001[Music] this is a meeting of the Winn County Community School District regular school board meeting it is August 19th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. we are in the Winne count high school Commons meet notices were sent to members of the press members of the school board and were posted on the front doors Andor in the vestibules of District school buildings this is a meeting of the board in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public hearing there may be a time for public comment as indicated in the agenda the meeting will also be available to watch live at www.youtube.com if you are able please rise and join me in the pledge and the flag is in the rear I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
002United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you uh board members roll call please stellner here veric here Keller here Peterson here Amman here cundy here Hansen here uh recognizing our administrative team we have Dr Larson Mr jerbec Mrs mitchler Mrs dad Dr mad Mr dobner Mr manir Mrs nap Mrs horbo and Mr L Mr Sher so I'm so sorry sorry um I think that's it okay and for visitor recognition um we do have a visitor sign up sheet in the back so if you are here and even if you don't intend to speak we do ask that you sign in um so that we have a record of who attended we also have with us sitting at the
003table is um attorney Jeff Lacy who is um sitting in for Mr Tony Renning who is on vacation um now is time for the open Forum um I'm just going to highlight our our um our policy here um anyone having a legitimate interest in the actions of the board May comment during the public portion of a meeting attendees must register their intention to comment in the public portion of the meeting upon arrival at the meeting so I have the list of people who have expressed an interest to speak and I will call on them participants must be recognized by the presiding officer and will be requested to preface their comments by an announcement of their name their address their group affiliation if and when appropriate each statement May made by a par participant shall be
004limited to two minutes duration um we will be timing just so that everyone has a chance to speak no participant may speak more than once on the same topic unless all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard participants shall direct all comments to the board and not to the staff or other participants participants shall address only topics within the legitimate jurisdiction of the board all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no person may address or question board members individually um I I hope this won't happen but we do have um the ability to interrupt warn or terminate a participant statement when the statement is too lengthy personally directed abusive obscene or irrelevant um we may request any individual to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable
005decorum um we can request assistance of Law Enforcement Officers if necessary um or call for a recess or adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum so interferes with the orderly cont conduct of the meeting as to Warrant such such action uh we may also wave rules with approval of the board when necessary for the protection of privacy um or the administration of the board's business so with that I will open up the um open Forum um obviously we have a microphone so please approach the microphone and say your name address and if you are with a group did you want did you want a introduction oh I'm sorry yes okay yes go ahead je yes Mr Lee the attorney Lee he's going to make a little bit of a yeah I just
006wanted to respect the the reason I was asked to come here I guess um but so a few things I understand the board is uh on the agenda tonight the Title Nine policy that was adopted previously by the board um and uh expect that at least some of the comments would be related to that so I just wanted to make a couple of opening uh statements regarding that policy and regarding uh the regulations um first of all you know my role is to to tell the board to advise the board what what the law is um not what the law should be uh or what I wish the law was but what in fact the law currently is um and excuse me with respect to the Department of education's regulations that are that are at
007issue in litigation you know all throughout the country um right now in Wisconsin those regulations are current law um there are limited uh enforcement restrictions that that govern the Department of Education relative to that due to some of these decisions um but it doesn't change the fact that in Wisconsin those regulations are law so uh like I said there's there is quite a bit of litigation but that's pretty common uh when the federal government in particular uh adopts uh pass regulations or even statutes but typically regulations uh there is uh frequently challenges to to those uh I want to make sure I'm actually talking into the microphone I apologize um there are frequently challenges to those regulations and while those challenges work their way through uh oftentimes are preliminary measures like preliminary injunctions and so
008forth uh and our role is to make sure that we're you know keeping track of that and making sure that to the extent that we still have to comply with those regulations until such time as there are significant changes they're withdrawn a court that has jurisdiction over us here in Wisconsin um rules to the contrary uh we're we're required to follow them so the board excuse me the board adopting the policy as as many boards have you know either reluctantly or what have you is not a recognition that the underlying um Concepts contained within those regulations that do make uh regulatory changes to the definition of sex discrimination which has been the source of much of the litigation um rather the board's responsibility is to put the school district in a position to be complying
009with the law and often times that means uh adopting regulation or policies that that don't necessarily um fit the the preference or the desire of either the board or individual members of the board but nonetheless their their role as elected officials is to make sure the school district is following the law um I did want to make mention of a recent development uh on Friday uh August 16th sorry um the US Supreme Court issued an order uh and there's been a lot of um misunderstanding or confusion about the significance of that order so without without going into too much of the uh mundane and boring nuances of of you know federal court jurisdiction and so forth um what happened in that case has nothing to do with the merits of the challenges to the regulations
010what it was is a fairly unusual but not totally unusual uh effort by the Department of Education to ask the Supreme Court to intervene in litigation that is ongoing in multiple different courts across the country uh both at the um at the district court level which is kind of the the lowest the trial court and then also at the court of appeals level um which is the circuit courts uh to intervene in those and to lift certain injunctions that had been issued or to modify those injunctions and all the court did was say the government has not made a sufficient showing that there is a compelling basis for it the Supreme Court to get involved in cases that are H happening at the lower level courts it's it takes an ex an extraordinary circumstance for
011the Supreme Court to to jump into cases at that point uh they're a case or they're a court of last resort they only take cases once they've made their way all the way up through the court system uh and then they resolve you know disagreements among the various circuit courts typically so they do reference the standard which is the standard for preliminary injunction which is that the plaintiffs have um satisfied the court that issued the injunction that there is a uh likelihood of success on the merits that's just the standard that always exists for preliminary injunction and all the Supreme Court said is we don't see any basis to upset the decisions that have been made by those lower courts so ultimately the only way the Supreme Court's going to issue a decision that speaks
012to the merits of the of these challenges is if it accepts a case that has been uh ruled on by an appellate court one of the there's there's cases in the sixth circuit the 10th circuit the fourth circuit uh and probably others as well right now um one of those cases ultimately or several could be Consolidated and end up before the court the Supreme Court but as of now they have decided not to do anything essentially is what that decision means so I just wanted to put that out there and hopefully clarify that a little bit uh I know there's a lot of um information suggesting that the court has taken a position on the regulations and I'm telling you that that is that is not an accurate statement uh that right now in Wisconsin
