual lifestyle and as you can see the bullying from the audience so in all seriousness please if someone's speaking please owe them the respect of speaking thank you and I'm not winning a pooh and this isn't Tigger and I'm not the only one to quote the American Psychiatric association there are no replicated scientific studies that support any specific biologic ideology for homosexual uality or anything lgbtqia a-x YZ +++ the only reason I'm saying this is is that you're making a lot of decisions whether any scientific basis from the Gana study to the identical twin study even to the dean Hamer study which was disproven on the xq28 long arm Gene for male homosexuality bottom line is there is still no scientific evidence for a biological purpose or reason for a gay identity but there is vast sociological science that proves that homosexuality is developed not innate acquired not inborn so with that being said just very quickly I'm almost done I do want to talk about the Martha Hixon incident the stage propaganda video of Martha Hixon which talked about so many things there that didn't quite make sense with many parents in the district are questioning whether it's real I want to go to marker it was a 6 Minute 18 second like I said staged read scripted but at marker 2.27 2 minutes and 27 in uh seconds in she speaks of coming back with a vengeance that's an interesting choice of words I'm sure that in the library there's a dictionary because vengeance is by definition an act or desire of inflicting injury harm humiliation or the like on a person by another who has been harmed by that person since she's an educator she should set the example thank you this isn't funny at all it's not funny at all it's really not um John draw from Franklin Township uh I had three children passed through North who are now out um just want to read a brief statement I know I represent many parents who are afraid to speak for fear of Retribution of their children by teachers at North I can't believe we're even having this debate this book topic is one of the most basic of Common Sense issues you don't explicit you don't show explicit sexual material to children and you certainly don't put it in the school library and make no mistake 15 and 16 year olds are just children let's not make believe they're adults Common Sense common sense says to protect the innocence of children yet here we are in 20 2024 debating this nonsense Also let's not complicate this issue with the passionate misplaced narrative by this Pro book mob if you are for explicit sexual materials being shown to Children you are part of the problem and part of the mob ruining our child children's innocence board members please do the right thing here you have a duty to protect childhood in innocence it's common sense and by the way teen pep is also completely inappropriate and is also destroying childhood innocence it too should be banned I'll be here next meeting to address that topic separately thank [Applause] you good evening board members my name is Denise Hixon and I am from high Bridge as I have listened to the chatter among the community this week I have heard some people saying that we supporters of the right to read are here under false pretenses and that book Banning isn't even on the agenda well I suppose technically that is true the only time book Banning has actually appeared on the agenda was in January of 22 when you wisely voted to retain all five books challenged by some of the Bad actors who are involved now in harassing our librarian but in practice book Banning is on the agenda in this District every time this board fails to follow its complaint policy and allows community members to bypass the multi-tiered process for addressing issues book Banning was on the agenda on the September 21 when you sat in silence while community members ranted about Lawnboy and gender queer and then described you this board and our librarian as PR graphers pedophiles and groomers book Banning was on the agenda in April of 23 when you again sat in silence while a parent angrily read aloud from the freedom Freedom Writers diary refusing refusing to seced his time when his three minutes elapsed and book Banning was on the agenda yet again this past November when Mr lewiko delivered his reading of the masturbation section from let's talk about it and just what are these performances of manufactured outraged intended to do intimidate School staff to the point where they will quietly censor books so you don't have to but here's the problem you don't have a compliant complicit librarian who will simply cave to the community pressure you have steadfast supporters of the First Amendment and students right to read and that is why Martha Hixon has been subjected to the most hateful harassment and once again principal superintendent board members every one of you has sat in silence willing to let our librarian take the punches so that you don't have to and things never had to get to this point if only once the board officer holding the gavel had enforced the policies for managing meetings and lodging complaints perhaps we could have avoided the repeated readings by crisis actors attempting to intimidate all of our staff to censor themselves now we cannot turn back time you don't get to do a doover but you can do better this day forward please do the job you ran for enforce your policies and support and protect your staff Martha Hixon deserves a lot more good evening I'm Amy Barrett a resident of hybridge and a retired teacher I'm here because of the attacks on library books and harassment of the North hunterton High School librarian teachers and Librarians are professionals before purchasing books we read reviews and awards list the book most recently attacked during a board meeting let's talk about it received consistently positive reviews from professional review sources covering ya material it has been on several best books list for teens including Publishers Weekly and the New York Public Library I've read this book the authors assume that many high school students are sexually active or are thinking about it they assume that teens already know about sexting and masturbation and that many 73% according to a recent record survey have already looked at sexual content on the internet they provide factual information about these topics while emphasizing the importance of consent respect toward oneself and respect for others let's talk about it is sex education for teenagers not pornography and I'm going to add here I was also sexually abused as an adolescent and knowing about my body and about consent would have been really helpful at the time attack attacks on books are bad enough but the remarks on let's talk about it at the November board meeting precipitated a slew of personal attacks this month against librarian Martha Hixon on a public Facebook page with 14,000 followers the first two posts published by the anonymous hunon County project describ Miss hixon's Library book choices as quote inappropriate unethical harmful and morally wrong one of the posts included a video closeup identifying Martha Hixon North hunon High School librarian the posts were tagged to everyone on New Jersey schools which means that 14,000 people received a Facebook notification to look at these posts one of the people who tagged everyone is Christopher stadulis the husband of board member Cynthia Rays as a result result Miss Hixon started to receive hate mail and these initial attacks snowballed into an online harassment campaign this is book Banning through intimidation the administration and board need to speak out in a public statement to defend students right to read and especially to defend your librarian for doing her job Mr farbes is statement was a start but more needs to be said and if a member of your family has been involved in social media posts and you're a board member you should recuse yourself from board decisions regarding library books and staff thank [Applause] you hi my name is Louise Walen I'm a psychiatric advanced practice nurse with over 25 years of experience with adolescence including those in your districts I'm also a wife mother and a grandmother I'm here with my professional hat on and I did just want to correct one fact about the Ghana study um yes it's true it says that being gay is not the result of a single Gene however it is the result of multiple genes as are most things including the color of your hair you know the the how tall you are I've worked with many teens who felt pressured into sex because everyone is doing it who contracted STI because they didn't know how to properly use a condom who said yes initially and then wanted to change their minds but thought they couldn't many of these kids watched porn pornographic videos at home and thought what they viewed was normal they had questions but didn't ask anyone because of concerns they would get in trouble for working around parental controls the kids I worked with with not alone recent CDC research suggests that 30% of high schools are having sex National surveys ATT teens suggest the average age of child views on online pornography is 12 with 44% watching it intentionally 52% saying it contains violent content and only onethird saying it involved consent they say they learn much from these videos but they don't have an adult to speak to about what they viewed so we can assume many of the kids in North huntter boes are probably having sex watching born Oran in their own homes and they are uncomfortable asking adults about what they're seeing that's where book published with the intent to educate come in I've seen a lot of pictures from let's talk about it but there are also words in the book and quotes so I'm I'm going to read one of them um quote consent during sexual activities is an ongoing agreement between people it is given freely it's reversible and it's essential for sex consent is communication and respecting boundaries unquote that's important a lot of people mentioned that when they said they had been sexually abused they didn't know what consent was perhaps that's why policy 9130 suggests the first thing someone needs to do is to read the entire book people can disagree about books and there's a process to follow to challenge them attacking the professionalism of a staff member such as Martha Hixon is not included in this policy adults need to model respectful discourse adherence to rules and upstander behavior when adults fail to do so they teach children that bullying is the solution to disagreement ments I doubt you want the children in this District to learn that I've seen the results and it's not pretty as a psychiatric APN I stand by respecting the professionalism of librarians who have master's degrees in library and information science and training in youth literature I stand by freedom for families to choose what their children can read without having their parental rights eroded by the removal of books without proper review I stand for Citizens freedom to challenge books using established policies and I ask that you use your policies thank [Applause] [Music] you good evening my name is Kathy blon I'm a resident of Franklin Township and I'm speaking tonight as a member of the link of Women Voters of sumers hun and counties and also on behalf of the Lincoln Women Voters of New Jersey the League of Women Voters defends democracy and empowers voters and we are here to State clearly that book bands are anti-democratic our state constitution guarantees every child in the state in the state of New Jersey a thorough and efficient education maintaining open and inclusive schools and public libraries is a key component in that education a free and fair democracy demands Free Speech artistic expression the right to access and debate information and for us to unite against censorship every child deserves an opportunity to see themselves and their families represented in the supplementary and curricular materials they exper they experience across their public school education it is no coincidence that the majority of bad books address L lgbtq plus themes feature protagonists of color address issues of racism reflect religious minority I and faiths and contains sexual content that speak to pre-teen and teenage sexual sexuality issues the movement behind Banning books is actively trying to restrict access to marginalized under repesentative underrepresented and oppressed voices and to falsely remake our wonderfully generous country in its whitewashed image many adolescence and pre-adolescence are living with trauma and stress it is important for them to read and to learn about others like themselves who have successfully maneuvered those Troubled Waters stories help them develop stamina and perseverance and more importantly know that they are not alone when we diminish our children's exposure to the customs and practices of people who grow up in a different context we are depriving them of opportunities to learn how to live in our complex Global Society so while every parent has the right and the responsibility to raise their children according to the values most important to their family those parents do not have the right to dictate how the children of other parents are [Applause] taught we are also concerned about harassment and ask the board to follow policy 0142 and quote support and protect School personnel in the proper performance of their duties end quote attacks on and ongoing harassment of librarians and Martha Hixon in particular set a poor example for our students go against proper policies and procedures for filing any concerns and harm the effectiveness of the board unlike most of the people behind book Banning and censorship Librarians are trained professionals who invest time and energy into researching and acquiring the materials available within their libraries Librarians are Guided by other professional [Applause] organizations with the CL good evening my name is Steven lefley and I live in in Lebanon Township firstly I'd like to thank the board for the opportunity to present these uh facts to you at your November board meeting you sat politely through the stage reading of an outof context passage from let's talk about it this performance was conducted by a failed board candidate with a track record of attempting Banning books and apparently an actor grind in the interest of balance and accuracy I'd like to read aloud too from the professional book review published by the school library journal in December of 2020 School library Journal is considered the premier publication for librarians who work with children and teens it has been an award-winning quality source of Journalism and reviews since 1954 in fact the journal's February 22 issue about censorship with a colous story written by North's own Martha Hixon received the 2022 Eddie award honoring editorial excellence in business Publications here is how the school library Journal reviewed let's talk about it and I quote the text don't be afraid yes