##VIDEO ID:UMWLLhT_AH0## I sorry I hate to use the gavel so unfortun but if I could just have everybody's attention great thank you welcome everyone to this evening's Cadwell West calwell Board of Education meeting today Monday November 18th 2024 the location of this meeting is Grover Cleveland middle school tonight the board met an executive session at 6:00 p.m. in the library media center here at Grover Cleveland Middle School 36 Academy Road in Caldwell the purpose of that meeting was to discuss Personnel litigation miscellaneous and old business matters that meeting has been advertised and is in compliance with the open public meeting act and njsa 10 col 4-6 also known as the sunshine walk the matters discussed will be made public when confidentiality is no longer required and formal action pursuant to said discussion shall take place only at a meeting to which the public has been invited tonight the regular public monthly meeting is taking place at 7:05 forgive our tardiness here in the cafeteria the Board of Education meeting will be streamed live but all Community questions and comments will be welcomed here in person the calwell West calwell Board of Education public conference meeting is also in compliance with the open public meetings act and njsa 10 col 4-6 also known as the Sunshine Law notic have been sent to the progress in Caldwell New Jersey The Star Ledger New York New Jersey and tap into West Essex notices have also been posted at the Board of Education business office at the Harrison School building Grace Street West Caldwell and have been delivered to the clerks of the burrow of Caldwell and Township of West calwell for posting Brian can you take the role yes student representative Megan pack here Miss D Martini here miss laly Jefferson here Miss Mack here Mr dimola here M Gro here so we have five voting members present we have a quum great thanks um I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible Li and all okay Brian are there any Communications for the board this evening uh there were none okay great so we're going to start with the superintendent report can I invite uh Landon Kelly and Michael Rankin up to the microphone please Landon joins us from the house of integrity and Michael joins us from the house of leadership hi thank you Dr Conlin and the board of education for inviting us to speak tonight I am ly Kelly and I'm representing the house of Integrity good evening I am Mike Ranken from the house of leadership this moring period gcms reinstated the enrichment program students were able to choose an enrichment class to attend every other Wednesday classes ranged from nature to photography to Lacrosse this Wednesday was our first enrichment day and everyone had a good time before Halloween all of the students at gcms had to draw and create Jackal lanterns in their advisories then all the house leaders went around the school on October 30th and taped the Jack lanterns on the school walls after that we picked three Jack lanterns for the students to find on Halloween the three winners won a prize the week lead the week leading up to Halloween had everyone in the school playing Halloween clue everyone in the morning and in the afternoon every day in the morning and the afternoon there was a clue to try to find out who was the person who snuck into the school one night Mr Tesco and Mr koteski miss strangeway Mr bero Mrs Tucker and Mrs tinsky all agreed to participate and play the roles of Professor Plum Co colal coronal mustard Mrs White Mrs peacock and wodsworth the butler it was a fun who done it mystery to lead into Halloween and promote the upcoming clue production at the high school the school also participated in a districtwide food drive for the West for the C calwell Food Pantry gcms collected over 200 food items and the house of Integrity brought in the most food the Builder Club is hosting a PJ drive for people in need of clothes kids from GCM gcms are donating pajamas to amilies in need the house leaders host inter mural games for the school throughout the year for some friendly after school competition and team building our most recent one was handball as a house leader you can ref the games or coach your team during during the tournament there is a set bracket made for the teams to play for example citizenship and respect were in the finals of handball and citizenship ended up winning on Friday gcms um heard from a variety of speakers for our first Unity day my favorite part of being a house leader so far this year is being able to lead the young sixth graders and seventh graders I also like coaching and refering during the intermurals lastly I like to participate in house days and do fun activities for my house my favorite part of being a house leader so far this year is being able to help you help people out with food drives and make a difference where and when I can another thing I like about house leader is that I got I got to participate in the lips sync battle against the teachers on the house day before the holiday break thank you again Dr Concklin and members of the education of the board of education for your time do you have any questions no but you guys were awesome thank you so much great job yeah I'd also now like to invite up um Robert savastano he's going to talk to us about clue Robert did I get your name right did Robert are you being formal this evening or are you in costume for us I'm I'm me very for I'd like to you good evening my name is wodsworth and I am the butler at body Mana you are all cord cordially invited to body manner this weekend Friday November 22nd through Sunday November 24th it will be to your advantage to be present on these date because a Mr body will bring to an end a certain long-standing and painful Financial liability do you have any clue to what I am talking about based on the popular 1985 movie at which which was itself inspired by the iconic board game the stage play Clue is a hilarious ious fast meet murder mystery presented by the jchs drama club our taale begins at a remote Mansion where six guests assemble for an unusual dinner party at which blackmail and murder are on the menu when our host turns up dead everyone becomes a Suspect with my able assistance the remaining guests Miss Scarlet Professor Plum Mrs White Mr Green Mrs peacock and Colonel Mustard race to find the killer as the body count Stacks up clue is a comedy who done it that will have you all in stitches as you try to figure out who did it where and with what performances are at the jchs center for per Performing Arts this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and a final sat Sunday matina at 2 p.m. all tickets are $5 and can be purchased at at the door or on online at our show do r.sh show J CHS clue we look forward to seeing you there just have a comment I'd like to make if that that's okay sure just want to let um the district know that uh and the community know that our district values of Community Equity inclusion result in our schools incorporating developmentally appropriate and standards align experiential learning opportunities to extend and enhance student learning events like make a difference day keing university Holocaust Center which presented about anti-Semitism and acceptance Dr Paul wiscount with chansky presented about disability acceptance anti-bullying and resilience and AA mayck told her story and discussed her experiences and her book Survival Guide to bullying these are examples of the experiential learning we provide our students and staff at GR Cleveland Middle School this year we launch Unity day to help enrich the experiential learning opportunities for our students and our staff we are deeply committed to ensuring that the schools are safe welcoming and inclusive environments for all students regardless of wraith ethnicity sex and gender identities mental and physical abilities and religious beliefs our assemblies are designed to reinforce our curricular that highlight the contributions and experience of individuals with diverse abilities cultures identities and perspectives the unity the unity day assemblies were directly aligned with our District's commitment to inclusion as well as with the New Jersey student learning standards and the district's Mission values vision and goals please understand that we value open and clear communication as an essential foundation for trust and collaboration with our community your feedback is incredibly valuable to us and we welcome your thoughts and on improving uh in the future therefore moving forward additional details regarding any future assemblies and their topics will be both transparent and thorough in addition we welcome families to contact their child's teachers school counselors and administrative team with any questions recommendations or concerns thank you thank you so we'll move to the president's report I'd like to start with the committee reports if that's okay with the board sure okay we would like to go first I can go first okay um the finance and Facilities committee met virtually on October 30th from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. board committee members present included president Julianne gross and myself Danielle Mack from the administration was Brian McCarthy the committee reviewed all finance and facility agenda items from the November 4th regular meeting the committee discussed a letter from the New Jersey Department of Education which approved modifications to the district's long range facilities plan the modifications included some of the projects that will be a part of our March 2025 refer referendum uh last but not least the committee reviewed and approved the purchase of a new sign for the jchs software field the field will be renamed Tes Coen Park in honor of longtime softball coaches coach um the late coach Mark tesen and his brother coach Mike this the naming of this field holds a very special place in my heart I went through the softball program they were both my coaches they are just the most amazing um humans coach Mark you know ped um a few years back but um I just their leadership was was amazing um we celebrated so many victories on the field and I know there's many more victories to come but I think just one of the greatest celebrations that they always instilled upon me and the other players was not about winning but it was about commitment and sportsmanship and teamwork and Community um so we're really excited about this and um yeah we're looking forward to the unveiling of the signage we'll celebrate more in the spring I'm sure yeah yeah that it that's it great any questions or comments from the board it's exciting it's exciting okay curriculum y so on um November 12th um myself Terry D Martini um Miss lfi Jefferson Dr Conlin and Ms Jones all met virtually to discuss um instructional instructional programs proposals and Partnerships together um as a part of the uh curriculum and Technology committee um one thing that was shared with us is that on December 10th from 5:30 to 6:30 here at Grover Cleveland Middle School there will be an ESL family event which will provide families with um an information session that has Community Resources as well as a community building event um and we're really grateful to the staff for providing that opportunity for our families so thank you very much um also you'll now see on the board of ed website there is an atlas tab which provides um links to rubrics for curriculum so you can can go in and look up certain classes and see what's you know the curriculum set up for that um it's very interesting and fun and you know you can get kind of lost doing it all but um clearly a lot of work went into setting that up so thank you to all the staff that made that happen that's it great any questions or comments from the board nope good we're good with everything else Personnel policy good okay great so um we're going to move now to uh approval of minutes I'll make a motion to approve the minutes okay great and can I have a second I'll second Brian can you take the role yes uh Miss D Martini yes M lalie Jefferson yes Miss Mack yes Mr dimola yes M Gro yes 5 Z motion carried great we're going to move into public comments on agenda items only okay I know there's a bunch of you here that have want to address the board this evening if it's anything off of the agenda particularly anything concerning the unity day that's going to have to be held to the second part of the meeting when we do public comment okay for both sections of public comment and while people are speaking this evening whether people are speaking at this table or people are up at the microphone speaking I'm going to ask for public decorum okay any side comments snickering laughing name calling please we're adults there are children in the room let's behave and set a good good example all right that's all I ask the board is here welcome open to listening to you we value what you have to say but it has to be done in a respectful manner okay so right now this is just agenda items only all right so public participation shall be governed by the following participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of their name and address statements are to be limited to three minutes duration participant may speak no more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer boards use the public comment periods of the meeting as an opportunity to listen to Citizen concerns but not to debate issues or enter into a question and answer session or a cross-examination between the public and individual members be aware that not all issues brought before the board this evening will be resolved boards May respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to invest investigate the issue to the superintendent or his designate the presiding officer May interrupt warn or terminate a participant's comments if they exceed the allotted time or are objectively obscene participants may be civil liable for any obscene defamatory or slanderous statements made during the public common sessions okay does anyone have anything to say right now on the agenda items only yeah should I take the okay this work I have to turn it on okay great good evening board trustees uh Mike Monon 23 Westville Avenue Caldwell um so I just had I just had um two topics on the agenda I want to address the one was the referendum I have a question about the referendum referendum is not on the agenda so you'll have to hold that till the second was just the chair the chairperson just said it right that's a committee report but it's not an agenda item so if it's a referendum feel free Mike to come back up the end we'll totally listen but not right now it's just on the agenda okay so can I address um superintendence report number three School self assessment for determining grades under the anti-bullying absolutely okay so I can't get that on my phone I know the board docs goes a little bit further into it I try to get on my phone I can't can you please explain what that is because I do have something I want to speak to about that so every school does a self assessment to see where they are in terms of the professional development they're providing how they're supporting students through the Hib process so each school does an individual self assessment and then we report that to the Department of Education so that's the individual self assessment reports each school does their own individual self assessment okay so there's different questions and specific questions they respond to I think the score is out of 79 each different uh question is worth one to three points so they're on the the agenda you could look at those each individual school has their own reports okay so is there anything in there that that that assesses the policy that the I mean I know that the policy is a is a is based off of state law I know that but it's really individual to the school because it's very general how they speak about anti-bullying it's specific in some ways but the way that you go about your policy is really left up to the school to go about that policy and I and I take issue to the policy of of of bullying in this district and the way you guys handle it um so is that reviewed also because if not I would ask that you revisit that policy also and I haven't example of why um you mean the board policy itself yeah yeah the board policy on how you hand individual schools don't look at the board policy they look at the professional development the implementation of that policy they don't look at that individual policy the policy is discussed at a policy meeting so could we think about and I'd like to talk about this because I would think that we should probably revisit the way District anel Hib I have two children in there or two young men in this District that been in this District since kindergarten okay um I had one of them my youngest one Nicholas who was just I just got a letter through the mail uh saying that he was under an investigation for possible HIV so of course that's major concern in our family being that that's actually contradictory to what we teach our kids right so we teach our kids you stick up for kids that are are being picked on and here it is I have a son that's now you know in in other words being U um called The Bully right um I have I get no information on this none at all and I'm actually told when I inquire about it that I have to wait until the investigation's over so then I'm right away I'm saying okay but if there's an investigation this has to be serious and this is my kid I want to make sure that I know what's going on because as a parent I have to do my end of it too right but we're left in the dark you're left in the dark until the very end and then in the very end you're told okay this is unfounded okay well what what happened well you have to you have to request a redacted investigation which I received which was useless in a way because it it was just you know interviewing a couple kids and it came back unfounded okay so the reason why I'm up here is because what you don't realize is that puts a stigma on a student now I know you're going to tell me or everybody's going to tell me that oh nobody knows about this nobody knows about this I'm a teacher every teacher in the building knows about it trust me the faculty room that's what they talk about in case you didn't know that right so oh this so and so just got you know charged with bullying blah so if one teacher in the district which is going to be the anti bullying coordinator knows about it pretty much the entire faculty knows about it right so now your kid is walking around the building with the stigma of being a bully and no one knows the details and we can all say everybody in this room can always say that there's got to be some truth to it right that's what we always think about but meanwhile there's no truth to it and no one will ever believe that so I I I really uh would hope that you could revisit this because I think what's lacking is there's no principal uh or or or School head uh intervention in this process pretty much what the counselor told me the Hib coordinator told me is once a kid makes some type of accusation of HIV it's automatically hands down an investigation there's no pre-investigation which we have in our district we have a pre-investigation where the principal takes a look at the facts because could be one of three things it could be a code of conduct maybe it was just a one-time incident two kids messing around and we have to go to our policy or school policies and Implement a code of conduct it could be a mediation two kids just kind of had something going on and you know never never happened before and maybe we want to look into it and want to inquire about it and see if this is something we could just settle hey you know what we're good we're good okay great go about your way but right away we think bullying and we go right that way and I think that that's terrible and really am here to clear my son's name because he's not a bully um and and when I got the redacted report at the end I was kind of like okay well this should have never even went to investigation the two kids the kids that were in there said nothing ever really happened the teacher said nothing happened all that went that way and then yet there was this big investigation that that really was uh took us probably the better part of 15 days I know I think you get 10 days but with weekends and everything it took about 15 days for us to get anything back and then we get a letter to the mail saying it was it was unfounded so what I'm asking this board to do is to to to to to revisit this policy to where you give some Credence to what the building administrator has to say about it because you know number one you're going to alleviate a lot a lot from your HIV coordinators because they're going to get just an influx of it and just to to to put this out there that same kid who who accused my son of being a bully is accusing other kids left and right and there's lots of issues with that with that student so if you continue doing this all you're doing is allowing your enabling kids to go out and say things just for because they know that're it's going to give another kid a hard time so look into it because the way the the state law uh um uh explains this this PO What what schools can do is they they say that there just because something's put up as an HIV doesn't necessarily mean it is it could be one of three things HIV code of conduct or mediation so we don't get to those other two because we go right into hi so I would ask that's all I'm up here just asking if you guys would revisit that policy policy thank you thank you anybody else for agendas on items I'm sorry on the agenda only at this point in time okay okay great so we're GNA this is a voting meeting our only meeting of the month so we're going to move forward through the vote and then we'll go to public comment open public comment back at the end so we're going to start with curriculum and Technology upon the recommendation of the superintendent of the schools motion to approve items a through g under curriculum and Technology on this evening's agenda great and can I have a second I'll second and Brian whenever you're ready you could just take the role please yes Miss D Martini yes M ly Jefferson yes Miss Mack yes Mr dimola yes M Gro yes 5 motion carried okay first one now uh upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools a motion to approve items B through F cabling a under certificated staff and items a under non-certificated staff and Personnel on the ca yeah any questions or comments on that from the board no okay can I have a second I'll second okay Brian when you're ready Miss D Martini yes M lalie Jefferson yes Miss Mack yes Mr dimola yes M Gro yes 5 Z motion carried okay finance and Facilities upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools motions to approve items a through h under finance and item a under facilities on this evening's agenda great any comments or discussion from the board okay thank can I have a second I'll second do great and Brian whenever you're ready Miss Steve Martini yes M Lind Jefferson yes Miss Mack yes Mr damola yes Miss Gro yes 5 Z motion carried okay we have nothing to vote on for policy this evening but Mike we are going to go back and look at that policy okay the policy committee will meet and review that for you okay um all right so now we're going to move on to public comment so this is the public comment portion of the meeting where the anyone can get up and address the board on any topic okay once again I'm going to remind everyone of the parameters of public comment public participation shall be governed by the following participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of their name and addressed statements are to be limited to three minutes duration participant may speak no more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer boards use the public comment period of the meeting as an opportunity to listen to Citizen concerns but not to debate issues or enter into a question and answer session or a cross-examination between the public and individual members be aware that not all issues brought before the board this evening will be resolved boards May respond to public comment by seeking additional information or by delegating the authority to investigate the issue to the superintendent or his designate the presiding officer May interrupt warn or terminate a participant's comments if they exceed the allotted time or are objectively obscene participants may be civil liable for any obscene defamatory or slanderous statements made during public comment that being said would anyone like to come up and address the board this evening yes meline we have this hand first and then we'll just now if you want to wait there so you can be that go right ahead yep okay thank you thank you very much okay hi U my name is Jordan best I live at 53 berkenan Road um I'm a local mom of two kids in our school district one at Jefferson Elementary and one here at the middle school my husband grew up in Caldwell and attended Public Schools all the way through we graduated in '98 when we decided to choose a town to raise our family we chose calwell and we believe our public schools are the right place to send our kids I'm here to show support for the Middle School administration for highlighting anti-bullying and inclusion last week's Unity assembly I'd like to speak specifically about why teaching kids about lgtbq I bullying is so important right now when my son was in fourth grade at Jefferson we used to stay and play on the playground after school all the time and one day I heard an elementary scho school student couldn't have been older than third grade call another kid uh gaser I was shocked and saddened that already in elementary school that this Behavior had begun I'm here that because there are many parents in town uh that a Unity assembly that addressed queer rights would never have raised a flag many people still probably don't know that it happened and certainly not that it ruffled any feathers in town we would have been confused and upset if queer rights hadn't been addressed I find it troubling that we would think twice about a Unity assembly that addressed race culture disabilities and religion but we're uh but here we are in 2024 thinking about or debating whether queer right should be addressed pro programs like those that Garden State equality uh LED last week are such a helpful resource to our schools our teachers and our kids and I am personally so thankful that our school was able to have them after speaking with my uh sixth grader who attended the assembly he found the presentation to be informative friendly and helpful he was even able to speak with the presenter afterward about some of the things that he's heard online and in video games that have really troubled him and he was met with kindness understanding and support I think we can all agree that growing up is hard that middle school is hard puberty is hard the 2020s have been hard our kids have lived through a pandemic they are figuring out who they are when one of the most divisive times in our history and they are doing that all under the microscope that is social media and the internet something none