7:01 p.m. good can we advise to honor America and salute to the flag pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America to The Republic stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty justice for all can we get a roll call Mr Rado Mrs aelina here Mrs Cooper here Mr cassado President Mr Garcia Mr Garcia here Mrs Martin here Mrs peek here Mrs Peterson here Mrs pin here Mr patus here we have cor the New Jersey open public meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the westw regional board of education has cause notice of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time and place thereof Westwood bur Hall Westwood Public Library Township of Washington Administrative Building Township of Washington free public library the record community life and the pasak Press so now can we get a a motion for minute approval Mr purus can I get a second Miss peek discussion having none Mr s roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mrs Garcia yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs PEC yes Mrs Peterson yes Mrs pin yes Mr patus yes motion carried okay with that we'll move to reports and we'll start with the Acting Superintendent report Mr Conley good evening I'm I'm I'll get there one of the items on tonight's agenda reflects the student safety data system ssds used for school reporting of incidents of violence vandalism weapons weapons offenses substance offenses taking place in school and HIV taking place in school on school grounds or at school sponsored activities HIV training of students and staff and HIV programs are also reported into ssds this dat is collected by the New Jersey Department of Education to fulfill various federal and state statutory reporting requirements another item on tonight's agenda is a $700 dollar donation from the Westwood Regional class of 1973 for a bench which we placed in front of the high school thank you to the class of 1973 in the past I have set up tours of the high school for class reunions and we have recognized some at halftime of a football game if the dat's match if anyone is planning a reunion and is interested please reach out I love sharing And discussing all the great things going on with our Westwood alumni the current number of pre-registered incoming kindergarteners is 140 final numbers and sections will be released in May I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the amazing staff we are fortunate to have in the Westwood Regional School District of the approximate 350 staff in the district I am fortunate to have personally worked with almost half of them serving as a teacher and administrator at the middle and high school your hard work and determination have made a lasting imp impact on the lives of our students and I want to express my deepest appreciation for your incredible efforts the role of a teacher extends far beyond the classroom shaping the future of our community and society as a whole please know that your dedication is not only recognized but also deeply appreciated thank you and congratulations to Mr Pinto who is being recognized by the district this evening for the people make a difference award it has been a pleasure working with you over the past nine years thank you for your dedication to our students and community that concludes my report thank you Mr [Applause] Connelly and now moving on to my president's report I want to begin my report by stating that when I speak as the president of this board I speak on behalf of the board majority and not for any individual trustee each member of this board is entitled to express their opinion with the understanding that their words are theirs alone and do not represent the board majority or the whole board sentiment with that we the Westwood Regional School District Board of Education want to publicly Express to all wwrsd employees that this board appreciates them teachers custodians administrators assistance maintenance SOS Etc every employee each crew each team we see you and we have witnessed the time energy effort and love you put into all you do to ensure that all our students have a safe accepting challenging caring environment to learn and that all students have the tools to to thrive during their educational journey and Beyond the students and their well-being are why we're here we adults may not always agree on every issue or the pathway to an end still our Common Thread is that we wish each of them to grow up feeling loved appreciated and confident that they can contribute to this world and the future powerfully and positively this year this board will always work with its superintendent and District leadership to decide in the best interest of our students and this District we will vote and act only after considering all those affected and upon careful reflection of diverse parent and stakeholder perspectives we will hold the advice guidance and op and opinions of our educational professionals and min ministrators and legal counsel in high regard and they will significantly impact our decisions ultimately this board believes that every voice matters so we will communicate engage collaborate and Meet on Common Ground but will never compromise our goals or virtues we are all Cardinals and we are strongest together thank you and that concludes my presence report moving on moving on Mr Rado business administrative report uh yes good evening um we have a lot going on at the business office uh this month um tonight uh the board will be accepting the 2223 annual audit uh where uh Mr Rob heg uh will be presenting uh tonight to the board the full board um the annual audits uh uh State requirement uh for all school districts um we uh also submitted the corrective action plan for review to the the auditor and that's also on tonight's agenda for approval um we finally received the acceptance uh award notice from the SDA Grant the SDA Grant was uh for uh projects uh related to well capital projects for school districts across the state of New Jersey they had different tier classifications as uh as needs we UTI we requested money for upgrades to our HV HVAC um project that we we plan on doing to all all the buildings so um I'm happy to announce we received uh we had $ 13.9 Million worth of projects we received 40% of that from the state as a grant so that's uh about $5.4 million that we're receiving money from the state the district is is putting out 8.5 million which we have uh saved up in our capital reserve uh 3.9 million we had put in this year's budget so we are withdrawing another 4.6 million to put aside um and so that we can move forward with those projects now they're not happening overnight we still have other items that we need to do two of our elementary schools still need to do finish the electrical upgrade in order to proceed with with the AC project um but tonight we are approving Brookside School HVAC project that we went out to bid um they were able to sustain the the power grid is able to sustain the upgrade so we were we were moving forward with that um so that's on tonight's agenda also for approval um and we'll probably follow the line of Washington school next as their electrical upgrades are coming to an end should be done completed by the end of this year and then uh Brookside I mean sorry Berkeley and George School will probably be coming in a future budget or a future year um because we are working on those electrical projects now uh also on tonight's agenda we'll be accepting the RFP for the hype impact tutoring grant that we were awarded um that is the the tutoring service uh for students and that will that'll begin as soon as we uh award they're going to the curriculum department will be working with them to set up the the students that will the tutoring will be offered to I think it's third and fourth grade I think it's third and fourth grade but um that that'll be coming out shortly um and just to wrap it up finally we're uh working on a 2425 budget so we've uh get received all the information from all the Departments we're putting that together um and uh we'll be uh presenting that to the finance committing at at the next meeting and present doing a whole board presentation uh on that at one of the upcoming meetings uh that'll concl conclude my report for this evening thank you Mr zad and now we'll move on to our student report good evening everyone to begin with the prek after returning from winter break preschoolers started Ed building their newest and maybe their favorite theme restaurants students work together to build six different restaurants in their classrooms the restaurants vary from fast food restaurants drive-thru Diner and Habachi the students love to cook in each of the restaurants as well as use notepads to take orders students are also learning how to order food in a restaurant as well as what to do if something goes wrong with the order along with the restaurants preschoolers have been learning about snow and snowmen the Snowman theme has been implemented across multiple subjects through reading a variety of books about snowman Sneezy the Snowman being one of their favorites in science students completed experiments about melting and learned what makes snow melt the fastest snowmen were also used to help learn letters and numbers in the middle school middle schoolers are wrapping up their second edition of the great kindness challenge we thank the PSO for setting up the second annual appreciation station where students have been writing notes of gratitude to sta staff members and our counseling and student council teams for planning kindness themes for each day in addition we are proud to share that our service project kind coins for Kenya has officially kicked off and the cafeteria is adorned with a powerful kindness chain representing feedback from students in all grade levels and advisory groups way to go Middle School moving on to high school the academics business management students were practicing writing formal business letters to companies of their choice and they have received a few responses thank you to sticks and the Boston Red Sox for responding to a couple of our students and generously gifting a lacrosse stick head in Westwood colors from sticks and merchandise from the Boston Red Sox Mr kenduck and Miss leond presented High School staff professional development on AI and chat GPT they provided the teachers AI tools and protocol that can be integrated to help Educators with workflow and and other classroom tasks seniors in health had a representative from alternatives to domestic violence speak to them about healthy and unhealthy relationships boundaries and consent these workshops will continue into the third quarter congratulations to the TV and film students I apologize if I mispronounce your last names Emma legado Dylan torrento and Hayden bernsteen their documentary generations of homemade happiness was chosen to be screened at the Garden State Film Festival on March 23rd the content honor societies are preparing for their induction ceremony in February congrats to all inductees who have been accepted into any of these honor societies thank you as for athletics senior nights have begun for winter sports teams and will continue throughout the season on December 28th the boys basketball team won the Hawthorne Holiday Tournament and will be participating in the first round of the Bergen County jambur tonight we would like to extend our congratulations to senior Kate Walsh for scoring her a thousandth career point during the girls basketball win against bound B Brooke on January 20th the wrestling team is having a very good season this year holding a 13-0 record the boys placed third place at the bcca tournament third out of 41 teams the most recent victory was last night defeating pasak Valley 45- 18 their next match will be held tomorrow at Emerson as for Performing Arts the Woodington players um sorry the Woodington players are currently rehearsing for the spring production of Annie and are eager to Showcase their musical talents to the community in March congratulations to all student musicians who performed at the Bergen County band and choir Festival concert held at Bergenfield high school special congratulations to Mr Fritz for conducting the County Choir as for clubs the science League had its first competition in January and results are released daily this week we're proud of all the members who participated in competitions for regular and AP science courses they will continue to St study vigorously in their classes for the next competition on February 7th waca or Westwood academic to cathlon is getting ready for regionals this Saturday at Clifton High School where they will compete with several other schools in the regions to hopefully secure a spot at States as they usually do which will be held here at Westwood the debate team is having a successful season this year and will be hosting their next tournament on next Friday good luck to all the teams in their competitions taking places in the next few weeks and to conclude our report we would like to uh mention a few important dates for upcoming events the high school will be hosting a parent program titled not my kid centered around addiction and recovery on the 8th of February at 6:30 in Hurley theater and there will be a college fair at Bergenfield High School on the 28th of February you can see the flyer on the school website for details or visit www. bergenfield.org for more information thank you thank you both so much that was great I love hearing all the positive things for the students um that's the last time I want to hear anything positive about the Boston Red Sox though okay so that's that's enough of that but now congrats guys it's great moving on we will go to committee reports and for policy and governance chairperson Miss aelina have a report please thank you Mr Garcia uh the policy and governance committee held its monthly meeting on Wednesday January 17th in attendance myself president Garcia vice president PEC trusty Peterson miss Calderone and AR liazon and Acting Superintendent Mr Connelly uh during this session we spent several hours having robust conversations about policies that you see on the agenda tonight we were able to agree disagree and compromise on many topics and I felt like our first meeting was able to set the tone for the collaboration we all hoped to achieve in that light I'd like to thank my fellow committee members Miss Calderone and Mr Connelly for a first very successful meeting um there have been movements on policy 5756 which with the full support of our Acting Superintendent and board attorney is being brought to the table for discussion regulation 5600 the code of conduct was updated and in regulation 5400 honoring student achievement now contains additional language geared towards our Student Success uh finally we were able to discuss the potential for and Logistics of resuming the live stream fee during monthly meeting and that will be discussed in Old business and this concludes my report thank you miss aelina moving on to finance and facility chairperson Mr pus please thank you Mr Garcia the finance and Facilities committee held its first meeting of the new year on January 18th in attendant were Acting Superintendent Mr Conley business administrator Mr Rosado board president Mr Garcia Miss ravanetti trustee Nicole Martin and myself during the meeting Mr mozado gave the committee members an overview of the district's finances and motions found in today's agenda he also gave an overview of the many past Pro past present and future projects that are being tracked by The District in addition we had a good discussion around the gains earns from investing the funds in the New Jersey arm program interest earned from that investment is used to offset some of the tax levy we found Mr Rosado to be very willing to educate the committee and we look forward to working with him this year next meeting is scheduled for February 7th that concludes my report thank you Mr pus moving on to curriculum and instruction chairperson Miss P please the curriculum committee has not met we have a meeting date of February 6th thank you Miss peek moving on to negotiations chairperson Miss Martin the negotiations committee also has not met we have a meeting set for February 8th but I am very excited to announce that the WEA was agreeable to scheduling a pre- meeting before we head into mediation discussions and the negotiations committee is looking forward to having productive discussions thank you Miss Martin moving on superintendent search chairperson that Miss peek report the seven non-conflicted board members on Monday evening and Tuesday evening with our search consultant to review all of the application packages submitted by the candidates we were very gratified to see that we have a high level of talent in the candidate pool and using our stakeholders input as our guide we were able to identify eight candidates to meet the first round interviews all eight enthusiastically accepted the board's invitation to meet and we will begin our first round interviews on Monday February 5th and conclude on Tuesday February 6th our search process comprom comprises three rounds of interviews and the board will narrow the number of candidates being considered after each interview round is concluded we are excited to begin thank you very much Miss peek all chair people moving