013uh because of the seven circuit which has ruled on some of the substantive components not the regulations but the statute uh and then also the fact that uh Wisconsin is not a party to these cases um and uh the individual districts remain you know responsible for subject to those regulations with the limited exception that the department of Ed has been stripped of enforcement Authority in certain instances so I think unless there's any questions or clarifications on any of that I I think appropriate to move forward okay thank you um John lexander good evening board members families parents concerned citizens staff and faculty hope uh everyone's doing well this evening I know there's a lot of people that have a lot of different things to say so I'm going to keep this short and sweet uh
014following the Wisconsin public records law compliance guide provided me by the Wisconsin Department of Justice uh attorney general Josh call I am giving you a a notice to of open records request this will be oral but I will also will hand each one of you a copy of this uh this is a formal it's I'm issuing this August 19th 2024 this is a formal request under the Wisconsin public records law that I receive copies of the following at your earliest convenience with within but within 10 days of receip of this request I would like a copy of the signed Oaths of office of all Winne County school board members I would like a copy of the 30 Bond holders for each win County School Board member I would like copies of all email exchanges between
015Winne County school board members between Winne County school board members and the Winn County District administrator and between Winn County school board members the Winn County District administrator and the school superintendent from the period of July 26 2024 through today August 19th 2024 this is to include both private and public email addresses when emails on private private email addresses pertain to school matters in addition I would like copies of all email exchanges on both public and private emails between Winne County school board members the Winn County District administrator and the win County legal representation to include teny Tony Renning and or any other employees at rening Lewis and Lacy between the same period of July 26 20124 through today August 19th 2024 limited to pertaining to to any Wisconsin school policies and or Title 9
016revisions not encompassed under Wisconsin State Statute 90503 lawyer client privilege please notify me via text or email at the contact information below that I will provide on this document when they are available oh that's two minutes I'm sorry okay can I one more quick short statement two minutes I'm sorry we really got to limit it uh next up and I apologize if I say your name wrong but some of the handwriting is a little hard to Conley Conley Hansen thank you thank you everyone my name is Conley Hansen I am here in a very different capacity um to address something um that I have noticed I am a student of not only the law but of the rules I have done a deep dive in the last two and a half years to Wisconsin State
017statutes Wisconsin law including chapter five of Wisconsin open meetings laws yep I noticed on July 15th at the time Mark of 1 hour and 55 minutes there was a motion to approve 22 2264 four and it failed with a Rec with a recorded 4 to3 vote on the recording I heard someone ask about bringing it back I urge you to be very cautious you can't do that I am cautioned this I caution the school board and all committees in boards throughout Wisconsin um that you are perhaps teetering on one or more rule violations and I go to Wisconsin chapter 5 open meetings law be really careful and I think that's might be where this gentleman is going with violating Walkin quorums and negative quorums and the reason that I come to that also having done
018a deep dive with Robert's Rules of Order which also governs um our boards 2264 was put back on the August agenda August 5th agenda during that meeting at time Mark 137 I believe it was member Peterson made a motion to table to a second in in November the motion was seconded by this gentleman I don't I think aan Amman um unfortunately the board or the chair then said I want to make sure that all questions are answered can't do that the motion on the floor must be entertained to table that was the only discussion that you can have at that point ultimately that did fail where I urge caution was at is that 2 minutes yes it was at um I am so sorry quickly please um at time Mark 1 hour and 43 minutes
019there was a motion to approve 2264 it is my opinion that without having a motion to reconsider all of that is null and void thank [Applause] you Kaye oair [Applause] Kaylee oair am I saying that right Kaye k a y l e okay mandato good evening Schoolboard W hear me really short good evening Schoolboard and parents thank you for the opportunity to speak today regarding the title 9 revision my name is Amanda Otto I'm the wife of a Winan alumni and the mother of five children ages 9 to 17 oh thank you so I have children in each of these schools I need to make one thing very clear by me being against the current policy and the Biden haris revision has nothing to do with ignorance hate or bigotry it has to do with
020what is right it has to do with a group of hate-filled people who are trying to push their political agendas on our youth and down our throats the facts and what is Right will never change the fact is unless you were born in earthworm or a clownfish you're either a male or female I have no anger or hatred towards anybody who wants to pretend these facts simply don't exist I do believe there are children who are struggling with their identities I do not for one second believe any child no matter what their struggles are with their bodies mentally or physically should ever be teased bullied looked down upon or treated as any less than any other child every child should have the right to attend school and feel safe while there adapting this amendment violates
021Wisconsin State Statute 225 50 to um the number one right to privacy under this law invasion of privacy means intrusion upon the privacy of another in a nature highly offensive to a reasonable person in a place that a reasonable person would be considered private it is reasonable to expect privacy in the bathrooms in a locker room any reasonable person would feel offended and violated if someone of the opposite sex walked in while they were using the bathroom or locker room so I ask you are you guys reasonable People based on the most recent Winan newsletter that went out last week in my opinion I would say no to quote Peggy if a student can I finish I'm going to finish my quote you one no I mean I have to cut it at two minutes
022I'm sorry okay it's okay can you call the next person I'm sorry okay the um next person on the list is Ryan Ryan to totoo okay sure [Applause] thank when does my time start oh darn it if a student wishes to use a bathroom locker room different from the assigned one they will to meet with a school counselor to discuss the request you now want us to believe that within the 150 Pages 1500 pages of the amendment that a school counselor has the right to decide if a child is transgender or not and they say yes or no and using whatever facility they want would like question mark that doesn't seem like something that the amend this amendment would be in favor of in fact it sounds quite contrary according to the lawyer you no
023one has the right to prohibit anyone from using the bathroom so what version would you like us to believe in you also tried to uh appease everyone who was against the amendment by stating if I choose an option meaning that the boy or girl in the wrong facility chooses is discomforted by other students we would also provide alternatives to address their concerns that's a quote really what you mean is that the rest of these students would be made to find somewhere else to go based on the real life example given in the last meeting where this is the exact alternative solution is completely unreasonable to displace and punish those students who are feeling uncomfortable I beg each and every one of you to stop reacting out of fear stand up for what you know is