there are drawings of naked bodies in this book and yes readers will learn about some of the ways the human body is wired for pleasure and the detailed drawings and jals are not solely in service of explaining how babies are made but every panel of this book every an anatomical drawing and every conversation over tea or in a tent is loaded with crucial information about the content respect and consideration and boundaries a magnificently varied cast of characters confess their insecurities and in return receive reassurance information and practical advice readers will learn about laundry list of activities including sexting masturbation gender and Fantasies along with health issues such as safe sex and a couple of the Less Pleasant aspects of relationships jealousy and rejection Mo Ed's richly individual individualistic characters keep the pages turning despite some fat word balloons the result is personality Rich dialogue and precision which is important when it comes to topics like identity and relationships a palette of brown pink and Grays continues the celebration of bodies of all shades and uh all shades and shapes a sprinkling of profanity including the old F fbom must be noted as it may affect some sort ability to shove it verdict real talk about relationships and sex recommended for grades nine and up end quote that is the verbatim uh book review from one of the most prestigious book uh review uh journals it is certainly valuable and necessary to have professional input like this When selecting materials from a school library good news our district is fortunate to have two professional on the payroll thank you for [Applause] coming good evening my name is Steven halderson and I've been a math teacher at North hunon High School for almost 18 years I'm also the proud president of the north Hunter vor's Education Association representing nearly 300 teachers paraprofessionals secretaries custodians and other school professionals throughout this District the nhpa is here tonight to stand in solidarity with our colleague Martha Hixon and to advocate for the intellectual freedom of our students I cannot help but feel a bit of deja vu this evening as this is not the first time I've had to do this I'm disappointed to be back here again under similar circumstances in her capacity as librarian Martha is performing her duties in accordance with District policy and living up to the expectations of the district I stopped by the library early to chat with Martha to early today as I walked in I saw some some students reading quietly others playing games doing research for a project or completing a puzzle Martha was speaking one-on-one with a reluctant reader helping them find a book that matched their interest in a way this is unremarkable because it is all too common at public and school libraries when you think about it though the services provided by Librarians like Martha are also extraordinary and Powerful Martha is among the very best at what she does she stands Out Among the thousands of dedicated Librarians who open the library doors to provide support in a number of forms a book to enjoy an article for research assignment or a welcoming environment to Simply decompress she deserves accolades and yet others find it acceptable to Levy attacks against her if they take issue with one sentence or image and any of the thousands of books in the school library no school staff no school staff Personnel should ever be the subject of online harassment or public attacks no one wants to be based on assumptions as someone who knows Martha I can attest to the fact that she cares very deeply about her calling as a librarian she has dedicated near nearly two decades of her life to the students and staff of this district and is an invaluable resource for all of us as Educators and educational professionals we stand with her to support the right of all students to have access to books and materials that speak to their exist experience while everyone has the right to form an opinion about books no one should be able to decide which books are appropriate for anyone else's child as you know there's an approval process with administrative oversight for all books selected as well as a procedure for challenging books as adults who have influence in shaping the next generation of critical thinkers and Nationwide leaders we need to model civility no matter our disagreements so please stand with the nhpa and the and the dozens of concerned residents and education Advocates you see here tonight demand Civility and denounce vitelic Behavior our children are watching and they deserve nothing [Applause] less good evening to the board my name is John Hixon I'm from hybridge New Jersey and I'll read another review of let's talk about it from bookless the 2021 issue a quote while this title may sound koi let's talk about it isn't euphemistic instead it's a Frank and open-minded look at sex relationship and self- understanding chapters cover topics ranging from puberty and masturbation to gender identity and pronoun usage all narrated by by a varied cast of teenage characters now it may seem odd to imagine two kids having a nuanced discussion about consent during game of s Minutes in Heaven but it isn't that's a sense of fun that keeps this book from feeling too preachy or academic the expressive art will come as no joy to fans of others previous work including drawn to sex and ojoy sex toy figures are alive and active even in conversation shown stretching and bugging and making faces with back matter including helpful resources this book is recommended for teens who want an easyto follow guide that won't talk down to them Health Educators wanting an engaging addition to their curriculum and all those not afraid of seeing cartoon nudity while learning to love and express themselves it is recommended for grades 9 through 12 not K through 8 uh this there's many positive reviews uh kirkis gave starred reviewed publer weekly star review School Journal Library uh young adult Library services or yala uh in addition let's talk about it was name to the Ala rainbow book list the New York Public Library best books of 2021 Publishers Weekly list of best Children books of 2021 and y's 2020 list of top great graphic novels for teens in today's world it's essential to examine the quality of our information and sources while considering claims about library books I urge you to consider Consulting experts in this matter thank you I I would also like to hand to the board uh you know it says save the children this is some propaganda that a fascist fell gave me today so we are here to save the children and we're saving them from him um not not to miss the irony on this I I'd like to pass it up to the board noting that the rest of the agenda I've used a pride flag to Mark the section where the next attack comes it's on CRT as though anyone knows the definition of [Applause] that my name is Beth Raph and I am the President of the New Jersey Association of school librarians I am here today to EXP express our Collective support for high school librarian Martha Hixon and in particular her professionalism as a librarian Martha is an awardwinning defender of intellectual Freedom receiving numerous awards from National and state organizations the North hund and Vorhees School Community is exceptionally fortunate to have a highly qualified librarian with a national reputation for ensuring all students have a library program that allows them to be safe seen and informed about the world around them as the school librarian she curates resources that help meet the New Jersey curriculum standards it is deeply concerning that the board is allowed public meetings to become a platform for harassment of School District staff your board policy 0142 states that the board is obliged to support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties however the board has failed in this regard by allowing rouded performances from books in board meetings that then end up as social media posts that have put your employees community members and board members at risk we urge the school board to fulfill their obligation as an employer inform the community that you will not tolerate harassment of your employees and exercise your prerogatives to maintain order and decorum in a public meeting as your policy 0167 spells out you must support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties Martha Hixon should be commended for her outstanding work and defense of the freedom to read because that's what this is about on behalf of the students in your community and not subject to harassment and on a personal note I would like to thank the articulate and passionate students who spoke this evening on behalf of Mrs Hixon their peers and the right to read it makes me so hopeful thank you so we reached the next 30 minute marker however I can see this Fair number of you yet so I'd like to entertain another motion to extend for another 30 minutes second all in favor any opposed extensions okay so we'll extend for another 30 minutes good evening board members I am Gabrielle ceri vice president of the New Jersey Association of school librarians I appreciate the president's statement tonight but since September 2021 we have watched month after month as this board fails to employ an enforce for its policies specifically policy 9130 regarding public complaints and grievances that policy demands that complaints about staff members instructional materials or library books begin with a conversation at the school building level instead Time After Time presiding officers of this board have repeatedly opened the gate to the path of least Resistance 3 minutes of manufactured outrage at your Podium when a Community member launches into a staged reading of a book passage such as November's masturbation monologue your job is not to provide a polite audience but to educate the speaker about the proper channels for voicing frustration the complaint policy is readily available on the district's website it is the complainant's responsibility to use and follow that process when the complainant ignores the process it is your job to interrupt that individual redirect them to the proper Channel with that instruction coming out of the complainant's 3-minute speaking allotment by failing to ever appropriately redirect people during public comments you have trained the community to treat these meetings as a customer service drive-thru making the Board of Education the first stop in the complaint process rather than the last it's like asking the Supreme Court to rule on traffic violations a complete waste of your valuable time and resources more importantly it's intentional manipulation of public opinion for political gain and it amounts to tampering with the jury which is the role this board plays at the culmination of a properly conducted reconsideration process so I urge you as your librarian has urged you repeatedly please use and enforce your policies it will encourage private conversation rather than public conflict thank you good evening board members my name is Amy penwell and I'm here speaking tonight on behalf of the New Jersey I'm speaking here tonight on behalf of the New Jersey Association of school librarians okay let's okay let's let's keep going please everyone please can we just can we keep moving may I continue yes yes please okay okay [Applause] I don't know what's going on yeah can I can you okay please okay okay okay no they won't okay okay all right all right please please calm down please she's leaving okay Katie can we restart her three minutes yeah everyone please can we can we let everyone speak please okay there's not a lot of people left okay thank you I'll start over my name is Amy penwell and I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of the New Jersey Association of school librarians I would like to make you and all in attendance tonight aware that the New Jersey boards school boards Association recently passed a resolution opposing book banning at its meeting on December 2nd 2023 the resolution emphasizes the role that public schools play in providing free access to diverse ideas and information and in preserving the freedom to learn and read furthermore the resolution affirms the association's responsibil ability to stand against activities that infringe upon students fundamental rights and freedom to read the resolution passed with a resounding majority vote of 83% indicating the association's strong commitment to intellectual Freedom regginald bledo president of the Essex County School boards Association who sponsored the resolution said and I quote the adoption of this resolution is a testament to our dedication to fostering an inclusive and enriching educational environment for all students in New Jersey together let us uphold the right to access educational information and resist any efforts to impose book bands ensuring that our students can explore and learn from various perspectives that the world has to offer offer them unquote I've brought a copy of that resolution for you to review and I ask that you follow its guidance specifically its declaration that quote all School school officials as well as administrators and Librarians should uphold the right to access educational information and resist any efforts to ban books unquote accordingly I urge you to please use and enforce policy 9130 to ensure that complaints about Library materials are handled properly and please support and defend your library staff as they work diligently to provide students with robust collections of high quality diverse and engaging materials that reflect their lives and the broader World in which we live thank [Applause] you good evening board members Karina Gonzalez Branchburg New Jersey but I am here in my position as the elected president of the New Jersey Library Association and I'm here to read a statement on behalf of our 3,000 Plus members the New Jersey Library Association has watched with concern the growing number of organized attempts of censorship and suppression in schools and libraries in New Jersey and across the country many of these attacks are targeting materials and programs that address race racism sexuality and gender identity and expression njla categorically rejects any efforts to censor or remove materials from any Library based on content we strongly affirm the library Bill of Rights and the freedom to read statement first published by the American Library Association in 1953 libraries provide access to books and other Library resources and services for the interest information education and Enlightenment of all people within the communities we serve we do not exclude materials because of their origin background or the views of those contributing to their creation Library workers are trained to curate collections that are designed to be inclusive as information service providers we are Guided by the tenants of intellectual freedom and our ethical responsibilities to uphold