on we will go to Awards and recognitions Miss aelina can you please read motion a thank you Mr Garcia motion that upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent the following resolution be adopted whereas the Westwood Regional School District has implemented the people make the difference recognition program for staff members and students who exhibit Role Model Behavior and attributes in key areas and whereas the Westwood Regional School District recognizes and extends our utmost appreciation to High School staff member Christopher Pinto who demonstrated Excellence based on the specific criteria of the program and now now therefore be it resolved that the Westwood Regional Board of Education hereby acknowledges and extends its appreciation to Christopher pinto and directs the board secretary to include this resolution in the official minutes of the Board of Education and directs the Acting Superintendent of Schools to present him with a suitable certificate of recognition as a token of this board's esteem thank you can I get a second Miss peek thank you discussion Miss Peterson thank you Mr Garcia I was just wondering if you could explain to the board and also to the public what the criteria for this award is and also who voted on it I'm looking to understand what Mr Pinto did to earn this uh to earn this award and the difference he made I have heard he's had quite an impact on students um this year and in Prior years he's definitely had a lot of ups and downs uh more ups and downs which is good but just looking to understand um kind of how this was decided upon and the criteria that it's based on thank you Mr peton from my understanding and Mr Rado you can tell me if I'm wrong here but it was a goal put forth a district goal and it was a superintendent decision and I believe that we did approve it as a board um and then it was voted on by the community [Applause] yes yes so Mr Garcia I agree it was a board goal but we left it up to the superintendent to develop the program and lay out the criteria for it so I'm just looking to understand that a little bit better sure I don't have it in front of me right now we can certainly look into that um for right now I don't have it in front of me so we're issuing an award for something that we don't know what it's for it's not our award this is just a recognition of it but we're approving it we should be educated on it now is this I mean the ward and recognition is just acknowledgement uh it's not really um I guess board business it's not it's not it's it's an acknowledgement of a receive of an award I I don't know the yeah I I don't know the criteria I wasn't involved in that aspect of it yeah and that was uh the criteria I think was set by uh superintendent Mortimer but um we can absolutely you know follow up with that I don't have it now so uh any other discussion just one question not that I want to entertain the audience but I think it was important did he receive the award already no okay yeah any further discussion having none say all in favor I think we have to do a roll call now you don't necessarily have to do the roll call usually the Ws is is all isn't all in favor and uh oppositions and then uh abstentions so if you can just raise your hand so I can just in favor we got one two three four five okay opposed abstentions that there are know okay motion carried motion [Applause] carried e just a quick reminder guys I know there's a lot of emotions and a lot of things that we do up here we're really going to try to aim to keep a positive and productive uh just meeting schedule throughout the whole year so if we can kind of just understand that everybody in the audience we're all parents or stakeholders and you know we're all looking to do good things here so let's temper for the emotions the best we can and just uh try and move forward positively so at this time the dis this district auditor Robert Hay of lurch Vincy and Bliss will present the 2022 2023 annual District audit thank you everyone thank you for having me tonight um happy to be here just give you the uh brief overview of the results of the 2223 fiscal year audit uh each year every District in the state of New Jersey is required to undergo an external audit um and that was recently completed uh in the fall we filed the reports with the state in early December uh so there's two reports the state requires that we file with the board and and then uh with the state on behalf of the board uh one is the annual comprehensive financial report that's a pretty voluminous document that has all of your financial statements uh note disclosures or audit opinions are in there um then there's a second report which is the auditor's management report which is the results of the audit with any related findings or Rec recommendations that require corrective action so just to give you a highlight of what's in each report uh without going into too much detail in the comprehensive financial report you received three audit opinions from us uh one is on your financial statements and whether they're prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles uh second opinion is what we call your report on internal controls which is required of any local government entity uh that's more of rather than being on the financial statements themselves it's on your internal controls over the financial so more of an operational type audit and rather than the financial part and then a third opinion is on your what we call your single audit which is specific to federal and state grants so as you receive grants from the state or federal government uh we select grants each year and and make sure you're in compliance with the requirements of those grants uh to receive the money so in all three of those opinions you receive what we call an unmodified opinion which is the highest level of assurance we can give as Auditors uh you basically start with that unmodified level of an opinion and then if anything happens during the AUD to uh have us reduce that level of assurance to what we call either a modified opinion or a disclaimer of opinion uh that would happen that didn't happen in this instance so in all three you receive what we call an unmodified or a clean opinion uh so very positive results on the opinion front uh just to talk about the fund balance a little bit where the district ended the year after uh your revenues are collected for the year after your budget money is spent uh you had an increase of about $3.2 million in total fund balances uh so that means you collect you know between an excess Revenue Collections and not spending up to the full amount of your budget you're actually able to save about $3.2 million and put that back into your fund balance uh one of the main drivers of that this year in 2223 was your interest on uh deposits uh so U not specific the Westwood but really everywhere obviously there's been an increase in interest revenue from your uh Bank deposits so that was increased Revenue that you saw during 2223 and just to talk about where that money is at the end of the year um you have a capital a reserve fund which Mr Rado mentioned earlier that totals up to about $14 million moving forward into the current year uh very similar to where you were at this point last year so that's kind of a revolving Reserve fund as you know money gets put in during the year uh gets withdrawn during the year or through your budget process to do capital projects so you end of the year with about 14 million that Reserve which could be used like I said through your budget or through a board resolution during the year for a withdrawal to do capital projects that are included in your uh longrange facilities plan the dist District also has around 2.5 million what they call a maintenance Reserve that's uh similar to a capital reserve but more for maintenance of your facility so it can't be used for Capital Improvements it's more uh used for maintenance of your existing facilities your upkeep of your existing facilities and again similar to capital reserve that could be withdrawn from that fund by board resolution during the year or through your budget process for maintenance um there's also $1.5 million that was set aside that's really on hand that June 30th 23 but uh is designated for tax relief in your upcoming budget of 2425 and that was very similar number to what you had at this point last year uh so what that means is moving forward into your 2425 budget you have a very similar amount that you did moving in from the into the 2324 budget so going into your budget you're kind of on equal footing from where you were the previous year which is which is positive um and when really everything shakes out you end up with about uh $2.4 million in surplus funds and that's the maximum allow maximum amount you're allowed to have the state uh designates or or really restricts how much you can keep in what they call Surplus uh so you end of the year with about $2.4 million in that fund which represents roughly 2% of your budget and that's a state calculation at the maximum you can have so anything you ended up over and above that which is around that 1.5 million that goes back into uh for tax relief in the 2425 budget um and just to talk about the management report there were four recommendations in the audit which I believe there's the corrective action plan on the agenda tonight to um um approve the corrective action on those findings uh of the four findings all of them what we call what we call General findings uh so when we come up with findings for the audit there's three levels we can have General findings which all four of these are uh there's significant deficiencies and then there's material weaknesses so depending on the level of the finding we have we would uh designate them as either a general significant or material all four of these are what we call General comments uh basically they they just result from things we that we you know look to see improvements for next year or might be uh you know a state calculation that that needs to be adjusted uh in the district's records so all four of those are what we call General comments and like I said the corrective action plan in front of you tonight we'll address those four findings and discuss the corrective action that's going to be implemented to um to negate those FS uh so all in all very positive audit uh like I said you got three clean opinions your financials are very stable from the previous year as far as the reserves you have on hand uh for future expens moving into next year and for long-term purposes for your capital projects and uh for a district year size to have four General findings in in your audit that that's you know overall pretty positive result of the audit that you don't have anything you know significant or material that you're looking at that concludes my presentation but Happ you take any questions on the audit or our reports any questions I haven't see none thank you thank you job Keith all right have a good evening okay moving on Ag and agenda item public forum during this first public forum District residents and staff are invited to address the board of education on agenda items specifically listed on this evening's agenda board policy 0167 requires that individuals sign the speaker list giving name Municipality of Resident and specific agenda items on which a member of the public plans to speak and ask that all remarks be directed to the board as a whole not to individuals by name the board ask that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of all other individuals when speaking although the board may not respond to items raised during the public forum all public comments will be considered and may be discussed tonight under the appropriate agenda items or new business at this meeting at subsequent meetings under business or during a board committee meeting if appropriate each speaker statement will be limited to 3 minutes in duration this first public forum will be limited to 30 minutes in duration we will open we will open public session at that 73 7:35 good evening Roberta hland 29 meta Road in Westwood longtime board member previously questions regarding the staff recognition so for the board members that aren't sure where to find it it's under District goals clearly on the website something that those that are sitting on board and have been sitting on board should have known where to find it's goal three develop and Implement a three times per year recognition program for staff and students that identifies Role Model Behavior and attributes in key areas and publicly recognizes and rewards it based on specific criteria Human Resources Director and superintendent works with directors and principles to identify criteria for staff and students superintendent develops a name for the program superintendent establishes a nomination Pro process program is advertised to stakeholders in order to seek nominations nominations are reviewed by administrative team certificates of recognition are presented at Board of Ed meetings that's what the program is it's clearly stated to every stakeholder in this District that's how it was done I know of many people who put in names uh and I and personally I think it's a great program and all board members should be embracing it thank you thank you Miss [Applause] Hanley hi amera GLE High School senior um tonight I just want to congratulate Pinto on receiving the people make the difference recognition um I've known Pinto since I was in Middle School um cuz I attended the Washington Township summer camp and when I started going I was an absolute dork I had no friends um and I was so lonely I always lunch by myself um and I talk to literally no one but pinto and the rest of the staff that he hired made it such a good experience um I left with a lot of friends I was always eating lunch with people after meeting the counselors and the other students um and since then he's always done his best to make Westwood a welcoming place for everybody um he's one of the first people who actually learned how to pronounce my name right which is a feat for some people um but he has pronounced it right almost every Friday over the loudspeakers at halftime almost every time he's a friendly face in the hallway and he's someone you know you can always go to if you're having a problem or you just want to laugh with someone Pinto thank you for being such an amazing teacher and an even better human I can assure you I'm not the only student that feels the immensely positive impact that you have on our lives so thank you and thank you guys for recognizing him cuz this is a really good program and I think we should definitely keep it and keep doing it thanks thank you Miss SK would anybody else like to speak does not look like it oh Sharon mcdunn Township of Washington I just want to congratulate Chris Pinto on getting this award I've worked with Chris for a long time he's considerate thoughtful friendly helpful and above all kind seeing that we are celebrating the great kindness challenge this week in the schools I find it very fitting that this award was is being presented to him tonight I think kind is something that we all need to embrace it's not hard makes you smile congratulations to the district for recognizing him thank you thank you Miss [Applause] MCD would anybody else like to speak going once going twice see nobody coming up we will close public session at 7:41 now I'd like to turn over to Mr Connelly to answer any questions if you have any questions I don't think there really were any so yeah you get for reading from the script all right so we'll move on to administrative and governance Miss peek can you please move the Motions in administrative governance sure Mr Garcia I'd like to move um agenda items under administrative and government a through e please can I have a second anybody miss aelina discussion Miss Peterson thank you so I appreciate the work that the committee did to review the books um that are outlined in motions d and e um I do have concerns though with the the uh determinations so I'm going to read a very short I'm not going to take us through a whole story time but I'm going to read a very short excerpt from one of the books um listed in D It's called The Perks of Being a Wallflower the boy kept working up the girl shirt and as much as she said no he kept working it after a few minutes she stopped protesting and he pulled her shirt off and she had a we white bra on with lece I honestly don't know what to do by this point pretty soon he took off her bra and started to kiss her breast and then he put down his hand and then he put his hand down her pants and she started moaning I think they were both very drunk he reached to take off her pants but she started crying really hard so he reached for his own he pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees please Dave no but the boy just talks off to her about how good she looked and things like that and she grabbed his penis with her hands and started moving it so I will stop there um as we know the Middle School serves students in grades 6 through 8 which include children who range from 11 to 14 years old so I would like to know if the rest of the board um is is comfortable with the recommendation of this committee which is to leave that book in the middle school media center thank you Miss Cooper I'm not