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uh what I did is I took the took the liberty of updating a tax bill so this slide I like because it says if our if the County's eav goes up um and you saw like sometimes the eav goes up seven eight percent the value of the property in the district and sometimes it only sometimes it goes down three percent if the eav goes down the tax rate goes up so we can still get what we got last year the 110 million plus a little bit more but if property values go up then the tax rates come down and people's homes are worth more and they're just paying more taxes on the higher assessed value or they're paying the tax rate on the higher assessed value so this just the tax rate comes down the eav in our counties goes down then the tax rates go up so here's my updated tax bill um which as you see here this is a home in the district that is worth its fair market value is 303 thousand dollars so it's eav is worth is worth one third of that or a hundred one thousand dollars and then you can see here the different taxing bodies uh for this homeowner so we've got the school district at about 6.35 percent um goes to the school district or 6431 dollars a forest preserve their taxing rate is 0.162 or for this homeowner 160 dollars will go we'll go the uh Forest Preserve so at the very end the whole tax rate for this homeowner is 9.35 percent and their total bill will be nine thousand four hundred dollars of which the school district is about six thousand dollars so you can see why a lot of people are very uh very um irritated they like to stay up interested interested what did you say interested I said irritated I thought I heard interesting you can look for whatever word you want but it's irritated I assure you the one point and I I know several board members have heard this but as you look at the school district's tax rate in the finance facility committee committee last year they really wanted us to point this out on the tax bill it says that our school district 0.3 but you know other surrounding districts are between you know maybe four and a half and five and a half percent but uh the the issue there is we have outstanding bonds so our tax rate is actually comparable to our neighbors when you look at our operating tax rate is actually 4.76 percent but because we have bonds and interests we need to pay to the tune right now I believe we've got about 235 million dollars in outstanding referendum dollars we need to collect 1.59 percent in a levy pay our debt so that that's that 1.59 it's about a 36 million dollar payment per year that we're paying so our tax rate of 6.35 is actually 4.76 which is a decent amount for the surrounding areas then you have to add the 1.59 in addition because of our our borrowing and can I just reiterate something yeah sorry just so people are aware when when I like is down because the 4.76 is operating so when people say where where is my tax money going or why isn't it going or what's it doing for the schools the 1.59 out of that is paying off the mortgages basically for for buildings that now need maintenance on top of everything else so yeah just sorry so another way to look at that is homeowner on Earth rather than 6 431 if we didn't have the outside debt they would only be paying 4 700 dollars to the school district for so it would their Tech and when potentially could that happen uh 2034.

we'll have our bonds paid [Laughter] um call do you recall the other questions the other week talking about how we wanted to look at decreasing fees and then we also talked about how we um what it would do if we did not if if the levy held steady or if the if we didn't Levy we saw all those dollars and we saw what they do what the consequences of that are and I and I brought that up because last two slides here are going to be my about the life Levy what would that do and that'll give some context for that projection Jared it looked like you have another question well I'm just going to say you know I mean just again you know we have a duty to do here and what we don't want to do you you and I live through this right and so if we're going to come here and say hey we're not going to vote for a tax increase don't do that to another board like don't dump on them about you know we're sitting here having to do a bunch of cuts from a previous board and you don't get to tell me it's about don't I'm not telling you how to bore I'm not telling you how to vote I am telling you to dump on somebody else well I mean if the truth hurts but but what I'm saying you vote how you want to vote but what I'm saying is we have we have a duty to make this actually make sense so if you're going to do that I'm not telling you not to do that I'm telling you then then I look forward to seeing your list of cuts which is called reality but so I'm looking forward to your reality that's that's all I mean because if all you're going to do is just say well I'm going to vote no then you're relying on all the rest of us to govern that's what you're doing you can hate that but that's the reality unless you're coming with a list of cuts so that we can have the discussion about whether we will then then that's a real discussion about hey let's okay we're gonna done we're gonna cut whatever it is eight nine million dollars that's fine then that's a real discussion but if all you're doing is saying I'm gonna vote no so everybody else can govern that's not a real that's not reality the uh the base assumptions which assumes that we Levy uh actually we Levy two percent additional every year and if you look at here the revenue columns at the top again the levy falls under the local Revenue so if you see last year we got all 118 million which 106 million was the levy property tax this year in um or I'm sorry in 2022 we got 110 million so eight million dollars came from other local sources this year we're projected to get 117 million and then the year after that 129 and if we uh if we continue to see that two percent notice how the local revenues .95 that's because the Levy's going up two percent every year so the local revenues are projected to be the full full Levy what we can do and you'll notice then on our Surplus deficit the blue line for year what our Surplus is because of dollars that we budgeted both and Federal so now let's look at uh when the board says what if we add no additional new Levy and that's what this second assumption is the the FY 22 what we're leving right now is not for next year 2025.

so in 2025 do you notice the local revenues go down to 0.45 percent and they go down to 0.52 and then 0.61 that's because we're holding the levy flat we're not adding any we're not getting two percent additional so what that does in 2025 is it actually takes our fund balance where before in 2025 we had a 3.1 million dollar Surplus now we're at a 1.6 million dollar deficit because we don't have the extra 1.6 million dollars from the levy and then the next year if we continue to hold the levy flat we have an additional 2.73 million that we would to cut from the book and then in 2027 if we held the the Levee flat for a third year we would have an additional 5.2 million dollars we would have to cut from the budget that year two two things I'd like the board to know about this is number one is that when you hold the levy flat and I didn't really talk about this a lot but the the what you're allowed to get the extension next year is based on the extension the previous year so if you hold the levy flat then you that's cumulative so for instance if we were only to hold the levy flat for one year and lose that 1.6 million dollars we would have to make budget cuts so we don't have a deficit budget but the truth of the matter is that every year after that if we went back to levying normal we would always be 1.6 million dollars short every year it accumulates we would never be able to make up that amount because left it on the table and said we don't want to Levy it since we didn't Levy it it was not extended to us and we can never realize that again and if we held the levy and no Levy it wouldn't be 1.6 million short it would be 4.7 million short because we wouldn't have the 3.1 million surplus Surplus correct and this that's only for one year and I know Dr Sparrow and I were talking about this earlier Jared 2 in a previous conversation that's cumulative so we'd have to cut 1.6 million this year 2.7 million and 5.2 so over three years of holding the levy flat we would lose 9.58 million dollars in three years and that cumulative because now we can never recapture that the extension amount because we never claimed it to begin with correct so I hope that I feel like we made a little bit more uh leeway this year from last year that's a lot of information of school budgeting but the importance of the levy and the Dynamics of the levy so uh this is just for information today I'd be happy to take any questions you have but this would be coming to the board for action on December 5th with we would also have a public hearing about the truth and Taxation which this district has not done that since 2010.

you just gave us a master class you know when we go to the uh triple a conference they're going to have a class just like this one yep yep do you do you have time by December 5th if if a board member if one of us reaches out to you and says hey I don't want to go the route of the levy I want to go the route of cuts do you have time to have a conversation with them about what cuts you could um possibly explore or fees you mentioned raise and fees Miss Doyle or raise and fees think that I think that I'd want to involve my my boss in on that one that one too so I think docs barlin and probably the cabinet would all those are the types of decisions oh I don't disagree but from I'll refer I'll rephrase do you have if one of us reaches out to you do you have the ability to give options no not without any conversations though yeah so you you don't have the ability to come up with a list oh we have the ability to we have not had that discussion right that's what I'm asking so if some if one of us says Hey listen I'm I'm not if I turn around to you tomorrow and say I'm a no um I'd rather look at the list you can you can give me a list before December 5th before December we could always come up with a list okay correct thanks I just wanted that's all I wanted to know thank you so this question really is am I going to reach out to you and ask about Cuts Dr petsky and these projections do you include increases in state funding funding you'll see it's going up four percent per year uh this year it ended up going up about 9 9 because of our uh the tier tier uh but I'm keeping that at uh I'm keeping four percent when that one there is a projection where we hold that level that's with the no new ebf projection but I didn't present that one today but this one the base scenario and the no new Levy is evidence-based funding being held at a four percent increase every year are there any other questions for Dr petsky on this item so I just want to clarify so this factors in the four percent increase in ebf is that correct uh both of them do thank you assumption but it's no new Levy so it's only the two percent I guess I just wanted okay hearing no other questions we'll move on to item 9.6 is an informational item regarding where we are with looking at a new student information system Dr Kincaid I'm sorry Dr Kincaid I'm sorry about this whole situation right this is the thing there is um so we do not have a choice of moving forward with a new student information so as we listen and discuss um our options and moving forward just please keep that in the back of the mind um I would not happen to ever watch you bring this presentation to any of you at this point of the year but we have no options um so as you know we learned on July 20th that Tyler sis would not be supported moving forward for the 23-24 school year for our particular District now Tyler says is one piece of a very large puzzle of utilization that we currently use for Tyler Technologies the decision of the company not to support Tyler sis does not influence the other products that we currently utilize so that will continue so we're really just focused on a new sis at this point um so with that then Tyler also announced a partnership with Infinite Campus moving forward so what happened is we took the information that we received at the end of July and attended a variety of meetings in August through the process to learn more about what that partnership would be and then also to hear how that would influence us specifically once we attended those meetings we decided we needed to really cast a wider net so we met with our district sis we met with technology we met with our Administration to discuss what would be those steps forward from there what we started to do in September was then talk with our oea and oespa really focusing on our stakeholders that were most impacted by this decision of a new sis at that point we looked at what those stakeholders groups would be and we pushed out a survey to our entire District we did push out all of these individual surveys and shared the links not only through a individual email but also through our Communications Department in our Friday update to our staff so we gave any staff member the opportunity to provide feedback of what was important to them in an SIS related to these topics you can see we were very fortunate to receive 561 responses from our staff very proportionately to the membership up corresponding to that group some from that information we formulated like what our high priorities were in looking at new vendors anything from communication our teachers are building admin special ed everybody expressed the interest to be able to individualize email families through sis email the class email multiple classes that was something that was very important as was having parent and student access we really encourage especially the secondary level our students to check their grades and missing assignments so we wanted that interactivity that we currently have with our students and families also essential with our teachers is compatibility with Google Classroom that essentially is serving as our LMS right now our teachers are posting assignments completing assessments so right now we have compatibility in terms of transfer of class rosters graded assignments in Google Classroom so our people teachers don't have to like double enter grades both in Google classroom and in the essay online registration two years ago we went to an online registration model to make it easier for our parents and families to submit information year to year so we had quite a few elements from our different stakeholders that we were really looking forward for as we looked at our vendors from there we also put out the requests for people to participate so we wanted to make sure that we had representation at different levels we have an early childhood wrap we have an elementary junior high high school we wanted to make sure that we had not only at the levels but also the roles and responsibilities so we have teachers we have counselors we have secretaries registrars we have District admin building admin we wanted to make sure that we had people from all of our specialized Focus areas of special ed El health services and then at the district level we wanted that representation in addition when all of that was said and done we have 52 members on our committee so it is pretty large um but we did then have the opportunity to um hold our review sessions um through a vendor review process um remotely so we um essentially put out a platform that allowed anyone on our committee to submit questions we did a an hour long vendor review where our vendor demoed their product we provided the feedback to the vendor of what those essential topics were that we were looking for as part of Asis after the our demo then we asked all the questions that the committee provided then we also gave the um committee the chance to submit questions via a survey and from there we reached back out the event to the vendor to get additional information so we then were able to follow the committee with additional videos or resources one of our vendors was able to provide a sample login so they could go in and maneuver around the product these are the four vendors that we did have come in and meet with our committee members at this point we are in the last phase of feedback from our committee so when each of the vendors presented we did have the opportunity to talk about kind of what a core product would be and then what are those essential items that we need because we want to look at a similar product across we don't want you know to look at systems that are not comparable because as you can see all four products have different modules and different opportunities um so what we decided kind of based on the committee feedback was that we had to have reporting both at the teacher school and District level with all of our reports that our teachers want to push out that are where secretaries and admin want to be able to look at what we have to do in terms of state and federal compliance so reporting was one key issue learning integration with Google Classroom the online registration the messenger with email scheduling and then professional learning in terms of we wanted to be able to have resources ongoing available to our staff members so with that um that's at that point where we are um we are as I mentioned very very close to making the final recommendation of a vendor um all four vendors we would have kind of a transition period from the point where we signed the contract through 6 30.

we have to run some overlap in terms of Tyler assists where we currently are and a new vendor because we have to not only migrate all of the data but we also have to start training our staff we cannot wait until we come back in August and we cannot wait till July 1st to migrate our data so we would be coming on 12-5 with that final recommendation we would like to sign that contract as soon as possible to start the migration of data that's what we would start first and then we would start the training of Staff in the spring so the next kind of wave after the final selection is in terms of meetings we have our specialized sis special ed Health once we have our final final vendor and then all of our planning from here future integration that we've talked and seen as part of our four possibilities revolve around Food Service online payments kind of that voice communication that we currently have special ed in Human Resources we are not focused on bringing those third-party systems in at this time but it's part of that conversation and planning of what we could bring into an SIS recommendation but right now given our timeline this is just thoughts to the future of how we could streamline resources and supports but these are identified areas of potential rapid products with current third-party vendors question so are you ready for for are we ready for questions I I would be more than happy to answer any questions well I'm just real salty right now about the whole thing so because I was here the first time when we went from what did we have before we had Tyler and I that was just a whole process so to have to go through that again I'm sorry but my question is is Tyler giving us a refund a rebate under all the trouble that we have to go through are we getting any discounts on the products that was that are staying with them I I just um so we will have access to their sis through the end of our current contract um in terms of moving forward and some of your other questions that would go to Dr putsky because that will no longer be an SIS product that we would be using with Tyler technology so that would really focus on them so I do not have that no I do not have that number I only have one quick question and that is so it says recommendation for action on 12 522 you're I'm assuming that means information on 12.5 and then we're going to vote on our first meeting back in January is that correct or are we doing both on info 12 5.

so right now or are we not even voting on it you're just telling us no no I ideally um it would be it well no no no no I'm pretty sure we have to vote on it but yeah sure it will be because the cost for any of this new system will be a new cost right um so the while we have an SIS budgeted in our current uh probably be additional it's an additional cost in order from whenever we sign in through until 6 30. so it would really be for not only the product but the approval of the additional funds in order to migrate the data and train our staff so so is this information and vote on 12-5 yes yes so information well it's further information so the information is not now well we don't know which one we're going with it is you're going to be telling us which one you're going to go with and we're going to vote on at the same time right because we don't know why like we don't know why we went but you know what I'm saying so 100 right now can't get into Tyler um so I followed up on your question and we did not have any um Tyler downtime that day that we were informed of so I'm not saying we do not have Tyler downtown just not on that particular day I reached out to RSI and be very surprised but part of the reason that it's important to have this approved on 1205 is because if we don't we wouldn't if we didn't have this approved until mid-January it takes over it's eliminating a month of work opportunity that we have to get this work done correct correct okay we could not start any type of migration until after a contract was signed I just wanted to clarify and wanted the heads up no surprises prizes so this is uh it's it's kind of Two and a Half question so one is a point of clarification for me I you're saying it's only that that the sis so what are the other Tyler systems that we will continue to use infinite visions okay so infinite Visions is currently used for human resources and finance uh okay and then Tyler Tech does versatrad as well what was the last one versatrans our transportation okay so I noticed that power schools is listed on the vendor list if that is the same company how are we currently using them well I mean we are not using PowerSchool for sis so Dr patsky how I it's on our vendor list College schools it's a it's a I don't know if it's the same it's Pierce is not the same it says power schools unless I read it wrong I I was pretty sure it said I can look into that one but PowerSchool actually has a lot of they've got a lot of different systems okay and so in reviewing the vendor contract report I I kind of pointed out maybe like five different systems that I didn't know whether or not they when we adopt this new one would it be redundancy that we can potentially decommission something the else that we're also using and that's part of the future discussion got it so right now we're just looking at sis because we have to um make sure everything is in and working but there are um especially with certain of the vendors that we're looking at they do have some systems that would be able to fold in and replace um so that would be our next steps but not the initial cost I was trying to save money initially but initially it's going to be a new cost no matter what so what I've been told from all four vendors that we have the ability to add and delete modules um at different points throughout the contract but right now to try to replace an SIS and run concurrent systems over the next six months makes sense um I would need other departments too do what you're asking no no we will definitely look into that as soon as I get it um and sis is up and working um because right when we obviously roll on December or July 1st then we also come into not only a new school year but then also uh State reporting and ensuring all of our state data that they've talked about before is accurate July August and September is essential for those times um we actually had to have some conversations with Tyler because they had initially told us that it would end on 8 30 which is not in alignment so um we requested the extension of that no I get you 100 I'm not 100 we are trying to go as quickly but as thoroughly as possible I get it in this process and um Mrs similton I definitely faith and I started right after that transition was trying to come to fruition so while we were not part of the initial decision we were definitely part of the um rollout that struggling too so um we're trying to get ahead of the curve right now okay and Eugene just answer your question we use uh PowerSchool

foreign but I'm going to give Cameron just another minute here if that's okay we are Live on YouTube and the meeting is being recorded um if you choose um as you call the meeting to order it would be helpful for the public for us to have a live interpretation announcement for those watching on YouTube so much Cameron um I think before we start if it's okay um given our audience would you please start with the interpretation information is the numero degrees thank you so much um thank you everyone for taking time out of your day this is our first meeting um until we start with business I think um if we'd like to first introduce ourselves I know everybody's here based on the participant list but I think it might be a good idea just to go on record and state your name and uh which district you're representing um can we go ahead and start with Adam's uh Lori Goldstein president of the Board of Education of Adams 12.

