001good afternoon I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the board of education for the elgrove Unified School District of October 17th 2023 and announc that the board will meet in Clos session to address items one and two on the Clos session portion of the agenda at this time I'd like to call for public comment on the Clos session items Mr Hoffman do we have any blue slips I do not believe so hold on can I hold on one second okay let's okay I'm going to close public comment and recess into close session thank you e good afternoon we're going to get started could I please have our members up to the Das so that we we can begin okay and then you can folks thank you quiet in the room we are
002very happy to have you all here let's begin I'd like to call this meeting to order at 6 pm and announce that the board met in closed session and no action was taken so as a board we wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the ongoing heartbreaking events in Israel and Palestine uh we don't involve ourselves in matters beyond our jurisdic but we know that the violence and suffering on the other side of the world has an impact on our students and our community especially for the many refuges who have made the school district their home uh our goal is to support our students and if any students are impacted by these events and need extra support we encourage them to reach out on campus to a counselor a mental health therapist or other trusted
003adult uh let us take this as a reminder to not lose sight of the humanity of those in our own orbit um because once we do it is a slippery slope to immeasurable cruelty with that good evening and welcome to the elgrove Unified School District's board meeting the board of education has resumed full in-person meetings unless remote attendance is permitted pursuant to the California Brown act live streaming of full in-person board meetings will be available to the public via the zoom platform today's meeting is being video recorded and will be available on the district's YouTube channel some information about our public comment process which will uh change soon as we've discussed in a few recent meetings during regular board meetings the public may make public comments on items on the agenda or items not on
004the agenda individual speakers are allowed up to three minutes to address the board on each agenda item the total amount of time allocated to public comment by the board will be limited with a total of 30 minutes designated for public comment on an item public comments during regular board meetings may be be made about items not on the agenda but within the school district's jurisdiction Steve I'm getting some feedback I think it might be from this laptop I'm going to continue public comments may be made on all items that are on the board agenda and will be heard when the selected item comes up individuals may not defer their time to another individual speaker to increase their time Beyond 3 minutes please be mindful that District students may be watching you're encouraged to address the
005board and the public in a respectful manner such that all those observing from children to adults are made to feel safe welcome and valued the board will not permit any disturbance or willful Interruption of board meetings persistent persistent disruption by an individual or group shall be grounds for the board president to provide a warning and then to terminate the individual's privilege of addressing the board prior to our Pledge of Allegiance we will have the inaugural reading of our egusd land acknowledge M which will be read by Miss Gina Jamerson good evening we acknowledge that the elgrove Unified School District Administrative facilities and schools occupy the unseated territory of the Miwok the original people of the skies land and Waters where we work and learn the miok have cared for these lands since time Memorial they
006continue to teach their traditional knowledge that comes from and responds to the needs of the land and people who share it May our daily lives and work teaching learning leadership and Community engagement support the evolving vision of the Miwok for their community and these lands may we strive to acknowledge the past for the betterment of our future Generations may we look to our tribal Partners the Wilton Rancheria the descendants of the original people of this land to assist with the successful education of our community thank you Miss Jamerson and now Mr Vargas will you please uh take the lead on the Pledge of Allegiance sir sure um all right come on up so we've got some uh words before we begin so Monteray Trail High School is honored to recognize Miss Cynthia Garcia as our
007education partner the elro Unified School District recognizes the importance of fostering creativity through the Arts and Music Monteray Trail High School's music program offers students the opportunity to develop as musicians Scholars and community members through practices perform performance competition and community service Miss Garcia is the proud mom of Bianca a 12th grade student at Monterey Trail High School and Gabriel and Elizabeth two proud Mustang graduates for the last three years Miss Garcia has been instrumental in nurturing not only her daughter Bianca's love of Music on the trail but hundreds of other students as well she has volunteered her time at football games marching band competitions concerts and fundraisers not only does she serve at events but also spends time Heming the band uniforms when they rip so the students can March proudly with the proper
008attire according to the band director Mr Aaron Smith Miss Garcia has assisted in helping the band fundraise more than $5,000 allowing the band program to purchase and repair instruments buy new music travel and participate in music competitions and festivals according to her daughter Bianca even when things are stressful or busy my mom always finds time to fix everything we need Miss Garcia Monteray Trail High School and the elk grve Unified School District thank you for your dedication to our students and care for for the Mustang Community now now we invite everyone to join us in standing for the pledge led by Miss Garcia I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible for liberty and justice for all if
009you can just hang out there for one second please while Mr Vargas works his way down there thank you yeah thank you thank you again congratulations next up we have our student Regional report today we are showcasing the valley region which includes Valley High School Samuel Jackman Middle School Herman linebach Elementary Charles Mack Elementary Prairie Elementary John reath Elementary and Union house Elementary d all right good evening board um board president miss Espinosa members of the board superintendent Hoffman Miss Avalos my name is William Nong I'm a senior um at Valley High and I serve our campus as the ASB president tonight we have a funfilled presentation from you all from our Valley High region including speakers from all of our elementary feeder schools Samuel Jackman middle school and of course from Valley High we
010also will be having a video presentation and of course Val will be speaking and then we'll close out the show tonight with a performance from Val's very own footworks Dance Company yay please join me in welcoming our first speakers tonight Mal that means hello in tongen my name is Sean Mofi Union house Elementary is an awesome school we have a lot of kind teachers and staff to to remind us to remind us to be respectful and use manners every day and just like how I taught you my L I also get to teach other students about my tongue in Polynesian culture hi my name is zavon Bryson the best thing about Union house Elementary is that we get to go on fun educational field trips like the science museum and I get to show off
011my culture by dressing as African [Music] king thank you Union house now please help me please join me in welcoming our speakers from Prairie Elementary thank you my name is Harold Booth one thing I like about Perry is how the teachers help me understand and what they teach I'm done good evening everyone I am Monroe Tran a fifth grader from Perry Elementary one thing I like about Perry is how um oh wait how I can make friends easily at school thank you prie please help me welcome our students from Charles ma hello my name is Trinity and what I love about Charles Mac is that they have activities for us I love how the staffs care about us and I love I forgot I love hanging out with my friends hello my name is Serenity
012hello my name is Serenity and what I love about Charles mag is that they have Aces for us like an after school program and that that and I love the staff and I love that we get to learn a lot thank you Charles Mack please help me welcome our student students from Herman log good evening my name is Cadence Wingfield and I am in the sixth grade at Herman linebach my favorite part of PBIS is seeing Leo the Lion at our warar assemblies he cheers us on to be responsible outstanding always safe and resilient good evening my name is Aaliyah Perez and I am in the sixth grade at Herman log my favorite part of PBIS is winning prizes for making good choices and demonstrating the character trade of the month thank you so much
013Herman linebach now please help me welcome our John wath Jaguars hello my name is is yvon r cillo and I attend to John Reef Elementary School my favorite thing about John Reef Elementary School is Ela because I like to write hello hello my name is cherish van I'm in sisre and I attend John Reef Elementary School my favorite thing about John reef is the leadership program because I like helping around campus thank you so much to our elementary schools for coming out tonight now I'd like to introduce our middle school students Samuel Jackman hi my name is Solomon Martin and I'm an eighth grader at Jackman Middle School I'm a part of iyt which is a program that helps young men of color get to college and succeed I also play sports that's one thing
014I like about Jackman they have a great sports program that consists of basketball track cross country and wrestling Jackman alsoo has a lot of great electors you can choose from like art project lead the way and Leadership leadership is a really good elective because you learn a lot of aspects from it like how to be a leader social skills and work skills Jackman also has a lot of great teachers my favorite teacher is Miss A who teaches science but there are a lot of teachers to like at Jackman and that's what I like about Jackman one one memory I remember from seventh grade was a spring fair that we had one of the events was a dunk tank and one of the other science teacher Mr was in the tank you had three chances to
015dunk him and on my second try I hit the target and he fell in the tank it was so nice to hit that Target it gave me a good memory to to keep Dallas from Jackman hello my name is Noami Lopez and I am an eighth grade student at Samuel Jackman Middle School I am also the class president of my school's leadership team and today I'm here because I've been chosen to represent my school there are so many exciting ways that my school gets students involved and makes them welcomed we have many clubs here that students are more than welcome to participate in such as the pride Club Critter Club yearbook club and a go green gardening club we also have a couple after school programs such as the elite soccer program and a call
016and a club called iyt that helps students that help students be the very best of themselves best versions of themselves our school our school also has fall and spring festivals in these festivals we have fun games and activities for students to relax and hang out with Samuel Jackman is overall a great student a great school and has a wonderful staff team that cares for their students thank you for listening to all the wonderful things about Samuel Jackman Middle School thank you so much Samuel Jackman um and on behalf of all of our parents and admin teachers students we're so so proud of the presentation that you guys have given us tonight and we can't wait to see where your journey um where where you go with your journey here in our district so thank you
017so much students let's give it up one more time for them and now our region with like to present with you a video Welcome to Elementary us to I like morning meetings because play interesting games with the class I like Lunch Bunch because it gives me a choice to play with my friends I love calling because it helps me whenever I'm frustrated their love spot grow when some said something kind about you or said I love you or you're [Music] amazing we are very proud thank you [Music] foring [Music] ours about skills [Music] you CH your passion for glor hello I am shy at first grader at [Music] Char you want me to show you how hello come on Grandma just go meet the parents at the coffee top I am enjoying your office your
018looks and smile [Applause] amazing job how did you feel how did you feel during the joning the Jon good okay awesome how did you feel during the Jon and is a role model fifth grade where are my fifth graders over here on this side let's hear you fifth graders aerg let's hear you welcome to Union house we have a lot of great cultures go and at un Health Elementary School we have a really cool black excellent paring group it's creating that Community you know and that's where it starts [Music] that India China Cambodia pack forever [Music] India mikara and Fiji all [Music] the [Music] stand up Valley High we Sil if you couldn't tell already our region is definitely on the rise and our region has so much to offer to our community and we
019cannot wait to see where our community goes but before we can continue with that I'd like to introduce my um co-speaker for tonight from Valley and yeah good evening everyone my name is is Grace Longmire I'm a sophomore and I serve Valley High as their sophomore class president and today both of us are here representing Valley High as our student board representatives to start Valley has been looking a little dull so we decided it was time for a little campus beautification we started off with a school repainting and rebranding brightening up our school colors not only boosted school spirit but also student positivity our Vikings are staying academically strong this year this past semester we celebrated those who achieved a 3.50 GPA or higher which accounted for about 25% of our entire student body our
020Avid students have also been taking as many field trips as they can touring UC campuses including Santa Cruz and Berkeley our seniors are also hard at work applying to numerous numerous campuses around the country two of our current seniors kayn vau and William Nong that's me were selected over the past year and nationally recognized as Alexander Hamilton Scholars our yes give it up our Scholars are receiving help applying to private and public schools alike and recently flew to New York to attend their first leader week all expenses paid for valy has started a new ambassador program that we believe will be very beneficial we have students of every pathway as acting as tour guides as such to non-pathway participants and the students give the tours themselves this is in place to showcase the many opportunities
021Valley has to offer this year's homecoming was a hit our theme was The Wizarding Ro of valley of take on Harry Potter we held a quiddit tournament which was popular amongst the students we also had spirited L ltas such as wand making Harry Potter dress up days and more the dance itself was a complete success we decorated our empty room with house house themed colors and both the students and staff were pleased with it all turning gears to Visual and Performing Arts now this year footworks who's in the house with us tonight is continuing our long-standing tradition of delivering stellar and vibrant performances to bolster School spirit and to make our names known to date our dance company has performed at both welcome back and homecoming rallies with the district's dance Fest and our annual
022main stage in the lineup for future performances our rapidly expanding vapa programs on campus have seen the expansion of Ceramics into its own clay Club where it was recently approved by our ASB our band is also hard at work bolstering school spirit even working before school during a zero period to rehearse jazz band pieces and coming up on our calendar our music and theater programs are hosting their first annual dinner on campus this Thursday now to senior involvement seniors this year are more involved than ever our campus normally expects about onethird of the entire senior class to participate in activities at our senior Sunrise we had over 135 seniors in attendance including me our class social media page on Instagram is vibrant and upto-date with interactive photo slides and colorful Graphics frequently updated with new
023information on events coordinated by our senior class president Cynthia aralo and our historian Haven Lun our rallies are also incredibly Lively thanks to our seniors lead en chant blacking out our section with black shirts and incredible involvement in Valley games especially at our recently concluded Harry Potter homecoming our Valley Vikings are off to a great start for this school year and our programs on campus are rapidly expanding from footworks to Clay Club advancing our Vikings from students to Scholars or simply getting a friend to tag along at school events Valley high school and our region at large is making great strides to better incorporate all students to have a fantastic journey through school as they develop themselves into Community leaders change makers and groundbreaking members of our community our Scholars are ready to Take On
024The World now it's up to the world to accept them with open arms thank you now I'd like to introduce Val's very own footwork to close out tonight's presentation my think czy what [Music] about take a [Music] bre thank you so much all of the student performers and speakers Did a fantastic job let's give them another round of applause to all of the educator staff family community members who support these kids you should be very proud and I want to uh also congratulate the principles of These Fine schools beginning with Miss Bridget K Bridget Kent Bell at Valley High School Natasha Lewis Jones at Samuel Jackman Middle School avelardo Cordova at Herman linebach Elementary [Music] School samtha Moore at Charles Mack Elementary School Laura Anderson at Prairie Elementary School Kate Hedrick at John wath Elementary
025School and and Mr Paul Cordo Union house elementary school and I think William deserves a round of applause for being such an excellent MC so thanks all students you are dismissed next we will move on to our first of five resolutions the first up is that for National School psychology week we will give a a minute or two for folks who are departing the room so that we can begin look we're able to close those doors just to get some quiet in here I'd appreciate it a take it away Mr Riley my cheeks already hurt from smiling I know you all can't tell but that's exactly how I like to start these things off I can assure you there'll be no dancing in this presentation although Crystal just said she wanted to put something together
026so so uh good evening president Charles Espinosa members of the board superintendent Hoffman Miss Miss aalos um it's my pleasure uh not only to work alongside with the uh school psychologist in this District who are just exemplary uh but also uh my work with uh Crystal Jones here who is the president of pisas are who represent School psychologists and social workers so I'll turn it over to Miss Jones thank you oh it's not oh this one okay thank you David and Miss Jones I'm sorry to interrupt you I made an error I'm going out of order here we've debated our order here for when we do public comments so I'm going to pause before you begin okay um and ask Miss leaster if there are public comments via Zoom for this item Madame President there
027are no public comments via Zoom for this item thank you Miss Jamerson do we have blue cards for this item Madame President there are no blue cards for this item they do not okay take it away okay thank you good evening everyone um during the week of November 6 through the 10th 2023 schools throughout the country will celebrate National School psychology week to highlight the important work work school psychologists do to help students Thrive this year's theme is let's grow together which highlights the importance and value of growth in the role of being a school psychologist School psychologists have an extensive expertise in academic instruction and intervention coupled with social and emotional learning to support students the State Convention theme this year is Inspire to lead which incompasses further understanding of the role and the
028value of school psychologists as educational leaders and their commitment to professional learning over a 100 School psychologists gathered with experts in the field of cognition behavior intervention and instruction to bring information back to their communities School psychologists utilize this wide breath of knowledge to provide opportunities for growth and support for diverse groups of students families staff and colleagues providing such support for families they encounter helps uplift their voices to communicate the needs of diverse communities their knowledge in leadership and advocacy for systems change help all Educators grow as Leaders within education it is through the power of collaboration with colleagues from various disciplines that school psychologists make a lasting impact for students growth does not occur in a silo nor does Leadership School psychologists are team members team leaders and promoters of growth for all
029from the youngest of students to the most experienced team member so we want to take this week in November to appreciate the challenging and rewarding work of school psychologists and thank them for cultivating both ample growth and unconditional leadership for all they encounter our communities are richer to have school psychologists in them we hope you will also take time to acknowledge the day-to-day work of school psychologists and communicate the benefit they bring to school communities the board of education is asked to adopt resolution 24 in support of national school psychology week and this year's theme of let's grow together thank you very much I'd like to call for a motion to approve resolution number 24 recognizing November 6th through 10th 2023 as National School psychology week I happily and proudly uh recommend approval resolution number