the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America through careful consideration and rigorous training Librarians and Library workers are equipped to make selection decisions that represent a balance of the spectrum of knowledge we acknowledge the right and responsibility of parents and Guardians to guide the reading choices of their children such rights should not any way inhibit the rights of others to read or view any materials of their choosing we reject past current and future efforts to remove materials from the reach of any reader concerted efforts by groups who disavow racial equity self-d ation Andor gender identity and expression undermines intellectual freedom in addition such efforts inhibit knowledge and place barriers to learning nla stands alongside the New Jersey Association of school librarians the American Library Association and other organizations that support the freedom to read in addition njla stands in steadfast support of New Jersey's Library workers community members and students who demonstrate daily courage as champions of the right to an inhibited freedom to read thank you good evening my name is Eva jit Elliott I am an immediate past president of New Jersey Association of school librarians in June 2022 I had the privilege to attend a national celebration of your high school librarian who was a recipient of a Lemony Snicket prize for notable Librarians faced with adversity that same year I had an honor to present her and intellectual Freedom Fighters of this town in front of this school board with the their American Association of school librarian Commendation for their fight against censorship in your high school this is just a small sample of multiple Awards your librarian has received over the past few years and yet here we are again again taking a stand against censorship harassment and bullying of a public school employee many school districts want to be known for their students academic achievements their athletic wins or artistic performances your school district is being recognized nationally for not providing rightful support for their employee if [Applause] one if one of your students was being harassed by another student online sending defamatory messages appalling messages using their school emails would you act on that if a spouse of a Schoolboard member would be harassing one of your students would you allow this to happen Mrs Hixon is being attacked by a spouse of one of your school board members let me say that again a spouse of one of your sitting board members is harassing your employee on social media another person another person is sending her emails using her work email address and so far we we have not heard about any actions being taken against the harassers when one of my colleagues was attacked by a Community member and received a voicemail with very colorful language of using the school's voicemail my school district acted within minutes why are you hesitating why not provide the support mandated by this you know I don't know if you've heard it there's this document called the code of ethics for school board members [Applause] so in case if you in case if you didn't hear that there is point I that states I will support and protect School Personnel in proper performance of their duties because this is what Mrs Hixon is doing performing her professional duties in accordance with New Jersey school liberians association's job description and the state of New Jersey school library media specialist standard certification one more point a lot of people here claim that they came to support and fight for the rights of students look what happened just here in line just a moment ago and did any of you say anything for the harassers to stop attacking the students thank [Applause] you hi my name is Terry Beck I'm from Hillsboro New Jersey um I just wanted to make sure that everybody understands on the board um you know a lot of people in New Jersey seem to take Oaths and break them on every level and we all know that I know that very well and I just want to make sure that if you're not taking Security checks on what your is in your books it's just as bad as having no bags being checked checked when there's pot in them you're not checking the books now you're subjecting children to federal statute Title 18 section 2251 to 2252 which is distribution of porn that's a major fine that's 20 years in jail and that is also a $250,000 fine so I don't know what it is that is so hard to say treat these children like their own you're stepping on parental rights and that's a whole other issue with you know trying to tell them and shove it down their throat you you you try to tell them and you're does it have to happen to your own where you drive them to porn prostitution pimping do you need that to understand the depth and the degree of of damage mental damage and keep in mind if any of these children that go through schools funnel through any school have mental abuse the parents who you already stepped on their rights can file charges on every one of you and I hope you're made of money because that's what could potentially happen I'm just here to advise all of you taking an oath is a serious situation ask Governor Murphy hello board uh my name is Lee Mack I'm from Lebanon uh on behalf of the vast majority of parents out there I want to remind you Board of Ed members that it's your duty to help protect our children and provide them with a clean and wholesome environment free of harm free of harmful sins that adults engage in the egregious content in these books is appalling to me Society must have a set of norms and values and lines that just should not be crossed especially when involved our children pornography is illegal for minors and New Jersey has made it clear with their obscenity laws specifically statute 2C 34-3 that adults who push this are committing felony crimes this is a far cry away from the days of showing reproductive parts in health class and discussing abstinence now we have Librarians with hardcore agendas pushing books that promote anal sex butt plugs children being raped by family members and how-to manuals to assist kids in sexting and internet hookups I would like to note that if any child accidentally takes one of these books out of the school and shows them to their friends in public they could possibly be facing jail time and certainly if any board members or this librarian decideed to show these books to children in a park or somewhere outside of this school again she could be chasing facing prison time due to the pornographic content that we're seeing is this board going to be held liable when these things happen and can we please stop repeating this narrative that this is somehow Banning books when we all know that's a lie B Banning books is taking them out of circulation entirely not taking them away from from children just the fact that your librarian and her activist groups call this book Banning tells you everything because they're hold narrative is based on lies and trickery and deception this is exactly why Hunter and Central High School Board of Ed members got kicked out and replaced by parental rights Advocates and this is exactly why their superintendent has stepped down because if you do not act on behalf of the majority of parents in this community you will be replaced by others who do we we just want our kids to receive wholesome learning so they can grow up to be respectful kids uh respectful adults if they want if they want to learn about perverted sex acts when they become adults then so be it but while they are children it's our job as parents and your job as Board of Ed members to keep them sheltered from predators and perverted thoughts to every member of this board I couldn't be more serious when I say history is going to judge all of this on what's Happening Here If you do not do something to stand up for these children history will not judge you kindly one sec listen all listen in all due respect it's open it's open comment right it's not single point of view comment so please give everyone the due respect they deserve to speak their point of view okay that's open discourse all right my name is Dan zamansky I am a former alumni of the class of 2023 and I live in Lebanon burrow I am a gay guy if you asked me eight months ago if I'd be here again i' tell you I'd be as far away as possible I was framed by some homophobic students and I had gone through the worst mental health scare in my life the reason why I'm here is because of a bunch of people who want their time in the Limelight copying a certain governor in Florida notice this talk about molestation let's be very clear gays and molesters are completely different you know most of the gay people in huon County are in the closet because of people like you if you've seen what I've saw an innocent classmate of mine with a bruise on his neck what did he do to deserve that oh yeah by just being gay you want to know what the big evil in Hunter county is it's a bunch of EV angelical parents and people Pleasers who change up chain up their kids and the kids of others never giving them a chance to be themselves also homosexuality not being natural homosexuality happens in nature all the times dogs hyenas other primates get over it I have in my hand a cross for I am Christian and anyone else who calls them Christian must accept the fact that if you wear this neck and persecute anyone else you are a hypocrite plain and simple don't try to quote the Bible at me for I know the verses that your ilk will speak of one is a Mis transation and the other is about coverting your neighbor if you want to get rid of and censor books you are no different than fascist for every fascist movement began the same exact way you're here to ban books with gay characters you might as well be here to start the fourth [Applause] [Applause] Reich hello good evening my name is Kathleen Meer crane I'm from Lebanon New Jersey um the first thing I'd like to say is that what H what is happening here today is kind of a m microcosm of what's happening in in our country at large we need to stop the hate speech any and all harassment and act like adults and stop buying into division that is happening here tonight and in our society we get angry when our politicians can't come to any compromises or agree agreements but neither can we nobody that I am here with tonight as a parent against some of this material is against the LGBT community we love our family our friends who are in this community we care about you kids we really do and I'm very proud of everything and every one of you that's been up here tonight this is not an LGBT issue at all Society has rules and boundaries and we need to keep this place safe and adhere to these boundaries but I'm here for another reason tonight I have a child with special needs you started your um meeting tonight speaking about the Vorhees unified program and I know they have a great program here but my son is in the Vorhees unified program and it's an incredible program let's talk about this I would give my right arm if I could talk about this with my autistic son but I cannot because he is nonverbal he speaks a few words but I can't have a conversation with him I can't ask him how he's feeling and I but I will tell you one thing he is incredibly Visual and he will look at these books and he will see these images and we do not know when how or if this will be enacted by him this is endangering my son's Health if he's looking at these books I do not need him coming into the library and inadvertently coming upon a book like that or seeing it at the study hall when a kid is flipping through it this is endangering the health of my son and other children young adults who are emotionally much younger than their peers here they're emotionally maybe yes in grade school and therefore this is very inappropriate material for some of your kids please do your job and come to the very logical conclusion that the extremely sexual content is unnecessary and inappropriate for high school yes you can get this online we all know that you can get it you can get it in your Kindles you can go down to Barnes & Noble you can get your friend to drive you and you can get anything you want go for it but we as parents it is our job to not encourage it of course you can get it the world is stressful enough please protect them thank you hi my name is Joe Jeep and I live in anandale Village I've read the book cover to cover and I'm impressed I wish there had been something like this when I was a teenager back in the 70s and 80s I would have made some very different decisions I love the messages from this book be safe communicate take care of yourself mentally and physically be kind and caring to yourself as well as your friends and partners the book deals with some tough issues like pornography and sexting I love the sensible approach of giving proper ground rules if someone's going to do it then it's wise to do it safely and legally this book is full of answers to questions that children generally can't ask their parents no matter how good their relationship is everything the book covers is done s is done with great sensitivity and Good Humor this book is an asset to any High School library I would also like the board to know how much I appreciate Mrs Hixon the school librarian for all she does she's an amazing role model for the students standing up for their rights to choose what they read my name is Max Moore and I'm a senior at Vorhees before I start I want to address the fact that the only reason I am able to speak tonight is because another adult gave up their spot in line for me and I wanted to say that that is what's supporting and protecting children looks like it is it is not the nasty it is not the hateful it is not the unkind rhetoric that I have seen today that is what protecting and supporting the students and children looks like in my sophomore year a group of adults tried to ban a number of books containing queer themes under the guise of protecting the children it is the same excuse that the same group has used to verbally attack North's librarian the same excuse used to impart personal ideology into public school curriculum and it is the same excuse that the same group is now using to go after the sex education book let's talk about it it is no secret that in the age of Google students have more access to information than ever before considering this it's incredibly important to ensure that information regarding sexual health is safe and accurate because there's a lot of misinformation out there let's talk about it offers a candid yet accurate look at sex education for teens it is also important to stress the fact that this book is not in the curriculum it is in the school library where students must choose to read it there is nothing here being forced onto students in fact sex education has never been been forced onto students for the teen pet program and sex education unit in health parents are given