##VIDEO ID:yO6mcyw6bWk## e good evening and welcome to the D Galloway Township Board of Education meeting today is Monday November 18th may have I'm sorry in accordance with public law 231 both adequate and electronic notes of this meeting was provided to the press the G tant municipal building and the district website on on January 13th 2024 may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester here Dr Parmenter here miss Lura here Mrs Avery here Mr de here Mr Gentile here Mrs herel here Dr Basher Blau here Mrs Carman here can we all rise for a flag salute led by Mr da please thank you we do have approval of minutes this meeting from the October 14th meeting can we have a a vote to approve those meeting all in favor I I I any opposed any any abstentions could I just have a first and second for that can I have a first for that please so moved in a second thank you and the vote was all approved reading of communications please as attached in 3.1 it's a letter of appreciation from the Shirley May uh breast cancer assistance fund uh ultimately just to give some context to the public and to the board uh huge shout out to our staff this wouldn't be possible without their support um during uh Fridays every month uh we have an opportunity for staff to dress down um and in in that commitment um it's basically where staff would donate at least $5 uh for that month and ultimately we've uh solicited for feedback in regards to different philanthropies that we would support nonprofits uh this particular one is for Shirley May uh and each month um they vary obviously and we do a lot of work with uh local uh philanthropies as well such as the Ed Foundation uh the district FSA Family School Association um the police department has their own Education Foundation and the like so just giving some context to this as well thank you thank you and that was a donation of over $1,600 that the staff donated so that's pretty pretty nice do we have presentations this evening are not here they're not here okay so we'll just move on to public comment at this time the board values and welcomes comments and opinions from residents this meeting will now be open to public comments 5 minutes per person on agenda items at this time only public comments on non-agenda items will be available at the end of the meeting if your questions pertain to litigation student or Personnel items please see the superintendent after the meeting as the board does not discuss these matters in public depending on the nature and complexity of your questions the board secretary may ask for your contact information so that someone can get back to you with a response as a reminder this is a public meeting and all comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner please come up to the podium and state your full name and address if you have any questions oh our student representative okay we'll come back to you are there any public comments at this time seeing none we'll go back to presentations and our student council representative please so Emma glad you can join us um so we're going to have you give your uh committee report um so Mrs Chester will help you with the mic and uh you can can go ahead and give your presentation and report to the uh public all right um the cabinet held a veterans breakfast on November 11th 2024 this included a speech from president Moore and and I the cabinet had served breakfast to the veterans and their families on November 11th 2024 student council went to town hall where other veterans and their families attended the student the students at gtms made cards for the veterans for which for which we passed out at this event president president more and I read a poem every Tuesday for the past four weeks we've been selling pretzels to the school the selling of the pretzels has been has been a huge success on November 6 2024 gtms had its incentive the student council sponsored this event by having cabinet selling pretzels and candies this also was a huge success the student council has continued thanks the Thanksgiving food drive to support the beacon Church efforts to feed the people who are less more in it to have a good Thanksgiving um upcoming events for November we would like to do a death awareness week this week would include Spirit dates and cabinets going on gmtv during the week and teaching some them an important sign language skill that they can use examples of these words will be tar good morning how are you thank you and hello for December we are doing a tour drive or winter drive if we shall do a tour Drive which also Builder Club the Builder Club are taking part in it will Consin students and staff to bring toys if we shall do the winter drive it will consense of the students and staff to bring winter clothes like coats hats scarves and Etc thank you can you let us know what you decide for December so that we can participate in whether it's a toy drive or a clothes drive and maybe we can bring some stuff in as well um we have to discuss with Mr sanly who's the head of the builders Club because we don't know if we would like to collaborate with Builder club for the tour drive or we would like to do our separate thing so we would have to discuss with him just let Mr Santelli know what you guys decide okay and let he'll let us know does anybody have any questions for the student council okay moving on if you have any questions though Emma please get Mrs Chester's attention she'll get you the microphone and she'll get my attention as well okay moving on to superintendent report please all right so at this time uh our