probably wondered we're gonna go ahead and get started everyone can take a seat and if anybody needs translation in Spanish I believe our translator is here okay just so everybody knows all right we're going to start off with our land acknowledgment crane school district understands that our community of schools is located on the ancestral land of the hodam Jude and nakumiel Odom people who descended from the Hohokam and have inhabited these lands since the time immemorial the hodam whose name translates literally to people are a vibrant culture and Community spanning countless Generations into the past continuing to thrive in the present and carrying a powerful Legacy for Generations into the future with this acknowledgment the Creighton School District formerly recognizes that the traditional care and keeping of these lands by indigenous people as an aspirational model of community stewardship that we are committed to honor with practices policy and human relations um Miss Michaela can you lead us into the pledge nation under God activism all right we have Mr Campos Ms Ayers myself Miss McCaleb and Miss Mick Jeffrey here we want to welcome everyone to tonight's meeting and remind the audience of the request to address board cards that must be completed and submitted to the board secretary if they wish to speak to an agenda item board policy provides for two cards White cards to be submitted in order to speak to an agenda item and blue cards to be submitted in order to speak during public comments due to open meeting law board members are not allowed to address items that are not on the agenda this is per policy bedh all right I move the governing board approved the agenda as presented again all those in favor hi hi perfect all right that brings us over to public Commons I have two and two agenda we're gonna go ahead and start with Dr Silvia Herrera three minutes please it's okay I'm uh giving her an opportunity first she's the other speaker yeah of course yeah that's is this um Carmen Prieto okay we'll go ahead and start with um good afternoon everybody my name is Carmen Prieto I know um I don't have children but I have grandchildren in the school district and everything and I do appreciate this I mean that I will be able to speak everything must be used my concern about my neighbors my lot we live on 1631 East Weldon Avenue on the trailer park that we have been all notice an eviction of 108 days which comes out in April the 1st school's not done at that time and my concern is for the children that they're going to drop into the middle almost at the ending of the school is there any way we can get your support with your help and everything and maybe we can go to one of the courts that they do advise us to extend the time especially for the children children right now are traumatized uh one of my neighbors her little girls that has special needs uh wakes up in the middle and I just dreaming that they're tearing down to our place and we need emotional we need back support I mean the kids are not even thinking of holidays or anything like that parents aren't thinking they're either festive in the holidays because they have to get the money so we can just all move out and when this has been our home I've been in my home for 11 years she's been in her home uh 12 13 years others have been their home for 20 years 28 years and they're gonna demolish our trailer park and we do need all your support we want all the support especially for the children mentally physically one of my neighbors or the other one she just told me she wanted to come but she was so upset because they stole her cell phone and she just cried and everything that she felt it's in her backpack they don't let him get him out of course and uh she's been bullied and teachers are not doing anything it's bad enough that we have what we're going through and then being bullied at the school it's not fair for the child and we need mostly all your support definitely need your support for these children for our parents ah anything to help us to extend the time so the kids won't have to drop off a school because there's I'm sure it's not just her child we have up to maybe 30 50 kids in that area and that would be a big drop for you guys too big loss let's take them all at one time out of the school we don't know where we're going yet we don't know what time we have a meeting also on a trailer park on Thursday because we have people from the city and see what they're going to support us with but we would like to have somebody to go or to the meeting and see what is going on so that I can understand what we're going through all the parents will be there on Thursday at six o'clock on that Welton park at 1631 East Walton at the basketball court we have a meeting there and I do appreciate them helping any I hope you see this are going in for our kids see we're worried about the kids again traumatized and they won't say nothing I'm gonna go well we're going to kick this out whatever and they think and then they get bullied whatever no thank you so much um I'm really sorry for what's going on but thank you for letting us know and I would like to add that to carvajals available and reaching out so make sure you go ahead and connect tonight thank you Dr Sylvia Herrera good evening um thank you for the opportunity to uh to speak to the issue of the displacement of mobile home park residents um this is just one example of the many mobile home parks that are in your district and so I wanted to bring it to your attention uh the possibilities of other mobile home residents and children and families that are in your District that are on the verge of being displaced as well uh this is something that we're seeing throughout the city and um so some school districts have lost up to 2 000 students um up in uh North Phoenix because of the displacement uh it's a problem they need your support um it's uh is something that we've identified so far probably about at least 10 parks in the district and so that means you know hundreds of children that are uh you know basically nowhere to go right now with the uh crisis in the housing market there's nowhere to go right now uh residents are paying maybe 500 a month for their um mobile home park um rental space because they own their mobile homes and there is nowhere the most affordable place it's not even affordable for studios in the area or 1500 there's nowhere for these families to go we're also working with the with the city to address this problem but we need the support of the school districts to say you know what what can we do to help these families what can the city do to help these families and there's other residents that are here tonight as well because they're all concerned uh what's going to happen a lot of them have lived in the parks for decades not just and so it's been generations of students that have come through your school district it's not just the students that are enrolled now but it will affect your School District press it thank you thank you so much Alejandro see buenas noches is um classes in Mr Australia vamos much customers um foreign is yes my memory is not so good but from what I'm hearing uh and I'm sure hopefully understood what you're saying is he's here with the mo he lives in the mobile home park and he's most concerned for the children that live there that are going to get displaced correct okay so uh as a taxpayer as somebody that's been here a long time best he's just voicing his concern again as the other people were for um the kids that live in that in that area and then in this place and that's his biggest concern that was kind of like a short summary in each sentence thank you all right um that brings us to 4A superintendent report well good evening Madam president members of the board and our wonderful Community what a lovely turnout I have so many things to share tonight first of all we have a McKenney vento act that does indeed work to ensure stability for our children in school and then we will work with any social services that we can can help with in terms of any other aspect so Yvonne Carvajal I know is out there saying hello raise your hand Yvonne so we will work with work on that I wanted to share first of all that one of the Department of Education um a deputy superintendent uh wrote The Following email thank you for sharing Creighton's work yesterday at the SEL PLC I want you to know that every time I hear you share I move to do more and do better the work that Creighton has done and continues to do is both courageous and inspiring I absolutely love the belief statements of Who You Are descriptors they are also real and authentic not the usual education jargon or sometimes for show you use the term laser focus and it is evident that laser focus is ongoing and doing what's right and truly making a difference for your students and families your Equity work is a model for all who look at and emulate your response to the possible difficulties around the equity and Justice work was honest and direct and made me smile it can be difficult but it is necessary we can't not do it my hope and wish for Arizona is that more leaders would hold that belief and act on it please know that I'm honored to have been a small part of Creighton's journey and that was by Devin esherwood she's Deputy superintendent for school support and improvement from the Ade in our work with Elite and that was an email sent to Eric dupin from his work so congratulations Eric on her recognition of you uh I want to say congratulations again to our community uh education uh team and Family Center um we're doing a toy drive right now and uh it's in partnership with La Botana uh restaurant and with our Community Education team and our Creighton Education Foundation we look forward to a successful holiday toy drive we have a community community council meeting coming up on Thursday night so in two nights November 17th at 5 45 where we're going to be seeking some input on our architectural design for our new school we're also going to be talking about technology tips for parents on um just quick tips to stay on top of things with some of the sources we have and learn a little bit more about our chorus American music education program and get a chance to listen to our families there um I wanted to point out a student of ours who was highlighted in Epic kids and this is Khalid Navarro and he is a solid athlete I don't think there's a sport he doesn't play and the mentality that he has about setting goals and reaching goals and pushing for the next goal and then loving science experiments and then loving learning about reading and math he's just one of those kids and it was really terrific I want to thank Emily for helping him get connected and getting the attention he deserves as a as a top-ranking athlete and student athlete and academic so I hope you all had a chance to read this article on Khalid um I want to take a minute just to talk a little bit about our letter grades I know we've had some philosophical discourse about letter grades and I just know that there's a bizarre feeling of quiet pride and Delight in the fact that three of our schools went up two letter grades and we have some skepticism understandably about the race and the racism associated with standardized testing and the how high of a Stakes we give to standardized testing in letter grades as it relates to um one indicator saying what a school is or isn't and all of our schools have maintained or shown tremendous Improvement during one of the toughest crisis we've ever had in our career so I want a big round of applause for all the schools all the children all the teachers for their amazing achievement I want to say we continue to have a lot of work to do so I'm very proud because the principals were the first ones to say that's nice but we've still got work to do because our proficiency continues to need to be addressed and we will always work our hardest and best for children so a very interesting mixed feeling about that and I appreciate the board's philosophy as they talked about it last time um as the election seems to be coming to close we await the uh decision on who will be the next uh public superintendent Republic instruction but the most important thing for Creighton was on the election ballot for us was a five million dollar per year override that passed again congratulations to everybody who canvassed and helped thank you community for making that happen um and we did not have to have an election but uh Katie I'd like you to stand she's going to be a new board member up here starting in January so congratulations Katie and uh Sophia Carrillo doll congratulations on being reinstated as far as being continuing your board uh service um the uh Loma Linda School site was just awarded a new playground Grant we in our partnership with Kaboom and fairy tales brownies that was part of the sponsorship there so Amy are you in the audience how do you keep getting the playgrounds where are you oh yeah there you are you keep getting the playgrounds um but uh I I'm gonna end my announcement um with um a recognition of a board member up here uh after four years of service be on health Compass compasses last governing board meeting he served with this governing board as an elected official and an appointed official May 14 2018 to November 30th 2022.

I would like to call to order a regular meeting of the Board of Education um November 15 2022 at seven o'clock P.M uh Cindy could you please call the roll Grandma here Gilbert here here hello Chris isn't Mathis here Meadows here oh I'm sorry you I know I am killing you sorry uh Mr Meadows would you please lead us in the pledge of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all are there any items to be removed from or added to the agenda tonight nothing removed or added but I did accidentally put the board comments after your closed session so um we will do those before in closed session you didn't think everyone wanted to wait around yeah all right um then I'm super excited to invite kristone up he's going to talk about the marching band Podium podium you want uh good evening thank you so much for having us my name is Chris Owen um one of the band directors at Batavia High School um and I'm extraordinarily proud of what uh the marching band which uh I co-direct with my colleague Mr van clay um has done the season so it if you're unfamiliar you see us at football games you may see some YouTube videos and things like that but we also go to competitions throughout the course of the year and we've had our most successful season in our 13 years of competitive marching band and it's truly on the shoulders of the 96 students that are in the group but it's also a community involvement with all parent volunteers and staff members and District support and all those things and so I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you as board members and some of my administrators that are here to say thank you for supporting everything that we do but more importantly and I know you don't want to hear necessarily from me you might want to hear from some of the students that are involved in the group so I'd like to invite some of them are here Morgan Hutchins and Riley Meadows and Ariana Sia to maybe talk a little bit about the experience that they've had they're all seniors so they've been involved in the group in four for four or five years so Morgan first hi my name is Morgan Hutchins I am a senior and I was the flute section leader for Marcus and I want to say that the music program and marching band especially has always been like a second home for me and have been given this amazing opportunity to wrap up my four years by making Batavia history and making state finals for the first time it's all inspired me to become a music educator myself and it's all helped me to become who I am today so thank you that's awesome [Applause] hi everyone my name is Ariana and this has been my fourth and final year in the Batavia marching band uh never before have I been part of a program or community that I have found myself so much in it taught me to be proud of playing my instrument which is something that I was almost shown to be ashamed of and I've made so many friends and had such a great time and I can think of absolutely no better way to wrap up my season than making ISU finals we have like years of videos going back being like we're never gonna make finals we're never gonna make finals it's just a joke but then this year we got to film the video saying we made ISU finals which was so awesome [Applause] we worked so hard and the fact that we got to show everyone what we've done and then they decided that we had put enough work and had were put together enough to get to show them again a lot of our students were just like oh we have to go perform again but in my mind I was like we get to go perform again like we get to show them everything we have worked so hard to do again and for me that was everything I have had so much fun in marching band um I have enjoyed every single person I've marched with so big thank you to all of them big thank you to our directors who kept us together and it's truly been the best four years [Applause] hello my name is Riley Meadows um I've been a part of this marching band for five years ever since 2018.