the option to have their students opt out there is this narrative floating around now that parents are losing control over the sex head curriculum and subsequently the innocence of their children but this is simply not true in reality parents have a good amount of control over what their kids are being taught in school and many others tonight have already gotten into the slippery slope that book Banning is so I won't re reiterate that should this complaint become a formal issue for Banning I implore the board to do the right thing since they've I've seen them done do it before with various other books in my sophomore year thank [Applause] you another one's fine [Music] hi everybody my name is Jordan Jer and I am a member of the 2022 graduating class of North Hunton high school I'm from Franklin Township and I wanted to start off by thanking the board members for extending the time and allowing us to speak all of us no matter differ opinions I wanted to start off by saying that this is my second book band that I've been a part of I was a part of the book band of my senior year and it's the same ch tactics over and over again miss Hixon has been continually attacked for the last two years we've seen nothing from North hunteran we've seen nothing from the Board of Education we've seen nothing from faculty to protect her and I urge you to protect her that's all I had to say it was just simple like that thank [Music] [Applause] you so we've rounded another 30 minutes I think think one more 30 minutes would actually probably finish out people who waited for an hour and a half so can I entertain one more motion to extend for 30 minutes all for anyone against opposed okay we'll send another 30 minutes [Applause] thanks hi everybody uh my name is Alexa offenhauer I uh live in the town of Clinton and I am North hunon class of 1999 I also have a PhD in English education from Columbia University and I'm an associate professor of English at rvcc I want to thank you for being here for listening to us and for stating that you support your staff and that you are focused on what is best for students I know it's a long night the books we've been talking about here these last few years are not pornography they all include the topic of sex yes and also issues of consent safety health and identity let's talk about it in particular teaches readers that they don't need to be ashamed or to keep secrets and that is how you keep people safe these books aren't in the library because of some Rogue staff member these are books on book lists that have won awards you've heard the reviews and they are thankfully on Library shelves all over the country I know that you cannot control what happens on social media of course not but I hope your support of your staff goes beyond tonight I hope this school district does not end up becoming known primarily as a place where a few bullies are successful at dictating what students can and cannot access at the school library I hope we are known instead as a district that Embraces the critical thinking Civic engagement and open mindness open-mindedness that we've seen from our students all this evening thank you [Applause] hello my name is Jack Herring and I'm a sophomore at North hunon High School I've come to you today to discuss the book Let's Talk About It by Erica those supporting the ban of this book have presented this graphic novel as pornographic I heard Eric Leo read out of context passages and even present an incomplete subtitle to make the book appear more Sinister at an earlier meeting I would like to clarify the reality the title that Eric presented was let's talk about it the teens Guide to Sex however the full subtitle is a teens Guide to Sex relationships and being a human being while this book does discuss masturbation and sex it is not for the P purpose of arousal but rather education I would like to read a page from of the book for you wherever you're at at it's a part of you worth understanding for a lot of us feeling sexual starts around our teens when our hormones kick into high gear you end up getting crushes fantasizing masturbating orgasming and experienc experimenting with others all of it is super normal it is different for everyone so don't sweat it some people don't start messing around till they're way older sex is a super personal thing so there's no official right time or falling behind anyone else you get to do it all at your own pace which includes never doing it at all as you can see from this passage the pages read are not intended as pornography but rather to give guidance to teens without a strong support system in all honestly I don't think that was ever the concern in the first place it seems far more likely to me that the true concern was the book's open discussion top open discussion of topics such as gender identity sexuality body image and birth control not only is Banning a book of a book for these reasons is disgusting to me as a member of the lgbtq community but as a human being in my year and a half at this school we've been educated on our constitutional rights one of those is the true meaning of the right to read maybe you should educate yourself on the First Amendment before trying to use it to push your political agenda on the Next Generation thank you for your [Applause] time my name is Austin tarby I'm a resident of Franklin Township I'm 23 years old and I'm a former student of North Hunton High School while I'm not an attorney I am going to state the law recite the law as according to Cornell Law School quote 18 us code 1470 transfer of obscene material to miners whoever using the mail or any facility or any means of Interstate or foreign Commerce knowingly transfers obscene material to another individual who has not attained the age of 16 years knowing that such other individual has not attained the age of 16 years or attempts to do so shall be fined under under this title imprisoned not more than 10 years or both end quote so we have students who are 14 and 15 years old in Fr in North hunon this is quite obviously under 16 I did not read the book but I did see some of the pictures and I did see that uh pictures of penises and butt plugs are pretty obscene that's all I've got [Applause] good evening president far banish my name is Guy Citron I live in tberry and my son goes to tberry elementary school I'm the Veterans Affairs officer for our local Rolling Thunder chapter 3 I am a community outreach committee officer for the Hun and County NAACP and I am an assistant den leader of the Oldwick Cub Scout Pack 199 I am a local person a member of this community and speaking for my neighbors wearing red in solidarity with Martha Hixon I am here to tell you that we are all sick and tired of being called groomers pedophiles and pornographers because we believe in everyone's freedom to read There are protocols for challenging a book I'll be the first to give you the form to fill out but it appears that one of your newly elected board members has decided to step that entire process of public accountability instead their husband seems to be whipping up a frenzy of outof Towners and keyboard Warriors to bully intimidate and threaten our school librarian when she is just doing her job the board member's husband has been posting disinformation to chaos and control a known militant subgroup of moms for Liberty which itself has been labeled nationally as a hate group lastly I just heard they are telling everyone that we are running a pedophile ring here how can this be anywhere near except acceptable for a board of education Mr President we all know that every parent in New Jersey has the right to censor what their child has access to at school the only problem here is this abuse of power by your radical board members this will not end until you take this disciplinary action or we will consider doing a [Applause] recall thank you for your [Applause] time hey how you doing my name is Albert harshaw I'm from Browns Mills New Jersey I'm also running for US Senate but I'm here as a parent just for full disclosure uh I have two children eight and 16 uh and I'll Preamble I do not believe in violence of any kind whether it be oral writing or physical that is not how we discourse we could be passionate and we could be arly in opposition to each other but we disagree we do that's okay so you guys have a lot of head strengths or Psych olist whatever you want to call them I'm a military guy I work for Liv G sir I work I work for can I ask you to address me please yeah I work for a living so whatever what I care about is that you guys have access to to nurses uh head shrinks and whatnot in which these children can be helped and and and progress through whatever is they need to progress through however I don't think that you need pornographic material that would be illegal anywhere else I I think that if you had qualitative and I'm sure the qualitative let them do their jobs without the pornographic material it's just a simple logic test and I like Bas logic because it's the simplest common denominator and that's the most even kill we can get uh I I I think it's possible to help these children without having a need of this kind of literature uh you know on that we're diametrically in opposition but that's okay but I I think there's better ways to help these children navigate these these problems that they're dealing with so that they can be full contributing members of society I don't think that any uh uh actions toward towards hitting one another causing harms appropriate you know everyone's worthy of human decent respect because we're all God's children at the end of the day so so the question is how do we help them using pornographic material I do not agree with I am in opposition to that I I think we should make better use use of our psychologists and nurses and doctors that are in all of our schools you know a lot of things came out in light during covid there's a lot of failures of the school system they have to be admitted and uh and we need to allow parents to be more involved my wife taught 22 years special needs children and special needs children were the first group of children stripped of their funding if they do not get early intervention they are screwed for the rest of their life plain simple right so we need to get towards things that matter the most we need to find a better way pornography or things that come under pornography you know how to do this that's not education that's a flip book uh you know I think there's better methods to help these kids out and I do and I want to work with people to help do that but this isn't it uh it does cause harm I'm front line Advocate uh 85,000 children went missing on the border we have 230 missing children in New Jersey 9 65,000 missing in the United States any Avenue that promotes that should should be fought against you know we have to prot we have to protect these kids at Absolute cost you know we have something like 10,000 children that go out of country uh who are kidnapped from across this country and know we have these dilemmas we have to better equip these children to be more responsible and how to be more protected online and out in public and that's just not happening even with this book we we have to do better if you saw these numbers you know we have children who [Applause] are good evening I'm uh Greg mey I live in Clark also full disclosure I'm also a candidate for the Senate and uh on the other hand I do speak as a parent and grandparent and um there's a couple of things that I feel need to be clarified or corrected the one thing is the Banning and the burning terms that applies to stopping Knowledge from everyone so that the society can become dumbed down and and dependent that doesn't apply to explicit material and age appropriate material and that's the same in any public space we talk about a public library that's exactly where it's not supposed to be if you're going to if you're going to talk to your parents a particular child and they want to discuss this that's for them to do in private otherwise there's no way to control a public space library or otherwise in terms of the material getting into the hands of children whose parents prefer that they do not uh and there's also by the way something called parental controls on phones and everything else if you really want to uh clamp down on that as a parent and there's nothing wrong with a parent choosing that just like there's nothing wrong with a parent who you know might decide that they want to at least have conversations with their kids and and however far they do that that's their business as their family just like it is for everyone else's as far as the bullying um there certainly is a lot of bullying it does go in both directions and I personally condemn all of that no one in either side should feel bullied or threatened this is the public discourse that's how it's supposed to be so I I feel for anyone on either side of this debate that has felt threatened it should be different um the um material we're talking about now in the books um you know it used to be the thing about like a Playboy magazine and that's not for gay that's for straight people but it's the same idea you couldn't have that in a library at school before and it really doesn't make sense to me to have it there again it's a public space accessible by anyone whether they're in a case of minor their parents want that or not um otherwise I mean I think the bigger issue that should be talked about for school AG children should really be how come the test scores and and the Knowledge Learning is so much lower than anything for several decades and that's really the priority of a school make sure that CH children are educated in things that they need to survive in life and the other stuff can come along at the age appropriate time in my opinion thank [Applause] you Karen Gove hybridge or for those of you who follow the New Jersey project Facebook page I'm also known as a massed activist trying to defend porn um I'm speaking as a parent taxpayer educator not as a school board member um I wanted to talk about policy 9130 which is the policy that spells out the procedure for challenging materials this procedure does not include reading at board meetings or bullying Librarians this policy used to say that the super shall form a committee to review the materials being challenged in November you changed that policy to say that the super may form a committee to look at challenge material I spoke about it then my question is if the super chooses not to form a committee what then is the procedure does the complaint come before the board as is will it be discussed in public or will it go to some committee what would that committee be who will make the recommendation to the board or will the board just vote on it um that should have been thought out before you voted on that uh change because it gives the board the power that belongs to your librarian thank you hello I'm gon class of 2011 um now of Newton New