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Therefore, this work ensures that all students feel seen, supported, all families feel represented, and that our schools truly reflect the needs of the communities they serve. Thank you for your time and your commitment to the students and families. Thanks. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Sarah Hearn. I believe it's Sarah Hearn. Uh regarding JOTC. Okay. Okay. Our next speaker is uh Jason Mara. >> Yes. >> Hi. Um mine is short. So yeah, my name is Jason. Uh my son goes to Lexington. Hi Mr. Roshi. So, um um last year in seventh grade, my son was bullied in two different classes and so he had a C and a D grade. So, I'm grateful that Lexington resolved it already. So, um now he's in eighth grade and no more bullies and he's a straight A student, you know, I'm very grateful for that. And you can see the correlation between uh bullying and grades directly on my son.
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I don't think that's gonna come up in storm water review with >> okay >> if if it gets reviewed at that level for because because all of these have like internal drainage under them that basically like its own storm water system that collects it and then >> dumps it. Right. >> Yeah. So I think they're in that process now. But concom I think what Jasmine's saying is like concom's jurisdiction is to is to talk about the water and so water isn't causing erosion and it's not you know whatever but it's not analyzing what's in it >> um isn't part of their jurisdiction and so that's a line I think they hesitate to cross >> understood. So >> yeah, >> really it's the public health person and >> these particular documents and then who's doing the storm water >> part that's coming to us >> conference they're before them currently they haven't open >> okay great >> they have they have it open with this product >> the information that we have is the same that concom has >> no do they have that with the product that they are specifying here or they have it as a generic synthetic turf.
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Yep. And then um I came I come I come here waited for two hours something and then um um came across because I came across Mia Mahia's website and she goes to Lexington 2 same grade as my son. I do not know Mia Mahia prior to this and then nor her family I just saw her like here first time. So um from her website I learned that she commits suicide due to bullying as of March 2025 last year. So it's been 13 months and what until today her family still does not know who bullies her. So as a distant observer I have one dumb question. So why can't Mia family know the who the bullies are from Lexington? No. So, um, bullies should not get to hide behind the school privacy laws to avoid accountability and bullies bullies deserve due process but not protection since Lexington should mediate and not covering up.
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>> They just have this generic synthetic turf. >> So I don't know how beneficial that is. They're saying that's a product that we're going to use then Hong Kong should have that information to make sure that when you're looking at storm water they have the right information, the right products back. >> Is it? >> Yeah. I'm not sure. I'm not sure at the high level that they look at things. I'm not sure >> because I think the section details would have to account for what product it is, right? >> I mean, look, >> excuse me, Madam Chair. Just just a question with respect to >> just a question with respect to the the storm water through the chair. Yeah. Is the question about the storm water runoff from the field to downgradient areas such as wetlands, which is the conservation commission. jurisdiction. Is that the question?
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So, please release the bully's identity because me as family deserve to know. Yeah. Thank you. Our next speaker is Bianca Garcia. Evening board members, educators, and community members. My name is Bianca Garcia. I'm a district alumnist, community member, and Mia's cousin. I am here tonight to formally contest the minutes from last month's meeting. The record states that I express grief, that is a sanitized and inaccurate version of my testimony. I am requesting the record be corrected to reflect that I notified the board of a systemic and intentional failure. Your district failed to provide the Mahia family with resources after Mia's passing. And to this day, over a year since Mia passed, the abandonment continues. AUHSD publicly claims to have a safety net for families in crisis. I want to know why that net was pulled away from the Mahia family. Why didn't Dr. Adela Cruz, the director of school mental health and the district's crisis response leave point the Mahia family to resources.
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>> No, we're not that we're not we're not looking to go into Kong. We rely on them to look at that. >> What we're looking at, as as Anna put it, is like the the public safety question, right? Like, okay, the storm water can be all managed properly, right? It's all managed properly. It's great. >> But what does the storm water contain after going through this system? That's our question. I just This is the first one. the first fields has that have been prop proposed for this board and that's why we're digging into it. It's a new subject for us. We're not we're not trying to uh you know um beat you up over here. We're just we're trying to learn and understand and so that's why we're trying to um give you the information the things we don't understand and how we might better understand them.