yes testing one two testing one two foreign okay hereby call this meeting to order a roll call please okay Brown is here the hall here Mrs Galbraith here Mr sawales here Mrs Walters here vice president rule here president Aubry here please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands a nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and msroup would you please recite our mission statement mission is to empower each student to positively impact the world for a bright new future thank you okay uh we do have one public comment tonight it's Mary Bragg and the topic is American Ed week and moas good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board and administration to our board members happy belated school board members day I know you have a thankless job unpaid lots of hours lots of concerns and the best wishes and hopes for the community and our employees with that said I know you have several mousse that are moas in front of you that we have agreed to as the association but I do want you foremost to keep in mind these are just stop get measures they do not fix and resolve the problems of being short staffed of being short Subs guest teachers and still causing extreme burnout and pressure and stress on the staff in the buildings having them to double up on their workload having them lose their plan times and then having to work when it should be downtime our Mental Health and the stress and strain is still very real and we still need to really very diligently look at our processes for improving those working conditions and making sure we get guest teachers and doing everything in our power to staff our buildings at the proper levels thank you for our gifts thank you Mary you're welcome Cheryl are there any other public comments okay great um next up board updates any board members have any updates you guys are in the trenches every day and I just want you know we appreciate everything that you do I concur uh thank you Mary for Thanking us about you know we do a couple hours or however many hours it is but it's nothing compared to what you guys do and we really appreciate it I don't know how you do it day in and day out and we will do our best to try to find Solutions we understand that that what those mois are are not permanent Solutions but we'll do our best to to try to fix it definitely thank the teachers for all you do for our students and for each other supporting each other and lifting each other up um I want to give a shout out to our football program whose season ended on Saturday I went out to East St Louis they fought hard with honor they fought one of the best college teams I ever saw but they did every game I've gone to they were respectful young men they they played the game with dignity and Coach kaneki does a great job with those young men and his staff as well thanks Todd I don't really have much else to say after that but thank you and I enjoy every time I get to go in a building and meet more and more of you and see what you're doing for our children so thank you again for everything you do every day yes I concur with everybody thanks for all your hard work thanks for being a teacher tool and you and also as well I want to thank this uh he's on not only to teachers but the entire staff for their heart fervent work that they do day in and day out and my wife showed me a picture of myself when I was in the fifth grade and I had on a shirt that I recall that my teacher my fifth grade teacher brought to my house for me to wear so I'll never forget that and those are things that U.S teachers do so I appreciate all the hard work you go to that extra mile to teach our kids to do things that was needed for our kids to learn and we are here to help you with it in any way we could thank you he didn't tell you that that was the first year they had cameras were invented oh I'm not that old it was a color shirt too I did I had a smile one day I'll show you that picture so I'll just add my thank you as well you know our our children our students um our Scholars are our most precious resource and we turn them over to you every day and uh we know you're up to that task even if even under extreme conditions as we find ourselves I think the whole country is right now but thank you very much and uh you know we'll do everything as a board that we can to support you and and uh so it will continue continue our work as you do yours so thank you okay next up administrative updates I'll turn it over to Dr kotlinis I'm probably going to just go ahead and continue the sentiment um tonight I also too wanted to to recognize and celebrate all of our teachers and staff who work with our students each and every day our teachers work very hard to prepare engaging lessons provide culturally responsive experiences and to work to make learning fun when I walk through classrooms I see students actively engage with their teachers each other and thinking through critically uh thoughtful scenarios I also see Smiles fist bumping and other demonstrations of inclusive gestures between our staff members and our students all members of our staff whether it be in the cafeteria getting a lunch chatting with our custodians and security guards during passing periods or meeting with their coaches after school for events are all focused on making School safe in a supportive environment and that truly does take a lot of work to do on behalf of the district I certainly want to extend our thank you to each and every one of you for all of your hard work and we will continue to do what we can to help find those subs for you we do know that it's difficult and we we are working on some ideas so thank you uh also tonight we wanted to recognize board members day is also board members day I would like to recognize and thank all of our seven board members for all of their hard work this board in particular has always there to support our staff and students in any way that is asked they are always asking us what do you need from us what do you need for us to help they attend countless events both in the community and within our schools they attend countless trainings workshops as well as spend hours reading my updates as well as asking tough questions to ensure that we are doing what's best for our students this district is very fortunate to have such a cohesive and effective board team that we do on behalf of the district and staff we'd like to thank you for your continued service and tonight we have a small token of appreciation for you so our jrtc has been tasked with presenting each of our board members with a very special gift to share with you and your family thank you if anybody knows thank you thank you who says here you're going to make it home okay oh wow ready to left Face Forward March but I can tell you if they would have said left-faced with me I would have went right they are so disciplined and I out that is amazing I'm always so impressed anytime yes wow our JROTC right okay should have seen him the other night at the award ceremony there wasn't a seat left in the auditorium and those young people just it was amazing I mean fabulous wow thank you guys so much yes thank you [Applause] one more can you do it again okay um so next up teaching and learning yes okay so next up on the agenda is teaching and learning and I'll turn it over Ms Perkins foreign good evening to our first of all thank you again to JROTC it's always nice to see our students um so good evening uh to our board to Dr Cara to students staff family that are in person and online each year OTL is required by federal and state law to present our Illinois report card tonight's presentation will highlight our work success challenges and opportunities there is a more extensive presentation that will be on our website and you can go to the state board for a detailed report on the district and a full report on the buildings are located on the State website across the state and in networks assistant superintendents of teaching and learning across uh came and met with the state to talk about the data some changes and formulas uh that we've experienced since the pandemic and in these meetings one thing was clear the messaging was to make sure that every District told their story because we're coming out of the pandemic and our students look different our staff has certainly gone through some changes and we need to look at our data in a different lens and so tonight I'm going to share our story uh with you what we know from the pandemic is that growth slowed significantly but our 22 20 our 2022 Baseline student growth shows that students are beginning to rebound so as I discuss our story this evening I'll discuss it from uh three uh P's I'm going to call them from a lens that talks about our purpose our people and our processes and so our purpose is our work that is done through our strategic plan our mission our vision our progress toward our priorities and goals our our people are our community as we ensure that we are putting forth the best for our student outcomes we know that our number one factor in Student Success is the work of our teachers their hard work and collaboration and we celebrate you we don't discount the work and relationships of everyone else from secretaries Food Service our Board of Education family teacher assistance Mentor ancillary staff custodians and administration all of those relationships matter to our students and their work and again we say happy American Education week to all our processes looks at our systems that we have in place the level of effective Effectiveness that we have and to continue doing what is working and make changes and pivot when things are not working again in work for the best outcomes for our students and so we will paint what that picture looks like for us as always on the district website we have the update to our dashboard this is our strategic plan again what drives our work we know that we're ending this in 2023 but it is always updated uh by Dr Cara and her executive team as to where we are in our progress with our strategies again there's a link here and this will be on the website of where we are with that update so what's new for the report card this year the state put in new student growth percentiles and at the elementary and middle school level the weight of that was 50 percent of our accountability for this year new annual targets for ELA and math proficiency we also got credit for our ell students making progress and they gave them an additional year because of the pandemic to make that progress this year only um our percentage for science participation will count next year we'll go back to our proficiency level the adjusted graduation rates again giving more credit and not wanting to penalize any districts and then finally with chronic absenteeism the state decided to put in a tiered score system not to be punitive to schools because of the pandemic and knowing that we asked kids to stay out when they were not feeling well what is the summative designation some of the designation is an annual uh designation that goes on our report card it describes how individual schools are meeting the needs of the students it looks at all students and breaks them down into different categories it looks at all overall data for all students and there are four categories for summative designation you have exemplary where the top 10 percent schools must go into the exemplary category then we have commendable which means that we do not have any underperforming subgroups and then the high school must also have 67 percent of his students graduating we also have targeted which is a tear down from commendable and then comprehensive all right wait for it all seven of our schools for the first time are commendable and so what that means is that we do not have any groups of our subgroups of students who are underperforming yes at least no we're not but in order to be convendable yeah you have to at least have 67 percent so are we doing anything different to try to escalate again 99 so I know I guess that's a kind of categorical question because increase graduation rate and all that there's some schools and oh Mr Brown you can't ask a curriculum person what number we're trying to achieve we we want a hundred percent but I I can tell you that we are building programs and Pathways and looking at individual students and trying to personalize their learning for what is best for them and so educator Rising our AP courses I mean there are lots of things that are going on at the high school to say what is it what's the pathway that you want to take and we're trying to build those programs and build our Partnerships to make sure that every student succeeds question was commendable was the definition has that always been the definition that has always been the definition and when we had um schools that were on targeted support before um it was because of one of our subgroups hat was underperforming so it could have been children with dis for us it was children with disabilities so this means like so of all the schools in Illinois five percent are the lowest and so whatever all their students are in the five percent lowest as long as no group is below that seems like a pretty low marker yeah but I mean it's great that we got it it just that's why I was wondering if it's always been that definition it just I don't know it it has been so there are about 850 school districts um and then they again they take all of that data and put it in and you cannot have any underperforming groups um to be commendable or exemplary so let's talk about the high school so when when the state put together the report card this year this is where they looked at um the proficiency level again the science uh participation level our English learner progress our graduation rate at the high school level counted for 50 percent of that weight so Mr Brown when you're talking about we're we've always been in the 90 percentile that weight helped us because 50 percent of that weight of our accountability was on graduation uh and then we look at quality and success indicators like absenteeism climate survey and ninth graders on track for example the math up there okay and you're saying that we became commendable overall in the academic part but we get boosted somewhat of a 50 Weight Wise you know from the graduation rate so they didn't mask the math somewhat yeah yeah we'll talk about that let me talk about that with the next slide all right so okay here is our proficiency rate and so we know um and I'll say that the high school has always been commendable so since they we started giving out the since the state started giving out summative designation the high school has always been commendable but what we will see is that our proficiency rate of where our students are scoring in terms of meeting The Benchmark we're not there so we know that there's opportunity for growth and so when we say you know we're bringing in after-school programs we're buying extra curriculum and materials to to help support that need this year we're paying for additional all students in AP exams will take um the tests that we've paid for that AP assessment again so that we can drill down that data the data analysis meeting and driving our professional learning communities at the high school they meet a few times a week to have meetings about students and that data and what can we do to make some changes okay so you're saying that it's required for our kids to take in AP courses to take the AP test it's not required well we we do have that we we ask them to take it so that they can we can measure the rigor and help support them and know where we stand with the data yes and we paid a fee for that we did this year this year was the first year that we've been able to do that so that we again we can have the data to see um the work that is going into giving them that rigorous curriculum and what we can do to support that and make that program better okay thank you um so this is our proficiency rate our science participation rate our ninth graders on track our high school graduation rate you're right we're at 91 again um and then we have some additional data and we have lots of data that is being shared on the website and again on isby's website chronic absenteeism was high but again remember we asked students to stay home these are excused and unexcused absences but we ask them to stay home during the pandemic and so the state did not penalize us for that but we realize again that's work that we have to do and then the climate survey they gave us about a five percent for a certain percentage of our students completing the climate survey so that that team at the high school can analyze that data and come together and see how we can make Improvement what is a climate survey climate survey is the five essential survey so it's our students take it starting I believe I believe third grade and and then our staff takes it and there's a report that comes out that building leaders and their school Improvement teams look at that data and determine uh what they need to do in order to increase those numbers can you share that with the board maybe on an FYI yes okay that'd be great we'll do and then going back to that slide it just how is Ela Proficiency in math proficiency I mean ours are not good but this whole State's at 29 28 again we realize that the pandemic um while students are rebounding um there was some some learning loss there and so we know that there are some things that we have to do to get those numbers up to par with the state at least do you know what the state and we were at before the pandemic I would have to look at our Trend data but we've we've hovered anywhere at the high school level I would say 15 to 30 percent and I think uh when we came aboard we talked about how um you know trending in math has been uh historically low for us and so we've put some programming and some vertical alignment with our standards some common assessments um together again and having those teams meet and come together to talk about that data and what teachers are doing to increase the capacity and work of the students okay so a summary of the high school graduation rate continues to outperform the state average our freshmen on track ninth graders on track continues to outperform um the state in all subgroups um and then again uh reiterating that we know that our math and reading s.a.t continues to perform below but we are prioritizing or we prioritize our math and Ela standards the high school already had common assessments we bought we purchased a platform to help analyze that data as it's coming through so that teachers get real time information in order to support the students yeah I think you again spot on when you say you prioritize the math as early as Ela because we can expect our kids to do well if they're a couple years behind or so prior to I mean coming in school here coming into entering into kindergarten and it's it's playing catch-up throughout and we don't expect them to be really good in math when it comes to taking various assessment tests that's that's just me I I just you know I mean you're just so far behind you're playing catch up and the kids are molded and you know you're the professional educator but I'm seeing our kids if they come in behind in the kindergarten they're behind in the third grade and assessment tests start being conducted on them and they playing catch-ups they're just playing catch up all the time so to get them early and often better prepare them when they're ready you know in the third grade in the fifth grade or eighth grade whenever those assessment tests are conducted on our kids they'll be that more better at it because you know you're not showing numbers up there but algebra you know we're so behind with algebra our kids especially you know minorities minority students that achievement Gap is still there and you know before I get off the board I want that achievement Gap to close that much more and you're putting emphasis on Ela and you know actually yesterday and today I found out that Governor state has even earlier learning programs and somehow I'm going to try to connect their leadership over with our leadership to see if there's a potential partnership there for early early learning before they enter here in the third at three years old and four years old and five years old so is this spot on and I think Kelly was in here last week and saying the same thing and assessing our three-year-olds and see what help we can give them prior to them being released to our kindergarten teachers and in a moment I'll share with you our data from elementary to Middle School okay um but again we know that we've got some work to do and Mr swallish acts last week for some cohort data of students that stay with us from ELC we've identified about 200 students at the high school level so far so we're in the process of analyzing that data to see where we are I was going to say I know they've done that in the past and it appeared that students who um completed the program from start to finish through the district fared pretty well versus Transit students who are coming in and out it seemed like if they were here from beginning to end they did pretty good so um I didn't know if you had any numbers on that but we're we're good my office is collecting the data now so we were inputting it all so that we can analyze it and and bring it to the board either through FYI or board meeting whatever it is because I did ask for this several years ago before your time Dr Collins I just want to let you know we have our CSK students in IB program right and so that's just one group of kids there of all the elementary schools and then all the elementary schools from K to five enter to the Middle School from six to eight right and so I'm just curious to see at the end of the day even all the way through high schools those kids that took the IB program the CSK how did they fare coming out of high school the kids that took IB just from the Middle School on holiday fare are we trending that in some capacity create separate rather our CSK students and then compare them to other students who have trended and been with us so we can we can pull that extract that information okay you don't have to do it next week as fast as you can put me down if the longest you do it before I'm off the board okay okay we are working on it all right all right so let's talk about elementary and middle school a couple of different success indicators for elementary and middle school here's where we will see math and Ela growth counted as in the high school it was a graduation rate here our growth weight counted for 50 percent of what you're going to see with our scoring then we have our math and Ela proficiency again science was based on participation rate our progress for our ell students and then chronic absenteeism and that five essential survey so the first two tabs here are Ela growth and our math growth show that we're in line with percentiles this isn't the percentage of students but our percentiles of the um students that grew so we are in line with the state with our growth and the state gave us credit or gave all districts credit to say we understand um the importance of growth just what Dr Hall was saying sometimes we we don't know where students are coming in at and how we're going to help them but what we can show you is that our students are growing when we get them again our proficiency rates are below State we're above with the science participation our chronic absenteeism we know because of the pandemic is high and then we are above the state with our climate survey uh summary for this for our growth is that our student growth Compares how much a student grew compared to their academic peers who started out at the same level when we say you know our students are in the 45th 46 percentile they grew much more than 46 of their peers um versus somebody who was already at the top one percent they would have had less uh room to grow uh and then the state gave us new Ela and math proficiency targets so when we talk about our growth and this gets into um what uh Mr Brown was talking about in terms of our growth for our um sub populations our populations of students in ela we were right with the state with um our white students our Hispanic students were just below the state and our English language Learners were um above above the state the same thing for our black students in math we're in line with the state Hispanic students were above low-income students were in line with the state English language Learners were above and our students with IEPs were above the state in those subgroups so we're talking about closing that achievement Gap we're showing that our students are growing wait did you under Ela why don't we have any African-Americans under your life I on this chart I only showed when we outperformed the state so on that large report that you received in your FYI this week that that's in there we were just below but for time's sake I just show where we outperform so our narrative for the middle school and our elementaries again our proficiency level is below but we have um purchased a new unified program we had before one program for K2 something different for three five as they moved into the middle school and high school so we have prioritized our math state standards and then we have one curriculum that we've purchased that has interventions and other supports there to help us same thing with Ela right before the pandemic we purchased a new reading series with that drives learning instruction and again gives some individual support to students and then we grew outpaced and outperformed 45 of our students like peers so we're right in the middle in terms of our student growth all right achievement Gap and the link to all of our achievement Gap will be on that um state report card and then we'll post this to the website so I know this is an upside down bar graph but what it shows is that where we're closing where our number is lower with the state that is the gaps that we are closing at the high school with sat and this happens to be sat in math so we are closing with our black and white students our white and Hispanic students outperform the state our Black and Hispanic students just below for male and females and then our IEP students versus non-iep students again talking about closing that Gap and we are outperforming the state when we look at those subgroups all right okay additional information all right so um one thing uh that the State Board talked about is that they put out uh the equity Journey Continuum and it asks districts to look at where they were in equity uh and Creed is a trendsetter in terms of we started this work years ago and so we have some data that helps support us to show are we closing some Equity gaps in the areas of student learning which looks at uh curriculum pieces in learning conditions which looks at our climate surveys and elevating Educators which looks at the diversity and demographics of our groups and who's in front of our students so we have we don't have large gaps but we do have some opportunities to grow here but we are not in the category where we have large gaps to fill then we talked about so what are we doing how are we helping um our students we know that everything starts with that strategic plan that everyone coming together and saying these are our goals these are our priorities this is you know where we're going to put our energy efforts Finance um that all comes from the Strategic plan and we measure we look at those we meet with our teams we talk about where we are from the district level to the building level and those teachers meeting in their plc's having those conversations about that data and so we've got the district plan we've got school Improvement plans and then each individual either content area or grade level teacher does a deep dive into that data to see the kids that are in front of them and how they're going to support them um research says when we have collaborative leadership um that helps to make better outcomes for our students when we are being culturally competent and responsible by having an equity plan again that works what's best for our students when we focus on learning by using our curriculum instruction and assessments and all of the things I talked about this evening all play into that when we create opportunities for Extended Learning Time whether that is summer school or connecting with after-school program and enrichment programs all of that makes better outcomes for our students and then our job embedded professional development whether we are having providers come in to support us whether our own staff is internally providing the professional development or whether we have our instructional coaches going in is supporting their own individual teams all of that is for the best outcome in research-based strategies of what we're doing to help support our students High School no accountability measures so just when we think we have all the formulas right is be said that we are going to add some other indicators and so things that we will work out in the future and some things that we've already started working on are preparing for our College and Career Readiness that is a high school indicator and then they are also going to give us a fine arts um indicator which talks about the certification for our teachers in Fine Arts and how we're meeting our student needs there at the elementary level new accountability measures coming our way would be a climate survey five essential they say Pre-K to two again what are we doing in the Fine Arts Arena to help support our students and then what enrichment programs do we have at the elementary and middle school level that supports our students so isbee will come out excuse me with new accountability measures for that again we are commendable we want to at least stay commendable and so we're going to be meeting with uh building principals in their teams and again taking that deep dive and looking at that data to see what are the needs so that we can support their needs so that all schools can stay commendable or even possibly move up to exemplary good news all right so we've got some other things um happening that help us along our way of making sure that we're providing the best for our students the streams program was asked to be rebuilt in the district we started a small program this summer at the middle school we sent out an interest for fourth and fifth grade parents families for orchestra for after school at the high school for fourth and fifth graders and we have about 45 families who are interested in that and we are working out the details of pulling together that program professional development we know that that is one of the lead things that we can offer to our staff and so we do have our Dr Scott is coming back to do uh Equity talk with our staff in February all of our staff has received or middle school and high school staff has received CPI that's an intervention de-escalation training and then we align all of our professional development needs with the survey that we give to our teachers every year and so everything that we provide throughout the year is based on that survey 100 percent of our staff will receive the equity training and then lastly our current map data is coming in and that's starting to align with what came in with the state so we will test again in the winter and we will provide that information to the board soon in terms of FYI or a board report uh and these are the links again to all of our data thank you what other questions do you have for me what yes okay go ahead he started talking go on originally I I'd asked so the pandemic was in 2020 so in 2019 to today do we know where the kids are at do we know if it seems that the state's giving a lot of leniency coming out of the pandemic but how are we supposed to measure or how are we supposed to gauge where the kids are at if there's so much leniency and again we want to see data from 2019 to today because then once we figure that out if we're at the same level or below or above then how do we want to be able to fix it we as a board need to provide you and the staff with tools to fix it but we don't even know where we're at right I wouldn't say no we we know where we're at what I share with you tonight is our state assessments but we also have our local data we have our teachers who are doing um assessments with their students on a daily basis and like I said our local data just came in from our fall score so I I can share that in an FYI and talk about exactly where we are and they take that data our plcs our professional learning communities they take that data as a team they look at that data and they say Johnny is here what are we going to do and what are we going to provide for Johnny and then what else do we need are they comparing any of that to pre-pandemic so we know we're we're supposed to be because we don't want the kid to be less we don't want the kids to be if they were at 35 whatever the number is if they're at 30 or 32 we don't want them to be there we want them to be above that we want to achieve a higher goal yes I agree and so we have a benchmark of where students should be and we can we always take a look at their Trend data if they've been with us of where they were and how we're going to give them and move them um back with their growth again analyzing that data today our team was out with building instructional coaches and our coordinator at a professional development training to take that student growth piece back to their schools and Dig Down Deeper and analyze exactly what you're asking for so Mr sawales to get to I think what you're asking for tonight's presentation is uh required uh compliance piece for the state making sure that we are sharing with the board the state report card I think what you're asking for is um a little bit more detail on our individual growth of what we're doing at the district so we can compare to before and that is something I think that we would like to come back for in January to share our winter fall and winter benchmarks I think that's the standard that you're looking for and then when we come back at least so we know where we're at and I and again let's to be realistic I'm not an educator I I'm not I don't you know that's not my job my job is in construction so I want to know that if the kids are at a certain level pre uh pandemic how is a board of the seven of us supposed to make a decision to provide the staff members what they need you know to make the kids more successful but to be honest with you I don't I don't know where we're at so that's what I want to know is where are we at compared if we're Four Points behind what are we going to do to make up that Gap there not even the achievement Gap that Mr Brown's talking about but the one priority right correct and I think our local data have always said our local data is a better tool for assessing where we're at the state data changes constantly the criteria changes constantly and so it's it's you know difficult to track so I think what we'd like to do is come back I'm thinking probably January where we have the fall data in so we can compare it and perhaps give those discussions then to give a more accurate view of what we're doing in our district if that's uh I think what we're asking for okay so he took part of mine but um when I was asked to join a meeting with Mrs rope and Dr Karen yourself about what we were actually looking for the board I think Bill is hidden on the head and again all these numbers are marvelous but are my fifth graders doing fifth grade work achieving what they're supposed to I I don't care what somebody else in the state is doing I care about 201 U and are we giving them the tools and I guess I'm on the same boat with Bill I can't tell you know we keep talking about how much we lost during the pandemic well if we were able to measure how much we lost why aren't we able to figure out are we back where we need to be and you know this is all good they're achieving better or they're whatever but are my fifth graders at a fifth grade level if they have to transfer today to a school and on the north side of the city are they going to be able to walk on that door and do fifth grade work that that school is doing how how do we know where our kids are I I again I'm confused like Mr swallowish is that we haven't shown where we were where we're at what do we need to keep going forward to keep them on this this movement I mean I go in classes these teachers are working their kazuza's off to to get us back there but how do they know where we're supposed to get back to I'm missing the other end of the rainbow or something here because we've got all these numbers but we don't really say to me I'm not seeing where it says Johnny and Susie and all of them are at the fifth grade label you're saying we met the state average or we did a little better we did that what is the state average and like Mr Wilder said they gave us way too many concessions they really blamed everything on pandemic and we need to stop blaming everything on pandemic and get back to teaching what our kids need and getting them back up to where they're supposed to be that's the way I feel I mean I know we're giving them some tools but what what do our teachers need what are they using to try to make up that huge gap that everybody talked about and as Mr Wilder said we don't even know what that was per se but we just kept saying there was this huge gap huge gap huge gap well where was that and where are we and what are we doing if we're not there to get there and what do we need to do to help all of our teachers I guess I'm confounded by all this still well that's not what I thought we were going to get and again this is this is the state's report card that we had to share with you I think what you're asking for is a different presentation which we asked we've been asking for for a long time data for the fall just came in we're doing our own testing in our classrooms and we should we we have to look at the local data that's assessed with our okay but when we give a fifth grade test how do we not how can we not say only half the classes performing at that they're not getting it we need to work on it we're giving these tests regularly Common Assessment data you want to or just we yeah I mean they go to school and they have a weekly test or whatever how many kids are making it or how are we are we dropping them off and keep going where where are we at if we were already behind to begin with and we're trying to do that catch-up Friday they get a test and 30 of them don't make it what are we doing to help those 30 percent and is it our goal they're not making what are we not doing in this District that we need to be doing for our students we asked for that information repeatedly about you keep saying pre-pandemic and we lost all this but again I don't I don't see pre-pandemic to where we are now and weekly or monthly tests I mean we all know that kids take tests all the time why can't we assess our own tests and say okay this is what we're giving and that we have a bunch of children that aren't making it so what are we doing wrong and what do we need to do to help I think what you're asking for is you want to see the results of all the common assessments across the whole district for every grade level where we don't have those yet we're not there yet what we do have is the map testing that is standardized that's what we can report on we're still building the common assessments yeah okay we've been back in school how long now they've been back in person how long now we have been asking since we came back we had a separate meeting where I was asked to attend this talk to the two of you we I thought we made a perfect go clear we wanted to see what our kids were doing and how we were getting them along and making up that difference and I don't see that and that's what I'm saying the map test we will be able to share we had never told us on that meeting and you've never told us until today that you have to keep waiting for this other information I think we are frustrated we don't know what's going on and we're trying to play catch-up all the time so that's I think we're at the catch-up stage again and we need to be at the today stage and going forward so again you're saying you can't get this information until now I've never heard that said to me before we were in a in a meeting just the four of us trying to work this out what we needed and what the board wanted to see so they could go forward and now today you're giving us this answer that has never been given to me before so I am frustrated our meeting was we were going to give three presentations the first meeting is to report on the state report card that is separate the stuff you are asking for we have intended to put together a presentation on the map testing that's done district-wide that's going to show you where our students are we can look at cohort data we can take that apart and I think that's what you're asking for is how are students doing and we can compare that back to 19.