Jersey recently of tubry um we've heard way too much about porn today I think we can all agree on that one um I would like to discuss a little bit more though um there is a book that I was not only exposed to at Vorhees but required to read um and that uh contains some explicit pornographic passages um I read a mild one now not pornographic just saying there is much here um this is a man has had his house surrounded by other individuals it says they called out to him where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out to us so we may have may have sex with them he went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said no my friends do not do this wicked thing look I have two daughters who have never slept with a man let me bring them out to you and you can do what you like with them but don't do anything to these men for they have come under my protection of my roof this character then went on to impregnate both his daughters who is now off offering to be Gang This Book is the Bible I was required to read this in junior year if you're going to uh remove a book from the school that teaches children how to have safe sex I you know asked that you also remove one that you know gives the story of a father attemped have his daughter's get gu thank you and have a nice [Applause] night uh hi uh my name is Teresa vich and I'm a resident of hunon County and class of 2015 uh so in my four years as a student here at North hunterton uh I spent a lot of time in the library uh and I'm kind of really a little sad that it doubled in size after I graduated uh would have loved to be around for that uh but during my four years here I was was also enthusiastic reader every year uh so I've read a lot of books in the library and uh shout out to Martha Hixon for always making sure I was uh well supplied with Percy Jackson books I was always the first in the school to have access to those um so you know saying all that I was a little confused when I first heard about you know controversy in my hometown around the library uh since you know was pretty chill placed with really great books um and unfortunately I missed the first uh you know controversy so I decided you know when there's a if there's another one I'll come down and you know read the book and talk about it so um I read the book and knowing my 14-year-old self I would have been way too embarrassed to check it out of the library uh but I would have convert like you know read it in the back of the Library so no one had record of me actually borrowing it uh cuz I was easily embarrassed and too scared to talk to my parents about words I didn't know and too scared to Google them because the school computers definitely have like software right that's totally how they keep us from Googling things um so yeah I was not comfortable talking to my parents about this sort of thing and I was too scared to Google um and I was well sheltered as a kid so I didn't know what the word masturbation meant at 14 when it came up in conversation at CCD class over Immaculate Conception um yeah we we got Catholic sexed before we got confirmed um and uh so I asked the youth leaders and uh they kind of just looked at me and uh told me to ask my parents so I did and my parents looked at me and weren't too embarrassed to tell me so so they gave me a book instead uh It's Perfectly Normal changing bodies growing up sex and Sexual Health which I was also too embarrassed to read um because my parents gave it to me they would know um so I think having access to a book as as non-scary as a graphic novel that has very little shame associated with being a person who might have hormones and a sex drive in the library where you can check it out without people like knowing that you're reading it would have been really helpful to an anxious teenage me thank [Applause] you Eric Peterson Franklin Township um I'm not an activist I'm not some self-proclaimed expert I'm a dad I'm a dad and I have two kids in this school and you know what all those people that you've heard from tonight I think there was only one person who had kids in the school all these experts all these people who who want to come and tell us how to run our community I have a vested interest in this school I've a vested interest in my kids and I never thought I would have to come to a school board meeting and implore you to bring back some social decency and to and to defend common societal decency um you know I I I thought it was kind of funny the last speaker she said that on her Chromebook she couldn't access certain websites and certain uh searches because it would be blocked by the school um evidently we do put standards on what the children can see and we we do those standards for the benefit of the children while many of these people I listen to each and every one of them speak and they don't want to have any limits they want our kids to see whatever they think they think is appropriate there's no limits that will satisfy them I'm asking you today and see you know common decency I heard a lot of that let's have common decency teach our children how to behave properly and I've heard these people in red just yell and scream when they hear something they don't like you know we we need to learn to be able to have a conversation we need to learn to have differen of opinions and not freak out like some of these people do when they hear something they don't like now I want to I want to implore you you're looking for I'm I'm going to ask you tonight to instill a a a standard for books in a library um there is a standard that's out there there um it's for movies I just want to read to you what the r standard is which wouldn't be appropriate here but I'm going to read it because these books that are in contention far exceed what this standard is restricted children under 17 require accompanying parent or adult guardian and our rated motion picture in the view of the rating board contains some adult material an R-rated Motion Picture may include adult themes adult activity hard language Intense or persistent violence sexually oriented nudity drug abuse or other elements so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously so I implore you your time is up your time is up thank you [Applause] Youk you good evening my name is Lisa Bogart I am here as a representative of the New Jersey Library Association college and university section rapid response team that mouthful of words and terms means that I am here because of actions such as this where book challenges are raised against materials that are appropriate and credible and uh informative for our students as an academic librarian I am charged with helping students find academically acceptable credible truthful information allowing teens to access the informative credible resources about the rapid changes in their bodies is far better than teens Googling what is often misleading miscon misconstrued material that includes outright pornography on the internet quite honestly I wish that books such as let's talk about it were published and available to me as a child children are naturally curious vetted highly regarded material that is age appropriate and discusses their growing questions about the changes taking place in their bodies constitutes credible information when we go to the grocery store we are all exposed to an abundance of food choices and we are free to choose what we purchase and what we leave behind that is also what happens when one enters a public or School library you do not have to take out a book it is up to a parent and a child this word is allowing students to be denied their first amendment rights the right to read learn and subsequently Thrive with Rich resources at hand that repres present a variety of viewpoints is imperative the lack of a variety of viewpoints is what leads to ignorant people are we interested in having an informed and educated populace public schools and education in general is meant to deepen knowledge examine Divergent viewpoints and en courage tolerance and respect for all people sexually curious students have access to appropriate credible information and that gives us informed educated students thank [Applause] you hello my name is Tom serus and I'm from Roxberry Township the previous epicenter of the so-called book Banning drama Rama where the high school librarian actually had the Shameless audacity to frivolously Sue four concerned parents for expressing their opinions and protected First Amendment rights regarding a topic of public concern that should be openly and robustly debated not be censored the four parents like many here believe some of the books available in the school library with unfettered access are too sexually explicit pervasively vulgar and age inappropriate that does not give one any reason to sue Andor be vilified both sides on this issue should be treated with dignity respect and civility for total disclosure I am listed as defendant number one in that lawsuit I we that defendant tag like a badge of honor like a batter getting hit by a pitch taking one for the team on the way to first base the frivolous librarian defamation lawsuit went viral and shined the light on this darkness and got more parents awakened and engag and involved in rockberry Township that's a victory in itself we flipped five of six Boe seats in the last two cycles another Victory we got a new superintendent and in the last two cycles and I'm here to support congratulate and celebrate the new parental rights Board of aded members that got elected and also the courageous effort by the dad who testified Eric lnco about the excerpts from the egregious book let's talk about it that teaches a 14-year-old minor child how to shove a butt plug or other intimate inanimate objects up their ass teach them how to sex watch porn or seek sex online that would open them up for encounters with sexual predators and pedophiles that is what this debate is truly about not the anti-lgbtq rhetoric many people are here to impose tonight you see I've been through this orchestrated textbook Rodeo already many will deflect distract deceive on what this book issue is truly about to create a fog on the truth in Roxberry for example there are almost 200 books of the lgbtqia genre yet many parents including myself only had issues with a very select few this is not about banning books it's about removing them from unfettered access due to the agent appropriateness appropriateness first and foremost since rockberry is the head of the pact in this game let me provide some foresight with retrospective hindsight and introspective Insight due to what has been transpiring no one employee should be have absolute power to control what material is available being being unfettered access to all students a library book Review Committee consisting of teachers Board of Ed members students and parents was recently formed in Roxberry and guess what they deemed the librarian's Judgment was wrong two books including let's talk about it the butt plug book were removed and placed behind the counter which now require parental consent to be viewed if the student is a minor child this absolves one School employee of The Librarian from a responsibility accountability while providing more transparency there was a wrestling movie called win-win and one of my fraternity brothers from Ruckers had a few lines in it I believe the co-star wrestler the co-star was from this school if you follow roxbury's lead to a degree on this issue the end result is a win-win to reiterate this is not an anti- lgbtqia issue this is a sexually explicit pervasively vulgar age inappropriate issue and should be debated as such thank [Applause] [Music] you good evening Mr President members of the board my name is Steve Bey I am from Bridgewater New Jersey I'm a high school social studies teacher at Bridgewater Ron High School currently proudly serving as the vice president for the New Jersey Education Association the state union for over 200,000 public employees and our Librarians and although I don't have children in this school I have children in school and just because I don't have children in this school doesn't mean we don't care for every single child across this state it is the mission of our Educators and our Librarians to serve them and although I said my name tonight my name is Steve Bey tonight I am Martha Hixon I am John Pio I am Kathy minger I'm all the Librarians that I have known throughout my lifetime my time as a child learning the Dewey Decimal System card catalog and the times I took my students to library and watch as caring Librarians who had curated books took the time to know their students were able to reach them in ways that only they had the power to do and that that is a power it's a superpower and so we stand here tonight and I applaud you Mr President thank you for your statement earlier standing in solidarity because that's what we do to make sure that our our students are served that we have the respect to have discourse but we understand what is at stake and the odds are too great as we heard from some of these speakers that would see us return to a dark time when students had to closet themselves didn't see themselves in the books and the literature and by that being turned away and thought that were're less than something else we need to applaud we need to embrace we need to lift up the voices of all of our students so they know that they are seen and they know that the choices they make come from sources that are something from the Internet or some other unseemly source so I stand here tonight with the njaa in full solidarity with all of our members with Martha and you in support of our Educators free speech and free books but thank you [Music] [Applause] hello Paul cesco from Hanover Township uh just like to say that uh with the uh with all these books you can get them at the public library so it's like a different type of thing they're they're completely accessible to anybody at the public library not the school library well still may be uh what's evident is the content in these books like let's talk about it is it's a howto book not an awareness book that's the difference so I'm sure there's plenty of other books uh maybe you can let me know how many are are in the library you know about awareness which is perfectly fine I'm inclusive I'm all about that um but it's just a select few like uh the other gentleman said um yeah what book what this book accomplishes is laying down the foundation for grooming for pedophilia it strips kids of their childhood innocence which once once lost they will never get it back let's remember that let's be clear keeping porn and obscenity out of the school library isn't book Banning it's the law in New Jersey and federal Jersey Federal Federal States Martha Hixon is way out of her line here uh I'm asking the board that until Martha Hixon tells us who is the president on and on the Comm and also in the committee of North hunon Vorhees intellectual fre Freedom Fighters the