03024 second that move by Mr foro second by Mr Yang all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed the resolution is approved unanimously if we could please have our psychologists in the room please stand so that we can and this is just a small sample of our group we wanted to put the picture up um we are very proud of our diverse group of school psychology psychologists we have about 75 of us now and so we took this picture at the beginning of the year and so not everybody could be here tonight but we did we are very proud of our school psychology group and the diversity that we have thank you yeah that's nice oh and we have gifts for you all oh no it's a 30 minute session well that'll come
031in handy thank you very much thank you thank you again for all you do for our kids thank you our next resolution is for Ruby Bridges walk to school day Miss leaster do we have any public comments via Zoom Madam President we have no public comments via Zoom for this item thank you Miss Jamerson do we have any blue cards we have no blue cards on this item thank you take it away Miss Batista okay good evening Madame President members of the board superintendent Hoffman and Miss Avis um tonight I'm asking the board to adopt resolution number 15 Ruby Bridges walk to school day as a part of the board of education's legacy of advocacy for equity and the value of diversity within our school district members of the Board of Education have an opportunity
032to recognize November 14th 2023 as Ruby Bridges walk to school day Ruby Bridges became a symbol for student activism and the Civil Rights Movement at age6 when she was the youngest of a group of African-American students designated to integrate into schools in the American South on November 14th 1960 Ruby arrived for her first day of school in New Orleans to an angry crowd of people who wanted to maintain a segregated school system her courageous act of showing up for school each day in ongoing ad advocacy continues to inspire efforts for Equity diversity inclusion and student activism in adopting this resolution egusd and joins other California districts and California legislature in celebrating the legacy of Ruby Bridges of student involvement and empowerment for an inclusive diverse validating and Equitable educational environment thank you Miss Batista I'd
033like to call for a motion to approve resolution number 15 which endorses yes says endorses November 14 2023 as Ruby Bridges walk to school day so moved second okay uh moved by Miss Jamerson and all say seconded by Mr Bettis all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed the resolution is approved unanimously thank you our next resolution is for Native American Heritage Month Miss Lasser do we have any public comments via Zoom for this item Madame President we have no public comments via Zoom for this item thank you Miss Jamerson do we have any blue cards we have no blue cards for this item thank you you may begin Miss blonquist I have no gifts for you there's no swag resolutions coming up okay Madame President school board members superintendent Hoffman and Miss
034Avalos um members of the School Board of Education have an opportunity to recognize November 2023 as Native American Heritage Month the efforts to gain recognition for the significant contri contributions of the indigenous people of the United States can be traced back more than 100 years these efforts were further solidified in 1990 when President George HW Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 National American Indian Heritage Month the month of November is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures traditions and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of native people Native American heritage month is also an opportune time to raise General awareness about the unique challenges native people have faced both historically and in the present throughout the year the contributions of Native Americans are presented in the regular curriculum however this special
035Focus for one month serves as a reminder of the combined contributions of Native Americans in support of this resolution the curriculum and professional learning department will facilitate a virtual Workshop called connecting the past to the present California indigenous art on November 30th from 5:30 to 7 therefore it is requested that the board adopt resolution number 25 designating November 20 23 as Native American heritage month thank you I'd like to call for a motion to approve resolution number 25 designating November 2023 as a Native American Heritage Month yes it's my sincere pleasure um to recommend approval of resolution number 25 for Native American Heritage Month second that thank you a move by Mr fortina that was seconded by Mr Yang I believe all in favor please signify by saying I opposed the resolution is approved unanimously
036thank you okay and the next resolution is for seek American awareness and appreciation month Miss Lasser do we have any public comments via Zoom for this item Madame President we have no public comments via Zoom for this item Miss Jamerson do we have any blue cards yes we have two blue cards for this item I have Mand deep sing followed by Rose Mali Mr Sing come on up and Rose will be next person Mark not on the agenda we get it thank you um thank you board I would like to start off with um highlighting and amplifying your acknowledgement um you know we're coming here today from the occupied and unseed territories of the Miwok people and uh you know we thank them for being stewards of this land and uh you know we hope
037to work with them um in these coming months and years with our youth um that are present here in out Gro um you know sik I know it is called awareness and appreciation month but I think definitely um when we think about this we think about the heritage um that is not only present in California here uh not just in the Sacramento region but really uh in North America and uh in um you know Punjab where we are from you know they say the the um Sands of the Sahara Desert fly through the winds over the Atlantic Ocean and they feed the Amazon forest right so this world is interconnected in ways beyond our brains can comprehend and you know for us um not just us but many other people there's a reason that we
038are in this land here today for we are all refugees um in one way or or another um you know I hope the folks that are here uh you all Google the SI genocide which occurred in 1984 in November um that was followed up by by a decade of disappearances um of people who look like us by the uh Indian government um there was a gentleman who was doing this work to highlight these atrocities and he himself was then abducted um killed his body cut up thrown in the river in 1995 um to this day some of this stuff still happens but he had said he had a saying when he did his speech here in Canada to the UN he said you know when this when the sun set for the first time and
039darkness came over this world um there was a little lamp um in a far away Hut and when it l up it said I will challenge the darkness and I will not if nothing else I will not let it settle around me I will establish light so you know with that um my conscience won't let me leave here today without acknowledging the um over 500 uh Souls that were lost in the strike on the uh Hospital in Gaza today um you know cancer p patients mothers young children um I can't even begin to comprehend what those people are going through you know um as we saw these amazing children up here um doing this you know there's children on the other side of the world here that are interconnected in ways beyond our brains can
040comprehend um that are cut up in pieces and their parents are holding up the pieces around showing the world crying out this is happening to me speak up so I hope all of us establish like around us thank you thank you Rose followed by simron CH and you can come stand up here to be ready to go for the next one thank you um hi my name is Rosen carali and I am from Sheldon high school and I'm programming services and administration of sick honors and service society and I'm also a part of jakata movement jagata movement is a Grassroots Community Building organization working to empower educate and organized Punjabi six and other marginalized communities Sheldon is one of the 70 California high school chapters in jagata movement that spr knowledge about the sick community
041and how we can come together to create a powerful Bond November 13th November 17 we will be having Our Sick Heritage week which consists of all of our chapters preparing to spread information throughout their campus schools prepare by talking to Administration to have tables out during lunch and by announcing scky facts on morning announcements Our Sick honors and service Society also comes with a checklist that we encourage students to complete every year some things that are on checklist include two sa events in Punjabi SAA is known as to serve and to incorporate this into s honors and service Society we have community cleanups and and aoras and we make care packages for those who are in need another item that is on the checklist is the learning circle in this learning circle we meet with
042Community or even students from campus and we discuss topics regarding current issues and events whether that could be racial tension School struggles or upcoming events thank you for listening to my speech about sick honors in service society and how we are privileged to have the opportunity to talk about the jagata movement in our community and at school campuses thank you hi my name is herit core I'm a student in Sheldon high school I'm also a board member for the club shss which is also known as sick honors and service Society through this club we were presented a wonderful opportunity known as the care internship this internship mainly focuses focuses on in prevention on substance use as well as Teen Mental Health our internship is looking forward to working with the district to make our school
043a better and safe place for all the all the school staff and students we have events at school and outside of school last week we did tabling at our campus for the mental health awareness week the students wrote what they feel and the activities to do to lessen and to lessen their stress anxiety we also had hundreds of students come up to our tabling and interact with us during that moment and their willingness of helping each other another event we did was going to the Youth Empowerment sem in sack we were exposed to topics such as bullying confidence and teen life which helped us understand more about the thought of our peers on this topic as well as parents we are so happy to work with the board to help improve the substance use that
044happens in our school as well as other peer help that which will be Pro provided to the internship once again we would be very Trill to work with the board thank you for listening thank you madam president there are no more blue cards on this event thank you Miss Jamerson take it away Miss blonquist with that powerful testimony we ask that the members of the Board of Education you have an opportunity to adopt this resolution that recognizes and acknowledges the significant contributions made by California of zik Heritage to the state and affords the opportunity for its students to understand recognize and appreciate the rich hist and the shared principles of sick Americans the California Department of Education has designated the month of November 2023 as California sick American awareness and appreciation month in doing so
045they note that this observance permits the society at large and the schools in particular to celebrate the achievements of sick Americans and also to reexamine society's role in preserving the civil rights of all of its citizens in support of this resolution the curriculum and and professional learning department will offer a virtual Workshop called Civic engagement and the sick community on Monday November 27th 2023 at 5:30 and with that it's requested that the board adopts resolution number 26 designating November 2023 as sick American awareness and appreciation month thank you I'd like to call for a motion to approve resolution number 26 designating November 2023 as sick American awareness and appreciation month Madame chair I'm very honored to move to seek American awareness and appreciation month second thank you Mr Yang moved by Mr Yang second by
046Mr Vargas all in favor please signify by saying I I I oppos the resolution is approved unanimously thank you thank you students for being here our next resolution our next and last resolution of the night is for red ribbon week and I so proud of myself that I got that out straight Miss Lasser um are there any public comments via Zoom Madam president there are no public comments via Zoom for this item thank you Miss Jamerson do we have any blue cards we have no blue cards for this item thank you Mr Ross go ahead yeah Madam president thank you for putting the pressure on me uh good evening board president chyros espanosa members of the board superintendent Hoffman and Miss Avalos um the board of education is requested to adopt resolution 27 recognizing October
04723rd through the 31st 2023 as Red Ribbon Week this year's theme is be kind to your mind live drug free Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest proactive drug prevention program in the country is it an awareness Campa campaign designed to warn students about the dangers of Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug use so they will choose to be free of these barriers to success and wellness throughout the week the messages are delivered to students in various creative and positive ways and whenever possible student leaders are involved in the planning of the Red Ribbon Week activities at their schools the goal of prevention initiatives at the elementary schools is to help students understand the harm that can be caused by Alcohol Tobacco and Drug abuse and to equip students with the necessary life skills to
048resist negative pressure secondary schools participate in the districtwide prevention education programs by supporting Club live Friday Night Live peer-to-peer leadership link crew and project success in addition students support and Health Services offers parents and School staff training on various subjects related uh to substance abuse the board is respectfully asked to approve this resolution and continue their support for Substance Abuse Prevention efforts within the elk grve Unified School District thank you Mr Ross I'd like to call for a motion to approve resolution number 27 recognizing October 23 through 31 2023 as Red Ribbon Week I move approval uh of the uh resolution thank you Mr fortina do we have a second second mov by Mr fortina second by Mr Vargas all in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed the resolution is approved unanimously
049thank you thank you next we will move on to our request for student expulsion good job Mr Ross Miss Lasser do we have any public comments via zoom on the request for student expulsion Madame President we have no public comment via Zoom for this item thank you Mr Jamerson do we have any blue cards we have no blue cards on this item thank you I'd like to call for a motion to approve the recommendations for student expulsion move by Miss aliani do we have a second okay all right moved by Miss albiani second by Miss Jamerson all in favor please signify by saying I I oppose that is approved unanimously we also have a request for return from student expulsion Miss Lasser do we have any public comments via zoom on this item we have
050no public comments via Zoom for this item thank you M Jamerson do we have any blue cards we have no blue cards on this item thank you I'd like to call for a motion to approve the recommendation for readmission from expulsion so moved moved by Miss Jamerson and second by miss albiani all in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed none that item is approved unanimously thank you next we're moving on to public comment for items not on the agenda um I would like to call on let's see first I'm going to read a disclaimer then I'm going to go to um Miss Lasser so first uh I just like to remind folks that statements made by the public during the public comment portion of our Schoolboard meeting do not necessarily reflect the
051views of the district the board or the administration and public comments can be made by the public consistent with the First Amendment right to free speech may include profanity discriminatory statements as well as comments that are explicit in nature and which may be offensive or disturbing to some community members and in appro appr for children such comments are in no way condoned or supported by the district the board or the administration with that Miss Lasser do we have any public comments via Zoom for items not on the agenda yes madame President we have one public comment via Zoom this item thank you so first is Kirk T hi can you hear me yes sir go right ahead okay so at our last meeting on September 19th no fewer than three speakers called for the removal
052of the Free Speech rights of parents who are concerned about the pornographic materials being purchased by the district and available in school libraries they Justified The Stance by saying parents are hateful bigoted and that our words were discriminatory they said this even though to my recollection none of the parents right speakers said anything about lgbtq rights we all kept our comments to material we find to be excessive in its sexual content and without educational Merit still these speakers demanded that we be silenced well I'm here to today to ask you to hold those people to their own standards at several meetings I've heard the phrase white people used in a disparaging way this is blatant discrimination based on race especially since there are a lot of different ethnic groups Anglo-Saxon Slavic Scandinavian Caucasian Germanic within
053the white race anyone using white in a derogatory way should be silenced several of the speakers speakers use the term men and male in an insulting Way by lumping all men in with the boogeyman known as the patriarchy men make up less than half of the people in this country this is an attack on on the minority gender in this country and therefore this hateful language must be prevented from occurring at these meetings other words that were used to degrade and disparage groups of people were cisgender and heteronormative both of these terms were used in wayed by speakers to disparage people whose sex and gender correlate and to anyone who is not in the lgbtq plus Community again speakers who use these hateful terms should be silenced the final group these speakers targeted were Christians
054many speakers keep trying to mix Christians in with all white nationalists which is both racist and not true um furthermore these speakers show up with a rainbow flag which is a direct insult to all members of abrahamic faiths of Christianity Judaism and Islam whose view of the rainbow is a symbol of God's judgment and mercy therefore the rainbow flag is a symbol that is meant to insult and disparage Jews Christians and Muslims and should be banned for the from these meetings anyone throwing Christian Christian into the white Nationals category they're spewing hate based on religious beliefs and should be silenced now I want to make it clear I do not endorse anything I just said I do not want anyone silenced at these meetings I am simply pointing out what would happen if these speakers
055were held to their own standards these attempts to silence People based on Safety and Security are nothing new these are tactics straight out of the Playbook of the Russian Revolution under Lenin and Stalin so should these authoritarian calls for limiting the free speech of parents rights Advocates continue I'm reminding those who wish to silence the speech of people with opposing views based on the vague criteria of hate or discrimination something you might want to keep in mind that blade Cuts both ways thank you thank you Miss Sylvester that was the only one right Miss Jamerson do we have blue cards for items not on the agenda yes we do I have Steph Ruiz followed by Gary Hickman come on up folks and if the the second person could stand off to the side here at
056the edge of the dis we would appreciate it it helps us move through these faster go ahead sir okay um I've already disseminated information I gave it out the last time I was here for the go beyond grades campaign I believe everybody has one I also put out um some literature regarding the ax scor being the lowest in three decades among our students and it also indicates on there that um the students aren't prepared for the post-secondary level which is college now if that's based on scores for regular students um how much not prepared are our students that are in ABS or 504 programs I mean my daughter's uh ABS 2 program um student and she's not ready not at all so again just take a minute to read that and look at that also
057um the last time I was at a meeting here the items that were followed after the blue for people to come up and speak there were so many uh charts and graphs and everything indicating what the school was doing to um mitigate um students that were being suspended now if the school can go into that much the district can go into that much detail about what they're doing to mitigate suspensions can't they do the same to um show us data for successes of the students in our district in high school going on to the secondary level and seeing well what are the successes there what are they doing what are they going on to are they graduating from college at a good rate are they becoming the engineers the doctors the lawyers the politicians that
058are educators are supposed to be teaching them or are I don't like to use any um examples but the young man holding up um the card saying he was going to be a Walmart cashier that was pretty on point because that's showing again what are they teaching is that what they're teaching in our schools our kids are preparing them to be Walmart cashiers and nothing more now one of the items on your website it shows that um the school district elro youth High School dist is a top performing District but where is the metric that's used to measure that where's the data that shows that you're a top performing District because where are school where are students is going to after and where's the data and the metric to shows those particular successes and what
059they're going on to afterwards where's that data I I don't see it there anywhere and um just one other thing um I always like to end with a quote from Richard fan he stated um I'd rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that that can't be question and that comes really good on point here because I've gotten a lot of answers and when I question him I really don't get an answer on that as well so thank you Gary Hickman followed by Dustin [Music] Noble good afternoon I'm here to request the review of those library books that have previously been brought to the board's attention books such as push The Bluest Eye identical uh Grandpa's Pride uh those who have taken an honest look at these books will see the pornographic and inappropriate
