I'd like to call the meeting to order I'm going to ask everyone to please have a seat roll call Mr mustell miss aosta here Mr Bono present Mr fii here Mr medo wouldn't miss it thank you Mr rera here Mr saano present Mr Silva here Mr Holmes here Mrs cispa present in compliance with the New Jersey open public meeting law commonly referred to as the Sunshine Law the violent board of education has caused notice and posting of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time place agenda Etc The Daily Journal SNJ today the Press of Atlantic City vist Bueno the clerk for the city of vinand and the administrative office public bulletin board I'm going to ask many school students and Wallace school students to please come up you're going to be doing the flag salute [Applause] unit States Mr AA Mr sabran I believe you have certificates for okay you thank you Mr mustell do we have a resolution for executive session we do now therefore be a resolve that the Board of Education of the city of Island School District will convene an executive session for the following reasons is outlined in njsa 10 col 4-12 discussion is about any matter involving any collective bargaining agreement agreement or the terms and conditions of which are proposed for inclusion in any collective bargaining agreement including negotiation of terms and conditions with employees of the public body an employee matter and any matters falling within the attorney client privilege to the extent the confidentiality is required in order for the attorney to exercise his ethical duties as a lawyer do I have a motion in second for executive session so move second roll call please Mr Costa yes Mr Bono yes Mr fi yes Mr medo yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs kPa yes Mr janana do we have any presentation this evening yes we do we have three presentations the first one will be Mr Scott mustell our business administrator he will provide an update on the 24 425 budget let's just give Mr mustell a moment to get set up he'll be coming down to the podium thank you thank you uh we just wanted to give you an update on where we stand with the budget process for the 2425 fiscal year the first thing we want to cover you'll see in your handouts for board members on the screen for the public um went to go over the tax levy for the fiscal year 2324 we had a 6% increase which amounted to 2.1 million for 2425 we're asking for another 6% increase uh which amounts to 2 .2 million the violence School tax rate would go from 765 to 8109 uh for the average home assistant which is $161,900 this would affect them by $74. 35 which over the course of a year is $6 and some change monthly as far as tax rate history we wanted to show the tax rate of 3163 and how it's divied up between County municipality and the school the county has uh 1.25 plus the 013 the school has 765 and the municipality has the 1.093 plus the 042 so the count County takes up just about 40% of the tax rate the municipality takes about 36% of the tax rate and the school has 24% of the tax rate the county is about 65% more than the school is and the municipality is 48 and some change percent more than the school is and I I mention this because part of what I'm presenting is the increase in tax revenue so we want everybody to get a feel for how the tax rate plays out right now between the three entities uh as far as budgetary changes this is a budget update portion excess Surplus is a negative 3.2 million for fiscal year 2425 revenues we're asking for 6% which is 2.2 million on 80 million budget uh we're increasing our extraordinary Aid by a million doll so total revenues would increase by $3.2 million budgetary changes uh because of bargaining unit contracts we know that contracts are going to increase by approximately 3.25% and that translates to 3.1 million in increase in health insurance which we know is going to be about 85% that translates to 2.5 million the prescription premiums will go up no more than 4% which is 315,000 um we're in a health insurance fund So within the health insurance fund we've built up a surplus of a million dollar so we'll be able to use that Surplus next year to offset our expenses because premiums will be increasing that means chapter 78 and chapter 44 will increase for those of you who don't know what those are that's the employee contribution to their health health benefits so we we estimate that to increase by 349,000 which helps our budget there's a decrease in CCT Tech rates by 250,000 they went from 20300 uh dollars per student to $1,800 per student so that's going to help us and we have some outstanding CCT Tech credits with certified tuitions and such uh that translates to 920,000 which helps our budget um we are in the last year of one of our bus lease purchases which was set up as a balloon payment at the time so we have to budget an additional 140,000 for that we're estimating a million dollars for armed guards we have to adjust one of our lease purchases for buses for next year to buy 70,000 every December we receive word from the state updates per the Assa report uh and they tell us how much more Charter Schools more or less in this case it's going to be more uh Charter Schools will be adjusted which is going to cost the district an extra 340,000 this year so we include it in next year as well our Pur annual payment is going up by $300,000 our utilities for next year are going to go up by $200,000 we have a preschool inclusion amount that we contribute from The District budget to the preschool Grant uh that has to increase by $350,000 we need to add additional six additional special ed classrooms uh that that will cost us $884,000 our Inspira at the high school we have to budget 80,000 that would be the last year we have to do that I believe we have eight positions right now that are funded through Esser funds there are federal funds that were given to us uh sr3 sunsets this year at the end of the year at the end of the fiscal year September to be more precise so we have to fold those positions into our District budget that'll increase our District budget by a million dollar we have EIP costs that increase we're estimating that by 44,000 we're working on one1 technology estimates uh to increase by 323,000 as well as backend technology estimates of 500,000 so budgetary changes amount to 9 million um we're planning on cutting fund 12 construction account by 2.25 million we are utilizing our maintenance Reserve or half of it uh for 2.5 million so at the end of the day we're looking at $4.3 million that we still have to find the administrative team is working collaboratively to um we workshopping ideas to find that money that completes the presentation are there any questions from the board seeing none thank you I don't have any right now I know you're going to be doing a whole another budget presentation so there will be there will be this is just a budget update this isn't a budget presentation I just wanted to make sure the new members of the board understand that too thank you yep next I would like to invite Mrs susette Mari executive director of curriculum and instruction and Mrs Katherine Rivera supervisor of Science and CTE to present Career and Technical education at VPS good evening everyone we are excited um to be a able to Showcase and highlight our amazing CTE programs that we offer at the secondary level Miss Rivera she is our uh supervisor of Science and our Career and Technical education programs for the district so at this time who better to highlight each program um than Miss Rivera herself so miss Rivera you ready okay good evening as Mrs Demari said my name is Katherine Rivera and I'm the supervisor of instruction for Science and CTE and I promise my presentation will not take any longer than an hour so what is CTE Career and Technical education refers to educational programs that provide students with opportunities to explore path career Pathways gain practical skills and prepare students for success in both higher education and the workforce this September we launched a CTE block at our middle schools and the goal of the program was to expose students to our high to our current High School CTE offerings students in grades 6 through 8 have a 30day block and the table below shows you about the various programs they learn within that 30 uh here are some images on the left I have sixth graders from pill and they're doing a studio production lesson and they're learning how to use cameras in the middle we have seventh graders from Wallace middle school and they are learning how to tie a tie for the jotc lesson on proper work attire and dress and on the right hand side we have 8ighth graders at pill doing a lesson in construction trades on measurement and how to use basic tools here is a list of all of the programs we offer at the high school level and I'm going to briefly do a slide on each one for you our JF afjrotc programs mission is to develop citizens of character dedicated to serving their nation and Community we have four courses in this program and the curriculum they follow is Aerospace science they do some on leadership and education and also a component On Wellness the classes are led by senior Cadets and facilitated by the instructor agriculture we use the case curriculum and it's a nationally recognized program we currently offer intro to EG plant science food science and safety and we are very excited to launch a new course for this September called Floral Design entrepreneurship we have an articulation agreement with Ruckers University where students can earn up to six college credits by taking plant science and food science and safety this fall we chartered our first FFA organization at violent High School since 1964 many of you were there at the ceremony um so congrats and just a quick highlight uh the FFA will be at Chick-fil-A February 21st if you can come out and support them next is Automotive uh our program is is ASE certified it's a three-year course designed to prepare students for placement into an entrylevel automotive tech position or into postsecondary Automotive Training Program students in this program um can earn up to nine ASE industry certifications students do many competitions um where they can earn scholarship money as well as tools to work in their their field and VHS has also partnered with Subaru University uh which gives our students access to factory Level Training and certification with Subaru North America Next is our business pathway and we have accounting 1 and two that's offered business management 1 and two and marketing one and two and there's a short description on each of those programs our computer aided design or CAD course is a 4year course we have an articulation agreement with rcsj where students can earn up to nine college credits they also do many competitions through TSA the technology Student Association students um learn how to work in a lot of CAD software and use the tools listed below we have AutoCAD Fusion 360 inventor 3D printers Revit and our CAD 3 students are able to take a nocti exam which if successful they can earn an industry credential construction trades we are in year two of construction trades and we're excited to offer construction trades 3 uh this upcoming September and the pro program prepare students uh for a career in a construction field students focus on carpentry and then they extend this into Electrical Plumbing and some HVAC in levels two and three uh currently we're working to develop Partnerships with local unions and training centers for our students and here are just a few pictures of students and some of the projects they've completed and I do want to highlight that are year two students have already that was the first shed they built and they are on their third one our graphic design program is a three-year program designed to provide students with a comprehensive foundation in visual communication digital media and design principles we offer three courses and at the end of each of those courses students are able to take the Adobe exam where if successful they can earn an adobe C certification and we offer that for illustrator Photoshop and in design our graphic design one course also has an articulation with rcsj where students can earn three college credits at the bottom here we have graphic design to students uh they actually create the Mr violin calendar um they do all of it they create it they interview them they take photos of the candidates and this is a short really short video I'm not going to play it now because of time but we have a screen printing room where our students design logos for t-shirts they create the screen and then they print and make the t-shirts yeah it is awesome all right next we have health science we are in year one of our health science program and it's designed to prepare students for both college and a career pathway currently we have elements of healthc care which is a dual credit class with rcsj as well and students can earn three credits next year we will be offering medical terminology as the next level course and we also have an agreement with rcsj for for um non-certificated programs which are listed below Information Technology we currently offer two courses at the high school introduction to programming and AP Java uh we are actually very excited to offer a new uh course for September AP Computer Science principles by Design and this course teaches coding with an added bonus of robotics and our AP Java course also has an articulation with rcsj where students can earn three credits and that's a short little video about our new course yep studio production this is a three-year course sequence we have another articulation for this program with rcsj and students can earn up to nine credits or three credits per class they take the nocti exam during Studio production 3 where they can earn a certificate and there's just some projects listed that the students work on but I do want to say that our studio production 3 students run and do the live morning announcements at the high school cyber security is a program SL pathway that we're going to offer students this upcoming September we're very excited about it and it's a way for students to earn college credit toward an associates degree in cyber security through rcsj so students will be taking some of their core classes with violent High School teachers earning dual credit and some courses they will have to take at the college um for dual enrollment classes there are four industry Serv that the students can earn in taking these classes and they're listed below and through the gift of success program at rcsj they offered four of our students free of charge to take the first um introduction to networks class and we have four students participating in that right now this is also excuse me a video of a violent High graduate that went through uh the cyber security program at rcsj and he talks about how it's helped him in his career so just something fun to look at later my name is a okay so with February being nationally recognized as CTE month I talked to my teachers and asked them what can we do to celebrate all of our achievements and we came up with a CTE Carnival so we're having our first annual CTE Carnival uh it will be on February 29th at VHS we would like to invite all board members to stop by the carnival will be periods 1 through 8 so it's all day Affair stop by anytime we'd love to see you and for you to come see our programs and just some way of some collaboration that took place between our classes and students the cad students are currently designing plans for games that we are going to play um at the carnival and our construction trades students are actually going to build the games our marketing students are creating a whole promotional plan for this and our graphic design students are going to create the actual promotional materials and last but not least uh we are excited to announce that we have a CTE website with all of this information about our program you can get on the link from the violent High School web page so thank you everybody you know what I see two of my CTE teachers if they can just stand up because they are why this program is so successful thank you thank you any questions Mr marchie sorry we would just like I I would being on the board for eight years this is something that I've been wanting and hoping for I know a couple of board members have really been interested in this I'm so excited to see everything that you've put on there Automotive the agriculture the junior RTC I think people want to know that we just held a major inspection and we are now accredited I believe we are we are and our vinent high school Air Force jrtc program is now like a um model program for other districts we red so highly um during the inspection period that we are a model program for other programs to come and visit so we are super excited about all of our programs and and hopefully we can continue to expand um we've been growing very rapidly um and all the program offerings are very exciting and um we know that our students love being part of them right so we thank you for your support um the FAA or FFA um Chick-fil-A fundraiser could you like just let us know which Chick-fil-A it's going to be at cumber Cumberland Cumberland okay just send us out a reminder please we certainly will we certainly will thank you thank you and at this time I would like to welcome Dr sneeden with a quick hi report Mr Yano and good evening Board of Education members um as a part of legal requirements twice a year we are asked to give a report of our harassment intimidation and bullying data so I'm here to do that for you this evening um our totals covering all of the elementary schools the four middle schools and the high school for 2023 and 2024 so far September through January uh we had 57 reported incidents 28 of which were founded 29 of which were unfounded and I certainly would be remiss if I didn't thank our school level anti-bullying Specialists who are doing the work for these intense investigations that go around each one of those numbers so it takes uh sometimes days to complete with interviews and every other thing so I really want to thank them for their efforts in keeping our students uh and our school extra safe uh does anyone have any questions I do um for the ones that were founded is there any kind of like um remediation or are we doing anything to help them get back into the schools and you know help them not do it again or certainly the both the victims and the offenders in these cases both get guidance um the offenders get some consequences obviously but then they get uh guidance so that they can make better choices and better decisions the next time any other questions thank you we're g to um Retreat back into executive session we should be out shortly please have a seat are there are there any questions or comments for the approval of minutes seeing none do I have a motion sh move second roll call Mr mustell Mr Costa yes Mr Bono yes Yes except for i' abstain for December 6th 2023 thank you Mr foki yes Mr medo abstained December 6 yes to the other three thank you Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs kPa yes motion carries do we have any committee reports Mr Rivera I have two report starting with the facilities committee meeting uh meeting was held on Thursday February 1st at 4:30 p.m. in attendance were Mrs cispa Mr medo Mr Boro Mr Yano Mr mustell Mr farachio and myself uh several items were discussed including the Winslow Phase 2 HVAC and Dan barcy HVAC projects project is complet and full and functioning closa items were delayed due to parts parts unavailability so it remains on the list as far as Dan BARC project is completed in full and functioning close out items were delayed due to warranty issues so it remains also on the list Sr 3 window projects windows are completely finished at both locations contractors working on punch card items Mar Duran windows are ordered and will be installed this summer District camera Phase 2 project a bid Phase 2 project project is moving forward contractor has run all the camera wiring and expectation of Johnstone and Sab Annex with the exception excuse me of Johnstone and sabater Annex substantial completion anticipated by the summer we also discussed the VHS sign which is currently um being uh decided where it's going to be and and where is it going the new sign is going to go uh we also discussed i e siip RFP is going out Mr must Mr solerno and Mr farach are working to assemble the RFP and prepare for advertisement we received an SDA Grant V received a grant that will be used towards sectional Roofing Replacements at VHS North Tanner and Veterans Memorial School upcoming maintenance bids several maintenance related bids will be advertised over the next few months relating to maintenance services including Roofing Electrical Plumbing HVAC and painting Petway School odor in 9A they're working to see where they can uh locate the odor the networking security equipment it is working with on building and building a server for networking and all the newer security components together for remote integration CCT uh project Phase 2 it is also working to integrate the additional Phase 2 cameras on the district's existing network cyer security policy the administration is also working with the technology to enhance cyber security controls and create a District policy Mr Yano noted some of the goals along with some of the challenges to implement it enhance protections within the district committee members are noted also noted that the need for overall security initiatives also on January 23rd at 5m we had the ad hoc discipline committee and attendance with Mr Yano Mr medo Mr Bono miss gusi Mr n Mr nunmaker and Dr sneen and myself Mr ner VHS supervisor gave a presentation detailing secondary disciplinary referrals from September 1st 2023 to January 11th 2024 afterwards a discussion was held by the committee members regarding various elements of the secondary discipline code and how it is updated each September the Merit system and the attendance restoration pilot programs were also discussed thank you anyone else Mr saan yes the ad hoc Communications uh committee met on Monday um due to my recovery from recent surgery I don't have notes tonight but I will have them distributed to everyone tomorrow thank you Mr Holmes curcum instruction met on Monday the 6th presid were Mr Yano Mr Marie Dr sne and myself Mr Silva mrost Mr sabran we discussed the curriculum instruction goals for 2024 the CTE presentation AP Computer Science principles by Design course dual enrollement Grant ceremony VHS Credit Recovery Twilight program High School amza Shadow day comprehensive targeted status uh School status for the 2425 school year and we discussed the New Jersey graduation proficiency assessment transportation committee met yesterday president were Mr Mell myself Mr Rivera Miss aosta Miss Blakeley and Miss O'Brien driver recap fiscal year 2324 150 drivers are budgeted 144 Route packages where drivers needed 140 fied positions 12 subs and 12 drivers in training average advances in the morning is 1757 average advances in the afternoon is 21 there are 10 bilingual registrations one student for a commercial Township jointure there were two accidents in December three accidents in January and there were no injuries team concept December meet and greet director was on leave will resume once position is filled we have ordered 25 buses four TW uh four buses or 54 passengers should be ready sooner than later the rest is a mix of 54 passenger and different size special education buses AV availability on this issue um because