024right the protection of our children in our district if our District's goal is truly learning today leading tomorrow I implore you to lead today so our children can learn tomorrow the Biden haris perversions of the title 9 is not the way to lead this District as an alumni as a parent and as a youth pastor I'm only filling in for my wife at this point so I'd like you to understand it's a proxy speech my vote is against Title 9 revision but I want to also say that in deep prayer and consideration for the pride and the respect that I do have for this Administration the parents everybody on both sides of this argument my heart is breaking that we have to be here at this time but I know that with caution and with
025patience and kindness we will figure it out I have hope in our future I'm sad that the innocence of our children have been somewhat robbed because we're talking about it but at the end of the day we will figure this out and I just implore people to have kindness and respect regardless of where you stand on the subject thank you Paul Vanden langenberg my name is Paul Vanden langenberg uh just a couple quick things I just find it fascinating this whole process of working through laws and and and dealing with this whole thing um I hope all the teachers are talking with their students and what's going on and how this is getting solved I know I've heard couple people say we can't do anything because it's the law we have to do this well
026there are ways to change laws that's why we live in a great country of United States we can change laws people in a little town of community uh Winne count can rise up and push back on the federal government we can have lawsuits we can do things that actually change laws we don't have just have to say oh I can't do anything we in the little Community like this can do something um and the other thing I wanted to mention totally different subject uh I found out just recently maybe you guys don't even know this there's a policy for the community members who find a book in the library that is inappropriate there's a policy to get it removed from the library I just found this out um The Librarian uh helped me very much
027uh Dave's wife uh she was very helpful in finding this policy she said she didn't even know it existed which is maybe kind of sad on I've had four kids come through the system and I never even looked in the library I didn't even know that I I could or that there were books in there that maybe uh shouldn't be in there or whatever and she said W jeez nobody's ever asked about that before so we found this policy there's a committee that was formed to review when you fill out this policy um that I have a complaint about a book there's a committee that was formed just recently because I found a policy and filled it out and uh so now there's a process that people can go through it to say hey there's
028a book in the Library that's kind of questionable and and we can at least bring it to somebody's attention whether it solves the problem or not I guess so thank you Heidi hanky Heidi so all of us got to the videos of the last school board meeting and then we also got to see the uh taped interview that our student administrator did and I found it really disturbing because there were flat out omissions of Lies put in that and the perfect example is once again my son the boys who were in the gym class and all the male students who attended Winne con high school in the fall of 2021 and through 2022 Peggy stated that they're going to go through a very rigorous you know sit down talk about it come up with a
029plan have strategies make sure that you know the trans or the person who identifies as a trans was going to have many options well guess what they did the same thing with this particular student who identified as a male back in 2021 but guess what the law was on her side or his side they said no thanks I'm not going to go with this plan I'm going to use the locker rooms and I'm going to use the bathrooms that I want anytime I want and that is why the boys in the gym class had to be subjected to changing and taking off their clothes in front of this identified male student um but we don't see it that way in every aspect she was still a female those boys were humiliated they were upset they
030were embarrassed they were disgusted my son ended up going to confession hey this is what happened was I wrong priest what what do I do for my Penance now in addition to that I asked Peggy flat out I don't understand why you couldn't have sent out a letter letting every male student know or their parents know that this was going to be something that they could at least maybe talk about before the school year started so they could prepare for it so that they could be safe well again she has rights we can't do that so really one student was allowed the rights while all the rest had theirs taken away and were subjected to embarrassment shame having her in the bathrooms and in the locker rooms and that is not right um I'm not
031sure I can read this um a Melissa T trer truder trer I'm sorry Melissa yes if you please state your name and address please as you approach we haven't been doing that uh hi I'm Melissa Tedder um I live in the town of ashkash but I'm in the winess county school district um I am here just just to say thank you to three individuals can you all hear me not not real well no I just I'm here is that better yeah I'm I'm here just to thank three individuals on board who voted no on the title n policies and I believe that as you Megan Keller you Mr Peterson and you Mr Amman is that correct I I want you to know that I appreciate I don't know if it was an easy not for
032you or if you had to do some dig deeping and some moral inventory but I want to say thank you keep fighting for our kids keep speaking up even when it's hard and God bless you Bonnie blink Bonnie nope okay um Adam erens well since there's only two minutes and I could talk for two hours right now I'm going to have to change it up a littleit all right since it's only two minutes and I could talk for two hours right now I'm going to have to simplify this a little bit I would like to ask be put on the agenda either to well we have title N9 on the agenda tonight so I believe someone could make a motion to get a second opinion it's plain simple did anybody watch the ashar school board
033on Wednesday anybody here I wonder if anybody over there watched it probably not and you have another lawyer sitting there with a second opinion that's way different than yours so are you telling me you're smarter than him are you smarter than him you the University of Wisconsin systems do not they put this on hold because of the court injunction but you guys are smarter than them apparently and there's plenty other school districts in this state that have voted this down it is plain and simple so what makes you you four think that you are smarter and better than their decisions and also people pay attention five weeks ago I was the only person here when Title 9 was originally on the agenda all right and we had 10 the next time good we have 100
034now that's awesome but don't go away I mean we've had some really great changes on this board uh the three newest members are light years ahead of the other four and they all were added in the Adam I'm going to ask last three I can I have a First Amendment I have a First Amendment right okay I'm going to stop I'll not to be nasty to people oh okay so let's yeah like her laughing right there winning County news that's professional thank you keep politics off the board right Becky so anyway uh five weeks ago oh no hold on sorry Q&A I want a Q&A we need a lawyer Q&A let us have conversations with lawyer it doesn't have to be a school board meeting let's have a Q&A so we can ask the lawyer
035and I would ask for a second opinion someone please one of the three good ones ask for a um second opinion from Von re and roer the same lawyer that was at the ashkash school board Wednesday night please and also I won't have time to um address this but Jackie thank you for asking the questions if what if a child would decide to change their sex that morning would a boy be able to go would a girl be able to go into the boy's bathroom and you you got Peggy you admit it although her Wednesday email said the exact opposite that we all see do you think we're stupid you think we're not going to spread this around I mean thank you Adam [Music] um uh Jack Allen good evening everybody I'm Jack and I
036recognize almost all of you immediately because I have grown up in this building literally from the time I could walk unlike Adam I do not believe any of you was above each other and I know that regardless of our disagreements right now you are all interested in making this educational system as effective and memorable for our students as much as our parents are now I do disagree with your decision that you voted for but I am not going to stoop to anyone's level put signs about you on on my lawn or say anything that completely lowers well frankly my point of being here right now I don't know where I would be without all of you today and I know it is due to you that we have many many things to brag about our