060content of them and therefore how they are not age appropriate for our school age school age children in previous board meetings you will remember that there have been outbursts and public comments protesting the reading of such books in this meeting uh these speakers have stated that they felt triggered and assaulted by the content and the explicit details of these books that were shared in the meeting I wish to point out that if adults with a lifetime of experience and development feel triggered by such readings of this material what then will be the impact to the children who stumble upon them again I request that these books be removed from our school's libraries if you want to keep them in the public if they remain in the public library that's fine they don't have a place
061place where our children can stumble upon them you will as you know being the school board uh students will not learn if they do not feel safe um whether it's emotionally or environmentally uh topics that trigger adults will adversely impact these children so I ask you please do the right thing and remove these books thank you for your time Dustin Noble followed by Emily uton reath good evening president uh jiz of Spinosa members of the board superintendent Hoffman and Miss aalos I wanted to share tonight um I was recently at a work function um we were acknowledging high performance and offering Awards to for people from the last quarter it was just a really loud company event very crowded um as you might imagine um I quickly realized it was a little bit too much
062stimulation for myself and I had to bow out I was quickly reminded of high school and how pep rallies and events like that were a real struggle at times for me it made it nearly impossible to attend these things I wanted to be there and take part but it was so hard and I remember thinking that there has to be a better way and then I graduated and kind of lost uh track of that I'd like to call on every member of this board to partner with your Regional site admins to learn more about their inclusive practices and the ways they spread awareness and acceptance of students with disabilities but also how we as a district can do more um this should be a conversation as we approach the International Day of persons with disabilities
063in December encourage your site principles to promote inclusion more often partner with bed staff encourage more pushing into classrooms rather than pulling kids out for academics more activities centered around disability awareness and uh spotlighting neurodiversity every day every activity and every school event is an opportunity to practice inclusion from the fall festivals to pep rallies and homecoming from morning announcements to school sports and time on the playground let's make it so every kid can be included in all aspects of the School experience thank you Emily a followed by Melissa Brown good evening it's good to see all of you again a couple of meetings back Heidi Moore brought up the lack of access to bathrooms on school campuses and I'm here to agree with her um my son at Pinkerton sometimes cannot find an open
064bathroom and that's really a problem um we've been here a lot talking about instructional materials access to curriculum um related to each of our identities AB 1078 has passed hate is absolutely illegal um that's been layered on many times legally and we're we're safe from considering discrimination in our libraries and our instructional materials so it's time to uh focus on other issues like the access to bathrooms like the fact that there are shortages in par educators and students do not have access to the support they need for their IEPs like those same students being put on no activities lists at Pinkerton middle school if they do not pass all of their classes when they do not have par Educators that is a real problem that's a discriminatory practice that Pinkerton is engaging in that is
065not districtwide and that should be reconsidered Library techs are not paid for enough hours and they're not paid for all of their work their burdens are too high for the jobs that they have been given we do not have adequate budgets for books in our elementary libraries so all of these are the issues that we should now be focusing on with ab ab 1078 passing we don't need to talk anymore about book bands and we do not need to talk any more about discrimination in the curriculum let's focus on the real issues thank you Melissa Brown followed by Jess Carlson hi um this is my first time here so please excuse the nerves um good evening I am a mother and an advocate for my children um my oldest son is in the fourth grade
066and he recently had his teacher have him and his class um identify and Define what each letter of lgbqt plus means um my son is aged 10 he has not even reached the age where me and my husband find it appropriate to tell him how babies are conceived but he knows now that a sex change how that happens when it's available um from my understanding um the sex education comes in at fifth grade um and it now it includes the gender identity um it also requires a parent consent um this teacher did not get any parent consent um I gone to the principal and I'm getting hushed um I need help to speak louder for my son um he now feels unsafe to go to school um when this teacher is almost forcing this idea
067um I don't know where else to go um I feel that this discussion this lesson should be available for parents when I have requested I have been denied um I I'm at a loss of words I don't know where to go from here um my biggest thing is that those Ty types of discussions should require a parent consent um along with the material that the teacher had read um again I apologize for you're doing great take a deep breath you're fine um I don't know where else to go from here and I can hope that just one of you some somebody reaches out to me to help me um so that I can continue my fight for my son Jess Carlson followed by Noel Walsh evening board president cheres espanosa members of the board superintendent
068Hoffman and miss aalos my name is Jess Carlson I am a parent a small business owner admin of the Elkgrove book club and an lgbtq plus Ally and activist a parent came up here last board meeting recommended the board Implement a parental notification policy forcing disclosure of transgender and gender non-conforming students gender identities to their parents without consent this is not dangerous it is also against the law according to the California Constitution and the California Education Code it is your responsibility as a board to protect the legal rights physical safety and mental health of our most vulnerable students when lgbtq plus students are outed to unsupportive parents Studies have shown an increase in major depression drug use homelessness and death by Suicide please stop listening to unhinged people that come up here trying to convince
069you to have blood on your hands instead focus on protecting lgbtq plus and bipo students by embracing a1078 and finding ways to fully staff and fund our school libraries learn from our Librarians who always make room on the shelf for everyone thank you Noel Walsh followed by amolina good evening to the board um Cher espanosa a few weeks ago I stood up here shakely and recounted a series of physical and verbal assaults that my son endured while on a school trip um the last school board meetings have been discussions where we have talked about the importance of diversity and inclusion and making sure that our children are put first uh my experience navigating this event that affected my son has been night and day between schools um his old school is Ellen fiker Elementary um
070and they really did not take his experience seriously they did not think that his as salance needed additional anti-bullying education uh they had not offered any insight as to whether the chaperon that allowed the abuse and assaults to take place are going to be allowed to continue to supervise children and they did not acknowledge their many systemic failures in the policies that were supposed to keep my son safe I was absolutely shocked when we got to our new school and learned that every school in the in the district has an on-site therapist um our new school has already had their therapists meet with him twice uh and she's been very proactive in being communicating with both me my son's teacher and the vice principal um the old school never even offered any sort of mental
071health support so I'm very encouraged by the unanimous passing of the support for the school psychologist week earlier in this meeting and I hope that we're not just here at these meetings doing incredible things for our kids policy-wise but making sure that our schools are implementing them and making a tangible difference for our children so thank you very much for your time and I appreciate it thank you amolina followed by Charlotte good evening um well I think um that we can all agree that um there are foods that can be bad for our bodies and there are foods that can be good for our bodies and if a person insists on eating bad food such as fast food eventually you know their body's organ system was just going to give out on them you know
072it's no no rocket science there right and as a result this person will have to endure the painful consequences of a poor health um I hope that we would all agree that the same principle applies to the kind of content a person reads listen to sees um that could be better or good too if a person insist on looking at pornographic images listening to profane language and reading obscene materials well eventually you know this person perhaps will start believing that this is normal and to objectify people human beings for his or her own pleasure it's fine too any reasonable person would also agree that children are not small adults and exposing them to porn graphic materials exposing them to violence will cause great psychological damage I'm glad we have a lot of psychologists in our
073district because we were going to need them if we continue on this path of ignoring what's going on regarding the books that our kids uh could access in their school libraries I am disappointed in you it's been almost a year November is going to be a year since this issue was brought brought before you again I am disappointed in you but I am not surprised to see your passive aggressive behavior regarding these objective books that have been brought before you over and over again and still today sitting at this District school libraries so I am hoping that you do what's right stop hiding behind whatever it is that you're hiding behind and do what's right remove this books from our kids access in school please do what's right thank you Charlotte Charlotte followed by Rhett
074panel okay R you're next head okay I publicly want to thank two of you for reaching out to me after I wrote a letter to the school board members I appreciate the time that you took to listen to my concerns and I just want to thank you publicly parenting the definition is the rearing of children a father father or mother an ancestor or a protector or Guardian which I believe is most of us in this room and responsibility is involving accountability having the power to control or manage that is what a parent's responsibility is to be able to control or manage their children again these sexually explicit books are normalizing sex for students who read them what attention is being brought to these students again isolation learning different sexual acts grooming children for sexual acts
075making them think that being sexual at a young age is normal keeping secrets training children in sexual percu again guess who loves these childrens the pedophiles and the sex traffickers this is not a right or left side issue it's a parent and guardian issue issue the children's innocent is not for sale these sexually explicit books have issues that children are not emotionally intellectually or morally able to handle our common ground is we are here for the children everyone raises their children differently but we are constantly reminded by many people out there that our parenting is wrong I'm wearing this shirt I am a proud American Mom I'm wearing my proud American flag I want to remind you that you do have to have permissions for movies surveys internet usage which is not supposed to have
076any sexual content but yet these books that you cannot read on TV News YouTube or many social media they're usually blocked out or bleeped out but yet they're allow for our children to have that's very very disgusting and the teachers and administrators and we talked about this yesterday you all are mandated reporters you are supposed to report if a child has um pornography knowingly handed to them under the age of 18 so I would like to know how do the pornography and social justice make better test scores thank you Rett panel Rhett followed by Heidi hello to everyone uh I'm here to talk about bullying I probably I'm here every time but you know what bullying still runs rid in the elementary and the schools at least the elementary that my grandson goes to and
077the Middle School my grandson had a bully that went after him and it got way out of hand and the the bully that bullied my grandson his friend beat up my grandson's friend and pretty bad and he only got one day suspension he went home and played he didn't care about that that doesn't do any good and um you know I don't think kids care if they get suspended for one day it's no big deal and the bullies are in the school they get to do whatever they want there's no consequences for the actions the principal at the grade school doesn't seem to care she just lets the bullies run also want to know is there any dress code when we came here quite a few years ago there was now kids can come to
078school anything they want one girl came to school in her onesie pajamas and her furry slippers is that okay so I guess we can just wear anything and not get kids cannot get suspended or sent home that's ridiculous and stupid but I guess you don't care and um the you know the kids are not res the bullies run the school they don't care they have no respect I've seen and heard things that they do to the other kids and the teachers nothing's been done there it just keeps on going and it keeps on getting worse which is very sad to me when I was in school and I know my children and others we didn't have this problem but now I guess it's okay so I guess you should be writing the book you wrote
079the book of what the bullly bullies can do and they get away with it because there's I don't see any de dress code any anything else that says really severe consequences that happen to these bullies which is really sad so I guess you all don't care you can sit up there and say you do care but I just don't think you do because I haven't seen any action yet in the schools thank you Heidi um I just have a few um few concerns tonight um one is the California healthy youth um survey that you conduct every year um my secondary child I was sent an email about that survey the only way to opt out for that survey is through parent view um and I even called last year and asked how else I can
080opt out and there is absolutely no other option um so first of all that I believe that's violating parent rights but for a district that touts so much inclusivity what about parents who don't speak English how are they going to how are they going to know that um that that's their only option to opt their children out how are they going to access that um what if they don't have internet what if they don't have um access to parent view you're completely discluding um populations of parents from opting their kids out of a survey and maybe even understanding about this Sur survey um so that's a huge concern um also talking about surveys um I recently went to the superintendent parent advisory committee and learned that there is no survey when students exit your District
081that's that's shocking that's what good businesses do they they have surveys for why people don't want their business anymore don't you want to know why people don't want your business anymore I think that's important information that you should be collecting why are they leaving your district and then make that public and do something about it um so um also at the same meeting um I learned that you have police officers guess what there's one police officer to cover this building for all the adults and highest paid officials in the district and the schools share officers like one officer per six to eight schools so that shows how you prioritize the safety of our children that's very concerning and so telling um and speaking of security at the last board meeting um the situation was completely
082out of control someone was tripped someone was shoved people were covering religious signs and you were made aware of this in a public comment and you did nothing and I've emailed uh Miss CH Espinosa and um superintendent and the public needs to know that it is their choice that police did not come and intervene at that meeting even though it was completely out of control and there were many activists from all over Sacramento here that were being uh discriminatory toward parents taunting them even violence that's very unprofessional and very concerning and I hope you can fix that thank you thank you madam chair there are no more blue cards for this item thank you Miss Jamerson that concludes public comment for items not on the agenda next let us take on the consent agenda Miss
083Lasser do we have public comments via Zoom for this item Madame President we have no public comments via zo for this item thank you Miss Jamerson do we have blue cards for this item we have no blue cards for this item thank you Mr Bettis I see a hand I like to pull number one two does that conclude the items you're pulling 16 17 no no no excuse me uh 27 so not 7 26 yes no not 20 uh not 17 26 27 uh what about 16 sir no no okay Adam okay 26 27 and let's see 28 28 you said yes okay I'd like to call for a motion to approve items 1 through 33 on the consent agenda with the exception of items 1 2 26 27 and 28 so moved that moved
084by Mr Vargas second by Mr Yang all in favor please signify by saying I I I proposed those items are approved unanimously go ahead Mr Bettis and please speak to item number one okay board policy 431 12.6 personnel file um I just don't like the language it's it's not strong enough and I was wondering if we could table that till next time and have a discussion on that uh Mr bet this have you raised this issue with Mr Hoffman or any other administrator well I called Mr Hoffman and I I found out that nobody else was concerned about any of these consent items so that's why I brought it up to your attention today because I was wondering if any other board members were concerned about the language okay so I going take that as
085a no so uh again this is the work that we need to do in advance of these meetings I'm not hearing an interest in tbling this so I'm going to call for a motion on item number one on consent move move by missel beani second by Mr Vargas my question is before you start we we've moved forward we've moved forward you you posited you you proposed something and and there was no second you're the one to interrupt me sir we moveed forward we move forward all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed I oppose both of those because of the fact only number one all these have been signed by authorized District staff and what what's the reason of voting we've only voted on number one let pre approved let the record show
086that Mr Pettis is a no vote and the remainder of the board is an i vote the item is approved Mr Bettis do you want to speak to number two the minutes yes I would like you to um hold on here yes I would like to have a hard copy of the last two meetings August 22nd and September 5th and DVD video and also the minutes in in writing also Mr Mr fettis you can make you can make that's what I'm requesting those two issues Mr fettis yes please make clerical requests outside of meeting time your comments do not pertain to the approval of the minutes may I please have a motion on item number two and consent I move second so moved by Mr Vargas do we have a second yeah second I'm sorry
087I didn't catch that who was a Michael so who second by okay move by Mr fortina seconded by Mr Vargas all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed I still requested a DVD uh again again that's video of that cical request we can make outside of meeting time sir it's not it's not make it official on film so official nothing that we do here official that item is approved I am am speaking sir that item is approved Mr Bettis is a no vote the remainder of the board was an I vote can you please speak to item number 26 Mr Bettis number three uh no you did not mention number three it's been approved so item 26 is the next item that you 26 yes sir um these grants have been signed by
088authorized District staff on both of those 26 and 27 why come here and vote on this issue what are the circumstances or or uh legal ramifications if we deny these contracts are they binding do we have to play for S pay for service rendered that's the question I have Mr Pettis those are excellent questions to ask in advance of the board meeting you've brought them up previously we have addressed them so have not I'm going to call for a motion for item number 26 on the consent agenda so moved moved by Mr Vargas do we have a second second second by Mr yang all in favor please signify by saying I I I oppos hearing none that item is approved unanimously number 27 Mr Pettis again 27 um this particular resolution um wasn't sure should
089be a policy or resolution but I'm wondering if that has been approved or reviewed by the legal department or cfor the School Board Association Mr that's what I'm wondering about has that been prior approval Mr Bettis yes number 27 is ratification of contracts it is not a resolution 28 so are you we talking about 28 no but you also pulled 27 so you need to address that next no okay I'm 28 I'm talking about 28 so you did not intend to speak to number 27 no okay may I please so anyway no no no we are voting has our legal approv that or the California school board approve that that's I one may I please have a motion on item number 27 so moved I guess not moved by Mr Vargas do we have a