solicitor Amy Hal Elco was not able to be with us tonight so at this time uh we are uh our Fillin uh Katie trout is here um in her on her behalf so she will provide our attorney's report okay um pretty limited Amy worked with the district on student personnel and contractural matters does anybody have any questions for Mrs trout okay moving on all right so next item 6.2 is student enrollment report as attached out of District sus suspension report as attached and also harassment intimidation and bullying report as attached no vote needed on any of those items they're informational only thank you so moving on to curriculum instruction please so at this time we'd like to approve and move items 7.1 through 7.4 as listed and attached can I motion to approve 7.1 through 7.4 please so move second is there any board comment may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester yes Dr penter yes Miss lria yes Mrs Avery yes Mr Dace yes Mr Gentile yes Mrs harow yes vice president fer blouse yes and president Corman yes moving on to finance please was there a finance committee meeting yes the finance committee meeting met prior to uh the board meeting this evening we did receive another update um for the gtms chiller we are still on track for June 2025 we will be um doing a PO for a temporary which will be about three months anticipated about April through June um so that might be coming through next month's board meeting and then we received an update for the audit which is ongoing and we are on track with that for that to be due around December and January thank you is there any questions for Dr Basher BL okay moving on with Finance please thank you items 8.2 through 8.23 up for your approval can I have a motion to approve items 8.2 through 8.23 under Finance so move second is there any board questions may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester um abstaining from 8.10 and8 .13 yes to everything else Dr Parmenter yes Miss Lura yes Mrs Avery yes Mr Dace yes Mr genel yes Mrs hermano yes vice president Basher blous yes and president Corman yes moving on to facilities please thank you um we actually did not end up having a facilities committee meeting tonight um two members were absent um and Mr Dace is on finance as well so we combine facilities and uh Finance for committee so there's not a facilities committee report so items 9.2 through 9.4 are up for your approval thank you can I have motion to approve 9.2 through 9.4 please so moved second is there any comment may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester yes Dr prenter yes Miss Lura yes Mrs Avery yes Mr Dace yes Mr genel yes Mrs Harel yes vice president vasher blouse yes and president Carman yes moving on to Personnel please first we have a resolution to accept with regret the letter of intent to retire from the gay Township Public School uh District the following staff members first Susan Cruz from Roland Rogers a mental health crisis counselor with four years in the district Julie Gallagher from Roland Rogers a food service worker with 28 years in the district James Glenn from gtms teacher music teacher uh with 26 years in the district and Annette isgro Roland Rogers Pomona staff food service manager with 18 years in the district thank you can I have a motion to approve item 10.1 under Personnel please so move second is there any board comment may I have a roll call Mrs Chester yes Dr penter yes Miss Lura yes Mrs ay yes Mr Dace yes with regret Mr genel yes Mrs hermano no vice president Basher blow yes and president Corman yes moving on with Personnel please at this time we would like to move items 10.3 through 10.9 is listed and attached can I have motion to approve items 10.3 through 10.9 under Personnel please so move second is there any board comment may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester yes Dr permenter yes Miss Lara yes yes Mrs Avery yeah Mr Dace yes Mr Gentile yes Mrs herel yes vice president Basher blous yes and president Carmen yes do we have any new hirs here this evening we do um so I it's my pleasure to introduce for the first time a warm Gallow Township welcome Lindsay Miller uh health and physical education teacher Reeds Road congratulations and welcome welcome also Jullian taffin art teacher gtms welcome [Applause] welcome welcome to the district guys moving on to policy please do we have a policy committee report this evening Dr berer yes the policy committee met and we went over policies and I'll delineate those employment of teaching staff members certification of tenure charges inic icy teaching staff member School District reporting responsibilities physical examination attendance use possession or distribution of substances evaluation of Administrators excluding principles and assistant principles evaluation of principles and assistant principles professional development for teachers and school leaders electronic communications between teaching staff members and students and sexual harassment again as I state every meeting these policies are one that were already approved by the Board of Education and because we have a new policy provider we have to resubmit these policies to be approved thank you that concludes my report thank you are there any questions or comments for Dr Parmenter seeing none we'll move on with policy we have items 11.2 through 11.11 which are second readings so can I have a motion to approve items 11.2 through 11 so moved second is there any board comment may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester yes Dr permenter yes Miss Laria yes Mrs Avery yes Mr