be stepping down when you're going to be opening up the elections um so at this point I didn't know if we wanted to start with the nominations to say [Music] maybe maybe can we do this can we just explain what the role is I think that's a great day all right so I'm just going to give some quick little um so um so that people understand that the chair of the school is not um it's not an individual who has absolute power right you remember one committee so we're always going to be conservative as we want so when we're thinking about who we're putting a role understandings this person who doesn't have ultimate power over really anything that we always have to come to the table and discuss things um some phrases that the life of the great was um first of all equals serving for the assembly um describes the job of chairs one of the requires processarily but firmly to confront that even walk the diversity is [Music] the chairman and selecting a chair as you can remember when you select it's just going to help guide them I mean there's a bunch of more things to consider but the chair has to keep their committee organized right around monitoring progressing routine tasks by working with superintendent he or she will have to attend you into the town officials how um a chair helps members develop skills and knowledge I mean by mentoring members the chair's responsibility for making sure the information flows to the appropriate party control appearance I guess I think we should just take from this is just to understand that we are all equal on this committee and that the chair has a lot of added extra responsibilities that take this morning has had to I'm showing this amount of time and energy and effort and if it's not something that somebody can do that I don't think enough to serve here I can put in this time I know the school came down to take care of them work and to do that as a chair for a certain business okay and I cannot give that time is there a second okay so now we are at that point of discussion um then so Julie you spoke and you know I this has been really I'm gonna be honest with you it's been very hard um it's not easy being shared there's a lot of behind the scenes where phone calls I Bob Holmes who I hope feels better very soon said to me today how many hours are you spent on the phone today and I said let's just be grateful that I have unlimited .com um and I didn't want this position when I first came on I told Jim Spencer no it's not my wheelhouse I don't want it I don't want to do it it's too much work and then I worked with Susan and I saw a close and personal theme from Vice chair how much work she did didn't want it and then I was kind of thrown into a position and I'm grateful to my colleagues who have supported me and lifted me up and been wonderful and that's the only way that I've been able to get this far but I have been living towards the Finish and we need someone who is enthusiastic and is excited and has the ability to do this job it's a lot um so I I kind of wrote up just a little bit of what I thought this person needed to be I said that this person needs to want the position they need to be able to find the time for what it is at best a part-time job and at times a full-time job makes me well versed in policy law procedure and have a clear understanding of protocol you need to be passionate about leading a new committee that wants to make positive change Mike plotman is all of those things he ran on a post but still invested in signs to promote his candidacy he took the time to be part of the community Forum my own son questioned why an unopposed candidate would do anything at all and I told him look at Mike's motto on his sign fighting for students he does what he says and he says what he needs he's been an important voice at all of our meetings questioning the status quo from budgets to evaluations to test scores he's extremely committed to giving our students his best and our best I know the community has mixed feelings about Mr Tottenham you either love them or you hate them he came onto this committee when it was remote and he was angry because he was passionate he was fighting for our students and sometimes his emotionally got the best of them it was a different time and I watched a lot of people behave very badly on Facebook and I still can't get over some of the offensive public comments and accusations that were directed out of committee if I can forgive those things knowing they came from a place of fear and anger I would hope that others in the community would extend extend the same kindness and giving like a second chance I feel that Mike would be a wonderful chair I don't believe he's our you know he's the best that you know that we can come up with I think he'd be very good at it I feel very good about like being shared and that comes from me it it comes from my heart it comes from my character I wouldn't be recommending like if I didn't really believe and I I just think it's a wonderful job that's why I just there any other discussions I appreciate your sharing Julie the part about the role of the chair I am at the will of the committee I am not the boss I do not get to decide anything when things go on an agenda and everybody has a voice um and so it's not like we're electing a King Sooper those people that you know are nervous I say give Mike a chance I'm so grateful that I was given a chance anybody could have said she doesn't have a backbone she's a worker bee she's not a leader I could have told you all those but I stepped up and I did what I didn't think I could do and I think Mike's going to do a great job if he's voted in this job so is there any more discussion I'll call ahead to it I think that you come really prepared for meetings thank you um [Music] those are meanings that you know you were emotionally charged and you know things are said a certain way in body language is perceived a certain way um you know as chair we then as a community we now have that responsibility too that you would have to fulfill the role of the chair um and if it even warns then you would have to have that foreign I do think you're well worth I think you research well I think you write well communication skills I think there's there's great communication skills when there is a different home opinions I think things around you I was in the same thing or your emotionally charged and that's a human thing right but we're gonna help Community we will all work together you know to communication that we have to be respectful of each other really win sometimes all right if there's no more discussion than um the vote so we had the motion this second so I will say all in favor of Mike as chair I think I I opposed dumb okay so we have three eyes and now another state um so it passes my welcome has changed do you want to take over for the rest of this or do you want to sure yeah foreign [Music] foreign although leaving Long speeches for later on but thank you thank you everybody um I did I did write something just a chance here basically what I want to say is uh congratulations to the voters in Berlin Wilson as you did come up with huge numbers to vote in the first ever Berlin Boylston Regional School district election I don't know if everybody's completely aware but I believe technically until Tuesday it was still the transitional committee from 2019 on it was really regionalized so this was the actual first election uh of the actual school committee the full School community so this is here uh now um it would have happened it was in no small part due to Adam Wilbur's diligent efforts as a district clerk to make sure everything was filed in the state to get that election to happen so thank you Adam uh I'm sure the committee will love to hear feedback from the election from the community about the election process going forward as it was the first time that our two towns had held this election in this program so if anybody in the community wants to provide feedback to us uh please let us know I did speak to the Berlin town clerk today about just a small little issue from election day uh some of the books have been campaign too inside the golden location normal that's legal so she's looking at that but everybody know about that but now we've got some work to do so let's get some work done um we need a vice chair and a clerk everybody Vice chair sure yeah yeah I'll second okay let's go I think it's a good idea to have a chair in Vice chair one of these towns do you want to communication there yes sure I would be happy all right any other discussion all in favor of Megan is vice chairman uh all right and quick the clerk uh do you know the clerk the current district clerk is uh this does not have to be a member foreign [Music] it's okay all right yeah all in favor of any discussions in the morning um foreign she didn't want and she wanted me to less as time went on and even less his time kept going on and I think we all were hit a graduate class programs secondly I want to comment on today's agenda is the district so a lot of work has gone into this I want to acknowledge Tara Costello superintendo zany members of the Student Success subcommunity the budget in finance budget facility subcommittee for the work that's gone into this I think we're going to see tonight a plan that really drives our district forward is aggressive it's aggressive in terms of hiring these aggressive in terms of the budget I look forward to helping get that passed however we need to within both counties so we can do an interview for our students especially in Boylston where we are grossly underfunded compared to these funding that is the third thing I want to comment on is the agenda I'm around appointing a new District Council a new attorney so Lori and I have had the opportunity to work pretty closely with Michael Collins since they were appointed to assist us with the negotiation apparel's Contracting there's a number of reasons why I advocated for and would strongly support the social America wonder is the fact that they're local whereas our current attorney is based in East Longmeadow so Kim Rose actually would be the primary Council of the district is an oils to new residents they've been um in every experience we've had so far interacting with them working on any number of issues relating to the switch over from from Jeff Carroll and would be hired members of the community to strongly consider approving that motion as well as the fact that there is probably going to be a slight increase in cost going with Myrick as opposed to do the area but I think it's a worthwhile extension for the district and we'll make things thank you no other public comment has anyone received Communications they'd like to share so Mr Holmes wanted to receive a communication from Mrs Kai Burns his problems is not here tonight yeah there's all right um moving on to the consent agenda uh some meeting minutes were not presented in time to approve at this meeting so is there a motion to approve items a c d e and G of the consent agenda so a second any discussion and David um the world passes and they reports the school committee chairs reports uh Rory maybe you can help this is their report or just an introduction of the school committee student representative yeah so I think the school the school Community chairs report is basically not basic it's part of it um we are welcoming our first student School Committee Member in a long time because Carolyn McKenzie [Music] Caroline is a senior at tejanzo and she has volunteered to who has been chosen to come to our committee meetings and talk to us what the students are up to and things of that nature so welcome Caroline uh item the next item is an update from Carolina because I think um I do not currently have an update but I would like to say that I am also a member of the student Advisory board for the Department of Education um so I do have quite a lot of experience being a student representative I'm the communications coordinator so I handle all communication between all the regions of student Representatives across Massachusetts um so I'm looking forward to working more locally in representing the people I know and care about most is the people in our community so I look forward to being your student representative awesome um can you explain to everybody how big that position is like how it's not something that everybody gets yeah so um I'm first I've ran for the um Regional student advisory Council so um I ran for that and I represent um all the schools in central Massachusetts and then from there I ran to be a delegate of the State student advisory Council um and then from there I ran to be the communications coordinator so I um I attended the first board meeting for the Department of Education and um my um other member of leadership um Eric plinke he is a voting member on the board of education um so we um take all um like we do a lot of surveys and we try and figure out what are the most important issues in the state and bring them both to um the board and we also have our own subcommittees where we have a um big presentation at the end of the year to try and get some policies changed so this year we're working on um trying to include especially lower income students in student representation across the state um we're trying to push financial literacy um as a requirement for Education across the state and um I think those are the two main groups we're working on but um yeah so it's I'm very excited to be a part of the group um and we um directly report straight to the board and Department of Education um yes I did um Caroline did you get the the meeting schedule yes I did okay wonderful thank you yeah moving on to the subcommittee reports budget facilities and safety twice I think since our last school committee meeting because we met we haven't been here all together since the beginning of October right correctly from so we have actually been super productive um high level a few of the things we uh last at our last meeting with Nancy she put together a list of all the requests or the first passive requests from the principals and we went through everything and um pretty much it's Christmas right everyone gets what they want no um no everything seemed um necessary and um you know without going into detail we want to hire a couple teachers we want to hire a couple paraprofessionals we're looking right now at um salaries for paraprofessionals um and staff and making sure that we're benchmarking those and that where where we're supposed to be um what else that was the big thing we talked about the budget schedule um delivers anything else one thing that a parent had brought to my attention that we did talk about and again it was two meetings ago was the cell phone reception so we talked about um and I think Paul brought this to us probably the best thing would be if we could get a tower right outside of Pineville um and I think the way we left that was we were going to follow up with the towns specifically the town of Boylston to see if that was something that was actually doable so just for anyone listening that was concerned about that that is something that's in the works and that's something that we have on our radar and other than that I think that was an everything um those convenience yeah outside okay yeah yeah I'll figure it out uh Student Success and Technology listed here on that one uh Bob's also on the committee that we spent uh 98 of our time on the district recruitment plan that we're going to talk about tonight so we'll hear more about that later yeah policy and school committee Florida yeah so we met on let's see October 7th um and we discussed the masc sends us newsletters on updates the biggest updates that we had were the updated federal law that resulted in the acts of 2022 chapter 17 being created which is the addition of new protected classes and trades historically associated with race um so we went through when there's several policies here student discipline student dress things along those lines most of the changes had to do with that one of the biggest changes was that they took a parent and made a parent slash Guardian which I thought it was crazy over 2022 and that hasn't been done yet um so those are all first reads tonight um and what I did this time around we kept with the idea at our meeting it's very hard to look at a little policy in a new policy and decide where the changes are I decided if you like the changes if you want to keep them so for everybody that takes a look at them you'll note that anything that is in red is in addition anything that's in Black was already there and then the purple is what they want to take wow so they were a little bit completing yeah and um everybody's working we're looking ahead to working on some more school committee goals and other policies um I don't know is this the right time for the updated probably the jic which is a student discipline yes there was a fair amount of purple text to be deleted that was circumstances around suspension I was curious it didn't appear to be stuck back into anywhere but then there's also a bunch of principles agreements to be signed about I just I didn't know if there's any historical context to that like it seems to make it more gray of what constitutes a suspension or Excursion so you know what else you just I'll pull that up right now and then when we get the next part of that yeah we get to the there's another department in the agenda too where we're going to talk about then thank you folks that helpful for me there's no policy for a vote tonight because okay thank you um personality variations and superintendent evaluations I think we need to revisit the committee um okay next up uh Director of Finance and operations Nancy [Music] my first update to transportation and everyone's favorite topic definitely be strong so we're still having some issues with with nrt particularly in Berlin Elementary all right John finding YouTube drivers is very difficult it's like this for us it's like this for many districts it's Nations so right now we currently have two groups where we don't have driver driver we have Berlin bus Elementary bus three at the Hondo Berlin bus three in Boylston bus five which is a permanent substitute driver currently but I do have some good news we have a driver for Berlin bus three three that has his permit and is in training so so if it all goes well we should have a permanent driver for that bus at the start of the new year and then to add it on to that for Berlin bus five we the driver who was on leave should be coming back by the start of the new year so for the start of the new year we should have all of our permanent drivers in place as long as nobody else goes out on me so we feel like we're heading in the right direction which is great news all of our other runs are running smoothly so we just asked the community thank you for your patience we I know it's been difficult NRG and demonstration has been doing the best we can to make the system so thank you there also been a lot of questions in regards to the bus staff I was told that last year there was a bus stop that they put out and people were trying it um they're having a lot of difficulty due to service um so that's still even worse and as soon as they have more information they'll update a lesson that I hear anything I'll make sure I update the committee and the other thing I wanted to bring up was the facility assessment in Boston um that came back and of course that was another thing yeah thank you have any kids still well it ended right so at that committee we decided that we would go back out to bid at the beginning of the new year kind of it's kind of a busy season for everybody at the beginning of the new year people are looking for new opportunities so they thought that would be a good time to go out and do that um so there is a special town meeting that's coming up in Boylston and I asked if the Warren could be issued for this facility assessment spoke to the Town Administrator and she said she would put it before the board but is there discretion as to what is on the warrant she said that normally finance committee has a policy that that they do not like to put free cash articles before the town at a special tone meeting they like to do it at the general town meeting in May um especially since the oral is so low the rail for pushes to put these articles before the town of the annual town so she's going to request it but if I will go on so Nancy I don't want to interrupt but I do have a little bit of an update I actually attended the select board meeting last night this last night right um and I put that idea out there and was told that we should go to the Vietnam meeting which is next Monday at 6 30.