of custom Vehicles we are pricing the Outsourcing of routes to help with the transportation times due to attendance issues tier times we were looking to uh make some changes Transportation report confirms that the tier times are needed to be changed we added garage uh tires the new supervisor switch vendors to State contracted vendor estimated Savings of $188,000 and we discuss the driver contract thank you do we have any other board committee reports seeing none um do we have a a public meeting report by our board solicitor none I'm going to ask our student representative to come up our 2024 class president Denise Gonzalez good evening my name is Denise Gonzalez and I am the senior class president of violent High School my position is one one that I am very proud of and I enjoy being able to stand here as representative of VHS recently our school has had so much to celebrate two amazingly talented seniors Anthony Gonzalez and Eve Ortiz were crowned Mr and Mrs V miss vinand the students in the senior class also chose our 2024 prom theme Olympian Gala there is so much to celebrate and talk about but my time is limited since this meeting will be packed with so much important information so I want to move on to discussing a topic that holds significance to many students at my school it is no secret that even the idea of the board repealing policy 5756 is upsetting to many students parents and faculties in the vinent public schools district but as someone who values discussion I paid attention to the various voices speaking at the last board meeting and I'm aware that to many parental rights hold High importance it is important for parents to know what is is going on with their child however policy 5756 does not impose on the relationship between a student and their parent it does not exclude the parent from the conversation regarding the gender identity of their child the policy explicitly states that the school district should be aware of the relationship a student has with their parent that way the counselors can provide the steps to include the parent or if necessary protect the child from potential verbal or physical abuse instead inad of viewing these confidential student staff interactions as blockages between the student and parent you should see them as a stepping stone in the students journey to bettering their relationship with their parent and thems the staff are educated and trained to treat all students kindly and to provide them with resources to maintain their mental health not to influence them staff and parents both care about the safety of the children and by repealing this policy doors to mental and physical harm are opened as you have heard and as you will hear I understand that some board members also believe that 5756 is not necessary because there are other policies that protect every student you value equality which is wonderful but this is where we need to strive for Equity over equality yes every student should have access to the same resources and protection but our transgender students are part of a marginalized group and are facing something that cisgender students do not so if they need more resources and protection to feel secure in those areas they deserve to be given that our school Community including myself will continue to fight for the rights of our lgbtqia students if I could say more I would but I know my time is limited so please listen to all of the voices present here today thank you for your time thank you before we start public comment I'd like to make a statement from the board I am asking everyone Pro or Con on any subject matter tonight to please remain respectful of each other everyone has a right to their own opinion whether we agree or we disagree everyone has the right to hear what everyone else is speaking about therefore I will not tolerate anyone being disrespectful during any part of the board meeting I also want to emphasize that there's no dialogue between the public and the board members when you come up please state your name where you're from and please keep your comments to three minutes we will be strictly abiding to that three minute we have many many yellow sheets Mr mustell Marsha Bailey Marsha Bailey oh there we go hello everyone well I'm just here to say I'm not agree with some of these things that I see and there um 5657 5756 because um I would like to know what's going on with my children in school I would like to know what they would like to be called because I teach my kids at home the right way and if anything is going on in school I would love to know what is going on with my children and what name anybody out them themselves would like to be called because I give them a name when they was born and I would love for them to keep that name and if anything that they want to do without my knowledge I would like to um to know what's going on in school because um I think school should be a safe place for them and when I send them to school I expect that anything is going on in school parents have a right to know what's going on with their children if they want to do things differently when I hear this thing um somebody knock and told me about this meeting I was so caught up with this meeting because I'm I was in v and I didn't even know nothing about this meeting and my kids come home and tell me some stuff sometime and I'm like okay don't you know just be you because it's it's we liveing into a tough world I I don't care what nobody want to do or what other people want to do and what you want to be I would love whatever my children want to be I would like to know what they want to be um and school don't encourage them to be somebody else when I'm teaching them something else at home so so I'm strongly disagree with with what is going on that the children that school can give the kids a right to name or call what they want to call I'm strongly disagree with that I would love for parents to know what's going on with their children when they're not agreeing with calling them different names from the name that they give them at home thank you going forward I'm going to call two names one can go to the first one can go to the podium the second one can have a seat right next to the podium Melanie Martinez and Robin Wolf hello my name is Melanie Martinez and I would like to say I disagree with policy 5756 I read through the 10 pages of the policy and how it basically States how the school does not have to to notify parents of what's going on with their children at school parents and students and their children should always have open lines of communication parents need to be there for their kids and if kids aren't telling their parents this then we can't have open dialogue with our children we can't tell them hey I accept it or this is why I disagree or why do you feel this way there's lots of reasons why keeping Secret from parents is not acceptable and if schools expect parents to have open dialogue with them and to discuss things with the school then the school also needs to discuss things with the parents we should never the school is there to teach our children about academics and yes you are worried about their mental health and so are we as their parents and we want to make sure that our kids kids are happy and healthy and we also need to be able to teach them our values as well not just the values that are being taught at school so I do believe Blake if you want to make accommodations for students absolutely make accommodations for students but parents need to be part of that they need to be in the loop they need to know what's going on and also the other students need to in the policy it states basically a student is allowed to be in uh the stud the school district shall allow a transgender student to use restrooms locker rooms based on the students's gender identity meaning a boy could be in the girl's locker room and fully intact how might these girls feel because quite frankly it's awkward enough for girls to change in front of other girls so for them to change in front of boys for them to change in front of boys is something that's mentally distressing for them as well so keep in mind their mental state as well because if you want to talk about mental health keep all the students in mind thank you next up after Miss wolf will be Gina Russo moving forward can we just ask state your name and where you're from please thank you good evening superintendent Yano esteemed members of the board my name is Robin Wolf I've been teaching in vinand since 2004 as long as I've been teaching here I've been commended for my ability to build rapport to make connections to make students feel safe enough to share and be themselves in my classroom commended for developing student trust the description of distinguished teaching practice on row six of our observation rubric reads teacher interactions with students reflect genuine respect and caring for individuals as well as groups of students students appear to trust the teacher with sensitive information the revocation of this policy is at extreme odds with that which we have all been encouraged to do in our classrooms and would sit in opposition to the dictates of our observation framework not only does this revocation of policy demand that we break our students trust when they need us most it's also in direct conflict with the newly adopted portrait of a graduate framework that has been implemented in this District adaptability and empathy are both tenants of our District's portrait of a graduate vision I'm sure you see the irony here our students are expected to understand quote to understand and balance diverse views and beliefs to reach workable Solutions and to demonstrate flexibility in their thinking when their Schoolboard is not our students are expected to demonstrate awareness sensitivity concern and respect to connect with others feelings and to attempt to understand the experiences of others while their Schoolboard can not or will not there has to be some compromise some common ground we can reach on this issue rather than throwing out this entire policy that was put into place many years ago 10 to protect the most vulnerable population of our students I encourage the board to redirect their attention to real and necessary changes that need to be made in the district rather than this issue which strikes me and many of your constituents as political and cynical in nature please put the money you would spend on lawyers toward buying new books and investing in technology the whole Community will be better for it thank [Applause] you next up after Miss Russo is Vicky Miller hi my name is Gina D Russo I am a vinand resident a vinand taxpayer a v Public Schools parent and a violent Public Schools teacher I am speaking tonight in support of policy 5756 policy 5756 is state law as a school board your job is not to create laws but to uphold them all violent Public School teachers are required to obey the law I support the law because not all parents are supportive and we don't know what children's family life is like and what it's like when they get home and I thank the New Jersey state legislature and Governor Murphy for passing this law I believe that the discussion of policy 5756 is political the policy has been in effect since approximately 2014 with no issue now all of the sudden it's a problem instead of playing politics the violence School Board should be discussing the problems at the high school I teach 8ighth grade in the violent School District my students do not want to attend violent High School not due to transgender students but due to perceived safety issues we should be discussing hiring full-time security guards and paying them a fair wage along with having police officers in the high school and also hiring more counselors if the community does not feel that the high school is safe they will not send their children and we will continue to see students go to other area high schools I thank you for your consideration on these matters please consider this before you cast any vote that will resend policy 5756 thank you Vicky [Applause] Miller you're not speaking thank you uh Barbara Otero and tashman Johnson please good evening my name is Barbara Tero and I'm here to speak against the policy 5756 this is my list of expectation for the public school one there should be a limit on teacher speech in the classroom there should be a total transparency between the school and the parents there should be an open record request to be provided to any parent on any given day Public School teachers are paid with tax dollar and I as a taxpayer demand that the instruct that they instruct as established by the state and District standards anything else is misuse of funds my child has the right to choose to opt out of any planed lesson that violate my family's value and the school must provide a suitable learning alternative I want the freedom to reassign my child from any problematic classroom I have a great concern in my child's mental health that will affect her learning disabilities with the political agenda to indoctrinate my child into some fantasy make believe thinking the first amendment of free speech and critical thinking applies to my child too and the public school needs to adapt and apply it to all the students let me remind you that public school is public my child deserve a better education than that to be indoctrinated with gender ideology gender ideology is perverted it's sexual and immorally sinful it is against biblical standards it is it is pornographic and it's the exploitation against innocent children it is for the children's well-being that both mentally and physically not to teach gender ideology the suicide rate is much higher and children being taught this idea you do not have the right to separate my child from me so that you can pollute my child's mind with worldly garbage [Applause] [Music] Miss Johnson after Miss Johnson is Stephen Andrews hello my name is tashman Johnson and I'm from vinin and I'm also against policy uh 5657 or is it um my thing is I believe everyone deserve to be treated Fair equal we are all human beings but I also think if you're going to put a policy in place it should be fair and all kids should be considered not just the LGBT community and the reason why I say that is I read um couple part in the policy and it is taking away the parents right if you are going to say in the policy as I go over the policy it brought many questions to mine okay was this policy put in place to protect the LGBT children or was it put in place to take away parental right while the kids are in school and use Board of Education to do it because if everything that they put in here it says oh Board of Education should back the LGB community by not telling the parents it also state if a minor if a parent does not agree with a minor name change for the superintendent to uh contact their board attorney so are you telling me that if my child come to me and said Okay I want to be called hat because his name is Tom and I disagree the school should call the board I mean call a lawyer so I have no say I have I read it I have no say I also uh yeah that's what it's saying yes that's what they saying so to me is a take it or leave it this is what the LGBT community says why the kids are in school and if the parents do not agree how well the parents do not have to to be told what goes on in school that is wrong that is completely wrong I want to know what's going on in school if my child commit a crime in school you they're going to call me and tell me so tell me why if my child is in school saying oh I want to dress this way or I want to be addressed this way I should not know do not tell me one side and don't tell me the other or guess what don't tell me nothing at all that's what I so just don't tell me nothing at all if you think there's something going on in my home if you think that I am not being a fair parent if you think that abuser or so is going on at home how about give me a phone call let's meet up with the guidance counselor let's see why my kid do not want to tell me certain information but don't keep that information away from me because that is not fair Miss Johnson can I ask you to finish up please we're at three minutes my thing is this policy need to be looked over it need to be written over and it need to be done fairly to where all kids can be treated fairly not just one [Applause] side after Mr Andrews we'll have Justin Rogue excuse me one second please Mrs SCPA the public comment should be directed to the board so this way we have protocol followed if the speakers would address the board thank you appreciate it good evening my name is Stephen Andrews and I am a Vinland resident I'm a member of the lgbtqi plus community and I am a teacher at Vinland high school for the last 13 years at VHS we have an extremely diverse student body of nearly 3,000 pupils I am continually Amazed by their passion their perseverance and their potential to make a difference in our city and Beyond I am honored to Advocate on their behalf anytime that I'm asked by my students to do so which is why I'm here tonight policy 5756 has been in place since December of 2014 as many others have stated over the last 10 years it has been effective and efficient in providing guidance related to the Privacy saf and well-being of our trans students when our lgbtqia plus students feel safe and valued at school they attend regularly participate actively and Achieve profoundly I am in awe of the courage that they demonstrate on a daily basis by being their authentic selves our trans students deserve your care they deserve your consideration and they deserve most of all your respect I urge you to keep policy 5756 in place on their behalf thank you very much for your time a after Justin Rogue we'll have Danielle Jenis scy uh quick correction that's Justin Roy uh hello my name is Justin I'm an alumni of this District graduated almost two years ago and uh yeah from here grew up here uh going to college because of the school district proud alumni and I'm appalled according to the National Institute of Health 73% of transgendered adolescent reported psychological abuse 39% reported physical abuse and 19 reported sexual abuse compared with their heterosexual cisgender Adent counterparts transgender adolescent had a higher rate of psychological abuse according to chapal at the University of Chicago lgbtq youth had 100 100% 20 and higher risk of reporting homelessness compared to youth who identified as heterosexual the report found that one in 30 youths ages 13 to 17 experienced some form of homelessness over the a 12-month period and one in 10 young adults 18 to 25 experienced form of homelessness over a 12-month period I'd hate to see what that statistic looks like and he what is the poorest county in the state of New Jersey my question is why do we want to risk the lives of children cuz that's what we're doing by repealing this policy why are we trying to to out kids and put them at risk of physical Andor verbal abuse homelessness ostracization from their families it's not the school district's job to protect them to to harm them it's their job to protect them and sometimes that means protecting them from their parents protecting them from situ I didn't speak over you you don't speak over me thank you very much pardon me for a second I'm trying to find my footing uh if I could have an extra 20 seconds thank you very much and sometimes that means protecting them from harmful situations at home and that's what policy 5756 is 4 to the parents who are concerned because I understand that makes a sizeable demographic here I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you but if your kids are scared to tell you about their pronoun what their pronouns are that's your job to make sure your kids feel loved and supported enough in the home so that they're scared not to tell you no one oh and let me make this very clear let me make this very clear from the age of 16 to the age of 60 no one owes you to come out to them about their sexual orientation their pronouns their experiences that is their concern and if you truly believe that is a matter of their concern then stop trying to force them to tell you and I hear oh parental rights parental rights yes when we need to get rid of this Buzz work because we need to discuss parental rights of the right to put a food on a on the table the right to house kids the right so that the right so that kids aren't homeless so that they can go to college parental rights is not taking away some your parental rights stop when you take someone else's rights superintendent Yano you put it best to the Atlantic City Press on policy 5756 many of our students have supportive families some do not some are exposed to very tragic situations we don't want to have that on our hands I knew people in the school district when I was going here were exposed to those tragic situations I knew people in the school district who were beat in the bathrooms who were beat at home for being trans do we really want to enable that and let's talk straight talk for a minute we do not have the money to take a to take to take a we do not have the money to be sued I may I please finish my statement considering I lost time before I'm almost I'm almost done I promise they spoke over me I would like to have the chance to finish my statement I'm to finish my statement 15 seconds our district is amongst one of the poorest in the state Monmouth tried this and lost why are we trying to do it here that's all I wanted to say thank you very much for giving me extra time after Miss jennice scy we're going to have Mo Lucid hi my name is Daniel J goie and I'm speaking here tonight as both an educator and a parent many people speaking in opposition of policy 5756 have had zero experience with students in the classroom or have never developed relationships deemed safe by the student I am not one of those people in my 33 years of teaching I have lost count of how many times I've walked students down to our school counselors in order to gain some guidance for myself and the student I have utilized our counselor's vast resources to help students with whatever issues they may be facing that is what we do teachers are not out to get parents or to create these invisible wedges that you've been misguided into believing most of us are actually too busy teaching speaking to you now as the proud parent of a trans child I'd like to share with you the letter my son wrote to me in 2016 after he had already told a few friends and a trusted teacher I'm going to read some highlights from it now for a long time I've known that I've been different it's just taken me forever to figure it out basically what I've been dying to tell you but never knew how to is that I'm transgender it's been a monstrous roller coaster of confusion it's like I've been forcing myself to stay that little girl you've always known but that I've never been I've already secretly taken steps toward becoming the person I was supposed to be by educating myself and purchasing a chest binder I know this is new and foreign it is for me too I feel like the best way to do this is together just take it day by day like we do with everything else I really don't know how to end this I've been trying to write this thing for months as weird and as awkward as it may be we can talk about it later if you want I'll see you later I love you you're the best you really are that's me communication comes in all forms my son came from a welcoming accepting home still does yet he still needed time to Fig figure it out for himself I'm grateful that he had people to confide in when he was