of us had to do our schools should be havens of support where they can learn not just about academics but about the diverse and amazing world around them so I'd like to speak not only on behalf of parents in this town who want a warmer and more inclusive and positive atmosphere at our schools but also on behalf of our kids because at the end of the day this is about them not us so here are some important statistics about the kids according to a 2024 US national survey of the mental health of lgtbq plus young people 42% of lgtbq middle school students reported being bullied at school or on the way to school another report shows that 83.1% of lgtbq plus students have reported experiencing harassment or assault due to personal characteristics such as sexual orientation or gender expression at school over um queer youth identified bullying as the second most important problem in their lives after non-accepting families compared to non-queer youth that identified classes exams grades and sadly suicide is the second leading cause for all kids aged 10 to 14 queer kids are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers and we're not just as we're as we're talking about all of this it's not just about the kids who are being bullied when bullying occurs youth who witness bullying bullying known as bystanders are present 80% of the time and bystanders may feel guilty about their inaction they might feel unsafe than at school and they can also be at an increased risk of depression anxiety drug use and absenteeism so where do inclusive ulum and affirming schools come in why do they matter affirming environments in a supportive environment such as lgtbq affirming schools can reduce bullying rates across the board by approximately 30% including lgtb qia plus topics in school curriculums reduces bullying and harassment for all students schools with such curricula report lower rates of victimization based on sexual orientation gender identity or expression all students in these inclusive schools are also less likely to feel unsafe due to their identity I don't want to stop you but you have a minute left so I don't want to sorry I don't want so fast I don't want to force you to go faster you I only lot of great information so I apologize for interrupting sorry so all students in inclusive schools are also less likely to feel unsafe due to their identity fostering a sense of belonging and safety uh that reduces bullying across the board and finally students students in schools with inclusive programs and supportive staff report improved mental health higher self-esteem and better academic outcomes so again just to close I'd like to really thank the administration for working to build an inclusive and supportive environment for all of our kids here in Caldwell and I hope that my presence stands not just for each of the parents in our towns that want a diverse safe and welcoming environment at our schools but also for each and one every one of our amazing creative and outstanding kids that are just trying to figure out who they are in this world you want to go sorry that was my fault I I didn't start the timer on time sorry that's okay that's okay I'll make sure I have it now three minutes sorry I'll wait I'm sorry I forgot I didn't start it and I on a completely different top apologize that that was said so eloquently and I am on a completely different topic and that's very difficult to follow um but I wanted to go first to get in before everybody else got theirs that's okay uh mine Brown 13 berkenan Road um I'm H I have a question regarding the two um Department of Education investigations that were opened on October 21st against the district uh the title six shared ancestry one and the sexual violence one one both on the same day which so one question um obviously is if they are connected um regardless of what they are I'm looking for a little bit of information um on what they are and I know you're going to tell me they're private and and privileged um the the US Department of Education has a page open um and aside from all the ones that are Freedom of Information Act requests they have a page where every the ones that they think are going going to really get a lot of requests are already on the page um so it is public information of course with some details redacted um so before I go and forward that information I'm hoping for a little bit of transparency from our board particularly giving the history of Our Own hibs in this District um I know a lot of things have gone down at the high school I I know there's different clubs a lot of things that this could be attributed to so I'm hoping for a little bit of information from the board about um what these are attributed to um please Kaylin if if I say something I'm not supposed to say make sure I don't say that okay I can thank you very much um there are two open Office of civil rights investigations filed um against the school district it was a student to student incident that happened two years ago um and there's an ongo there was an investigation by the school district two years ago and um someone has filed an OCR complaint against the school district so we are cooperating with that investigation from an incident two years ago from an incident two years ago yes I can't really get into the details because it involves another student but I can say that it was student to student and it was not something that was initiated on campus but um it was something that affected something that happened on C and there was a investigation that was involved in this incident two years ago so the there was an OCR complaint over that same incident uh a title 9 and a title six investigation but we're cooperating with OCR so it's not a new situation that it's not a new situation no it's an old situation and again it involves two students no no faculty or nothing that happened in school necessarily directly okay so all right thank you you're welcome did I do okay all right um anyone else yeah hi I'm Christina draws um I apologize because I'm going to look down so I don't lose my place that's fine okay I stand here for myself and other parents in our district that are extremely disappointed with the lack of communication in our schools I have a child in middle school and in Washington school with that said over the last few years these situations have become more and more frequent first and foremost parental rights is my number one reason and concern it has become a full-time job having to search and look for all possible events and assemblies and propaganda hidden in our children's classrooms and with that said there are some serious concerned with this so-called Unity day that the middle school helds the only information parents were told on paper was simply that Unity day just that the name in the bulletin not followed by what exactly was going to be said when you seek to have an outside organization that is politically funded and biased because you could go on the website and read everything that's on there and make your decision speak to our children at a school it is the parents right to be notified for an option not to attend I will not sit here and debate my opinion on the topics that were spoken about for two hours at this assembly I have every right to an opinion without being judged attacked or bullied which has already happened and also my personal business threatened because of my rights to speak out on behalf of my child these topics of lgbtq and gender identity that were taught at the assembly are completely inappropriate in the manner that they were shown how as Educators can you sit here and tell these children who some may still believe in Santa Claus at 11: in one breath an entire presentation about women's rights and how far we've come and to protect that and then in the next presentation you could be more than two biological genders which is a scientific fact regardless of opinion the school allowing this presentation gives us the right for all opin in for all the opinions not just for the lgbtq community the argument back will be we need to provide a safe place for these children in the LGBT community but that's the funny thing don't we all live in one Community why are we separating children from each other and making multiple communities you try to make these children understand equality but at the same time you are the same people who are trying to divide them when you teach a child that someone is different that's exactly what they will do they will treat them different I would love to see the statistics in our own school on a daily Bas on a daily basis where a child who identifies as gay or a different gender actually gets bullied to my next Point what about the children who have divorced families what about the children who have autism what about the children who come from abusive families what about religious backgrounds that these beliefs give no respect to if you're going to teach different types of communities be sure to include all which I know you will say now was also in that assembly but the lgbtq situation still over when everything else I'm so sick of hearing this claim of making the community feel comfortable where are our academics I also would love would love to see statistically where we lie in our state with math and English we are spending multiple hours in a day in assemblies to learn about gender identity when these children are being pulled out of academic classes this is exactly why the school did not write a description of who would be coming to talk to our children because they knew there would be backlash and instead they shov this rhetoric down our children's throats continuously without our consent when you are te you are teaching children to be kind because children need to be taught to be kind no matter what that does not come with an explanation of their sexual identity or their sexual needs that is a personal preference you could speak about on your own if there is an issue with the child in school that is being bullied or bothered by another student that student should be taken aside and dealt with on their own continuously forcing these kids into these kids' heads that they are the problem of why other children don't feel accepted is absurd my child does not come to school with the thought that other children need to make her feel comfortable for how her own family chooses to live and her sexual identity that is a very large responsibility for a child to hold and these children are starting to see it cuz my own child asked me you are robbing them of their innocence and I will not stand for it one more day the public please try to wrap you doing I'm I'm I I am not wrapping this up these are children's rights I have one more I have one more I have one more minute the public school system does not have parental rights over our children we're past three minutes we're we're well past three minutes all right I want you to know it's okay guys I excuse me Christina I'm Gonna Let You just continue just one moment okay I just want to say something okay everybody is being timed if you remember in the parameters it says if she'd like to continue on and Christina we're going to let you finish or thought you can come back up to address the board after all others who wish to speak on the topic okay no one here is being silenced on any side okay all children matter to the Board of Education whatever side you are on right now and Christina your time matters just as much as Jordan's mattered okay Jordan was given a warning this is the one minute warning Dr Conlin please start the one minute timer I want you to know how to how you expect parents to trust the system when events like this go on you could also spare the time to explain the other topics that were spoken about because I urge every single one of you to look up the Garden State equality organization they also gave out stickers and water bottles so the children could further check it out at home on their own your beliefs and opinions are your yours to keep but facts and academics is what should be in our school and at the very least this is a it should be your option not to attend who approved such an event that's what I would like to know and after researching this organization how could we possibly have them at our school if another politically bias organization is at this school or around my children again I will take legal action against this District the days of parents being scared to speak up for their rights because of backlash from radicals telling us we are Bullies Are Over they are our children thank okay um you can be next okay do you want to stand there so that you don't get yeah good evening um I'm Mary lockin Central Avenue West I am going to be referring to a letter that I wrote toe uh principal bero this afternoon okay regarding the ass L the unity assembly okay I'm standing today regarding Friday's assembly program in part presented by the Garden State equality group since we have been opting out of the sexual content in the education standards that were passed in 2020 and implemented in 2022 I believe that parents and Guardians should have been given the option to have their children removed from this por por of the assembly that would be part three the other two parts were fine it was obviously well intended toward Unity however I agree with the previous speaker that not all points of view and all issues such as racial issues were even addressed at this assembly and the language of Dei and the aggressively leftist group guarden State equality that was hired to present this assembly indicate the political nature of their agenda so it is a politically biased