090second second second by Miss Alani all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed that item is approved unanimously Mr Bettis would you like to speak to item number 28 I just did okay I'd like to take a motion for item number 28 move approval of item 28 moved by Mr fortina and we and second by Mr Vargas all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed I opposed let the let the record show that Mr Pettis uh opposes item number 28 and the balance of the board is an I vote the item is approved we have dispensed with the consent agenda I'd like to call for a 10-minute Comfort break before we come back and resume business at 7:39 thank you okay we're going to resume our meeting at 7:50 p.m. look
091at that we were exactly 10 minutes next item is the opportunity for bargaining units to address the board are there any bargaining units who wish to address the board tonight seeing none thank you let's take up our discussion item which is about instructional material and library media center policies update Miss Lasser do we have any public comments via Zoom for this item Madam President we have no public comments via Zoom for this item thank you Miss Lasser Miss Jamerson do we have any blue yes we do have blue cards on this item I have Gary Hickman followed by Dustin Noble excuse me did we not approve in consent agenda tonight the handbook so it would not be effective today next time we didn't put we didn't put out the rule changes we said we wanted
092to make sure we had time to um uh communicate all the changes so we we'll do that now so we'll be ready for the meting in November what is in the final handbook is what was in the previous handbook that we did not adhere to so if something was already approved that we did not adhere to and the same language basically is within the handbook that was a consent agenda tonight why wouldn't it be followed your point is well taken Mr forina but uh Reed but after operating the same way for a year I think it would be more misleading and confusing to the public to change now as opposed to next meeting so we're going to proceed this way for today um Mr Jamerson I have Gary Hickman followed by Dustin Noble good evening
093once again uh and looking at the policy there there's uh some shortcomings that we have concerns about uh and therefore we would like I I feel that they should be uh corrected uh before approval is considered uh for example AR 61611 um I believe that there should be additional guidelines that are needed um to be implemented for materials that contain explicit sexual content profanity dep or depictions of sexual activity such materials must be age appropriate with the community oversight and input uh and then also for example uh BP 13122 Community standards um it's important that we recognize that not all families uh will want content sexual content again profanity pornography depictions of sex to be available for their children especially at the younger ages uh consideration of parent concern concerns and complaints are needed and
094U I request you give greater weight to such considerations um in addition um for the Core Curriculum adoption process uh for pilot classes um we really believe that for I'm sorry for the pil classes um there should be an opin you know the parents you know it's a pilot program the parents should have consideration um as to whether or not their child will participate in uh that pilot class and then of course parent consideration of their feedback you know for those that opt in also we should be receiving their feedback um on that class uh given the recent uh National focus on crushable books within School libraries greater I oversight of of book purchases for school libraries um is needed you know considering uh the wealth of parent concerns and complaints about the content of
095these books against sexual content extreme profanity pornography um as such material can be triggering to those who have been assaulted or sexually I'm sorry sex assault victims and also as it may be contrary to religious cultural or ethnic sensibilities um again I I request that greater oversight of future library book purchases uh be implemented um based on such concerns I ask you to refrain from approving the instructional materials and library media center policies until such concerns can be addressed thank you thank you Dustin Noble followed by jeny far hello again uh just want to uh say thank you to the district for the presentation on the instructional materials and library media policies um I'm here as a show of support for our school librarians who for months have been under great scrutiny and verbal assault
096lately I want to say we see you and all the you do for your school site and the students within the hard work and countless hours put into your job the safe space that you provide so many especially those with special needs whether it be fulfilling School curriculum needed for the classroom or providing books where kids can escape reality learn about history or find something that they can identify with this is all done with the dedication of a librarian it is my hope that the district continues to support you stand with you and acknowledge not just the work that you do but what you've been facing these last several months by supporting your mental health Health your job is not an easy one and we appreciate you board members please join me in advocating for
097more hours for librarians and better funding outside of the site out of site funds so they can push these policies that we're talking about tonight forward in a public call For Less in our school libraries let's continue to ask for more thank you thank you jensy followed by Meg Madden hello that was a tough one to follow that was really good um hi everybody I am here tonight to speak on behalf of the Librarians and I am also here uh just let me I would like to say that I am not a librarian but I am a major wab be they are the best and I love when my youngest kids can come home with their books every Thursday and what my teenagers have the opportunity to choose independently without my influence or anyone else
098is in there um School setting is just Second To None um I'm here tonight to encourage all of you to consider funding more hours for the library text I know all of these Superstars are overworked and underpaid um I have recently uh found out that there is not equal funding across the district for each school it's kind of relyant upon the ptas in the Book Fairs to raise money to fill their libraries with books and I know for a fact that not every school has a PTA so I would really appreciate someone taking the lead on making sure that there's equal funding at every school across the district so that their libraries can be full equally um I would also encourage someone to acknowledge the negative impact of the attacks that have been happening on
099specifically The Librarians accusations and the mental health of these amazing people that are your employees has not been addressed by anyone and I would love for someone to take accountability and just check in and make sure they're okay and see what they need thank you Meg followed by amolina good evening I am commenting on the lack of oversight when it comes to choosing books and materials for this District push is a book available in middle and high school libraries in this District push tells the story of a Teenage mother who was sexually abused from Early Childhood push was made into a movie in 2009 that movie was called precious I have seen precious I recall it was a good movie and definitely not appropriate for kids a quick online search reveals that according to both
100the Motion Picture Association and Common Sense Media precious is not a view of appropriate viewing for children under 17 now shouldn't this easily available information give any school librarian pause wouldn't he or she be be concerned that if a movie warrants an R rating the book it is based on might not be appropriate for school kids maybe you're thinking push is not as explicit as the movie in fact it is far more explicit push contains imagery so graphic a movie that showed or described its content would be child rape porn considered criminal to even possess push contains detailed descriptions of sexual acts between a child of seven and her father there are repeated and S sensation I graphic descriptions of sex and rape every genital related body part satom masochism bodily fluids and sexual Sensations
101those prudes in Hollywood had to significantly alter the content of push in order to write an R-rated movie script yet push is available for 11-year-olds to read in an elgrove Unified School District Library is this the type of content parents need to discover on their own and fill out a special form to try to have it removed from school library how are there no restrictions in place to prevent content like this being purchased in the first place this isn't about the quality of the individual book for mature adults so inclined push is a riveting novel that has won many awards but it is not for minors it is incontrovertibly sexually graphic in the extreme and of course it is only one of the many very graphic and inappropriate Books available for children to read without
102parent parent permission in elgrove School District Libraries according to stop it now a nonprofit organization committed to preventing child sexual abuse purposely exposing a child to adult sexuality is considered a form of child sexual abuse whether or not a child is touched your proposed materials policy contains no rules to keep sexually abusive content away from school children and illogically has the same Librarians who want to make such materials available to Children reviewing the content I have one question why amolina followed by Heidi okay uh regarding the policy I did the survey which was like a overload I mean you know for busy parents out there I was like wow is this purposely done so parents give up was a lot of work but anyway I did my work I um would like to know if
103if do we get the results of the survey at all or is just for the board in the committee who's working a policy I would like to see uh if if if possible but there's a lot of things there you know in the policies that you know it doesn't address um for instance you know uh it doesn't say anything about um like the school uh the library books for an instance doesn't say anything about you know sexually um explicit content it doesn't say anything about pornographic images or profane language it doesn't say anything about that and then also um when the books there are books that that may be challenged um the it looks like the librarian uh would be in a reviewing committee that doesn't make sense because she's the one who speaking and
104ordering these books so why would she be in a reviewing committee um these reviewing committee uh should be put together by well-rounded um parents and staff and um so these policies the policies that are current you know that we did the survey it does not address none of that and and it continues to put the library as the center person to decide if this book is good or not good or and so it just does not make any sense um so I am hoping that um when it's time to vote no when it's time to vote you will know in this policy as as it is unless you know a lot of things need to to to change um because it does not address the concerns that we parents have been coming here for almost
105a year and and letting you know so I would I don't see the the need or I don't see it doesn't make sense that you would uh make policies that continues to um allow or there's no process for uh books that are challenged and allow these these kind of books to to be available to our children and you know regarding the if a book has been challenged already then no other parent can challenge the same book that does not make sense either that should tell you that you know the book is a problem because there's more than one parent that is concerned about that the that book particular so anyway and so there's a lot of things there that needs to be fixed but these are the main points um that I thought I should
106bring before you thank you thank you Heidi followed by Ariel Clark is Heidi still here yeah thank you I'm sorry I didn't hear that um so the district has finally come up with a policy change that I think could be fairly summarized like this let's double down on sexualizing kids and shut these parents up if you look at who is on the committee for updating this policy that alone speaks volumes with exception of Carmine forena this committee is made of board members who have been invited and condone ha and even violence against concerned parents and District official officials who have blatantly lied to me and ignored my emails after reading exerpts to you for months and asking for an updated policy that would include oversight over Librarians and teachers instead you state in your policy
107that they can indeed continue to choose books without oversight you even intend to include Librarians in the review process you also make no mention of criteria for review of books that include sexually explicit content and depict depictions of sexual acts pornographic drawings of genitals orx ual Acts or extreme profanity this is especially alarming since many of your books include acts of pedophilia instead you mentioned Awards artistic value and culture interestingly you completely ignore culture when you only allow one parent complaint per book what if multiple parents from different cultures disagree with one book because it offends their cultur cultural or religious beliefs your policy would deny them the opportunity to file a complaint that does not seem very culturally inclusive to me you also want to have the board make a quiet final decision on
108the books if appealed this decision should be a public vote where each board member's vote goes on record that should be no problem for you since you clearly like to sexualize kids so now you can let everyone know you have a clear policy for movies that recognizes appropriateness ratings and guidelines it also requires transparency to parents and requires permission for certain materials based on ratings if the district recognizes that there's need for guidelines safeguards and transparency with mov why do you not do the same for books we've been here for months but you have not listened this policy is not an answer to concerned parents at all it's quite the opposite you've made it clear that you are fully condoning the pornographic material for kids every one of you should be acting to protect kids
109but instead you seem to be interested in sexualizing kids and you don't even think you need to tell parents it said that after months of listening to parents and reported hours of work on this policy that this is the best you have to offer this policy needs to be completely revised or better yet scrap it and start over Ariel Clark followed by Charlotte let's see good evening um I'm glad a lot of people um or people have gotten up here and said this isn't a red or a blue issue because I believe the same it's not a gay or a straight issue it's a child safety issue I'd like to focus on what um what we can agree upon we can likely agree that human trafficking is wrong we want to protect children of el
110grov and everywhere against that we have all heard the definition of human trafficking but at my work according to the human trafficking training at the corporation I work for it says it's a type of human trafficking excuse me a type of human trafficking is sex tra trafficking via pornography so it's got me thinking this helps me make the connection to my concern about the books in schools um at the pornographic level I'm especially concerned of books with themes of incest and pedophilia I would like to think that we can agree that we would want to protect children from that I can't believe there's a single person up there that would support that would any of you volunteer your children or minor relatives to that kind of act I really don't think so if you uh
111were also aware of the elro Unified School District policy on inappropriate conduct via Personnel that shall not Expos children to lewd conduct and what not lewd material so how can we uphold that policy if we're confusing lines of force and coercion in the themes of incess and pedophilia in these books I think we both could agree that we can't reach our mutual goals of child safety in this current way that we're operating right now at my work there's a policy that if a patient comes in and is uh suspected of being a victim of sex trafficking we have to refer them to the facility's abuse neglect and violence policy and procedure this incure uh includes a certain assessment tool refers them to Victim Assistance um as you see in life there are some things that
112are just wrong some things that are right some things that are good and some things that are bad um and I don't think that you guys want the blood on your hands if a child is getting forced coerced or harmed on your watch you guys have taken these positions to serve I think you've put a ton of time and effort into that but I need you to help me help the children have the best chance to focus on academic subjects and reach their full potentials as students lastly we can agree that trust has been broken and in short I will just say that this new policy which I have looked at I have read um is a big mistake it portray secrecy so please do not pass the current instructional material policy thank you thank
113you Charlotte Charlotte it's okay um I encourage you to vote no on these policies so Core Curriculum right now in elementary school we have a math program that is crap and I understand that this was the better of the two pieces of crap this math program has been kicked out of New York so I don't know why we're doing that one and I think parents should have a say when their children are doing the pilot programs and have a say in the programs um again do not limit the complaints to one per parent that's disgusting because that's just lazy on your part if you're only going to take one complaint and I also would like to speak up for Staffing for libraries our elementary library has 15 hours for our librarian for over 850 kids
114they get 20 minutes a week you can't you can't tour the library in 20 minutes these Elementary Librarians need more time with the kids and this is where the reading begins we need more hours for our Librarians in elementary school um again oversight for the books need to happen they just have to if I were to hand one of these books to your grandchild or your child I'd be arrested I it just needs to happen and I know that they've said that um Librarians have degrees well guess what I have a University degree from a prestige University and I am credentialed in my children and surveys what's the point of these surveys I talk to so many parents that don't even want to take the surveys because guess what they say they complain nothing happens
115I talk to the teachers who take surveys at schools they complain nothing happens if you're going to do these surveys you need to look into all complaints all of them and you as board members need to manage those complaints because it just builds up frustration I have been in this District this is my 17th year in this district and I have seen the same thing over and over again I have had issues brushed under the rug purposely I this is very sad and why do we why do we have to opt out things why are we not opting in in I think the parents should opt in instead of opting out just because again you're too lazy to do the opt in and what the parents might really figure something out I say we need
116to opt in instead of opt out thank you Madame chair there are no more blue cards on this item thank you we have concluded public comment Mr Cudi would you like to begin the presentation or who is going to begin the presentation thank you and good evening Madame President members of the board superintendent Hoffman and M Avalos appreciate the opportunity um what I'll do is just take a few minutes and provide a summary of uh what's taking place to get us to this point the uh documents on this slide seven documents have been under review for several months um and really a way that I would summarize uh the work as it relates to all of these documents is that the intent is to provide guidance or guard rails if you would um that guide
117decision making whether it be at the scale of districtwide core content instructional material adoptions that are approved by the board supplemental material uh adoptions approved by the board all the way down to individual uh materials that uh our teachers are using in their classrooms and certainly in our schools and our school libraries just a bit of clarification in terms of some uh related to some terms that are used policies I won't just read these but policies are typic ly General more General in uh in their language and policies are approved by the Board of Education regulations oftentimes administrative regulations as they're called are routinely accompanying board policies they don't necessarily have to um and they add operational detail they are not approved by the Board of Education they're approved by the superintendent and uh the
118decision of the superintendent is informed by the superintendent's cabinet and and uh applicable staff as it relates to the subject matter and then exhibits can be accompanying documents um to policies and regulations and those two um would be circulating through I should have added through the Su ultimately through the superintendent's cabinet a bit of information about the work of the subcommittee um the purpose was to serve in an advisory capacity to sta to staff and assist in the development of draft documents for full board uh approval and consideration the advisory committee or the um rather the advisory committee was not a decision-making body it was advisory in nature the meetings are noted there were four meetings uh a total of 12 hours um actually there a few of the meetings when a few minutes over
119it's probably closer to perhaps uh 12 and a half hours the members are as noted board president chair's espanosa and board board president chaires Bosa board members for China and Vargas and I sincerely want to um thank them for the work and uh the input and direction that they provided staff in addition to myself it was Miss ay Miss blumquist and um M rendes the district's legal council this is important information because these are planning considerations that guided the work that was done uh federal and state all federal and state law that was applicable um to the topic and I noted specifically assembly Bill 1078 that was recently passed into law um my reason for specifically noting that is because uh we were literally in the midst of conducting the work and this then had