ready to trust me he confided in me I'm grateful that no one outed him and that he came to me on his own because he was acknowledged on his own terms he has grown to be a successful confident caring and quite handsome young man today by keeping this policy in place you'll responsibly provide teachers and staff with the guidance needed to communicate with the parents when it's deemed safe for the student and and the student is ready to disclose because that is the true theme of this policy thank you after Mr M luced we have George glenan my name is m l I live in Hamilton Township I serve as director of Aqua which serves lgbtqia plus organizations in South Jersey attempts to repeal policy 5756 have been made around the state pushed significantly by external organizations like the New Jersey project which at least one board member here is connected with arguments made against the policy are rooted most often in ignorance misinformation and Flatout hatred bear with me as I explain why these arguments hold no weight argument one this policy is going to lead to Boys in girls bathrooms trans women are women transmen are men and non-binary people are non-binary the policy does not create new rights it clarifies existing civil rights students are able and will be able to use the bathroom they identify with this policy does not change that argument two if this policy doesn't give rights why do we need the policy because a parent should not need to be a legal scholar to understand what rights their child has when they are in their schools argument three if there is no policy we can't be sued for protecting for not protecting students if there is no policy the responsibility for how to handle trans positioning students lives with staff and administration and if they have no guidance and if there is turnover it leaves the district open to the risk of civil rights lawsuits argument four the spirit of this policy is fine but the language needs to change this was the compromised language that's why the language took so long to be created once it was required also you wouldn't sell your house without a new place to live so maybe don't remove the policy without a replacement one in hand argument five the policy leaves parents out of the discussion as has already been said tonight this policy explicitly includes language identifying circumstances where the parents must be informed the approach from the policy simply prioritizes student safety and protecting their civil rights argument six there's a parent suing a district because their child transitioned that lawsuit is being brought by a parents rights lawyer who has failed three times in court and the lawsuit has had filing issues and no harm can be proven to the person bringing the suit if you're worried about lawsuits consider instead an established attorney from the Attorney General's office coming after the district for violations of civil rights argument seven safe adults don't keep kids Secrets this would only make sense if keeping the secret is what was putting the child at Harm's Way however this is the opposite we have seen too many young people kicked out or worse because they have been outed against their will argument 8 this is about parents rights this policy protects civil rights and protects children from harm these things are held in high esteem protected by the Constitution New Jersey laws and various Federal and State Court rulings respectfully parents' rights have never had the same legal protection as civil rights have had and parents are not being harmed by this policy in closing I have seen enough of these repeal attempts to know where the votes will go this speech addressed to the board was meant for the ears of the audience here today the excuses for votes against the policy are Hollow without Merit and easily defeated in 3 minutes or less and now the audience can confidently say that ignorance cannot be your excuse with all due respect good luck convincing your constituents that that putting your students and their taxpayer dollars at risk thank you policy down thank you [Applause] thank after Mr glenan we'll have Joanna derazi good evening my name is George glenan and I haven't been in this Auditorium since 1974 when both my sisters graduated high school here violent is a forward-looking community it's the largest areawide community in the state it has a lot of smart people a lot of self-employed people a lot of people with businesses they think ahead well how about if we think this 5756 is not a policy it is a procedure look it up what's the difference the procedures now let's talk about who the parties are to 5756 procedurally Schoolboard Consultants the school and the child sitting in the bathroom who's going to get the hell beat out of her when somebody decides to go back to being bisexual or whatever he's going to do it's going to be loud County here we go so there's also the insurance companies I would advise the school board as a Layman I'm not licensed in New Jersey I would advise them to be respectful of the sovereignty that was not delegated to the government we have limited governments in this country We the People the families retain the sovereignty we have a president of the New Jersey senate we have a president of the New Jersey senate who's out of office because he didn't respect private property I did it to him now lawyer up get your insurance policies because the state of New Jersey is a limited government and if you haven't seen it it's coming and it's not going to be nice you go down to to talk about violence I did four tours in Central Asia I've met the devil I've seen it and we got rid of a lot of it go down there to Hamilton down in uh Salem County over 200 people got their heads smashed in and the blood's still on the wall it was a revolution 1776 War sovereignty is being completely eradicated watch the movie who is John G A company that just said we're not going to save everything for the people and then it's really the government we're saving it for example that guy that got out of office the government starts monopolies with different areas that private Enterprise create look up Robert uh what's Fortune took tea out of China look up at theadi is 1774 anyway long story short I'm out of time lawyer up it's going to be fun after Miss dzi we'll have Shannon King Norton hello I am Johanna derazi I use she and her pronouns I'm here as a representative from glissen Southern New Jersey a local chapter of a National Organization that specializes in supporting schools and their efforts to support lgbtq students I also serve as the training and education development coordinator for the Atlantic County queer Alliance I also am back to being bisexual last month I was present here at the violin Board of Education meeting and I provided testimony that explained that over 50% of Youth experiencing homelessness in the state of New Jersey identifies as lgbtq this is mostly due to familial abuse and rejection I explain that policies like 5756 create a more inclusive and supportive School setting where School becomes a protective Factor keeping them safe affirmed and motivated to reach their academic potential research backs these claims as students who have policies like 57 56 are less likely to miss school because of the feeling of being unsafe and more likely to feel a part of their school Community supporting all students means prioritizing the policies that are proven to enhance a feeling of belonging for the most vulnerable including transgender students who are more likely to experience suicidality and depression policy 5756 has been in effect in vinand since 2014 it was revised twice and last amended in 2019 why must it be repealed now a decade of comprehensive guidance to Educators on supporting transgender students multiple opportunities for edits now it must be eliminated completely if the Board of Education believes that there are changes that need to be made why not just make them leaving the Educators without any enumerated guidance puts them at risk for not knowing how best to handle a very nuanced and delicate experience 5756 should not be repealed until or unless there is a comprehensive policy ready to be put in place that provides guidance to Educators on what they should do when a student comes out to them as transgender without this guidance transgender students are at risk and teachers are without support lastly when a parent is safe and supportive their child can be open with them transgender kids fear telling parents when they feel that they will not accept them transgender kids fear telling their parents when they believe they will be their bully transgender kids fear telling their parents before they are ready to tell them 5756 does not encourage secrecy 5756 respects autonomy for students to come out when they are ready and make schools a place where they can do so with minimal fear of repercussion please do not take that protection away from transgender students thank [Applause] you after Miss Norton we'll have Joey Pella good evening move it I'm uh Shannon King Norton teacher at vinand high school educator for 25 years mother for 16 I'm in favor of keeping policy 5756 in place we teach children from a young age differences respect kindness and compassion towards people we know and people we don't those who are like us and those who are different we know ourselves better than anyone can transgender people are no different and know themselves who they are on the inside better than anyone else that is why it's so important to respect another person's identity we feel that every student deserves to be celebrated and seen for exactly who they are we strive to create a safe space where all violence students can express their authentic selves and become bright lights in our community thank [Applause] you Stephen pleus will be next good evening superintendent Alano board president codespa and members of the vinin Board of Education again my name is is Dr Joey parella I am here in I am a resident here of the city of vinand and I'm a proud member of the transgender Community I am a transwoman my pronouns are she her I am speaking this evening in favor of policy 5756 we have heard plenty this evening and we'll hear more about the policy and you should have a clearer understanding about what the policy does and doesn't do but again policy 5756 lays out guidance for administration and staff it provides the best practice for staff to follow when a student expresses that they are trans it encourages that a plan be put in place to protect the child's well well-being we should also know by now that repealing 5756 does not change New Jersey or federal law it cannot take away requirements of the school to recognize the gender identity of a student the name that they use and their preferred pronouns repealing 5756 also won't prevent trans students from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender or from participating on sports teams that align with their gender so your question may then be if the presence or absence of this policy can't change the law or expectations of the staff and administration then what harm is there in repealing this policy the harm is from the message that it will send to our lgbtq students they are watching us they are desperately looking for adults to stand up for them repealing 5756 says sorry you're on your own it says you would rather appease a small misled constituency so you would rather ignore their overwhelming support from the LGBT community educational experts and mental health experts it says you would rather leave these students feeling abandoned than keep a policy that has caused no issues here are the facts lgbtq youth suffer higher rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts than their straight peers due to the way they are stigmatized by our society a third of lgbtq Youth report having poor mental health at some or most times in the past year because of discussions of anti-lgbtq policies over 53% have reported some form of harassment in school because someone thought they were lgbtq 12% of our youth have had to withdraw from school because of the harassment that they have faced among lgbtq youth those who experience some form of harassment or MRE or mistreatment face or attempt suicide rate at three times that of their lgbtq peers who do not but there is hope and to my trans siblings and family there will always be hope as board members you have the opportunity tonight to keep our transs and lgbtq students safe from becoming another heartbreaking statistic show that this school district cares about them and keep policy 5756 thank [Applause] you I believe Mr pvis has left so next we'll have Victoria Santos and then Andre neevis good afternoon Board of Education members parents teachers pastors and Community my name is Victoria Santos I'm a devout Christian wife mom daughter and teacher I strongly disagree with policy 5756 I want to begin I want to begin by saying that as we as Christians love the LGBT community and we pray for them always in a free Society this policy would violate our right to free speech and free exercise of rights under the First Amendment this policy would require teachers to deceive us as parents and caregivers about their child's gender according to Sarah parall a senior fellow she states parenting one's own children is a universal and Inseparable right that predates the government itself no matter how often Progressive Educators claim to know what's best for our children the Beating Heart of every parent knows better my husband is a clinical psychotherapist he States hiding the gender identity from the still developing children's parents is not productive for their mental health and it could lead to psychological distress and medical interventions have not been researched heavily enough and could also incur additional trauma I say given into to affirming gender gender ideology policies they will take a mile parents as mothers and fathers we lead and nurture our home and some of us help lead our children into better lives under the power of Jesus Christ no one has the right to lie to us about our children teachers teachers this could ensue discrimination by staff itself if a if a teacher refuses to share information to a parent this policy could also affect as other parents has stated the use of bathrooms and locker rooms now also there's been a several Mis um information and statistics uh throughout this night there was absolutely no evidence-based peer-review data that shows that affirming transgenderism would reduce the uh suicide and speaking with and speaking with local teachers this policy affects the Latin population and some parents do not speak English and so they were uh challenged to share their opinions tonight speaking of lawsuits school districts in Virginia Wisconsin Iowa and Montana have been sued by parents and parent groups after discovering that they were aiding students and transgender Transitions and to the church we are aware Please be aware that partial religious accommodations are not always effective I leave you with this verse 2 Corinthians 10:5 we demolish arguments and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive and make it obedient to [Applause] Christ after after Miss Nez we'll have Deborah Waldorf please good evening Vin School Board um I'm actually here on behalf of uh Louise walpin who is a legislator um was at the Forefront of um getting marriage equality passed in um New Jersey and was her and her wife are actually the first uh couple um to be married after that passed um but she's also a psychiatric nurse practitioner good evening my name is Louise walpin I am a retired psychiatric nurse practitioner with over 25 years experience I am sorry if I am able unable to be here today due to personal circumstances I have treated many children and families from Cumberland County and vient over the years I am a mother and grandmother today I'll be speaking with my psychiatric NP haton pro- family protect life Justice we all believe in those things yet we have difficulty finding a podition of agreement this puts our children's lives at risk and threatens our families I've worked with many transgender children and some of whom came to me with a history of su suicidal ideation and attempts not because they are transgender but because rather due to stigma bullying or par parental invalidation and threats children living in homes with no history of abuse who upon coming out are told by their families that they will never be accepted what a conundrum do they deny who they are take to the streets or take their own lives the statistics are horrifying 45% of homeless lgbtqia a plus youth have been kicked out of their homes by their parents the largest percentage of homeless youth are trans though they make up only 05% of the population the average age of homelessness for Trans children is 13 and A2 years of age approximately 50% of trans youth seriously consider or actually attempt suicide in any year I know these children and I work to preserve their lives from that perspective I'd say please keep policy 5756 in place it saves lives by helping trans children transverse this difficult Journey safely and not alone while there is no affirmative responsibility to notify a parent the policy does not endorse keeping secrets here's the flip side however I'm going to need to ask thank you that's fine I think I got my point across thank you after Miss Waldorf we'll have Pastor Alberto him menz my name is Deborah Waldorf I am a teacher and a parent in this district and I am deeply concerned the board is leaning against students rights as an English teacher I stress the importance of Ting sources or bringing the receipts yes I will share my sources with the board we teach the students not the parents we are State mandated reporters for child abuse and neglect repealing 5756 puts our students in danger it is a if a transgender student is harmed after being outed by the district the district will be liable this may include domestic abuse homeless personal body harm or Worse death by Suicide or filicide Murder by a parent or family member the national network for youth reports the primary cause for homelessness for lgbtq youth is a lack of acceptance by family members of a youth's identity of the 35,000 students pulled in the National survey for youth mental health 40% were kicked out of or abandoned due to their lgbtq andent idty repealing 5756 will put many of our transgender students out on the street the 2023 edition of that survey found that roughly half of transgender and non-binary youth had considered attempting suicide and nearly one in three said their mental health was poor most of the time due to anti-lgbtq policies such as repealing 5756 why should the students right to privacy be given more initial weight than the parents right to know of those 35,000 students pulled only one in three found their home to be identity affirming another survey found a significant number of victims of abuse from their families think support would have been helpful that is what this Pro policy provides advocacy advice and information policy 5756 helps our transgender students work with school Personnel to to inform their parents the caveat is that the students safety is Paramount face it these kids already talked to supportive parents if a student is scared to come out to a parent there is a reason 40% of the abusers are the parents perhaps the safety of our students is not as important as the potential Financial costs to the district the New Jersey State Attorney General has filed three lawsuits against District districts that have repealed similar policies you are setting up the district to be sued finally empathy is the crown of our portrait of graduate which is right up there only an hour ago here's a refresher of that term's definition the ability to understand and share the feelings of another leave this policy in place and model the empathy we are teaching our graduates thank you [Music] after Pastor Jimenez we'll hear Nico King good evening Madame President members of the board school superintendent Administration staff parents students and public my name is Pastor Alberto Jimenez of w of whole Fellowship church located at 507 East Quinn Street here in Violin I'm here to speak about policy 5756 concerning transgender stud students at last month's meeting I spoke about the importance of keeping and maintaining relationships within our schools between teachers and parents and not betraying that trust that has been built year after year as a historian I thought it was important to educate myself and the public as to why we're here firstly thank you for the access to the policies of the Board of Education that can be easily accessed on the internet I was able to print out policy 5756 and policy 552 which I have right in front of me in policy 552 the Hib you have 10 pages and 17 sections that highlight the importance of this policy after reading the policy I highlighted section two I mean section c on page two where it states the following the board believes the standard for students behavior must be set Cooperative leave through inter action among the parents and other community Representatives like the church not people that are not stakeholders in our community school administration School Employees School volunteers and students in the district producing an atmosphere that encourages students to grow in self-d discipline I was very glad to see parents were the first stakeholders mentioned in this policy as it should be for for all policies that affect our students and their children the hit provides 10 pages of protection when I read policy 5756 it's filled with definition terms students censored approaches and a redundancy of the H policy it was sad that the first time parents are mentioned is in the notification process of students who are choosing to be transgender it even States quote there is no affirmative Duty for the School District staff member to notify a student's parents of the student's gender identity or expression this is where the breakdown in the relationship building starts to fall apart when we keep parents out of some of some or all of the important life changes of our children as a community member that actually has roots in the community in the church that I repres represent along with many pastors church members parents and children I asked the board to repeal this policy Madame President board members I told you last month that the church would stand with you to repeal that policy so I'm going to ask the Church to [Applause] stand we are here but I wait wait wait wait wait wait I'd also like to say to our trans I'd also like to say to our transgender [Applause] policy the following individual Sarah Richards will be next I know my words fall on deaf ears but I'm still going to say them I'm Nico King I'm an alumni from the class of 2018 uh I've lived in Violin like my whole life um but here I go no one is teaching your children what opinion to have no one I went through school School in this District it is a public school if you don't agree with what they're teaching in public school as a Christian then send your kids to Catholic school or whatever denomination you're in okay you don't have to agree with any of this and this goes even for the board you don't have to agree with it but if we're going to talk about the first amendment of freedom of speech or whatever everyone's regurgitating it doesn't hold cuz it's public school if you want your kids to be taught Christian or Catholic or Jewish values then send them to those schools but if it's too expensive and you're getting upset about it then stop