organization that needs to be investigated rather than hired I would not recommend hiring them at all uh my grandson who for whom I am a legal guardian and I know many of you on the board I'm glad you're there he was quite upset by the content of the third section of this assembly and wished that he could have left however students were not allowed to leave when they asked to leave okay they were not uh and I I truly believe that we should have been given a permission slip indicating the content of what was going to be shared my daughter has opted all of her children out of the health curriculum just to avoid having them exposed to this type of sexual content in the first place we teach our children I I'm a guardian my daughter is also partial we're both partial legal Guardians of the three children two are in Washington School one is here in seventh grade and we teach our children according to our own uh religious beliefs and ethics to respect and be kind to all children regardless all people and to respect people so that's you know that's a given and uh so unfortunately this kind of seemed like that was kind of snuck in under the you know under the guise of unity uh everyone agrees that respect needs to be extended to all students teachers and staff of the school Community the issue we have here as is that lgbtq plus and trans agendas are being promoted here and not simply the topic of respect okay thank you I'm almost done as uh well I'm going to just skip that part about the bullying one of one of the children did suffer a serious bullying incident last year and the topic of respect is very important to us also for that and other reasons however such Lifestyles and agendas are diametrically opposed to our deeply held religious beliefs and our right to remove our children as legal Guardians and parents from objectionable material is upheld by our first amendment rights such courtesy was not extended at this assembly unfortunately many parents were upset by this and will most likely others will make their voices heard as well so I wanted to let my voice be heard and objection and I recommend putting out a permission slip when this type of sexual content is being promoted in any type of assembly parents and legal Guardians should have the right to excuse their children from such assemblies and that's my point okay thank you thank you Mary thank you okay hi I'm uh Nikki Dylan I'm at 112 Orton Road um so I'm pretty much repeating what these last two speakers have just said but in the future if we could get a link provided to us of who the speaker is going to be or the group is going to be I think that would solve a lot of problems because when I looked up what these people represent Ed and I will share just a couple of them it honestly quite frankly just I I had no words so how are so one of the links was how are we protected in New Jersey this one particularly and if this had Biden and Harris on it I'd feel equally the same what a trump victory means and how are we responding at the moment so to me this group is resisting the government and our children should not be spoken to by a group that is promoting resisting the government no matter who it is that's it and two hours were taken away two hours when I was a kid an assembly was a half hour 45 minutes at the most two hours it's bad enough that they were home four years ago during covid and are still probably behind academically now we're taking them out 2 hours out of the day to listen to a group that promotes resisting again the government sorry not happening that's it I'm sorry I'm upset but thank you very much you don't have to apologize thank you Nikki it's fine thank hi my name is Jennifer emo uh 22 DOD Road um I am here to express my gratitude and to emphasize the importance of programs like Unity day which was held last Friday at the middle school where I currently have two eighth graders uh events like this Foster inclusion and promote a greater understanding of our diverse Community which is crucial particularly in light of rising concerns about bias and discrimination Unity day at gcms focused on themes of Justice equity and the value of Community Partnerships topics covered included the historical significance of social justice and music experiences of underrepresented women in music the role of law enforcement in fostering safer and more inclusive environments for all it was great that these conversations were led by Community experts and introduced our students to complex social issues while encouraging empathy and an appreciation of diversity unfortunately the need for such programs is urgent and very real in New Jersey anti-semitic incidents have seen a significant rise according to new data released by the Anti-Defamation League in April uh they reported that anti-semitic incidents in two 20 2023 Rose by a shocking 103% in New Jersey reaching a total of 830 incidents the highest number ever recorded in the state and the third highest number recorded in any state across the country and this comes after another record-breaking year in 2022 which saw a 10% increase to break it down even further for people who say that it doesn't happen here in Essex County alone there was 133% increase in anti-semitic incidents and on even more microscopic level I'm sure that we can all remember the incidents in the not so distant past at the middle school um where there were anti-semitic and homophobic slurs written in the bathrooms um similarly incidents of anti-asian hate crimes have spiked since 2020 and I'm bringing these up because I feel like those parts of the program were also being discussed in the community as not being appropriate for children and there is a very very real need for them New Jersey ranks among the states with the highest reported incidents of these hate crimes and it makes education about inclusion and acceptance crucial lgbtqia youth also faced alarming challeng Alles they are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers due to social stigma discrimination and lack of support according to the Trevor Project nearly 39% of lgbtq plus teens in the US seriously considered suicide in the last year and programs that encourage acceptance and create safe spaces like Unity day can have a profound impact on these young lives when lgbtq IIA youth have supportive School environments they report our 40% lower rate of suicide attempts it is our responsibility as Educators and Community leaders to ensure that all students feel safe seen and valued programs like what happened last Friday are not just educational they are vital interventions that have the power to reduce stigma prevent violence and save lives I want to thank the board and the district for having that program for those people who are saying that those types of bullying incidents don't happen here my two daughters have reported within the last two weeks friends of theirs who have been picked on only because of their gender because of their gender identity so it is happening here and programs like this are crucial thank you hi everyone I'm Michelle cororo 18 Eastern Parkway I am a heterosexual straight woman I wanted to say that out loud and just paused and my point is that this Unity day while I'm all for Unity teaching kindness for all children and everyone deserves respect and we need to accept all children having two adults stand in front of children and explain their sexual orientation is inappropriate me saying my sexual orientation here is inappropriate we don't talk like that here we don't talk like that at work why do we talk like that in the school why do adults why is it okay for adults to declare their sexual preference in front of children that's what I have a problem with not teaching equal rights for Disabilities race gender identity their sexual preference whatever no problems with that but that is where the line gets drawn I also agree with Mary that there should have been an opt out option there should be even for parents that opt in and and appreciate that conversation to know what was coming home that day to be able to support that conversation to be able to field questions or make sure the information was consumed in the right way very important because that type of sensitive topic can be perceived in a million different ways by children so there was no support at home because no one was aware so I'm glad to hear there'll be transparency but above and beyond the idea of having adults share their sexual orientation with children is wrong and should not be allowed period thank you anyone else want to come up good evening Phil Nal 98 hfield Street my concern is um I have a daughter now who's two years old um I'm Third Generation in kwell my father graduated actually from this building right here because it was the high school at the time um and it's funny I've seen some teachers here that I had and Mr keski in the back telling me he's teaching the kids about Constitution and when I heard about what took place and I had some parents that are friends of mine that reached out and they were concerned it brought some concern to me I'd like to have my kids also be in the public school and I also agree that all children don't deserve to be bullied all children of any race ethnicity beliefs whichever however when you say all children maybe my children don't believe some of those things when that time comes maybe I as a parent don't believe some of those things when that time comes and I think when it comes time to the sexuality and what was kind of expressed I think us as parents are really just concerned to be able to say what we've heard for so many years my body my choice my child my choice that's what it comes down to is my child my choice and we should be able to take them out if we want to and they should be allowed to leave if they feel uncomfortable no child and I mean no child of any belief or whatever they want to do or be should feel uncomfortable in a situation and I've been told that these kids were actually held in this assembly and were not allowed to leave so my question to you is and I appreciate you saying that you're going to be more transparent going forward so that the parents that are here concerned can see what the agenda will be my question is if you do have something like this are the students allowed to leave because I see students walk off campus for their own beliefs every day when I watch the news so why wouldn't a student that doesn't believe in something be allowed to walk out and say may I please be excused is that allowed or will that be allowed directed to the superintendent thank you're welcome so several families have asked that question and I'll I'll try to um make it um clear let me stop your time because I don't want to interrupt your time now you're good um so New Jersey parents and Guardians can opt out of certain parts of their child's curriculum if it conflicts with their religious moral conscien beliefs conscientious beliefs sorry uh parents can opt out of any part of the health family and sex education classes if they believe it conflicts with their beliefs parents can also opt out of certain science programs um investigations that involve animals so dissection and other things like that at the high school but um parents cannot opt out of curriculum that promotes diversity Equity inclusion and tolerance this includes instruction on gender sexual sexual orientation race and ethnicity disabilities and religious tolerance however I'll speak for the middle school if um if you look at page 10 of the student handbook there is an option for having your students U have early dismissal so if it sorry if pardon me sorry about that not speaking into the microphone clearly enough uh if parents elect they can follow early dismissal process that's outlined in the gcms handbook so that's up to you that's your choice but my question is is if don't yell from the audience please you can get up and address the board my question is if I speak to my children before they start coming to the school and before they start getting put into the situation and I tell my child if you're put in this situation you feel uncomfortable you text me right away you let me know and you walk out of that assembly do they have the freedom to walk out of that assembly if you scheduled the time for early dismissal as part of the student handbook yes so I have merely can a student merely just walk out of a class so correct that's my question no they cannot do that no student could just walk out of a class all right no you answer my question that's perfect they'd be violating the code of conduct no I get what you're saying so what I'm saying is what you had what took place here the kids when they were in if they wanted to leave they have no option as far as I'm concerned no students as far as from the administration or the teachers asked to leave if they felt they wanted to leave and didn't want to ask I can't speak to that but no student to any of the staff or any of the administration asked to leave that meeting no students asked to leave the meeting is what you're saying no student asked to leave any of the presentations okay yeah that's not what I heard from some parents I can't speak to what you heard sir I can only tell you what I know they did ask would you allow them to leave if they did ask to leave why would they be allowed to leave cuz they feel uncomfortable no please don't answer from the audience this is between Mr natal and superintend answering like if they feel uncomfortable can they leave I mean you're putting a kid in an uncomfortable situation if that kid feel un student in any place we provided no I'm not saying you are but I'm