Um as many of our decisions do affect those two groups. They are the only ones who can speak to the direct impacts of those decisions. To the incoming student board members, this made it an especially hard decision for me. Um This was truly the last thing that has kept me here for a while. Was this last effort. And so I thank you guys for joining me with that, with my ask for it. Rob, I appreciate all of the effort. You made it such a great experience. I told my close friends that it did was not lost on me that the majority of the time that we're doing our interviews, the diversity in the room was incredible. The way that we were able just to like take these kids in and just really hear them and I just it was so inspiring and I appreciate all the effort and the care that you put into it.
We took uh we started this two years ago. The first one were Elazado and he is now running at Marry Mat College at a division one program. He has the second best 110 hurdle at Marramac College and he's going to get a degree in business. We have another young man that's going to be going this year, Gustavo Varela, who's had tremendous success this year. He has the uh the uh state record for career uh career yardage. He's going to be playing at Assumption College and he got a scholarship to go to school there. Our level of expectation has grown and that's because of the uh the opportunities you guys give our kids and we're asking the same thing with this is just having our 11 kids experience this. And we know that our kids grow when they when they don't feel less than and they're right up there with any other community that's around us.
I I feel that especially with that type of momentum, I'm not saying anyone else here does not have the same, but I've only experienced it from Rob. I do feel that they're going to be okay and they're going to be heard. Um and I want them to hear that their voices matter deeply and every that's made at this table directly impacts their lives. So, their experience are valid, they're important, and they're deserving of of the space and respect. And I really hope that this board encourages that sort of culture that really really allows them and lifts them to be able to do do their job. Their new roles on the board, they bring me so much hope and I cannot wait to see what they accomplish. My board members again, the decisions we make affect countless lives and should never be taken lightly. Asking questions is not disruptive.
get to go to these great opportunities as a nationals in North Carolina. So, we're asking uh for your support to send those kids there. >> Coach Mike, >> I can't that's going to be tough to follow. That's spot on. Yeah, we've gone this last couple of years. Um Coach Sarcus and his and uh I want to say you go with about three other guy, three other coaches. Um so, in this packet there's um yeah, there's 11 kids and three coaches. Um it's a great experience for them. It's probably once in a lifetime. We There's different ones that you can go to. The one that um we chose to go to is the um the Adidas one over in North Carolina. Um it was just a great experience like Tony said a couple years ago with Elazardo and so we did it again last year. Great experience for those 10 kids and we're just hoping to do it again this year.
It is our responsibility. We owe the community more than the bare minimum. We must continue asking ourselves, have we truly listened to the people most affected by our decisions? Have our actions made their lives any better? Please do not allow the fear of changing the status quo stop this board from making impactful decisions and changes. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Um I will start by saying happy summer and happy graduation. On March 2nd, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I've not recovered from my first flare yet. I'm told it could take a year if I'm careful to manage my stress. On a different school board, a disease that is exacerbated by stress might have been manageable for me. My partner was the school board vice president in the town we moved here from. I've witnessed a curious, collaborative, communicative school board in action. When a school board has a unique identity separate from district administration, goals which center its students and teachers, and an administration that caters to it and not the other way around, I've seen school board work add more value than stress to board members' lives.
>> Thank you very much. Mrs. Fur, were you going to make a motion? I make a motion that um we send them to wherever they're going. North Carolina. >> Out of state travel. >> Do I get a second?
It has become impossible for me to manage stress while sitting on this school board. When I ask for items to be placed on agendas and try to bring forth community questions and concerns for discussion as a board, I'm met with disbelief, defensiveness, tone policing, vague legal threats, the implication that I'm incapable of understanding how things work, and worst of all, silence. These are tactics used within frameworks of white supremacy, meant to instill fear rather than collaboration. You may recall that I pulled the board at the last meeting about discussing the Women's History Month social media post about Sarah McBride. There was consensus to do so, and yet that discussion didn't make it on this agenda. I wasn't communicated with about why it's missing or when it might appear in the future. If it ever is included on an agenda, it will be a minimum of 3 months since it was posted and the community asked us to respond to the hate speech against our beloved trans community members.