like why are you complaining about sending them to public school where every literal denomination [Applause] is the topic of trans gender identities being taught in schools is a myth it's not in the curriculum I was not taught being Trans in high school I had to Google it myself I was not taught that no one told me about it until I looked it up in child developmental psychology 101 I took that course if your child does not trust you as your parent they will struggle to trust anyone and I have firsthand experience with that I I grew up strictly Catholic and if we're talking about religion in traditional Jewish teachings people who were transgender this goes way way back before the Christian Bible was even made you were holier than other people because you were closer to God and you can tell me that's a lie but it's not and this isn't even about religion stop using kids as political tools to get what what you want we are your children we are not bargaining chips we're not your CH kids your babies are not bargaining chips and you are using them as bargaining chips to do what make them not change even though they're going to change in college anyway you're just teaching them not to trust you that you shouldn't even want that and you are making an environment Where Your Children are going to think you are spying on you I didn't even know this policy was in place until this year and I went to school with it are you kidding [Applause] me Benjamin aesio is next good afternoon my name is Sarah Richards I'm here today as a co-founder of an organization called true true stands for transgender rights understanding and education I'm also a proud transgender woman and here today regarding policy 5756 as all of our lovely people here are today are 5756 is a guiding document it concerns concerns over the recognition of transgender students access to Preferred changing rooms bathrooms and secure participation relevant sports are already state law Instead This policy acts as guidelines for faculty to follow in order to ensure a transgender student is treated with respect empathy and concern to their well-being although members of this board have sorry all the members of this board have insisted otherwise 5756 do not infringe on so-called parents rights nowhere in this policy is Staff prevented from discussing the transgender status of a student with their parents instead faculty are advised to take precautions in accordance with confidentiality and to coordinate with the students for their protections if it is a matter of safety necessity the school has the option to notify parents what 5756 is about is ensuring all students of vs can feel safe and supported within their school on January 10th Mr Rivera you stated that he will not that you will not allow individ individuals to be harassed bullied or discriminated against based on who they are or who they decide to be if that is still the case Mr Rivera then I regret to inform you by repealing this policy your board sends a message of intimidation and harassment towards its own students the policy outlines how to respect a student's gender identity while Ting them be comfortable and protected repealing it under the guise of parents rights is a smokescreen for the fact that members of this board do not wish to respect transgender students and does not value their safety as equally as other students policy 5756 ends with the following passage the board adopts this policy to help school and District administrators take steps to create an inclusive environment in which transgender and gender non-conforming students feel safe and supported so please note that whoever amongst this board votes to repeal this policy is fundamentally in disagreement with that passage and to me if that does not send a clear message to the students of this school that is that to me would be harassment and intimidation from this school board thank you Denise Hazelwood will follow well good evening board members Mr superintendent Public School staff members and the community that's here today my name is Benjamin okasu Jr I live here in Violin I also serve as an associate pastor for the Rocka Salvation Church some of our members are here today and my children actually don't attend public school because we were ahead of the wave that we're seeing taking place in our society today with that being said I am opposing as well this policy F 5756 it's amazing you watch the news and you see television and you see so many meetings such as this and you find yourself here today discussing these very issues surprised that some of these things are even being discussed as I looked over the the policy that's here I am in full agreement with what much has already been said about the necessity to protect the parents rights of knowledge of whatever is taking place in their classroom whatever identity expression is being revealed by the student and I think that it is very key and important to to oppose this I stand with those members that have already opposed it and I want to encourage them to not fear the taunts and so forth that you're hearing today because I think as you can clearly see today there are more that are with you than are against you at the same time I I I I do understand and do agree wholeheartedly that no one in this community should be bullied should go through of that type of absolutely not as a Bible believing Christian that would go against what it is I believe right as far as them being discriminated and dealing with bullying but I do believe that a lot has been hyperbole that we've heard today it's almost as if if this policy does not go through the suicide rate is going to ex is going to exceed through the roof and I think it's important to all of us to go home do the homework ourselves because numbers can be skewed in any way that you want we do need to have protective measures don't don't misunderstand me we do have to have protective measures and maybe that's the areas of policy that need to be tightened up but to to go and AD adopt what appears to be just another part of this woke agenda that we're seeing throughout our country is not the way to go thank you very [Applause] much Angelie Lily Dutton will be next my name is Denise Hazelwood I'm a Vinland resident and tax and taxpayer and I have two children enrolled in the vient school district since preschool in my lifetime I have come across only a handful of lgbtq individuals uh that I know of I have never found any of these people to be threatened or dangerous on the other hand let me tell you what I do find dangerous this past November election I Googled the names of every single candidate who was on the ballot for school board every name I wanted to know what sorts of policies they supported and what they didn't all of the candidates were pretty much silent on their agendas one spoke in a code that I understood saying he was for parental rights um which I understood to be code for book Banning anti- inclusion and things like that so I did not vote for him and advised others not to vote for him either and I was gratified to learn that he did not win the rest of you kept your agenda secret until you got into office so now with the proposed repeal of policy 5756 your agenda is becoming clear when you have to keep your agenda hidden so that you can get into power that is something I find scary and dangerous how can voters make an informed decision when the information is kept hidden so that's dangerous the group here tonight New Jersey project is the New Jersey affiliate of moms for Liberty their stance is anti-masking anti- inclusion anti-government and anti-lgbtq so about moms for Liberty their main focus has been on manufactur ing chaos in public schools they work to block children across the country from learning about slavery important figures like Martin Luther King Jr and the existence of lgbtq people its membership is rif with right-wing extremists and those accused a of and or guilty of criminal activity their founder Bridget Ziggler was embroiled in a sex scandal involving a three-way with her husband Christian Ziggler who was on the moms for Liberty payroll ordinarily I wouldn't care that being between consenting adults but in a separate incident The Other Woman accused Christian Ziggler of rape um I would I care because of the HP hypocritical messaging coming from that group in a media training for its members Christian Ziggler instructed the group to never apologize ever and added I think apologizing makes you weak but an but an Indiana chapter was forced to apologize after it quoted Adolf Hitler on the front cover of a newsletter to its members some of their members have been known to associate with proud boys of I need you to finish up please a violent farri group um they hold meetings in gun clubs and gun and of 5 Seconds all right that's the group that's the type of people I find dangerous not the LGBT gtq community time's up [Applause] ma'am Vanessa rasm everyone I'm Angelie Stutton I'm a student of violent high and I'm here to show my support for keeping this policy in place I am fearful that the removal of this policy will lead to increase in our trans students already feeling less support than they do I have seen the violence and the loss against those students I have witnessed so much hurt to them I just want to minimize that and I am only up here to share that very message so thank you for the opportunity to speak I just hope you all keep that in mind thank you ramus Morales who'll be next hi I'm Vanessa rasmason I'm a teacher at Vinland high school I'm The English Department chairperson there I'm here in support of my students and my colleagues and to ask you to please keep in place policy 5756 I've heard a lot of wonderful rhetoric here tonight I teach rhetoric as a part of AP Lang um and I just want to commend the students and my colleagues for their wonderful research and their wonderful presentation of their ideas please keep policy 5756 in place for the student sake thank [Applause] you Charles moral will be next my name is ramus Morales I'm a citizen of violin and I'm a child of God and I could have stayed home but I want to support my Christian brothers and sisters and uh put in our input on this approving policy 5756 so uh I yield my time to anybody that has some prepared speech I don't but I came out to support uh my Christian brothers and sisters and my Lord and Savior after Mr Morel Nora Roman thank you uh Bor and uh whoever I should be thanking to be here thank you very much I find it's hard to believe that this is even an agenda I'm a Christian my name is Charles mouren I live in violent you know what I'm hearing tonight is like uh it's a battlefield in school I don't perceive that at all everyone deserves to be treated equally no matter your race your religion your sex or whatever and I don't see anything other than that happen in inner schools I'm against this here whatever number it is I'm against it you know we live in a day and I'm addressing you the board member and I appreciate you looking at me like I'm looking at you you know I was in church last night it's hard for me to walk I get out of breath walking to the next room I pray for every one of you cuz you are the ones that are going to make the decision every one of you and I believe some of you have children some of you have grandchildren in school I I thank God my kids are out of school but I have two grandkids is in school newth Jersey excuse me I could not imagine my 8-year-old boy getting a shower or getting undressed in front of a girl or a girl in front of the boy it just ain't right and wait till they get on the field and other sports somebody's really going to get hurt injured or seriously or possibly killed and then who's going to be responsible you know you're not the enemy The People's not the enemy the Beach Q or whatever is not the enemy we're all people we're all human beings we all have a right to live and be happy and nobody not you not the government has a right to take the parents' right from their children I don't care who you are the parents God gave them children to us and we are responsible for them when they become an adult they have a right to do what they want and I'm not I'm not for no abuse or or nothing like that that's garbage nobody deserve to be abused and that should be dealt with but we have a right and nobody has a right to to train our child or teach our child what they should do you know what happened when I was in school Reading Writing arithmetic I graduated 16 years old 11th and 12th the same same year 16 years old and you got some programs in place where these children can graduate with a associates degree let's teach them Reading Writing arithmetic what you're there to do is teach not indoctrinate you're not there to indoctrinate and please excuse me I just naturally get loud I'm not I'm not mad I'm not trying not to yell at you guys I just I get excited I [Music] apologize comments to an end thank you so much and I pray that you all search your conscience and make a decision because God put you all in government thank you after Miss Roman will be Melissa Tomlinson hello my name is nitaa Roman I am a violin resident and I do have children that attend the violin public school so the first thing that I want to open with is the transgender student guidance for the school district I am opposed to 5 756 policy My reasonings are the New Jersey law against discrimination New Jersey sa 10 5-12 generally makes it unlawful for schools to subject individuals to differential treatments based on their race Creed color national origin ancestry marital status domestic partnership civil union sex affectional sexual orientation gender identification or expression of disability that is a law here are the areas that I do not agree with on this guidance on section two for the center student approach it states that the school shall accept students asserted gender identity parental consent is not required parental consent is required when a child goes to attend school because we have to sign for them to go to school when a child is going to be evaluated by a physician a mental health specialist or any other individual they also need parental consent okay okay the other section that I disagree with is in regards to the parents being in disagreement with a child I believe that any individual should not be discriminated against as your policy states for the bullying that all children should be protected regardless of what they identify as and putting this policy in place or continuing to put this policy in place not only allow children to receive information that is not shared with at home but some children including adolescen and high school students have never seen other body parts besides their own gender now I'm not against anyone identifying as anything else but what they identify as but you have children that are going to be experiencing things that they have never seen before now what happens when they come home and they don't know how to express to their parents today I saw a penis and I've never seen that before and I feel really uncomfortable are you guys is going to put places and plans for us parents to educate our children and comfort them at home for experiences that they have maybe felt awkward in or un unnecessarily exposed to things that they're not taught at home I plead that the board make this decision and not based on anything else but the reasoning that what you guys stand for we're here to educate the children we're here to keep them safe when I was in high school we had transgender students that were there and I have personally never and if I have ever witnessed any student regardless of their statue of identity or or disability learning intellectual problems ever mistreated I personally will stick up for them because we're here for people we're here to treat everyone equally regardless of their mental status or anything else so thank you for giving me the time to share that with you today and I hope that you guys come to an agreement and make this decision that you need to make for the students and the people thank you after Miss tomason we'll hear Ariel Gonzalez good evening again members of the board my name is Melissa Tomlinson I'm an educ an educator in the district next door at bua I am also the GSA adviser for the middle school as well as a national public school education Advocate we've had discussion about the Discrimination laws in New Jersey right this policy does nothing more than give guidance on how to uphold those laws you remove this policy the moment that you call home because somebody is identifying a g as a gender different than they were assigned at Birth and wants to change their name you better hope that you have on record that you have also called home for somebody who wants to change their name such as myself did Melissa and I was called Mel in high school so at that point that phone call should have gone home because Mel is typically a boy's name we talk about gender ideologies and how all of a sudden we're being indoctrinating in schools and yet it's from at Birth where a child discovers what their gender may or may not signify they are dressed in pink clothes if they are a girl they are given dolls to play with at a certain age they may experiment with makeup you cannot keep gender IDE ideology out of schools unless you first completely remove it from society and quite honestly some of us would be okay with that you never know what's going on in a family I literally and I'm shaking over this still I I had to step out because I received a phone call I was sent somebody from another state was sent to me for advice she at Birth did not have a first name on her birth certificate so there was something up with there with her sex at Birth she was abused as a child she was forced into a marriage with a man who agreed to impregnate her so she would follow through with the belief that she was a woman through her adulthood after she tried to escape and this is this is honestly no exaggeration this was a literal phone call I just had after she tried to escape her family tracked her down had her incarcerated and experienced electroshock therapy because of what they felt and they believed was wrong for her own personal identification one more point I am not a religious person we hear religion being tossed around in this room a lot tonight we are in a public school building so if we're going to speak about one religion we're going to speak about all of them and I will push every religion in you want to open that door be careful of what you ask it for including beliefs such as Wiccan text rituals and practices but if we are speaking about the Bible and we are speaking about God I need to ask you to finish up please time's up there are in the Bible thank you after Ariel Gonzalez will'll hear Casey r rusan good evening board um I am against this policy 5756 and I stand here oh sorry my name is Ariel Gonzalez um I'm a man of God I am a veteran to this country and I am a father I'm a father who is also a father in the falser care system so I understand loving a child who is mine and who is also not mine so I come from a loving perspective and I heard many many many great arguments against policy 5756 and I was going to come and really hammer down on it but honestly I just want to encourage you board members to stand tall in a in a time where people are swayed so easily I really want to encourage you to stand tall on issue and I understand there's a lot of arguments that you know this policy is not going to take everything away but it's a step in the right direction and I I implore you guys to really stand tall stand firm be a uh as uh my fellow Christians know uh a movable pillars you know be a be a pillar of this community don't be swaying and moved Stand Tall Stand Tall on this policy that we are against it as a community as can you can see the majority is against this policy and I really do encourage you guys to really stand on your beliefs and uh thank you guys after Casey russan is LS Russo good evening my name is Casey Russman and I'm a senior at violent High School I am the treasurer for the class of 2024 National Honor Society president and the VHS Band drum major one of violence's core traits I have had the joy of experiencing is the level of diversity violent has in fact our motto is diversity our strength we have something so unique about us that I firmly believe we should celebrate and be proud of we have multiple different ways of doing so we recently had our annual African-American reading which is a huge success every year in our media center we celebrate multiple cultural groups as well as disease disability and gender awareness through exhibits and book displays during the holiday season our Puerto Rican students get to share the tradition of paranda to celebrate the Christmas season all being said I I think one of our diverse groups is in danger right now myself and many other students at the high school are in full support of our lgbtqia plus students I understand there are concerns on what happens during the school day as parents are not with their child during this time but hearing this policy being Up For Debate is quite painful violent High School is a place some of our students come to to escape their life outside students who were affected directly by this repeal of the policy would not have access to the same resources as other students during my time at VHS I have been exposed to many different people my fellow class officers are some of the most hardworking people I know and I'd like to mention we are an all female office something we don't get to see very often being the leader of a band like violent High School is such a privilege as my fellow musicians and my directors are people I will remember for the rest of my life we are all so different yet we all feel so safe because we find comfort in our differences you say you pride yourself on diversity but one of our most diverse groups is being targeted it is no secret that many of the students in the violent District are aware of this issue we know our school better than anyone and administrators I'd love for you to spend the day at violent high school or any of the middle or elementary schools in a similar way as our amsa students have been shadowing VHS students in preparation for their new school year at the 910 and 1112 building I think having administrators Shadow a student would be extremely beneficial our notion of school and how children are experienced it is not completely accurate and to fix that I want you to spend 7 and 1 half hours with us we'll be waiting thank [Applause] you after Mr Russo we'll hear Tina Lofton all good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board in speaking in reference to 5756 my name is l Russo I'm the president of the violent Education Association um I appreciate uh some of the feedback that I've gotten on why we have reached this point I respect your perspectives I I respect your opinions but I often now wonder as I hear what is being discussed tonight if we thought further down the road about the Pandora's Box that we have opened up and the political theater that we've now created I don't know that anyone wanted to drive a wedge um in our community but I think that's what now this uh policy re uh re revocation is now doing schools should never be a place of division schools are supposed to be a place of unity where the community comes together in the best interest of its children and of its community and of their future and of our City's future so please consider that before you vote or consider anything that removes the policy but if you do I want you to be aware