comfortable with it I'm I'm trying to understand like I think there's been a lot of talk about book Banning and I think there's a difference between is a book educational versus a book being banned from a school the way I look at it is every parent has the access the resources is to use a public library and present books like this The Perks of Being a Wallflower gender queer all these books that are getting a lot of attention right now in the media for having relatively graphic descriptions what I don't understand is what is the educational value of having this in the middle school I don't see it schools are for Education not necessarily to um to present books like this I don't see the value of it I do have concerns with it but that does not mean and this is what I want to be very discreet about that people want want to ban books I want books to be educational that sit in school and I don't see the value of this level of grass sexual information in the Middle School parents can buy it for their kids kids can get it from the public library why does it need to be in the classroom or in the media center Miss Martin so there was a lot of concern around the curriculum the health curriculum which includes things about sexuality and that is considered to be educational however the parents have the ability to opt out just as here parents have the ability to opt out of not allowing their children to take out this book so I'm just curious what the difference is Miss Cooper then Mr Cass Doug I was first I I wasn't raising my hand oh you look like you were raising hand certainly look like it all right Miss Cooper so I think there is a difference between describing the science of how the Body Works how reproduction works the science of how families work the science of how um the physiology genetics genetic code there's a science to it this is not science this is a sexual molestation in a high school party with drunk kids I don't see the same relevance of information I truly don't Miss Miss Peterson I think there's also a huge difference uh for parents to opt their children out of a specified Health curriculum versus a book in the media center that they don't even know is there you know you don't know what you don't know and you can't opt out of something that you're not aware exists in the school so yes um a parent can send in a letter and say I don't want my child taking this book out but they have to know that it's there first and and there's nothing to inform them that this and I guarantee that there's many other books of a similar nature in the media center there's no way for parents to know that so how are they supposed to opt out of that Miss Martin and then miss Cooper so first to address Miss Cooper um science is reality sexual molestation is also reality and we need to make our students aware of what is possible what is okay what is not okay and so while it may not be straightforward education it's still important that there is awareness so they're not caught off guard um to address Miss Peterson this is being brought to light here there have been a lot of discussions around books that are not approved that are being banned whatever you want to call it if a parent is really concerned about it they're doing their homework this is why this discussion is even coming forward I appreciate your perspective and and I I do really understand we're talking about two different things what I think I heard you raise and please correct me if I'm wrong it's like consent consent is a very big deal the section of this book I went and got it on my Kindle this is nothing to do with consent this is and this doesn't teach consent this is not like it's an open conversation between a teacher and their student saying look somebody touches you in a way where you're uncomfortable um you have the right to say no that's not what happen in this scene that's not what happened in this book and I think there's there is some dialogue we had a couple of months ago um around what are the teachers responsible for knowing what they're putting in the classroom this is not educational about consent what I'm I'm trying to understand is what is educational about it it tells the story about it it doesn't have consequences associated with it it doesn't talk about did this kid get sent to jail for doing this to this girl should they have been drunk should they have been high we don't know it's a fictional story it's not science I do really appreciate what you're trying to say about consent though and I do think that is something that the school does teach and I think is extremely important to teach because the way that our culture is going today consent seems to get washed away the ability for a person to say no you can't touch me like that so I do agree with that's very important I just don't think that this is what the book teaches Miss Peterson then miss aelina I think to suggest that parents need to do their homework and know every book in the media center is an absurd suggestion um I don't know if you've ever been in the middle school media center Mrs Martin but there are literally thousands of books in there um and to suggest that a parent needs to kind of read through everyone to determine if it's appropriate for their child that's that's that's not reasonable um the book shouldn't be there in the first place and we went through a similar process with reviewing books last year and I I think there just needs to be better process on the district side to vet the books before they even get into the schools and ensure that they're being placed in a school um that is appropriate you know age appropriate we had Miss aelina and then miss peek I would just like to ask um well not ask her just comment on our school having a protocol for books how they're evalu valed before they come into the school while they're in the school and then if a parent has a complaint so when I see this on the agenda I'm assuming that the books went through this protocol and if they did and the protocol is the problem then that's another discussion if the books went through the protocol that our school has and they appear on the agenda I I don't see why we're questioning what their meaning is they've gone through all of the proper channels again if I'm wrong Keith Frank or Mr Connelly Mr zado please correct me on that I think we had Miss peek and then I'll go to miss Cooper Mr Connelly I'm not sure if you know the answer to this question the books have codes on them right are they not colorcoded where there's a there's some kind of a code um Miss bronn's nodding I mean sorry Miss calderon's nodding her head they are coded so if if a parent there's it says there's an opt out process here can the parent opt out of say the I think it's a black code on the book and say my child may not take out books that have a black label on them Miss calones nodding yes okay so there is a process for parents with stuff that is marked to say I do not give permission for my child Miss Cooper then Miss Martin um just checking so regarding the the protocol that this has been through uh the question the question I have is like who determined I think there's some things that we don't know who determined what the protocol was and how how are we going about we had a committee last year I don't know who sat on the committee that looked at these right now this was Mr pontil this is this is previous can I answer have I actually just reached out to uh Miss C so tell me if I'm wrong but this specific book there were two Ela Department teachers there was Dr sentino who's the principal Mr Albert AP supervisor of ela Department Miss Calderone school media specialist and a representative of the board so a trustee and that was Mr pontillo and he actually explained this his rationale and um that that did go through the process so do you have any more questions about that I do I do recall that the other the other questions I have is um Miss Peterson asked a question I believe I'm the only one who answered it did this is this okay this everybody else feels okay with this does everybody want middle school again I'm just I'm just asking and I'm opening the dialogue but and then the final question is is if somebody could just explain to me truly what is the educational value to this book in the middle school that's it I think you asked a question I think Miss peek was going to answer so we go to miss PE well I have two thoughts on that one considering there is an opt out process for parents to say I don't want my children reading books that are marked as with any kind of explicit contact or adult contact or sexual conduct I don't I don't know how it's labeled it may not be that criteria but yes I am comfortable being able to say this book is here and I don't want my child to read it so I have the right to say I don't want my child to read it you don't have to know it's all there by saying I don't want my child to read books that are marked with this code so yes I'm I'm comfortable I I trust the people that did the process and said that this book is okay where it is and I also think while the there's a conversation the conversation between consent given in a classroom is very different than reading the excerpt and having a conversation with my child if I choose to let my child read that book and say okay well let's read this together that situation would open up a whole dialogue between me and my child about what happened here and what could you do if you found yourself in a similar situation so I do see that there is a value to having those conversations but again the parent has the right to opt their child out so the child wouldn't even see it if they don't want to have those conversations with their child Mr pus I'm only answering this question because it was specifically asked for members opinions or um the the excerpt that was written not my favorite passage from a kid's book uh honestly um but at the same time I would be happy that my kids were reading I don't think they're picking up that book and I know that CL out a little funny but unfortunately my children don't read as much as I would like them to read I would like them to read anything so um you know if it was that book they could probably I think they can take those three or four sentences and move forward uh so yeah that's all I have to say thanks M Martin apologize you had your hand up before and now I'll go Miss Peterson miss pin and Miss Cooper thank you um thank you Miss peek for explaining the process of how the books are labeled um Miss Peterson by no means did I suggest that parents go through and pour through the thousands of books in the Middle School library what I said was that if parents have concern about explicit language or content in books they can find out what those titles are and then do their research that narrows down the scope greatly so please don't put words in my mouth Miss Cooper yes I I would be okay if my child read this book for the reason that Miss peek more eloquently explained the difference between explaining consent in the classroom versus seeing it in reality in real life it to me the both are necessary and I don't want personally I don't want my child to be blindsided so I am okay with that I just want to remind everybody passionate great debate continue to be respectful Miss Peterson Mrs Martin thank you for clarifying what what you said before so I'm I'm wondering how parents are being educated and notified of this color coding system in the media centers Mrs P I appreciate the knowledge that you're sharing I think you're probably familiar with that because you've subbed in the district for a number of years before coming on to the board I and and maybe I've been living under a rock um for the past 15 years but you know I have a senior in the district and I've never heard of this color coding in the media center so I'm wondering if if I didn't know about it maybe there's other parents who don't know about it so how can we educate parents that this exists and that they can opt out of it I don't know who I had next but we'll go Miss perin you've been sitting there I missed you sorry um I have a few thoughts on this one is I would I mostly agree with what Mr Patu said which is I rarely am going to be convinced of any idea that asserts that books are a big problem I think they're mostly two thumbs up I'm a fan and I would like if my kids read more I should read more actually um I actually was an English major believe it or not and I recently sat for the practice to and I'm now certified to teach English um and as such and I'm also a movie buff I also do appreciate that books have educational value they're not Educational Tools per se especially great literature it exists on its own it stands on its own and it usually the good stuff um involves life right it's about life and these things happen in life and it's unfortunate it's good to learn about them in fiction rather than in real life through experience like this particular excerpt much rather have somebody read about it than go through it um and I don't think that um you I I also don't think you can judge a book in isolation of an excerpt it's a it's a whole work okay um also I did do a wee bit of research and these books were um mostly geared towards 14 to 18 which is high school basically right but they're 14y olds in the middle school and the books that were um that the committee decided should stay unanimously I might add um were I read reviews by parents and children and they actually recommended it for younger kids than 14 and we're raving about the books raving so it gets kids excited about reading which I think is is of Great Value um I think that's it thank you thank you m b we had Miss Cooper and then we'll go to Mr cassado I think right now we make a lot of assumptions about what happens at home one there is the assumption that a student tells their parents that they taking this book out and they're reading it and are going to have a dialogue about consent um I think to um M pus I also have a kid that doesn't read a lot you know it's hard it's like pulling teeth but if I'm going to get her to read something it it wouldn't be something like this at her age of 12 years old or 11 years old right I think I'd try to find something that was more appropriate but I do understand understand what you're saying like anything to encourage a kid to read but when I go back to I'm not making assumptions when I'm asking the question what is the true educational value of reading a book The Perks and I don't judge the book on an excerpt I truly don't I tried to flash read as much as I could I watch the movie I mean I know the movie isn't off often the book but I Tred to be much more educated about it when I raise it as an issue but I don't see the educational value that a different sort of book that also May encourage reading and when you talk about great literature I'm with you Mrs parin I truly am when I think about books that um talk about the determination of spirit when I think about books that talk about real hardship anything by Dickens where talk about real hardship those are great Classics that is great literature those are books that I'd love to expose even very young children to because they're hungry to learn I don't put The Perks of Being a Wallflower within the category of great literature of things that we would encourage 11 to 12y old to read I do think it is important that children understand about sex about consent I think we make assumptions that there's this big conversation that may happen at home and and also there was uh I believe it was you Mrs PE who said look the kids don't see it if they've been opted out but that's not true they do see it they do see it in the media center they're just not allowed to touch it and that's a very different experience that's all I wanted to share about it actually go to miss peek next no I you oh I did miss her before but go ahead Mr cassado so I don't like the book at all you'd imagine that that'd be pretty black and white as far as being in the Middle School in the high school sure but I I have sort of a question for Miss Martin Miss Peck miss perin you can you seem to to feel like this book is has educational value right it's giving an experience where you can have a dialogue with your child correct this is a a young boy call him teenager pressuring a young girl correct that's what I think the book's about so should we have other books with other scenarios in the school as well that are just like this but maybe it's a an adult female and a boy and we have all this learning for everyone because right now it looks like the book is teaching a scenario where a young boy would pressure a young girl but there's very well captured media known court cases where old older women pressure young boys teachers for that example should we have those in the library is that a Mr C that was it now we'll move to miss peek then we'll go to miss Pine so I don't think it's for one person to decide what great literature is that's just not I mean it we all have different opinions on what great literature is and I think that you know great literature could be considered anything that inspires somebody to make a change or I don't know teach something um Mr cassado I'm not dignifying your question with an answer I'm sorry I'm just not I did not learn about the book coding from subbing in The District in 19 in 2019 