Any discussion? Call the vote, please. Sure. >> And by the way, I love the segue between discipline and sports. It's right up my alley. Miss Harris. >> Yes. >> Might Jones. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mercedes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Donald. >> Yes. Guys, thank you for all you do and thank you for taking the time from your families to be here tonight. Thank you. Good night. >> Thank you. Thank you, >> Mr. Lavoy. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. I always have something to say. >> Sure. I just want to give you I want to just give everyone a little uh Reggie sports history. So, we had a great track season this year and uh we ran in the Andover Boosters. We did an amazing uh the kids were amazing in that uh boosters meet. Everybody was shocked at the quality and how well you did.
If it doesn't get on an agenda, our trans community and their loved ones and allies will have effectively been silenced in favor of allowing space for hatred, bigotry, and a lack of education. On the rare occasion this community does receive a a response to its questions and concerns from this board, those responses come from one singular voice amongst us. At our board workshop last year, a commitment to seeking my feedback and perspective on issues was made. I suspect some of your interests are given opportunities to be represented in our board communications, but that commitment to me has never been fulfilled. I've never been offered an opportunity to be heard. We like to say that we as a board are taking community feedback seriously, only none of it ever ends up on an agenda to allow us the opportunity to collectively consider it. If things go the way they usually do when I speak, these statements will be met with defensiveness rather than curiosity, creating perfect conditions for us to dodge accountability for how our decisions get made.
So, congratulations on that. There was a great article in the newspaper. But I the history I want to share with you. In 19 1968 we had our first meet ever dual meet against Andover High. And that year they were state and and New England championships. And in that meet we only had one first place and that was the two- mileer which I was running the two mile in that meet. >> That's [laughter] great stuff. But just to give you perspective, Gustavo right now is the area leader in 100 yard dash with under 11 minutes running that he's incredible. And then we have a couple of other guy are long jump 22 feet 10 in and he's leading the state in all divisions. So they're just really because of the support Mr. Nelson and you guys. >> Thank you gentlemen. >> Thank you. >> Good night.
The one thing I was able to accomplish during my year on this board was getting pads and tampons stocked in bathrooms at Batavia High School. Up until a few weeks ago, students were reporting that the only way to obtain menstrual products at BHS was to walk to the nurse's office. There's evidence that menstrual products have not been supplied in the bathrooms for despite the law which says they must be. While ultimately the empty machines seem to have been stocked and the broken ones seem to have been replaced, when I brought this concern to administration, I was met with pushback there, too. I suppose it got resolved because I didn't bring it before the board in the public. It was addressed without transparency, communication, or accountability, but it was addressed. It's been extremely stressful for me since before my health took a turn to bring any community voice to this table.
Thanks for your patience. student handbook updates. Uh Mr. Lavoy or Brenda, one of you were going to handle that. >> Yeah, I just wanted to mention that um we are actually not going to be looking for a vote on the handbook tonight because there will be more um changes coming. So, these had already been prepared. I know it's a lot when you get the changes to the student handbook. Um so, we can certainly, you know, talk about anything that's in here now. Um I had asked Mr. Jackson for more information because I wasn't working on these specific changes. He said a lot of the changes here are really kind of cosmetic. Um the biggest changes that were submitted here um are numbers 5 through 7 which relate to the terms academic dishonesty. So they added the term academic dishonesty and cheating to plagiarism and forgery and then included sort of the flow of steps um they take for consequences.
In my attempts to fulfill my duty to identify with and represent the needs and desires of our community, I've been effectively silenced as a board member at nearly every turn. It's not possible for me to do school board work alongside an admin an administration that insists it's always learning, always growing, and yet is somehow always right. It's not possible for me to do this work with folks who for the most part seem fine centering administrations' needs and desires over the communities. I'm incredibly sad to say I can no longer bear the stress of operating from my voiceless seat at this table. I can no longer tolerate asking questions that never get answered. It was my intention to do this board work in conjunction with the other work I do in my personal life, but I found that instead of being belonged by this school district, I'm consistently placed outside of it.