Dace yes Mr Gentile yes Mrs hermano um yes to all except for 11.6 the um harassment intimidation and bullying no vice president Basher Blau yes and president Carmen yes and then up for first reading this evening we have 11.13 through 11.23 so can I have a motion to approve 11.13 through 11.23 please so move second is there any board comment may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester yes Dr Parmenter yes Miss Laria yes Mrs Avery yes Mr Dace yes Mr Gentile yes Mrs hermano yes vice president Basher blous yes and president Corman yes moving on to Old business Mr Santilli so at this time we're looking to approve uh item 12.1 is listed and attached to affirm Hib determination reports thank you can I have motion to approve item 12.1 one affirm the hi determination reports please so move second is there any board comment may I have a roll call please Mrs Chester yes Dr paner yes Miss Laria yes Mrs Avery yes Mr Dace yes Mr Gentile yes Mrs hermano Bain vice president Basher Blau yes and president Carman yes moving on to board informational items please so 13.1 is our Board calendar as uh listed and attached also special events are listed here for the board just to save the date uh actually we have steam night coming up here at gtms uh this Thursday six o'clock and then also all of the winter concerts uh listed begin at 6 o'clock the dates are listed in the schools in which they will be um also taking place as well um keep an eye on your board bulletins we'll make sure that we also send reminders weekly uh to the board um so you can catch these special events and again the board has vowed to focus on attending these events for the children so please mark your calendars uh all all items are scheduled to start at 6 o'clock at this time we'll open up the board uh meeting for public comment is there any public comment this evening yes the board values and welcomes public comments and opinions from residents the meeting will now be open to public comments comment 5 minutes per person if your questions pertain to litigation student or Personnel items please see the superintendent after the meeting as the board does not discuss these matters in public depending on the nature and complexity of your questions the board secretary may ask for your contact information so that someone can get back to you with with a response as a reminder this is a public meeting and all comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner please State your full name and address as well as sign in there should be a piece of paper there as well yes please okay he's just going to help you with the microphone we I don't think the microphone's on could you maybe just get closer to it if you could just state your name so we we can hear thank you thank you Faithfully been pay taes as taer and woman of faith I toay the Gile count school system $2,400 a year which reports the transgender policy 5756 this policy was voted in by the school board on December 10th of last year I would like to know why this Insidious evil policy was voted in what does transgenderism have to do with basic teachings in an elementary or middle school it cannot even be disguised as sex education because what it really is is body mutilation Mr sanelly since you are the superintendent of the Galloway Township school system I am asking you to resend this evil policy and clear the records of this travesty as I said before I'm a woman of faith and this perversion goes against my beliefs paying my taxes to support this policy is an Abomination it also violates the teachings of Jesus in The Book of Matthew 18 verse 67 Jesus said but whoever leads astray one of these little ones and who believes in me it were better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck and that were he were drowned in the depths of the Sea by voting this policy it condones bodily mutilation of children that's all I have to say but I will not stand by and let this school system pervert children and that's what's happening I've read the the transgender agenda of New Jersey and I cannot believe that you want first graders to explicitly say what their gender parts are penis the vagina this is ridiculous little kids should not be forced to have sex thrown down their throat at such a young age I've spoken to a neighbor of mine that left the school system in New Jersey because she could not in her conscience talk to these little kids with all this stuff about sex God help you thank [Applause] you is there any more public comments this evening again if you could state your name and address and just sign in on the War okay can can you hear me yes okay my name is sh sh I'm sorry I couldn't hear you though okay sorry my name is Sher ashnik I live on caramia Lane in Galloway Township I've been a Galloway Township resident since 198 five or so um since I came to college here and um I just want to speak um something contrary to what was just said um and say that com comments like that like the the past comment comments that are being made at other board meetings around our state and our country are exactly the reason why New Jersey has these recommended policies to protect our trans students um this there this mixing of church and state is ridiculous it is a public school first of all second of all not all people of Faith believe what is being said in these comments these comments are hurtful I don't even think they should be allowed on here if there's children watching this because it can be hurtful to them and harmful to them and that is exactly why things like this are needed um I have been my