120us make additional adjustments to the content of those documents and uh our legal council was uh very important uh in this aspect of the work our current policies regulations and Exhibits were obviously um important to this collective bargaining agreements we have had um conversations with um our teacher Association because there is language in their collected bargaining agreement um specific to instructional materials so we don't overlook the connections that our policy have with collective bargaining agreements um we examine our current operational practices and then our educational partner feedback that we received um whether it be in public meetings or through the surveys a process summary uh there was a review and update of pertinent documents by staff and legal counsel that's the first step that was taken um and in the course of that work um
121it may seem like it was very simple to just identify the documents there's uh a new board policy that's being brought forward it's not a uh update to an existing policy but we took careful consideration of all policies um that were applicable policies and documents applicable to this work once we had an initial draft of those documents those were reviewed in the superintendent's cabinet and updated and then the board subcommittee was formed and the board subcommittee reviewed um those completed drafts and I just want to note that that review was literally a line by line word forw review of every document then we engaged in educational partner feedback and I'll provide a little uh additional information about that in terms of the survey that was uh administered following that we reconvened the subcommittee for a
122final review and update uh and with the potentiality of updating the documents based on survey data and then similarly I mentioned previously AB 1078 and then we're bringing it here for a discussion and then final draft policies will be brought to the board of education for consideration of approval and it'll be the policies only that will be um requesting the board to take action excuse me action on bit of information about the survey uh the survey was developed by staff under advisement from the board subcommittee once we had um the surveys developed U and it notes that they were developed for each of the seven documents so there were seven surveys that our uh educational Partners were uh had the opportunity to provide feedback on all seven were reviewed uh by the subcommittee and um
123there were several recommendations that they made that enhanced that survey and this was not for the purpose note that students parents and Guardians and staff were required to provide an ID we had a specific conversation about this as staff and then with the subcommittee it's not for the purpose of identifying individuals it did limit it so that access to the survey was specific to students uh currently enrolled in our schools their parents Guardians and our current elgrove Unified School District staff and then survey response structure was open-ended with no character limit so we didn't have any dropdowns that uh folks had to select from they were all open-ended and we didn't limit the amount of information that uh people were able to provide this provides uh some totals and I won't necessarily go through this
124line by line but you can see the total number of people in um that responded to each survey and if you go down to that uh what would be the second column from the left that has the the total column 476 that doesn't mean mean that that was 476 Unique Individuals that completed the survey and you'll see that in just a moment but that tells you the number of people that responded to each survey in terms of students parents and employees there were 132 individuals Unique Individuals that respond responded across all seven surveys there were 11 students 80 parents and 41 employees the respondents provided a total of 476 responses across all surveys the respondents could provide or could respond to multiple surveys so when you look at it there were actually in the end
125769 individual comments not all comments were unique there were some that were that were duplicates um and that gives you an understanding of the the overall number of those comments all of those comments every individual comment was provided to the subcommittee and every individual comment was reviewed by staff as it's noted some summary statements uh approximately eight out of 10 respondents indicated that the document makes sense in its entirety and the ratings uh of clarity varied slightly as it notes from a high of 87% to a low of 80% for the library material selection protocol a bit of information about the feedback itself of the 769 comments there's a semi-automated technique that we use we've used this the same technique for example with our lcap survey when we have many many responses but also openend
126ended responses so that semi what it means by semi-automated is a computer will look and it will look for common phrases or words and then based on that it will create groupings and then the staff actually look at those and then make determinations of what would we call that category so that's how that's done it's important to note because in the absence of having that commu computer assisted semi-automated methodology probably the re the the way that we would go to actually have dropdowns and in the end that can limit the abilities the ability of people to respond in a manner that they would would want and the three General categories as as are noted we would we describ them as taset agreement meaning sounds good um and these are actual comments and that was about
12747% of the comments overall comments uh just under half were uh sounds good there were some specific suggestions for revisions as it's noted and then there was more General feedback so that's how we would categorize the three the three categories of those comments what was provided to the subcommittee is we didn't just list randomly all the comments they were grouped so that our subcommittee and our staff could analyze all of those comments within each category and then finally the board discussion is this evening that's what we will be doing um and I'm just going to skip over this because in a moment I will turn things over uh to to our uh to Madam president who will facilitate the discussion with a staff I I do want to note that if we go back here
128these are listed in numerical order the way that they're listed here is what may be a more um logical sequence for a discussion and so the first will be uh board policy 61611 and it's administrative regulation followed by 6163 the library media center and this is the new policy and then it's 131 12.2 the administrative regulation that accompanies it along with the exhibit and final action uh on November 14th we will bring to the board um a request by staff for uh consideration of approval of the policies uh based on uh potential feedback that we received this evening and it will be the three policies as noted and with that I will turn it back over to you madam president I'm happy to answer any questions as there are at this point but I'll turn
129it over to you for discussion and I'll actually step away because we'll be note taking and if there are any questions that come up um for any my for myself or staff we will come right up and be able to answer and respond to those questions unless you have other other direction I do not that sounds like a plan Mr CI thank you ma'am thank you for the presentation um as is our custom we when we do subcommittee work we always allow the members of the subcommittee to add anything to the staff presentation and and kick off discussion so um before I hand it over to my uh fellow board members who served on that subcommittee I just uh I hate to be repetitive but I really want to make sure everyone is clear about
130what we are actually doing here tonight so I'm going to um just underscore some of what Mr Cudi said we are not voting today on this item um only board policies are actually officially approved by the board but we are presenting the entire package today so that um the public the community and the board can see how they all work in conjunction so our comments our discussion today should be about um whether we concur with what the uh subcommittee is proposing or whether we would like to propose that the board make some changes which uh staff would then draft after this meeting and as is our practice the final documents will come back to the board uh on the consent agenda at the next meeting so just want to be super clear about what we're
131doing here today um Mr bino would you like to begin thank you um as was stated uh we spent approximately 12 hours in meetings discussing the items and many hours outside in in research and preparation um in terms of my comments about the work I um I have specific uh questions I will ask re that pertain to each of the um policies and regulations but but before we get into the questioning I want to read uh a Minority Report that I had forwarded to the superintendent and to the board president the purpose of this correspondence is to voice my dissent of the proposed board policy 61631 library media centers and Library material selection protocol as a parent a grandparent and an educator I I have asked myself one simple question do the proposed documents protect
132children from library books that contain explicit sexual content and Graphics such as sex acts solicitation techniques for sex obscene language sexual excitement Corruption of childhood innocence and more or not for me the answer is resounding no they absolutely do not library books should not be excluded from a library based on content of information or ideas I do believe that there's agreement with this issue however lewd filthy or disgusting obscene words or pictures and illustration s that constitute pornography is a category of speech that is not necessarily protected by the First Amendment therefore the purchase and distribution of books that contain graphic sexual behavior and obscene language should not be available in a school library the purpose of the project was to review existing documents suggest changes as necessary and develop procedures that ensure transparent and
133accountability for processes I believe that the lack of definitive criteria for the selection and removal of library books the Reliance on partisan outside sources for decisionmaking and the continuance of having a single individual that selects and reviews challenges to books does not meet the purpose of the project the next sentence to me is very important the proposed selection procedures and criteria would in fact ensure that any book recommended for a school library would be declared appropriate by the decision maker I'm going to read that again the proposed selection Pro procedures and criteria would in fact ensure that any book recommended for a school library would be declared appropriate by the decision maker upholding the sacred bond between a child and a parent should be an integral responsibility of the educational system and should be honored
134parents have an inherent right to be involved in pivotable decision decisions that concern their children single individuals making decisions about the inclusion of books in the school library without parent involvement and the provision of information prior to the purchase constitutes parental secrecy and affects the parent child bond school districts and the government should not be driving a wedge between the parent and the child by taking the position that they know best in fact is written the complete burden of discovery of what has been purchased by the sole decision maker and or resides in the library rests completely with the parent the issue of what should and should not be allowed excuse me the issue of what a child should not should or should not be allowed to see and read in a school library is
135one that can and should protect parent rights while also respecting the child as an individual learner clean reads content books without obscene language or illustrations are certainly an alternative that can address individual concerns and is one that did not get any traction in the subcommittee's work conflict and thought should not be a deterrent to an amicable solution as long as the individuals involved are willing to do the hard work the question was posed in the materials received by the Board of Education prior to the work of the committee what is the line Beyond which a book or instruction materials are deemed inappropriate this question was never answered therefore as a member of the board subcommittee I hereby view the documents as status quo and as one member of the subcommittee I do not give my
136approval to the proposed documents thank you Mr fora yes sir uh m fora when when did you give that to uh superintendent or chairman October 12th have we received copy of that no you have sir no you have not no sir not i' I'd like to answer that question if you see the question once I finish you can answer no you asked it you asked it so um you asked the question I'd like to answer it remember we've covered that's how questions and answers work I'm asking him a question no no no you asked why the decision was made I made the decision so I should be the one to answer but I'm asking him some questions okay well let me answer the one that you just asked me and then you can go back
137um actually I'm going to let Mr Vargas speak and continue delivering the his report as a subcommittee member and then we'll get into Q&A okay um but yes um can I can I have a copy of that sir you need to stop interfering with this meeting I need you to sit down and allow this meeting to proceed right now if I can please respond um yes Mr fora made a request to have a Minority Report included with the presentation materials um that has never been our practice and I did not want this to be the moment that we innovate new procedures he obviously variably delivered his um his statement here so um that was a determination I made and and I Bear full responsibility for that um so Mr Vargas go ahead okay um so
138I think that you know this the subcommittee had a very interesting task um and the administration had a very interesting task which was to accomplish something difficult which is to take into account two sometimes competing views um and I think that the administration did so quite ay um I think that one of the one of the things that we were asked to do was to provide a procedure to provide transparency and to provide accountability um and I think that this uh these policies actually do that um they provide the oversight that was being asked for and it is you know contrary to um what Mr forina said it is not one person making all decisions it is a a librarian somebody who is trained to make the initial decisions making decisions and then there is
139a long process on the back end if there is a concern around any of the instructional materials uh and that long process is outlined in these policies um just to give you kind of an idea of what it looks like a book can be challenged that challenge then goes through a Review Committee which is then and then goes through the superintendent and then can if appealed go to the Board of Education um and so there are many many layers of review involved in this policy um and I think that that is exactly what transparency and accountability are supposed to look like and at of these points right we and one of the things that I harped on a lot was providing explanation providing a reason for why a decision was made because I think that
140is important not only um because people deserve to have an answer to their questions or complaints um but also because we are an educational institution and that's and it's a little bit odd to me if we're not trying to educate in the process of everything that we do um and so provid in those explanations why was this complaint sustained why was this complaint not sustained um I think is an important part of this process and leads to that transparency um that we were being asked for and so I think that we successfully very successfully um provided those things that we were asked for at the same time we were asked by another constituency group to protect students from discrimination and to empower subject matter experts and that is also something thing that we were able
141to do and that the administration was able to do in this policy um you'll note in in various places in this policy where we have specifically called out you know compliance with non-discrimination law where we have specifically called out compliance with other requirements um that have been handed down from the legislature um including a requirement to include diverse perspectives um also thanks to uh a1078 uh a requirement a requirement that students now have a right to access certain information and to an access um age appropriate information and I think that that sort of threw a wrench into uh you know what we were doing but it was a good addition um you know that that ended up making its way in um and so I think that being able to do all of those things
142at once is challenging um and honestly I was surprised that we that the administration managed to get all of that in there um and so I think that you know obviously there's a lot of sort of substantive disagreements that we had um you know as a board advisory committee with different aspects of this policy there are certainly areas where you know um I know Carmen wanted to be more explicit um and you know with the language that we used and you know choices were made not to do that and I think one of the important aspects to remember in when something didn't end up in it uh or it didn't end up in the policy or something uh you something was written a certain way recall that we are bound by certain laws there are
143certain things that we cannot do there are certain things that we have to do um and we're going to get to the have to do when we get to the complaint process because unlike what was said where only one person can file a complaint actually AB 1078 kind of threw a wrench into that one too um uh now we are ABS we are required to take um complaints and we are required to review and so um there is anybody can file a complaint you can uh please don't file as many as you want but please um but there is like that process is is going to be much more robust uh because of 1078 and because of the uh what we have here today so um I think it's just as we as we talk
144about these things it's important to remember that there are some things that we just cannot do um and there are some things that we have to do and that kind of needs to bound the conversation here so that's all I have and and and there are some things we chose not to do thank you Mr Vargas um so it's our practice for the board president to save their comments for the end but in this case I was also a member of the subcommittee so I'm going to bifurcate my comments here um there are four specific uh topics that I'm going to address with respect to what's being presented and then I'm going to reserve the balance of my comments for the end of of um board deliberations so um you know I I'm not going
145to address every single thing that has been said in the interest of time but I just I have to note I'm extremely disappointed after all of the work that we have put in to have um you know just completely inaccurate uh representation of some of the work there's not a single partisan Source in this document not a one um so let me get to the first of the four items I'm going to address first what is and is not at stake um parents' rights to control what their own children are exposed to are not at issue because even before we did all of this work we already had policies and practices in place to flag library books that we don't want our own children to check out um and to request alternative assignments when we
146encountered things that we disagreed with in the course of the curriculum so I want to be really clear we are not discussing the ability of parents to opt out their own children there are some aspects of the curriculum that we are legally not able to exempt students from her state law so I want to be transparent about that but we do provide the maximum difference to parents that we can in accordance with the law um and I have heard from those who Avail themselves routinely of those options that they generally work well what is at issue is whether we create policies and procedures that allow some parents to control what information everyone else's children has access to um and we learned there's case law about that and guess what case law says we as individual
147parents do not have the right to control the curriculum and the uh instructional materials that everybody else's children have access to point number two um I'm going to talk about the characterization no sir I am speaking you can ask for that later I'd like Mr ptis I have the floor I'm GNA address the characterization of our Librarians um the implication that our Librarians our employees are attempting to quote groom students for sexual abuse while they are simply doing their jobs as we have asked them to do is beyond offensive and irresponsible the public can say what they will but board members should hold ourselves to a higher standard of professional conduct um the characterization that we have created policies that allow um just you know complete and total autonomy on the part of our Librarians
148and selecting books is completely misleading neither our existing processes nor those that are proposing the documents before us confer more autonomy on Librarians than that conferred on every single employee in this District who we entrust to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with their job descriptions with their training with their expertise with board policies administrative regulations and applicable laws all while under the supervision of someone in this organization and with accountability measures in place like any organization we create policies because it is literally impossible to function with the expectation that every single decision made by every single employee will instead be made by committee there is absolutely nothing different about our treatment of librarians compared to other employees in fact these policies now apply the standard for library book selection to books selected by teachers
149in their classrooms regardless of funding source for the first time we will have a single comprehensive standard across the district issue number three I'd like to address what the goal of this entire process has been it was never my expectation that we would reach consensus on the issues before us not as a subcommittee not as a board and not as a community I recognize that people both on this board and in the community had different goals for the review process that we've undertaken over the past year my goals were that we put forth a transparent process guard rails if you will for how we select Library materials that we establish a consistent process for members of the community to alert us of potential errors in our decisionmaking the documents before us achieve that what problem