it was discussed at a board meeting probably before I was on the board the first time book came up as an issue um and that was one of the things I believe was put in place after the conversations that happened about removing books back in 2020 2019 somewhere around there I believe miss calron you can correct me if I'm wrong um uh and I believe because it was it was discussed in board meetings that parents had the had the option to listen to find out and to hear about it I don't know if it was put out in to the public in a different place but I know from being at board meetings and listening to them that that's where I learned about it Miss pin I'm sorry I did remember I had something else I wanted to say um and it it actually has to do with um the process as Mrs aelina mentioned and also trust um a committee per our policy review these materials because there was a or various complaints I don't know if it was one or multiple okay um if the committee reviewed the books they made their determination it was unanimous um I'm I don't have the time or inclination to comb through all of the books in the media center as Mrs Peterson said that's you know that's I'm not going to be doing that um I don't really have a desire to do it if I'm honest um so I'm going to trust the committee the committee made the recommendations that's good enough for me Miss Peterson so just two two thoughts really quick so the committee absolutely did unanimously um you know recommend to keep this in the media center I don't want that to be misconstrued with you know the committee read every page of the book and is fully support supportive of that cuz Mrs Calon correct me if I'm wrong I don't think you guys sat there around the table and read all these books from front to back um so just want to clarify that and then Mrs P to your point if this went into place in 2019 um you know thank you for clarifying that that was obviously 5 years ago I haven't seen any communication come from the district since then to parents so maybe if I can just ask or recommend that the district consider putting that out there so that parents know know kind of what their color coding is what what it means in the process to um opt out of it if if they desire anybody else Miss Cooper I do also think it's worth noting um 2019 the climate on this issue has dramatically changed since then if it was discussed in 2019 and it hasn't been discussed again I second Mrs Peterson to say there is definitely a way that we can publicize this a little bit more for people in the community who are uncomfortable any other discussion okay uh my opinion is that I'll admit when you read it Miss Peterson I was a little bit uncomfortable I'm not comfortable with telling other people what their children can't read and can read um I do leave that up to the parents also I agree with everybody that it's very difficult to go through all of the these books um there is a certain amount of trust and we have different levels of trust with the Committees but I can tell you me personally as I said in my president's report I'm going to put a high premium on the people we have in these positions Mr pontillo was one and he was you adamant about display but I think this was a really really good discussion and I hope that we have more fruitful discussions like this um we all everybody made some really good statements and shared their opinions and I will say Miss Peterson I agree and I think I saw Mr Connelly shaking his head over here so I think we can do a better job and what we always want to do is you know we want to yes provide the resources but we also want to promote them and make sure that everybody knows that they're available so I um think that that can be another discussion we have to make sure that everybody's aware of this and Cooper has one more thing and then we'll move to a to the vote yeah I think you rais you raised something really important because it's so often misconstrued I only speak for myself I'm not trying to tell people what their kids can and cannot read I'm asking only what the educational value is because this is a school I'm trying to distinguish when parents have the right and the ability to buy a book for their child versus the taxpayers buying those books and putting them in an educational setting and saying they're educational when they don't appear at least de facto educational I am not telling anybody what their kids should and shouldn't read and I think that we've heard a lot about that and that's where I go back to there's a difference between restricting and banning we have a rating scale for example in the movies it's very similar to that there's a rating scale Miss peek talked about it um but I don't think anybody wants to say this book should never be published this book shouldn't be out there for General consumption what we're saying is does it belong in a school do the taxpayers have to pay for it and does it offer something that's truly educational or is it just titilating graphic and exciting for somebody to read that's it thank you thank you Miss Cooper Miss aelina and then maybe we can go to a vote I would just like to say that since 2008 the district has had a regulation that affords people the protocol to complain about instructional not people I'm sorry parents or Guardians to complain about instructional resources materials within that and the form that they complete to be sent to the principles they talk about title author publisher specific portions or language reasons for an objection students or class for whom it is intended and the way that the work is used after that it is in the superintendent purview to put a committee together to review the books the committee is made of the people that you send your kids in to get taught by every day and I know that we're going over what is happening but it still seems a lot like we're saying we don't trust the teachers to be making the decisions about what they think is right and appropriate for our kids even though we have a protocol that goes through it and I would just like that to be known because there's a lot of I think and I want up here and that's really not for us to say that's it thank you Miss Aina Miss Cooper I think I'm going to just mirror Miss Martin and say please please don't put words in our mouth or my mouth at least there's nothing about having an intellectual dialogue and intellectual friction on an issue that suddenly turns into we still don't trust teachers we've never said that we don't trust teachers to begin with having a difference of opinion does not denote lack of trust TR please try not to bring that narrative into what we're discussing here nobody is talking about that and also everybody does know the process what we didn't know or at least was new information certainly to me was the coding system thank you Miss Cooper and Miss Peterson Mrs Cooper you literally took the words right out of my mouth I would just like to second that um it really has nothing to do with not trusting the teachers I think as a parent I personally just want to know what my children are reading and be able to be the decision maker not the teacher um when it comes to you know topics like this that's it Miss peek thank you Miss Peterson I think as far as our taxpayer dollars go there's a whole wide range of people sitting in the audience here all taxpayers all would have a difference of opinion on whether they think their dollars should be used to purchase books like this so I don't think we can say should our tax dollars be paying for something like this because I think everybody's tax dollars pay for it and we all have very different opinions I I I I think that it's is a great move to remind the public and the parents and parents who have younger children coming in that there is the coding system and then and then make it very clear how they can opt out of whatever color books they don't want their child to read um but I don't think and I'm not saying we're Banning books but you're talking about removing books and moving them it still takes away a parent right to say I'm okay with my child having that book and I would open I would welcome my child and I having a conversation about it if you take it out you're taking away the parents right to have their child read that book and yes I know they can go to the library they can order it off of Amazon but that's still their public school that they send their child to thank you Miss peek Miss Cooper asking the question about whether or not taxpayer dollars should pay for it is not saying it should or should not it is asking the question because personally I am dubious but also it does not take away a parent's right to have appropriate content in the library it doesn't or in the media center at our school it doesn't we all have the right to get whatever we want or whatever a child needs needs what this more often than not does is um you're you're saying that the the children have the right to read books they absolutely do in a school I believe those books should be educational and I don't see the educational value but that does not remove a parent's rights from supplying that book to their child it doesn't so please don't don't say that it does they can absolutely do that and I do think that there is a huge swath of different taxpayers and everybody's got different ideas is it is not inappropriate to ask the question about whether or not taxpayer dollars should pay for it anyone else I think this was an outstanding display of representation for the entire Community just as Miss PC said there's a lot of people out in this audience that have different views and I think we expressed a lot of that so I want to thank everybody for their input and from there like to say roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper I want to say yes to AB B and C and I think I'm going to say on one second I'm just reading this for a quick second and no to D and E bless you Mr Cado yes to a b and c and no to deie Mrs Mortin yes to all Mrs peek yes Mrs Peterson a yes on a b and c and a no for d and e Miss par yes Mr patus yes Mr Garcia yes motion carried okay moving on to policy Miss aelina can you please move the Motions in policy thank you Mr garciaa um the motion is upon the recommendation of the Acting Superintendent to move oh I'm sorry move apologies the motion is to move a and b in policy okay can I have a second Miss peek discussion Miss Cooper begin discussion thank you Mr Garcia first I think there's one important thing to point out um it was noted in the committee report if I if I heard you correctly that you had the support of the Acting Superintendent which is great but also the support of the board attorney and I'd just like to clarify something um does the board I I don't believe the board attorney actively supports what we decide to do I don't believe that he's ever mentioned I think I was privy to all of the email exchanges with the board attorney which I really appreciate having that level of transparency but I didn't read anything in there that was like I support this this is the right thing this is what we should be doing I don't think that's the role that he provides for our district um there's nothing in there that said that I think his role please correct me if I'm wrong is to present us with the risks to the decisions that we make it is not his role really to offer his support but to offer his guidance with the risks and I think it's an important dis distinction for the public to understand I also think what's important to note is that he can only support and guide us on the issues if we're asking him the correct questions um as I read through everything I think that there were questions that we probably should have put or should have been put to the board attorney through you Mr Garcia most relating in my mind to the current lawsuit raging over this very issue in Delaware County so it's hard for him to guide us about what the puts and takes would be but I I don't think the board attorney either supported or didn't support so that was just one point I wanted to make also I was curious in understanding how it was raised in putting this policy back on the agenda and how many requests do we get to return this to the agenda from the community it could be that I wasn't included in any of those requests but I didn't see anything of it nor have I read anything about it from community members the other question I have is that what feedback was gotten from any of the parents who have in the past openly opposed 5756 you mentioned Mr GPC in your opening statement that all voices would be um duly considered with decisions that are being made and I'd love to hear more if anybody reached out to those people who knowingly oppose this policy and asked for their opinion and how did that weigh against those who supported the policy and why did we fall out in favor in returning this policy to the agenda Miss Peterson thank you Miss Cooper so Mrs Cooper as someone who uh sat in that policy meeting I actually asked the same question like how did this get on the agenda so what I learned is that it was requested to go on the agenda by the board um there are four people in that committee I am one of them I did not ask for it to go on the other committee members were Mrs P Mr Garcia and Mrs aelina so I'm not quite sure who but maybe one of them are willing to tell us but I think um you know as most of us know this policy was abolished last year because it's not required by the state the state of New Jersey already has laws in place to protect the rights of transgender individuals and the district also has policy 1140 which is the affirmative action plan which states that we must provide learning environments that are free from all forms of discrimination so I would like to better understand what value is truly added by approving 575 56 and was that value weighed against any potential cons it does feel like and that's just my personal feeling that this new board is simply looking to negate and undo much of the work completed by last year's board to promote parental involvement and parental notification so I would like to better understand the intent and the value that's really coming out of this thank you Miss Peterson anybody else is anybody going to answer committee chair it's I you can open and ask any questions that's for discussion but it's not mandatory that people actually respond to those questions I know that as I sat up here and had to answer a lot of really hard questions about policy 5756 I answered them we're saying we're not going to answer thank you I'm saying it's not mandatory that anybody responds to you Mr cassado sure I just bluntly spoken anyone who supports this policy basically supports compelled compelled speech so violating your first amendment if you look in Florida Florida doesn't require that you force children and students to use someone else's preferred pronouns that's been approved so someone in Florida can speak differently than New Jersey for some reason um it clearly removes parents from the disc discussion elections have serious consequences to anybody watching this that's not like some people here realize that this is literally putting the school in charge of your kids and something that's very very critical potentially towards their future and you may know nothing about it because of it girls are I mean it's this is I can't believe we even remotely have this in a school period Miss Cooper I understand a Stonewall when I see it and nobody's going to answer and that's just fine so I just want to run down a couple of things that are on my mind now when we implemented parental notification I heard a lot of threats that foretold Impending Doom about massive lawsuits if we implemented this it was mentioned at least four times and needless to say no lawsuit on that case on that situation or parental notification has yet materialized however if that concern regarding litigation was legitimate and real then I am absolutely baffled by why we're discussing this again because it is important to point out the threat of litigation when reenacting 5756 is incredibly real so first let me run down for you the federal law and Supreme Court cases there's 20 USC section 3401 this is a a Supreme Court case where parents have the primary responsibility for education of their upbringing and that all states are under the federal purview we have multiple cases after that including Troxel which is the fundamental right of the care and nurture and the custody of your children as a parental right yes you can Google all of it Miss aelina there's also Myers versus Nebraska directing and instructing a Minor's education is the Forefront of Parental responsibilities and routing and routing which is the Cornerstone of our society which is the family deeper still in this case involves the intersection of the family and the law and this is what's I think is an important distinction parents fundamental parents fundamental rights in directing the care custody and control of their children as a family and the state's power to affect limit or even terminate those rights it was noted that the court also determined that the government shall not interfere with this right until a parent is proven unfit now these are some of the things that are being noted in the current lawsuit uh in Delaware County I read through that case which I got from