okay uh good evening everyone we're going to call this uh policy meeting to order November 15 2022. um roll call please here Mr White is coming here thank you all right to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all foreign public comment this evening okay I did receive uh one correspondence that was asked to be um made public comment it's uh it's quite lengthy so bear with me as I I read through it uh if a company this is a uh from Mr Michael Sheehan um and it was addressed uh knowing that we would have legal counsel here this evening and you know these are public comment I know some things will be addressed through uh Rebecca's presentation and overview and we can follow up on anything that may not have been directly touched upon so one if a company states its product is intended for 13 plus can a teacher use this product in a class with children that can range in age from 11 to 13 without parental Guardian knowledge or permission for example Dodd Middle School is showing is using CNN news app called CNN plus to show news Clips to students CNN stayed on its website the app is intended for 13 plus our dad teachers allowed to use this app and show the news clip to students without parental Guardian knowledge and permission to our teachers allowed to inquire or solicit information from students about their gender identity or sexual orientation if so at what age is this permission permissible for example I believe a seventh grade teacher sent out a survey to their students asking them their preferred pronouns is a teacher allowed to do this if yes what age is the teacher allowed to ask a student about a student's gender identity or sexual preference a if a response to a student survey written or verbal a biological male has to be called she her and asked that to be hidden from their parents Guardians can a teacher deny this knowledge to a parent Guardian even if asked directly by said parent Guardian I if this knowledge could be hidden by the teacher or school from parent Guardian is this age specific I I would a policy that stated a teacher may not solicit or inquire about a student's gender identity or sexual preference in K-12 without parental Guardian knowledge and consent be permissible within state and federal law I I I if a student voluntarily informs School Personnel of their sexual preference or gender identity can school Personnel hide this information discussion from parent gardening if asked by student not to divulge that information even if a parent Guardian directly asks who personality Personnel about these discussions I I won if yes at what age can this be hidden from parent Guardian is a hypothetical if a fourth grade biological female asked a teacher to call her he him and ask that information to be hidden from parent Guardian most the School honor that request if a student uh three if a student sought gender affirming care from school personnel and asked that their parent Guardian not be notified can this care be provided by school Personnel without parental Guardian knowledge and permission the AAP describes this process of gender affirmation in five components sexual affirmation puberty blockers uh cross sex hormone hormone therapy gender affirming surgeries and legal affirmation social is I social affirmation is defined as adopting gender affirming hairstyles clothing name gender pronouns and restrooms and other facilities by the American Academy of pediatrics at AP I I if a student asks to be called a pronoun that does not align with their biological sex at Birth and or asked to use the facilities including locker rooms that are not aligned to their biological sex can this request be slash practice be hidden from parent Guardian at the discretion of the student and school is this discretion age specific based on answers to proceeding questions can you confirm that gender affirming care can be provided by school Personnel without parental Guardian knowledge or consent if yes at what age four if on-site behavioral treatment centers are adopted by a school can the school suggest and a student attend therapy sessions by enlightened licensed professionals while at school to treat depression anxiety gender dysphoria or any other ailment without parental knowledge or consent if yes is this age specific and can multiple therapy sessions take place over an infinite period without parental knowledge or consent that's uh that parent comment thank you sure is there any other comment via email no okay so that's it um so um is there any comment uh the reason we had the uh meeting in person this evening is to allow the public to come and give comment if they wish um the way we do that here in subcommittee it's a little different than uh at a traditional board meeting uh you can give public comment um you can also ask a question but we will not respond to the question um being being the potential nature of the question uh we will note the question and then um respond either in writing uh or we can also respond to that question at the next board meeting so um is there anyone um in the audience this evening who would like to make a public comment or ask a question before we move on from public comment s okay uh seeing none um we'll move on uh to our discussion uh with our attorney attorney I'll say I'll just say Rebecca Rebecca Goldberg um and she's going to be reviewing um uh I guess and give us an overview of the law for gender identity as well as nepotism are well yeah we'll probably approach both yeah I'll start with gender identity yeah because that's the more um expansive topic for sure all right well thank you for inviting me this evening um the I just want to give a really broad overview of the legal landscape that we're going to be um considering as policies and practices are considered um within the district as it relates to students who may be transgender or otherwise of a gender minority um there are laws in uh that apply on the state level as well as on the federal level and the primary concept that's going to govern in these situations is the concept of non-discrimination so um in the federal law there is a law called Title Nine that requires that recipients of um Federal funding with respect to education do not discriminate on the basis of sex the there was a Supreme Court decision with respect to an employment law Title VII that stated that sex includes Concepts like gender identity and sexual orientation um there was a recognition based on the reasoning of that Supreme Court decision that it would Title IX would be treated no differently when it says sex that the exact legal reasoning that made the Supreme Court determined that sex and Title VII included these other Concepts that may fall within the concept of sex would likewise Supply to Title IX and the U.S Department of Education promptly put out a statement recognizing that so when we look at Title IX and the requirements that we not discriminate against an individual in the school setting on the basis of sex that includes gender identity and that includes sexual orientation um we are focusing a lot today on student issues but I do want to know that Title IX and Title VII both apply to employees Title Nine advice to students as well whereas Channel 7 does not so um if you had a situation involving an employee who was um transgender who would be barred by two federal laws at least from discriminating against the individual on that basis when we look at the Connecticut state laws some of the applicable laws are um law 10-15c which basically says we don't discriminate on the basis of race color sex it's specifically identifies gender identity or expression religion National orientation or sexual orientation um so that's an applicable law here in Connecticut with respect to um to students uh there's another law that um in 46a-58 with respect to um denying a person the privileges and immunities of being a citizen of the United States we can't deny them their rights on the basis of various protected classes again it lists sex gender identity or expression and sexual orientation along with several other statuses uh there's another law 46a-64 which is enforced through the commission on human rights and opportunities um and it relates to public accommodation so you know you think a restaurant or a movie theater but um it's also been applied to the school setting um and that law says that we cannot discriminate segregate or separate individuals on the basis of various classes which again includes sex gender identity or expression um and so and then we have Title IX which um you know I referenced before so that's kind of the key legal landscape for how we look at these issues and they all boil down to a single theme of we're not going to discriminate against an individual on the basis of their sex or sexual orientation if you were to look at how that gets interpreted both by the agencies that enforce these laws um and by Court decisions that may you know it may be an employment case as opposed to a school case but the concepts are very very interchangeable in this area we see that there are certain things that emerge that are relevant to what we are talking about here and for example issues about bathroom use issues about pronoun use it pretty much all comes out to say if you don't allow the person to use the pronouns or the bathroom or the locker room that is consistent with their gender identity then you are discriminating against them on the basis of sex and or gender identity so there's a pretty clear concept here for what we are supposed to do when it comes to these matters um when it comes to you know their their questions when you're dealing with the student world you know what about the parents what if the parents you know look if the parents say my child uh who was their sex sign at Birth was male and they identify as female I want you to use female pronouns and the kid says I want to use female pronouns and everyone's on the same page it does not pose very much of an issue uh the issue tends to be more when there's some kind of disagreement um the agencies that enforce these laws have made very clear that the requirement to is to follow the students lead in those situations and because of that the um because we cannot discriminate if this will be discrimination then it then we would be discriminating because the parent asked us to essentially so we are not permitted to accept that option um so that's kind of the the legal landscape and if you have those principles in mind many of the applications become pretty clear what you're supposed to do now every factual scenario is different and I want to really drive that point home I'm an attorney they always say the classic answer to every legal question is it depends right um so I can't you know say well in this case it's definitely always going to be this way there may be specific factors that make us want to do something a particular way uh situations where we need to be particularly careful and kind of walk on a tightrope between different um legal requirements and so you know always when we're confronting a situation in real life that it's a good time to call Council if it's not established by a clear legal principle um so what I wanted to do first now that I've set out what the applicable laws are is um I did get the parent comments in advance that were um submitted and I I did prepare a response to it I'm not going to be as specific and as detailed in terms of her response for the reason I just stated I can't speak to you know the specific content that may be displayed on the CNN app for example there may be certain circumstances where the content is plainly inappropriate for a middle school classroom and there may be certain situations where it is plainly appropriate for a middle school classroom the the fact that the they Market the app is for 13 and up does not really determine that so I'm not going to get as specific as all of them this is the extent to which I am comfortable responding to those questions um and I'm glad that I got them in advance so I can think through them and give kind of the best answer I can and so I I wrote it out and I'd like to share um that so um again for most situations are fact specific it's difficult to provide an opinion in a vacuum based on hypothetical scenarios but here are some general information that would tend to resolve these questions um so generally we think about academic freedom non-discrimination and any specifical specific applicable laws or policies when considering the kinds of situations that were raised academic freedom includes the right of teachers to decide how to teach within certain bounds such as state and District curriculum standards there is no requirement for parents to be told about teaching methods or materials used or for consent to be given for any particular instruction there are no minimum ages for any particular content even if content is marketed as being appropriate for a certain age of course teachers use judgment to select supplemental material for their classes there there are certain very specific situations in which a parent can opt out of certain instruction um such as units on dissection or family life education programs but there is no General right to consent or opt out of construction um districts are required so that that kind of addresses the issue about what's going on in the classroom and how um you know the the use of con specific content and whether it's age-appropriate um turning to the issue about students requests in terms of gender identity um so districts are required by law to follow the students requests in terms of gender identity such as pronoun use even if the parents do not agree um if the parents do not know the general approach is to work with the child in a counseling setting to help the child make a decision about disclosure to the parents uh School Personnel are not required by law to disclose this information to parents even if asked educational records must be provided in accordance with FERPA and if the educational record reveals this information it may then end up being disclosed um there there were questions um raised about uh teachers asking questions of students regarding their sexual and identity sexual orientation or gender identity through surveys there's no law that prohibits teachers from administering surveys that might ask about things like pronouns or gender identity there's no minimum age um students should be free not to answer questions they do not wish to respond to on these subjects and the responses must never be used to discriminate against a student based on any protected staff um and finally with regard to the there were some questions about uh counseling and the use of school counselors and with regard to those questions the district is not required to notify parents about school-based counseling generally the counseling relationship is confidential subject to certain exceptions about abuse risk of harm to others Etc a student may discuss issues about gender expression such as clothing pronouns Etc with their school counselor just as they may discuss any matter um at times with the students agreement a conversation may be had with the counselor the student and the parent to address certain issues um there was the final question that was asked was about on-site behavioral treatment centers and since Cheshire Public Schools does not have on-site behavioral treatment centers I'm not going to be addressing questions about that topic um so that is my response um to the questions that were submitted um you know obviously if specific scenarios come up and the board would like me to render an opinion on a specific situation or um the superintendent contacts me because there is a specific situation that is occurring you know that's when I'm able to best give it advice that is targeted to the situation thank you yeah the technically you mentioned behavioral treatment centers yes I don't have the I don't have the questions in front of me is that there was a list that uh that Mike writer of the email he mentioned and the first thing looked to me like it was kind of like a behavior and the second thing was puberty blockers which I've heard of and there are a couple more things but when I when I hear the phrase puberty blockers I think of like a like some sort of drug or treatment is that the case we don't do that yeah okay okay let me let me clarify that based on the structure of the letter as I understand oh sure so there was a point about how the AAP um presumably referring to the American Academy of Pediatrics refers to uh what is um labeled as a term of Art in the medical field now as gender affirming care and within that um he States and I I have not specifically gone to the American Academy of Pediatrics definitions um that's you know not a legal concept um but he states that there are five components to gender affirmation um social affirmation puberty blockers cross-sex hormone therapy and gender affirming surgeries and legal affirmation he then focuses in on social affirmation in terms of issues related to hairstyle clothing locker room use and saying hey is Cheshire Public Schools engaging in gender affirming care presumably when it does things like allow a student to use a locker room that is not um for the sex that was the students that's assigned at Birth um so you know I don't think the label matters I don't think that Cheshire Public Schools is providing care in the sense of clinical care that the American Academy of Pediatrics would be describing I think that that label is really specific to providing care in clinical settings so when you say oh it's okay if you cut your hair this way or wear your hair that way I don't think that that now transforms you into a provider of gender learning care I think that's what the particular references the that was part of number three in the list of questions number four specifically dealt with behavioral treatment centers which my understanding is that is a specific model of establishing um like actual mental health clinics in connection with the school and that is not something that you have in Cheshire so um I did not delve into movies so just a general question do we do we distribute any sort of drugs to kids besides like Tylenol without like some sort of rental notice or just in general we don't even distribute Tylenol without parental yeah yeah so that's usually written in order by The Physician the child's pediatrician oh you so I don't even I mean I've got anything that we distribute is you know parental if it's over the counter we can get parental permission but if it's a prescription then it would be I think I do get I have gotten call this is the school nurse though yeah so yeah okay so thank you for that sure and medication policy um tonight as well so um part of that um I did also get asked um earlier um regarding you know okay so let's say a parent I'm sorry let's say a teacher does give out one of these surveys and you know a student who um you know presents with um apparently in accordance with the particular gender is asking to use different pronouns or it doesn't match up to their official record you know something that kind of triggers hey there might be um a situation here where the student is transgender we're not see around whether the parent is in the loop on this or not what you know how do we handle that um so in line with these overarching principles um you know my advice on that is to um have the teacher speak to the child if appropriate the school counselor um can be present for that discussion as well um let the child know that the goal is to support the child and um you know see what the student might need does the student have concerns that they're being bullied does a student you know have concerns about which bathroom they're supposed to use work those situations out um with the student um in this context in this context it is appropriate to find out you know if it's not clear that the parents know you know the parents haven't kind of been um you know out front of this issue um you can you know the teacher can ask um the chat the child um whether their parents know about their desire to use this other name or to use different pronouns um you know and what did your what you're going to say if the parent says their child doesn't know the teacher can indicate a desire to talk to the parents about this issue and figure out how to best support the child if the child is saying I don't want that and I'm scared of that that's going to cause a problem for me um you know in that situation that's the time to really come to council because that's when we have to look at the various factors like I said it's all very easy when parent and child and school are on the same page when where it gets more complicated um is in those situations and that's where we might look at things you know like the age of the childhood what is what what's the child saying is the child saying something like my parents will literally kill me you know do we have concern about the student safety we have to make a very informed case specific Judgment at that time in the law on this is very very far from clear as to um you know there's there's a whole you know there's discussion on you know essentially outing the child to their parents um so I can't just give you a one-size-fits-all answer at this time it's a very um a very tricky issue um with that said I would like do you have a question I just want if you can clarify Rebecca um what this might be a hypothetical but it has happened um what if the teacher does disclose sensitive information I would assume that falls in the first book guidance it it just goes into the parent or yeah if they disclose it to a parent um the concern is less about FERPA because um the parent has the right to information that's in the educational record um the concern is more about essentially a common law privacy right so there are some cases none of them decisively resolve this issue uh and then from other jurisdictions but there are cases where you know a school official or other public official has essentially like I said outed the child to their parent um and then you know subsequent claims for invasion of privacy and looking at you know the whole picture there but there is no um clear legal guidance and of course we you know we don't want to cause harm to a child we also don't want to cause harm to the parent-child relationship um and we want to Value the parent relationship which is why to the extent that it is feasible and um safe to do so and and it can be done with the child's um a senate what we would want to have happen in the ideal situation like this is that maybe the child is reluctant they explain why they're reluctant you know with a guy with a school counselor's support we call you know the parents in to have a really good supportive conversation about how to support the child that's the ideal situation of course it doesn't always work out that way but you know a lot of times um it's about bringing the parent into the picture in a way that is um that feels safe for the child and that doesn't make the child feel like they cannot no longer Trust the counselor um and it's all in the context of trying to work together to um to help the student I do think that in no circumstance would I recommend um telling a child's parents something that they have chosen not to tell them without at least the child knowing that that's going to happen whether the child is going to a center or not is a separate question but certainly you don't want to keep coming home from school and being shocked to know that their parents have learned something that maybe they have taken pains not to share yes so um one of the reasons why you're here tonight is because we've had a lot of it really didn't begin with transgender issues it began with Title IX and how to decipher Title IX in the in the realm of uh sexual harassment I guess and so Title IX at least you could say lays out certain steps that have to occur in order to investigate those incidents um in this case it's sounding like the school system must protect the minor from discussing a in very important life issue with their parents if or not protecting the child from not discussing an issue that they don't want to discuss with their parents which could very much um invite you know involve the parents guidance right they may the parent may want to give guidance but they're not being enough not given an opportunity to because a child was a minor is making a decision like that right and the school is protecting that minor who may not be capable of making a decision like that and we are protecting that child and and encouraging them to maybe uh make or not make that decision even though they may not be capable of making that decision so so just with that being said you mentioned something about counseling and then uh and then a child almost kind of going through these steps without the teacher and then the counseling to potentially even encourage the student to speak to the parents and what if the student becomes so fearful of facing that issue with the student with their parents that they commit self-harm what happens so we have to always be balancing all the risks which is why there is no one-size-fits-all solution there are many many things that students who may not want their parents to know you know Dad wants me to go to Harvard I want to go to Princeton I don't want to break his heart and tell him you know in a situation like that I think there's probably less pressure to feel like we have to go you know that came out in the counseling relationship less pressure I feel like hey we've got to go tell the address right but nonetheless that's a secret the child is keeping um but we are also keeping it that's correct and and there's no affirmative obligation for you to call Dad and say Hey Dad she wants to go to Princeton on Harvard right um so we have to look again into balancing the factors you you have to let parents know you know if there's a situation where the child is going to harm themselves right you have you acknowledge that this kid is you know they're saying I am going to commit self-harm or I'm going to harm myself or someone else um obviously those are situations where you're a very specific protocols on what you need to do right these other situations where the risk is maybe more theoretical which is not to say not real but to say that um it hasn't been expressed it is a possibility right um in those situations it's very very fact specific um is you know but our responsibility is foremost protection protection of the students health and safety um we we cannot discriminate we don't have an obligation to share information receives in counseling with a student's parents and we have to consider when deciding whether a disclosure May nonetheless be appropriate or necessary um the all kinds of um information we have to consider whether in fact the the disclosure might in and of itself become a timeline uh violation we're now um you know this student is seeking counseling and we are creating a difficult situation for them surely disclosure of someone other than the parents um runs into that issue uh you raised Title Nine and it's specific procedural requirements and I will say that that is a particular investigative protocol that relates to conduct occurring in the educational program or activity that could constitute um sexual harassment um as specifically defined within the law so I you know I think that that particular issue doesn't necessarily come up in the context that we're discussing at the moment where you might have an issue is if you have let's say students harassing a student for being transgender then we would be following that Title IX protocol which if you're going to be at the cape caps convention on Friday by any chance um my colleague Carolyn Dugas and I will be co-presenting on that specific protocol and what boards need to consider with that but aside from that specific sexual harassment investigation protocol there is um the general overarching prohibition against sex discrimination you know the stuff that applies to sports the stuff that applies to pregnant students being able to remain in class all of that also falls under the irrelevant Title IX and so that's where like the locker room things um come into play it's not necessarily about harassment but about the ability to go to use the facilities in accordance with that student's sex which is defined to include their gender identity and um so just to kind of I guess uh unless you have other questions okay so I'll say it's one more thing it's just that well to almost bring this to a name um everything that you've discussed here this evening is derived from federal and or state law right and if a if a teacher or a counselor or any school administrator or Personnel were to divulge that type of information without the student's consent would that be a violation of those laws like I said it how much are a common law theory of innovation of privacy which invasion of privacy isn't just looking into a private matter but also disclosure information um certainly you know you can imagine that um if I knew your um you know your personal um information regarding these matters and I put it up on a billboard um that that would be um an invasion of privacy the question is does publication to a student's parents count and that's where I mentioned there were court cases from other jurisdictions but nothing definitively answers it so no I will not I will not say that if it is divulged without the student's Ascent it is a to the parent that that is a violation I'm saying that's the the really big open question in the law but that generally speaking there were questions raised about do we have to notify parents when their child sees the school counselor no do we need to notify um parents you know about matters discussed in counseling no but there may be situations where it becomes appropriate to do so either with or without the students willingness um the clear-cut ones are you know child abuse you have to make your your mandated report you have to make a report um the the you know the kid says I'm going to blow up the school risk yourself for others you yeah but it's some of these other issues that are far less clear and where it really does require a fact um specific analysis and any very careful legal decision that will probably say you know something along the lines of the law in this area is very murky but under these specific situations you know this appears to be the safer course of action you know and that's really the bottom line you know unfortunately the law is rarely as black and white as we would like it to be um what I um if I can begin to Pivot toward the policy um the perp you know you're not required by law to have a policy on transgender students um Keith has recommended um a policy uh and I think that it can be appropriate to have a policy on transgender students in order to provide some guidance here we're having this dialogue we're having this q a when a teacher is faced with this situation or a student says I want to use this locker room or you know a parent objects to something that is another student's right we want to have um the policy to say this this is the policy so that the parts of the law that are clear we can kind of encode in policy so that we're clear that we're following the law people are notified what their expectation is um in these situations and so what I did was I shared um with the superintendent which I understand has been passed along with to uh the committee here um about a few sample policies from Kate there's one that is kind of their own crafting and then there's some that they borrowed Concepts from other states um and then there's one that was created by a colleague of mine they all have essentially the same information in them so I'm going to take you through that first cave one in in some detail if you would like me to um and what I um and what it has um the first three pages of it it actually includes um some general commentary and introductions the concept um which can be very helpful to understanding it um no uh the yellow packet is um Connecticut state kind of education guidance um it's this packet here if you have that okay yeah the question yeah yeah okay oh yeah so we move on go ahead yeah yeah so just I just want to be clear on this so if I'm if I say I'm a woman am I a woman according to the transgender policy I am your policy is not going to decide that question well of course no not forget about policy the law like is that do I say that it's my opinion and therefore it's that's the way the law works so the wave of law works is it recognizes the student's um gender identity or expression which constellation of factors right okay so you know I'm female I identify as female I say okay from now on I'm a man with kind of nothing around that I'm just saying it yeah um that's not my gender identity so I don't have rights to not be discriminated against based on my male gender identity when I do not have a male gender identity right um but for students who do have um either a different gender identity and also remember encapsulates gender expression which is a much broader concept um so the way a student um or an individual presents their gender is a is protected as well you know if I um only shop in the men's section um you know I may still identify as female but I have a gender expression that may not be what is traditionally associated with a female that's higher um so you know we're not going to say that you you know if you proclaim a dip you know that you uh identify with a particular gender that that is automatically the end-all be-all for all legal purposes um but within the school setting if you have a gender identity that um is not the gender identity for your sex assigned at Birth and you are going to to therefore want to use facilities that are more consistent with that in these pronouns that are more consistent um with that then that is something that we would be obligated to honor so um what I wanted I was gonna mention this as I got a little further in but I'll mention it here as well there is a there's the concept of gender fluidity um so while most individuals who identify um as something other than the sex assigned at Birth will consistently um have a particular identity um so in other words I'm born female and I'm I consistently you might generate sanity as well that's the most common scenario within the realm of gender identity um issues however um we need to be aware of two other Concepts um one is the concept of non-binary and the other is the concept of gender fluidity so when we say non-binary it you know are you male or female I am neither I you CA you can't put me in one of those boxes it's like asking me if I'm French or Spanish I'm neither um and so if you that that's someone who's non-binary they identify in some other fashion um or they at least say I can't put myself in one of those two boxes there's a that's non-binary gender fluidity is the concept that we feel we're you know our feelings change on various things from time to time that you know sometimes I feel more like I am a man sometimes I feel more like I'm a woman when I feel that way it is strong it is not oh today I'm a man today I'm a woman but I really truly wake up in the morning and that's the way I feel at that moment and so we need to recognize that as well because there is change there's kind of change that may be more gradual as someone is you know thinking through these contents and finding themselves and you know especially as you're thinking about children there are journeys of self-exploration um so sometimes there may be a certain gender fluidity as someone's kind of working it out um and then there's gender fluidity where you know that's the destiny the destination for this person they will always feel that they are sometimes one way and sometimes another way um the reason I mention that is because the policies that have given U.S sample policies I don't feel acknowledged that and um I think that you will run into issues if you um use the policies exactly as written where they say they can use the locker room for the gender because that they consistently Express at school that will work you know in the vast majority of cases it'll work for anyone who is not on this um you know transgender Spectrum in any way um it will also work for most people who are transgender but it will not work necessarily for people who identify in a non-binary way or who do not have a consistent gender expression so I think what we want to do in those situations is leave it to a case-by-case basis let them talk to the guidance counselor let them figure out what's going to make the most sense for them um and essentially come up with a plan and that will be the plan um I just don't want to ignore that that is that those two um scenarios can exist and then leave you with a policy that says well you use the one that you consistently identify with and they say well I don't I never identify as male or female or well it changes for me very frequently so how are we going to decide um so and you'll see in the um so I'm looking at the cape policy now you'll see it defines some of the key um terminology which you know for a lot of people is new terminology so it's helpful to have you know some sense of the language down the policy is it begin with students at the top yes and it looks just looks like a Word document all right yeah so I'm I'm gonna go through the page one which is the so it has a few pages of Preparatory material yes okay um like I said though there's a oh there's going to be a lot of overlap that's why I'm only choosing to go through one um so you know when you look at um gender identity for example you know it's defining that as a person's deeply held sense or psychological knowledge of their own identity so it's not some Whimsical today I'm a man today I'm a woman but it really pertains to something that is um deeply experienced by that individual um so what this policy does is um it sets out some guidelines it starts with definitions um you know you see that you know a term like gender non-conforming for example can relate to someone whose gender expression differs from stereotypes um you know the so-called tomboy right um and that a tomboy can be an often is someone who identifies as FEMA right um and we're not saying oh you know the girl who's into traditionally male hobbies and interests now we're going to say they're transgender or anything but they are not conforming to certain stereotypes and they have protections too that's all this is doing that's saying they have protections you're not going to mock that person because of that non-conformity um if I just before we go on the the definitions that are at the beginning are these legal definitions no so there really are not legal definitions for most of these terms I they probably came in collaboration with um groups that work in this particular field I can't speak to where Kate got the definitions for their policy but I will say that as someone who has read on this topic um in a variety of different contexts these appear to be appropriate definitions that they don't they're not pushing the envelope in you know in One Direction or the other um that you know we're not they're not going to make suddenly make everybody transgender or make nobody transgender they're really um on target with how these terms are utilized in a variety of contexts whether they be medical legal policy driven and so on um you know if there becomes a particular point that we're looking at a you know there's one word here that I'm not sure about we can always look at that in more detail and see if there's a better choice um so I want to mention here um uh you know so it takes you through kind of certain Concepts like I mentioned gender fluid or gender minority uh cisgender so someone who's obsessed as my dead birth matches their gender identity is referred to as cisgender by the way that doesn't mean they're straight right so you have to sometimes their sexual orientation and their gender identity so um we're you can have someone who is cisgender and homosexual for example that is um not inconsistent so when we say cisgender doesn't mean um it doesn't really specify anything about their sexual orientation um when we talk about um gender transition it Embraces a wide variety of topics that um acknowledges just that there are different points if someone is undergoing some kind of gender transition you know I think 20 years ago if you hear gender transition you know you think surgery um and you know oh it's a sex change right and the the term gender transition encompasses a wide variety of things from you know I am going to grow my hair out longer to I want to start going by a different name or you know um I want to wear nail polish you know any of these might in depending on the certain the particular context in which it's occurring represent one little piece of inner transition it doesn't you know you can work with nail polish and never change your gender but it may be something that is a piece of that process um and again it's about making sure that a student doesn't get discriminated against because they're doing that so if you have someone who has always presented as male and now they're wearing pink nail polish we're not in the 11th of equal leader harassed because of that um bullying the definition of bullying you know in in the Connecticut Law um has been modified and it specifically States now that bullying is any um action that is based on um illegally protected status and so um you know if we see a student mocking another student let's say because of some aspect of a gender transition let's say we that should be triggering our bullying policy as well so we want to always be aware we've got Title IX we've got our policies we've got our conduct we've got bullying uh there's all different um considerations to take at any point um we have a definition of harassment that you know again is just overall consistent um with the law on harassment when it comes to um privacy there is a provision um so you know it again it's clear that you know we're not going to go around declaring to the world with someone's gender identity is um but there is a provision in here um that when contacting the parent or guardian of a transgender or gender non-conforming student School Personnel should use the student's legal name and the pronoun corresponding to the students gender assigned at Birth unless the student parent or Guardian has specified otherwise right because it can be directed um by any of those individuals um when it comes to official records there's some different options available um just because of um because it's unclear under Connecticut law about changing these students official record to reflect um a different legal gender without a court order to do so so there are options presented for your consideration as to how you would want to handle that situation um when it comes to names and pronouns I think I've been very clear at this point we have to follow what the student um wants so um and I'll note here you know when it says the intentional or persistent refusal to respect the students gender identity for example by referring to them by other pronouns is a violation of this policy Yeah you mentioned before non-binary students so you have he and she she I think x i is a um how does that make sense I'm not trying to be I'm not trying to be difficult but in all seriousness like when you're having a conversation and you refer to they and someone's thinking it's multiple people it's really confusing and you aren't as far as I know science still says like an animal or a person is a person and not multiple people so it's really it's really interesting and I will say I was the the kid correcting the other kids on the playground and that I'm taller than him no I'm taller than he okay so I am the the person who sits I'm taller than he is okay so believe me I am the grammar person okay being the grammar person you know and looking at this issue um the their I think even uh Websters may have written about this but the word they has been used in a singular context going back a very long time um you know when you're talking about let's say an unknown person you know who's knocking at the door the door I don't know that they should just come in right you know it's let's say you know it's not a person but you know what I'm saying so we um there is precedent for using they to mean singular um grammatically I have wondered myself is it they is or they are when that happens uh the question has been answered by the official grammar authorities uh which of course don't exist but that that they are just like if you were doing it in that unknown context you would say they are like they are being really annoying this person I don't know um so now there is the issue of if it can feel unnatural right um and I know sometimes when I read something and I read they and it's about one person I kind of do a double take and have to go back and make sure I comprehended it right so I think that um you know there is a little bit of um a hiccup in the hard wiring of our linguistic um senses when we use they in the singular to refer to a particular known person right that said um it can be done and the law is basically saying you have to do it so what it what it's you know we I talk about the intentional or persistent refusal here in this key language and I wanted to highlight that because when we're doing things that are linguistically um not natural to us people will make mistakes and when it's a mistake you know oops I I meant to say they but I said or I meant to say she but you know for the past 12 years I've known you as a boy I've only said he and oops Iceland you know when it's not done persistently or intentionally or you know to cause harm to that individual that's not going to be harassment now sometimes it'll be a factual question whether it is being done intentionally or not being done intentionally um but you know in every um in every setting you know um this pronoun um changing um situation has been adopted you know you can it could be the most you know Progressive organization on sexual issues and yet still have some difficulty and pick it up and oops I'm sorry just like it you know people call me Rachel all the time my name's Rebecca oops I'm sorry it happens constantly you just say Loops I'm sorry and and we move on and I think you know so we don't need to worry that this is going to come an issue of people are trying to speak in a natural way and they slip up and it's going to be a huge problem but there does we do need to make the effort as much as possible to um use the students or individuals because it could be a teacher you know to use the person's um name that they request to be used and the pronouns that they requested because it's the law because it's the law because just this one particular thing it's still it's like the grammar police I'm not I'm very I very strongly believe in being respect but this one really that's just one little thing to think the first look at it uh deal with a situation where someone was uh using the they pronoun um yeah it felt it felt a little awkward and I you know I I kind of felt like I was pausing a lot to make sure that I used the pronoun that they wanted used but see I just did that and it worked and you know it with practice I think it will um you know again if people make mistakes they apologize and move on but that we the law does require that we do this the the term if you want to label for um not doing this is called misgendering um and misgendering can occur in a few different ways like you know you say you're a man and I say you know okay all the women come over here um and I include you in that group um any kind of misgendering is a form of discrimination as kind of laid out by these different cases that have considered the issue and you know in addition to the cases it's come from the Department of Education and state and federal you know so even if at some point down the road a court might say that misgendering is not considered sex discrimination it's certainly in the best interest of the district to follow the current guidance of the authorities that will be deciding these issues if something were to be brought up all right uh so the the terms in here since they're not legal are they considered social social construct in which case what do we need what do we need to include in a policy only what the law refers to so there's no requirement to have a policy on this topic at all um and you know as I mentioned it's helpful to habit because we want our Personnel to act in accordance with the policy and the law in terms of these definitions um you know they are I guess social constructs as much as you know any other uh classification of people as a social construct uh age race religion and so on um that said when we um when we Define these terms we're doing it for the purposes of a policy we need to be able to speak about these scenarios or like we're not saying um you know to going going back to Mr White's uh first question on this you know well if I if I say I'm of a certain gender does that make it so this policy does not decide that right we are not deciding that a uh person who is assigned the sex at Birth of male who identity who now identifies as a female we are not deciding they are a female but we are deciding that in accordance with the law um because the gender identity they are consistently expressing is female that for our purposes we are going to treat them as females so we are going to treat them as female when it comes to issues of locker rooms when it comes to issues of programmers when it comes to you know they say I want to be called this and not that as their first name let's say um you know and that is so we're not declaring any kind of fact we we're not the gender um Arbiters who say okay now you're you're female here's your certificate of of femininity right it's that we recognize that we are obligated to to act in accordance with that students gender identity so when you have an obligation under the law to act in accordance with the student's gender identity it would be really helpful if we talk about what gender identity means um we some people might think it's sexual orientation for example I mean these terms are many of them are relatively new many of them are not necessarily terms that are well known to a lot of people so if you're going to have a policy that is saying this is what we're going to do in this situation this is what we're going to do in that situation we want to have those terms be clear we don't want someone saying oh okay you can you can use the female locker room once you've had that sex change that's what this means right because transgender that means you had a sex change right like we don't want to have um people using the terms in the wrong way and therefore acting in accordance or acting out of accordance with our legal requirements because of confusion of the terms and in many policies we've defined terms right we're not defining um you know we're just we're saying you know hey for the purposes of our acceptable use policy computer networks includes all you know all computers contained within the district and so on um you know because now when I say computer networks I don't have to say that whole long definition that's really you know the purpose of having problems in a policy um so the um you know student identity Information Systems there's you know again these this comes from key but I'm endorsing it as I I feel that this will help us to best comply with our legal obligations we're going to make sure that there's not some you know disclosure of a student's confidential information because you know someone goes onto um you know the student uh email system and sees the opening you know let's say and and I had that happen at a workplace I saw someone that I knew as Michelle I started typing in her email and then last name and it comes up as Michael that's how I knew that Michelle used to be known as Michael you know we want to make sure that we're being careful about those things um when it comes to restroom accessibility um again this uses that language of consistently asserted at school um and I just want to you know that's a starting point but we need to say you know if a student does not consistently assert themselves as either male or female at school which kind of that language might cover both the non-binary issue and the gender fluidity issue um that this will be addressed on a case-by-face basis um seeing issue with locker rooms um when it comes to locker rooms um I know that has been a hot button issue bottom line we are not allowed to require a student to use a lot of room that is for a gender identity that they do not identify with nor can we segregate them out and say okay you have to use the single stall bathroom or you have to use the single stroke install locker room and you can't use the the general one however it is good practice to the extent that your physical facilities allow for it to have options for any student who chooses to use the Single Sex one or um whether it's in a bathroom or locker room setting so you know there are many students for all sorts of reasons maybe you know they've they've body acne and they don't want anyone to see it doesn't have to be about a gender identity issue um who might want to use a stall or Curtis off at um area or you know change in a location um or at a time that is a little bit more private um and any student has that writing um not not necessarily until actually as a legal right so I want to be clear about that but any student should any student want to have that option and if you are giving that option it needs to be done in a way that does not discriminate based on uh gender identity so you're not saying okay the transgender student needs to be the one to to use that facility that's what they want to do they work with the captain you know they talk to the counselor about how they're going to handle these things you know maybe that's what the student who doesn't consider themselves to be male or female chooses to do but it can't be forced on them um so two things just for awareness of students number one um let's just say as an example a person is born a boy and they decide they need to use their girl's locker room are the other girls as well as that the first student are they all informed that they could go use so they're not really aware that they could use a no students are aware that they could use a different place to change they are yeah okay not going to be told hey there was someone who was born away who was Now using your locker room so if you want to change course you should do that it's more just a general principle yeah if you want if you desire greater privacy for any reason whatsoever you have that option okay but they know that is the point right okay and a second of all this goes back to the point maybe a while ago with regard to surveys that are distributed you said that students have the option to opt out of a survey question or a survey are students aware of that if they're given a survey by teachers or do they get it from the teacher because the thing I'm going to do is I guess I got to answer all the questions unless I'm told that I don't have to do it yeah I couldn't verify that every single time everything that's handed out yeah sure if students have the ability to opt out they should be aware that that's perfect my how this has been playing out through my representation of various districts is that to the extent any such questions are asked it's not what is your gender identity right it's what would you like me to call you what pronouns do you use um and so if the student the student yeah but even if they even if they don't want to answer those questions they should know that they they can write down right yeah and she's not arguing that fact uh just the context of How It's asked and yeah we can indicate on on a questionnaire like that when the teacher is trying to you know get to know the student because that's 99 of the time that I've done this I mean maybe there's a one percent where it's a biology assignment or something like that where studying chromosomes or something but but the vast majority is getting to know the student and we can indicate on there that you know the questions are optional yeah and it's always about in that context because the teacher is looking for instruction from the student right it's not about disclosure gender identities I have have to call you something what is the something I should call you you know and when I was in law school I remember one of the classes I was in an incidentally educational class we went around the room the professor asked each student what they wanted to be called I was in a minority to want to be called by my first name um it was like John and Phil Peterson III you know and they want them to be called Phil um so it was it was really very interesting to me because I saw that um you know this professor wasn't trying to figure anything out with this the professor just literally wanted to know what to call people and I I just remember being stunned by the fact that there were like they're one or two other students who wanted to be called by their actual first name um so you know I think yeah if if a teacher is just Distributing a questionnaire that is like hey give me a rundown of all your protected statuses it may not be unlawful but I don't know it's a seriously question why the teacher is doing that right um and you know so we're not and that's why um I indicated in my response there to the this it should never be done for the purposes of discriminating against someone right you don't want a situation where someone self-disposes something whether it's their gender identity or their religion or their national origin um and then that is used against them in some way by their teacher that would plainly violate the non-discrimination law so it's less about the query and more about how the information is used um I will mention just for the sake of completeness that there are um there's a specific law that addresses certain um surveys when they are administered as part of a where the Department of Education is administering funding in order to issue this survey and there's a very specific law on that particular topic involving opt-outs and and so on um but unless you have the Department of Education giving you money to administer a survey this isn't something you need to be thinking about in general so that's why you know I kind of default too the teacher is just doing the getting to know you survey there's not a limitation on asking this I think um you know best practice but certainly be not to require any student um to answer because I can't think of a legitimate reason a student wants to be required to answer um when we look at um you know other topics like PE again we're going to go to it goes with the students gender identity um the there's it's always been um a controversial issue when it comes to Athletics um and so for that we're uh this policy like pretty much every policy I've seen on this subject differs to the applicable regulations of the Connecticut introsplastic Athletic Association and that's going to um govern what we do there um dress codes um I don't know if you have dress code that would even really get into any kind of gender issue but obviously they're just not going to be enforced in the discriminatory by yes oh as far as the competitive support team it's just compliance with ciac they're not even really a legal body are they um I know um but they you know their stuff actually is binding to anything right but that's um this is generally how that issue is being resolved especially because you are working so there's a legal reference somewhere to ciac yeah no it's just the policy would indicate it defers to in this policy which again we don't have to adopt or we could adopt it suggests as it relates to athletic participation you would follow kind of ciac guidance we don't have to follow cic guidance we could do generally we do for like most things you know following this following the speed limit is a choice right if we make the choice not to follow ciac guidance as it relates to this or other things like you know having a 23 year old play on our baseball team and that um the consequence would be you know that we're not qualified to participate in tournaments but you know the ciec guidance now is as of today that you're you can participate in the sport that you identify with there's advocacy on both sides of this issue right and so because of that it's a good idea to defer to the conference that you are playing under um but if the law becomes clear that we need to act a certain way then it will then follow that that's what we should be doing but right now because um you know if it is that it be done in accordance with the gender identity that is generally consistent with tenderloin but again there is advocacy on the other side saying well you know if you have um uh people who are biologically male participating on um a girl's team that it creates some kind of unfair Advantage um and so there this this is a hot button issue because then the argument is it's it's um making it more difficult for for girls to compete and so um this by doing this you're kind of giving yourself the flexibility to follow the guidelines in existence at that time um so should that change we will always be in accordance with the guidelines so the the policy that we could potentially write would just be referring to cisa there's no actual litigation right now that has definitively decided the issue correct this is very much um um a Hot Topic I am aware that there are cases that have been brought and none of them have definitively resolved the issue and again you know there's strong advocacy outside it's kind of arguing both ways can be a form of sex discrimination so this is one where it makes sense to follow the lead of an umbrella organizations we don't necessarily have full oversight right I mean as the superintendent was saying if you don't follow the rules of the conference then you may have issues with participation now if the conference were plainly telling you to violate the law we couldn't do that but certainly where this is a very a very open question um and they seem to be acting in accordance with the stated principles of Title IX um involving in general look every other topic we've said you go in accordance with gender identity it seems inappropriate way of deciding that issue for right now and should any of these Court decisions court cases come out in a way that makes it clear we should be doing it another way then we will do it the other way and I'm sure CIA c will do so as well but if they don't then we'll say well I'm sorry ciac we're going to follow along yeah so you seem to be very knowledgeable on this topic so I want to just I'm hoping that you could elaborate or offer some insight on this so over the past year I've you know Googled stuff one thing that I've found I feel like I've seen a pattern when I've sort of randomly Googled stuff it was a discussion that the living in the binary world is it's not real it's not men in males and females and there's like six types of gender gender do you know what I'm talking about I've seen this in a couple sources I don't know specific that um if you go back thousands of years there are um there are cultures that from thousands of years ago to the present have recognized within them more than one gender I'm sorry more than two genders right um and so there's this idea hey this isn't just something new that got made up in you know the 1970s or whenever you want to attribute it to um but that you know the fact that other cultures can have more than two genders and have genders that aren't male or female um kind of shows that this isn't necessarily inorganic concept now there's arguments of course that it is an organic concept chromosomes right um so but to kind of put what you're saying in a framework there is a sense that um if you look at the issue cross-culturally that it has long been viewed that there had to be more than two genders um but I you know as to whether it's five six twenty you know I I think Facebook at one point had a scroll down of quite a few um you know that's going to obviously be you know something that is more defined by how you're viewing a particular thing we're not saying of course that Cheshire Public Schools you know makes a policy pronounce it and we now recognize you know 26 genders or you know anything like that um but just like with religion you know if a student um you know has an issue because of a religious matter and it's a religion that you've never heard of you know we're going to treat it the same way as if it's a religion you have heard of and so I think it kind of works um in that in that same vein I should mention also um there's there's another concept that's not about being transgender but that also deals with issues of non-binary status which is intersex um and intersex is an um refers to an individual who biologically does not have one clear gender so um it could be they are their chromosomes are not X X or X Y it could be like xxy for example um there are also people who um may have external characteristics matching one gender but they're chromosomes tell a different story um and so that's why I think the term sex aside at Birth is used so much um it's partially about actually bringing intersex people into the conversation here so when you're dealing with intersex um you know you can't even say hey biology wins there's one clear answer because there isn't and there are people who um may have always thought they were a certain gender their biology went asserted you know they looked one way they reach puberty and their body starts doing something very different from what they've always thought so I just want to acknowledge you know since you did ask about multiple genders that there is something that is definitively biologically this is just factual that there are people who their chromosomes are not in accordance with their external presentation has nothing to do with the psychological aspects of it um that don't fit into one or the other and the same thing we would basically have to you know follow their lead in terms of how we're going to treat them we can't say well you go based on your chromosomes in those situations yeah no I mean I I grew up in the Cheshire public schools with xx and XY chromosomes and but I also remember you know the Olympics probably 30 years ago with the East Germans women's weightlifting team being openly mocked on TV because they had xxy chromosomes um I also grew up in a world where cholesterol was bad and now cholesterol is both good and bad so science advances I understand that but I also think that it's um I way in my mind the discussion we're having right now is probably fairly Limited in the number of people that are actually affected uh only who do not fall into what would normally be so yeah XX woman and XY correct although it is again it's possible for people not to know it until they reaches but yes I took um I took the class in law school specifically it was like a one credit seminar specifically on intersex issues in the law and so I would feel remiss if I didn't bring it up while we're discussing hey how many genders are there you know the thing that the thing is to go for me sitting on this board is like where does this end because like I was what I was saying I'd read before about like six different types of people you're talking about you know Facebook having dozens and dozens and how many how do we deal with sports teams sports team or the bathroom or the lock ER or the third gender record the fifth gender right you're okay to have two locker rooms but that's why I'm I'm recommending the language not say things like you can use the one um in accordance with your consistently expressed gender identity without some other language acknowledging an alternative because okay my gender identity is this third category so you don't have a lot of room for me so your policy doesn't address me at all right I just want to say in that situation it will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis maybe I feel closer to one gender or another you know maybe um I you know there's one I'm just more comfortable with and I'm gonna pick that and I'm gonna stay with it maybe in my case it means I'm going to use the single stall because that's what makes me feel most comfortable and maybe I feel like hey I don't want anyone else feelings or whatever but you know that has to be a one-on-one piece by case determination um as we continue to move through the policy obviously we're saying discrimination or harassment is not um permissible um there's always to service students within the you know chesh Republic schools do not have to um send someone to some other school because we can't meet their needs um there is a part here at the very end about professional development do you want to address that um so it says the Board of Education directs the superintendent to provide for the training of District staff and transgender sensitivity and what it means to treat all people respectfully and equally developmentally each appropriate training shall also be provided for students this is not required and I feel that if there's anything that you're going to say hey maybe we want to exercise our discretion and not include this might be where you do it Title IX training is going to cover um non-discrimination on this topic um or at least it ought to right so um you know yeah go ahead finish so that this is this is one where you have um you know you're not required to provide this training obviously you want to make sure that people are not violating the law and creating liability for you so you have to give some thought to this right on the one hand you know especially that uh last sentence about the development until age-appropriate change also be provided for students you know it doesn't have to be about transgenderism you know it it I think in general the concept that is taught to children from a young age you know everybody's different all families are different um you know you don't have to get into the specifics of what that means um but you you also have the obligation to make sure no one is being mocked or ridiculed because they're transgender or because of their orientation or anything like that so you know you have to balance how you feel about providing the training and whether you feel you can do it in a way that you know respects everybody's values on this topic or you know and and how effective you think that training will be in terms of preventing future liabilities um you know so I would at least consider you know for the staff that we need to make sure people are confined with Title IX um for that last point you know that that's your judgment call um you know as the board to determine what you want to do in that area yeah and I think you just covered it and it I was just thinking on the professional development side we don't have to but we do because we have sexual harassment training that we've gone through um for the superintendent again we don't have to but it would be in best practice to offer some form of education for this particular topic not necessarily mandating staff but it's a option for professional development day so I'm just trying to see where these these are all things to cons you know that are very very much within your discretion whereas with the other pieces you know you don't have to have a policy but if you do this is really what it all to say um with respect to you know um this language of transgender Sensitivity I mean that that you look we talk about things like being sensitive to People based on their Race For example you know um that does make its way into the school setting um and the question is you know whether you want to add this into those kinds of Concepts or not again and it can always be done in the general sense very gentle sense of we treat people the same we respect all people no matter you know no matter who they are doesn't matter if they're a foyer girl it doesn't matter you know um what their race is what their religion is we treat everybody um respectfully and we're kind to all people you know and that could be the lesson but you you know that is very much your judgment call there are some districts that will want to run all the way with this and make it you know require a formal part of the instruction to everybody in the district um you have to balance the factors in making that determination so I have no recommendation for you as to what you want to do here um because that's very much um you know more of a personal values kind of question but as your lawyer I want to say you should do what you can to prevent discrimination or harassment from occurring and so if you feel the training is necessary to do that do that you know but if you have to weigh a number of values when I do a timeline training I usually have a slide that mentions um that sexual orientation and gender identity are included within this concept I want people to be aware of it and so that they know hey I've got to call my title 9 coordinator when I hear something about gender identity um and it has to follow that very specific timeline mechanism not a garden variety disciplinary issue kind of method but when you um um you know so it's not like there's a whole training built around it but then it becomes part of our thinking process as we go through well what does this mean as we're dealing with particular scenarios and if you're going to be at the cape caps conference you'll see some of that um I do want to mention of I noted in the um in in the subsequent versions of the cape policy there was some language on um gender segregation in other areas talking about things like overnight guilt trips um where it talked about um you know that those will be addressed on a case-by-case basis um you know again because the privacy considerations go up a little bit but we still have that full of we have to treat someone in accordance with their gender identity but we may be able to figure out you know hey if there's going to be roommates maybe we can match people up in a way that's going to work out best um likewise um there's Parts about and this kind of goes even a bit to that training piece but it's more targeted um it says when it's talking about student who may be transitioning this is in the Privacy section it says we're the transgender student feels more supported and safe when other students are aware that they're transgender School staff shall be giving guidance and training appropriate facilitating respectful School climate so that's kind of contemplating hey we've got a particular scenario that we're dealing with and we're going to make sure that you know we handle this in an appropriate way and you know these kinds of issues may come up in other kinds of contexts too you know uh I remember when I was in elementary school a classmate of mine was diagnosed with diabetes we had a whole conversation about how we could be respectful like don't you know shove candy in her face um because you know in third grade that's what you do and so you know this can all like having those conversations whether it's with the students to help the students um acclimate to a change or with the faculty involved it can be helpful do you need it in your policy not necessarily but it's it's certain like you don't want to just have people jumping in with no idea how to handle a situation that's what a student is really starting to make a transition I think where it's going to be most relevant um you think that was all like flagged in terms of the um language from something other than that standard key policy that I thought was helpful let me just double check um the other one um you know so I do think that the K policy is an excellent starting point you do not need to adopt it exactly as written nor do you need to take my suggestions in terms of how to modify it um you know but I'm open to discussion and tweaking and you know how are we defining this or that or is there some scenario like the overnight field trips is in another policy but not in that one that is there some other scenario we want to think about and put into our housing so as a matter of practice basically we don't have this policy up for a discussion tonight this is uh informative and if we wanted to include that um that would be in a subsequent meeting for first reading or something but this is uh it's been a very helpful overview of uh I guess just the whole topic as a potential you know policy as well so you know that's out there for your consideration if uh there aren't any other questions I know we had Rebecca here also to talk about nepotism but I'll leave it up the next two hours on nepotism will be gripping yeah regardless of how I grew up but I also wonder when we're talking about say young teens could some of it be what would otherwise be termed as Rebellion that's that's it's manifesting itself in this way but it's not really that the team is transgender and how is that I I think that's got to be part of the picture I'm not saying here in Cheshire but Global here across the U.S how is that is that addressed in any way or is it that's just that's maybe I'm totally wrong and that's a non-issue and I'm just being crazy I think for the legal framework okay um it just it doesn't become an issue any more than you know let's say you know my family is one religion and I'm going to say hey I want to observe a different religion and um maybe it's out of rebellion maybe it's out of sincere belief but either way when I you know I'm looking to have some kind of accommodation or you know something that's got to be considered as my genuine religion right um so I think you know the we should from a policy standpoint err on the side of viewing it as this is a student's gender identity however understanding children are growing teenagers are changing I you know this goes back to more of my Concepts about exploration you know I don't know that anyone you know at least consciously says I'm transgender in order to divide my parents right they may subconsciously say hey I'm breaking free of some kind of norms that I deem oppressive when you um but you know it's it's teenagers people in their early 20s right they're in a great time of personal introspection development growth you know of lgbtq um the queue well sometimes it stands for queer sometimes it stands for questioning but the key for the cue for questioning you know is questioning it's it's hey I'm not sure where I am in this in this realm right and um we have to meet students where they where they are um and so if you know we're not ever saying to a student because today you're using the girl's locker room that that's the end I'll be all you can never you can never go back right we're not nothing is etched in stone um and so if a student says you know what that was a face I'm done with that face I've moved on um that that's fine people right I mean people go through phases with respect to what they believe about their sexual orientation and you know we don't we don't look at a 40 year old and say oh your sexual orientation is a face right but we understand with a 14 year old they may be trying to figure out what um what resonates for them in life so um you know if a student says Hey I just to a guidance counsel at a time I decided yesterday I'm trans you know I think it's a you don't necessarily want to jump into a full on transition and I think you know the student ideally would be talking to their personal support network and trying to decide what that means for them and you know maybe a year later they say okay you know I I really I want to I want to shed my old identity I want to grow into this new identity that I've been developing for some time but you know we just need to be responsive to the student where they are not assume that anything is not genuine not assume that anything is um is temporary but also not assumed to the contrary um and I think just the the goal for all of these issues is really to work with the student in a supportive climate so that we are helping the student with what they personally need and you know sometimes helping them think through you know okay um you decided that yesterday um you know how do you feel about this you know and open-ended questions to help a student you know kind of see where they are maybe they realize hey I don't want to jump all the way into something I'm not really sure about because I decided this yesterday so um you know I don't from a legal framework you know it doesn't change it's not like one day you get granted trans status right but um it's just a matter of saying hey there's a gender identity that is being expressed and we need to match that gender identity in terms of what we allow the student to do okay I think we'll conclude this portion of the agenda um yeah so now it's nepotism type but uh thank you for that hour and 45 minute discussion you're welcome I think we only that's tip of the iceberg uh for everything that we went over but I think that gives us a good overview and for those who are watching at home um I think it does give us a good overview of kind of where we are as uh as part as far as the law goes and how we would contemplate uh implementing a policy if we decide to do that so Rebecca do you have suggestions for parents too I know there's organizations like true colors and so on that you would recommend for parents who want to research further with credible sources not just a Googling of you know that is a really great question I mean most of the organizations um that I can think of that are active on this topic are fairly political and you know if you're looking for something truly you know that's that's going that's not necessarily trying to be political I think that's where it gets complicated um you know but I will say that with acknowledgment of the political bent um of these organizations um obviously glad has is probably the first one that comes to mind um in terms of you know their reason for existence is for um advocacy around LGBT issues um so they certainly have a lot I saw um the ACLU has a lot um on this topic um you know when it comes to looking for something that's a little more oriented toward the legal framework um if the State Department of Education and the Federal Department of Education um if you were to Google it the um the State Department of Education um has put it out it's from 2017 but it's they have a company yeah but for yourself at home right for the folks at home who want to go further and you know in depth sure I would also recommend just contacting your school counseling office you know is a really good place to start if you're comfortable with that um rather than just a Google search um you know if there's counselors outside of school that you as a parent or your child may want to speak to uh there are connections there that we can support I I want to bring up that this isn't generally um a process that individuals going through take very lightly you know in my history of of uh working as a school counselor and a mental health professional and a and a school administrator before being here you know this is something that creates a lot of a lot of tumultuous emotion and there's a reason that the the rates of self-injury and suicide are dramatically higher in a population that doesn't identify cisgender heterosexual so you know if there are questions if there's concerns from us you know about a student from parents or whatever contacting the school counseling office contacting Michelle picarillo at uh Cheshire Social Services is another great resource I just want to make sure people I mean this isn't a significant it's I guess a significant portion of the population but it's not the vast majority right the vast majority are navigating these issues but for those people who do it can be really challenging in those families and I would encourage them to seek out those resources to support them through this process regardless of how it turns out I'd like to add to that you know there are um resource you know um there are definitely organizations that work to you know kind of educate families like hey I just found out my kid is trans you know what am I how do I how do I work with this you know and um because it it that's a revelation you know that unless it's one of those situations where you've seen it coming since the kid was two um is going to be jarring at least for a family to to learn something unexpected about their child so um you know having resources to kind of you know cope with the changes that are coming and to navigate the transition speaking to the child's pediatrician um you know you can also I think be an excellent resource and a way to ensure appropriate care um and I do want to just mention um if you are looking for more of a legal framework you know what what are the obligations of school districts uh Connecticut State Department of Education but about this publication in 2017 if you Google it'll come right up called guidance on civil rights protections and supports for transgender students um and so you know that is probably the most targeted um reference source that I can identify because it's it's Connecticut and it's for schools and it's on the transgender issues versus some National Organization or things of that nature but you know there there is a lot out there and you know as we're trying to navigate um these topics you know if you have questions for me that go beyond a you know legal perspective I will always draw in um other sources to be educated on the topic I don't want to be speaking about the rights of you know transgender youth without being able to tell you the difference between transgender and transsexual for example you have to know what your discussion um is it nepotism time okay um this is a pretty quick discussion um I was asked to modify this policy um which is 4212.8 um which is nepotism Implement of relative so um with respect to employment um there's there's not actually a law that says that we cannot employ um relatives um you know to supervise one another but is definitely best practice not to there's allegations that favoritism it's generally it's generally found upon particularly in the public sector that said um what I have done with your policy is um me really two changes but you know the one of the changes carries through to a couple different places so um I was asked to specifically address that for purposes of this policy form and shall be considered a supervisor um this is because um in other contexts in other contexts a foreman is not considered a supervisor and so apparently there may have been an issue and um there was a concern about applying the policy when we're saying hey we're not going to have someone being a supervisor over a relative so um because they function in a lot of ways like a supervisor um I added that language um it's not required to be there but it's there because um we want to address that potential scenario um so you're saying that's okay to have correct the definition of that definition yes and that's why I said four purposes of this policy not you know so if I may I want to just articulate what I'm envisioning so organ chart hiring manager hiry person being hired whatever dotted line to your supervisor the person who actually sees what you're doing on a day-to-day basis your hiring manager doesn't know what you're doing on a day-to-day basis they have an idea you're going to that school to work on that field right but the supervisor actually knows what you're doing and actually over the course of eight hours probably spends 15 or 20 minutes with you over the course of that day to see what's going on and see if the work is satisfactory and then the supervisor reports in to the manager basically says yeah everything was great today with all the people mm-hmm yeah so my question is are what you're speaking to right now are you saying we are allowed to have a Prohibition on relatives between the employee and the supervisor so so well that's what you're saying in terms of certain questions well um I I think using that scenario again and what you had said about outside of this policy so if that goes to a State Labor Board hearing would the policy are following this policy in identifying the foreman as supervisor and not allowing somebody to take that role because of that hold up in a State Labor Board context if if grieved or whatever yeah because we're we're defining it as long as we clearly Define it within the policy yeah all right so we missed this and we're going to fix it right yeah okay who know we had to get that specific right yeah and then um the other piece of it is um it's kind of two changes but it's um in a similar way so one is just civil unions don't really exist anymore because um even in people who had gotten a civil union it was converted by operation of law automatically until marriage years ago so the references to civil unions in general are outdated um so I removed that because it falls under the prior um word which is marriage um but I didn't even know that was in there I see a lot of policies I mentioned civil union if I'm not changing anything else I'll usually just let that sit but since I am making the change I thought I would bring it up to 2022.