of the labor perspective a Schoolboard policy cannot be alien or contrary to the law the law supersedes any board policy federal law and that's the Civil Rights Act state law the New Jersey law against discrimination is going to rise above any board policy and our members in the vaa be they teachers guidance counselors social workers child study team members U anyone who comes into contact with kids we are obligated to follow the law so nothing will change if you revoke this policy the same procedures have to stay in place if you create a policy contrary to the law and I really hope that you do not now you're putting my members and and our association in very unique and awkward place we can't obey your policy and violate the law and the law will supersede policy all the time I want to remind board members and the community if necessary that there is no curriculum there is no course that teaches gender identity that indoctrinates kids or does any sort of all the other nonsense that we've heard it's complete mischaracterization a public school has to welcome everyone who arrives at our door and they arrive at our door with the problems and the issues that the community and their families have often created 3/4 of the day are spent at home only one quarter of the day is spent at school and we have to realize that the only way that a school would not communicate with any parent about any problem is if in this small situation A Child identifies that he'll be placed into harm at home if this becomes knowledge and the real question then that we have to ask is why are children afraid of the parents thank [Applause] you as after Miss Lon will hear Anonymous safety reasons okay all right um my name is Tina Lofton I have I'm a teacher in the district for over almost 30 years um I also have three children that attend violent Public Schools I have another child who graduated in 2020 from VHS I'd like to thank the board of education for the opportunity to express my support for policy 5756 my husband and I strive to maintain a household that is not only accepting but encouraging of all people regardless of race gender religion sexuality economic status Etc even with this environment of acceptance our child was uncomfortable telling us that he was transgender and it's no wonder why a recent survey found that when coming out as trans 40% of the children received no support from their families 10% suffered from domestic violence and 15 were kicked 15% were kicked out of their home that means only 35% of the children who came out did so in a supportive environment so let's not forget that the transgender Community is subject to violence harassment suicide and last year over 30 murders in the United States alone but thanks to policy 5756 our child was able to confide in a trusted teacher this teacher uh maintained his Amon ammity excuse me and they also helped connect him to another student that was transgender shortly thereafter our child was comfortable enough coming to us when he was ready and it hasn't been easy we remain supportive um there are other family members who continue to intentionally misgender and dead name him which CA causes anxiety stress and a feeling of being marginalized but let me be clear that does not happen in the violent Public Schools thanks to policy 5756 there is a real effort to provide a safe and supportive environment and I will forever be grateful to this teacher and I'm grateful for this school board who adopted this policy in the first place we should all be here for one reason for our children and I urge you to continue to support policy 5756 because it helped our child it helped our family and I know we're not alone and if it helps one child like just one child then it's your responsibility to uphold the [Applause] policy the next speaker will be April Kinder hello board members hello vinin um I have uh refrained from giving my name because I a trans person who quite frankly is terrified to even speak here today um but I wanted to put myself up here uh as uh what I call an elder trans so that people can uh see me uh know my experience um and just give you some insight that you might not have um so thank you for letting me speak today um and uh I am somebody who grew up here uh was born and raised here um I went to Becky and Andy preschool East vinand kindergarten wiso Elementary veteran Veterans Memorial Middle School uh and then Vinland High School um I played soccer softball um did a whole lot of things with the community was part of the Gabriel project um did a did a lot of stuff um and throughout that whole time uh there was no no class no instruction um on on anything lgbtqia plus uh it was simply things I experienced and didn't understand no one had an explanation for it um I learned it all myself little by little piece by piece um just like probably most of the people in this room um uh nobody nobody told me to be one way or another I was raised in a house full of women uh uh I was born uh a signed female as birth um I had no reason to to feel the need to transition um I went I was raised Catholic um all of my years in school went to CCD from as as little as you can to uh my graduating year um and and you know through through all of that I I I'm still I'm still like I am today um I did not know about this policy until very recently but um I do think that it is important to uphold it um because the number one uh rule in the queer Community is to never out anyone um it is unfair um I understand that parents are concerned as somebody who is older um I do not have children but I understand the love and appreciation that you give your kids you know when you name them that is that is one of the greatest gestures of love that you can do um however if a child does not feel like they fit in the body in the gender that they were assigned as birth that's a really important thing and something to to to work through and my mom was my best friend growing up but I still didn't tell her a whole lot of stuff um but she was really supportive so there was no reason for me to be secretive yet all the same um but one thing I really want to push um and make sure everybody understands is that um your genitalia and your sex is not your gender and who you love is not your gender identity so thank you after Miss Kinder we'll hear Colette Johnson hello my name is April Stevenson Kinder uh I'm a teacher a Community member a a volunteer a parent uh a daughter sister I'm all of those things and I know there's so many people that are here that wear so many different hats and I'm so glad to see you guys here that you cared enough to come out to this board meeting and to be part of this process and I commend you for it I am here just to put a little different spin on this we all already know that we're here for our students we all know that we are here to educate and be a support for the students that are hopefully going to graduate and become protect uh productive members who will volunteer in their lifetime I know that I come from a family who has produced many vinin graduates uh my mother was a graduate of 1958 my son was a graduate of of 2019 I have a host of cousins Aunts Uncles who have been in the violent School District I am proud to say I have been a teacher for 19 years at the violent high school and I have seen students who have had all types of personalities and I'm very very very happy that I am part of just some of their time that they spent at that school one thing I do want to say is that this policy gives us a clear decision on how to treat our students and I have seen the parents' rights and I'm a parent I want my rights but I don't have to have you give me my rights I will fight for my rights as a parent I will talk to my S my son I will make sure that I am part of his life in every way that I can and I will make sure that when I have a when I have my grandchildren I will be part of their lives nobody has to give me that right because I will take that right and I will defend that right and yes I am also a Christian and I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I work worship and I teach and I volunteer in vinand no one has to give me the right to be that person who is going to take my rights the way that I believe but what I'm scared of not that uh we're saying that we're not going to have this for our students or that we are not going to tell our parents what I'm scared of is if this policy doesn't happen how do I make that decision on what parents to tell if we leave it up to professionals then who will make that decision thank you for giving me me this [Applause] time after Miss Johnson we'll hear Jay Everett good evening um my name is Colette Johnson thank you all for letting me be here to speak I work at bti photo in bua um but I am here on behalf of the Unitarian Universalist Faith action committee of New Jersey as a person of faith and member of the unarian Universalist Church and a child of God I am here to voice our Collective support for policy 5756 there is nothing in the Bible that says being transgender is a sin I stand in solidarity with people of diverse backgrounds faiths and affiliations who all agree that we need to ensure our children's safety emotional and physical well-being eliminating policy 5756 will remove a crucial safety net from transgender students retaining the policy protects the taxpayers of your district from lawsuits which would divert taxpayer which would divert taxpayer dollars designated for teaching children and divert it to paying lawyers the transgender youth in New Jersey have been speaking out about how vitally important it is to come out on their own terms a 16-year-old New New Jersey transgender youth stated if kids were willing to tell their parents and not be worried about it they would if there's a reason to be worried about it I don't think the parents should be told out of the blue and possibly have that kid be mentally or physically hurt so 10 years ago it was recognized that this policy was necessary to protect the transgender youth of our Community contrary to some of the current rhetoric surrounding this policy um there have been no reported or proven negative effects from this policy since it was issued in fact this policy provides teachers and other school personnel with the guidelines they need to support students and according to the Vinland um Board of Education website Foster the holistic development of each student there is nothing in policy 5756 that prohibit schools from notifying a parent if the student has given permission as good parents you would want to know if your children came out right that's and that's why we're all arguing because there are good parents good parents want to know so they are able to provide love support and the resources necessary to live a healthy life this policy isn't for good parents um this policy protects children who don't have parents like you these children are at risk and are vulnerable to abuse physical psychological and sexual abuse transgender youth have um the highest rate of suicide and you can be responsible for literally saving the lives of children thank you after Miss Everett we'll hear Tony Cado good evening I am Jay Everett a student at a student in Violet High School class of 2027 and I would like to speak about why the policy 5756 is important and should be kept in place it helps students at school feel safe in their environment and comfortable being who they are in in public environment it is important to all students everywhere that they're that their privacy is respected and protected even with their parents it makes students feel safe going to a trust trusted adult at school about problems or situations that are going on in their lives and not everyone comes from a supportive background and being outed could seriously put them in danger so I believe that policy 5756 should be kept in place for the safety comfortability rights and privacy of students thank you for your [Applause] time after Mr kado we'll have Genesis Salis good evening everyone board members thank you so much for the opportunity to share my heart with you this evening my name is Tony kado I live here in the city of vinand and I have the privilege of pastoring chestnut Assembly of God I've been there for over 20 years I am a married man with four children and six grandchildren very proud to say that um I have read through this policy over and over over again and my Approach and our approach in the Christian Community is never to bash anyone in fact we're very compassionate we love people we care for people we care for your children my children and anyone else who is going through a process or struggling CU we're no one is perfect and so we all have our struggles however and I and we believe in protecting children in the school system every child should have the opportunity to have an education that is stable secure and safe but never at the expense at the parents not knowing what is happening in the school system that is not acceptable and should never never be allowed and I'll just read just a couple things I know that my time is limited but it says in the policy that there is no affirmative Duty for any school district Personnel to notify a student's parent or guardian of the student's gender identity or expression we heard a lot of things tonight that parents are not uh that uh things are not being kept from parents that is totally untrue these things are being kept from parents parents have the right to know what's happening in the school system with their child if I'm expected to take care of my child feed my child clothe my child house my child educate my child then I also have the right as a parent and a grandparent to know what is happening in the school district one of the interesting things is that the school district or the teachers or the school system they're not responsible to tell the parent about what's going on with their child only if they're being harassed once they're being harassed then they can include the parent in that process I think that's a little bit late don't you think that's a little late to include parents in that process some of the other things that I just want to mention very quickly is is this is that uh why are the parents becoming the enemy why are we using this this to weaponize against parents we have the god-given right to Steward our children it's not your responsibility to educate our children and it's not your responsibility I'm sorry it is your responsibility to educate our children not indoctrinate our children or to keep what's happening in the school system away from parents' knowledge just know that we pray for you and know this one thing we will all stand before a holy God with every decision that we've ever made thank [Applause] [Music] you after Miss Salis we'll hear from Adrien penti good afternoon I am Genesis Salas I attend violent high school and I'm proud to say I'm a Pentecostal Christian and I I attend violent Spanish Pentecostal Assemblies of God and my pastor is here I know that and I know in be in the beginning God created man and women in His image and how would you like it if someone disrespected your Masterpiece because you are God's masterpiece I have many friends that have depression overthinking confusion ident identity crisis and we care for you most of them don't know who they are parents and their children I can't imagine not telling my parents something I have to always tell my mom something because I know what she wants what's best for me but I know not everyone can go up to their parent but they should they should focus on building families strong families because I know at my church we're focusing on building families and if you really worry about the children and their mental health you should help them not bring division with their parents and I'm against policy 5657 and I stand with God and with the cross I carry around my neck thank you and God bless you [Applause] all [Applause] [Music] after Miss penti we hear from Andrew brow Adrien penti I live in vinand in the great United States of America as a woman of common sense I ask you to use your common sense and repeal the New Jersey transgender policy 5756 provided to us by New Jersey governor Murphy and the state Commission of Education this policy offers a list of guidelines not a law a list of guidelines intended to assist New Jersey school districts in making the best decisions for the benefit of the entire student body guidelines the operative word there is no State mandate that calls for you to enact this K through2 policy our public schools are now telling our children not to trust their parent or Guardian if they will not affirm the child's new and often School encouraged gender identity for a child to live radically different at home and at school and to conceal what he or she perceives to be his or her true identity from the parent Guardian is psych psychologically unhealthy in itself [Applause] parental rights are undermined when Public School Employees withhold information from them about their child and when the child is encouraged to withhold information from his or her parent Guardian School Employees who withhold critical information on our children are contributing to the chipping away of Parental responsibility parents are held accountable for their child's actions in a court of law yet ironically School Employees can keep secret the child's actions regarding sexuality in New Jersey and across our nation school officials are being held legally accountable for their efforts to hide information from parents and Guardians as parental rights are openly defied I have time's [Applause] [Music] up the f following following Mr brows will be Genesis Gonzalez I'm sorry my handwriting is terrible my last name is brown uh good evening my name is Andrew Brown and I'm a clinical social worker licensed to practice in the state of New Jersey I'm a lifelong violent resident I am here tonight to request that you vote to keep policy 5756 which protects the rights of transgender students I want to State unequivocally that I support equal rights for transgender adults adolescents and children repealing this policy could cause real harm to students as I detailed in the letter that I sent to each board member and to the superintendent earlier this week policy 5756 is a thoughtfully written policy that has seemed to work for the past nine years it is hard for me to understand the motivation behind wanting to repeal a policy which is working however as a student of History I am aware that oppressed and marginalized groups of people have been victims of inequality discrimination and hatred in my lifetime blacks Jews Asians Hispanics gays have all been treated unfairly and sometimes even worse in my parents' lifetime add Italians Irish and Germans to that list reading posts on social media and listening to uninformed people talk I realize that transgender people are now the main victims of this kind of hurtful treatment our school board is in a is in a position tonight to vote to ensure that transgender students retain their rights and I believe each and every one of you are listening uh intently and you will make the decision that you think is best and I I thank you for listening to all of these um opinions even ones that run contrary to mine and I thank you for your time uh you have the you're you're going to vote on this and not unlike the the seven Supreme Court Justices who voted for the majority in the Dread Scott decision in 1857 voting to repeal this policy put you on the wrong side of History however voting to keep this policy keeps you on the right side of humanity thank you very much forist [Applause] listening after Miss Gonzalez we'll hear from Carrie Weber good evening my name is Genesis Gonzalez and I'm currently a student in the violent Public Schools I'm here to ask you to repeal policy 5756 I'm here I'm here with the utmost respect respect for everyone present but I am not in favor of policy 5756 as a member of a household that Faithfully believes in unity trust and respect it is important for me to raise my voice and not remain silent in the face of a policy that goes against the fundamental principles of a healthy family communication resp respect trust commitment and acceptance of a family is essential for a person's development and success no child should have to feel safe for the right to remain silent we do not fight war with violence but with peace we do not fight hate with anger but with love we do not combat the safety of children in schools by taking away the right of parents to know what is going on with their [Applause] children I understand that not all students have a parent to open up to but that does not mean you take away the right of parents to know what is going on with their children school is supposed to keep all students safe and teach them to ensure them a better future every student should be protected equally but with this policy we are not all being protected equally if you want to protect the rights of a certain group of students you should also want to protect the rights of all students a group of students may feel safe with this policy but that does not mean all students will feel safe with this policy everyone is so concerned about how a certain group of students feel attending school using the bathroom and undressing in a locker room but what about the rest of the students I do not think it's fair that a group of students concerns are being addressed more than the concerns that other students have I personally would not feel safe or comfortable undressing or using the bathroom with someone who is not biologically female amen I decided to use my voice today not only to speak up for myself but also for all the other students who share my concerns but who are afraid to use their voice thank you for listening I appreciate you for giving me the time to speak tonight I ask you to repeal policy 5756 thank you [Music] [Applause] Carrie Weber after Miss Weber we'll have Julie Lopez I just want to make sure there is actually no Carrie Weber because I'm Cindy Weber fairy Corey Weber it it could be Cory y uh okay I apologize if you'll just give me one moment I'm just pulling up my um argument that I have regarding the situation hello my name is Cory Weber today I'm meant to write a note notepad document today I meant to write a notepad document something else but I decided to wing it because I believe in the support of policy 5756 because as many people have said this policy takes because as as many people have said this policy takes away their rights but the thing is the same is the same thing as previous people said that there could be some compromises in my past school life I've always been bullied because of my disabilities and directly resulting from that I became an introvert but as the year went on I found friends and I got to know them more and I found out about their GSA club and you know what it didn't change a thing not a single thing and children are still the same no matter what they wear what they're called what they prefer to be called we're all human we we're still the same no matter what and we we are but parents are but parents are part part of the problem students for on them for food shelter clothes a roof a roof over their head what happens to the student when the students come out to their parents I'll leave that up to the you to you board members to decide thank you for your [Applause] time Julia Lopez Cindy Weber next on Deck is Steven soloff hi my name is Cindy Weber and while I hold the experience of countless families in my head in my heart tonight while I'm speaking I'll be focusing on myself and my child who attends