037district being Head and Shoulders above the crowd in this area I do ask you to consider everyone's point of view because they do mean it they don't have bad intentions behind it and we are stronger together as a community than we are divided like this as the Bible says A House Divided upon itself will fall so we are one house let's stay that way and let's come to a conclusion that we can all make this community better for all that will cross its path in the future thank you thank you Jennifer koser on Monday August 5th 2024 this school board made the historic decision to bring revised Title 9 into this District when they passed policy 2264 at that meeting there should be no policy in our school district that allows biological boys into girls
038bath BS and locker rooms or biological girls into boys bathrooms and locker rooms those who voted to approve this policy voted against the safety of each and every child in this District I would like to thank school board members Megan Keller Earl Peterson and Dean Amman for voting against policy 2264 as for those who voted to pass policy 2264 I ask for their resignations the four board members as well well as as well as District administrator Peggy Larson based on her promotion of this policy and the inconsistent responses she is giving when speaking about this policy thank [Applause] you Diane koser I'm Diane koser and I live in win count I wonder how many students have been taken out of the Winne count District over the past four years because of harmful policies Schoolboard members
039have implemented and forced on them revised Title 9 is another extremely damaging policy the board has passed and the kids are its primary target thank you to the three board members members who had the strength and courage to vote against it the four board members who voted for revised Title 9 have shown us that you are either unwilling or unable to protect our Winne count students instead you have chosen to put them at risk in our schools which have become unsafe places for them to be parents should not have to remove their kids from the schools that they Fund in order to protect them from our school board's policies you have let us down and failed the students you are educating you can still choose to remove revised Title 9 as the people you represent
040want you to do if not I ask that the four board members who voted to pass it and the district administrator all resign your positions thank you Kelly cartright good afternoon everyone uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the issue of growing concern in this community how can we support our transgender and non um and gender non-conforming students while addressing the spread of misinformation particularly from the farri groups let's begin with what's clear year every student deserves to feel safe valued and respected in our schools regardless of their gender identity this isn't just a legal obligation under Title 9 but a moral one we know that when students feel accepted included and their academic performance will improve mental health outcomes are better and the overall School climate is more positive for
041everyone however we're increasingly seeing a wave of harmful misinformation aimed at Del delegitimizing the experiences of transgender students these narra arves claim that supporting trans youth through affirming policies harms others or even goes against students best interests this mis misinformation is not just false it's dangerous it stigmatizes trans students and creates a hostile environment making them more vulnerable to bullying mental health issues and even self harm so how can we go stand against these attacks while ensuring all our students remain inclusive and safe in our schools a few actionable items are to implement comprehensive training for staff strengthen anti-bullying policies educate the community with facts and this one I would like to um stress by adding misinformation thrives in the absence absence of knowledge students can play an active role in educating or schools can
042play an active role in educating the students and their parents um we can lean on G lsen or the Trevor Project for more information here we can establish safe spaces and support networks and we can engage in empathy and dialogue and I think that's where most of us want to be today in conclusion it is our responsibility as Educators and Community lead leaders to stand firm in our commitment to inclusivity supporting our transgender students is not a political stance it's about ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to learn and grow in an environment free from fear and Prejudice gender affirmation and inclusion literally saves lives let's be proactive in creating this culture where every student is treated with dignity let's push back against harmful narratives we see to divide us and together we
043can ensure all students regardless of who they are can walk into schools knowing they belong your timer is up Katie Cowarts sorry excuse my nerves again guys hello my name is Katie kward I live at 436 Jefferson Street here in win County um I have three young children in the district and I'm choosing to speak tonight for several reasons um one being my disappointment in the passing of the revised Title Nine along with the passing of the personal device ban um I do not want to speak for others but I have talked to many parents who feel the same way no my children do not have phones currently but they do have watches and in the event that they wish to contact me they should be able to so to do so at an appropriate
044time um I would like to ask the board for both of these policies to be brought back to the table for a revote another concern I have is regarding the newly adopted Title 9 policy um and the article that was put in the wi count news the article states that if a student wishes to use the bathroom or locker room of the opposite gender that they have to have a specific plan in place with the school counselor teachers and admin the policy does not stay that say that though does it this article is misleading I also want to point out that this was not law and I feel that Jackie was pressured by the district lawyer to vote Yes um our school is technically legally exempt due to the injunction because students of parents in
045the group moms for Liberty attend here did you know that I watched the ashkash school board meeting last week where this was tabled yet again and I found that lawyer to be easier to understand and more transparent I also would love a Q&A with parents and the lawyer please did you also know that to this date no school has lost Federal funding due to not adopting Title 9 um when I asked my children what they thought about a person of the opposite sex coming into the bathroom my 8-year-old replied that I would not go or hold it or I would have to use the stall I guess my 10-year-old daughter replied it would be very weird but I guess as long as he doesn't show me his privates it would be okay um in conclusion
046I would like to make it clear that I'm not against any gender or orientation I don't know where the disconnect lies but I'm not hateful phobic of anyone I do not judge children on their gend religion yep I am two sentences skin color family wealth or anything else I love all children I want to protect all children for me it's not political it's not about being gay straight black pink purple purple it's just about our children period thank you thank you Laura [Applause] acman hello Laura Amman I live in Larsson Wisconsin today I sent up the board my commentary regarding your attorney Mr renning's continuing misrepresentation of Wisconsin Statute 11813 in the pi9 Mr Renning continues to state that these statutes include the term gender and it is clearly does not as you are aware
047from my email I have checked several sources and so far have unanimous agreement that these statutes have not been changed to reflect the word gender therefore the implied threat placed on this board and swaying the vote of this board has created a concern by myself and others while I believe the intent of this board is to follow the law I don't believe your attorney represented the information in an unbiased manner which I also covered with you under cover I am glad that the board has agreed to listen to the concerns of parents and to continue to discuss the merits of this new policy and how to proceed I will say that I recently attended the ashkash board meeting where I thought their attorney did a very nice job outlining the situation feel free to listen