the plaintiff's attorney and I'd like to point out a few things which are actual legitimate risks to the board to the school and the first one is to really talk about who is named in the lawsuit as defendants one it's the superintendent is named not only as a defendant in their role as a professional but is also named as a defendant and is being is an individual being held personally liable for what happens so insurance will cover the professional claims but would not cover the cost of the personal representation of this individual the school counselor that was involved in socially transitioning this person is also being professionally and personally charged for it and finally all of the board members who are involved in this in this policy and implementation and enactment in this dist District are further being named so I think that there's actual real risk versus perceived risk because we have an Evidence of uh active litigation and when this was litigated even in California which is notoriously Progressive left the plaintiff was awarded over $100,000 in a settlement that didn't even go and that's these are claims now that have injury virtues what I mentioned before which were claims that were statutory claims so when I when I think that there's such an an intense level of hypocrisies here because when a student is doing poor poorly in school parents are told student is in a fight engaged in violence uh films a disciplinary event at the school parents are informed in student engages in self harm parents are informed according to standards of care for the health of transgender and gender diverse people from 2022 that's version 8 in the international trans Health um publication gender dysphoria is considered a serious mental health condition that requires professional help since it is impossible to definitively delineate the contribution of various factors contributing to gender identity development for any given young person a comprehensive clinical approach is important and necessary which is not what occurs when in policy 5756 I think there is a distinction to be made that nobody wants to harm transgender students what what as a matter of fact I think I'm standing for at the very least is that there's a comprehensive medical approach which does not happen when the school does not inform the parents and is not in the school's purview to act as medical EXP experts so I look about what is very serious for the students and why would we want to separate this so just to be clear because I understand we're being stonewalled here and we're not going to be answered I'm fully against this I will always become fully against any policy that encourages state employees to interfere in the fundamental Sovereign and in alible right for parents to have access to critical information about their children and certainly about their mental health and physical well-being for anyone to interfere medically with a child's Mental Health without the engagements of parents puts a child tremendously at risk we have no empirical evidence to support that this protects children instead of threatens their safety so I I ask for no further feedback from anybody at the deis it's just my opinion if a lawsuit comes I want to be clear that I won't be implicated in it because I dead against this policy thank you for listening thank you Miss Cooper I know that we had uh talked in the past so when when we removed or when the board majority in December abolished this policy we were one of do do you remember I think you guys told me how many abolished or look to remove this at that point I think that there was I want to say 18 and I think there have been more districts since then but I'd have to count it up I don't have it at top of M okay I appreciate that and you as always very very articulate I'm looking up right here so 18 we would be 19 in New Jersey there are 593 school districts all those 21 have 5756 or a policy like it so I think you know that all the discussion you had aside I think that I haven't heard any lawsuits with the others and think we're in pretty good company with them M um that's an assumption we don't know what they're working on we haven't looked into what they're doing we haven't looked into their internal dialogues we don't I I do know that there are other districts that are looking to repeal this and some some districts which I understand and respect are just waiting to see what happens with the current lawsuit being brought by one of the districts against the Attorney General about the policy in and of itself and that's one of the things that I think discretion being the better part of valor that we could really think about again I'm not opposed to having something in place not this policy that excludes parents but something in place that requires um medical diagnosis you would need a medical diagnosis you need a note from a parent I think to medicate children with their allergy medicine or to hold an EpiPen in the nurse's office for them should they have allergic reaction so what I'm my biggest issue is that the school assuming the mental health care of a child and this I think one of the issues in the case against Delaware that I think is very geran is that that particular child was already under Medical Care by the parents the school was then thereby interfering with that child's medical care because they didn't notify the parents where the child already had medical care so I think that's one of the issues where you don't have this cross collaboration looking at the whole child looking at the whole situation there is an assumption made that a child under the age of majority that's why they're called minors and dependents are making significant decisions without the help of experienced people that and and I know this is not the case with every single parent but with most parents who really love their children and love them I think to an extent greater than somebody who is not one of their parents not saying that teachers don't care I think they care very very much and I think there I don't think this is an effort by teachers to deliberately transcend the authority of parents I I always go back to you I think this is an overreach of the state and I think the teachers have no choice but to comply whether they want to or not if they don't comply they're open to disciplinary action according to that policy because they violate the policy that's one of my issues so even if a teacher does have grave concerns doesn't think it's right doesn't think it's healthy if a guidance counselor is worried about it they cannot tell the parents they're discouraged from doing so so I think that's where I fall out on this on this particular decision thank thank you for listening y thank you again miss Cooper so for me we talked a lot right and when we went back and forth and we talked about laws versus policy so for me you made some good points and we we talked about this last year too where the fight should be be down in Trenton right because I don't think that we as a district should be the sword that's championing this um what I'll say it hold on one moment um what I'll say is if we talked about the laws that are out there for me when we Implement policies it's about guiding the staff and the faculty that are here because they can't be expected to understand and know all the laws that are out there so they have a one place to go that they know this is the policy so when the things these things do come up and they're covered by the the law against discrimination they're not expected to know those laws in and out but they can go to the policy and so you talked about a sense of urgency I know last it was December 14th whatever it was and had to abolish this and I asked the question that day so now we abolish the policy it's Thursday tomorrow the polic polic is abolished how do these teachers staff guidance counselors how do they act act absent of that so I'm going to ask Mr Connelly I did give him fair warn warning because I don't want to ever catch anybody off guard here so Mr Connelly if you feel comfortable though can you express abolish the policy keep the policy how would you expect as an Acting Superintendent your staff to uh act obviously from the dialogue there's various um interpretations of the law the policy and the procedures um as Acting Superintendent I am going to go with what our attorney recommends and it is my understanding even in absence of the policy we will continue to follow what is in the policy as far a whether or not we agree with them is everyone's opinion so um that is my understanding from our attorney um maybe and I don't know if this is my place to recommend is it worth seeing if Vic is available for our next Board of Education meeting please tell me Mr Rosado if that's not my place to say and I will pull back that statement but maybe it's worth having him here to answer a lot more questions than I think you know and and get some some input if again please tell me to so I I think based on some of the conversations that transpired with the district attorney and the and the notification that was given to the board members uh that conversation might have to have to happened on in exact and not on the days but I would uh defer that to uh uh Mr laa and uh uh to make that overall decision thank you Mr Zen thank you Mr Conley Miss Cooper so uh one I think that would be really helpful to have Vic come and have them talk to us a little bit more we can ask more uh questions I realize it has to be in private I'm sorry to the community members on that but just a couple of things that I wanted to address you know when uh when the policy was abolished in December um Mr Garcia you felt that there was a sense of urgency I didn't feel a sense of urgency I felt a sense of purpose and I think I mentioned that at the time it had been discussed in committee all protocols had been followed so I don't I don't again I I'm try to be very sensitive to interpretations of moments your your concern at the time was that you hadn't had the chance and the time to look at something if I recall correctly and apologize if I'm wrong but I I thought you had said you hadn't had a chance to really digest and absorb and I had gone back to you and IID said well look you've had it in your in your lap in your in your emails for a couple of days and I feel comfortable proceeding so it's not so much that I a sense of urgency but I wanted to get things done and check it off the Box um to something that was very important to the community members at the time which I realize that many people disagree with that um but I do look forward uh Keith to having that conversation with Vic and I do appreciate um um everybody's time um with this issue thank you M Cooper and now that you said that I realize we both kind of crossed the meeting so it wasn't about 5756 where we had that discussion of sense of urgency I think it was a meeting before but anyway I appreciate your your input do anybody else oh miss Peterson thank you so we've heard a lot about the potential risks um we know we have other existing policies that cover discrimination we know we have state laws the NJ lad still not understanding or not hearing because someone well a lot most of you are refusing to answer the question what value is this adding um so I would like to request that we table 5756 and the vote on this until we are able to meet as a whole board with our district attorney so that we can uh get answers to some of these questions Miss Cooper reminded me of just one last thing um when you talk about that this fight belongs in Trenton I wanted to let you know that I put my money where my mouth is and I did go and I did represent at Trenton and I did speak to the Department of Education and I have written multiple letters but when you have a um when you have an issue that is a sensitive as this and far reaching down into everybody's daily lives this isn't some highlevel something that only affects politicians or a certain population it affects it's affecting many many people this is something that without resistance at the level of the people who are subjected to this policy would just flow over everyone like a Title Wave so I think it is important that on both levels that if you object you do the right thing you you answer at the polls you object in Trenton you you write your letters you do what you can but you also have to do the best that you can within your community thank you Miss Cooper miss oelen the only thing that I would like to say thank you Mr Garcia the only thing I would like to say regarding this is we have heard the recommendation of our board attorney and our superintendent and those are the ones that we should be taking into consideration fully and at all times we've clearly heard both of them and that should be the basis of what we're voting for this for not personal feelings or opinions thank you Miss aelina Miss Cooper I respectfully disagree the this is an um an environment where only the superintendent and the board attorney have a voice in what we are doing we represent a community of people every and I heard from Mr Garcia in his opening statement everybody's voice matters everybody's perspective matters there are four freedoms that we share in the United States you know freedom of worship Freedom From Fear freedom of speech and I always forget the fourth freedom but I know there's fourth one there um but I do always tend to forget it that is our role and responsibility I know that my position is unpopular in our community and it's not just my position there are many people in which I represent that don't feel comfortable coming here that don't feel comfortable talking here that feel like because of the circus that we had last year and the way people were behaving in the audience that if they came here what would happen to them what would happened to M multiple members of us which is letters to our place of employment harassment threat vandalism would also happen to them so I feel like it is important that we take into consideration that there are voices that have been silenced because of fear and anxiety and that's one of the groups of people that I represent I'm sorry I'm I'm through mean Miss Peterson miss Peterson thank you thank you Miss Cooper so I I understand that um this is coming at the recommendation of Mr Conley and I do respect that and I do respect the fact that we got um legal advice from my perspective when someone says jump you should not say how high I don't think it is our role to be Yes Men And there are going to be topics difficult topics that we need to thoroughly discuss and vet before we make decisions and it's again it's no disrespect to the leaders of the school and the professionals that are giving us advice I just think we have been elected to this role and we need to really do our due diligence and fulfill that Duty I would just like to say I agree 100% And I think once again I'm going to say these are really fruitful discussions and as you said we are representing different yes Miss Cooper no oh um what I was going to say is that's it's really valuable that we're having these discussions I I think that moving forward this year I think we're going to have a lot of positive conversations and we're going to truly represent everyone in the community as I said in my president report but when do we and how do we make decisions I've stood on record I been on record and I continue to say this is not about me when I make votes when I make decisions it's first and foremost it's going to be in the best interest of the district so when you said about when you talked about you know who did we talk to I and people are scared I'm going to say it right now on the record anybody has any questions I can't act on behalf of the board but you're certainly welcome to email me and have discussions I truly do listen to every single individual so my closest friends and people I respect think absolutely the opposite of I do and I love them and respect their opinion just like I respect everybody here so how do we make decisions moving forward and I think you just said you were in the minority and your voice is the minority and you're not you know people don't forget what you said but you just said like I know my my opinion is not popular so when we make right commun right now oh you mean right here cuz I going say so then so then how do we decide honestly this is an honest sincere and genuine question how do we how do we decide how do we truly know what the what the people out there want and I guess you know they vote right so so so a couple of things I I want to I want to point out uh one I don't I don't really think that we're having a fruitful discussion I think I've asked questions I think they've refused to be answered and I don't think I think I don't know particularly why um the chair is not answering the questions that I have I don't think they're unreasonable if you're saying that the decisions that we're making are based on I know feedback that we've received from members of the community I mean I I have to go back and rewatch what your opening statement was but I I tried to jot some notes which is we we take all this feedback this seems to be something that has been purely initiated by the policy committee not necessarily I don't know I'm I asked and has not been an answer so I would be interested and if it's if it's