board should not listen to what uh to what request they have that Martha Hixon presents as they are not a credible organization and were originally posted as a political organization when they first created on Facebook and now they pulled that down so what are they hiding when I grew up magazines like Playboy and Hustler were covered up so you couldn't see them any nudity because they were for adults not minors I don't if anybody remembers uh the seven dirty words George Carlin made light of back in the day and still to this day they're not allowed to be said on the TV or the radio but you can show soft porn and have obscenity in obscenities in school that's wrong and this is also supported by the NGA they have a lot of agendas and it's really troubling I just like to quote something from the montauri schools childhood innocence there's a certain magic and delightful Wonder in childhood it has been recognized and written about for centuries and there abound many sayings to remind us of this perhaps this is why I feel so compelled to defend the children's position of Innocence those of us both parents and teachers who come in frequent contact with children and who are seen by children as minor gods have a tremendous responsibility to protect the Innocence of children it's a challenging job because too often we are not sensitive to the ways in which the child's Nativity plays itself out in childhood because we are no longer innocent ourselves we assume no one is [Applause] innocent hi my name is Ellie curtain I'm from Highbridge I hadn't prepared anything to say coming here so you might have to bear with me um but I graduated from Vorhees back in 2021 and I remember when I was going there that was the start of my experience with the book bands here um and I was just as disappointed in my school then as I am that I have to stand here today um after Vorhees I went on to a school that really accepted me for who I was at Vorhees I didn't feel super comfortable coming out um to my school and I was able to come out to family and close friends um but it is largely in part due to the book Bannings and the popular opinions seemingly popular opinions at the school that I didn't really feel comfortable to be myself um and thankfully at my college I am able to do that but every time I come home and come to a board of ed meeting it feels like I'm taking a step backwards in time um and that really sucks to say um so um I guess I just want to express my concern for the um environments in the school these days um because we've heard from a lot of students tonight who are very unhappy with the way that they have been censored the way that the books that they feel are beneficial to them and their health as they grow have been taken away from them or attempted to be taken away from them um and I think that the silence that the Board of Ed has upheld throughout this entire process especially with Mark Martha Hixon um allows for a lot of threats to take place um I've had friends of the LGB btq Community who were threatened when I was in high school and I wouldn't be surprised if it's still happening clearly it is um so I just want to express concern for that and to please keep the children in mind even if it isn't your intention to hurt the lgbtq community which as I understand it you know it's not a lot of your intentions but please understand the ramifications of your silence we had someone screaming profanities back there and you still say it's silent so please just take it into consideration it's not just about you know what people claim to be in supportive or not claim to be in supportive it's the effects of it within the classroom and you might think that you are trying to create a safe space in the classroom but in reality all these students are you know interacting with other kids who are just kind of coming into these belief systems that you uphold and can bring violence into other people's lives so thank you for following that kind of confusing line of thought but [Applause] I'm John misson from tubry Township uh I had two children go through this school district and they went on to do things like get degrees at Columbia University University of Edinburgh in Scotland George Washington and jobs like NASA and Lead multinational organizations they got that because they were allowed to have the experience at Vorhees uh to develop uh decision making about how they wanted to live their lives how they wanted to interact with other people they developed empathy by being able to educate across all the categories that we talk about race Creed color uh national origin sexual orientation and they will to make those decisions and then go out in the world and have empathy be able to work with the people that are out there and are their fellow employees the people that they work for or the people that work for them if you start drawing lines you're going to take some of that education away from the future teenagers that you were supposed to be educating if you start drawing lines where's the next line is it race is it national origin there will be a group back here in two years asking you to draw a different line you need to make sure you're developing processes that will solve the problems what we don't want is for you to abandon your number one responsibility and that is to give the Ed best education possible to the kids in our district and of course your second responsibility is you are the employer of hundreds of employees and you should be making sure that they are well taken care of also thank you okay so that ends public comment so I do want to thank you all for coming back out tonight and uh and talking to us um I will say this right no matter where you stand on the topic of books I do think you know your passion and interest in our students is ultimately what makes good students right so no matter where all of you stand right keep the passion in our students on this and and every topic right because ultimately that's really what makes great students here and I really want to also I know a lot of our students have already left but I really do want to applaud them right that the fact that these students have the confidence to stand in front of us and all of you and it was a lot of you tonight and speak passionately articulately um I mean speaks a lot of them right and so and he speaks a lot of their parents and it speaks a lot of the schools so I I really no matter where those where those students stand you have to applaud them for for their ability to stand up here and talk to us so again thank you all for coming out so we're going to take uh a 10-minute break you're all welcome to to stay but I imagine you want to stretch your legs I know we want to stretch our legs uh and then we'll continue with the rest of the agenda but again you're welcome to stay we'll take a 10-minute break motion Katie and Dan sorry than to that's okay so we're on agenda item seven fre instruction technology so that's your committee report uh sure so the um curriculum committee met on seems like a long time ago January 17th uh and that committee is comprised of now myself Cynthia Rees Glen is on it as president um Brendan Jessica and Christina uh we went through a couple of different things including the home instruction the individuals on home instruction as well as um the out of District placements um generally speaking um the uh the the board I'm sorry the board members on the committee um is recommending that we go ahead and approve those agenda items um we were talking a bit about the difference between the out of District placement versus the in District placements um but uh generally speaking some of the conversation was about the the transportation to and from the out of District placements but generally speaking um our recommendation is to support the items on the agenda the second agenda topic would related to the um NJ GPA and the NJ SLA these are the standardized tests that are taken by the students with um the NJ GPA is taken by Juniors to determine proficiency to graduate um what we were doing was reviewing um the results of the NJ GPA um I'm sorry NJ SLA I believe Ela and math um and out against other schools in hunon county and found that our students were were performing at a similar level as the other County Schools if not better uh um same thing goes with the um the NJ GPA um although you know we're still seeing some uh issues with some of the testing results that have already been shared with the board the board um and we're going to continue to dig into those regularly um finally did have an issue raised um that we did talk about at the end of the session very briefly because we agree there's still some discussion to be had but there was some discussion about the common assessments that were put into place for n9th grade across both high schools these are benchmark assessments that were given um and prepared by um by specific teachers over the course of the summer and were implemented for the first time this year uh so we'll be looking into it further um to come back to the board and and uh have a deeper disc discussion about it because there were some concerns about the the the grades that students were getting and the fact that they were being factored into the GPA for the students so we'll come back in another weekend would that be like in another um semester or like next year give it a full year to work through or so we want to dig into the the the results so far and then yes we'll have to wait until the um the further assessments are done in the second half of the school year I don't recall though if they're going to be doing assessments for the 10th grade class this year but we can always look into that as part of the committee coming back so I think I think one of our understandings is so the the uh the district's implemented common assessments this year is going to track the students the The Freshman Class through senior year right uh and the idea is the teachers from both schools have created common tests uh as set points in the main the main courses um to track how kids are doing between between the schools right um so I think I don't if it's appropriate right so I think what would be helpful uh maybe is to have a readout to the board that maybe better understanding what common assessment is and possibly just if there's some initial stats we can start seeing are we seeing any Trends or non- Trends or we only have two sets of two sets Okay so may not but I think we will discuss it in February well yeah exactly we're going to discuss in February just quickly the board is supportive of this def you know strongly supportive of this in the past as a as one of the strategies that the administration came up with to better prepare our students for the standardized testings that then we rail on about whether they're as good as others and and stuff so I hope we let this go through a little while before we worry about it you know is it the right thing to do do if I could just add I think the the clarification here is that the the concerns have been coming in from parents about the fact that the the grades from the assessments are getting factored into the GPA of the students so if and I think there was also some um you know there were teachers that felt as though there were a timeline associated with when those assessments had to be given and so in in in at least one particular instance the assessment was given before the students were given the material that they were tested on so so we know that that happened in one particular instance that's been corrected but I think the question is you know are they being tested on the materials so they can be accurately assessed on those materials and that's I think the data and the information that we want to look into but yes I agree I we the board supported these assessments to ensure that when they get to the you know the proficiency test to graduate and as well as the standardized testing throughout the um the entire period of time that they would be prepared for it I think I my question is this is an this is another additional assessment right so this is taken from instructional time no so uh all all these um all these subjects were giving unit tests and basically we've created a common unit test now instead of having different unit tests so we're measuring the same things all across the board and all the curriculums with no additional assessments so each teacher has to use the same common test at the end no matter how their curriculum different differentiates a little bit or how much they cover compared to another teacher uh well yeah because our curriculum should be consistent teacher should teacher the teachers across the schools got together right to make yes this is the districtwide assessment yes that's why it's a common assessment right is it quarter is that assessment given given quarterly is it getting quarterly it's quarterly and it's just in science and English or is it in every I think it's English and math yeah the core okay just English and math but but it's I think there's science as well they mention there was science as well it's not an extra test it's trying to align the tests that are given today already every every class has got tests it was trying to come up with a more efficient way to assess our students so that we can be a more common benchmark consistent across the board throughout our district yes so you explain that it's not additional it's just replacing what they were yeah and then this class of 2027 are the ones we're going to try and track so we can have um a matrix to use and then the they'll collaborate the teachers to see like after the first year if they need to tune fine-tune anything for the like the next class coming up as this group goes up is that yeah we're implementing it one year at a time because it does is a pretty long process to create all these assessments and so we're doing at one year at a time and so next year would be freshman and sophomore is the great Rich correct if I'm wrong I think this sort of replac what when the district was using link it in the past in some cases um which was an additional external assessment um and then the I think that was me um I guess the plan is sort of built in each year just sort of annually reviewing what are we saying what's the teacher perception feedback how we kids doing and and how to adjust from that yeah we're always going to assess what we're doing and whether or not it's working and the adjustment says necessary so and in the case if the assessment is found to be um across the board like not enough information fall through less would you be recreating that test we're hoping it doesn't miss the mark that far I'm just saying but what the what if what if if we are what happens in that case and I guess we would have to recreate the test but again we're going to look at I I don't I think any of our tests that our staff developed are going to miss the mark that far I think are you know I trust in our staff um and