children have been through these schools as well as the high school they have had they have been included and I have my children have friends who are gay who are lesbian who are trans and they were included in they did not convert anybody else they did not change anybody else's lifestyle they just were able to live as their true selves if you believe that something's wrong with this that's fine you can believe it if you want to opt your child out of any classes you can opt your child out but just as we're talking about um you know you know just even giving representation to other cultures other races this is also representation for lgbtq stud students to see themselves in their curriculum it's also and that that I went off track here with the with the curriculum that was being talked about I don't think there's anything wrong with a first grader knowing what their body parts are called most if if there are children that are being abused many times it's not going to be the drag queen it's not going to be their gay neighbor it could be their Pastor it could be their coach the children need to know their body parts they need to know what's okay and what's not okay and I have no problem with children learning that the education for each grade is is appropriate for the age if you don't want your child to participate you can opt them out and you can teach them what you want at home this mixing of trying to add God and the church into the schools and it's not just any religion it's it's it's Evangelical Christian religion it's not all Christians it's not all of anybody else that is what we're they're trying to do and I cannot listen to this anymore without saying anything I support our kids I support all of our kids and I thank our teachers and you guys up there that support our kids all of them and that's all I have to say thank you thank you is there any other public comment this evening yes if you can state your name and address please oh sure call I mean we know we are but all right well I can't it's funny because I came and I was like I'm gonna give you some parent feedback because you just don't get a lot of parent feedback uh but I feel like you probably had enough parent feedback for tonight I do want to give you though this this um really positive feedback back um and it's on Statewide testing and um I have a daughter she's at Reeds Road and she has had an IEP since she transitioned out of uh early intervention into preschool disabled and we discovered after a number of years that she had dyslexia and she has been receiving appropriate services and it has worked and I wanted to let you know because we look at pie charts and bar graphs and I want to tell the personal story of when you're using the science of reading and you're using multisensory reading instruction and she's getting Orton Gilling him Ono one instruction five days a week that that will bring somebody from getting grades of a 40 into somebody who is now Straight A's and into somebody who made a 70% increase on Statewide testing um so I know that that is a story that gets lost often um in all of the numbers that come back um and often when we think about disability we think about that it is not something that is correctable but to have that understanding that there are disabilities that you support and you accommodate and you modify and then there are disabilities that are correctable and dyslexia is one of them and we are very fortunate here that we have teachers who on their own go and apply to the dyslexia Center and to um the program that is fairly Deon uh scholarship and they go and do that training and they get it done for free in Northfield and that they are able to come back here um and be trained to offer that to our students who are at highest risk of failure so I'm very proud to say that my daughter who we've always considered to be at risk and we're very unsure of her future is now planning for a future and sees herself in a completely different way um so I wanted to say that second thing um how proud I am of our middle mid School staff and how hard they work my son is in the eth grade and we have been applying to magnet programs and I did not understand that that is basically like applying to college so he has had to write an essay he has had to go toward schools he's had to talk to people and he's had to get letters of recommendation from his seventh grade teachers and all of this has been um a huge effort uh for the entire family and uh including his mother and um I wanted to let you know um that those seventh grade teachers do such a remarkable great job of writing these letters um to support our students and that he has had a really fantastic Middle School experience um finding himself through clubs and through the band and through I don't know think Club I don't know what that is it's like a Jeopardy thing all kinds of things and he's been doing really really great uh lastly I wanted to say I did receive talking about sex head I got the sex head slides today uh in my email em and I want to say it is the most unsexy thing ever uh I opened it up saying just to sit down and open these slides up and there were plants and there was a mushroom and there was DNA sequencing and there was mitosis and I was like okay all right um and then I realized too how little I know um about science right well thank you right so uh and how how uh excellent of an education that my son and my daughter are getting and how I am such a believer in public education um and I always say this too that I went from the foster care system to Professor of Education only