150are we trying to solve it's easy to lose of that to my knowledge no student has ever said that they were harmed by a book in one of our libraries it's one thing to read an outof context excerpt to an audience who has not selected or consented to be exposed to that content when there is no opportunity to explain why the book is of value to our students it is quite another to encounter that material because it's of interest to you and after you've sought it out in our libraries which is the way way our students actually encounter these materials the standard is not that every book in our libraries be a good fit for every single student instead it is that we have diverse offerings that appeal to and meet the needs of different
151students books that are a literal Lifeline for lgbtq plus students were not written with me assist gender heterosexual person in mind um it's it's okay that there are books on our shelves that were not written with me in mind I am not harmed by it in fact we can't fulfill our educational Mission if we don't have the diverse books that help create a safe and welcoming environment for our students and my last Point as a longtime public servant there is nothing I enjoy more than to be able to give someone a succinct explanation for how things work in their government I share the desire of my colleagues to have a simple explanation for what is and is not permissible content in our library books but after many many hours of research discussion public input and
152learning about the applicable laws it has become abundantly clear that we cannot shoehorn this issue into a black white in or out dichotomy and that trying to do so will both run a foul of the law um particularly case law about students rights and the recently enacted a1078 and do a disservice to many of our students so I'm going to stop there um pass it along to the rest of my colleagues um and again I will wrap up at the end hey may this Bo have a copy of your comments of my comments yes that your written comments sir happy to send them to you sir excuse me I'm happy to send them to you all of us please we anybody who wants them uh we are going to go through each of the documents
153now correct um because that will as we go through the documents uh I have have a right as a member of the board prior to a board vote to ask questions about items that are in here it'll also give me an opportunity to dispel uh some of the mistruths and negative comments you made about my comments uh and I and I will be able to address those as we go through the policies and regulations but we cannot vote on the policies and regulations uh when put on the board agenda until such time as board members have had an opportunity to ask their questions regarding those items that they're going to be asked to vote on so are we ready to start because that's exactly what Mr Cudi presented here and I'm ready to go of
154course sir that is absolutely my intention um my expectation is that when I give the floor to a colleague that is their opportunity to raise as I said whether they are in concurrence with or raise or propose a change to a document you had your opportunity but if it wasn't clear to you that that was the opportunity I'm happy to come back to you the fact that I was on the subcommittee does not preclude my right to to ask whatever question I choose to ask as a member of the board of educ why I'm inviting you to do so now Sir Mr fortina oh we're going to uh you me to start on board policy 61 61.1 uh on board policy 61 61.1 I have no questions thank you on administrative regulation 6160 excuse me
155that's 6163 I messed up my papers on regulation um 61 61.1 in the first paragraph it states the district selection and evaluation procedures for instruction materials have been developed consistent with the state law and follows guidance set forth in the content areas State Frameworks legislation and the American Library Association if one researches the American Library Association on one would learn that within their Bill of Rights and the interpretation of the Bill of Rights it pretty much says anyone can read anything they choose regardless of age they also state that they do not support filtering the internet we can't have it both ways we filter children's access to information on the internet that goes against policy of the American Library Association but that that's okay but we will take their stance that it's okay that any
156child gets to read anything now here's my first question and I'd like you uh Madame chair to to give the same response to the audience that you gave me when I asked this question and the question was why are we relying on a sole source when there are organizations like Compass book ratings and novel book ratings that are available and give ratings based on profanity based on violence based on sexual content why can't we and here's this is my first question for the entire board as opposed to relying on the American Library Association why not have alternate associations that are not biased and I'd like to see additional sources added to this line preferably I like to remove American Library Association but at least add nonbiased organizations so I I'd like I'd like to see
157that now I don't know how you're handling the questions on individual board member questions um so that's my first question uh on regulation 61 61.1 then as we move down to hold on hold on why don't you have answer that because when I answer a question she jumped yeah you want to answer it happy to um so first off these criteria work as a whole there is not uh you meet one and you're in you're approved right we point to the American Library associations I forget what they call it like Bill of rights we point to a different document that they uh apply specifically to schools and as you can see there's also a lot more in this document so it's not like you know one and done um and in response to your question
158Mr Fortuna when you brought up um other sources that uh appear to exclude some of the content that we are required by law to to include um that that was what I responded that that is not the truth that is not what you said that is a lie here's what you said okay this was your response to what I said I said we can include or why don't we include other other rating sources and you said like what and I said Compass book ratings novel book ratings and you said I'm not familiar with those rating systems therefore they must be anti-lgbtq yes yes you did yes you did you're lying okay Mr fora what I said is I'm not wrot everything down I have comments that Michael made take take it down Carmen thank you
159I don't like to be be take just just give her a minute you're right I don't like of line when I have there were a lot of people in that room so let me read what I said I said I'm not familiar with those but based on your description of them they would appear to not app with The Fair Act and other applicable laws that is what I said so Mr Vargas does that confirm with your recollection okay um proceed Mr forino do you have more yes um as we move down the page in paragraph 1 two 34 uh it says if the supplemental instructural materials are ordered in a quantity of fewer than 16 copies sites just follow the per purchasing guidelines I would like the board to consider that being stricken that all
160books that all materials instru materials go through a process to ensure that they align with uh our principles and our concerns that children should not be exposed to to obscene language and profanity things that are not allowed in the classroom things that we prevent children from seeing on the internet why is it okay in the library and not okay anywhere else in the school so I I I would like the board to consider removing that uh and and that and that all instruction materials go through a selection process okay now when we get to the bottom of the PCT page uh it's it's it's the beginning of references to steering committees with no definition of what those are now that's not a huge point but it is a point in terms of transparency who's the
161steering committee wa hold on here where do you uh as you go down where it says on on page one board board adopted Core Curriculum materials and approval process in sentence two and sentence three and sentence four it speaks to the steering committee and in sentence six the curriculum Council but we don't Define who that is and there should be definitions with respect to who those are aren't those defined in the AR the accompany AR pardon me aren't those defined in the accompanying AR no they are not I think they are no they are not okay I you're in the AR aren't you yes I am I am you want to go a little further down the steering committee so we had I recall having this conversation specifically about what is the stearing committee and
162what is the curriculum Comm curriculum Council there's a whole section on them there's a whole section on each of them on who Council commit not who makes up the various committees I I kind of see what you're saying I the we did so I don't think that specific information is in it but we did get looking at it right now oh okay okay on page two criteria for selection adoption of instruction materials and number three uh it says to the satisfaction of the board are accurate objective I see why hold on is that number four or three number three oh okay I see why not include shall not statements shall not include pornographic pictures shall not include obscene language why not and I would like the board to consider adding language of prohibition that provides
163guidance to people who would be making decisions hi as I go on to uh page three 9 C it says clear concise writing and appropriate vocabulary language if the board wants to stay with that terminology you've just eliminated many of the books that are in question because the word appropriate terminology does not include obscene language so I'd like the board to consider that uh in under steering committees instruction materials evaluation it says steering committees consisting of a majority of teachers I agree with you it mentioned teachers it doesn't talk about how they are selected who they are who's making the selection there there's a whole host of things along with administrators or other District staff who have subject area expertise shall evaluate and recommend instruct material board again I said said you know um who
164are they how are they selected and that goes for then the next the next uh uh paragraphs under that heading for steering committee curriculum Council so those are my same questions now as we go to page four it says parents Guardians will be notified in advance if pilot materials will be used in their students class what I'd like the board to consider is the addition of a statement that says and the parent shall have a right to provide notification to opt in to the pilot materials I support that and then um again under board adopted core and supplemental curricular materials it talks about a quantity of 16 and more and I and I'd love to see that 16 just eliminated so those are my questions on the first two documents is is that all of
165your specific questions Mr oh you want me to go through if if I thought you wanted go no I'm honestly wondering because I know you're going to have a lot so um I want to make sure that we get to our call yeah I was I was going to make a motion to extend the meeting till 10 o'clock tomorrow morning yes I heard that yes um so I I think um before we get to others we should probably address those questions that you have addressed so um I'll take a stab at it or do you want to Michael well I think uh I I think Mr Yang and all my other fellow board members should have some input of what they think on this Pro document they AB there they absolutely will but Mr fortina
166has raised some very specific questions um and I'd like to address them I'd like to give Mr Vargas an opportunity to provide context before we go to people who didn't have the benefit of the countless hours of discussion that we did um so again trying to be as succinct as possible um excuse EXC me yes sir you're the board chair and as such you have an opportunity to conduct a meeting in ways in which you choose to conduct it however I have to say that given this particular situation where there there was a subcommittee and it apparently in terms of the documents was a two to one situation um you as as president chose to ask me what my questions were and I did that but now you're going to take the prerogative as the
167board president but as a member of the subcommittee to ask questions that I really do believe should be should be asked first by the other board members who hadn't been included because all you're going to do is reiterate what you've already said and you know to me there there's certainly not definitive when we didn't even have the opportunity within subcommittee to discuss IE alternate outside sources uh does do the board members agree that we should look at is Mr age intention to ask any questions now I'm actually not posing any questions now um you have requested responses to your answers it is appropriate for the members of the subcommittee again to provide a a full um depiction of what the conversation is that we had for the consideration of the rest of our board members
168so again if if you'd prefer for Mr Vargas to um start addressing these before I do I'm happy to do that I I don't think yeah I would prefer M Mr Vargas other than you um but what I'm saying is about those standards of professionalism what what I'm saying is and you're not I don't think you're listening what I'm saying is these documents are now before the board of education for discussion yes it doesn't matter what we said in the subcommittee it's now an opportunity for each of us as equal members of the board to ask questions and to request revisions to the document it doesn't make any difference that I uh to quote to quote uh uh a very old statement it doesn't matter that I already had a bite of the apple and
169lost it doesn't matter now I sit it now I sit as a member of the board and I ask questions as to why not why can we not have criteria that talks about what should not be considered that that I haven't heard from the other board I know what you're GNA say and and and when you tell the people here Mr Pina yeah I don't know what Michael's gonna say and I don't know what Nancy's gonna say and you guys spent 12 hours working on this and part to me is you went off and and thankfully invested your time and and you have obvious frustrations which are 100% valid for you and um I am interested in hearing from them how how the the other side of what happened in that position because you were
170given that work to do for us and then come back and then we have more information to then make our decisions not just your piece of it I would like to hear all the pieces hey I would like to hear my fellow board members speak up on this issue and then and then have you other subcommittees reply to the questions that we bring up or whatever thank you thank you Mr Bettis okay is that a good suggestion no no Mr Vargas um would you if you kept notes as detailed as mine but would you like to respond to any of the questions that Mr fortina raised I'm trying to remember all of the questions that Mr fortina raised um can I have them I can tell you why don't you get started and I'll jump
171in yes sir I thought you were a good notaker I'm trying to keep up just just quickly because yeah yeah I don't want to uh put my opinion to uh you know what I thought about this whole thing but just um for the subcommittee so what I'm hearing is and what I I think we are anticipated to hear from you three as a subcommittee of this assignment is for you three to share what your discussions was like and and now I don't think it's the time where he the the question that Carmine raised wasn't just directly to you too it was more like you know open up to the floor of the board member but if you twoo still have more to share of your time share to together as a subcommittee yes we definitely
172would like to hear more about it but I think that it's not necessary to answer his question because his question is not pertaining just you to it's pertaining to all of us I just want to make sure that's clear yeah absolutely my intention here is to provide a full accounting of what the discussion and considerations were in the subcommittee for the benefit of those that didn't have the opportunity to participate um Mr Vargas so the first issue I have on my notes and Mr for you know will correct me if I miss anything but um the question in uh ar61 61.1 of applying these standards to purchases of 16 or fewer you want to address that discussion this is my first okay can we go through my list and then you'll tell me what I
173missed um the 16 or more I think so this is actually um an interesting conversation we had that goes back to something I said before which is that um Core Curriculum correct me if I'm wrong Core Curriculum and supplemental go through a long a pretty intense process from the beginning um there and it sort of funnels down as you go um to final board approval whereas when you have fewer books when you have books that are not part of the curriculum for everybody when you have books that are not part of because if they're 16 or fewer then that means we're probably not using them for classroom work we're probably not using them for curriculum um so that number uh essentially you're switching from part of required work to optional work that students can seek
174out on their own and so the um the process is still there it's just inverted so whereas with stuff that is required and mandatory the process is relatively heavy on the front end um whereas with items that are optional the process is light on the front end with some with extended review um if an issue is raised and so there's still process it's just not the same process because it's not the same we're not using them for the same purpose and I think that one of the things that's important to remember here is the amount of institutional work that is required for a full review of curriculum material and so if you're applying that work to every single book that ends up in a classroom or that ends up in a library that's a lot
175of work um on the front end whereas we can do all that work on the back end for for books that are specifically challenged and so that I think is my understanding of what came out of the uh the subcomittee was the reasoning behind that variation in the procedure well did get it I I have nothing to add I have nothing to add on that um the next item is um the addition of shall not language you know things like you know pornography um and why I guess we did not include that and if if you don't want to be put on the spot let me know no I I think that remember what you said you had the better more concise point on this one the only point that I will make on this
176one is and this is my own um belief is that I think when reading this policy particularly with the criteria that they're going to come up in future um policies that we review um the the criteria specifically built around age appropriateness uh as the thought process why we ask all of these questions in the criteria and in the protocol um is to to get at the question of age appropriateness uh and obviously you know something that is obscene and something that is pornographic is mutually exclusive from all of that criteria around age appropriateness yeah and that's built into the definitions of obscene and pornographic right obscene and pornographic things as our speakers have help occasionally helpfully provided to us a definition that says it has no educational literary or academic value and so um when
177we when you say in the criteria does it have educational academic or literary value you are specifically excluding anything that is pornographic or obscene um and so one of the reasons why I would not love to see specific words like obscenum pornographic you know specific call outs or specific carve outs is that words like obsedian and pornographic get used used very Loosely um they do not get used based on their specific definition and I think we see that in a some of the public comment um where people say oh anything that has uh an amorphous naked body is obscene and porographic it's like well that's not actually the definition of obscene or pornographic um now that may be someone's personal definition of obscene or porographic it's not the legal or actual definition um that we
178would be expected to apply and so one of the reasons why I think we enter dangerous territory in adding those specific carve outs is that if those terms are applied Loosely rather than specifically you can really quickly get into territory that is potentially discriminatory or otherwise unlawful and so that is my thought on this Nancy you may have a different one that is my recollection SE of the discussion as well I have nothing to add on that topic like to read would you like to read the quot made yes I mean read the quote why is it is is conversation are there notes being um minutes being taken why is discussion at a subcommittee word for word need to be shared that's where work is done discussion is had I I'm I'm not understanding what
179policy that discussion that takes place in a subcommittee is of public record because when a member of the subcommittee makes a comment such that it cuts off any further discussion and then a decision is made based on on that position then I believe an item has not truly had its opportunity to be examined but no decisions but it doesn't advis Comm no no no it it doesn't matter and the reason also Gina is uh and I and I recently sent you an email um when someone says they said something in an attempt to um CAU ify their position and that's not true then it is appropriate for a subcommittee member to share what actually happened because what happened terminated discussion ex Mr hold on folks so what we're gonna do here is we're gonna present
180the diversity of viewpoints is as succinctly as quickly as possible we're not going to engage in it back and forth board certainly not before we let the rest of our colleagues weigh in so um the next point is uh Mr forina highlighted the phrase where it says clear concise writing and appropriate vocabulary which I don't want to speak for you Mr fortina I I think you took that to mean that uh sexual terminology um perhaps curse words should be just excluded outright what I I don't know what you meant by by that so do you want to shed some light on that yeah I'll I'll answer and and uh and and use a word that uh is is not appropriate for for any classroom is that appropriate vocabulary okay I think you've triggered my my