saying if the kid is put in an uncomfortable situation can they leave if they expressed concern and they were upset and of course they would be allowed to leave if they were upset and said I'm not comfortable sitting in this room of course they'd be allowed to leave that's what I wanted on the record thank you why wouldn't they be any student that expressed that concern that's not how it was coming off that's what my question was because some of the parents said that the kids were asking to leave and they were told they couldn't again sir I can't say this enough according to the teachers according to the administration no student expressed their desire to leave any of the presentations but when if the student was upset and it clearly upset and expressed their upsetness of course any adult in that situation would move that remove that student from where where they were being upset whatever that reason was so when that time comes for my kids to decide if I'm going to put them in public or private school I I have an answer from you saying if they feel uncomfortable they are allowed to leave is again if they expressed concern to an adult in that room and said I'm not comfortable with what's being presented here I'd like to excuse myself why wouldn't any adult say okay I'll talk you about it that's all I needed to that makes perfect sense thank you thank you hi tresa cardi 23 Cleveland I was wondering when choosing a group on Unity did anybody look up this group and see how much division there is on the first page this group says post elction update what a Trump's victory means this is bad this is really bad that's right there showing division not Unity are we looking at all children at a whole I mean we have children that come from broken homes family members with addictions one parent households they've been bullied for for you know decades and decades but we've never really considered and talked about this right my daughter eats lunch at school alone and and is having issues making friends and I went and spoke to the teacher and she said she didn't know how to handle some of the things my daughter says but I was wasn't made aware of that until I saw a picture sent home from another parent that she was alone so why aren't we worrying about the kids that aren't maybe lgbtq and the other children that are having issues in the school why isn't that a topic for discussion why are we bringing in groups that are talking about division instead of unity why is this happening in our schools what is the purpose and and I think that we deserve answers we deserve answers my daughter um U is having issues in school and and whether she's bullied or not you know kids are confused it's a confusing time all around right I think we're just adding to the confusion we're just adding to the confusion by making it a big deal and dividing like if we weren't making such a big deal and dividing this wouldn't be going on we wouldn't even be having these these meetings you know um you know I have clients that are sitting in their car and parking lots at my building saying they're going to kill themselves because because of the our president this is our president of the United States which we should respect our president of the United States whether we are left right doesn't matter this is the president so we're now putting out there these kid these kids want to kill themselves they're transgender because of what's being told on social media and this group had you brought into the school I mean this is part of the group this is what they're saying this is bad this is is really bad they're telling my cousin who's transgender not to stay her family for for Thanksgiving because they hate her because they voted for Trump this is sick stuff going on guys I literally I'm going to have suicides in my buildings because they're transgender and this is what they're being told by groups like this that they're not loved they're not liked and there's division we're feeding into that Division and we're not focusing on the kids that are are being bullied and neglected in other areas cuz we're so focused on this one area it's all going to there how about here how about here why aren't we doing that I just I just don't understand where our heads are and why we're believing and feeding into this stuff like there's an agenda here do we not see that I don't know maybe it's time for me to go to private school I heard that a lot in the groups a lot of bullying going on on I love living in the caldwells too a lot of bullying going on but it's all good cuz I can handle it come at me oh I'm gonna let this gentleman if you want to just be on deck or you can go first okay great my name is Gregory quinland I'm the president of the center for Garden State families were located in pany I was alerted to this by several parents in the district and I was asked to come and speak I speak to this uniquely as someone who lived the gay lifestyle for a decade of my life my gender identity is xgay and my pronouns are biologic the reason why I'm here is to discuss what happened and it looks to me and this is I'm actually paring some of the things that I've been told by parents this was a uh better to ask for forgiveness than to get permission and that's what this looks like with your Unity assembly so that's this is the deception that the parents feel and I don't blame them would it be any different if you had me as an ex gay come and speak to the students and those who affirm the lgbtq identities they would be very upset that you didn't let them know that I was being there or what group was being represented they would have every right to do so just as much as these parents do they have been betrayed by this board and the administration period they have been I want to address some of the other things too when you start hearing these statistics you really need to know who did the study where the study came from what the parameters were and can the study be replicated that's called science it's not science until it is replicated because there are no replicated scientific studies supporting any specific biologic IDE ideology for anything with the lgbtqi agenda none as somebody who lived that life for a decade that was in the 80s I watched aund of my friends and acquaintances die of AIDS before I quit counting I was an AIDS nurse so I know what the lifestyle is about at least what it was from my experience I see it now because many people still choose to leave usually done as adults but we are indoctrinating we are inculcating ideas into children's heads that they shouldn't be having when they really should be learning how to read write cursive understand scientific principles understand our history our constitution but instead there getting this parents have been disrespected the community has been disrespected every person in the community has been disrespected by the way this was handled I Lobby in Trenton and in Washington DC I've had Direct contact with Garden State equality and I can tell you those who demand tolerance the most possess it the least this is not an organization who should be talking on the top if you wanted that topic then bring in a psychologist or a psychiatrist who is gay affirming not that organization thank you uh Louis gallano 550 Bloom forv uh first I'd like to say I am so glad that he spoke first uh he just read my speech okay so the funny thing is uh you know I only found out about this uh about an hour ago and my daughter is actually one of the children who called me crying from the bathroom telling me come pick me up now because she was given no notice that this was happening now I'm going to read you a little something that I had prepared from another time about two years ago when I had a meet at uh Washington school when they were beginning to start this curriculum I sat in a room with Mr Conlin who tried to convince us that all this was great and wonderful while he showed us books that they were going to show to fifth graders teaching kids that when they're stretched they should go home and masturbate that's who's sitting up here now I don't normally do this but I feel called to do so with every ounce of my being for anyone that knows me it is painstakingly clear that my daughter is all that matters however that doesn't stop there for me as I am an advocate for all children many of them without a voice that being said what is currently taking place in our school district as well as across the country is abhorent not only do we have a crumbling education system completely failing the children at every level where the district State national test stores reflect that less than one third of our children are proficient at anything but now they are outright being attacked as well school is a place for continuing education period That's Right period it is not a social experiment or a place to cultivate a potential voter pool however that is what it has become I send my child to school to learn math science history and language arts music art and receive some physical training however I failed to see the correlation between the vulgar and inappropriate new curriculum being forced upon these tender-age children and their continuing educ I fail to see the correlation because it simply does not exist this is predatory predatory premeditated manipulative institutionalizing and brainwashing of young vulnerable Minds it's unacceptable yet the problem does not begin and end with the nefarious authorities imposing their inous document on these children it begins and ends with you and me the people here throughout this week well this this don't matter anymore so basically first of all he said it best the problem here is that no notice was giving you lied and deceived us all you mentioned several other assemblies that you've had this year I've received a notice for every one of them very detailed tells you everything about what they were about for some reason this one just said Unity right when I called the school as my daughter said come pick me up I didn't just take her word I called the offic said is there an assembly yes what time does it begin 1: p.m. will there be any school work done after it no okay what is the assembly about Unity sir what does that mean refus to give me an answer okay I'll be there right now to pick up my daughter when I came to pick up my daughter there was dozens of parents lined up already here waiting to pick their children up it looked like 8:30 in the morning like they were here to drop them off all right this is wrong the main point that he made that I don't think any of you were getting here is that my kid comes to school to to further her education right you know I I have uh lots of beliefs right that you may not agree with that maybe no one agrees with I chase them to my daughter at home because that's my personal right that's her personal business right and some of them you know you can't talk about God in the schools anymore you know you got you have a a handbook that says little boys can't wear a baseball hat you know a Yankees hat I don't think that's offensive to anyone but apparently it's distracting to other students little girls can't wear halter tops I have no problems with these rules but for for some reason other children can walk around with bunny ears mask uh and a tail on it and they get a special bathroom an extra time in it to take off their tail Meanwhile my daughter's being Ed she's got five minutes to run back to the bathroom right my daughter's 12 years old she has has her period now you know this is not really something I really want to discuss with you guys but you know she goes to the bathroom and there's there's no receptacles inside them you know these kids you don't even have the proper things available for these children but you're spending money to have people come here and teach their K children this garbage that's it thank you thank you um anyone else want to come up sure hi uh Dan berini 43 High Road Caldwell New Jersey uh I just want to say to the board um since a lot has been said here um that's quite frankly mindboggling to me it sounds like it's mind-boggling to a lot of people on both sides uh but I just hope um and trust that the board uh of Education will base whatever decisions come out of this uh meeting and future meetings on facts uh and on uh grounded information and on people who are actually in our community I don't even know who the second to last speaker was it didn't sound like they were actually living here um so for all these people talking about propaganda uh and agendas clearly that person had one um you know it's really uh shocking to me um just what's really revealed by a lot of the comments here which is and I totally agree about parents being informed I don't think anybody in this community on the board would disagree with that parents should be informed about what's happening absolutely and so to the extent that the there's a gripe on one side that there's not enough information being provided before some programs are being provided all for it you know give more information ahead of time I don't think anybody is upset with that but I think what some of the comments really Reve reveal here is that the gripe is not about the information not being provided about programs ahead of time uh it's about the specific content that some people believe about this one program which quite frankly my child didn't describe it anyway like that whatsoever uh so it's completely different than what I heard and I think a lot of people are running with some beliefs of their own quite frankly that they're amplifying when the program had nothing to do with that whatsoever and if you look