because of our public schools and what we invest in our Public Schools abandoned at Birth to Professor of education and that to me is the American dream and and that's why I keep my children in public school and my husband is a public school teacher as well and I believe in it and I believe in this idea that the American dream is still alive and that people have a chance and that you can come here and make something of yourself but only because of the mission and the values and the strength of making this fair and Equitable for every single person who walks in our doors so I appreciate the work and the commitment of everybody here from top to bottom it's a lot I know it's a lot um um and just to give you that feedback that it is working you thank you Mrs ketes is there any other public comment this evening yep you can come to microphone state your name and address please and there's a signin form as well hi I'm Tony darpino I live at 365 South leig Avenue in Galloway my kids uh attend Galloway schools and um I've been uh like Faithfully watching uh these school board meetings or coming to the ones that I can make it to for the last about I'd say seven months months um and I talked to a lot of uh fellow parents about just uh being in the know of what's going on with the school board and I think it's important whether you agree or disagree with policies that you guys you know put in place um which you guys do you know a heck of a job at what you do so I'm very grateful for each one of you but um I believe at your last um meeting it was made known that a lot of parents don't understand that you can come to these meetings and I have a lot of friends who I talk to with kids in school and they're like oh you're allowed to come and I was like yeah um I didn't realize it was very uh I would say like probably two out of maybe six parents don't even know that they're allowed to come to these so I would just ask that um it's made a little bit more known in the school systems that you know parents are allowed to come to school board meetings because I feel like not a lot of people know that they're even allowed to come here and I would I would honestly say it's my generation it's younger younger parents who uh are just like they didn't know so if you could just really try and uh publicize it a little bit more or uh just let other parents know absolutely thank you thank you okay is there any other public comment this evening yes you can come to the microphone state your name and there's also a name and address and there's also a sign in sheet hi I'm Jillian taffin I just wanted to thank you for approving me and I'm looking forward to starting here at the middle school so thank you so much you're welcome welcome to the district thank you is there any other public comment this evening okay seeing none we are will move on to board members comments just going around the board Mr da I have several things I'd like to mention tonight it all has reference to do with Veterans Day ceremonies I attended the middle school Veterans Day ceremony student council and Mr crew maker I understand put together by the social studies team it was excellent exellent breakfast was very good too you know but the way the children responded to Veterans Day and what they learned that day was fantastic after I left the middle school I went to the uh senior center in Cologne they had a Veterans Day ceremony there and Mr crew maker and his student council members were there and they spoke again they did an excellent job he's doing great with them that's great then continue on Wednesday I attended the Smithville Veterans Day Affair Mr razi and all the staff there did a great job I think it's called the student council the fifth fifth graders fifth and sixth graders there did a great job they had an outdoor concert band and chorus and a flag raising ceremony which was really uh it was really great what the kids the students I shouldn't call them kids the students of our district are learning about everything and including at Smithville they had a cannon salute which was great and I wish everybody could attend more because it was fantastic what these students are learning of veter about Veterans Day and the veterans and what they did for this country thank you a special thank you to all the veterans that actually came to those ceremonies as well there was there was there was a lot of them there and God bless them all that anything else okay wasn't sure you said a lot so Mr Gentile um first off I wanted to acknowledge the student counsil thank you for all the good work you guys are doing particularly the compassionate work that you are doing for folks in the community I also want to acknowledge our staff and the the um monies that they raise again a compassionate act thank you for all of that uh and welcome to all the new hires um I do just wish in in response to one of the public comments that were made uh I can't imagine there was a child in this District watching watching this right now and I certainly hope not because they should either be doing their homework or having a life rather than watching a bunch of old people sit around and talk about stuff but it is important I think that this policy which I have some issues with as well because the state does tend to overreach into local communities and it is the responsibility of the board to ensure that that overreach doesn't negatively impact Upon Our communities I have yet to hear of any negative impact upon our communities but this bide policy starts with the following and to the extent there are any students