048to this because you will have an alternate um opinion the de Department of Education asked for the Emergency meeting of the Supreme Court which was denied over the weekend and they clearly said the preliminary injunction relief continues just as one additional point I would like to call out it has been said I am not sure why this is such a big deal it already exists in our old policy this is a point that should not go unnoticed based on so many conversations with your school parents they certainly were not aware of this this is another Counterpoint to your philosopy to be transparent once the dust settles on the current situation in hand I think we should explore in understanding the following why was the language put in the previous policy when there was certainly no
049legal requirement to do so why were parents not made of this change the way policies are reviewed at the board meeting would not necessarily flag a parent to a major content uh content change we have asked the board to be much more open and transparent and I hope you see by the response you are getting from your parents that this needs to be addressed immediately so everyone truly understands what is being contemplated and communicated thank you for your time Chris cabitt good evening my name is Chris cabat 8344 valy View Circle Larson Wisconsin 54947 I can find my pocket I just want to carry off of Laura's uh Speech here um a new policy was passed August 4th or 5th right that's 2264 that superseded 2266 I'm just going to repeat that a new policy
050was passed so it must be different than the previous policy otherwise we would not have a new policy so there are differences in there um obviously there are differences so we can't say that there is nothing that has changed so um that's really confusing to me um I've heard there people say that there are no changes um it would be great if we could have some sort of layman's terms laid out and explain what the changes are from policy 2266 to policy 2264 so we can understand really what has uh changed at this time if the policies hold um the next thing is with with everything that is going on um I would like to understand what policy uh could be set in place to help protect my children that are in the school and
051all the other children um I asked my 11-year-old daughter just today with everything she's heard I asked her if she feels safe behind closed doors at the school she said no that's really really um disturbing to me and I I just it worries me right and I'm not looking for re-education of my daughter or parents um I'm looking for a policy that will help protect these children thank you Christa Lee I'm sorry I can't read your last name starts with a B I believe Crystal okay could you make sure you state your name please Christa Lee brenwood I'm an alumni of the school I went to this school when this was the back of the school right here this was the exit door right here that that's when I went to this school all right
052I've heard a lot about so-called law at this meeting tonight you might want to fire that guy sitting over there because what I got here is actual law it's called the First Amendment of the United States and you might be going why is she talking about the First Amendment because the policy that this board adopted last week violates the First Amendment of the United States let me read it to you Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion religion you are worshiping baffet let me I don't want you guys to get that Twisted maybe you think I'm some sort of crazy Christian woman okay well I'll take that label cuz I am you're worshiping baffet you are bowing down to baffet you want to know what that is go look it up on
053Google you'll see a picture of what it is so you just established the religion of baffet here in my hometown and and I'm pissed and that's the word I can say that's in the dictionary or of the press the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances okay why am I mentioning the First Amendment because the policy that you just adopted compels speech and I have a list here pages of what the Supreme Court of the United States laid out that you cannot come speech so when you are telling these students that they have to oo magically you have to go by these pronouns that these people want whatever they make up out of fantasy land and that our students here and parents must use them that's compelled
054speech it's a violation of First Amendment and you are all violating that law you understand that's a lawsuit [Applause] gay [Applause] Anderson gay Anderson 5382 County Road G win count um I'm going to make some remarks that might seem over the top so I better introduce myself to the crowd I'm a physician and psychiatrist I used to be Ward Master on the forensic unit at Winnebago and I worked at the Wisconsin resource center with uh numerous sexual predators for a number of [Music] years uh I should have come forward a long time ago when this dilemma started and I apologized to the board for not doing that in any event what I'm going to tell you is there is no credible scientific evidence that transgenderism is real homosexuality bisexuality heterosexuality are all real well documented
055scientifically I participated in some of the research myself so my recommendation is that the board reconsider their vote and reference to your attorney bad law deserves to be overturned and [Applause] disobeyed now reality is on our side because the people that will argue for the transgender nonsense have no scientific basis so I would suggest you vote the other way on your Title Nine turn your vote around and then come out with a statement to the district that the Winnie County School District does not recognize transgenderism and anybody professing it that causes disruption in the school will be appropriately disciplined for bad behavior because that's what it is I'll leave you with a final thought over 150 years ago young Abraham Lincoln in the courtroom used to pose this question to the jury he would ask
056them if you call a tail a leg how many legs does a dog have thank you Mr Dr Anderson and a lot of people answered five but the correct answer is four because calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg thank [Applause] you Cynthia [Applause] Aton Cynthia Aton adter Aton my name is Cynthia uton we moved here to win count from Chicago suburbs of Illinois I've lived this I've been through this it's not pretty it's not going to get any better one thing I want to point out to you and the reason that I'm here right now is the final recommendations that were filed by the Biden Administration are executive order and I think we need to kind of understand and read the definition of executive order for not just us but
057for everybody here in invol an executive order is a declaration made by the president that has the force of law but is not considered a law because it does not go through the legislative process executive orders are usually based on existing statutory powers and don't require any action from Congress they are directives that the president issues to the executive branch and to manage the federal government's operations executive orders can be used for any domestic matter such as clarifying or extending existing laws or directing executive officers executive orders are not binding on everyone but only on employees of the executive branch they are subject to judicial review and can be overturned if they lack support from the Constitution or statute or if the court declares them unconstitutional Congress can also try to make it difficult for
058an executive officer to be an executive order excuse me to be carried out by a passing legislation such as removing funding finally a sitting president can overturn an existing order by issuing another executive order to that effect and I ask you now and I ask every parent here right now what are we raising wolves or sheep thank you all right I that is the list of people I have that wish to speak so at this point I'm going to close the open forum and we will move into the business of the board meeting with that I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda so move second motion by kundi second by varit to approve consent agenda um any questions or discussion from the board I have just one added correction and add is
059under of the last board meeting High School presentation on the Italy and Greece trip and I apologize as the board Minister were put together um however it was omitted through uh updating and so on that report is not included but will be added as we certainly appreciated the report that we had from the staff as well as the students that attended the trip okay a roll call please stellner is that is that to approve the consent agenda as you correct I veric I Keller I Peterson I Amman I cundy I Hansen I at this point uh the board will be involved in a discussion of Title 9 uh point point of information can you provide details on how a failed motion returned to the next agenda like what is the process for a failed motion