at the names of the houses in this Middle School knowledge endurance leadership courage Integrity respect citizenship responsibility a program that was talking about how people in our community who have been traditionally historically statistically marginalized for a long time how they can be feel uh safe and secure in their own Community what part of that program do you find issue with and and which uh value that our houses represent does that not reflect so and and to the people who are saying that they feel like their um communities are not represented well let's represent them too you're talking about people that's an argument for more inclusion and making uh information about more communities socioeconomic whatever it is all for it but just because we're representing the values of a statistically marginalized part of our community does not mean that we're excluding or saying anything else about any other part and I I think we just have to have a little bit of Common Sense and just to the board please just base it on information statistics uh common sense and not some you know ridiculous you know concerns that you're hearing from people that I don't think are part of our community thank you um Jill Schuler 57 Park Street I need my glasses um I have two children in sixth grade who just started and they love the school they love their teachers they love the staff um so I'm I'm here to sort of just go down my my instincts my feelings when I started to hear the people were so up in arms about this I have a queer daughter who attends this school let me first say to all of you who are upset over the unity Day event that happened last Friday at Glover Grover Cleveland Middle School there is no gay agenda there is no conspiracy no indoctrination no conversion this is not a cult to flip your kids all that this is about is cultivating good citizenship ship in our children teaching them to be kind people to be caring towards their neighbors all of us to be helpful not to be judgmental to be accepting to not think of people different than them as less than and deserving anything less than the rights that the rest of us enjoy this includes lgbtq community and yes it why doesn't it include everybody else we've talked about children of of divorced parents of course it shouldn't include all of these people but but this is just one topic because they've been so marginalized over the years think about it do you really think that these adults who lead our schools with care and empathy are actually trying to convert your child into being gay please please don't please wait wait please I asked at the beginning for decorum there is a child in the room okay I don't want things from in the peanut gallery the board is being patient and respectful to everyone at this mic I expect everyone in this room to do the same everybody else who was up here got that same amount of respect we will give respect in this board meeting or I will adjourn it thank you okay where was I Dr conin please Jill excuse me Dr Conlin please restart the timer oh okay thanks CU now I can't now I don't know where to go back from jail so I'm sorry I stopped it when when so you so I guess what I'm saying is do you really think this that there is like some cult some movement to convert kids can you hear yourselves do you realize how ridiculously obnoxious not obnoxious sorry just how paranoid that sounds this assembly had good members of the community share what they are doing doing to cul cultivate an a global Community to be more safe to cultivate a local and Global Community to be more safe more open to dialogue and more inclusive that's it the Sheriff's Office had a representative leaving the discussion for God's sake that should be reassuming to you naysayers there are many US of us here mothers other family families of kids that we know who have been like thank God they did this this is what's needed because not accepting not acknowledging people and yes kids who are part of the lgbtq community not acknowledging them harms them we hear stories of it more and more bullying and violence abounds do you think our beloved and precious children deserve this treatment one minute events like this Special Assembly are happening more and more across the country and in an attempt to cultivate empathy in our kids that's it why do you have a problem with something so basic to being a human being let's keep these people safe and leave them with a feeling that they are part of the community and that they are seen and that they are safe to quote our principal in his letter that was sent to all over the weekend he said through real life examples they discussed how law enforcement are allies in standing up against discrimination and hate crimes while also highlighting the importance of lgbtq Rights and representation their goal was to show how acknowledging the harm that has been caused to these kids my best friend lost her her transgender son to suicide last year J have to wrap it up last I got one more say what the assembly not did not do was try to convert your kids there was no goal here of teaching your kids to be gay no gay agenda it's a ridiculously paranoid attitude to have why are you so afraid of this I just want to clear clear a couple of things up first just you I do your timer um there there were three sessions there was one called singing for change there was another one connecting Global literature primary sources documentation those two programs were both run by professors at called the university and the last one was called Justice through Partnerships and it included a Corrections office from Mammoth County Sheriff's Office who partnered with someone from the Garden State equality group and the presentation was designed to really explore the vital roles of law enforcement and the roles that they play in ensuring the safety of all communities they promoted dialogue empathy and mutual respect they create to create a safer and more inclusive environment for everyone they did touch on the history of the lgbtq plus involvement with law they did touch on the sorry I keep forgetting they did touch on the lgbtq plus rights as a as in terms of his historical facts but it wasn't anything to do with specifically addressing lgbtq plus I Community or anything along those lines it was really about Community Partnerships and making sure everyone feels valued and accepted and understands that they can go to the law enforcement if they felt there was bias against them that's what the was designed to do so if the if there's a message in the community that isn't that then it's not the message that um people should be but hearing that's I just wanted to clear that up cuz it seems like that's the biggest misunderstanding Thank you hi sorry I'm a little nervous and conflict diverse but I just wanted to share uh AI bini 43 hiy Road I just want to share my experience of the one assembly I remember from 13 years in New Jersey Public Schools I was in 8th grade in 1993 I have no clue if my parents were notified in advance and by the way my parents were open with me about like safe sex right this is the height of the AIDS epidemic things like that the one assembly I remember from my entire schooling was that we had a young man come talk to us who had full-blown AIDS he contracted it in high school he lived his life kind of like a frat boy I guess you could say I remember this so well and when he got out of high school him and his friends were just happy nobody got pregnant and he later found out that he was HIV positive and his story he is long dead I'm sure impacted me so much more than any safe sex conversations I had with my parents who were open more than any whatever sexual health education or puberty education I may have had in school I was so moved by him that I'm 44 now and I remember this from when I was 13 and he impacted me and my understanding of how I could keep myself safe so these assemblies matter school is not just reading writing math Etc children who are bullied have a harder time learning those things because they are defensive and they are scared to come to school our daughter was bullied so horrifically in fifth grade she's now a seventh grader her school initially told us to do a Hib and then walk back on it because they were worried that she would be bullied for putting out a Hib she was not bullied for sexuality but it turned our lives upside down she was scared to come to school she didn't know who she would eat lunch with and at that age that is so important and that affects you because you go back to that classroom feeling isolated and unwanted in your community and that matters so teaching these kids that they matter regardless of something that others will look down at them for is is something we should be celebrating and I know these parents are saying I just wanted to be notified and I don't expect an answer because it's none of my business but I'm wondering if you wanted to be notified because you want to know more about what's happening in your school because you would immediately take your kid out because you don't want them to hear this message and I just don't understand why one minute one minute warning on I think I'm done though thank you one more one more clarification it's one I forgot to mention this before each session was 30 minutes long I know someone said two hours but each session was 30 30 minutes long so um Mike I know you had a referendum thing I know I mean we can always go back and continue to talk on it but I kind of think I'm G to put that off uh till till next meeting but um I do want to say this because I I didn't come here for this so everybody knows that I came here for you know just to address the board about a couple issues um and wow okay that's what I have to say I do have to commend the board I really do I have to say what's what's good and and when it's good right this board listens there's no doubt crosso I'm a little afraid of you but you know I'll get over it um you do a great job of commanding you know but you're ver you're very attentive to what people think I'm a middle the ground guy I'm an educator um but I'm also a parent and we run a Christian household so you know I see both sides of this and what I get out of this is what I've seen for years we're a divided country we're a divided people and we can't be that way anymore I we really can't we have to see each other's side we just have to see we have to get into better communication board that's the only thing I have to say from this is the communication probably wasn't as well as it should be and as a parent if I I should have total choice of what I want my children to learn and what I don't want to learn them to learn and when I want them to learn it so if you can't see that the one side you need to pay attention to that you need to respect how people feel on that and then on the other side we do have kids that are marginalized I'm an educator we do have kids that are bullied we do have kids that are in certain situations that are trying to find out who they are and this and that and we have to understand that part too and I think that that's where we've come to and it's really like uneducation I guess is the best way I can say that is because if we're if we're an educated Community we have to understand that there are differences okay and we have to open our minds and our hearts to both sides even if you don't agree that's fine you don't have to agree but you have to understand that other side and we've become so political so political that it's like we can't get past the politics and this isn't political I understand what you're doing uh Board of Education I get it because I'm an educator but I definitely agree with the part of you need to let parents know what's going on again I you know I they don't know um should they look at the you know agendas or the calendar great but they should know because we do have to be able to parent our own children and we do want we might want to teach our our child about a certain thing but not not right now yeah right maybe later on maybe in a couple years or two years or three years and the way we want to present it to them not the way we want education to and that's been Ed and as an educator I'm telling you that's how education has come over the past 10 years is where the government is telling us what our kids should learn and how we should learn it and that should never be we're a great community and I will agree on that this is a good community and this community needs to be able to parent their own children but we also need to listen to both sides and again I commend you guys I think you did a great job I've been uh leading my my my Teachers Association for 20 years now um and I've never come across a board that's that attentive that's willing to listen that wants to respect in the room kudos to you guys you're doing a great job and thank you so much you you want to oh yeah yeah and Jones come back behind Taran so you'll be next T go ahead that's fine you don't have to be really quick tar oh but I just hi I'm Taran Kaufman 35 Marshall Street um just speaking to a couple of parents it has come to my attention that the memo that was sent out by Mr bero on Friday cited that we were told about it on the when was it November 6th email however I don't think that email was ever sent out because I know personally I did not get it and I've spoken to many parents that have said that they did not receive the November 6th email so I just wanted to let the board know that while an attempt sounds like it was made I don't think it reached all the parents or any parents because it was like that you know right before teacher