I trust in the tests that they created and I think they um are also being eded to our curriculum director there's a lot of steps here before this was given so to say that we would completely fail on that test I don't think is even Poss and we're no longer giving you're saying this is in Li of we're not giving the links any long this is no linet was a company that we um contracted with yeah and that was we we weren't happy with the data we were getting [Music] any other questions okay okay so a call for motion and second to approve agenda items 7.1 to 7.2 motion seconded all in favor I against exensions okay any opposed and opposed oh I said oh and any opposed I'm sorry got stop whispering no okay sorry uh okay so next agenda next agenda item is policy and school security uh Kimmy uh yes uh we reviewed uh second reading of policies uh that would be 5111 5116 um and 2419 uh there was limited discussion about 5111 in the language uh used to determine tuition um if the district decided to accept students from outside the district on a tuition B basis um the only change noted was the requirement of County Office approval for tuition rates um a lot of the discussion revolved around 5116 uh that was the education of homeless children and youths uh the language change uh terms of Youth and its um uh uh usage uh the term was added throughout the documents wasn't changed in three areas it was brought to the attention of uh the committee so at that at this time uh we are recommending tabling uh 5116 and approving 2419 and 5111 um moving on to the first and only reading of a mandatory regulation that's the reg 5111 discussion was included in this policy it was recommended this this regulation be approved and as a sec and would be approved then as the second reading to allow consistency so we are recommending to approve regulation 5111 um reviewing of the non-mandatory regulation 5116 uh will be tabled for further uh dis uh clarification this regulation will remain intact until additional information is obtained so no changes will made at this time uh gend item four was our first reading of policy 8500 um policies 8540 and 8550 are now combined uh with 8500 so those policies will be up for abolishment on the February agenda uh we discussed uh there was discussion about the federal Lun school program a language related to students without standing balances was discussed uh it was that decided that language and its policy should move forward for our first reading um there were recommendations for language changes which will be presented and considered between this month and the next month uh second reading language changes were related to a reference to covid-19 and also providing food within walking distance so the board recommends the approval of first reading uh additional items the idea of moving from stme to jsba for policy recommendations and maintenance was discussed the committee as a whole was in support of this move and administration will be reaching out um to such for updated quotes cost and developing a timeline for such um let see uh discuss we also discussed policy 7230 in committee committee recommended updating the language to reflect the present stra ese language policy will be presented with up updated language at the February Board of Education and that is all I have to report out so I have a question so about the um moving from Strauss Esme to to the njsba what was the what's the rationale for that recommendation I think we talked about being it was the overlapping being more timely we talked about cost detecting this um for such and we already have that service in place in jsba okay for support service Services is there a big difference so is there a difference between what they say or is it really just is it just a cost thing that's what I was just trying to figure out no I think we found that a lot of the policies um there are policies that may overlap or they may be combined okay they're um Administration is looking into costs and and timeline as so one one of the other things I think that we were what we did talk about was we seem to be finding inconsistencies like the child Youth and I think one of it was not only in the policy but then the regulation was inconsistent with the policy I mean literally inconsistent in certain spots and so it seems like maybe maybe we can get better service from somebody else right but it obviously is an effort and so it's not something we should do lightly it's going to take a bit of bit of work right and obviously some of our policies we've modified and so we obviously have to you know track if we do switch make sure we we pull in our changes that was going to be my next question was so now that we just went through a whole process of incorporating the Strauss estimate is that we mean we have to now go back through all of those policies to change it to be consistent with NJ SBA the njsba Glen that we we will be aware in tracking those policies that we have need got it this is really in the investigation stage right it was it was put out as yeah it was really put out as an idea and more of like let's see what it really is going to take versus we're heading down this I mean the cost the perspective I think is is a really good one to think about so I was just kind of curious as to if there would me big differences or not so thanks I know one of the arguments is often I know school boards Advocates that their policies are a little more user friendly in terms of language where this trial cesame tends to often take the statute language and sort of embed it into the policiy so I know that's often a perspective there but to Glenn's Point um yeah and yours there's a lot of work to be done about where things have been modified and would have to be retained and then one of the positive things as the board delegate here is that uh school boards the whole state we on the delegate assemblies that's what I'm going to bring up in my uh minutes for us is that we can submit um resolutions to be voted on and then adapted into school boards so it's it's inclusive of all school boards and um you know we go to our County meetings and they always have the legislative so anything on changes they're already on top of it and we're talking about how it applies to policy where we might not get that report back out and recommendations from stra sesme as timely got it Dan wanted to say something is is that an who made the recommendation was it Administration or someone from the committee or yeah the the administration to the committee okay as a discussion Point That's Where It's At great thanks other questions okay so a call for a motion and second to approve agenda items 8.1 to 8.3 right second Co all in favor I any opposed any extensions okay uh Finance facilities and transportation John thank you thank you Glen um our committee you know met two weeks AO go so some of the um information might be stale um now the whole committee was there as well as Jeff and Rich Katie was ill I see she's backing at it so that's good to see um so if there's anything that's come up since in those past two weeks um you know feel free to uh to jump in so the first thing we spoke about was uh the budget process for the coming year um we've already had the State of the Union um in February State um there'll be a budget there'll be a state uh budget address with uh state aid numbers released 48 hours after that so we're looking um for the March 12th meeting to approve the preliminary budget that needs to be submitted at that point and then uh with our board public Hearing in uh in uh April no May 7th excuse me um just as an ongoing discussion regarding the budget uh Transportation bids uh in August of this past year were up excuse me over 10% so that's going to be a driver also the uh school health fund um they're projecting about um 10% increase in Insurance um it may come in a little bit lower but you know so 8 to 10 is probably a good estimate um Katie and her her staff they're continuing to gather budget information we'll be meeting again obviously in February and have more discussion at that meeting um agenda item two um continued discussion on the transportation as uh most of you are aware we went out to somerson County ESC to study uh to do an efficiency study uh that work is not complete yet so we'll probably be seeing that um in in February uh there's on the agenda there's um there's a recommendation to um where some changes in the business office um with the assistant business administ rator is leaving so we um we're replacing her um in the meantime though we're bringing in a a part-time um uh assistant who has helped us out uh at previous uh junctures over the years so we uh we our committee recommends approving that uh the Polytech um or the project here um or excuse me project updates poch will be one of those um reference referendum projects the only remaining project um with uh regards to the referendum work is uh revolves around H continual HVAC work th those items have all been ordered um and the work should be finished over 12 months there's been a long lead time in getting some of that equipment the New Jersey clean energy Grant uh repair um let's see uh the repair work is complete and the remainder of the funds will be used to upgrade addition additional um HVAC units of ventilators at North hunon uh and then regarding the Polytech the project is progressing not as quickly uh so it doesn't seem like it's on schedule the way it was originally anticipated there have been some concerns um our our staff uh no longer attends bi-weekly construction meetings uh and we're and however um now we are relying relaying site concerns directly and in writing with the Polytech so there's been it hasn't been a smooth smooth sailing as one would like um now we're a bystander to a certain degree because uh you know we're not paying for it but yet it's on our site so uh we're doing our best to uh facilitate that um that project lastly agenda review uh you'll see um there's an amended uh the uh Elementary and secondary Education Act uh um Grant award for $78,000 um 11 point or excuse me it's 9.2 I already talked about that the changes in the business office um also you'll see on here uh Clinton Lebanon Township contracts for um 23 24 attached for approval um there's a third amendment to the solar PPA PPA agreement um that's attached and is um recommended for approval there was a discrepancy on the size of some of the solar panels so um that's why that is there Polytech um contract is also being reapproved due to a fluctuation in enrollment and uh St Luke's can provide um provide supplemental athletic training at events of if our coaches cannot attend so and the rest of those are just the monthly reports um and that's all I have any question or Katie anything El come up in those last two weeks that we need to know about I think you've covered everything but happy answer any questions one thing came up we postponed our meeting um from last which which item is it that caused you paused because we had to we couldn't go through it last week is it the bill 99 bills list items as well as the business office services impacting the business office um the bills list um we ended up making a change on that just so that we could issue the bills and you're now approving a ratification list which is the bill the checks have already been issued and now you're approving that after the effect I have uh two questions one I guess maybe on the transportation side anything with ESC are we seeing any impact like residual impact from like the the prek busing that districts sending districts might be doing and is that creating any sort of demand or surge on on our bus use at all I haven't heard of that and I I know you're talking about that new preschool program yeah that would cause additional busing but I haven't heard that impacting our routing because typically our routes are before all of the K right so I don't think that's impacting our services and then just uh a clarifying question just regarding the the the contracts for the uh Law Enforcement Officers just I was trying to figure out uh just some of the discrepancy there because some of the time frames are a little different for each one of those but then I'm assuming we sort of are simply working with the existing contracts with the municipalities that's not something that currently we're working under last year's contracts until these could be put in place and I know the townships had to work pretty hard to get these um cleaned by the time they could get to us which is why it took so long they had to work on the salary um that had to go to the SRO as well as the class 3es so once they had their updated changes they had to have their Town councils approve it and then we could then approve it so but I mean just from a a financial standpoint we're essentially Downstream from their Municipal contracts with law enforcement like in other words we we do we negotiate those directly or this is all dictated by the municip that yeah that's what I mean we sort of receive that okay thanks I just have a question uh agenda item three uh we are um obtaining Services um for extra hours on the in the business office is there any conflict or that a chance that this um individual might have any difficulty he is the full-time ba in Franklin Township so he is now contractually with them three days a week okay so that's why I have him approved for the other two days a week that he's available correct because Franklin used to be shared with Union so now it's a part-time position now he has some availability okay it's still just kind of you know plugging a hole at this moment it's not to get everything done we be by those two days will be our days yes okay and and that's temporary until we hire some yes as soon as we get some of the position we will we'll talk more Personnel that that'll be more detail a question about the relationship with The Botch project any safety concerns that we have to like go through this process about or is it more just typical construction issues and delays and uh haggling you okay okay the usual punch list maybe ask it this way the administration would be able to in a safety issue anyf concern somebody not write a letter if there were safety concerns we escalate it right away yes any more questions okay I call for a motion in second to approve agenda items 9.1 to 913 so moved second Jess all in favor any opposed I'd like to abstain from 9.1 9.11 through 9.13 I'm going to stain from 11 through 13 911 through 13 yeah next on the November ones and or that's November and December same yeah nov December and just to clarify 911 9 Bri yes yes so I have four people obing there's also there's a payment in the bill schedule in January I think I don't know if it's for the for the other new members and they can still approve the bill list right they can approve the bill list but if you're on the Travel motion I would but on the payment of travel I wouldn't it's the payment for like background checks