listening or I think it needs to be said this is what that policy says the board of education is committed to providing a safe supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students that is what we are supposed to do that is what we do if there there is a single student in this community that doubts that for a second and we have failed they are children they are entitled to feel safe no matter who they are no matter what they feel about themselves they are entitled to it it is our responsibility as school board members it is our responsibility as adults to do that so with regard to the things that have been said here this year that in my mind were in incredibly difficult to listen to particularly one time in February the members of this board were told to repent we are here to ensure the safe supportive inclusive learning environment for our students that's it the rest of it the adults will deal with but the children need to hear that a safe supportive inclusive learning environment for all of our children thank you well said Thank you Mrs Herman um yes I wasn't going to speak tonight but I would like to say something as well now that that was bought up tonight I myself am not happy with that policy it was voted in before I got here um as far as what Mr gtii said yes we are here to safeguard our children and I do question what that even means because what the board does and even what I do doesn't really amount to much because my vote doesn't count for anything right now unless the whole body votes on it and as parents and as teachers you have the right to speak up more to um bring your concerns to the superintendent you also the NGA that is um that backs some of these board members that ran you don't even have to be in that Union if you don't want to be you know you have rights and so do parents and you might not say things the way you should sometimes maybe they're not as eloquent or maybe they offend people but yeah you're right right we should protect our children and by doing so we should be teaching math spelling the things that matter science not how they not their genders whatever that's about I think it's time that we start really facing what's coming and I'm just grateful that this election went the way it did that's all I have to say Mrs Chester yes um I have a few things first of all Welcome to our new teachers um I always love that you guys come to the meetings as well so we get a chance to see your face for the first time um I attended the um New Jersey Schoolboard Association workshop and um one of the big reasons I went there was to go see our gtms step team who um for the second time I've seen them now there they did such an excellent job and for those who don't realize this they really have a very short period of time to learn their routine um before they go to that um conference so um amazing that they do such a wonderful job and um always so proud to sit there and watch them and um and cheer them on um but the other thing I wanted to say about that conference um and this one is more for board members um there are a lot of really good opportunities at that conference and um I actually um have already scheduled it on my calendar for next year and I would encourage you to do the same thing there are some good workshops there one of the ones I um I will actually share in uh future weeks um if I can get a whole of the presentation was overboard conflict and I I feel like that's very unfortunate that that's where we are lately but um there were some really interesting things um discussed in that uh particular workshop and um like I said I I think we really need to take a look at that and um and then there are also some other trainings as well that I attended throughout the time and just to walk around through there and um in addition to watching the students in Galloway uh perform there are also quite a few opportunities at that Workshop to see what's going on around the state in art um um and um in film i' sat and watched um probably a couple times throughout the workshop um films that have been made throughout the state of uh students so um you know there's two reasons you should watch that one um it's a good encouragement for children in our district who haven't entered it um but also just really to get a sense of what's going on in the state and the opportunities that are available to our students and the public schools so um and the next thing I went to was the Atlantic County um School Board Association meeting last week and I don't know if anyone else went to it because I was on it virtually um so if you don't know there's an opportunity um for our County Schoolboard Association meetings to either go in person or hybrid and I originally um had said that I was going in person but something came up with work and I had to change that so you can do that um here's what I found out on a dime so uh about 20 minutes before the meeting I was like sorry I need to do it virtually um again I I think those are opportunities this particular meeting was really interesting because we got to listen to successes of districts um in our County um so several different uh districts came up and talked about successful programs that they had so um you know again every one of those meetings has the opportunity for um you know there's there's a different uh topic for uh for board members so um if you haven't attended those two things you have the opportunity for both of them every month and I would encourage you to do that um and then I want to end with um m Mr gtil said I don't know if people uh if children are