060to return on the second agenda I believe at the at I would have to go back and review but I believe it was requested that we get additional information regarding Title 9 and to be put back on the agenda for the first board meeting in August I have a question uh for attorney Lacy um in light of and and I understand how Friday's Supreme Court decision really doesn't technically impact what's going on in Wisconsin but my question is um as a lawyer myself reading the case it to me the writing's on the wall with Title 9 in the whole gender identity part of of it maybe not the whole policy part of it and my question is can this board or what would be the consequences if this board decided to um adopt the policy
061as is minus the gender identity language sure so a couple things there um number one the the the Court's order like you said does reference kind of the standard for preliminary injunction which again like I mentioned is likelihood of success on the merits um but you know there are entire uh groups of people who make a career out of guessing what the Supreme Court is going to do uh and are more often wrong than not um so I I I you can't take that as an indication of anything relative to where they are I also um remind everybody that the same court essentially actually slightly more liberal court now than previously um rendered a similar decision under the title 7 context in a case called BTO where they said gender identity excuse me gender identity
062is within the context of of sex that that term so what they're ultimately going to do is anybody's guess really in terms of your question um adopting the policy without that uh gender identity non-conformance stereotyping language Etc uh I would say to me when I look at you know advising the board as to what puts you in the best position from a you know protecting your legal position number one would be adopting the policy as it's established based on what the regulations say whether whether we like it or not the the next level down would be what you suggest which is to say that we change that language to say essentially that this policy prohibits sex discrimination as that term is defined in applicable law because that's the key issue you're still as a district
063going to have to follow the law you're going to have to address complaints that come in uh that are you know sex discrimination complaints but based on an indivi excuse me an individuals gender non-conformance Etc so that's still going to be the case that you're going to have to you're going to have to uh investigate and you're going to have to deal with those complaints um but so I would say you can take that language out but you can't change the law at the school board level you can't the the seven circuit supersedes any decision that this board makes or any decision that the Kansas Court makes okay we're not taking comments from the public right now thank you well well I can I can just speak to that real briefly just just for the
064sake of completeness the injunction applies to the Department of Ed it does not apply and it can't apply to this school district or any other school district in Wisconsin because you're not a party to that case it applies to the Department of Education it does not say that the regulations are invalid in Wisconsin it says the department of Ed cannot enforce them in places and that's a significant distinction because most of these cases involve private lawsuits not Department of Ed enforcement because it's it's accurate to say the likelihood of the Department of Ed taking funding away is remote in any context um the upshot of the injunction would be that they would not be able to process complaints either that came from students in any of those covered schools uh but that does not and
065in fact there was a Wisconsin eastern district judge in a case involving the uh Elkart lake or Elkart Area School District that said that injunction has absolutely no practical impact act on the right of individuals to bring private lawsuits in federal court regardless of whether they are uh relating to a school where one of the uh um filed uh moms for Liberty uh attendees is is attending so that's the way the courts are handling it and to put the district in the best position to deal with those issues in the event that they arise in a lawsuit again context um I would say adopt the policy but a but a but a second place finish would be what you describe uh and and we'd still have to you know process complaints and so forth as
066they arise and you would do that under any number of contexts bullying policy is makes no difference what the basis of the um you know negative treatment towards a particular student so you're going to have to you know you're going to have to address those issues to the extent that they arise no matter what um but thank you so uh thank you for that clarification I appreciate that um we have and always will continue to address harassment and bullying and all of those types of things we have policies in place for that um for that reason with policy 5517 and policy 2260 still in place I would like to make a motion to remove po policy 2264 [Applause] um if you if you would please respect this meeting and let us conduct our business I
067would greatly appreciate it um I do have a motion to I'll second the motion I'm sorry who was that Dean okay acman okay I have a motion uh by Keller second by Amman to resend policy T um policy remove policy 2264 please removing policy 2264 okay um other discussion from the board I would like uh Mr Lacy to comment on the consequences of removing 2264 rather than simply modifying it to remove the gender ident language well again it because the policy is and I should say the inclusion of gender non-conformance gender stereotypes and gender identity there's also pregnancy related conditions and sexual orientation but those are firmly entrenched in Wisconsin law already anyway um the those inclusions those items of inclusion Within the regs are but a very small percentage or a very small portion
068of the regulations the vast majority of them actually are procedural in nature in terms of how you have to investigate complaints they provide a lot more flexibility quite frankly to your Administration to deal with things in a more efficient manner um you know to have more informal measures Etc um so the Practical implication is that number one like I said you still have to follow the law you still have to to entertain and investigate and make determinations regarding complaints involving gender identity and you're doing so without the policy that is the current required set of you know procedural requirements under federal law uh and it's a regulation to be clear not an executive order executive order different thing altogether this is a regulation um so the first thing that you're always asked when you're defending
069a claim whether it's in federal court or whether it's in front of an agency is where's your policy where's your notice where is the uh in this case evidence that you've provided um training based on the policy and the regulations and so with the inability to do any of that you put yourself in a in a position where you're you're behind the apall so to speak in terms of Defending your actions um this is also the case if there's a private litigant that sues the school district as an individual makes no difference with the department of eded has enforcement or there's an injunction against the department of Ed a private individual can bring that suit and typically our first line of defense is that we have compliant policies and we follow them so there's you
070know that that's a difficult situation that arises the other thing in that same context uh the insurance uh companies one CI the community insurance and ultimately prefacing preface this statement with ultimately it's their decision and I have no idea how they would handle an actual claim uh but they recently put out a statement that essentially said you you are supposed to have these policies we view this as the law and did not go so far as to say that they would deny a claim but it's certainly a consideration that I'd be concerned about uh and you know potentially even a reservation of rights in the event that there is a complaint filed and even if you ultimately are successful in defending your actions litigation is extremely expensive you don't want to jeopardize your insurance coverage