and stuff like [Applause] that his yes thank you okay uh community relations and student affairs thank you um our committee met on January 18th virtually um our committee now consists of Brian Chapman Nicole Gallow Beth katran myself and then Glenn fanish um on our meeting we had rich and Marin um from Administration uh we met and uh we had two agenda items but there is one for us to vote on tonight 10.1 which is over night field trips which is we recommend it we didn't discuss it but that's our standard in all three um the wrestling and the uh Key Club or meet all the guidelines for us to approve an overnight field trip um I'm going to go with our second agenda item first because our first one will parlay into be going to uh speak on that um and that's our next section too on delegates and ad hoc um the agenda item was about closing School due to weather and um it was quite appropriate because the next day we had school closure but it ended up being um you know I wish I was a weather man I could be wrong half the time but um Mr Chapman brought up um understanding how we balance academics and closing of schools um with safety concerns and um Miss magala uh shared with us that when she builds in the calendar we have four snow days and she puts them in the semesters that align with the prob ility of having severe weather so there's um uh days that are built in so there's more days built in the second semester and into the third semester versus the first and fourth um if we do have school closing and it's at the end of a a semester it's pushed a day so that the students can accomplish any last minute things to get the semester closed out so it doesn't impact um their schooling if they're not in school that day um um and uh you know we talked about our district is one of the largest we have 180 square miles we're one of the largest in the state for square mileage um and it runs from our Southern districts where they get nothing to our Northern districts where you know we have blizzards so there's many variables that are taken into account and I know that um superintendent um they you look at all everything and um are up early before they make the decision to close school um we're it's a state regulation we are not able to do virtual learning uh some states allow it but New Jersey at now unless we have three consecutive days that we can't go into a virtual learning um uh pattern so uh we can't um do virtual learning you know um if we wanted to at this point unless we have more than three days if we have like a hurricane or a blizzard um so that is it and then the the biggest factor is always um concern um we have a lot of student drivers and um our roads are sometimes not even passable on good weather so um there's lots of factors that come in but Safety and Security are our biggest concern um and then the other um topic item that we discussed was um da Dei reporting so Beth because she chaired the ad hoc I'm going to turn this part over on our discussion from our committee and she's going to uh read out the reporting and finish the discussion thank you um so um our new members um just so that you're aware we we essentially decided um I think going into September that we felt that the ad hoc committee had done quite a bit and that we didn't feel it was necessary to continue with the committee but we did want to do a final readout after receiving some input from the school principls um and so uh um Mr Bender sent me the information and this is really the first opportunity for us to read that out um after this the view is that that most of this Falls within kind of the student um the community relations and Student Activities and so to the extent that there are follow-ups on what the different schools are doing and the principles are doing there that we would update um through the through this particular committee um but as far as the recommendations that um we had provided um the good news is that the activities are continuing to strengthen in in Dei in the high schools and it's been really positive um commun Communications about the various clubs offered at both schools were sent to all students as well as parents uh to help increase awareness um since um the student the important thing to not is that student interest in clubs are what Drive the continuation and introduction of new clubs so for example there have been a few newly approved Board of Education um through the Board of Education clubs such as the Jewish Culture Club at Vorhees um and the interest in support by students and staff is what drives the success of those clubs um both high schools expressed an interest in restarting the school TV report and as the board knows we approved the the the new uh program at North Hunter the roar report um it this will allow students to speak to to other students about clubs and activities which is based upon the learnings that we had received through the ad hoc committee um from some of the uh the student Representatives we had on that clubs are continuing to meet regularly at both the high schools um the North hunon High School um North Hunton is looking to expand its student ambassador program to mirror some of the early intervention activities offered through the the Vorhees ship program uh this will involve meeting with e8th grade students from Sing districts prior to the freshman orientation in August uh finally from an administrative standpoint steps are being taken to discuss school culture and Community to see if there's work that can be done to offer Dei and bias activities for students and stop so generally I think this is a really positive report I think that um that you know it's it meets the expectations what we were hoping for coming out of the ad hoc committee and we'll continue to follow this um with the principles of the schools thank you one one clarifying question I had and I don't I'm not 100% sure because I had asked uh Mr Bender um I think one of the recommendations that was being explored was staff training they had looked into a vendor and I think was ultimately determined to not be viable but I wasn't clear if they were then in the process of looking at an alternative vendor for training and I just I wasn't clear on where that was going I I thought he had given the indication that that exploratory work was was still happening but I'm not 100% sure so I'm not sure what he was what he was referencing with you okay um but we we are contracted with the vendor to do step training currently yes corre oh okay and maybe it was just the history they had looked at one vendor that they didn't yeah for a few years we approved that okay four years ago three four years AG yeah three four years ago okay great other questions thank you no so we have to do a motion so a call for motion and second to approve agenda item 10.1 second Jess all in favor any against any extension I know keep it really short everyone person committee met on the 17th and we discussed there was delegate meeting I'm sorry hold on oh yeah one second or just my my bad you don't want to hear all this we do want to hear want to hear there's a lot um we had our I think the audience wants to hear yes for count it's all good stuff uh we had our uh delegate meeting on the 25th um we received legislative updates regarding new laws on education which there's a a a slew um I will forward that uh we discussed laws on education other lame duck action and recent legislative action new laws were pertaining to student health and safety Staffing shortages School meals and student nutrition uh school funding and finance school facilities student learning achievement vetoed bills there were three of them in length I will send you those but there were noteworthy uh under lame duck action which received consideration during lame duck but did not make it to the governor's desks some of which will be introduced again they started again as of January 9th so we'll be informed as of our next meeting uh takeaways discussion amongst board members from local municipalities we discussed moving uh Board elections it's been a topic of moving Board elections back to April instead of November there are both advant uh advantages and disadvantaged to such um State doe should Supply funding for mandated leg legislation burdensome on Educators and districts uh concerns raised regarding the funding formula um there's a bill pending to um reconcile a a task force to review entire uh funding formula the njsba supports the change requesting state to take a holistic view um concerns from Members regarding new law regarding grief instruction which requires school districts to provide instruction on Grief as part of New Jersey student learning standards in Comprehensive Health and PE uh reminders and dates upcoming uh just a gentle reminder all new board members must be must complete board training within 90 days of reorg um Gwen reported out that there's training February 3rd March 4th through 6th and there's also online self-paced coursing uh next meeting is March 14th this is Rich unsung heroes so they're they're going to be sting that out we'll be getting that information uh don't forget to submit those uh April 19th March 2nd 12th and 16th women's leadership conferences um as well as other there are other webinars and trainings available right now if you register on njsba um and that is it we actually went last year I that with Rich at the unsung heroes so if you guys can make it to the meeting it's well worth it it's it's so wonderful to see the students in our um hun County be recognized our our unsung heroes so and that's March 14th just so everyone knows unsung heroes and then can you explain that what yes and then um May 9th is um our next meeting and it's a hybrid meeting I'm I'm pretty sure Tara you might um is that correct it's going to be at the sh it'll be a hybrid that sh yeah and then the unsung heroes will be in Flemington yeah our our unsung heroes are are building principal it's it is building administration building principles and they select students otherwise that might not get the opportunity to be share accolades am I correct Rich it's supposed to be somebody who isn't typically being recognized for something really that they're doing for the community or for their school um and it's a chance to give them some prpl but they don't ordinarily and and that's the premise that we based when we made the movement as a board how many years ago now to do recognition at our meetings the principles recommend and those are basically we do unsung heroes from both schools every um every board meeting that's great and that's it thank you I just had a question about the um the the elections um was there a serious discussion about moving it from November it's not it was a discussion that all the local within your boards are having discussion so the actual election not at our County meeting people brought at the discussion they were having this I see um you know there's a lot of it a lot of it was based around costs yeah as well got it thank you and then um the the State Delegate um School boards has we as a board collectively and if we were to move to school boards to do our um our our policies um at the delegates in the spring um and and then in November we review policies and then other school districts submit policy so we as a board could submit a policy and I just want to let everyone know that the resolutions need to be submitted by 5:00 on March 14th and then the next delegate voting delegate assembly is at um May 18th and it's held down at Mercer County Community College so anybody can attend I'm the voting delegate um and I thank you for your confidence and um I've gone to everyone that I've been responsible for but it's it's exciting and it's so nice to meet up um it's a little bit different than school boards but it's policymaking and we're dealing with the whole state from K through 12 um and it's just a great environment and if there's anything that we're feel that in this policy I would say we could look at it and maybe find a resolution if we're passionate enough to submit it like other districts have done so that's it and what's that uh it's the school board oh we would have to if we had a resolution we would have to write it and submit it and that has to be submitted by Thursday March 14th so we'd have to do that in February yeah and then once they're submitted we'll get I'll get the addendum and then there'll be changes a lot of times they'll review like the 500 so they'll be just like we do looking at verbiage and changes like that some things are more extensive and then some things are brought up on the floor of the delegate assembly where they'll put in the the make a motion to change whatever that that person or that school district believes that should be change and then it's voted on collectively as a whole so and I don't think we as a district have done much of that in the past so I just want to put it out there you can't attend you don't she's although Tara is the voting delegate you may attend it's well worth it yep and then they also virtual you can attend virtually if you don't want to get down there but you Bally go we just have one delegate to vote questions now on Personnel sorry I'll just keep it as short as before we met on the 17th and we discussed the Personnel agenda okay item 13 I need a call for a motion second to adopt resolution 01324 D2 executive session to discuss matters falling under categories 3 7 and 8 as reflected in the attached resolution the board is expected to be an executive session for about 20 minutes and upon return the public session action will be taken motion so move so move Jess in favor I against exensions okay we in executive session all right [Music] there were no Carry On Second Co and this is a roll call is p abstained Mr Chapman yes Miss Gallow yes Miss hin yes Miss kran yes Mr mcisaac yes Mr Miler yes M Reyes abstain are you abstaining from the Personnel agenda or you abstaining from the executive ex session oh okay we didn't we we not approving agenda item 15.1 but when you said abstained you abstained from the entire okay it there was an employee there was an employee separation there were some things in 2023 see for 15.1 so that's why I was you stilling for okay I look at my notes Here Miss Leno uh yes Mr spant yes Miss Fato yes yes Mr farb yes so any old new business so I just had the one because I mentioned it tonight that I'll entertain a motion to uh have the policy security Committee just review our policies and procedures regarding um Communications directed at our staff motion motion second second so all in favor I I any opposed against no I said I so anybody against that we're having policy and security we'll go ahead and R that review the policy okay yeah don't you take a motion to second that again that okay that's good okay good all right any other old or new okay all right so I need a call for motion and second to adjourn so move seconds seconds all in favor any opposed we are Jour good night everybody