watching the meetings they are mine do um and I happen to know that there are other people um whose children um are also watching these meetings so um please keep that in mind when you're making comments that um our children are watching and it's not this is not about politics this is about everyone feeling that they are valued and accepted and in a safe environment and um when we have have these really negative interactions or these um interactions where um people are not accepting of other people our kids hear that and they internalize that so just keep that in mind and um and you know I just wanted to say my kids all watching and and I know that others are too so thank you and I'm GNA actually turn it over to I was just going to go to as well she has some thanks today as well um regarding um the veterans do you have any more suggestions we could do for your Veterans Day for student [Music] council he's he's did a great job by inviting veterans to come and address the public and everything and the people who were there veterans who were there to uh still act of Duty some of them they did a great job and explaining to the students like I said what Veterans Day and vetrans are all about and I wish more and more would attend these things but you guys did a great job I have a suggestion for you Emma there's a veterans Club at Smithville the over 55 community and that veterans Club meets once a month and it would be great if if your group could contact their group and you guys could partner up on some stuff for future events I think that would be a really nice thing don't know if it's possible but it's it's a suggestion thank you for your suggestion sure also behalf of um gtms with lgbtq kids um from obviously like I've been here I've only been here for one year but I don't think we've ever shoved down beliefs down kids throats and morally speaking I feel like everyone should just be true to themselves and I don't think personally we should like if you believe that way believe that way that's not an issue just don't try to like personally affect someone because you think that's right it's a belief for a reason you believe in that that's there's no fact there it's not it's not true it's not you can think it's true but like it's not everyone has believed differently and we should always accept the students because there's kids in our school who I've seen been bullied and harassed and obviously intimidated by other kids who their parents have told them this is wrong this is not okay but obviously it is okay and also like the kids like I have friends who are part of the lgbtq community and it saddens me to see people just disregarding their feelings and that they're not valid that they shouldn't that they're wrong and that they're bad person for being true to themselves that's what I think and I feel like and I'm not saying that you should have to think that way but I think regarding children and regarding especially students who are sensitive to these things we should always be accepting of the kids in our school because we never know what they're going through at home we don't know if their parents don't accept them we don't know that they could have a rough time so let's make this a home for kids too let's make this their second home where home doesn't feel like home thank you Emma thank you for being compassionate and being a leader appreciate it oh yeah good I just wanted to say that I commend you that takes a lot of Courage um I know it's not easy to be up here just giving an update on what you just did and what what you said I I really um really appreciate that very proud of you proud of you thank you Dr Parmenter I have two things welcome to the new staff you'll enjoy working in Galloway Township Schools and the second thing is I am mobile once again I am driving again so just wanted to let you all know that thank you watch out Mrs laa uh welcome to the new teachers I'm glad that you're here with us but I am grieved I'm very grieved in my spirit as a mother as a grandmother and as a former teacher when I was growing up and I went to school I'm 76 years old we had Pledge of Allegiance we had Bible reading and we had prayer and we didn't have anything going on in our schools except maybe going to the principal's office for throwing spitballs or sending notes to people and now as you've well seen in many school districts there's shootings there's a lot of stuff going on in our public schools that should not be and then one of the reasons it is because they took God out of the school now I love I'm a Christian but I never has have ever put anyone down that is confused about their gender and I believe they're confused I don't believe God ever made anyone one way or the other I I think there's male and female and God knows the children are suffering because they're confused because some of the adults that I've seen drag queens things like that I mean it's I I can't even believe at 76 I'm listening and seeing some of the things that I say that's one of the reasons why I came on the school board because I love children and the Bible clearly says you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free but we're not teaching the truth we're covering up the truth and I'm grieved I love everybody Jesus loves everybody we're not judging but I don't think we should be pushing that anywhere yes we should have a safe environment I'm in agreement to that I've never ever I have gay friends I have people that I know that are confused I love them I pray for them but I'll tell you the truth the Bible says speak the truth in love