071um for a policy situation that that you're going to have to follow anyway do I'm assuming you're not a title 9 expert right so my my question is do you understand the three things that a school is required via Title 9 to have every school must have and distribut a policy which do we have a policy regarding discrimination it's not just in general doesn't include sex it's very broad it just says discrimination that would check one box do we have a title 9 coordinator yes we're required to have that and then the third thing is to make sure that the policies are known we one we have to have a policy that says we can't discriminate we have to have a title n coordinator and then we have to make the policy and procedures known
072on how to file a complaint all three boxes are checked so it are is our responsibility to the title 9 have been met we're not in any legal trouble by Meeting those statements of what the actual amendment is if you go into that a little bit of background I spent 10 years at the college level as a title 9 coordinator for three different schools so I can speak a little bit more adequately to being closer to a subject matter expert than everybody to my left so there are three things that are required there are three things that we've met we have responsibilities to make sure that we promptly and effectively administer those policies against discrimination again it's not just for sex we've eliminated that and even if there isn't any um intent or file to
073a complaint we still have to go through the procedure so if it is known or made known we have a policy that says we will investigate including using law so we've met the three categories that we have to set in front of the amendment plus the three responsibilities of every institution so it is I I would close the Forum and go to vote anyone else from the um board have any discussion I would like to just hear a little followup to those points from our return attorney as far as yeah no I think I think I think what you uh what you say is is largely accurate although prior to the 2020 RS in Title 9 um all the regulation said is that you have to have a grievance procedure that's it so we we
074used like you described typical or or you know more General if you will non-discrimination policies but that changed the the 2020 RS under the prior Administration included significant um specificity and dictates as to how you had to conduct investigations you no longer were allowed to just simply rely on a more generic grievance procedure which I would say worked just fine but that's not what the regulations said as of 2020 and these regulations you know carry that concept forward and continue to create a very um prescriptive investigator procedural requirements so if you don't have the policy and a c circumstance arises certainly our defense is going to be we complied with the spirit of the law we had a process we had a procedure and we followed it and we protected the rights of individuals absolutely
075but it's not accurate to say that the current regulations and the 2020 regulations uh describe they do describe they do re require a particular set of investigatory procedures and that's predominantly what this policy uh covers is procedural requirements that differ from what we had to do in 2020 and and then what we did in a much more relaxed atmosphere if you will from a procedural standpoint prior to that and I just want to add the the in the case that came out on Friday there there's a dissenting opinion where the what you'd call liberal justices who normally probably would be very protitle n in the form that the Biden Harris Administration issued these new Rags um but they're they're commenting on the process of the policy um I I mean I'm I I cannot support
076getting rid of the policy I can support getting rid of the gender identity in uh language in the current policy that was passed two weeks ago so we have a motion on the table to remove Title Nine it's been seconded um if if there's no other questions from board members um I would take a roll call on that please call for Amendment I mean I if if Megan's willing to amend her motion to retain the policy eliminating the gender identity um language that's up to [Music] Megan the mo the current motion is to eliminate and remove Title 9 yes well the maker of the motion can agree to a friendly Amendment but doesn't have to they can um Megan um can you respond I um Jill I appreciate your willingness to we are not taking
077comments from the public at this point please I appreciate you trying to find some common ground here um where I struggle is I do believe that after combing this policy quite a bit um there is a new policy here for a reason this isn't an amended old policy and for that reason I'm not changing my motion okay then at at this point can I I just want to I'm going to ask you to respect the business of this board and if you're not going to do that I'm going to adjourn the meeting uh just a that was mentioned I think the new policy versus amended policy one of the reasons that that's done that way uh in this instance just just for your knowledge it doesn't really make much difference substantively but you're required to
078retain the old policy in force because it continues to apply to any conduct that is part of a complaint that occurred prior to August 1st of 2024 and then you have to have this new policy that applies to anything that occurs after 2024 so that's the design of the regulations that requires us to essentially have two overlapping in some respects in terms of content or uh in terms of scope uh policies for some amount of time at least until such time is there are no longer any complaints involving pre- August 1st uh 2024 conduct so it's kind of a weird scenario that's very unusual but that's why you see you know that 2266 remains and 2264 is technically a new policy um but covers the same territory so to speak okay okay roll call please
079stellner could you repeat the motion please the motion is to remove Title 9 the title 9 policy the 22 60 yes no to remove no verit no Keller I Peterson I Amman I cundy no Hansen No the vote was 4 to3 to not remove the title line policy number 2264 okay is there is there any more is there any [Music] more um I would I would require that you be quiet I will adjourn the meeting is there is there any other discussion on thank you for making my community accept rate time the [Applause] last any other um I guess um as long as we're not going to remove it completely can we look more into the getting rid of some of the language Jill and figuring out how to make something work so that it's
080not just all or nothing I I don't know what that looks like I don't know what that means we have to go to niola and get it completely redone I don't know if we can just cross stuff out I don't I don't know how that works exactly I I I do I do believe the intention of this board is is to find a common ground it's it's difficult to do um but if if you're if you're asking to do that and and and bring it back and I'm going to clearly state so there's no question to bring it back to our next board meeting we there I feel like there's some things that we could dig into and and discuss as a board with Council um so H how does that happen who's responsible for
081doing what how do we know what's accurate and what's not all those things there was a couple points made here tonight I heard from a couple individuals and I would appreciate um them coming with questions you know real concrete questions there was a lot of commentary on feelings and emotions and I I understand that um with this but I really would like to get some real questions that maybe can be presented and brought forth and we can like we have um in a number of cases and we can forward them for um instruction or an answer to some of those maybe Beyond of what was even mentioned tonight um I I do agree with what Donna said you know we are all in favor of the betterment of our our children all children um and
082we we do care for our children here in the district and toine Common Ground I can uh I can tell you um that that has been the the approach I I would say in a number of districts and we can pretty easily amend that language in the policy to remove it's really essentially about two or three sentences in the policy that specifically reference again gender identity gender stereotypes and gender non-conformance um so striking those words and just leaving the this policy prohibits sex discrimination um as provided by law which is obvious did pass in any event that's that's certainly something that that we could readily do if that board wanted to go that direction and obviously it's up to you but you certainly could do that you know even tonight if you [Music] wanted so