convention and everybody was excited because a 4-day weekend was coming so get out of Dodge okay that's it thank you thanks Joan you want to come up hi everybody um this is I'm Joan Hillman I live at 58 small and yeah thank you I wanted to also say you guys are great I mean as a team I I I don't always attend meetings but I do watch them and I appreciate the support and all that you've done and actually I wanted to first begin with seeing uh the unity day sounds like a great day I mean I my son doesn't go to school he's actually in the high school at this point but um I I only just heard a little bit about the unity day and I got very upset when I heard about Garden State equality coming because I know I've done a lot of research with them in the past and I shared that with Dr hinig back in 2020 and I just was very alarmed but then I went through the slides and I saw that there was the cell University was here and there was all these other aspects of the unity dat and as uh Dr Conlin keeps mentioning the other phases of it so for that I'm I'm grateful that that's occurring as for having Garden SA equality um I guess one thing is who who who selected that that vendor so the state of New Jersey recognizes the Garden State equality is one of New Jersey's largest advocacy and educational I'm sorry could you go a little slower and look and yeah sorry I'm trying to read from my notes Here I want to be clear that I don't misspeak the state of New Jersey government of New Jersey recognizes the Garden State Garden State equality is New Jersey's largest advocacy and educational organizations wait can you slow down a little bit I'm sorry it's the state of New Jersey heard recognizes the Garden State equality as New Jersey's largest advocacy and educational organization that support lgbtqi plus rights as well the state of New Jersey recognizes the Garden State equality can help deal with bullying all forms of discrimination school safety and legislative advocacy initiatives which is why we called upon them to help us with this important assembly okay so I me you're welcome I did so if anybody has a concern my email is right on the website feel free to send me an email I'll I'll I thank you for sharing that I actually had spent many hours many many hours speaking about Garden State equality with Dr heik I don't know if his information gets passed on to you I I don't have any information from Dr heining about the anybody in that office I don't know okay well I'll take that off topic but we've spent a lot of time in discussion back in 2020 so it's kind of disappointing and that's why I was I was bringing it up but again I'm very sorry for anybody who's been bullied in any cases and in any deaths that occurred and I believe that we all have a right to be who we are but again as a parent of a child I think that um you know the parents needed to be notified and that not doing so stripped them of their first amendment rights to religious liberty and it it's it's against our god-given rights um and I just I I don't want that to happen at the high school and I don't want that to happen at any any of the other schools and again maybe have it something at nighttime and invite the parents to come or something if you want to do that yeah just an idea thanks Joan and actually the other thing I I want to learn more about that hi policy too yeah thanks for yeah and we are going to be looking at that again Joan too so hi hi Jess hi you know me well um Jessica Crown 183 Forest of West Caldwell um I was speaking here in 2020 about the health curriculum um I think the issue that I have with this particular scenario is that it's yet again not just the kids reporting it when they come home not reporting it but discussing it when they get home not being prepared for the conversation it required yet again parental oversight of the board and the calwell West Caldwell District administration okay with the 2020 Health curriculum it took me to stand up here at Harrison um to let you know what the content was in one of the YouTube videos that was completely politicized and right after that meeting the video was immediately taken down the entire curriculum was taken down so that nobody would see it this was hidden into the principal's bulletin on November 6th and while Taran and I sit next to each other on the same not side but in agreement with our issues with this because I think we need to have a collective conversation I think that these kids are teaching us more in this situation than it's really been a roadblock for the past however many years we all need to start talking to each other I it's completely out of control but it should not take the parents to research Garden State equality and come across a website that is a completely activist website okay I do my my I we teach our children kindness extends to everybody there is no label it should that should be across the board in this entire room and if it's not that's the real problem so while I walked in here on one side of the room listening to everybody I get all sides it's not about having a side it's about having common sense I do agree with common sense Common Sense parents need to be informed parents need to be able to make that decision my daughter who is very shy has anxiety okay she's not going to stand up to a teacher and say can I excuse my myself I'm not comfortable okay there is not one child there is not one parent adult in this room that is lesser than the other or greater than the other we need to just Unity yes this has divided in so many different ways and it needs to change I would love to see Unity day speak to the human level why are we calling out specific groups it is not about that these children are all I say when I talk about my children I have two daughters one is in fifth grade and one is in eighth grade they are both uniquely individual they have their wonderful amazing characteristics celebrate it it has nothing to do with them being girls it has nothing to do with them being Catholic it has nothing to do with them going to private school or public school it has nothing to do with me their father any of you it's them and that's where the focus needs to be and that's all I have to say about that thank you anyone else yeah George come on back up so one thing I just want do I have to say my name again no it's and one thing that I just keep hearing is that like kids don't notice differences or we there shouldn't be differences but I think anybody who is familiar with the baby doll study uh of how children are when when kids there's a study that was done of children that were handed baby dolls of different races and they were chosen whether they wanted to keep that baby doll or or or discard that baby doll and I think many of us who've been in Psych 101 or in any kind of child development class we we've seen this study children by before the age of three around the age of three or four start choosing the doll that has the lighter colored skin because they understand that we as a society do make choices and treat people differently by the age of three most kids start to understand their sexuality in in elementary school now we might not know we might not see it in them but they're starting to understand that right so I think often times we're really we're doing our kids such a disservice by not allowing them to figure out who they are we want them to be what we want them to be but guess what we don't get to choose for them just like our parents didn't get to choose for us and I just think that like this idea that kids don't know who they are is like we really just need to pause and look again look at the data right look at the scientific data that shows us that kids are making these choices they understand and get out of their way thank you okay does anyone yeah I do okay I do so I completely Tre cardi again I completely agree with you they have to make their own decisions and and they should be able to especially if they can make their own decisions at this age when it's so confusing about their their sexual orientation then um I'm going to come to the school and I'm going to bring a big a big Locker full of all different religions and bibles and I'm going to teach all the kids about Allah about um Muslims about Judaism about Catholic about Jesus all of the religion let them make this decision that's I'm not going to get arrested by the police officer right that's not going to happen I can do that right I can go to all the schools and do that are you asking can you enter the school without permission no no no I'm going no I know I can't okay I know I can't don't worry I wasn't show you I know you're looking at him don't worry I'm not coming in your school I'm going to sit outside and I'm going to gravitate with signs all the kids that come up and I'm going to hold little committees outside and teach them about different religions because at that age they should be able to choose the religion that they want to be in wouldn't you agree if you do that off school property you can I'm going to do that and then I'm also going to offic you're allow I'm also I'm also certified in in in drug and alcohol counseling so I'm going to also do that I'm going to talk to them about heroin what be what happens when you start smoking pot and drinking alcohol and becoming a heroin addict and then becoming a prostitute and prostitution why not just let these kids know everything that's going on and take away their innocence I mean that's what we're doing I just can't if you could please language I AP I apologize absolutely and and and I I get very overwhelmed when comes to this conversation because our rights are being taken away our rights are being taken away I there's some things that I don't want my children to hear about we discuss it at home we discuss it at home there's a place there's a time and place for everything a time and a place and I choose to discuss those things with my children at home my children just asked me how come AR carries a purse he's my ass he's my assistant you know he's okay he put a video on for you guys he wanted to share it with you I mean this is not he's a gay man who grew up he's 24 years old grew up in in society as a gay man and had to go through this you know this is this is you're giving them a right to choose at such a young age and teaching them in elementary school and middle schools well then they should be able to choose their religion and and we shouldn't judge right we shouldn't judge the way I feel we don't judge the way the other people feel but we're writing down notes to each other passing them back and forth right okay thank you hi Taran lean negro 71 small um first of all I just wanted to say that there's a Bible study Club at the middle school there is I've never heard of um a club being turned down um from students who bring an idea so there is a space for everybody and I also think that sometimes we need need to recognize our own privilege that we don't have a child that needs to see be seen um at in something that they're watching um in a program and whether that's race whether that's um sexuality whether that's disability whatever that is I think that it's important that if it's one child in the room who can feel seen by that programming I think that it's worth it um so I just wanted to that's it say that I fully support there being programs like this and to for everybody and clubs for everybody and whoever wants to have Community deserves Community thank you thank you Diana Reyes Spanish teacher at the middle school I just want to reiterate something that Dr Conlin said in regards to the assembly the assembly was the one in question was maybe half an hour to maybe 40 minutes by the time the students moved because they were in the cafeteria they were in the gym and they were in the auditorium so there was movement um for those I was in the with all the student I was with the eighth graders when they were in with the one in question the only thing that happened there yes they said they're sexuality they were say they were two gay men but their conversation was about the unity that they have now with the police department and how it's so much better for them now to be able to be have a Leah's on to have be able to go to someone if there is any type of bullying by a person to the law enforcement is there to help them that is all that went on there was nothing else that went on other than then saying yes we are two gay men but we have a much better relationship with the police now than we ever had they talked about history and that was it nothing else happened if any student asked to leave and you say that your child is shy they might not have there's not a a teacher that would have said no you have to stay here as far as I know in the eighth grade none of the students they asked questions there were no water bottles that were given out the only time they got a sticker is when they asked a question they gave them a sticker that was it that's all that happened so nothing else happened in regards to telling them anything they just said I am a gay man and this is the history of what had happened Stonewall they talked about that and they talked about how better we had a correctional officer there and he said how better the relationship is now because it's more open people are willing to ask question people are willing to speak that was it nothing else and that was maybe half an hour and if there was any student that felt uncomfortable if they asked a teacher we would send them to guid us in regards to other subjects we have advisory advisory that happens once twice a month in which we discuss different subjects we have