181memory now yeah okay Mr Vargas do you remember this conversation about curse words and things of that nature I don't remember it as a separate conversation I remember it as part of a other conversation but I don't think there's anything beyond what we've already said if you want to so I think this is something that we discussed early on um and what we discussed is that uh there are um necessarily so villains in a lot of the content that um that our kids are are presented with um they are an intrinsic part of um the lessons that a lot of this material is trying to impart um personally I am not a big fan of the Captain Underpants Series right um I find it uh you know really dis disrespectful there are some terrible examples
182of behavior and it leads to a lot of conversations um when my son and I read those together um but they are um intended to teach something there is uh taken as a whole there is value in those things so that is the the danger when we try to create these bright line you know what's in what's out if there's a curse word um if there's you know a reference to genitalia what have you we run into those problems um where we end up depriving our students of of valuable material taken as a whole so that's my recollection and I think that s sorry to just jump in real quick um I think we might be able to table this particular discussion because I think this is going to come up again in the criteria
183or the selection protocol where it specifically talks about taking it Taking things as a whole so maybe we table this until then so that we can actually get everybody else talking I like that that's what we're trying to do okay I want to hear from my fellow board members what they think about this I do too sir if you stop interrupting we' get there faster um okay so uh next item I have on my list is uh specifying selection process for curriculum steering committee so first I want to do a quick check with staff I don't think we have changed anything substantively about this long-standing process for the the staff interior I mean in-house process that we have for selection of curriculum and I'm seeing heads nod so just be really clear this is the
184process that we have already been using for curriculum selection so um the suggestion was made that we specify how those folks are selected in the steering committee do you want to address this Mr Vargas um can I can I just add on that one if I can interrupt like many of our policies in this office and I know that Chris has been trying to address them uh as expediently as he can um this was last uh updated uh let's see 2 three and 60 this was last updated 39 years ago so the fact that we've been going along doing something because we've always done it doesn't give Credence to a statement that it must be okay I mean we we have a lot of policies in this office and we're going policy by policy by
185policy and we're we're doing a good job with them um so a a reason a reason not to change it is oh well this is the way we've always done it I don't think I said that well just inter the individual curriculum groups I mean there's there's there's different committees by content area so are you asking for because are you asking for one single set of criteria used to select the people on on the CR or I don't know how many different versions We have you know between English math you know World Language that we would have an explanation of how each individual um group was created so it's either overkilled being being just getting caught up in minutia of explaining how each individual content area because I don't think you can come up with
186one explanation made that that covers the different because they're they're different sizes based on the number of um people in the content area and those kinds of things so that's that's where I I I hear a little bit of the concept of defining it but I don't think we can Define it by each individual content area differently so that that's that would be my question maybe it we we've you know I I think you know I I understand your question and and I think that we're we're kind of moving sideways a little bit from what we need to do uh I've had the this discussion with you and Nancy before on selection criteria for committee members and um the way in which we left it um to me was uh we had an understanding um
187I think it's okay in in response to this one I asked who's the steering committee it's gen it's generally Department chairs for the specific area what's wrong with saying that it's generally it's mostly it's it it gives you some definition but but but it's not Department CH but it gives you some clarity in how somebody got somewhere it does say in there you know content area I mean that that's it it it does get down to now the department chair might be responsible for choosing or the you know which of the Math teachers is going to serve on that particular committee but it's not always the department chair so that's where the getting to the definition um is a is a challenge it's either going to be a very general definition that people will poke
188holes in because it doesn't it it doesn't line up to or it's going to be like I said this overstretch up this is what the World Language one's going to look like this is what um history is going to look like this is what Math's going to look like and that and we all agree that's that's Overkill so I'm I'm just not sure where we get to a a reasonable place in that so but I I'm I'm just I'm doodling around in it but but I'm having trouble doing it if you want to add anything to that Mr Vargas uh god um nothing more on that one um I think that when my recollection is that um when that came up as an issue um Jen and Mark provided us with sort of the what
189that looks like um and that was there was nothing beyond that yeah and I and I think that they're what they're doing is correct that that's my recollection as well um so I have a couple more that I have on my list here um that is the suggestion that we should create a a parental optin to piloting uh materials I don't think that came up did it I do not recall that I don't recall that coming up I mean as a new top I mean it's worth it is something to discuss as a new topic but it is not something that I recall coming up in the subcommittee my on that one would be for every for every subject that we do so we do pilots in every subject so we'd say when we're doing
190a pilot for English language arts we have three sets of books we let parents know these are the three books that we're going to be working through during the year we actually ask for feedback and that but parents don't have the option to opt out of Core Curriculum they do within comprehensive sex ed there there's some places where they do but they don't in um in the core content so when we're doing a pilot we let them know that we're doing the pilot but it's but it's but this is this is in core content um so I'm just not sure we we could parents would have the authority to opt out of core content and um you they want we want them to know about it we want them to you know have some exercises
191where they're doing some homework out of that book and and the homework out of this book and homewor so they can give us feedback as we're going through the process but the opt out is an odd piece in in a in a pilot process it's not like we're doing some crazy um um out of the ordinary uh but it's we're choosing between three major adoptions of which one is best they've already been cleared by the state um they they've been vetted this not it's not you know whether these you know novels that have you know words that people don't in them that's that's not what we're talking about in in that in this big part of the um adoption process yeah and optin and opt out just getting to the merits of it optin and
192opt out would also give me some pretty serious legal concerns um just because there's some things that we have to teach um as part of Core Curriculum that need to be included in Core Curriculum and I would defer Karen on it um for more specifics than that yeah if that's something the board um decides to pursue we will invite Karen to provide an opinion on whether or not that would um appear to be in compliance with state law um so I'm going to go back to up to the top Mr fortina also talked about um possibly removing the reference to the American Library Association and or adding um some additional sources which uh he named um do you want to address that Mr Vargas yeah I just um I mean the American Library Association is
193not a partisan organization I think the just the suggestion that it is I I know that that comes up in um on the internet among some particularly partisan groups that they call it partisan because it doesn't comport with their political views um but it's not actually part a partisan organization it's just all Librarians and all libraries um the idea of adding I'm not opposed to adding if we wanted to add um you know I think that what it says is it uses all of these various things as guidance among which the Ala is one and so that's not a requirement that they have to use the Ala and it is not a requirement that they have to follow the you know uh Bill of Rights it's not a requirement that they have to follow the
194guidance and all that other stuff um it is simply you should use this as guidance um and I'm fine with adding other ones as long as they are reputable right as long as they are reputable as long as they are not as long as using it would not violate the law because there are some content uh you know wasog groups like this they put that forward and it is religiously Affiliated we have to be very very careful about that um but as long as it would be consistent with the law and it's reputable and it's not some weird you know website random website I'm not opposed to it but we would have to get that vetted through staff so yeah my my my point was it it was totally dismissed for discussion and and and
195and so I I ask the entire board to consider adding other sources so that's we'll get to that sir um in these first two documents are there any other things that I didn't list no okay all right um do you have just so I can figure out how to manage this conversation and get to the others um am I correct to assume Mr Forin you have uh suggestions on the remaining documents I have questions similar for board consideration yeah on every document okay you want to do these yeah okay so let's go to our colleagues and then we will come back to the balance of the documents and uh I keep hearing that folks are tired of me calling on the people on the ends of the de oh you're going to go for sorry
196it is easier for me but I will attempt to do something differently today so right now okay um so yes ma'am so um do we have any volunteers not on the ends of the day that uh so that that leaves you miss jerson so am I responding to Mr for's questions am I responding to any other if I had any other uh Mr Fortuna's questions and or well her own please tell us um yeah of course your own okay um and you know please tell us whether you concur with the documents as presented or you have you know additional things that you want addressed perfect um I concur with the documents as is um I think that um I you know I am an advocate for parent input for student input but I also um
197trust in the professional expertise and experience of the staff to make informed decisions while hearing input um as a parent of two young children in our district if there are material that I don't feel are appropriate for my children to read I have the opportunity to opt them out and I should not be infringing upon the right of others to access those materials instead I choose to have critical conversations with my children two of the books that have been mentioned are on my family bookshelf in plain sight for for my children to look at and to access if they so choose and when they decide to choose those books I will have a conversation with them about what is appropriate because I will be able to talk about the context and so I choose my
198husband and I choose to build open communication with my children and have critical conversations build trust to be able to prepare them to think critically once leave my home so I feel that these documents allow enough freedom for me as a parent for other parents to opt out of something I decide is not appropriate while not infringing upon the rights of others thank you Miss Jamerson um with Miss albani temporarily out of the room I'm sorry I'm gonna have to pick on one of the gentlemen at the end of the Das so Mr Yang would you go ahead sure um well first I just want to say thank you to the subcommittee for um all the time that you guys uh and ladies has put into this task which is a very difficult one and
199I think that times also against you3 as well so um I thank you for that um and I appreciate the comment that came before um my comment I think that uh you three has um make some really great points um as far as at the end of the day I don't think we going to be able to make everybody happy that's that's the end of it in terms of uh once this come to a vote and um but I know that you know in each of at least I speak for myself I will make the best decision um to protect and uplift our students and I I feel that um all of us will do the same based on our decision when that come when that time come so thank you for um all that
200you U did with that said um as we have witnessed um over many months of uh public comments and emails and um side discussions about this um very uh important and sensitive um topic um and area of Interest as far as material and books and the libraries um that is providing for our kids um I just also want to share that um um I too along my wife have four um children in the school district um Age 4 6 15 and 16 means um that they're all attending elg gr Unified School District and um so what we do here is very very important because um not that I I care for other students but I also have stake um in in the game as well um so with that said um you know the laws
201policies um programs practice um staff uh parents all of this together is really to educate our students um in our school district uh to prepare them uh for education and life Readiness and that's to me um that's our goal and um this is one of um the education material um as far as the books go um in the library um that is available for our kids um it is a big one and very important one one um I like our process as far what I read and what I heard as far as the process go but um I think that you know we as a school district we do have policies as far as protecting our youth our students uh from things that is not age appropriate and I think that that is something that
202we have to look deeper into it um and and for example like um the Chromebooks that we have for the kids you know we have um limitations as far as their access to certain things um and I think that you know because the purpose of protecting our youth of age appropriateness so with that said I think that that kind of has a domino effect on other stuff other areas and um so I think that um giving the fact that this is our first time seeing the subcommittee's work um have put together I think is is a tremendous progress to get to this point uh um with obeying the laws of the federal and states and you know others that we have to honor um I personally would like to see maybe another discussion prior to
203uh us uh voting on it um but I I I do want to see um well let me say this first um we are a governance board um that are using a system to govern us and that's from uh all the way from the bottom like a par educator all the way to superintendent and the board members like all of us and I think that what that um supposed to look like is policies and practices that it doesn't almost almost like it doesn't matter who's in the seats um it's set up for Success so what I would like to see is that we could work in this process that we already have which like the steps but some of the language in there I think that we could use um to protect our youth um
204to a extent that we use other um platform as I alluded to like the Chromebooks or other um areas and and and I think that um that might um require more discussions and time to talk about it um but um we could go into details and talk about it either tonight or more on the other a different meeting but um but anyways I like what we have so far but I think that we could put more work into it so that that's my opinion for now thank you thank you Mr oh sure um I'm just gonna run down the things that were brought up um again I appreciate the work of the committee and and I truly appreciate the parents who came to with this issue I I've been on the board for nine years
205now and and this has never been an issue this has never been brought up this was never brought to my attention and so um I I I think there is a there's a definite value to us having a policy that reaches across many things and and there's been a lot of disagreements and I think um a lot of truly unnecessary trauma brought on in this process because we haven't gotten to a decision point and it's just been we've been working on how to define this and um so um I appreciate I I apologize for anybody that we've add extra trauma to um it is a long process and and I I you can't not see that it's been um a divisive process and and I and I feel bad about that but I think um
206the end result will make us a better school district and and a true concern with brought and and I think we recognize that and we did not take it lightly in fact we've we have dedicated hours of staff and and our time into it and so um I want to respect that that's that's going on um for this specific one um I think um ala is fine with me if people do have a book um they wanted to challenge and they want to reference other ones I think that's appropriate as well um shall not language I believe does narrow you down um I'm not a believer in opt-in opt out it is a um the state has screened it and um there are parent nights to to look and see what your child is doing
207um if we are going to approve every book taken into a classroom we have 3,535 teachers according to our overview um I know as a teacher I had somewhere close to 5 books in my classroom um let's go down to 300 because high schoolers don't have as many we're over a million books it's just it and it shows no respect for the professionalism of a teacher or a librarian and I can't stress it's okay to be concerned um and it's okay to have your opinion but I as a school board member respect my teachers as professionals that want the best for your child and I respect that Librarians do and the librarian of pleasant gr high school that took care of my son God bless her I mean they are safe spot for kids and
208and if there is a problem we are establishing a way for for that to to be taken care of and and and I I believe that makes us better and I think it also gives classroom teachers some parameters it gives um people parameters and it gets parents a way to talk so I I I don't agree with the 16 book thing I believe our current adoption works and um as much as it is it shouldn't stay as it is always has been it's also I don't fix it if it's not broken situation um we had a contentious curriculum adoption since I've been here it was a social studies adoption and this room was full and and there were people crying and there was I it was very hard but we have a process and what
209we never had before today is a process to do this and and processes make us better so um I think those are the points I was asked about in this document I I feel this document is fine as it stands thank you Mr G um okay I just want to say um I do concur with the documents that provided so far um I kind of come at this with a different perspective um because it's generally parents um that are raising issues with the text and um students uh generally don't have problems with the text raise um but I do think it's essential that parents have Avenues to um kind of assert their opinions and opt their children out of certain texts I just um agree with what you said before that it is um it
210becomes an issue when you're um applying those same values to everyone else's children um and then it is just really nuanced because that creates another issue if say I as a 12th grader we going to have the same restrictions placed on certain instructional materials that a fifth grader would have um and that would just severely impact my ability to learn about essential topics um you know like some of the most um eye openening text that I've come across in my educational career um they've add topics that are not appropriate um because as you said Contra examples and um supposedly inappropriate topics or what we learn a lot from so um yeah overall I agree with what's here thank you thank you Miss sigala Mr pis I still want my copy of Mr for's statement that's
211very powerful Mr forina and I agree with a lot of those points those are feelings I've been having you know the last three or four months that this this issue has been brought to our attention that liberians that are out there and they're teachers they're teacher liberians they have a credential and there's a double standard I I seen that teachers Librarians could have these books in their in in their libraries but if a teacher had those in their in their classrooms they will be booted out they will be under investigation by the California teachers uh credentialing program blah blah blah so that's what you know that's what I've read so I'm aware of that so this you know uh and we and I again I think we need more time like Mr van said we
212need more time uh uh you people met many times but yet we had this doc dou last Friday and it took a long time going through these book these documents look look all these paperwork and notes and and and and there's a lot of work still that has to be the language is very important in these documents like I said before I am here for the health and safety of our students and this is the health and safety issue and and there there's there uh these materials I personally feel that they should be read and looked at in a classroom called human sexuality with a professional teacher not just thrown out in the in the school or in in the in the school library because a student could grab that book take it home I
213mean check it out and share it amongst other students with his brothers and sisters with no guidance no guidance at all well you know and and there there's it's that's what I don't like and I and I I think it should be in a classroom setting human sexuality and then you have parent permission parent rights you have parent engagement involved with a situation if they want to take the the class if they don't sign the form hey Mr point of clarification really quickly so we are providing our thoughts on those first two documents yes I understand that but this is my introduction well okay this is what I want to get out feeling but we can get to everything so if you could please be as concise as possible and again okay let's go back