Dr Mead and Dr Sealy joining us this evening thank you so much for for being here I appreciate it um so I will turn this over to Dr Mead I think is going to start with a discussion about uh a family resource table at the December 10th event okay good evening early in the morning we are having our first of this year's Family University we've held this in previous years in our schools this year is a little bit different previous years we've always targeted all of our families but uh based on the needs of our students we wanted to really Target our preschool through grade two families um to come to this and so we're working with our curriculum coordinators our math and our literacy Specialists to develop workshops for the parents to um take to learn how they can best support their students learning at home while the students are in another section of the building with animal Embassy a puppet show a magic show arts and crafts all kinds of things like that part of the family University um day and we're done by one o'clock so it's you know fairly early come in at eight have breakfast with your family separate go to the first keynote Workshop that will be Kevin this year talking about a little bit about his goals in the budget then they'll break off and go into their different workshops is uh we have about a half an hour uh mid-morning where we're asking some of our Community Partners to come in and share resources with our family and I would like to invite the Board of Education to have a table to continue to meet the public and for the public to have opportunities to meet the board members and so that's my invite tonight I will get a formal letter out um to our chairperson um and then you know whoever would like to be there we welcome you all um to come for the entire morning if you'd like but on that one half an hour it's it's about a half an hour to 45 minutes um that will have open vendors um and resource tables there for our families so Dr me can you just uh remind me what time that is that half hour 45 minutes um it's between probably 10 10 15 and 11 o'clock okay so we'll say 10 to 11.