easier to have that dialogue in executive session or if I could reach if if anybody can answer me through email that's operable I I don't care but I it's not a discussion when it's just three people talking and asking questions and not getting feedback back that's not really what I would consider a a fruitful discussion I'm not looking for an in intellectual debate on this I understand where people sit but I am asking credible questions about why this is back on the agenda how many community members asked for this because you're saying it's not about you it's not about us it's about everybody else but this seems to be not something that was brought by everybody else it was something that this particular committee at members some members of this particular committee decided in its autonomy not without asking any of the community members if it is important I can give you emails when I moved and when I was sitting in policy why we had abolished it from members of our community I I haven't seen it so now I expect maybe tomorrow a bunch of emails will come in about it because we've raised it but I agree with Mrs Peterson that prior to voting on this we should talk to the board attorney we should get all of the questions answered I'd like to have I I'll email over my questions to the member of members of the committee all the ones that I have you can take the time to sit and think about them and then hopefully we can answer them and then I would consider that a very very fruitful discussion I don't mean to put anybody off I don't mean to put anybody in an uncomfortable position but these are fair questions that our community deserves an answer on okay if I can just respond to that real quick the actual who placed on the agenda was superintendent Mortimer and I think this began last year where we kind of a lot of people said you know as a starting point and it's not you know when you ask how uh to jump and then you say hi hi how high but I think we we kind of a lot of people in the community agreed that starting point is kind of upon the recommendation of the people we pay a lot of money for to give their opinions expert opinion we have a we have a couple people here we have you know people at a really high level in their career but we're none none of us I think maybe two right uh professional Educators and none of us are lawyers and I think that it started last year with a lot of the things the the policies and the abolishment of policies were anymore what's up she a lawyer I'm not a lawyer anymore I retired Okay so all right so anyway we uh we the starting point was these were removed or done by against the recommendation of legal and not upon the recommendation of supermin so Dr Mortimer put this on and I was in agreement with it yes Miss Cooper no no go ahead and finish I'm just letting you know speak next Mr Cas threw me off there no that's that's okay that's my fault um go ahead Miss Cooper so um first I I I want want to point out that every every teacher every superintendent and every person that works in a school that is licensed by the state is subject to the state Dr Mortimer I will not speak for her or the con the many conversations we had on that issue but whether she was for it or against it is irrelevant because in the end she could not her license is dependent upon upon her compliance with what the state tells her she has to do so that's that's one issue and I feel very badly very very um troubled for people having anybody feeling that their rights are infringed upon because their license is contingent upon their compliance with their Union and the state and everything else so that's one thing but also um as I recall and Miss peeterson please correct me if my memory is wrong here I do not recall that Vic opposed it at all I think he presented risks I think we discuss those risks again he does not support he does not oppose maybe we have an interpretation difference and how we looked at this but if the board attorney had come right out and said I do not support this do not do this that would have factored into our dialogue that's not what I saw in any of the emails and we did ask him the very ugly questions we didn't we didn't sugarcoat it we didn't water it down we didn't pretend that we're asking about this but we're really asking about that we asked them straight up what are the ramifications if we do x y and z and in no way he's he's was he like you can't get this done and as a matter of fact he was proactive in providing us which we didn't ask for the full history of how this policy even came into exception and when you look at what Strauss Esme wrote four years three years ago three years ago it said something like it is inconceivable to consider that this decision and that a student's gender ideology would be kept independent of a parent knowledge I I know that I'm not quoting that accurately but we can find it and and read it into the record but I am sure that's what I read so he doesn't support he did not not support what we were doing so please I don't want it misinformed to the community as if we just went against him and Dr Dr Mortimer reserving her Judgment at the time also is not something that I think we should interpret but go ahead um I turn it over thank you Miss Cooper Miss Peterson Mr Garcia I just have more of a logistics question so you said Dr Mortimer asked for this to be placed on the agenda Dr Mortimer is on leave so how exactly did that go down it was on the agenda sorry it didn't ask to be placed on the agenda she had a blueprint from what I understand it was out there so we didn't ask anybody to put on but that was there was a draft of an agenda that doesn't that doesn't make sense to me so Dr Mortimer in December had a draft ready for the January policy meeting knowing that I I sat on the policy committee last year and this year there was there was no draft out there had a Dr Mor have you been in touch with Dr Mortimer about school related items and policies no so how did this get on the agenda I can tell you that I did not create the agenda and from my understanding that's where it came from she created this but so you're the board president so I assume you should know how things get on the agenda so you you assume you know you think how did this get on the agenda we showed up a policy and that was in the agenda listen I I didn't put it on the agenda nobody here put it on the agenda my understanding that Dr Mortimer had placed it on the agenda we can follow up with that to to confirm but so Dr mortimer's on leave we have an Acting Superintendent and you're saying nobody sitting up here put it on the agenda but we're having an hourlong discussion about something that we in theory should not be discussing no nobody knows how it got on the agenda that's concerning why why are we discussing this so that please just that I understand I'll make sure I understand this so Mr Conley you didn't recommend putting this on there I did not it was on there but you are the Acting Superintendent that is correct so when we say recommended by the superintendent and a bunch of people say yes to that isn't that a false statement then um after after having conversations in the policy committee I was asked my recommendation and then I gave my recommendation so then so then you're recommending it's on there then I'm recommending that it's on here yeah correct okay correct just I understand because at one point I felt like that didn't happen y yes it did but Mr Conley just to clarify you did not actually want it well you you don't have to tell me if you wanted it or didn't want it but you did not put this on the agenda initially I did not add it to the agenda initially correct and and Mr Garcia you as board president have no idea how this got on the agenda from my understanding it was placed on the agenda by by Dr Mortimer earlier last year or the end of last year policy committee so that's is that a meeting minute somewhere like that's why we have you know meeting minutes track sort of big things like that I I I know you guys are throwing around the word agenda and I just just clarify the agenda uh you have the policy committee agenda and you have the board agenda yeah we're talking about the policy Comm agenda so so that just the clarification and I know Mr Cony mentioned he put it on the board agenda or the recommendation is on the board I don't and I don't want to speak for you Mr Conley but just so you know you're you're asking I thought I thought I made that clear but if you need to request it that's fine did I answer did I I thought you made it clear to me and I'm still a little confused now with the question but I what I heard you tell me was it is on this agenda because you want it here I at the Poli you recommend recomended it to be on this agenda correct M Cooper yes so having sat on policy all last year lots of conversations with Dr Mortimer and seeing through my duties through the tail end to December 31st when my duty ceased while the new board came in that was never in in my awareness placed on any updated agenda I I kept the agendas I filled out the agenda do for the most part most of them were kept by me so my hypothesis is that we do know how this got on the agenda but we're not comfortable with saying that's that's what I think the hypothesis my hypothesis is well then then how did it get on the agenda with and nobody here is able to answer except for you saying you think Dr Mortimer put it on but at that point towards the tail end of December I don't believe Dr Mortimer was acting anymore in her capacity because she was out on leave so is she so I is she working now no I don't think so and and even so shouldn't that have been something that should have been scrutinized especially since she's out on medical leave so I'm wondering if we could table this while we understand these details a little bit more because I understand that it's a little uncomfortable and I don't want to make anybody further uncomfortable I'm not uncomfortable in the slightest bit and I can say that please guys I can say that when we walked into policy meeting we had it on there and I will say full if it was not on there I would have requested it be on there so I can tell you I did not I would have I'm in favor of it I'd like to move to vote you guys have all discussed it Mr perus I just wanted to say that I do believe I heard Mr Connelly say he put it on the agenda like he put it the the P I just again I'm going to to clarify I did not added to the policy agenda it was discussed there and my I was asked for my recommendation which is what you see on this agenda yeah here just to make that clear and I think it sounds like there's something Shady going on with hiding I I'm not but I'm saying excuse me feels weird I'm missing something well I think I think the thing that makes it feel weird is because the person that put it on here is not here so and we can speculate your hypothesis was wrong Miss Cooper guys please I don't mean if if if I'm encouraging that then I need to change my hold on Miss Cooper please I if I'm encouraging the chucking out there please don't I have to change my tone then because we're just trying to have an honest open conversation here and I think it's best had if we just don't have that um so go ahead Miss Cooper sorry no no it's okay first of all thank you I really appreciate when you intervene when people are heckling and chuckling I do really appreciate that very much and I know it's not easy to manage a crowd so thank you for that um um I know you say you're not uncomfortable but you sound a little uncomfortable so I apologize in any way that I am but not I I what I I'm trying to understand is you're saying you think Dr Mortimer did it but we don't know you're saying you think but we don't know and I guess we could just go back and look at can somebody just pull up the dock and look at the history because it'll say who put it on the agenda and if it's Dr Mortimer Then There It Is we're done but like we belabored this and I will apologize for the 15 minutes of everybody's time that I wasted just while we're talking about the Dr morber thing but if somebody could look on there it'll it'll demonstrate who dropped it on the agenda I'm on Google Now Laura yeah thank you Miss Cooper M cada so I just have one question because I suspect as we go through this that this policy will pass and it impacts the lives of many parents as well and they're thinking and Mr Conley I don't mean to put you on the spot I don't know how else to do this so fig i' ask for when I understand of the policy it doesn't force staff not to tell parents they make the decision if a child would transition they make a decision if the home is a safe home that they may extend that information to them and work collaborating with them is that fair yes so I believe gender ideology is complete relativism I don't believe in it at all is it safe to say that someone's not going to call my house if my daughter decides to do that if it is the conversations with the attorney and and I I really do I'm going to go back to my recommendation I think it's very important for us to get him an executive session to follow through with this but my interpretation from the attorney is if the student is adamant that the school counselor or whomever does not communicate that home that they should not communicate that home so like a blanket question if they ask and the student says no don't tell my parents no rationale Rhyme or Reason Just clearly communicates it then the school doesn't communicate to the parents no there there's conversations that happen with that you know we it it's encouraged there there's collaborative conversation to trust try to get that piece to happen but let's just assume that collaboration and conversation happened and the student is still adamant that the parents are not called the school district does not call and again I think having Vic in executive session to answer this directly I think is beneficial real quick CH Miss perin then we'll go to Mr cassado then Miss Martin um I read all of the questions and the answers that um they provided and my understanding was that that the reason for that was really um state law the policy just puts it into well a policy that we can then create a regulation on so that our schools can function within the law that that's that was my understanding so I to me it sounds like there's this going back to what Mr Garcia said before agreement with the law and if that's how you feel that's fine but again this is I don't think this is the place to have that battle the law is the law we follow the law um s thank you Miss P ahead miss Mr cassado so miss Mark uh Miss Pon Miss perin pin sorry um I I wasn't sorry yeah I probably messed that up all the time sorry I I'll keep apologizing I I wasn't debating the law I because I'm not very good at it to be honest I was actually asking an executional question because I want to know are families like mine that have very conservative views of this and I mean that very like it doesn't exist in our house are my kids safe to go to school here and that I expect a faculty member to call me when that happens or should I just assume I'm going to be excluded because I don't agree with this personally take knowing a family's conservative views and values um is not something that we take into consideration um we've been fortunate here any case that we've had any incident that we've had there's been great dialogue and the communication has been made usually by the student ahead of time but again I'm going to say my interpretation from Vic is clear to me and that's why I think we need I mentioned when I started off that interpretations are different it's clear to me that we do the best we can to have that collaboration to hopefully um come up with an agreement that whether the student tells the parent by themselves whether they do it collaboratively with the guidance counselor but again if the student adamantly does not want that contact to go home we are not calling home so again opinion on or not I I would like to directly ask we could all ask Vic this when we meet with him but that is my interpretation of it I think you had Miss Martin next no that that's okay Miss perine and Mr Connelly really covered what I was going to say if I had Miss Cooper or Miss Peterson first so you guys decide I'll be quick um so Mr connley based on on the robust discussion that we've had tonight and I appreciate your patience would it be your recommendation that we table this until we'll able until we're able to talk with Vic and get more information I I recommended that we bring Vic in so I think there is some logic to possibly tabling this to be honest with you until Vic until we get more um dialogue from Vic but I don't know if that's officially my recommendation but I I do think there's if if we're agreeing to bring Vic in to get some more CLE clearer answers it might make sense to table this Mr zado how would we do that and what and if I'm sorry I want to be clear if that is your recommendation then I'm going to be consistent and follow your recommendation ations first I am comfortable making the recommendation to table this because even in the absence of the policy we will continue to follow what's in there until I am told otherwise this compromise here Keith so how do we or Mr Rosado how do we go about do we put a vote to the tbling it or