school here in binland tonight you'll be asked to renew the policy 5756 I'm encouraging you to do so those who challenge 5756 will tell you that it's about parents' rights it's about student safety children hold very little control in their lives they're wholly dependent on their families for their basic needs for food for shelter for love for guidance while you as board members may not be able to comprehend parents and families who may disown their children trust me they exist I'm a child who was raised in a home with conditional love I knew rather young that my parents didn't love me and I had to create my own family I've sat across from dozens of Youth facing homelessness after their parents have found out that they were gay or transgender or they just didn't agree with a choice that they made youth asking their parents youth asking anyone who would listen why they why they don't love them why the why they're able to throw them away removing guidance that ensures basic safety from Children and Youth during some of the worst mental health shortages in this country is not only shortsighted it's cruel I stand here and I stand here from firsthand knowledge to tell you exactly how backed up perform care is there are hundreds of children waiting in this area for services that number is only going to rise removing policy 5756 is basic kindness that amounts to Suicide Prevention as a parent I watch my child go from introverted and scared to be at school yes scared and mostly solo to joining the GSA and being accepted for who he is he's found his community the policies that protect transgender students in this District Pro protect other students too the folks that joined that GSA who attend regularly are some of the most forgiving and beautiful people and right now they're scared for their basic safety my son's bloomed into a bubbly Friendly Senior who just tonight was recognized and welcomed by other students that he met because of the supports put in place for 5756 the impacts of removing this policy will be felt by many far beyond those Brave students who spoke tonight anyone who knows me knows that I stand I need to ask you to finish times absolutely if you're truly interested in making change have some listening sessions involve parents students and the [Applause] district after Mr soloff we'll hear Joe Miller hi my name is Steve soloff I'm from vinand while I support protecting the rights of all people and students there are things in policy 5756 that may just need to be redesigned and reworded such as the policy has no clear definition of gender so if we are talking about transgender students and we have no idea what gender a and gender B is then how do we identify what the transition is and that is specifically important because how do we implement this policy if we are not clear on what is actually happening likewise the policy is about anti-discrimination I did not read in the policy anything specifically about how students are informing the teachers and the school district that they are transgender well if that procedure happens multiple different ways then we are inherently giving different treatment to different students then the policy states that the schools are required to provide a safe environment while going through a transition process well in the policy it does Prov provide a definition for transition which includes hormone treatment and surgery are the schools aware that kids are going through transition processes that include hormone treatments and surgeries and not informing the parents next uh schools are required to be inclusive and not bully or prevent bullying to trans students well if the schools are not required to inform the parents of transgender students that they are transgender then how would the parents know that the policies are being implemented properly then the policy states if there is no threshold for verifying a student is trans or transitioning how is it fair for activities such as school sports to have the biological males competing against biological females and finally the policy implies that the school can delay informing the parents up until what I perceive to be the last possible moment before a crisis situation happens well how would a supportive parent of a transgender student help prevent bullying of transgender kids if they're not even aware that their kids are [Applause] transgender after Joe Miller we hear from Stephanie Anonymous thank you for allowing me to speak tonight board uh my name is Joe Miller I'm a city council person in Woodberry New Jersey I'm South Jersey's only out transgender elected official uh not going to pretend oh thanks you can clap more when we have more of us I'm not going to pretend that I know your constituency better than you uh all I'm going to talk about is the fact that I graduated high school in 2014 right when this policy was passed and I know that at the time there were about three of us that were out in my graduating class what I've seen tonight is a bunch of kids that are happy as themselves and are able to come up here and talk to you which is not something I ever would have been able to do at their age you know when you are closeted and you're in school it's like you're walking around with a sheet on your head a ghost to everybody especially yourself since 2014 I've had about 20 of my classmates come out in addition to me now nothing nothing changed since then we just were allowed to become ourselves once we got out of school the reality of it is this policy I don't know I don't know if it actually helps what I do know is that there's been a sizable difference in the fact that kids feel more comfortable being themselves and that kids are able to actually come up here and advocate for themselves you know I wasn't actually happy since middle school when uh until I was 26 cuz I was never out I spent my entire life trying to be the golden the Golden Boy for my uh my parents I was an eagle scout leader in my troop I was a on the safety patrol I did everything I could to prove that I was the kind of son that they wanted trying to live up to my dad's name that he gave me I was the fourth trying to tell my parents that I wanted to change my name was hard at 26 can't imagine what it's like at 16 because I never had the support at my school to be able to talk to my teachers that I trusted because I didn't know that I would be safe doing so and last thing I just want to leave you all with it doesn't matter how you vote on this today it's going to get better for kids because there's these kids out here are incredible they're out here and I am incredibly proud of them and when I finally was was able to tell my parents that they had a daughter instead of a son they gave me this bracelet that I carry around that says daughter in mors code things get better and I hope you'll do the right thing to help support those kids but I'll leave it up to you thank you after Stephanie we can hear from Al Eileen bosow my name is Stephanie I'm a proud mom of a transgender student at one time she graduated in 2014 wherever you are I you know I hear a lot of words tonight what I want to talk about is how many kids are we really talking about how many okay so let's let's look in 2022 UCLA law school put out a a a report saying that in the general population of people 13 years and older 0.6 of that population will identify as transgender what we find further breaking that down is that only 0 .5% of people over the age of 18 identify that way and yet kids in the age of 13 to 17 it's 1.4% let's put that in numbers let's talk about vient high 2,693 students if you look at 1.4% that are going to be confused that's 38 students all right 14 of those 38 will continue their life as a transgender individual but 24 won't 24 of those kids that are going to come to you will not continue this process so let's talk about those 24 families okay what is going to happen to that family when you make that phone call and say Stevie wants to be Shelly okay what happens to that family when you ask those kids why don't you want to tell your parents most of them will tell you because I don't it's going to crush them I don't want to break their heart I can't even tell my dad I got a see in math and now I'm going to tell them I'm going to be a girl okay they don't want to crush them and they're right because as a parent who did this I want to tell you what happens to that family you you start to question everything you you're fearful you're embarrassed you're embarrassed of your own kid you start to uh when you start try to tell other family members all of a sudden you're not invited to Thanksgiving dinner this crushes an entire family not just the student it changes everything the ensuing depression if you're one of those 14 families is unbearable I was given a choice I could bury my son or love my daughter I chose to love my [Applause] daughter I have to but 7 years later 7 years later I buried my husband love after Miss BOS after Miss BOS Stephanie Engel good evening my name is Eileen bosow Kate May Courthouse and I'm here tonight to speak in support of policy 5756 as many of you know I grew up in violand graduated from violand high school I'm a a retired educator of 32 years and was the founder of the GSA at the high school what you may not know is I am a single parent of a 15-year-old and a gay woman I founded the GSA to hopefully give students a safe place to go as a means of support I know all too well what it was like for me during those years during my times as the adviser I spoke with many students about their fears of not being able to discuss their truth I always stress to them the importance of making informed educated decisions when discussing their home environment I always reminded them that their parents loved them and wanted the best for them I encourage them to talk to their parents to be respectful respectful to others opinions and to be true to themselves all while making sure they were kept safe policy 5756 does this very same thing many will say it is an attempt for educators to keep things from parents but it is not I see it as a way of helping to bridge the gap between these very difficult discussions we need to have my greatest fear is that doing away with this policy will eliminate any safe place our students feel they have to go I myself have faced the desperation and pain and hopelessness that comes with discovering who I was as a parent I can tell you if faced with the choice of having my daughter talk to someone at school or no one at all I would always encourage her to seek the guidance of her school family if she isn't comfortable speaking to me I ask tonight that you make an informed educated decision when deciding whether to keep policy 5756 I ask that you remember the needs of all our students and that you take the time that is needed to sit with all the stakeholders and discuss what best services our school community Community thank you after Miss Engel we'll hear from L Vasquez hello my name is Stephanie maone Engle I'm a licensed clinical social worker I'm the anti-bullying specialist and for the last 17 years I've had the honor of advocating for the students of vinand as a school social worker I implore you not to repeal policy 5756 over the last two months concerns have been raised most prominently about parental rights I would like to explain to you what could happen based in research as to how this could affect the students we are here to serve the biggest misconception that I hear is that school Personnel are keeping information from parents being deceitful that is not the case rather what we are doing is working with students to come out on their own terms that is important because outing anyone can be detrimental the National Institute of Health tells us that transgendered youth's involvement in Risky behavior and Trauma is much higher than cisgendered youth they are poorly understood experience High higher rates of depression Health disparities lower GPA homelessness poor attendance and lower rates of college enrollment but most importantly 61% have reported suicidal thoughts and one in three have actually attempted suicide what saves these youth is having what we call protective factors one of which is supportive people like some school Personnel in their lives that help ensure for better outcomes repealing this policy will undoubtedly put an end to this for all of our students outing a person without their consent has traumatic outcomes and can lead to someone experiencing violence it is imperative that we do not take students stories into our own hands we must be respectful of things like timing and find appropriate supports to ensure that students have the resources they need in this District we promote social emotional learning based on empathy and acceptance however we are doing the Act exact opposite as the adults that should be modeling these behaviors we could potentially be taking away an extra layer of protection for our students and for our staff as they will no longer have a policy to to protect them we will be opened up to litigation loss of funding and the potential risk of suicide while setting a precedence that every student is at risk of losing their expectation to privacy I can't help but wonder if the concerns surrounding this policy are based in a difficulty understanding time up population thank you keanne Meyers will come up next after loose Vasquez vquez resident of violin taxpayer I want to thank uh you all for the opportunity to speak this evening regarding policy 5756 as a person of faith and a parent of four that raised all her children here in the violin District uh I stand here and as a community leader as well I'm not against any group or individual what I am in support of is parents being notified of any changes minor and major concerning their children while they're in school while there may be disagreements or uh major philosophical differences of our value systems here tonight we should remain respectful of those differences and not refer to parents that are here with that truly live these convictions out as pure political theater I can assure you there's nothing theater about personal convictions that we as parents have the right to determine what is best for our children I I can assure you it has it's not based on our political affiliation either we're families we value as as as parents over our families we value the right to raise our children according to our values and we ask that you as board members also honor that and I commend you I support you I thank those that are bold enough to take a stand for families and and trust me we voted you and for a reason and I thank you for taking that stand we stand with you tonight thank you after Kean Myers we'll hear from Valerie G good evening my name is Ken Myers today I'll be addressing policy 5756 I violent high school and I am the treasure for the class of 2026 I am also a transgender so this change of repealing the policy would have affected me repealing policy 5756 would be incredibly harmful to your students in your schools getting rid of this policy allows School staff the right to out students to their parents the term outing for those of you who don't know means informing people of a queer person's sexual orientation or new gender identity without them wanting you to do so coming out to someone especally especially family and friends can be very difficult for someone and forcing someone to come out can negatively affect them these are the students you are supposed to care about and keep safe by getting rid of this policy you will in turn create a space that allows for the harm and mistreatment of trans youth in your schools you will allow teachers who are there to teach to out their students their parents over a name change by allowing this you will also be allowing other students to gain a mindset that outing someone is okay outing can lead to violence poor mental health and Trauma even if you believe it won't have harmful effects it will allowing the outing of students can also have negative effects on home life parents can react negatively to the news and kick their children out hurt them or worse things like that have happened multiple times before and your students are not immune to that same behavior even if there aren't many of us it's still your job to protect us as a trend student myself it has greatly helped me to not have to worry about a teacher telling my parents that I was trans I was able to come out to my parents when I was ready I wish for all other trans students in violent public schools to be able to feel safe telling their teachers these things and have someone address them correctly coming out should be a queer person's choice not yours not a teachers not another students just theirs you were supposed to keep these students safe however what you want to do is the opposite thank [Applause] you Valerie gross amens Watson following Miss Watson we'll have Alise Watson good evening members of the board uh good evening residents of vland my name is amaris Watson I'm a resident of the city of vinand I'm was an ER nurse here at inspir vinand for 6 years I'm a mother baby nurse I take care of your children I take care of your emergencies or rather I took care of them um I would also like to express descent for the policy 5756 on the basis that it um supports a cultural delusion that I believe we find ourselves in As Americans right now and I'm prepared to give you an argument so in regard to delusion um transgender ideology is logically inconsistent the Oxford language dictionary defines delusion as a false belief or judgment about external reality held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary biology science has revealed that there are two Sexes based on chromosomal pairing at conception XX pairing is a female child XY is a male child these genders please I want I want them to hear me these genders are markedly different in makeup from hormonal makeup muscle and fat percentages reproduction organs to name a few written into each person's DNA is their chromosomal pairing meaning before any of us are born and long after a person's dead written all over their body and in their body is that they are male or female research from the National Library of Medicine asserts that each person normally has one pair of sex chromosomes on each of their cells we are each multi trillion celled organisms that's how many times it's written on me that I'm a woman that's how many times it's written on all of us what we are at Birth regardless of how you feel regardless of what you're experiencing this is a delusion and I'm here to speak the truth these are facts that science have revealed I'm not even talking about religion my faith didn't tell me this the science books told me this the study of the natural the material world through observation research and experiment these facts are then endorsed by reality if you look at me you see a brown woman my my anatomy suggests I'm a woman you can see this color tell me you can't I'm Brown the reality reality is not just what we perceive it is what we experience and in the transgender ideology reality is in conflict with experience which means that it's not actually science it's spiritual you've exited science when you're beginning to argue based off your personal experience and you've entered the realm of philosophy and in philosophy there is religion and and I could M Jesus it's spiritual once you exit science once we exit the facts of the experienced reality we have entered the spirit realm and I I believe in the spirit realm I'm a Christian my God you can't see him oh but he's real oh he's real and I believe he created me I believe he created you and my Bible is consistent with this reality because it says male and female ma'am I need you to thank you [Music] after Elise Watson we'll hear from Natalie Rivera good evening everyone my name is Elise Watson um I'm a teacher in the community and I am here to express my dissent of um policy 5756 Holy Spirit my biggest concern when reading the policy as others have expressed tonight um was how it does seem to leave parents on the outside of what is occurring with their children in school and as a teacher there is a responsibility that I do hold to the children when I am there with them but at the end of the the day I'm not a parent to those babies that are in my care and as much as I love them the responsibility and the ultimate decisions of their life are in the care of their parents so even out of respect for the students in our care that we love and we desire to honor and protect I'm not their parent at the end of the day so I have to give respect to an honor where it's due but with this policy being open I do see the connection of what it might bring an open the door to with further transgender curriculum coming down the pike into school district so if we permit the exiling of par parents in terms of having permission to be a part of their students lives what are we also agreeing to as we walk through this and that's all I have to say so thank you for your time after Miss Rivera we'll hear from Heather macgarvey good evening Natalie River and I'm from Logan Township and I'm here to support everybody from vinand and and all over New Jersey I'm going to say no to 5756 I'm going to be a little harsh I'm going to give you a hell no for [Applause] 5756 I want this this is this thing I'm going to say will solve the issue it'll solve the issue Genesis 1:27 so God created man in his own [Applause] image in the image of God created he him male and female created he them that's all you need to know let it ring out and violent today and and let the and let the influence of the Holy Spirit reign in this room tonight because God's influence is greater than any influence and you guys and vinin stand strong all over New Jersey we support you I drove from Logan Township to support you keep strong after Miss McGarvey we'll hear from Nick stoer hi my name is Heather McGarvey and I have been a lifelong resident of South Jersey and I just want to thank the board here for standing up for parents rights and even just many boards aren't even considering removing this policy but the tide is slowly turning um I am with the New Jersey project and I just want to make it clear that I don't know anybody up here I don't know where you guys got the idea that people were saying that somebody up here is from New Jersey project and they are not um I drove here from shimang everybody supports you guys in your belief as parents rights first we've reached a point in in society where things that weren't acceptable are now being pushed down our throats there is actually a teacher got up here and said I work for a public school and I am in charge of gay students in middle school if you're talking to children that are 11 to 13 years old about sex you should be investigated at the very least I'm I'm hoping you vote the right way and repeal this terrible piece of I don't know what you'd call it I wouldn't call it legislation because it's only a guideline it's not required there's no reason for this to continue on parents are the ultimate source parents love their kids more than anybody I am a mother of seven and nobody loves them more than me and these parents here love their kids more than you their teachers anybody else they brought them into the world they have cared for them and loved them to keep something from them should be criminal I just want to thank you for your time and I pray that you stay [Applause] strong after Nick after Nick stoer we'll hear from pastor Paula Doris I'm sorry hi I'm Nick staler I'm also from the New Jersey project and I don't know any of