well good evening and welcome to this regularly scheduled board meeting slash study session for the Azusa Unified School District Board of Education on November 15 2022 the time is now 5 33 p.m and we will call this meeting to order and we will begin with our flag salute next we move to item 1.3 which is our roll call uh board member Rodriguez Pena president board member Cruz Gonzalez here and I board member Greer am here board member adianis and board members arianes and Bo will not be in attendance this evening this takes us to uh 2.0 and specifically 2.1 which is the approval of the agenda is there a motion on the floor make motion to approve 2.1 second moved by board member Rodriguez Pena seconded by board member who's Gonzalez any discussion hearing none we will move to a vote and the motion passes three yes the two absent this brings us to 3.0 and specifically 3.1 which is public comment on agenda or non-agenda items this is an opportunity for the public to address the board of education on agenda or non-agend items individual speakers may be allowed up to three minutes to address the board of education on any agenda or non-agenda item when the public wishes to address the board on any agenda item they may fill out a blue card stand at the podium or raise their hand while in Zoom attendance the Board of Education members are not permitted to respond to public comments the Board of Education will take blue card requests first followed an order by speakers at the podium and then those in Zoom attendance I will ask because we have some uh moments to just celebrate uh the legacy of board member Cruz Gonzalez here in a moment if you do have a comment to make in regards to that we'd ask that you hold that and we'll make some space when we get to uh 4.1 for you to share those comments about board member uh uh Chris Gonzalez so with that said Do we have any blue cards or or other commenters no okay then we'll move on to 4.0 recognition and awards and specifically 4.1 recognition of shielding Cruz Gonzalez or service as board member of Azusa Unified School District Board of Education and I I think it would be most fitting to just uh begin that with a um just really a a thank you and even an even a hand clap just for all that you've done foreign and your incredible uh just just years of service and of course there are many uh who are here to to celebrate you and I did want to begin um that Celebration by first calling up uh Giselle from Senator Rubio's office okay then uh Danae from assemblywoman uh Rubio's office good evening everyone my name is Dania Maya I'm the district director for the office of assembly woman Blanca Rubio I actually wanted to introduce our newest District representative that will be covering the city of Azusa which is Alexis Sanchez he's going to go ahead and present these resolutions and then all for recognition as well so we'll give a round of applause hello can you everyone hear me okay um my name is Alexis Sanchez and I am the new assistant representative for assemblywoman Blanca Rubio and I'm here today in honor of the honorees member board member Cruz Gonzalez and board member Greer um so today I would like to um I am proud to provide this legislative California legislator assembly resolution to Cruz member board member Cruz Gonzalez on her um membership of the zoo support us unified board School District uh since 2001.

thank you good afternoon this is Chris gadowski superintendent with Adams 12. thank you hello this is Claudia Anderson I'm a DAC member for Adams 12. thank you for joining us um 27j can you go ahead yep I'm Amanda van blerkom I'm a deck member with 27j oh I think you're muted oh there you go I'm Terry Lucero Chief Operating Officer for school district 27j welcome Benjamin Huseman representing 27j thank you uh Mapleton public schools good afternoon I'm Charlotte chancho superintendent in Mapleton and I'm I'm Mallory Boyce I'm on the board of education at Mapleton public schools and a parent I'm Michelle Ramos I am a parent and I am with Mapleton here and Adam's 14 team um I'll leave my name is Renee Lovato I'm on the Adams 14 School Board Molina uh I'm Lucy Molina and I'm also on the Adams 14 School Board gracias my name is great thank you so much um again thank you for taking the time to join us today um I'd also uh Sue would you like to introduce yourself and kind of give a an introductory thank you very much uh good afternoon boards members and I guess I'm sue Kim I'm with the Attorney General's office I've been asked to provide legal assistance to this committee uh as a separate body um when called upon I had two basic foundational bits that I just wanted to share if that's all right to do that here I won't take more than a minute or so oh yes of course go ahead okay thank you so very nice to see you all I just wanted to uh one uh make a quick uh nod to my role generally I've been assigned to this committee and it's a pleasure to meet you here today I understand this is a new committee with its own unique steps under the law and so my role as I see it will be to help navigate the various steps and stages of that process and also I do have experience with other boards and commissions in this state and there is a rather set process that we can call upon as needed uh I see that you have your agenda set for today including one action item of a vote and then other important discussion so until that vote at which point I can Focus some of my comments to the chair I'm hoping to help with any legal issues that you all have or that I can help you identify and we'll hope that on a future agenda at a future meeting we can get a little bit more into detail about what that might entail but for today you may see me interjecting and just trying to Aid the process generally with the agenda that's been set for this committee and then from there it should take a little bit more shape so thank you um for the opportunity to address you all this morning and uh again for today I'll focus on trying to help you move through the agenda with the short time that has been allocated thank you great thank you so much um yes this is new Waters so I'm very appreciative that we have um on board to kind of guide us through this process um I don't have the agenda other than we need to elect a a chair Vice chair and a secretary is that correct that is the requirement of Law And for those who can access the agenda online it is uh because we've gone through agenda 1.1 um with the interpretation the 1.2 of the brief introduction of committee members who are now on item 1.3 um would it be helpful to jump in and make a couple of suggestions here on how to proceed um sure yeah I I um I think foreign if it goes like any other board do we just request a nomination for each position I think that would be just fine there's no such rule or procedure here but I think if the purpose is in the spirit of making sure that anyone who is interested in serving as chair of Vice chair or secretary that their names come forward if you want to volunteer yourself or nominate another board member I think any of those would be acceptable if there are no volunteers we can just go through the role um however you wish to do it we are kind of um in the rudderless uh bit so if everyone is okay with that process and uh Committee Member Lovato leading that discussion that is what I propose Miss Kim and miss libado this is Cameron wise media producer for Adams 14.

he came with the lens of being a father and what it was like for his kids to experience the learning with the teachers in the schools he served as a crossing guard and got to know the kids and the staff as a staff member prior to his service I know there were times when he would come to a meeting with heavy weight on his mind wondering how he was going to vote on whatever issue and through prayer and his faith put time and energy into listening to what was said at the Deus and to the Deus and for the board and I watched him actually change his mind on some issues and that's a powerful thing for a leader to be able to do is deeply listen and reflect and be influenced by those people he serves so he has been an inclusive Advocate a humble leader and openly vulnerable to the struggle of decision making when we need to learn how to switch and think openly and have our minds changed so I know that you'll all stand and warmly thank Mr compost for a service and with that we actually have a public comment on this item Tim foreign thank you all right Tim kenor our teacher at Papago got some Papago art over there so it's exciting to come and and check that out but I just wanted to come as someone who's worked at Papago for nine years uh Mr Angel compost has has been part of our community the entire time uh and then uh with his um appointment to the board and then deciding to run for governing board we definitely developed a nice friendship and he actually was the officiant at my wedding uh which you know tied that Bond even more so um from all of the Papago community that couldn't be here tonight uh and you know for my deepest heart thank you so much for all you've done thank you so I would like to read a letter from um someone two people at um Papago that could not make it here tonight Mr Campos thank you for your commitment to our Creighton Community your unwavering support of the teachers is appreciated more than you know you have been such a beacon and positivity and hope in this community what an asset you have been to our school board we have had the added pleasure of teaching and coaching your wonderful children and have even enjoyed some of the best carne asada tacos ever at your house the sidelines on the Papago soccer field are not the same without your signature yell you know what it is vamos popular yeah yeah and this board will certainly not be the same without you thank you friend for all you have done for our teachers students and families Mrs Anastasio and kochal that concludes the soup's report if you'd like to call on Twitter report oh you read yours would you like to say something oh it's been a pleasure getting to know Mr Campos um yeah my neighbor so um I live right behind his church so I see him quite frequently when I'm taking my trash out because we have an Alleyway but I remember the first time we met because I had been messaging his church because at the time yeah so at the time well he still does this but they open up the church and play their music and I was getting married in the backyard on a Sunday night when they normally did it so I kept emailing his church like can you please please like close your doors so that's the first time I met Mr compost and he did close the doors for that night so and then I learned he was on the board and so we've become good neighbors and friends so thank you Mr compost for your wisdom and your friendship Mr Campos thank you so much for your service to the school district as a first generation I know how hard at times it is to fit into this world that we think is you know great and dandy so I appreciate that I appreciate you being representation for some of our students and our families here so thank you so much for your service everybody took all the good words but um I will Echo them all and I just since I've met you and been able to work with you um everything from being a teacher in the audience watching you on the board to joining the board with you um I've just really always appreciated your thoughtfulness um and you really take the time to look at every perspective and I see that not just on the Deus but I know that that comes from everything you do in your work throughout your life and your personal life and I know you know beyond what you do here for the Creighton students and families I'm always amazed by how you manage to do so much for everyone else in the community and especially our migrants that are coming in and I just I really you're very inspiring and I hope that you continue to be that inspiration for all the communities you serve so thank you thank you for your service Mr Campos and all my best wishes to you and your family going forward all these days today I've been thinking about this moment and I I left my glasses on purpose because I I don't want to read anything that I've written and and I wrote it in over and over but I I don't need to say anything else uh everyone touched from the honor having served uh the huge responsibility of getting into doing something that you know nothing uh in 2016 I became a U.S citizen and it was in that year so it was almost two years on top of the four that I served as a as an elective that I was appointed in 2016 my neighbors came to my door and asked me if I could represent them dude what the heck is that because I I just became a U.S citizen I'm still trying to figure out uh whom I want to vote for uh was this Depot that appears all these names I don't know them I had to do a research on who I was voting for but then uh I I had to do a biggest investigation on what it means to be a governing world and I didn't know how our great responsibility it is for for these ladies and night to be here we're making decisions on on like on everybody in in these neighborhoods and and that uh that adds a lot to what we do but uh with I've been doing it with pride I'm I feel very good for what I do and and then with humbleness and and just to finish today I I went to uh two things I went to to Costco to buy some clothing and food for the migrants that we received today and I I was trying to park but it was full and and then uh I didn't find a parking but I see this huge big man and trying to put something on his truck and it was too heavy for him and his wife was trying to help him so I was without saying that my wife said what are you going I just opened the door Park open the door and he will help him and and he said thank you and then he said the world is good today I might I know why he said that but he said it because there's a lot of uh crazy things going on every day people being angry and trying to ease you off and make you angry and I said every day is good Amigo every day is good it depends on your eyes so I I go and I find my parking and I'm coming back and I'm coming back there was a guy just parked right there right right near the the cards go in and as I'm passing by the same guy that I helped is trying to leave the place and the guy that was used there I guess on his phone he was randomly he used to step on the gas they were just about to do an accident and and I get in the front of the car and I went hey stop he was and he thought I was angry no it's okay I'm not angry you almost hit a man and with a smile but you can do the same thing with a forget about your ugly face put your best friends so I go oh and then the other guy turns on the Wind he goes twice you saved me today you're my angel my name is Angel campus and I'm proud of that I'm part of being who I am so so uh uh always remember you can always approach things that are going wrong in the world but don't ever think that the world the world is bad we can make it better we don't have to take anybody's trash anybody's I'm not defined by anybody's opinion undefined by my lifestyle that's who I am I'm not defined by anybody of you because I don't respond to any of your uh request like like Hebrew National my answer to a higher authority okay and secondly uh today as I was getting ready for this uh my wife calls me that we have this group of nurses that come to church and they help us with the kids and they say there's a little baby a few months old her heart is going down rapidly we need to take it immediately to the to the hospital so I dropped everything that I was doing and me and my wife take the mother a little baby and the nine-year-old daughter the hospital but they only let the mother and the baby so here we are with this little girl 90 year old she never met us before she don't know who these two nice good looking people are and and then uh but you have to improve by them what's your name she was Vanessa Vanessa 's comments she was I like fish let's go for fish we go for peace and then I realized my wife says before we go for fish we need to go under her some shoes in some dry clothes because she just crossed the river last night and instead of helping care they broke it into a and I'm also prison looking like Rome that is called as a refrigerator so that's why the little girl was sick so we take the little baby and and I could put some shoes some clothing and with eating and then you know how kids are when when their seat is too high they go with the feet she was having fun she's sleeping in my office right now I'm not defined but anybody's opinion I answer to a higher authority that's all I want you to know anything that I do even if I make a mistake I don't feel bad because I try my best if I make a mistake I'll just correct I gotta know because I have to go and pick up the little girl in the hospital but God bless you all thank you thank you Mr Campos that brings us to governing board reports um Miss Ayers we would like to start off with you let's go first again what can I say that take away from life because you're on my left and I just looked to my left all the time can I take something from you today again say for you I'm always taking what she wants to say but she takes my stuff too um I just want to say that I hope everybody has a really great um Thanksgiving break a time to be with your families and um make memories so um and enjoy your time thank you thank you Miss Harris Miss McCaleb that was one of mine of mine um enjoy a break use it to rest um also my only other one was um Miss Burgess needs to let me know when there's time for volunteers for Kaboom playground because building one playground wasn't enough foreign thank you um I just have three quick things the first one is thank you so much for those families that came and talked about displacing um tomorrow there is a city council meeting at 2 30 you guys can actually sign up online and make public comments after the board meeting I'm gonna stick around for a few minutes if you guys want to know how to go into the website or sign up I'm going to actually go in person and make a public comment on behalf of the families that were here so if anybody else wants to join it's tomorrow at 2 30 in downtown and you have to sign up on the website before 12 30 to be able to make a comment and it's item number zero zero zero just so you guys know but like I said you guys can email me or email anybody they'll track me down and I can get that information for you guys um also I just want to I know that Dr Lewis talked a little bit on on it but I just want to re um thank everybody for the campus for getting this override pass the community that actually passed it it's very important all those canvassers that were out there knocking doors I know how hard that is and I really appreciate you guys being out there every single day getting the word out you know there was teachers that I saw out there um I really appreciate you guys you guys do a lot already and to really see you guys out there knocking on these doors really means a whole lot just because it really takes how much you care for the school and the students to a whole another level so I appreciate that as well and then the last thing I'm sure a lot of us already know but this really impacts our families as well I am so proud of that prop 308 passed um yes thank you Katie prop 308 for those of you who don't know it gives in-state tuition to any undocumented person and that directly impacts DACA but not only DACA we have other immigrants here as well that are going to benefit from that and they will qualify for financial aid so that is a huge thing so yeah good for that and that ends the governing board reports that brings us to approval of consent I move the governing board a brief consenta agenda items a through D in accordance with policy bedb-e all those in favor aye aye aye thank you and that brings us to 6A Junior Ambassador update evening Madam president members of the governor board and Bell members of the executive team it's my privilege this evening to introduce Mr Iman Khan along with students and parents of our Junior ambassadors group who traveled this past summer to Costa Rica we'll be sharing with you some information about the learning from a trip and some thinking about where we're headed next thank you for your patient as we connect is the Moon it's an astronaut with the Moon Madam president members of the board executive team and members of the audience it is my great pleasure to report to you about our Junior Ambassador uh program and especially the travel that our students did to Costa Rica on last June a friendly reminder that we're only a few of the districts that have this wonderful program that gives the opportunity to our adventurous Learners and thinkers to have the opportunity to travel to different cultures into different countries and to apply those skills as ambassadors and represent their themselves their families our districts in Arizona to the other countries and so it is with great pleasure that today we're going to report on that trip um and for that I have a group of uh students that are they're pretending they're shy but they're great speakers and amazing ambassadors in two of the wonderful teachers so uh good evening uh we were so excited to get to be part of uh junior ambassadors going to Costa Rica and so this is just a small part of all the students that got to participate and we're excited to share all the things that we've got to do good evening thank you for having me here um I'm going to be talking a little bit about the host families I appreciate the opportunity I've had to travel to Costa Rica as an ambassador for the Creighton School District thank you my husband a life-changing experience when I was first introduced to the program I was excited about traveling but unsure about staying with someone I did not know however after talking with my partner Camila about her life in Costa Rica I was confident we were going to get along well it was late when I was arrived so I didn't get to meet the family but the next morning I met our family over breakfast which is a little awkward at first however I settled in over the next few days and had a great time with her family and Friends over the days over the next week I met her grandparents her mother and her older brother we had lunch went swimming and went to the mall I was able to hang out with Camila and her friends on multiple occasions we played volleyball went to the beach into the movies by the time the trip was over I really didn't want to come home I had a great time with her family and talked her on a daily basis we hope to see each other soon like my friends I had a wonderful host family experience thank you hi my name is Elle and I'm going to be talking about a few of the museums that we went to okay so in Costa Rica we visited it um um many museums all of which we learned a lot about we got to see or what felt like experience their history culture art technology architecture religion and animals my favorite museum that we tour was the national museum of Costa Rica I enjoyed this Museum because it showed me the country's natural and cut cultural heritage or history there we also looked um at exhibits of pre -columbian um pieces in addition to artifacts from The Colony colony and The Early Republic another interesting Museum I was keen on was the Museum of Costa Rican art when you walk into the museum the first thing you see is a sculpture of a woman sitting down this piece is called Esperanza which was made in 1980.