how does that work um a motion has to be set forth for to table uh the item uh Second and then uh voted on Mr Cado would like to make a motion to table the policy second further discussion with Vic can you just yeah it's only the one policy okay 57 56 yes Sor can I get a second Miss Peterson second roll call Mr Cado I mean Mr Rosado pada Mrs aelina no Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mrs Martin no Mrs PE I will I will go with Mr Connelly's recommendation I will say yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss bin um having read numerous questions and back and forth with Mr um with Vic already I'm going to vote now Mr pus no Mr Garcia I vote Yes okay motion carried to table we still have two items left on there on the original motion so I don't know if you still want to stay in discussion am I allowed to ask a logistical question sure what we do not know our attorney's availability so what happens if he is not available on the 15th for my own I'm just asking can we call s i I say um we can my point is because I I don't want this going into the March I want to get answers so we can move on with this so I don't want this having to wait now to the B March meeting so I I I would I would say that we reach out and find out what the availability is and then we can come back with a conclusion if we have to like I don't I don't want to throw out too many scenarios here let's just see the availability and then we can move from there but uh if we have to do a special session we can or call a special executive uh special public meeting for the sole purpose of executive session only Nick can I ask maybe people are asking me but what's our question to to Mr leir what are we going to say you just you think we should put the policy back or not what's the actual question I think it's getting everyone in the room and having a discussion openly about the policy that's my interpretation of what my understanding from what I documented I'm happy to be more clear on that um so some of the questions that I want to ask is I want to ask about what where the litigation with Del with Delaware Community stands right now how that could impact the larger implications with the state I don't have a current status on what's happening in um uh the other case where um jeez the county is suddenly escaping me is it hunterton County I'm sorry homel shoot it's just escaped me um where they are going after the Attorney General General and the policy overall I'd like to understand what the financial risks are and I I think what's very important for all of us to understand is who can be named professionally versus who can be named personally in any litigation due to harm and damage of a child and what that mean for those individuals because I think although I don't worry necessarily about me in this point I do think it is something that we should be considering as a district and a board that's just a few of my questions I've got a gazillion more which I will deliver prior to the meeting if that's helpful so we can send that to Vic so he can be prepared okay sounds good just for point of reference for everybody in in the audience as well and the stakeholders we talked about what my best practice is going to be this year is literally if you have the questions they obviously go through the president but I'm just forwarding them I'm not you know because I think somebody said before we weren't sure what questions were being asked if you ask me a question to send the Vic I forward it and then I forward it back I don't give any response I don't give any edit I don't amend it I don't interpret it so just so you know on the record of saying that so okay Mr Rosado so we still have two uh regulations on the table yep yes Miss peek I would just like to say though that if we can't get Vic here for the February meeting that we put it back on maybe we can email some questions but between the superintendent search and negotiations and every other policy meeting there's way too many meetings to try and hold a special meeting for something that we have gone back and forth with the attorney and people have sent their questions and that the attorney has answered the questions and I mean I I'm respecting Mr Mr Connelly but I also think that come February if it's not that we need to vote on this and and then move on from here I will Echo that as well just this is more of a respect and the show that we we're willing to compromise and talk and have robust discussions I'm pretty clear of what his Direction was and I just you know hate being Vic but um you know I am being respectful of your request Miss Peterson and we voted on it so we tabled it thank you Miss pek Miss Cooper did you have something else nothing okay then roll call roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper I just want to be clear we're talking about regulation 5600 and regulation 5440 right correct yes to both Mr cassado yes to both Mrs Martin yes Mrs peek yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr pus yes Mr Garcia yes motion carried okay moving on Personnel Miss Martin can you move can you please move the motions under Personnel I'd like to move uh agenda items a through X under Personnel can I get a second Mr pus discussion having none roll call Mr Rado Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs peek yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr patus yes Mr Garcia yes motion carried moving on to finance and Facilities Mr pus can you please move the Motions in finance and Facilities I'd like to move the Motions in agenda items a through M under finan uh under financing facilities goes second wait it goes through PP though a through PP on yeah on the agenda right can I get a second Miss Martin discussion Mr cassado discussion and Keith you don't have to answer this totally right now but I think it'd be good to understand with and maybe this is for mrw there's going to be money spent towards the HVAC system for Washington School it's common knowledge we've discussed expanding Washington School by a fair amount as well just understanding is this wasted money we're going to spend or we're going to just put another age back on for the incremental space that type of thing um no so uh good question when we um you know we we've talked about the potential uh expansion of the the elementary one of the elementary schools in the township uh we did upgrade the uh the electrical U service coming into both schools we are going to upgrade both schools we did upgrade the uh service coming in more than what the current needs are um the HVAC system that is being in place uh for the schools are really uh units that are independent per classroom they might um the the compressor might control three classrooms at a time so if we do plan on expanding it'll just those new classrooms will have independent units as well within the classroom but you know also like sub sections like uh uh grouping clustering of of so so it's it it will not impact or affect the uh the current plan that we have in place um again this is the these are monies that uh we have that grant funding coming for the SDA so it's really what we have now we can't I mean we can't put what we don't know what we need yet so any other discussion having none roll call Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr Cado yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs peek yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr pus yes Mr Garcia yes motion carried moving on to curriculum programs Miss PEC can you please move the Motions in curriculum and programs I'd like to move um item a under curriculum and programs can I get a second Miss Cooper discussion having none roll call please Mr Rada Miss aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs PE yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr pus yes Mr Garcia yes motion carried yeah and uh I think Mr Cado bathroom break everybody else okay with five minutes any need a motion yeah just need a motion to resist if you're going to do this so just and we'll return in time we just yeah so motion motion to take a five minute break I a can I get a second Miss pin second discussion all in favor I all right we'll return about five minutes e e e e e e off I e e e e e from e ear is everybody seated we're going to call the meeting back to order at 9:23 can we get a roll call Mr Rosado Mrs aelina here Mrs Cooper present Mr cassado present Mrs Martin here Mrs peek here Mrs Peterson here miss pin here Mr to here Mr Garcia here we have a quorum so we're going to start with the open public forum second one during this public forum on any topic during this second public forum on any topic specifically addressed in this agenda or on any other questions comments or concerns that may be in respect to the operation of the Schools board policy 0167 requires that individuals sign the speaker list giving name and Municipality of resident and asks that all remarks be directed to the board as a whole not to individuals the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals when speaking the board asked that during this second Forum opportunity public speakers adhere to the same guidelines file the same practices and extend the same courtesies and decencies as with the first public forum each speaker statement will be limited to three minutes in duration this second public forum will be limited to 30 minutes in duration we will open public session at 9:25 don't squeak I did it again okay um Amer GLE High School senior um I was a little more optimistic when I came up here the last time and I'm going to try not to get emotional now because I have a lot to get through and I only have 3 minutes I've stated before I'm a transgender student at the school I struggle with mental health in my personal life um but they're two separate things and I want that to be clear for some people it's not separate and it has a lot to do with their gender identity but not in the way some of you were describing and I I want you to know coming from a transgender student who has sat here for almost a year now and listened to some of the things you had to say I feel broken I don't feel represented or supported I hear you talk about gender dysphoria and that's real and you're right it does affect a lot of people mentally I mean myself I've struggled with it for years but that does not make me mentally ill and needing of medical counsel because I'm trans that means that I need help accepting who I am on a personal level I am not my gender I am not my mental illness I am more than that and I think that I proven that to the world and most importantly to myself this past year I mean last year I couldn't imagine being here talking to now because I didn't see myself having a life now and here I am standing to you pouring my heart out because that's what matters to me and that's what matters to people here is our safety our mental well-being our identity because we are not our gender we are not our mental illness and you need to see us as more than that more than a lawsuit that you're afraid to face and I get that it's scary to go for a lawsuit I mean it's not a positive for anyone but what are you really facing by not giving teachers a guideline of how to help students connect with themselves with their families with who they are without these guidelines teachers may not reach out to the right families they may reach out to the wrong families and we can't just assume that they're going to do the wrong thing with the guidelines in place because they're more likely to do the wrong thing without them so remember us please thank you m [Applause] Kel would anybody else like to speak hi Kelly Amelia Westwood sorry um so I just want to go back to when we pushed this parental rights policy um there were laws that already existed just like there are your claiming there's already laws on this policy that already exists so we don't need the policy but somehow we needed your parental rights thing um I appreciate the tabling to speak to the lawyer however you have the majority use it because this will be tabled for the entire year it is a game you play you stare at us in the audience and try to intimidate me it's a game and it's over the people who were afraid to come to Board of Ed meetings were not afraid to show up at the the polls you lost I'll say it again it's over so stop looking at me Doug and stop the games Miss missia please he's staring at me in the audience and I don't appreciate it I understand would anybody else like to speak good evening Andrew GM uh Westwood resident so the question was asked um how 57 it's 5756 right it's not 5657 5756 uh came back on the agenda where it come from um it sound well that's to be determined right um and the board the committee discussed it it got recommended of the full board and a vote was about to happen it's pretty darn similar to how the movement to abolish the policy came from the board got to a meeting had a discussion got voted on whether I agree with it or not well that's actually irrelevant what I'm saying is it's it's just part of the process I wouldn't be so concerned about how it got on the agenda when B Garcia even said I'm just referencing what you said I'm not directing you directly talking to you he said if it wasn't already on there when he sat down he would put it on there and I so would I um because I think the abolishment of the policy was the easy route uh I came up here on December 14th and said that that's a very complicated policy um it's not black or white it's a gray area you all need to have more of a gray area when when you look at things because there's there's language in the policy that that gives the student opportunity to say yes please talk to my parents parental rights are in the policy and I said this in December I'll say it again so it was the easy move to just crumple it up and throw it out and not look at it line by line and when people asked about what parts you didn't like nobody answered nobody could ever answer when whenever there's a problem in this District in the last 12 months in that old board nobody could ever articulate what was wrong it was conjecture and in uh actually false information there weren't 10-year-olds in the middle school learning about anal sex that never happened but it was said many times up here wrong okay so have facts have the gumption to actually explain what you don't like not opinions but just read the policy and say what you don't like don't just abolish it because you don't like you know 30% of it or 50% of it or 70% of it that's the job of the policy committee to edit things and revise them it's actually harder to revise things than to just abolish it so stop taking the easy road but you guys aren't I also applaud you for involving the attorney it's the right thing to do it's annoying that it got tabled so congratulations on the monthl filibuster that just happened but I applaud you for doing the right thing I probably would have tabled it myself too if I if I was still up there um and you don't need emails from parents asking to bring it back because if you look at the YouTube video of November 14th and December 14th you got plenty of people that said don't abolish it there's your community response the polls are the community response do the right thing do your due diligence and then get it done and put it to bed thank you thank you Mr GM Roberta hlin Westwood so again the Board of Education needs a little education regarding the opt out process that you're so worried about did any of you reach shout to any administrators yeah I doubt it I did the opt out process is is given to the parents every back to school night at the middle school and guess what again it's on the website right under Middle School in the media center I'll read it off for you the opting out of a book choice in language arts in middle school as our students mature so do the texts available in our libraries our students developmental levels widen and greatly even within each grade in classroom and as such our texts mirror those different levels we encourage parents Guardians to review their student selections and to reach out to the teacher with any questions concerns or requests should you not should you not want your child reading any particular title you need only email the teacher and it will be noted and or the text change the next school day feel free to review our list of titles for each classroom through our Library catalog for classroom libraries click on the sublocation drop down to locate the teacher's name it's your job I sat up there if I had a question I didn't wait till I sat on the de which is the biggest thing we've always asked board members do your homework you got these agendas it's not hard to get in touch with any of our administrators if you don't have their their texts that's fine you have their emails trust me they will respond respond to you because you are the board of education do your job and as Mr GM said the voters were very clear I'm sorry that some of you don't understand what the voters said or heard them over the last year regarding this policy but policy 56 756 is why several members lost their seats so keep it up every year we can just keep removing people that don't listen to the public because that is what voting is about the majority not the minority and you don't take polls at every board meeting you don't