the school members up here I was asked to speak on behalf of the parents here um I just like to let you know that in 5756 allows a child to change per in their permanent record their name and their gender they also are able to tell the entire School including staff and teachers their new name and students they're all required to use this in your school if the staff the students and the teachers and the kids parents all know your new identity you're out you are not hiding anything from anybody it's only where it's going to come from and it is better that it comes from the staff than it comes from someone who you're that some from another kid or from another parent who know who who you know it is unfair to the parents to keep this information from them because we are right now in a mental health crisis it is a huge mental illness pandemic happening right now and you know what's comorbid you know what's and the mental health illness also has increased the suicide rate of Youth the only way that you can help kids by by preventing suicide is getting their parents involved with their mental health hiding mental health indicators for from parents makes you culpable in a suicide it you can this does not protect you this policy is not law this policy is nothing like the law the law is completely different the difference in the policy is is that no one in the law the law does not state that you have to keep confidential confidentially confidentiality from parents it is supposed to be confidentiality from staff and students but it's the reverse of that it is now you're hiding information from parents and it's not going to end well for the student because parents who are involved in their children's lives have more successful outomes than parents who aren't and most of the people want to know and children lie for a number of reasons it's not because they're afraid of their parents there's a million reasons why teenagers lie that's what they do I mean come on everybody you're telling me that you never lied to your parents as a teenager it's ridiculous so you don't want to keep this in Vital Information from parents because it could be an indicator of mental illness because right now the trans transg along with the mental illness that is rising also is the number of non-binary students right the number of non-binary students have since 2019 has risen at least 4,000% that's a problem and you and the teachers and the staff do not know the difference between a child who's just changing their name and a child who is at risk for mental illness so you need you're not protecting this the parents because right now and you're not protecting the students and you're certainly not protecting the teachers cuz they will be sued by parents when this goes in the wrong way thank you time's [Applause] up after Pastor Doris we'll hear from Julia Hankerson good evening to everyone here thank you Bard for having us here I just want to say is so many people came up and speak about many things in the Book of Genesis the Bible said in the beginning God in the beginning God before anyone's was created it was God the breath that we breathe in our body belongs to God it belongs to God and God created male and female in his own image in the image of God created he them male and female and what we're doing today with this agenda taking parents right but it started from way back when we took prayer at a school It Started from the White House when we legalize so many things that is against God but there will be a day when every one of us will stand before a living God and you will give an account because the Bible exceed any papers that you got in your heads right now the Bible exceed the White House it exceed the White House it is the word of the Living God and that is what we all will be judged for the word of God God bless [Applause] you after Miss Hankerson we'll hear from Ola Cheno hello I am Reverend Dr Julia henerson I also am a licensed clinical social worker and uh the first thing I'd like to I'm going to talk from a religious point of view because I think that sometimes we make these type of decision decisions based on religion but before that I'd just like to say as a as a social worker and a clinical social worker I've actually treated uh children who were trans and it's a very serious matter it's a process for them coming out and often times the issue is that they don't have a trusted adult that they can talk with that starts the process and if that's in the school the school has has to follow the process they can't just go and tell the parents because that could really be detrimental to the child now from a religious point of view Jesus said a new commandment I give you love one another as I've loved you so you must love one another one of the core Commandments of Judaism is love your neighbor as yourself but not just those two religions Muhammad Buddha Gandhi atheists agnostics Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr all teach us about love and the quality that permeates throughout all teachings and brings us together as one is love now most of you have heard of The Ten Commandments you know love God love your neighbor don't try to take your neighbor's stuff including their husband or their wife and so on in reading the Ten Commandments you will find that our heavenly father was teaching us to love and re respect each other now God himself provided us with the Ten Commandments and then the religious leaders of that day decided to expound expound on them by adding another 603 additional laws that can mainly be found in Leviticus which incidentally is where the scripture is found that is often used against lgbtq Folks by saying men who sleep with men is condemned but that phrase is translated in error the true translation is of that phrase is men who sleep with little boys are pedophilia and really doesn't that make way more sense now the most okay I you don't have to agree with me now the most utilized scripture in the Bible is John 3:16 for God so loved the world you all know that you Christians that he gave his only begotten son but here's the thing it says God so loved the world that includes everyone there is no exclusions today we as Christians have some big shoes to fill as followers of Christ I have to ask you to finish up please time love after Mi after Mr Cheno we'll hear from John Carlin good evening my name is OLG chernenko thank you for the attempt in the pronunciation I am a violent High School alumni and Lord willing I'm a future parent school students are going through a lot of changes confusions hormones Etc it is not an easy time for many the lgbtq community have even more difficulty navigating their identity their purpose and their value they need help and support through this journey of Life they do not need more confusion and more complication however these deep matters of Life are supposed to be dealt with parents at home not with insecure irresponsible underage kids in a locker room who are just as confused themselves as anyone else struggling to find themselves for those under the age of 18 parents are responsible to consent or decline what their children do yes we must maintain student rights to be themselves but we must also maintain the rights of parents parents are there to help and to protect their children if parents are not safe then they must be dealt with accordingly Case by case without dismissing the rights of all other responsible God-fearing parents speaking of God a verbal apology will not suffice but nonetheless on behalf of the church I apologize for any way that religion has hated you or hurt [Applause] you that was misguided people that was not God okay God does not condemn you or hate you God loves you anyway children need help processing their lives and identity and their feelings parents and other leaders in their lives are here to help with that education is crucial for our society but we must keep schools in their place schools have not and will not raise these children schools are at best here to support the children not further complicate their development parents are respons responsible to raise productive citizens and healthy adults schools are here to educate students and at best support their growth not complicated disconnecting students from their parents will disrupt the development and Foundation of these underage students not to mention that it will cause more issues at home than they may already face yes some parents may have tragically abused their children and they must be dealt with accordingly but at the same time some schools and teachers have also been abusers we don't take away teachers rights for the misuse of the few we must not take away parental rights for the abuse of the few if sir I have to ask you to sounds good please allow the rest of responsible parents to have their rights to raise their children the best they understand thank you very [Applause] much after Mr Carlin we'll hear from Nisar Padilla I uh attend Chestnut Assembly of God Church uh one day I'm going to have uh kids in a family and uh I just want to say before I say anything is that I love you guys you know no matter what you guys I have so much love for you guys and no matter where we maybe disagree on things or you know I don't accept certain things I still got so much love for you guys in such a such an amazing way and I'm sorry if anybody hurt you because we're supposed to love you guys uh I'm just I'm just talking to you guys I'm not bad I'm sorry but uh part of my testimony is I grew up Catholic and I had no relationship with God and uh towards High School I was a little bit atheist and I didn't really believe in God so I got the lowest point of my life in 2021 in August where I had anxiety depression all these thoughts that were not from me and I came to God I said you know what I'm following the Catholic religion for two and a half three weeks I had no encounter with God I said if you are real I'll follow you head on head on and he just encountered me with the Holy Spirit in such a supernatural way that anybody in this room can encounter him and have full freedom in his name before I came to Christ I had no identity I didn't know who I was when I found Christ I'm identity was in Christ we live in a country where you can't say the name of Jesus Christ and there's we live in a country where we cannot say Jesus Christ and I'm not going to be as ashamed to say the name of Jesus Christ and neither should our kids not a single person in this room should be ashamed to say the name of Jesus Christ each and every one of us have a soul in this room whether you know it or not we have a soul and one day we're all going to come face to face with the real living God Jesus Christ and what are you going to say to him what are you going to say to him in that time when you come close to him he loves each and every one of you guys even if if you don't know him I I tell you to just have a relationship with him get to know him and he'll change your mind on everything just like he did for me um I advise each and every one of you guys to really think about what you're doing before you make a decision I ask that you pray on it talk to Jesus get to know him get to know what he talks about in the Bible and I promise you each and every one of these kids need to be protected and one day I'm going to have a family that who knows you know with the way things are going nowadays I might have to homeschool them I don't want to homeschool my kids I want them to have interactions with other kids and other people so I advise you to just think about what you're doing thank you have a good night next speaker will be Wayne XY um hi my name is nazaro Pilla and I attend at the transformation church and I'm 15 I'm 15 a freshman at viin high school and I'm strongly against I'm strongly against our policy um parents are not a part of the problem it's a kids who want to act grown okay parents have the right to know everything that happens in school um I do not I do not want to be in a bathroom and feel uncomfortable and not safe for the transgender person there with me but boy and it's called A Woman's bathroom for a reason okay this also this also goes for the men's bathroom the problem we are having here is an identity issue your identity is found in Christ and Christ alone okay I am also against bullying I have stood up for friends over being bullied so I do not judge at all okay um I am a child of God and I stand in a Bible and the word of God a man's a man and a woman's a woman period okay like um please do not keep this policy 5756 thank you all after Minister zany we'll have David Abu good evening my name is Wayne zany viin New Jersey I am a retired teacher a former New Jersey Education Association representative and for over 20 years an adject professor at several colleges and universities in New Jersey I'm here to speak against 5756 the speakers tonight have been articulate they've been emotional they've been impressive and I am proud of my hometown of vinin New [Applause] Jersey I'd like to approach this from just a different perspective I see two issues here I see the issue of understanding sex and the issue of understanding gender identity and what I concluded is that this issue before us is part of the darkest chapter in America's educational history 100 years ago 100 years ago 30 states in America had practiced Force sterilization among women in Mental Hospitals and Progressive said that was the right side of History well that proved to be false and that's no longer practiced it is my prayer that gender identity will also fall for this reason the educational amendments Act of 1972 that we commonly know as Title 9 specified two sexes in defining women's equality and that was the rule of the land until in 2010 the president redefined Title 9 to include the fluidity of gender identity and the difference between the two is that sex refers to a biological science that is a proven fact as that so many people have said gender identity is a social science construct not based on [Applause] fact a few years ago Governor Christie doubled down with this policy that supported the idea of gender identity and this is what we have today with 5756 now I have here before me a synopsis of 5756 I've read this I ask time is up please I ask that those of you that vote that you take the following message to the governor and the message Mr zy I need you to please [Applause] stop Mr aru I thank you for trying I apologize that's okay that happens all right I stand here today and I thank you for putting this together and I want to thank everyone for coming but first and foremost I stand here to defending of the word of God I'm a man of faith I have four childrens and I'm against this policy yeah there is some that are hurting because of differences but the differen is in a it's in the mind it's a spiritual thing you have to understand love is love but that sister that was talking about love I don't know what kind of love she was talking about but what I'm saying is you must protect the youngest and the weakest of us at all times even in the Forefront when we're in the line we defend who that is weak and we don't leave no man behind but one thing I tell you we all will face the great Creator and we'll have to answer to these calls and all I say is the the Bible speaks of righteous judgment and we shall do so but hold it dear to heart that we must protect the weakest Among Us and I am sorry that those got hurt and I'm not here to judge I'm here to love I'm I'm sorry for the hurt and I'm sorry for the implications but I pray in Jesus Christ's name that you do a wise choice God bless you and good [Applause] night Madam president that's all I have yep going right Mr Yano motions or resolutions yes thank you uh we're going to group these together so I'm requesting discussion and approval regarding Personnel items 1.1 through 1.3 as noted on our agenda questions or comments seeing none do I have a motion so moved second roll call please Mr Costa yes Mr boner yes Mr fi yes Mr medo yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Miss kispa yes motion carries okay requesting discussion and approval regarding procedures and operations items two .1 through 2.6 as noted on our agenda questions or comments seeing none do I have a motion so move second roll call please Mr Costa yes Mr Bono yes Mr foki yes Mr medo yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs kispa yes yes motion carries request discussion and approval regarding buildings and grounds items 3.1 questions or comments seeing none do I have a motion so move roll call Mr Costa yes Mr Bono yes Mr foki yes Mr medo yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Mr Holmes yes Mrs kottis body yes motion carries requesting discussion and approval of Finance items 4.1 through 4.16 as noted on our agenda this evening questions or comments seeing none do I have a motion so move second roll call please Mr Costa yes Mr brono yes yes Mr fi yes but obain on 4.13 thank you Mr Medio yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs cottis spot yes motion carries 11b proposed items for review or discussion or adoption by board members approval of the second reading to repeal the following policy 5756 transgender students do I have any questions or comments yes some questions good yeah all right my first question um how is this policy not deceitful in school records paragraph page three of page four first sentence if a student has expressed a preference to be called by a name other than their birth name permanent Student Records containing the the student's birth name should be kept in a separate confidential file this file should only be shared with appropriate School staff members and cons after consultation excuse me consultation with a student so I ask you how is that not being deceitful all right to any administrator that would like to to to any administrator that would like to answer that question to help me understand it better um because as we both as we all witnessed this evening there's some disconnect there so I'm just I'd like to get an explanation on that one sure can you again just point me to which page which which item school records right absolutely superintendent so page four policy 5756 the very first sentence under the section school records so policy 5756 is a direct expression of the New Jersey law against discrimination which provides certain rights to students who identify or choose to identify differently this policy names exactly what the law provides a child a high school age student typically and the decision they can make our experience based on our social workers and work and and you were at a meeting recently where our social workers explained how typically we are guidance students to have conversations with their parents and students are encouraged to understand that by changing their record they may be exposing themselves because there are there are times when a parent can log in right now if parent logs into G is they'll see any name change that happens there so typically anything that occurs with name changes parents are involved in that process as the policy allows there's a confidential plan a confidentiality plan that is recommended to be put together our experiences that most often uh you know our teachers our social workers are able to accommodate a conversation between the child and the parent so I understand there are times though where that information is not revealed it's because it's in compliance with the way to law is written and our staff cannot be outside of that as uh has been stated earlier we must remain in compliance with the law against discrimination our civil rights laws Title 9 there's a series of federal and state uh guidelines that require us to follow those procedures so you know I wouldn't use the word the ter I don't agree with the word deceitful uh because no one is trying to be deceitful with uh families we're trying to support students who are going through a very difficult time thank you for clarifying that but the word deceitful was used many times this evening so just wanted to clarify that okay um another U Back to that same school records uh it also States if a school district changes a student's name or identity it must also maintain locally separate record reflecting the students legal name and sex assignment at Birth until receipt of documentation of a legal change of name or gender so we're asking are we asking our trained professionals as an Educators teachers Administration are we asking them to keep a separate file and why why would we keep a separate file if we didn't or if we were going to uh keep everyone inclusive and everyone involved in the [Applause] decision we maintain a Rec record of any change we have a student information management system there's one system that keeps it's an electronic record when a name change is created in that system there's also a historical component that keeps and maintains the original name this way sometimes children because of they might there might be a change of mind maybe there's a conversation with a parent and they choose to revert back to their original name that's in the system so maintaining a record of all names is required so it's not a separate it's not a separate record in excuse me excuse me I I listen to everyone now have some respect and let me answer the question that's being posed by our board member it is one system that includes all the information your child it's not a SE I the way you're reading it makes it sound like it's a separate location it's not it's all in our student information system which which is why I find fault in this policy um you know because it's confusing qu to be quite honest and it's not written correctly which is why we're here and we're discussing it right that but thank you for taking the time to answer that question in front of the public Mr HS quick question for Mr Danto should this policy be repealed this evening what's the guidance moving forward your legal opinion Mr Holmes and this is not punting in any way as a result of the apparent threat of litigation my communications with the board are protected by attorney client privileged I really can't discuss this with the board in in public and that's because of the threat of litigation If This Were a routine matter I certainly would answer as I've done many times any further questions another question follow up to that if this policy is repealed what are the next steps uh Mr danta Mr yannos thank you right as I mentioned in the earlier uh board meeting uh and also as indicated by our uh Association president at no time can our staff members be in opposition to the law so it would be my understanding that I need to provide our District employees our staff members with a standard operating procedure of how to address transgender students which would look very similar to the current policy because that is the way it's written in the law uh we districts have had other opportunities to look at changing language but that has gotten or run a foul of the law so it'll be it'll look very similar to current policy 5756 to Standard Operating procedure until we receive additional guidance uh when this court case is uh is litigated and there's a final resolution to it so in the meantime there has to be a protection for all of our administrators teachers social workers all staff who work with students and that'll look very similar to 5756 anything further Mr medo I can only speak for myself I'm not speak for any other board members but tonight I will be voting to get rid of [Applause] 5756 I'm sick and tired of hearing about it tonight no offense to anyone I'm sick and tired