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Where was Lauren Klatsker, the director of special use services, whose area of management explicitly includes crisis response and compliance? We have to ask ourselves why the compliance and crisis response protocols were ignored in Mia's case. It is a matter of public record that Lauren Klatsker is married to Daniel Klatsker, principal of Lexington Junior High, where Mia was a student. The board needs to look into this. Did the district's responsibility to the Mahia family take a backseat to protecting a staff member's reputation? Was the crisis response protocol silenced to avoid looking too closely at the failures at Lexington? Your leaders had the Mahia family's phone numbers, email addresses, and their home address. You have the student support services and special youth services departments that are funded to do this exact work. The fact that I was forced to act as the de facto social worker while your leaders remain silent was a choice and that this board must address.
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>> Sure. And we and I and I understand that and I guess just just for the record what's happening with the storm water here is none of it's actually leaving the site. This is a rare rare gem where there's no runoff leaving the site, no peak rates, no volume. Um and GCG has reviewed the storm water report as well. I understand the permit is with conservation. Um, my understanding also is that conservation, I'm sure they reviewed it for conservation as well. And if their their letter satisfied the storm water regulations um both at the local level and the state, I'm sure uh conservation will be um pleased with with the results of of their study. So, we'll find out. We'll find out. So, I kind of want to kind of throw out my linear brain logic here for a second. To me, there's a question of do we have jurisdiction?
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Grief is what I carry. Accountability is what this board carries. I ask again, do not let the minutes reflect a simple expression of grief. Let them reflect that I am here calling out the specific failure of your leaders and the clear conflict of interest that has left the Mahia family abandoned. Next speaker is Roberto Garcia. to the members of the board, Superintendent Freed, important and most importantly to the parents and community members sitting in this room and watching at home. I am speaking to you tonight because it's been 13 months, but really it's been 388 days since our community lost Mia Leah Mahia. And what has this district done? Nothing. In a few short weeks, the boys who repeatedly physically assaulted my baby cousin will pack up, head off to have the time of their lives on summer vacation. You know, behind closed doors, district officials will tell you that the students were reprimanded.
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What I'm hearing from Jasmine is we can in theory control the turf because we have some jurisdiction over whether it can contribute negatively to public health. That's what I heard. >> That's what it believes during in the case law. Okay. >> I think it might be helpful if the board agrees, Madam Chair, to kind of get that confirmed with legal counsel to sort of understand what is our jurisdiction. What I'm also hearing in my own head is it seems like there's two public health questions I have. Number one is children standing on top of PFAS material to begin with. That is its own question which seems to be developing very recently in the legislature in Massachusetts like now like it's happening right now. this conversation that definitely was not happening when the town of Ashlin put in our own tire turf. Right? So, not only has the technology advanced, but the interest and the public concern and the science of PFAS has also significantly changed.
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Maybe they were talked to. Maybe they were given a few moments of a hard time. But Nia is gone forever. And that is what we are living with. And what are these abusers going to do in the future? They're going to apply to universities, write college essays about how they persevered through tragedy. Heck, they'll probably even use Superintendent Freezone 5C's initiative, bragging about how they learned compassion, critical thinking to build their resumes on top of my cousin's grave. It is an absolute insult to her memory. So, I am no longer just speaking to this board. I am speaking to every parent in this district. Look at how they treat us. If our story tells you anything, it is that this district will do everything in its power to silence victims to protect its own image. If your child is hurt in their hallways, they will stall you.
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So, it's a fair question today. One, can kids even stand on this stuff? Would I want my kids standing on this stuff for significant periods of time? Is the kind of one public health question. And then the other public health question is the leaking of this into water. Right? And to me those are two separate public health questions that have very different causation components because the first causation component we will all know without any scientific research that hey if kids play soccer on PFAS material we don't need anyone to prove to us that they're being exposed. Right? The second one of leaking into public water. That's where I don't have the expertise to understand will there be that in this site? Who can we ask? It sounds like we need to ask an engineering consultant or someone how would this work if there is potentially a storm water system that retains the water.
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They will ignore you and they will try to silence you, too. You need to demand better that this district cares more about sports. cameras and campus curve appeal in the lives of your children. TNRos cameras. Our family is not going to go away. We're not We will not let you silence Mia and we will not let you fail another family. Thank you. Our next speaker is >> Maltz. >> We can do a translate. I know he did it in English and Spanish, but we can retrans. It was the same thing. >> It was the same comp. >> I I took notes. I didn't translate, >> but I didn't know the same thing. I just want to make sure that we >> and I took notes so I can repeat the portions that he spoke in Spanish. >> Okay. Thank you, Omar. >> Uh-huh. And and I want to speak to every parent that is here in the room and in the district.