So those are the biggest changes in here. Uh we will have additional changes for the June meeting when we ask for approval to the acceptable use policy. We'll be looking at electronic devices. Um that type of thing. We just weren't quite ready. We'll do >> um I'm going to put a motion to table it so that we can discuss in the next meeting. >> A motion to table it. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Second.
It takes from me more than I'm allowed to give to it. Had I not been diagnosed with a chronic illness, I might have been able to continue speaking to ears that refuse to hear and minds that refuse to simply learn something new. But in my present circumstances, I cannot. I am also resigning effective at the close of this meeting. One thing I've learned is that I can be heard and affect change outside of this space. I will rejoin our community as a parent, a queer person, a disabled person, and a community advocate whose voice should be valuable to a district who counts among its goals belonging and diversity. I'll watch for and seize opportunities to amplify our students', teachers', and communities' voices. Congratulations are due to board member Slaeger for bringing student voices to this table. You've faced all the barriers I have and more in improving accountability, transparency, and communication in this district.
Um any discussion? Cher will follow a vote to Mr. Tom, >> yes. >> Miss Ferris, >> Miss Mr. Jones, >> yes. >> Mr. Mania, >> yes. >> Mr. Mercedes, >> yes. We'll table this till next month's meeting. >> Um, what type of information are you looking forward for forward to from additional information? >> No, no, no. She she said that they are still working on things. I'm not looking for information. >> Okay. Are you looking for additional information? I'm sorry. >> Put your mic on, please. So, we can record this. >> So, is the is the grading policy one of those things that's missing or is it the same or do I have bad information? >> So, we've had a team working on it. integrating for equity policy. So, I think there are some changes to that that would be coming as well. >> We don't need it now.
I hope you feel appreciated for the hard work you did to make student voices heard. I hope the students appointed to these positions are protected, listened to with curiosity, and actively belonged to this space by this board. Thank you to the teachers who've been brave enough to speak with me even when you've seen me being silenced and discredited. Your support has been super meaningful. I hope someday this board will have an understanding of what our teachers' needs and desires are. I wish I could have understood that better during my time on the board and been a better better advocate for you, but I felt largely shut out of your spaces, too. I hope whoever replaces me in this seat will have awareness and understanding of the carefully crafted barriers to bringing meaningful conversations before you. I hope you'll be able to overcome those barriers better than I am.
We'll just look forward to it next next meeting. >> But that's a policy this committee votes on. >> It's in the student handbook. >> Correct. >> But before it gets to the student handbook, is it a vote from this committee? >> Yes, it comes from the principal. The principal is in charge of the student handbook committee. Right. >> Right. Yes. And I'd like to have the principal here next month to speak to this. And please check. >> Okay. This is tabled here. >> Jet Jackson. All right, moving on. You called the right. admissions report. >> Mr. Lavoy or Brenda, are you doing any admissions? >> I can speak to that. Um, so as of this morning, there were 494 uh confirmed students who had been accepted and who had uh most of u the students have completed the online registration through powers school. There are some I think who are still working on it and the admissions office sent out their fifth round um today.
It's with deep regret, disappointment, and sadness that I vacate this seat. It's out of concern for my health and the harm I am surely doing that I refuse to continue operating in the ways I am forced to here. I'm grateful to our community for electing me and making clear you want your voices heard. Thank you for giving me this platform for a year. I hope I can be more effective alongside you in making Batavia's school district one that we all deserve. One where community needs and desires in educational matters are represented in good faith. One that works for all and not just a powerful few. One that doesn't add stress to people's lives, but relieves it. Our community has brought many issues before this board that have not been addressed. Queer acknowledgement and inclusion. Technology, screen time, and cell phone usage. Curriculum, class sizes. The value of a teacher outside of just their licensure.
So that was a total of five oh so it must have been 495. So they sent out five additional acceptances today. One to Andover, one to North Andover and three to Lawrence. So they're very close to full. um it it's probably going to be close to impossible to actually get to that 500 number consistently because you have students who decide to go somewhere else or they're moving. Um so we'll continue to accept students from the individual community wait list as openings [snorts] become available and they are upload um updating the uh the list on the website so the on the lottery page um so a minimum of twice a month but I think it's updated really even in real time almost. Um, so if you look on the website, you can see how many students are still on the waiting list for each community.