of hearing about it last month the sickest thing that I saw and hear oh I heard from the public I said I'm no I I'm not going to talk the problem with all of this is that we are concentrating and paying attention to something that never should have come up this is not the job of the school [Applause] system if if you really want to stop it in its tracks and you're you you're whatever you are you're a teacher you're a guidance counselor whatever you are is long as soon as a student says something to you say I'm sorry I'm not qualified to discuss it with you I refer you to my Superior I I really don't understand now we've been working I don't know what guance is when you went to school when I went to school they helped you to get into college they helped you to get jobs they they didn't tell you what doctor to go to for a sex change can I now we we have a school system where discipline is a problem in the 9 10 11 12 buildings and we have to work on that we have a school system where we have way too many students somewhere around 80% of them are not on grade level those are the things those are the things that we should be addressing so as I said yes I intend to move on to other issues that we have to address and this is done as far as I'm [Applause] concerned I would like to add that that um as a superintendent it is my responsibility to direct staff on how to address student issues whether they be students who are transitioning or students who are having challenges in whatever field so I will be providing that information to our staff it is my responsibility I know we you were given information about how to proceed that information will come from me and I look forward to having the support of the community because it's about doing this together the work and our teacher and our students because we want to have a very safe and welcome environment for all of our children okay this is discussion are we done with discussion okay do I have a motion and second for the approval of the second reading to repeal following policy 5756 do I have a motion in second so moved second Mrs body just a point of order since we had confusion some other time I just want to make sure that the board knows that a yes vote is to repeal a no vote is to sustain the policy and once Mr Buell announces the motion carried or defeated that said there can be no change of votes so perhaps you can pause for a moment in case somebody wants to consider before you announce motion carried motion defeated okay roll call Mr Costa sorry was there first and second um first of all I'd like to thank each and every member of the community um that came out to speak today I know that this is an issue that people feel extremely passionate about and I respect the decision the beliefs and the decisions of each and every family um however it is my belief um that we must protect the rights of every student in our school district particularly those students who were most at work risk um Everybody every EV every child correct um Advocates argue that transgender students have the right to privacy um regarding their gender identity policy 5756 supports the idea that a student's trans transgender status and and the details of their transition should be confidential shared only with individuals the student teaches I am not in a position to say that a student who confides in a trusted teacher guidance counselor school administrator should be outed out for that decision to try to talk to someone that they believe that they can trust in the school district um after reading the many reports after reading the many reports um issued by various organizations I've also um I believe that our students are certainly facing particularly in Cumberland County not just all students there are so many students facing many Mental Health crisis but particularly our lgbtq community our students do not have the access to the mental health that they need sometimes the only access they have is a trusted teacher a guidance counselor someone that they can talk to if they do not feel that they can go home and tell their parents the board has sat here and has been very respectful to every speaker tonight I'm going to ask that everyone here is at least respectful to each of these board members in Mammoth County in Mammoth C oh absolutely um as you as many of you know this same issue has has has caused a lot of uh school boards to attempt to either revise or to repeal policy 5756 particularly in Mammoth County um the issue of revising policy 5756 to include parental notification went before the court um The General Equity division of Superior Court in mouth County um the court in that instance issued an injunction um which approved um well essentially stayed the decisions of those school districts to revise their policies and the judges Rashel um judge Balman said that he accepted parent parents rights in deciding matters for their children but the state also had the right to prevent children belonging to protected groups from being harmed under the New Jersey law against discrimination bman wrote in the court order that the state demonstrated a reasonable probability of success on its claim that the amended policies will unlawfully subject these students to a disperate impact under the law against discrimination the statistical possibility that even one transgender student affected by the amended policies could run away from home or attempt to commit suicide is sufficient to tip the balance of equities in favor of the state Bowman wrote in his order I cannot take a chance or risk the life of Na even of of any of our students and I believe that this law having been already or I'm sorry this policy which has been a policy of the violent public schools for the last 10 years which has only caused guidance and support for our teachers administrators and students and has not harmed any student in any way as as far as I know because I have not heard one person speak of any harm of this policy I believe that it would if if as judge Bowman indicated if there is any chance that even one child could be hurt by repealing this policy I cannot support that so my vote is [Applause] no Mr Bono yes Mr fi yes Mr medo yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes before I vote let me just give some comments it is evident that as a board we need to take responsibility and accountability for the division exemplified this evening it is also evident that some of our community is uneducated and indoctrinated with falsehoods in a lot of scenarios that are not happening in the violent Public School [Applause] District since 2014 to this date this has not been an issue and if there was it did not reach the board level less than 1% of our students identifi which is why the majority is here tonight against the policy let me just commend our guidance counselors child study team workers social workers who we met with last week who gave us relevant relevant factual scenarios concerning our students they made it clear that they give our students the necessary tools to be comfortable enough to share what they're going through with their families from the beginning my prayer is that our students will still feel comfortable sharing their struggles whatever they may be with people that they can trust we must move forward my uh vote will be no for the [Applause] repeal Mrs kispa [Applause] yes motion carries it's seven to2 vote do I have a motion in SEC questions and comments are there any questions and comments for the approval approval of the itemized Bill list for December 2023 do I have a motion in second so move second everybody Mr Costa yes Mr Costa yes Mr Bono abstain Mr foki yes Mr medo abstained I wasn't on the board Mr Rivera yes Mr saana yes Mr Silva yes Mr Holmes yes Mrs kispa yes motion carries there are no emergent items there's no old business no new business board member comments I'm going to start with Mr foke nothing at this time Miss aasta U again I'd like to thank everyone for coming out today and expressing your views um I certainly respect everyone's views and um what I can say to our to all our students teachers um and for those students um who feel that perhaps today's vote um will not support them the law is very clear um that despite the fact that there is a repeal of this policy all students will be protected uh the superintendent teachers administrators will also support all students and will not tolerate discrimination um bullying against any child regardless of of who they are and what they represent or or what they I'm just a little bit um concerned because I do not want our students to believe that we don't care about them um that we don't sympathize with the hardships that they go through and um I certainly believe that as a whole um our our teachers our guidance counselors and our administrators are always there to support them and will continue to do so like they've done in the past so thank you very much and have a good evening Mr medo when I was elected I put a couple of things out and um the main one was there's a problem at the high school with discipline one person mentioned that here tonight uh we're looking at it we had an ad hoc committee meeting at the next committee meeting we'll be discussing with the assistant principles and the principles what changes can be made to improve discipline without discipline you can't have [Music] learning and if you look at our numbers I I believe our uh meeting last month it was glossed over but something like 85% of our students are not on level at the high school which is about as bad as it can be I'm not too sure that Camden and uh Newark or anywhere worse than that so that's uh one of the main things we have to look at and we also have to look at moving money around in our budget to give a little more in the way of rewards to the students who accomplish and a little less in the way of the students who don't it's a sad fact but that's how it has to be done thank you Mr Bono okay thank you to all our flag salute students from many's elementary and Walla school for honoring our flag um yesterday I met with some fellow board members superintendent Yano assistant superintendent Dr sne uh rosini Salo and Gina Mur at Memorial Middle School and Johnson School was a very busy month for uh for me and with the board um we met with students from grade levels 6th 7th and eth to me they were student ambassadors they were um it was very enlightening experience for me to listen to these honor students excelling that are all excelling in their academics they're well- behaved and overall really good kids we were there to get feedback from their school experience um for example one question to them was if you had one thing that you could change what would it be well let me tell you these kids knew exactly what they wanted some of the comments were better lunch food options a hot breakfast deadlines for more lenient uh assignments and projects dress code allowing them to express themselves throughout uh through themselves Express themselves through their clothing excuse me be more respectful to one another more enrichment classes to hang with friends build better Community within the school more help from their teachers extend study hall to get more work done outside uh activities better Middle School athletic programs and offerings and my favorite was less homework all right these were kids expressing what they could do better parents you would have been very proud of these kids a good amount of them knew exactly what they wanted to be in life what high school they wanted to attend what university they wanted to attend and what career options talking sixth seventh and eighth graders it just was very impressive and one uh student that stood out to me was a student from Memorial School the student wants to be a writer the student even wrote their first murdery Myster book mystery book and the library Arian from Memorial School actually published it and made a copy that's in their library for this student yeah awesome so our violent upper administr administrators engaged in conversation with them on many topics and listen to their words I'm glad I attended the student work session what a great example of a positive reinforcement so students and parents you're a vital part of your child and its education we don't leave it up to the just the Educators it starts at home okay so if you want to make a positive change this could be your shot kids work harder with your studies behave in all that you do in school show respect to your fellow classmates your teachers your administrators okay and then you could be maybe part of the positive change in your [Applause] school um couple more things and I'm done I promise I'd like to wish everyone a healthy I would like to wish everyone a healthy safe and happy President's Day as we respect pay respect and honor to our past and present leaders of the Free World the United States of American president I'd also like to salute Black History Month as we honor the celebrations and sacrifices as we honor the celebrations and sacrifices of African-Americans who help shape our shape our nation and I'll finish with this and I quote the function of an education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically intelligence plus character that is the goal of a true education Dr Martin Luther King thank you Mr Rivera good evening everyone I'd like to thank these these safety patrol from many and from Wallace for leading Us in the flag salute um amazing things are happening at the high school at the middle school level I'm so proud to be part of this school district that we have so many programs that are available to our kids so many ways that they can see themselves in the future in these fields that we're creating these courses and these programs we're creating in our uh School District tomorrow when the bell rings all all students no matter who you are will be protected the same will be treated the same because the notion because the notion that people only treat people well because there's a policy in place is ridiculous the notion that people won't know what to do do is ridiculous if you're human and you're a kind loving person regardless of what policies in place you will be a human and you'll still be loving and [Applause] caring no policy can teach that I'm a product of these School of this school system I am a lifelong resident of violent kids are not treated well in our school syst system and in our community because there's policies in place it's because we're from violent it's who we are we love each other we respect each other I can't speak for other communities but I can speak for violent we love each other and the notion that all hell will break loose tomorrow is irresponsible to be spreading right it's inciting for something to happen so I will not stand for that for those kind of comments and for anyone that hasn't been paying attention for the last three years you know where I stand you don't watch the Youtube then you don't sit in those seats I am all for parental rights parental rights are absolute [Applause] 100% as a father of children in the school system I expect to know every detail that's going on with my children whether you agree with it or not no one is going to be outing anyone it is not the policy of this board to not create a policy where children are going to be outed no it is the policy of this board to continue caring and loving and taking care of our children of educating our [Applause] children [Applause] good night God bless you Mr [Applause] sabran found some interesting research on 5756 in 2019 more than 500 school districts approved this policy believing it was mandatory it was not people saying it was mandatory was a outside Consulting Group and I don't know about anybody else up here but the more I read it the more I didn't like the way it came down so hard on parents rights being Abridged I I'm a dad of two boys and I always told them there is no problem that you can have or no issue that you can confront that we can't work on together now maybe I'm too naive but I think that it's possible that we can have laws against discrimination and not AB Bridge parents' rights so if someone wants to replace 5756 let's see it thank you Mr Silva nothing at this time superintendent thank you all board members received an update on NJ GPA that was provided by our curriculum team I want to share the community and everyone who's watching on YouTube and tell your friends 80% of the students at the high school are not that that is false that is a that's the wrong information it's it was listed on a presentation 80% of the students who took the second part of the NJ GPA we're not graduation ready but by this point there are multiple Pathways for a student to achieve graduation ready status so the number is much smaller than that yes we do have some instructional challenges at the high school but it's not 80% on the whole grade the whole school that's that's not accurate and I want to just clarify that right here we can do a follow-up presentation at the next board meeting uh but I encourage all of our board members please look at the documentation that was sent to you it is very clear in there as far as the the way student become students become eligible for graduation beginning in 11th grade they have multiple opportunities to pass the NJ GPA and at the same time if take the uh sat PSATs other assessments they can become uh they can qualify under that the second pathway and if they don't pass the ngj GPA or have an SAT score that qualifies you there's a third pathway which is our CRTs our high school staff has already submitted uh multiple CRTs for review by the the state so our students are on the path to to graduation to Mr Rivera's point I agree you know this is this community loves their students that's why since 2010 there was a transgender policy that was in effect the board saw it appropriate to adopt a policy at that time uh but tonight we even heard kind of a change of of language if a child expresses a concern or or or or or needs support from their teacher we heard it's stated up here don't don't talk to me about it send it to an administrator that's the wrong message that's why people are worried that's exactly the opposite of what I my mandate is to allow we have to support our families I I I too believe everything will be in order tomorrow our high school staff will have everything prepared for our children I've heard only but nothing but care and concern but I have heard from the kids directly at the high school who feel that this is leaving them Twisted in the wind without those supports I know we'll do a great job with them I know our high school staff are going to really step up they're already doing the work every day but I wanted to be clear that the message that I'm sending is do not just pass the issue on to the next person support our students embrace them because if you pass them on that'll kind of confirm what we've heard as a as a as a negative outcome of this whole process so I encourage everyone to just take a deep breath we're going to get it together we're going to support our kids we're going to do what's right for them because it's the law it's what we have to do and as a superintendent we have to make sure that we are in compliance with the law and I know our Board of Education will also support what we're doing for our students so I thank you uh for the opportunity to speak this evening and I had a bunch of items we had a great time at Memorial and Johnstone next week pill and Wallace school uh when our board members get to hear our babies speak they hear uh just the light and the opportunity that's out there the amazing you know just conversations we're having where kids are telling us I'm going to Arizona State University and I'm going to study this exact thing I'm going to Harvard I'm going to Yale I'm going to be a writer I'm going to produce this I want to be a social media influencer for positive messaging it's just incredible what our kids can do so I see it as my Miss uh my mission along with our our team that's here tonight to bring people together and kind of just be the glue our schools are the glue of the community we want to bring everyone together in a positive way so I encourage everyone for being out here tonight although we may agree I know we all love our kids and that's what's important I want to thank um all of our students that came from many and Wallace for leading us in our flag salute it's always good having them here I want to thank Administration for answering our questions from one of our last presentations they're very quick to get us the information that we requested um on January 29th Mr Rivera Mr Bono and I attended the induction of 24 new members to the National Honor Society it was really great to see that congratulations to all of you for our new CTE program for the continuation and addition of it I am so excited about that I can't even begin to tell you we've been waiting a long time for that and it's going to be here and it's going to be in conjunction with Rowan so I'm happy about that to everyone who watched attended and spoke tonight thank you I wish we had this kind of crowd when we're doing presentations on our budget or presentations on our student development we don't get that before I go any further every board member here believes in the protection and rights for every single student over the past month many groups and individuals have reached out both positive and negative many of the board members sitting here tonight did their due diligence by doing extensive research on their own many parts of the policy have been misrepresented as stated by many this policy is non-mandated and redundant school districts are still required to adhere to every part of the New Jersey lad law regarding all students if a student is afraid there are Protections in place for those students notific ation and decisions will now be made by Central Administration I've heard numerous comments over the past month about suicide rates I've done a lot of research with that I believe the lowest rate is among those whose parents know or were notified with the higher rate among students whose parents are not notified I believe the highest or close to the highest rate of su student suicides are among those who are bullied and honestly why isn't that important and why aren't we talking about that simply put parents have rights to know what's going on with their own child they have a right to see their child's record it's odd that parents must sign a child to leave school early get working papers go on a trip change course schedule be given asperin parents are notified if their child is depressed or threatened suicide but they are not notified if their child wants to wants to be referred to or wants to change Sexes it baffles me one more thing people have dis misconception that board members are paid that is not true many people have no idea that most of these board members my board members spend several hours a month between meetings and school-based events and functions they care about each and every student and the district in addition to their family lives to their full-time job or whatever else they may be involved with what is not okay is what several of my board members have been dealing with for the past month intimidation harassment bullying lies attacks on our characters all because we didn't all agree thank you to the board my board for doing your due diligence every member of it and doing what you believe is best for the entire district and students with that God bless you all have a great night do I have a motion to adjourn second second all