083do you do you want this back on the agenda then for the September I believe 16th or something like that is our next meeting a second opinion you want to do it you want to do it tonight well is there a motion I would move to amend I make a motion to remove reference in policy number should know this way now 2264 to remove all references to gender identity I'll secondary motion just can I ask just a clarification gender identity gender stereotyping and gender non-conformance those are the three terms that are under um I don't want to I don't want to get it wrong okay can I can I just ask a quick question of you sir um so if we move forward with this and get rid of those terms in this policy what
084else in this policy is different from the prior to August 1 version yeah quite quite a bit of the of the procedures again like I mentioned there's specific timelines that had to be added in that that weren't required in the prior policy there's um more ability for the title 9 coordinators to act as investigator and decision maker there's uh reduced appell it uh procedures to make it more streamlined essentially one of the problems we run into with some of these procedures is that it's difficult to make them comport with our strict requirements under Wisconsin law when there's overlapping uh issues because we're talking about you know gender identity in that context but that is not the sum total of what this policy and what this law covers most of the complaints have nothing to do
085with that issue um so the timelines we had to include there's also uh like I said uh greater authority to engage in informal procedures uh it doesn't require complaintants to make uh written complaints you can take an oral complaint which is how the vast majority of them come in so there are a lot of changes in the substantive uh I'm sorry in the procedural area the substantive is just relative to that uh additional definitional item that the regulations added um so and we could certainly you know provide you kind of with a with a comparison of the two but as you know the policy gets kind of lengthy um but it is procedural in nature um excuse me we have a motion to um retain Title 9 UM eliminating the definition of SE sexual identity
086nonconformist and I'm sorry there was one more yeah it's gender stereotyping gender non-conformance and gender identity okay like I said it also adds sexual orientation and pregnancy related conditions but those are already uh covered under Wisconsin law explicitly okay any questions from the board roll call please veric I Keller n Peterson I Amman I cundy I Hansen I the motion passed with the amendment for Jackie Jackie I'm sorry Jackie I the motion passed with the amendment 6 to1 okay all right moving on to 2425 teacher handbook um see the updates to the handbook on page three there's a blank page behind um the cover page um so those were all the updates um to the handbook okay um I I had one question regarding the m mentoring yes okay the fee for the mentoring yes
087just out of curiosity why is that paid over two years is it um it's a two-year mentoring program so their Mentor stays with them for two years okay yeah we just feel like that continued support through the second year and obviously all of our teachers help all teachers out continually but we just feel it's really important they continue that relationship for two years versus one so it's it's 250th semester for two years right okay I would like to say something also um I don't know what page number it's on in your in the um handbook but on page 70 of the uh board packet it did have something that should be removed and it had something Jackie could I ask you to speak into the speaker please thank you okay on page 70 of your
088packet I don't know what page it was on in the actual handbook but there was a bold item in there that I feel should be removed it asked kind of said that right on the page should this yes Jackie Julie has already taking care of that thank you for pointing that out but would you Jackie remind me of that other minor change about the the other minor change it was also on that same page it did not in all the other places it addressed um let's see child's movein day yep and it didn't col it's addresses College move in day but this said child moving day thank you for that any other questions from the board okay motion please so move second motion by cundy second by Hansen to approve the 2425 teacher handbook roll
089call please veric I Keller hi Peterson I Amman i cundy i stellner i Hansen I uh 2425 support staff handbook same process on page three of that handbook are all the updates to um changes to the support staff handbook I move to approve the 2024 25 sport staff handbook is that you Earl yes okay second motion by Peterson second by Keller to approve the 2425 support staff handbook roll call please Keller hi Peterson hi acman Hi cundy I stellner hi veric hi Hansen hi uh request to move the October uh board meeting um an annual meeting date from October 21st to October 28th um I did request um this to be changed as I will be um out of the country on October 21st and I really feel that it's important for to be at
090the annual meeting so it was my request and also gives Monica a little more time with her reports that she has to do as well I move to uh change the October 21st uh board meeting and annual meeting to October 28th second I'll second Amman okay motion by verit second by acman to approve moving the um October board meeting the second October board meeting and the annual meeting date to O October 28th 2024 roll call please Peterson I Amman hi cundy I stellner I veric I Keller hi Hansen I um administrative reports any additions from the administration or questions from the board I had just a couple uh one for Lauren the numbers that you have in here for the at risk were from last year or I believe you indicated that you would give
091us a projection for this year so I will get that to you within the next week or twoo so okay I appreciate that and then I had one other question for mon and I apologize Monica I did talk with you today on a couple things um at prior meetings you had given us an update as far as expenditures from our referendum on our Middle School do you think you could give us an update as far as where we are with the monies it has been relatively slow as of late um but it just started picking up in the last i' say the last two to three weeks that we starting to get bills I up and I appreciate that because I did see about a $2 million a payment to myin so I appreciate an
092update so thank you all right thank you all right and board reports any Communications there is no Communications committee reports human resources and finance uh we'll be discussing the we had a meeting it's for a closed session okay marketing and public relations nothing at this time okay and policy uh we do have a number of policies coming and just to as well let uh our visitors know we appreciate you at our meetings and for our policies we do have a policy committee meeting the policies go to the committee they are reviewed and from the committee meeting then they are presented to the board um so you can watch our agendas and I believe they are also on our website um so the policies are listed and they are discussed prior to coming coming to the
093meeting uh for a vote and so we do have a number of policies that we will be reviewing um but as they come out of policy committee I will let you know that there is Major discussion to make sure that these policies are what the committee is wanting to bring forward so I appreciate the the mention of that because uh like I say there are a number and we go through these policies on a rotation um just as the conversation tonight there's revisions to policies on an ongoing basis so uh this is not a new procedure of the board I just like to reiterate the fact if you've got questions you know watch the the agendas and so on as the policies are coming forward okay and with that I would entertain a motion to
094move into executive session so move second motion by Keller second by verich to move into executive session um under State Statute 19 85 to approve executive session minutes from August 5th 2024 under State Statute 1985 sub1 sub e deliberating or conducting spe specified business public business whenever competitive reasons require a close session for competitive bids for health insurance self-funding State Statute 19.85% this responsibility for continuing uh with the district administrator's evaluation process um State Statute 9.85 sub one subf sub subb considering personal history which if discussed in public would likely have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data to discuss teacher request to waiver reduce liquidated damages the board will move into Open Session and may take action on items discussed in close session roll
095call please Amman Hi cundy I dner hi veric hi