sit there and call hey Jane what do you want how should I vote you were voted in to vote the way that you feel and that's fine you have your right to vote no or vote Yes but stop the games we're all tired of them thank you anybody else like to speak hi I'm Paula Hill 51 Westwood um I am a parent of a child that comes to every board meeting for the past year who hears the comments who is gay in the trans Community um we have to support these students the policy that was put into place the policy 5756 is to support the students that don't have the parent support as the ex- counselor before becoming a administrator you know we were taught that there are students that are at risk there are students that cannot communicate or are accepted by their families I hope that's not the case for our community I know that as a parent I stand behind my child all the time 100% I knew he was gay before he knew it okay nobody questioned that nobody's asking you know the school to tell me how to parent my kid or how to counsel him or how to support him I know what I'm doing but there are students in this community that do not have that support and if you look at the DSM and if you look at mental health laws 16-year-old students have the right to not include their parents in counseling it stinks no parent wants to hear it but under there are codes of Ethics that counselor social workers School psychologists follow and we have to help children open that communication not only to be supported to be able to be open and comfortable with what what they are who how they feel and what's going inside them but as well to deal with everything that's that's around them anxiety happens in one and three children I don't know if you know the statistics or not but maybe that's something that we need to educate on depression is on the highrise after Pandemic those numbers have increased not because they're gay not because they're trans because that's the pressure that they've been experiencing within the school within the community our children are at higher risk because of the bullying because of not being accepted the policy is here to let them feel that they have a right to open to somebody and let them know what's going on good bad or indifferent as a parent I want to be educated but I also want to know that there are kids out there that don't have that support that should have somebody in the school that they can go to and talk to our job as school staff is to open the communications and encourage children to communicate with their parents when they cannot but we have to support these kids if they don't feel that they can open up to somebody other than their families and maybe here in Westwood 99% of the families support children great but that doesn't happen in every school I have walked in to people's homes as as a crisis worker and a dcpm worker where CH a child tried to commit suicide because the family told him that being trans was not accepted for their religion that they rather see that child die than be trans so we have to be open to what's happening thank you thank [Applause] you hi Kelly OK coner Washington Township um this should be quick I just I know this is a little bit backwards from how it usually happens I just heard a question asked up there tonight that I thought I could give the answer to um the people make the difference staff and student recognition program I believe that um it was emailed out to everyone in the community and so what we were looking for was individuals who demonstrate excellence in communication critical thinking collaboration creativity perseverance adaptability empathy problem solving and accountability so I just wanted to make sure that we all understood that that that's why we're celebrating Mr Pinto tonight so thank you thank you Mr would anybody else like to speak Ali Stevenson Westwood um I just want to Circle back to the book thing because of all of the is issues that have really sent a chill that we've talked about the book thing really scares the crap out of me probably like top two um back in 1986 when I was in sixth grade we were all passing around our copy of Forever by Judy Bloom it was really hot um we knew we weren't supposed to be reading it and that's why we wanted to read it you know like the quickest way to get a bunch of K kids to read a book is to tell them they can't have it or they shouldn't have it or you know and I'm also old enough to remember um the pmrc in the 9s Tipper Gore anyone she would slap labels like explicit lyrics on CDs boom that was the first that like we had to get our hands on it so I think we have to keep that in mind and you know most of us were there I feel like if we think back we can remember these circumstances um it's 100% your right right to curate your own library at home it's not your right to tell me what my kids can't read and I'm a taxpayer too and we share these schools you're 100% within your right to refer to the protocol and check the label or uh the the whatever category it falls into and opt your kids out if you don't want your kids to reach certain materials I totally respect that I'm sure there's stuff out there that I wouldn't want my kids reading but I'm not going to restrict them and we have conversations about stuff but again it's your right it's your family but in here you don't have the right to take stuff away from my kids and when you talk about doing that now you're treading on me okay so we have to find a way and the district has done a lot of work to create infrastructure to help us work together and live together and that's exactly what we have to do okay um oh yeah and it also you know to me it kind of all falls under this kind of this thing that we're doing to this District where we're creating like this situation where we're putting them between a rock and a hard place you know you don't want your kids exposed to certain things or certain ideas or you know your your personal stance on gender ideology and whatnot but then you're creating this situation where the teachers or this the school the administrations they're the only ones who know but if you just open it up and say my kids can talk to me about anything then their job here is done and they're passing it off to you and like everyone's happy right in theory so can we do that thank you M Stevens would anybody else like to speak go in once go twice seeing nobody we will close the second public session and move on to Old business right or I'm sorry um there weren't any questions right from Mr con okay so move on to old business and Miss peek raise your hand so live streaming live streaming was brought on during the pandemic without any changes to the policy live streaming was taken off back in September August without any changes to the policy and I think we should bring it back without any changes but we can make changes to the policy going forward but I think we should bring it back starting next board meeting uh I'd like to make a motion to bring live streaming back starting February 15 a second oh who wants it who wants it Miss Martin a second winner okay I guess so what we do here Mr Rado do a roll call discussion discussion Miss Cooper that's discuss yes thank you sorry I missed it discussion yeah yeah so the only thing I was wondering about we heard before um following through I personally don't care live stream don't live stream it's no never mind to me as I recall the reason that we had removed live stream wasn't because we did that it's because the superintendent that superintendent wanted that so when we're thinking about I'm fine with it but I hear about honoring the previous superintendent's wishes but in this case not that's all I'm fine with it though anybody else Mr cassado sorry to do this again Mr Conley but what's your thoughts on incorporating live streaming I believe the meeting should be live streamed um just just to make it clear though it is ultimately up to the board of education but my recommendation I do believe uh they should be live streamed anybody else and so that to me Miss Cooper was the difference that this is under our perview versus that was the only difference I do really I I moved uh to a table just because of the recommendation of Mr Connelly I would have okay so any more discussion so we will make vote and Mr Mr Rado should I read into the potential wording of the oh sorry I well I have the motion to continue live streaming effective uh 215 and so now the next meeting next board meeting continue discussion Mr Cado real quick I mean from a I say legality standpoint we don't have to put anything else together put together rules to support this anything like that we could just that wasn't completely I don't know are you asking me or asking Mr Rosado so start with Mr Rosado first um again I think as uh Mr Conley pointed out it's really the uh up to the board what they want to do um and if we're going to implement it I mean if we're going to pass the resolution to implement next next week or excuse me next meeting do we have the capabilities yeah it's it's a push of a button but okay so there's no rules or anything we have to put towards it structure nothing just I mean we're following the same procedures that we followed in the past okay and those are documented somewhere um I'm not sure if they're exactly documented but we I think we had a a bunch of uh um communication on that or a discussion on that in the past uh I mean we have the procedures set in place that we that we had at that time could we just maybe pseudo agree on let's put some structure around it even after it's up that's all so so what I'd like to do is vote here right Mr Rado to initiate it and to start live streaming um the next board meeting and then what I'd like to do is memorialize that via the policy committee and that'll have I imagine some content to it then right yes okay okay so ending discussion there can we have a roll call to initiate and begin live streaming um effective immediately as of February 15th is our next meeting roll call Mr zado uh Mrs aelina yes Mrs Cooper yes Mr cassado yes Mrs Martin yes Mrs peek yes Mrs Peterson yes Miss pin yes Mr pus yes Mr Garcia yes motion carried like that hey is there any other new B is there any other old business having seen none is there any new business hey um I would actually like to take this opportunity then under new business I'm excited to announce the establishment of a Communications committee formed ad hoc under policy 0155 after deep discussion with vice president pek several trustees Administration and stakeholders this committee will focus on Crafting our board ofed quarterly newsletter the Cardinal with Collective input from all trustees and stakeholders the committee will will outline a comprehensive newsletter once the committee completes the initial draft it will present it to the entire board for input and feedback following this vice president PE and I will meet with District leadership to review and approve that newsletter upon approval we the board will share it with parents and stakeholders through the district's email distribution list the driving force behind creating the the newsletter and this Communications committee is the board's commitment to achieving its number one District goal to develop in part to develop a community relations program to Foster increased public participation collaboration and open communication with all stakeholders I want to thank Miss Peterson and Mr pontello and all trustees who developed the inaugural November issue and the special December Edition I understand it took a lot of hard work and knowing that played a role in this decision moving forward with this newsletter we aim to continue fostering strong affinities with this community and ensuring stakeholders are well formed on board matters we will run the ad hoc Communications committee for several months and will discuss and assess its Effectiveness we can then follow policy to make it a formal committee or disband it entirely thank you Miss Cooper um one of the things I'd asked you about Mr Garcia when it came to this particular adoc committee first I do think it's a great idea I think it's I think it's wonderful and and well thought out I think the one the one objection that I had or one concern that I raised that you didn't answer is why this wasn't at least open to everybody to have the opportunity to put in their credentials their interest their passion into it it I know that there was no invitation given to me or some other members of this particular board to see why why couldn't we participate it was just a decision was made first it was an unofficial committee now it's an ad hoc committee all that's fine but we although I asked you in email and then when we spoke on the phone why wasn't it open to everybody to at least have an opportunity to present an to present themselves to sit on that committee when we had created the ad hoc committee um not even we when president pontillo created the ad hoc committee last year everybody was afforded the opportunity to present their interest to explain why it mattered to them why they wanted to sit on it and then he made that final decision so it just doesn't seem Equitable that there's just you said you spoke to some trustees but not all trustees about it it was told to some trustees but it was invited to other trustees I will open this up to everybody please give me your what what did you say their input and um Everybody give me your interest please and send it to me an email and we will formalize the four commit seems like you've already made up your mind I've just announced it this evening I put thought into some things but I misunderstood and I thought you were announcing that it's been formed not announcing that there's an invitation to it that's what I've just said everybody please send me your interest and you'd like to be a part of it and what you'd um I really want to thank you very much Mr Garcia for considering that feedback thank you I really appreciate it thank you anybody else just kidding Miss Peters you don't want to hear me talk I no I was just kidding um Mr Garcia I I also agree that the committee um will be good um hold on I'm just trying to find just trying to find a little email here so you sent out an email on January 9th to the full board with committee assignments on the committee assignments you have our four standing committees and then you have the communications committee you say that the leads are going to be Mrs aelina and Mrs parin it seems like it had already been formed you had already decided who was going to be on it so I'm happy to hear that you are open to you know hearing from other trustees if they want to sit on it but what you're saying right now contradicts what you've already put in writing so just help me understand that yeah well we when I first put that together if you want to read the full email and what it said next to it what you guys said this is just kind of food for thought things I remember talking to you and Mr pontillo and you guys talk about how much work went in into it and we you know a couple of us didn't feel like we had full input there um and I wanted to offer opportunity other people so what I thought about it I just thought about it literally kind of Spitfire and some stuff I put it together as an unofficial committee you had come back and Miss Cooper had come back and said you can't do that what you need to do is follow this way this way put in the ad hoc I didn't want to bring in all the other um what what would an unofficial in my mind meant that we could kind of alleviate the responsibility of the administration to have to go into the meetings have to have official meeting every month and whatever so I didn't necessarily want to do that what I wanted to do is I wanted to set up lead that we can funnel and get everybody's input to come up to Andre and I and kind of like I said streamline that process once you and Miss Cooper pointed out the fact that there are policies and ways to do it and you know I'm trying to be respectful of everybody's opinion on that I took that that input I created the ad hoc committee and here we are I just announced it and I took your feedback again and uh I understand that all the selections from the Committees they made are very subjective I do want to say this unequivocally I will always make the best decision possible for this District as there's another kind of insinuation that I was retaliatory in certain things I promise you I don't have a retaliatory Bard in my body I'm going to do what's in the best interest of this district and that's how we'll decide moving forward so thank you for your uh question input yeah so just one followup so thank you for clarifying that so sure just to confirm is there anyone currently sitting on this committee or it's completely vacant and you're looking for the board to solicit there I'm I as I as I said please send me your interest in it so is there anyone sitting on the committee currently well unofficially no there's not anybody on the committee so officially is there anyone sitting on the committee I just said no you said unofficially oh sorry so so no the answer is no no okay thank you anything else sorry motion I get a motion to adjourn the meeting Andrea this PE can you please make a cl to adjourn the meeting at can I get a second second Mr Cado thank you all in favor yeah I okay thank you