discussed suicide we have discussed family life we have discussed you know being responsible being caring being kind so all these there's thousands of topics that cannot be condensed into one assembly we spread them out and we spread them out in advisory so just putting that out there thank you good evening I'm Helen anony mwan I'm at 29 Bowers Road Caldwell and I apologize for being late um I just walked in and I'm sure I missed a lot of the comments but I'm here today because I worked with Mr bero in my capacity at Caldwell University to help bring this programming to gcms and I want to applaud his efforts for bringing this programming um to the middle school I and really I watched all three sessions I traveled with the seventh graders along with one of my colleagues I watched the two sessions that were run by Caldwell University um professors and quite frankly they did not talk about anything that your students are not already Hearing in their Ela classes books they've already read history lessons that they've already learned about the Civil Rights Movement um the music I mean this is nothing that was that I I think people's imaginations are going running a little bit wild um that third session run by Garden State equality again was a beautiful session I saw your students being so engaged um in fact that was probably the session the students were most engaged in they asked so many questions really good questions and um the theme of the message was that yes there were two gay men standing in front of the room but it was all about Partnerships with the law enforcement officers and how their job is to enforce the law and help marginalized communities feel safe that's it okay so whatever you're imagining that's not was what was happening it was um and I was a little bit nervous looking at the students and they were in it they were raising their hands asking good questions at the end of the short half hour session there were still a bunch of students that had their hands up that had really good questions um I think this conversation needs to continue the idea is that um you know we want to show students that there are resources here that you we want you to feel safe and I think that those gentlemen really did a wonderful job um and I applaud again Mr bruto's efforts and I hope we continue this programming um I am you know in my capacity at calwell University we do these things all the time and I promise you this was middle school appropriate thank you uh good evening Sher prior one Ellis Road I wasn't going to speak um but my daughter came home upset and uncomfortable and I had said to her why didn't you just ask to leave so anyone who's saying that the children were allowed 100% not true cuz she asked twice to leave cuz she felt uncomfortable and they said no one is allowed to leave twice and then she said I feel trapped so we're so concerned about making certain students feel comfortable what about the other ones and honestly I have no problem with the presentation left in the dark nothing nothing I had no idea what was going on the parents weren't notified and I think that's what the main issue is now whether who whatever you want to take your children out that's no one's business but mine and her father's it doesn't matter and if you want to keep your children in not our business I think we're losing the point of it but she wanted to leave cuz she felt uncomfortable and she did ask and they said no one is allowed to leave now I'm assuming because they probably thought it was disrespectful which I can completely understand but at the same time she came home uncomfortable and said she felt trapped and that is not okay before I leave I just I'm so happy that a teacher spoke or maybe two teachers I was not sure if the other one that worked with Mr bolo was still teacher because you just proved our exact point that not all children and parents matter you're sitting here trying to promise us us cuz we have to be labeled the people that want parental rights that what was taught was not this it was not that it doesn't matter what was taught those are our rights and then to have teachers who suppos supposedly are supposed to be for all children tend to pull to this one side that's where the Divide comes in I mean it was just proved in front of all our faces so it it's really sad because it seems like um a little bit of a dead end and really only one side does matter but I'm happy that that happened because that just truly showed a lot of True Colors to where the faculty obviously stands and that we're not going to have any backing so it's really sad but thank you for your time Liz good evening Liz har 149 RAV um I actually wanted to read an email that I had sent to the board in Dr conim because I had previous um engagement and I didn't think I was going to make it in time um but I just wanted to say that while I no longer have a student at gcms uh I'm writing you this email in support of the efforts put into this assembly to truly embody the district's mission statement to Foster Inspire and Champion learning for all I served as a parent volunteer on the comprehensive Equity plan committee and then more specifically on the school climate committee while my son was a student at gcms I volunteered on these committees to immerse and educate myself on the inner goings on of the school and the efforts of the teachers and administration and the efforts excuse me the teachers and administration were taking to create a more inclusive environment for all students nothing makes me happier than to see that an assembly like this took place especially during this ongoing divisive political environment which has seeped into our schools and broader Community we need more assemblies like this to show that the marginalized persons of the past present and future deserve space in our schools in our small town and across the world I actually wonder if something like this could be presented at the high school so that way all of our students could be privy to all of this information and I do want to share that there are opportunities if you reach out to the board and to the district and the administration to learn more about what is going on with the school and how they're teaching and with your students I have done it as a single parent in this community and I've done it throughout all the years that my child has been here so there are opportunities for you to come and make a difference and to understand what is going on versus coming here and being reactive I come to every single board meeting okay so it's great to see people are here now when there's all this hoopla but I think it would be better if everyone could come more often right and just to be a part of the communic of the conversation instead of reacting thank you thank anyone else I want to make sure everyone has their opportunity to speak oh Teresa sure that's okay Teresa it's all right come on up hi Teresa hunt 72 Forest have I'm just going to I'm a little there we go um yeah so I I'll keep it really brief um I just want to Echo what um Liz said I also have a student at the high school her name is Lucy sandor I have one in the elementary school at Lincoln and I'm also a professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology so I just want to share I wrote this email to the board earlier and the principles earlier because I wasn't sure I would make it here either but I want to share something from my professional life that I think pertains and this is um Fielding two questions on a reference for students recently so so the first one I had uh the students applying for uh work opportunity with a global engineering firm and the question for me as the reviewer said please rank this candidate's ability to lead a diverse team cultivated from a global Workforce carefully consider any and all evidence the candidate has successfully navigated personal or cultural differences to produce successful project outcomes and this is a very prestigious high-paying Global engineering firm right second one is from a really um prestigious Global you know uh National University but very small acceptance rate these graduates step into you know they go on to work for Tech Giants Apple Google Microsoft just for non-disclosure re I'm not naming them but it it's it's a big one so this question asked me please provide specific descriptions or examples of how the candidate has handled situations where they disagreed with an idea or where they worked with people whose perspectives backgrounds or identities were different from their own what stood out about their approach I'm not going to say say much beyond our students need opportunities to field this kind of uh like experience they need a base level at sort of you know six to8 and and Beyond education to be exposed to ideas that are challenging including ones Mom and Dad don't talk to them about at home and I I I applaud the board and I encouraged in my email today I encouraged the board to keep this program going and to keep this kind of programming going because I want those opportunities for my kids I I I see what's out there with the global Workforce and what's expected and I appreciate your efforts thank you anyone else or anyone else want to get up and talk about something else that's fine too okay all right um before we end this evening two things um the first thing well maybe three so the first thing is just on behalf of the board I do have a prepared statement that I'm going to read I decided to let it wait till the end to give everyone a chance to have their say um but on behalf of the board for anyone who stood up this evening it takes a lot of guts I mean it takes I got to say I am very honored to serve with these four individuals because it takes a lot of guts to sit up here too but it takes a lot of guts to stand up there and address the board and address the community especially one that that's so heated at the moment so for anyone who stood up there on either side I just want to um the second thing is um before I read the statement on a different note um I just want to also applaud the faculty and administrators that are here tonight to support one another um the only thing I disagree with that was said the entire night was the fact that we do not have a District staff Administration and and faculty that is one that we have one that is one-sided that is simply the only lie that was spoken here this evening okay um not okay our District administration and our staff are the best they care about our children as much as we care about them and this board of education stands behind them and supports them in full solidarity so I'm going askla and then finally before I read the statement the board is I have a whole notebook of notes from both sides of groups that spoke this evening the board will continue to have these discussions in executive session tonight believe it or not we are G to St as much as everyone's like are we yeah we are and uh we're going to continue those discussions moving forward um and then finally before I read the statement I just want to say that we lost a very dear member of our community um Mr Ron Sam filipo lost his battle with pancreatic cancer so anyone who knew he was just inducted into Legends Park he was a long-term serving athletic director at James koville high school he was a beloved Mentor a beloved human being he was a person who strove for equality and Equity one of the first pioneers in our district and he lost his battle with cancer and to Ron's family we are so sorry um and so I want to express the condolences on behalf of the board to his family and to The District staff that was very saddened by his passing okay so that being said on behalf of the Board of Education we understand and acknowledge the concerns raised by all parents regarding the recent Unity assembly at Grover Cleveland Middle School as a board our primary responsibility is to ensure that every child regardless of background belief identity feels safe respected and included within our schools we as a board of education are committed to fostering environment where all students can learn and grow without fear of marginalization the board supports the administration's ongoing efforts to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for every student it is important to recognize that our role as a board of education is to provide educational experiences that promote respect empathy and understanding across a diverse range of viewpoints and identities political beliefs whether from the board or Administration should never overshadow our commitment to our core Mission serving all children equitability at the same time we recognize that communication which was the big theme this evening between the school district and our families can be improved moving forward we will Str drive to provide parents with information and agendas ahead of time so they can make informed decisions about what is best for their children we however will continue to ensure that any discussion or activities in our schools remain respectful to all perspectives and does not cause any harm or division above all we want to assure our community that no child on any side of this issue should feel marginalized or alienated or trapped to the mother if she's still here we remain steadfast in our belief that fostering unity and respect for all students is our most important priority that being said can I have a motion to enter into executive session and adjourn the meeting at now 9:08 p.m. I'll make a no motion can I have a second a second Brian uh all in favor I all against nay any abstentions no motion carried meeting is adjourned thank you all for coming