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Could there still be leaking into public water? So to me, those are two separate causation positions that are completely different. Does that make sense? And I would want legal counsel to comment whether we have a right to look at it that way. And if we don't, we don't. >> Yeah. I I think those I think those are all I think those are all a really good summary, right? And that's why we're trying that's why this is kind of a learning little module here about these type of fields and what our jurisdiction is and then what information we need to make a determination about that jurisdiction. Right? So >> because if we have jurisdiction over the first part of exposing kids and that's now public concern the way it was not when we installed it at Ashlin Fields then it's easy for me. There's not much there to prove kids stand on top of bad things at the end.
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See how they are treating us. They silence us all. If the children, if anything happens to them to them, they will silence us. So elevate your voices. The district cares more about their sports than they care about our children. >> Thank you. Oh, Ma, you can Thank you. >> We can restart the clock. Yeah. city Korea. I spoke to Congressman L Korea this um anti- Trump protest with the city mayor and Carlos Leon and Karolina were there and uh it was really nice. We had to ask them uh a Native American women group. So we asked Congressman Luke Korea and we asked him how do you feel about changing the name of the school of the college? Do you think it's appropriate? You think it's time? And he actually gave us a different answer. He he um he said yeah I think it's time that we now organize something new to change that name.
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The second one is a little bit more tricky. >> Yeah. And I'm not and and I just want it to be clear, at least for me personally, I am not saying, "Hey, this stuff is bad." You know, the you know, the the fertilizer they put on lawns is is bad, too. You know, that has a little sign, keep your kids off, right? I get it. So, I'm I'm not saying that at all. >> It's trying to understand and how we compare these things and how do we make the best decisions we can. now. I mean, they probably made the best decisions they could for the other fields then. We need to make the best decisions we can now. So, that's that's just what I'm trying to get my head around. So, I'm very I'm very excited about a field project. I think it I think it would be great to have in Ashland.
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And when that change comes, when that name comes down, it's going to be very symbolic. It's going to be very healing for a lot of our community. Bullying the colonist, right? You heard me as family. That's was that was a that those bullies were were also um like the colonist and ISIS doing the same thing. Please reach out to the Native American groups like Dr. Paulo Males has in and Jessica. I hope you represent us in our district. You graduate from there. I graduate from there. And I hope that slowly we can educate ourselves about the colonist term. I'm going to play this in memory of Andrew that passed away in the car accident boulevard in Lincoln. We had a dancers there too. I'm going to have to let this go. I apologize. >> Thank you to all our public comments uh that joined us here tonight.
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Um, but uh trying to get this information about these types of fields. That's what I'm trying to understand. And and I think for both of you that's probably easy easily resolved with what's your manufacturer, what's your ingredients list, all of that. Um just because that's going to help narrow down is is there anything there that we need to worry about? And if there is something to worry about, how much do we need to worry about it? Because >> yeah, >> is it inert really inert at the end of the day in the material that it's in or is it something that leeches over time? >> Yeah. And it seems like I mean there's so more and more products obviously are getting those uh declarations because they want to be a part of that movement where so many things are going. So it seems that there has to be has to be some out there that have these that information right >> that they've done the work they know they know what the >> you know what the information is >> because it is a marketing thing.
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We appreciate your patience too as well. Oh, >> and I will translate the phrase that he said in Spanish and it was if it is a time to ask if it's a time to change the name colonist and later on he said it is your district. It is our district well the people's district. >> Thank you. Uh moving on to 10 superintendent and staff report. Dr. Freed. >> Yes. Thank you, Board President Guerrero. So, just a couple quick things. First, I know this Kennedy students left and I wanted if they were here, I would tell them that uh not only did they do a beautiful job here, but I had the opportunity to meet with them uh earlier this week to talk about the GRTC program. And just a couple points of order regarding um um the JRTC program, so you're aware along with the public.
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>> So let me let me ask a question. So if we were to be talking about like um we we you have this the technical data sheet on smart turf. If uh and and inside that information it says that um Smart Turf has declared that their entire range of artificial grass products have showed non detectable levels of PFAS at 100 parts per trillion >> backed by an independent testing lab. What what does that do? >> Yeah, that's what I that's what I said. I saw that on the I looked that up myself and saw that. So I guess I know but you were just saying the technical data sheet. >> Yeah, that's the top level. I'm talking about like we don't we keep talking about this middle level with the rubber and other aggregates and and and things but there doesn't seem to be any information about about that.
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