um you might be able to argue nine since I've been doing props with my dad for my brother 2014. um I have seen this group so many countless times and I continue to see it improve every single year and I was a little scared and covid when we had a lot of new Marchers but we really pushed through and I guess three was our lucky number this year because we managed to place third at every competition and even make finals which is insane so going from my eighth grade year in marching band and making uh and going to boa which is the bands of America Regional championships and then finishing off my book with the ISU finals uh really made the season such a such a such a complete story and um I'm really proud of where this group has gone and I can't wait to see where it goes in the future because hopefully I'll be coming back much to Mr Owen's dismay thank you [Applause] again thank you so much for all the support that you provide not only to all these amazing students in our marching band to all the but all the music and Fine Arts that we have here at the high school and in District 101.

We compare it to 18. okay I thought I was very clear in that meeting and I thought Cheryl and I made it I mean Mr sawales has been asking for this we all have I don't know what you're calling what test and what data but we kept saying you keep saying we're this far behind and we what are we doing and we're still not seeing that we're not saying you know our kids have made our fifth graders are fifth graders and they're and they're doing okay in their classes you're saying we have to keep waiting we have to keep waiting I'm I'm terribly frustrated this this is great information for something but not to answer the question the board is when asking for a long time now I I don't see the answer I don't see it and Mr swallowish was already pointed that out where were we then and where are we now and that's one of the first things we've been asking for so I'm still frustrated and I can see why our teachers are frustrated because if we're going to keep getting leniency and just go back and say oh 50 you know we're above the state average that doesn't do anything for this District where is this district and what are we doing to make sure that our kids are getting the help and the education they need and and I don't see it did I miss it did I mean I don't see it and that's what I clearly have been asking for and I think pretty clearly Mr swallowish has been asking for and some of the other conversations I I just want to I I think that um what I see is the district comparing the district to the state now are you asking the district to compare itself from tell me we are we're hugely behind because of the pandemic we still haven't seen where we were the day we went to remote and where we are today and are we still a hugely what we don't see those numbers and that's why Mr sawales is saying it again we asked for those numbers we didn't get those numbers this is great when we compare to the school so what you want to see where are we to make up for our kids if we lost two grades in some of these which is what we were told they were a grade behind or better some of them where are those kids now what have we done what do we need to do if they're not where they're supposed to be none of that has been provided yeah none of it I think on our own our own children data from 2019 until now I think in the idea so let me let me ask this then are you looking for a third grader in 2019 compared to a third grader today or third grade in 2019 compared to a sixth grader today no no I want to know whatever the grade they would be is a night is a freshman in high school in 2019 performing at the same level as a freshman High School in 2020.

unfortunately I will not be able to attend that meeting I would be on an airplane on my way to Florida for fun to see family um so so um oh I'm we'll have to chat offline but they said it probably would be best to send a representative from the schools whether it be a school committee member or um or something in central office um but that would be the way to get this on the warrant would be to present it in person okay so but ton yes okay the other thing that I wanted to oh sorry [Music] I don't know when the meeting actually is but I think that the time for it to put on the warrant has passed and had it submitted by Monday so I that's why I submitted it at this left board meeting it's on there so we just have to go to fincon they they pretty much said it's on there but like that they fidcon has to prove it yeah so the special town meeting is going to be it was supposed to be I think December 6th that they pushed it to the 13th or was it the fifth That was supposed to be the 12th but it's going to be the second week in December okay um so it'll be one of those I can't remember who was the 12th or the 13th but it was supposed to be that first week thank you the other thing I also wanted to mention is I applied for a grant through Maya and for for ten thousand dollars for the Boylston facility assessment and we actually won that Grant so we do the tc2 has ten thousand dollars towards the assessment thank you thank you so let me ask you a question how many times would you put it out to bid before [Music] I mean there's no way to bring them up huh you can't break it up like you would do to get it under so you can just have somebody do it right well it goes by a dollar amount right right instead of 30 break into 10 and then you're under that threshold and then you didn't have to put them together yeah because how would you break it um right yeah I mean I mean but isn't it yeah I know I'm just saying that is their next is there a right phase two okay we're gonna thought about that yeah that's a good thought something to think about what are the main things right foreign are we sure sorry are we sure it's going to be 34 000 no no we are not sure yeah yeah and we were we discussed about actually taking the dollar amount off of it for the next bit right or upping up and again but we will need a dollar amount when we go in to ask income yes yes yes so the amount I had said was 34 000.

um and then I added or if you live together but now we have this Trend whether it's a romantic relationship or not but I think romantic relationships come to mind first that you know people can cohabit for 10 years 20 years 50 years never be married um never intend to get married um but they're they bought a house together they had a dog together and they're racing kids together but they're not married functionally we ought to consider them as relatives because why should they why should there be a difference in terms of the policy likewise um you know so I started with romantic but you know you could have you know it's some it's someone else who lives with you that doesn't fall under this for any even a roommate you know is there common law in Connecticut or yeah okay um so the um you know the situation here let's you know even if it's your roomie do you really want a situation where someone is supervising their roommate I I think it's just too close for comfort so roommates fiance's you know my my boyfriend's child who is not my child whatever the scenario is um it just makes sense extends the umbrella which I think was the intent right I mean so the concern the concern for me is if you're if if you can be relatively objective okay so nobody's 100 objective they're gonna be biased to some degree but you want to minimize to me I just want to minimize the bias and when you know the manager is taking a lot of input from the supervisor they're probably going to defer to the supervisor on I'm going to write it I'm going to write you up and then go home and well you write other people up and then go home and have dinner with your cohabitor right right so and that's unfair and it it minimum it has the appearance of being unfair the Optics are terrible and that's what I want to avoid exactly because and that's my point it's so untenable to think I'm going to write you up and then go have dinner with you that obviously then I'm not going to write you up and if I'm not going to write you up when you sh when you ought to have been running up then I'm not doing anything and so um and even if I am doing my job there's still the issue of Optics so um you know nepotism policies you know there's you have a lot of flexibility in what you do with them um if you're just trying to say hey can we not have situations that are clearly going to be problematic from day one um by broadening this to include anybody cohabiting um regardless of the nature of the cohabitating relationship I think that will be really helpful and then I removed all your legal references to civil unions because I took on civil unions so so just be clear I think one of the reasons why we wanted to talk to you about is because it sounded like because of the uh the public hearing that we had it sounded like our our policy had been watered down and it turns out that's that may have been the case temporarily it turns out that we can keep it as strict as we had intended it to be by changing some warning to keep it as strict as sweet yeah I wouldn't say that the policy was worded down watered down when we had the policy and it you know on the surface it made sense I think what's counter-intuitive is the idea that the foreman in the right State Labor Board is not considered a supervisor so it was like oh all right and that was the angle that was played right what we're doing is closing closing the loophole for lack of a better term gotcha okay so one gem so we're doing I I see two issues here one of which is uh straight uh tidying up this policy and then second of all if this policy ends up affecting any existing situations is there anything that changes with the existing situations or is that grandfathered in I don't um policy um specifically addresses it but I guess um my question would be do we know of any situations where this is an issue I'm not aware of any supervision any issues where the the supervisor falls into any of this okay or Foreman okay falls into any of this um when we initially instituted this we were aware of that yeah yeah where there was a in-law relationship with a supervisor um then the person didn't directly supervise the individual but was a supervisor in the building and we felt that that wouldn't be appropriate and made a transfer so there aren't you know situations that will be implicated here thank you sure so if you know I think we're all on the same page here just from the quick conversation that we would add this for our first reading in our next yeah okay yeah all right all right if we're ready to move on I guess we can dismissed Rebecca and thank her for her time and energy this evening and throughout the day too I had babysitters yeah my wife is not home right now sorry we could still get the two two boats and it'll carry it right the dismissed the next uh the next piece of the meeting should be relative yeah thank you Ted oh I know it's hard to get you know babysitters and stuff I've been in that position before in the night is my mom and dad but they made it clear that's uh good night all right see you tip all right good night thank you um good night thank you for coming um this first one is really about Narcan in the schools we were directed you know through the State Department of Health that we should have a policy around that um and uh I apologize for some reason I can't figure out how to make this bigger I can't drag it around I cannot I can actually see it can you read that I can which is this this is uh just short of eye chart quality I don't know how could you double click and open it on another all right that one got it okay even though I couldn't see a thing there just randomly clicking um so the way that we've approached Narcan for many years is that it's a life-saving tool and why wouldn't we have I mean it's it's fairly miraculous and you know this is not because we're worried about our staff or a seventh grader it it you know do a little having an overdose necessarily although um you know recent events you know things look like whatever you know kids may get to something on the street or at home or wherever it's a life-saving tool so we've used this for many years across the district not used we haven't had to use it we stock it what's that just can't stop filtering I don't know if it stops uh that's not really an opioid I got the opioid based I don't know if it would stop I'd have to Google that but um you know either way you don't know when somebody's having an episode necessarily what it is so um we do have training conducted either by the nurse the Cheshire Police Department uh to support how to use Narcan if necessary we have it available in every nurse's office in the district um you know because that's where the most people will be there during the day but we also have it at the high school and the middle school because those buildings are used a lot after hours in the uh AED uh areas so if you see an ADP uh resource on the wall and when you open the cupboard there there's a Narcan involved there as well oh really oh wow so unlike an EpiPen this requires a person to be able to train to use this we we do train people to use it but it's it's basically just a nasal inhaler you um you know there are processes you go through to check breathing and things like that then you know you if they're unresponding you give them what's called the sternum rub where you use your knuckles up and down on their chest to see if there's any sort of response and if there's not um and you think it you have reasons any reason to believe that it could be a drug overdose this is not going to hurt you if it's not a drug overdose um and it could save your life if it is so the employee exactly I think that yeah yeah yeah so I mean that's why we have it I mean I know initially when we first had it some people were saying you know what are you are your kids using drugs all the time no I just my kids aren't having heart attacks either but we have aeds yeah so it's kind of our approach to this um and this just kind of goes through what the protocol is for that so I mean I I thought I had a question and I don't remember where the section was there was a paragraph um we have a couple more readings on this too so there's not an urgency necessarily most of the languages from cave that's uh yeah yeah I'm using my phone here because the computer doesn't work yeah sorry yeah yeah I guess what it was yeah well I I think I did I didn't remember where it was but it was on my computer um no wall but then maybe had something to do with training I think or or the location of it was the policy said it's located in the nurses offices yes and the only people to have access to it at least during school hours are supposed to be the nurse or superintendent's designee here right right yeah our administrators are trained um and the nurse that's in the nurse's office so the principals have keys to the nurse's office and can access Narcan after hours but like I said we make it fairly available at the middle and high school where we have frequent large groups of people using the facility after hours and there's always someone there who's aware that it's available usually building maintainers will be aware that it's available yeah do they have to receive training at all um I don't know off top my head if they've received training or not I'll ask Nancy about that our nursing coordinator um but you know certainly we we could give them training on that should you know because they do go to different buildings as well because I mean they're required to be there and if they are aware yeah so and I guess what I'm saying too is the the Darcy building maintainer could be working an event at the high school too right so it's probably helpful to let it's good suggestion I'll talk to Nancy about training that crew um it's very quick I mean it's probably a half hour um you know I remember having that training and it does actually reverse Fentanyl I just Google oh wow yeah wow so okay great quite an invention no kidding huh when is that coming from cancer and other things right yeah um you have to um okay yeah this would be uh we'd have to move this for a second reading I don't know if you want to do that first reading before the board right yeah the uh I don't know if you want to do that now or do them all at the end oh I don't just slow down yeah I'll uh so I'll I'll move that um uh policy 5141.213 administering medication be moved to a first reading second any discussion all in favor it's unanimous of those present thank you um school activity fund this is um the second moving for a second reading if you recall we had the audit done the first part of this is simply changing the title uh to clo and then the second part of this is information provided by the auditor that just updated all of our protocols right you know so we I know we reviewed this and we're like ah this is much different and better than the last yes so if you guys are okay I can jump to the next one okay um electronic Board of Education meetings this is if you recall follows the the change in law that allows us to engage in remote meetings which I know we like to take advantage of um when we can't and so nothing I don't think I know we didn't change anything the first time around in this policy actually because uh Tony had a question or earlier this evening I had the opportunity to read through it again uh this evening um there was one thing in there that caught my eye and I don't know if this was uh uh required by law or not but it uh it says that if we're going to have a an electronic meeting it's 48-hour notice right not 24 hours yeah so that's there's those two different thresholds there right so how does how does that work exactly because usually our agendas are kind of they usually are 24 hours a lot of times yeah so when we when we do do a remote we do do the 48 hour posting yeah okay yeah and well thank you for that I appreciate it and the reason that they give that additional grace period is so that if somebody needed access to technology or whatever they could contact us when we could provide that okay it's generally not been an issue for us historically and you know almost everybody has a phone at least today so yeah you know okay it's been okay but yeah we are sensitive to that so if you guys want to make a motion for those for a second reading sure um move that policies uh 35 43 school activity fund and policy 9321.2 electronic Board of Education meetings uh be moved to a second reading second any discussion all in favor unanimous as of those present thank you the next one is uh food service charging policy that was updated uh through the law you know again it's it's pretty straightforward uh in terms of how we uh any District who receives Federal support for a food service program which we utilize obviously uh it has to adhere to this so the goal is obviously to limit discrimination and that may be not discrimination but embarrassment for kids and provide access and if there's an issue how districts on the back end and deal with families around this which you know we've been kind of following this anyway so all right um the other four policies here at the bottom s are that was an artifact yeah artifacts okay so seven is basically crossed that out right I just deleted it off yeah okay all right sure so that's the uh [Laughter] foreign food service charging policy be moved for a third and final reading there's a second um any discussion all in favor it's unanimous of those presents um is there any other Mr chair if I may uh yes sir under other you are very formal tonight um you know we kind of knew that this meeting was going to be longer uh and appreciate Rebecca coming and providing the depth that she did uh you know there's only so much you can fit on an agenda we'll be here for three months but uh in the next meeting I was hope hoping to take up uh some of the information around the curriculum review process the the uh policy about when a a family uh has an issue or somebody has a an issue with one of the resources that we have what the protocol is for that so you know with your blessing I guess I would add that if you guys want that for our so the so there's reference at the last business meeting that curriculum had kind of put put together a proposed policy is that correct yeah I don't know that they put together a proposed policy as much as they spent a couple of meetings actually kind of going through what the process was um you know Marlene and uh the committee members discussed the policy as it existed it you know could be updated and so there they put that over to us to review as well so sorry we have an adoption policy we do why is that more so the more so the uh challenge policy than the adoption policy the the you know what what do you do when things get challenged and how do you facilitate that so I'll send you some information in advance of our next meeting on that um if you're comfortable we'll throw that on the next yeah sure I mean obviously we know nepotism is going to go on the next agenda you guys can let me know about if you wanted to move forward with a transgender policy or not but then those two at least we know will be there which I'm sure that the uh challenging materials piece will take some time too so okay I I personally would like to see some sort of draft for us on the gender identity I don't know if that's something for now you're just gonna craft you know yeah I could work with Rebecca on what a draft would look like and disseminate it to you guys and you know we can go from there yeah we can um entertain it yeah yeah okay okay we'll work on that then because there certainly seem to be a lot there yeah yeah and whether or not like I said to you um previously when I sent the information to you like Rebecca said this isn't a required policy um but as she indicated tonight as well that it provides some level of guidance for people who have questions some level of awareness and you know Adam and I had had private or prior conversations around um you know not everybody understands the law around this issue which creates a lot of angst then there's angst about this is a medical topic for me or this is new to me um and so there's a lot of consternation and this just provides information to help you know cut through some of that fog so people are aware of what we're following and why we're following it I wonder if this would cross over to kind of an equity policy too or is it under Equity umbrella more or less so are we really truly bring forward an equity policy which you know cause attention to your identity or is is it too separate it sounds like it would be two separate things you know I think the level of detail inherent in this policy probably makes it separate but you know our Equity work I mean we have a group that is looking at other you know communities and what do they uh espouse in terms of an equity policy and I think ultimately it'll be something that this group will take a look at as you can see our agenda is pretty stacked in the next couple of meetings but um you know I wouldn't be surprised if in the spring we're looking at something like that to see if does this make sense for us or not you know I mean our take is I mean I can't help but to think well she's going through this it's like we don't really we care but we don't care who you are or what you know when you walk through the door you're you and we want to you know love you up and and educate you I don't care what you are what color you are what religion race sexual expression any of that stuff how do we support you to become the best you you can be and I mean that's kind of a to a degree um you know what we're looking at I mean I appreciate too that we want to make sure that we are providing you know everybody access and support to be the best you you can be I think that's another part of the equity policy but it starts with you know we love everybody who comes through our door how do we support you you know to be the best you you can be but I think it helps to acknowledge is that way absolutely absolutely that's what I said I think this is a part of it you know it starts there and then where does it go beyond that you know how do we leverage our differences uh to make it the best possible experience for kids I mean Adam's been you know for the forthright about the shock you know some of the culture shock that came with going from Cheshire High to college you know this does not look like my neighborhood you know um and that's a great thing you know I I didn't have Chinese food till I went to college I grew up with an Irish immigrant and my mom was a heck of a cook but you know they had like potatoes mom worked nights you know I ate a lot of Pizza in McDonald's in high school no Chinese food existed not that that's you know a full exposure to the Chinese culture but like pretty sheltered is what I'm saying but anyway so all right I think that's good for others um you know it's up to you guys now okay um seeing if there's no other uh items here on the agenda of motion to adjourn all right all in favor hi okay great thank you thank you guys