and I love everyone and I speak the truth we need to speak the truth because we'll be accountable if we're teaching something that's not right we will be accountable and I just thank God that there are people that are that feel the same way and and we're not judging I I don't want to think that you know we're judging anyone but we love them and if we don't tell them the TR if we don't guide them in the right way we're going to have blood on our hands and I don't want any blood on my hands I love children I have 12 grandchildren six children I've been a teacher for 15 years and I still pray for some of my students and I thank God that things are starting to move in a different direction so I'm just praying for everyone on the school board the teachers I think there's just a limit to what we should be able to teach because I just I'm working at night and I just met another lady that's on the school board in Port Republic do you know why she's on the school board her daughter daugh had an essay to write and it was about things that she was really upset about I don't want to go into that because there might be children with but they're fur babies they bring I can't even believe she told me this litter boxes in the in the bathrooms because there's some children that think and it's on the school board in in Port Republic it is true she's on the board in Port Republic so all I know is we're responsible to teach the truth in love and you shall know the truth and the truth will set them free so I'm just grieved I'm just G thank you Mrs Avery well I'm also happy for the results of the election on the local Galloway board level and specifically I'd like to thank my colleagues up here Belinda Sher Jim and susette for supporting us uh we'll be here for three years we thank our school district is good it's I mean there's room for improvement in everything there's room for improvement inside my house if you walk around you you see that but uh we plan to stick around and ensure that our schools remain quality places of learning thank you thank you Dr Melle BL I think tonight demonstrates all the more reason why politics are not supposed to be involved in the board of educ that is what in our school districts and that's exactly what mine myself and Rich really were talking about during this past election there's no room for this there's no place for this Emma what you said was amazing and what you said about not pushing beliefs onto people is amazing as well that's not what the policies are so if you are uninformed about what the policies are I encourage you to go out and actually read them and understand what they say moving on from that I want to welcome all of our new hired um again thank you to Emma for coming up here and speaking this evening I had the opportunity to attend Smithville School steam night last week and it was amazing we do have a lot more steam nights coming up so I encourage you if you have an attended one to attend it you get to participate in different activities see different technology different art it was truly amazing and my kids had a blast at it as well last week was also an opportunity to support the Smithville FSA through um going to Chipotle and it was packed there so hopefully they raised a lot of money money for their school I also encourage board members to see if there are any of those events going on because it's an easy simple way to support the district uh and give some money back into it so we can keep doing all the great things that we're doing thank you thank you at this time do we have executive session thank you do you have any comments this evening sure thank you um first uh I I I Echo uh Miss Cole gettis and and I I certainly um want to share that uh you know this week is American Education week and and I I can't do that any more Justice than you already have um by giving a shout out to our staff um not just our Middle School staff but our entire staff um for the work they do uh as a school Community uh as well as parents it's it really does take a village and ultimately you know we're all in this together so from our students our staff and our parents thank you very much you know as we celebrate this very important week for American Education week in addition just a little Public Service Announcement um and I think that you know hopefully the public and and feel free to spread this uh in the community as well um your best source is is right here our schools um when I grew up I think if my parents wanted to contact the school they knew what to do they dialed a number sent an email whatever the case may be but I can tell you that social media certainly does have its uh benefits um however uh if you have uh any concern concerns at the school level at the district level your best recourse is to come directly to the source that would be to myself my Administration and I always encourage parents children the community to go to the lowest level and start even in a classroom with teachers because sometimes it's just a simple question that requires a simple answer uh rather than going on social media to to really just create really more of an issue than needs to be when you can come right to this source so I think that um that's just a little reminder and public service announcement for all of us um that social media has its its you know presence and its need but but not necessarily for getting answers and and having effective communication so thank you thank you we do not have executive sessions this evening so can I have a motion to adjourn so moved all in favor I thank you meeting adjourn for