214to the forms okay regulation 61 61.1 selection and evaluation inst Structural Materials as you seen in the presentation the number one survey respondant totals was this subject board policy 61 61.1 selection and evaluation and Structural Materials there are total 115 individuals students and parents that are concerned so it's very important and they do not represent the whole District the 750 or whatever this you know we we need more input and more a workshop dealing with this this thing as soon as possible that's what I'm proposing hold on hold on that's total responses that's not people saying that they were concerned about policy so the overview of selection evaluation that's the first The Heading is board adoption cord curricular materials board adopted supplemental materials we have good policies on those two subject matters and I agree
215with the the written the statements regarding those two individual um one and two but where we have the problem is is three School initia supplemental materials with fewer than six things that is the problem that was presented to us by the parents and that's what they're concerned about about the process not the human not the books you know I mean the books are issue but it's like Carman said you know the pornography to me I mean you know it's it's I don't I don't like to see it I don't like to see it in front of my face it's behind closed doors no problem but I don't like to see those acts and that's and I I'm a liberal College San Francisco State very naive individual when I went there but and I and my
216best friends and and I support this this community 100% but yet we have to have it in an educational set setting professional Educators dealing with this issue not just thrown on a shelf that's what I don't like so like I said The Core Curriculum materials the explanation on that below those three issues one and two but again number three if a supplemental School initiative instruct materials this is not part of the of the classroom or supplemental material for that classroom this is something that Librarians have are willing to buy and put in the classroom so that needs to be um in my opinion uh looked over and the process needs to be in writing very and I support Mr for's comments there it says that says or okay U SS follow the El Grove unified
217school district purchasing guidelines well that's the guidelines that we need to deal with within this school initiated supplemental materials we need to deal with purchasing guidelines for librarians teacher Librarians and make it very clear so we do not have these issues and the it says here and the purchase does not require board approval I want to change that yet that needs board approval after the the teacher librarian has a list gives it to the PTA the School site committee the parent the parents we need parent rights I support parent rights and parent engagements you all know that so they have to be included and the community the community it says this in the paper I agree with that the community needs to sit down and look at these and review these books with the those
218other organizations that doc Mr forina mentioned there's many other organizations you know that they have reviews on on books and what's good for our children the California School Board Association one of those why why have have they mentioned that so we need to do Li elro Library material selection protocol along the district guidelines that adhere to contact area standards framework Mr we're not to that item yet so again we want to wrap up on these two documents before we get on to the remaining documents the same document you just ref you just referenced the protocol which is so did you want to extend the meeting yeah you read my mind so uh pause Mr Bettis will be right back to you I'd like to entertain a motion to extend the meeting to what let let's
219just start with an hour it depends on you I'll tell you right now we just did two of almost not yet almost did two yeah although I will will note that um at least staff is of the opinion that that these are listed the way we're approaching them we're kind of frontloading the ones where there is more to discuss so I will say that so front loading this is what the the survey says that they're concerned about you're confused you're confused let me take a motion to continue the meeting and I'm going to get back to you okay so may I please have a motion to continue the meeting to 11m so moved moved by Mr Vargas we have a second second second by Miss Jamerson all in favor please signify by saying I I
220I okay that is approved do you think we're going to finish by 11 we don't need to that we've taken an action Mr Bettis please wrap up your comment okay hey I'm just on one page right here look at this okay I want to be I want to be really clear you should be patience no hold on you should be highlighting am whether you are in agreement or proposing specific changes we're not going line by line on every document we do not going down the board adopted Core Curriculum M uh materials approval process I agree with that contact areas uh uh steering committee Court specific sub subcommittees all that stuff I agree the one I don't oh I kind of agree a little bit with mop for Sen on what said on two and three
221but four steering committee members consider all information available incl including staff Community parent and student feedback very important and we'll make a recommendation of the curriculum Council for adoption or denial that is very that's where I think we were broken down in this issue that didn't happen and there was no investigation or feedback that that didn't happen that's where I think that's the heart of the problem that we current process okay so anyway board adopted supplemental materials approval process agree with that criteria for selection and Adoption of instruction materials I agree about that all the way to number three to the satisfaction of the board are accurate objective current and suited for the needs of the comprehensive and District students at their respective grade levels that's very important now re if you read that you
222know respective grade levels some of that material is not grade level with exception live okay number four with the exception of literature and trade books use proper proper grammar and spelling educational code 645 again Mr what that's concur propose something different we are not reading all of these documents into the record what I'm concerned about okay so number nine next page okay demonstrate reliable quality of scholarships as evidence that's what Mr forina was saying we need accurate up to-date well documented information objective presentation we need both sides I'm listening both sides clear concise writing appropriate vocabulary you know need needs that down to 12 as appropriate have corresponding versions available in language other than English now do they have any books like this in Spanish but in addition to me okay a little bit further
223down uh in addition to me of above criteria is appable technical based materials all that uh uh let's go next page and again these Pages aren't numbered I don't know why they didn't print out like that I'm on page four I agree with parents and Guardians will be notified in advance if pilot materials will be used in their student classes well I agree that that happens but what about in the library parent Guardians and students in classes where pilot materials being use receive individual notification I I agree with that they may also be invited to complete a survey based on personal experience an observation of the child interacting with the potential curriculum I'm for that 100% okay structural material complaints Mr Bettis in the interest of time why don't you you just tell us where
224you do not concur almost finished last page yeah almost finished instructural material Define what is instructural material complaints okay we need to Define that library books Etc complaints concerning instruction material shall be handled in accordance with the law all agree with that that's not okay but don't tell us what you agree with and don't read into the record so what what else do you do you suggest we changed her all right oh I was looking at I forgot to bring that over here Mara's Valley uh Unified School District selections instructional evaluation they have a very good one you yeah the committee should read that one that's it all right thank you sir um so for the purposes of Staff uh work I did not hear a majority in favor of any specific change colleagues please
225correct me if you heard differently sure I I didn't get to U well at least I didn't um specifically list the line by line like um um some of the board members here but the one thing that I think that could be expand is um on number nine under um demon uh demonstrate reliable uh quality of scholarship as evident by on C clear concise writing and appropriate vocabulary I think I think um that could be expand what what do you feel is missing from it what would you propose to act well because it's just very uh General and um I think that we need to put some words that it's not protecting our kids right so so like and because I mean I reflect back on like the the handbook I mean the reason why
226we make um changes because as we experience it's not really um align with what we practice and I think that this uh appropriate vocabulary I mean what does that mean I mean it just so so I think that the there's so much of them we we don't want to list every one of them right but what we want to list is the words that is unacceptable right and whatever that is I think that it's appropriate and I just want to say this that we know that um there is no one solution um that gonna solve all the concerns out there for the parents or the students or even all of us but we have to do our due diligence to make sure that we have a process and a system that will protect our kids
227and I like I said I mean words like that I it's just too broad and not protecting you know our system and and I feel like we are set up for our Librarians or or our have to to fail you know and I I trust them but if we don't give them the very concise and specific words that we cannot go into then I I I felt like we set them for failure and it's not that we don't trust them but we still got to do our due diligent as a board to absolutely know um that you know uh words or or or content that we cannot you know go into I think we have to list it why not [Music] okay so again I have heard I I think two possibly three folks who
228would like to list language that is going to immediately disqualify a book from selection images even okay um that is not a board majority so vote vote on no no count because we can count we we all heard what everybody said it says that in in the document so with that um I think we're okay to move forward and I am happy to bring it back to you Mr forina if you so desire um to address board policy 61 63.1 library and media centers and that uh Library material selection protocol so that's the next slide we we just covered what's on slide 11 of the presentation so if we could move on to slide 12 and then eventually to slide 13 hey I didn't give my input regarding 63.1 Library are we going to do
229that next we just did Sir we just that we just covered that sir no you cut me off I just finished that other one 61 61.1 it's next it's next Mr press it's next you've done one that one we did could you put on the ground or something Mr press what what the one we did could you like put it on the ground or in your folder or somewhere sense of accomplishment that we he did that one thr that down you gotta follow you know your your your your words and behavior are not consistent you made a comment to me a little while ago and now you just turn around and violate the comment and your comments to Mr press is Mr press laughing I'm not doing it out of anger I'm not doing it
230out of frustration I'm doing it out of joil and trying to like I kind of believe her okay in a sense but yet I'm still concerned about I didn't hear what you said by the way Mr P when you're ready turn on microphone did you do what did you do the regulation no not this one this one he does the regulations yeah he just had the opportunity to speak to it no I did know I did 61 he did the policy he had not gotten yeah the policy not the rig yes do you have some specific things that you proposed to do differently in administrative regulations like I said you had you people had a lot of time and you just want me to talk about something in five minutes that's not very uh there's
231not very that's not very fair like you to make substantive com however so I'm happy like I said I think we need to sit down at a group you know like tomorrow like Mr forcina says we need to deal with this so so Mr Mr Bettis before you get into ar61 61.1 I think it's important to know that this is not the board's the full board's first exposure to these materials the drafts were also shared with the full board at the time that they went out for public review approximately one month ago and we have been receiving consistent Communications from staff on the board subcommittee's work and on Administrations work even prior to that so it's it's very important to know that we've had more than three days to deal with this draft so again
232your comments sir your specific things you'd like to see different in in ar61 61.1 if you have them if you don't have them you don't have to speak to it no I'm going to skip that one I'm I'm more like I said um the people the people are concerned about complaints complaints we're not on that one yet sir yes get that that's yeah complaint process so sounds like we're ready to proceed you don't have anything on that one ahead Mr forina um would you like to address Bo policy 61 63.1 library media centers sure I would love to um although I'm I'm very cognizant of people's time it it's it's obvious that whatever I say will probably end up in a 4 or three um so I I'm happy to go ahead I'm going to
233raise the questions but uh it it's probably meaningless um Mr fortina could you get a little closer to the mic I'm not sure we're capturing you sure I I said that I didn't want to waste people's time because apparently my questions are meaningless because it appears at the best that it's a a 4 or3 vote uh of the board to make any changes um my my concern was was and and it it with this one is to me again the inconsistency between the language and what has been discussed with with respect to concern of the library books it says that it talks about that can help raise the academic achievement of all students you know purpose of Library uh promotes literacy supports academic standards and prepare students to become lifelong Learners again however uh I
234I don't see how those statements are reconciled with books that contain obscene language and porographic images and more um that's that's my take on on the statement uh I just didn't see it thorough um then down on the review process for materials and it's the same exact statement that's in uh uh regulation so there's no explanation and and it says the library material shall be reviewed um how often is that going to happen where's where's the where's the review form what is it that's being reviewed uh I there's there's no language that references any of those issues in in either the policy or the regulation so do we have a reg on this one yeah I thought we did maybe we don't now it's just the policy I'm sorry it is policy only there is
235no rake so uh I I I suppose then um that my my desire is that there's definition there definition about the frequency with which materials will be removed the the the frequency the a form yeah well it's it you know under under Staffing um yeah it doesn't really say the the who the presumption is that you know it's the library in uh by virtue of this being the library media center but but it it doesn't give any reference to frequency or or on what basis something would be re be be reviewed uh just my my thoughts my comments okay um would you mind because I I think um it worked last time to group those two documents would you mind also addressing your comments with respect to that um Library materials protocol which which is
236sort of one of the documents that goes along with this sure and that's my big one I think uh once again I would just bring up and that I would um uh like the board to uh consider the addition of uh of rating systems that's number a rating systems that look at books and rate them as G uh PG R because that's that's there are rating systems that do that um it's not just uh they certainly do age appropriateness uh because certainly one of the books that had been questioned uh as I I looked it up uh it suggestion was for 18 and older but we have it in our library so age appropriateness does become an issue and uh you know I I don't understand if if a if the librarian makes a decision
237to place something in the library it's not age appropriate on on what basis did they make that certainly so it kind of makes a joke out of review um but again I I would like to in a see that there's additional uh resources that one would would use as opposed to just a single entity and I like people to to consider that um then when we go into C you know the library programs designed and this I I presume this came from the Librarians promotes the culture of reading and once again I would say the culture of readings is is in is is in conflict with um the issues that have been brought up and that is uh inappropriate sexual illustrations obsene language and so forth and then the common beliefs adopted by the American
238Association of libraries so that's one of their guiding principles I guess if you want to know them you got to go look them up yourself um State Insurance support then once again and I know a lot of my statements are repetitive uh and number two it says the reading resources will support differentiate and augment the curriculum creating effective users of ideas information competent and enthusiastic readers independent Learners and positive contributors to the school community greater society and once again I would say how how do library books that are not age appropriate that contain illustrations in language that is offensive uh uh line line up with that statement I don't I think there's I don't think they're consistent or compatible is they're not compatible um my next one I I I I uh I my my
239next one uh I'm I'm gonna make my comment uh knowing that uh I will be judged based on what people believe and not what I have said and there's a real difference between the two uh Librarians use their professional training and judgment their judgment and and so you know since they have the they get to use their judgment to decide uh whether or not a book will be purchased or placed in a Library without very specific criteria puts the the burden back on to the parent to challenge um I don't know and in number number three I uh and and I forgot to ask Karen this when we were talking about it but number three it says unfed by their personal political social and and religious views I I don't even see the need to
240put that in there because uh you don't have a clue whether or not they they're doing that you wouldn't have any way to really judge it so I don't even see this necessary from that perspective um again in selection process and it goes back to supervision who is supervising the people how are they supervising the people who are making selection because it says for appropriate age groups and I think there is a serious question with respect to whether or not uh we have books that are age appropriate and um there's there's no there's no qual qualification of that um the the other thing is and it's an inconsistency for me that I would like people to look at um further on it goes one must be from a professionally recognized reviewing source and I've asked
241that we utilize more than one reviewing Source I don't know why that is an issue that that we don't want to look at more than one um reviewing Source but the other one says can be a favorable evaluation from District Ander site reviewers including teachers Library St in other words one one criteria for selection is that basically is that somebody employed by the district says it's a good idea to have the book and what what that says to be is is that you open up the door that that any book uh can be accepted um now in number one it it does talk about reputable sources and because the subcommittee never discussed additional resources and I did bring this this up asking well who you know who are these people and and one of them
242doesn't even exist anymore uh but it's on the list which one Voya um wh what you know why why the opposition to review sources that review books based on sexual content and language and violence I I don't understand what the opposition is to even discussing it and I would like it discussed number D I made this comment in subcommittee to me it is the meat of all the documents the value of the work should be examined as a whole and given greater weight than individual words phrases images pass or passages contained in the word if that is a definition that the board wants to accept and they'll vote on it then what that says is anything goes yep and the burden is on the parent after the fact to challenge it that to me is
243is a very very problematic um item under number seven um I I have to again I I don't you know the value of the work's going to be examined for its artistic quality uh does does that mean the representation of uh uh a man's penis being sucked on by somebody else artistic quality who who who judges whether or not there's artistic quality now I'm not I am what I'm talking about is is illustrations that are in a book I I don't know how how one justifies or or or even begins to to determine if artistic qualifi artistic quality um it's what I have on that one thank you Mr fortina um so there were a lot of comments and not necessarily proposals but I'm going to invite Mr Vargas to um add an additional context
244he feels applicable uh yeah sure um I did take notes this time very copious notes to catch everything good for you I I don't want to address everything I think you know we we've already kind of gone through you know quite a few of these um uh one of the things that I think is important to kind of call out here is that um I think I want to push back on the premise here um what Mr for's premise which is that these books are obscene pornographic um you know problematic because of those things um I don't necessarily know that I agree with that statement having read a number of them I don't necessarily agree with that um personally I also like along with that is a statement that what I think or what Mr
245forcina thinks is less important to me because we are board members we are not subject matter experts and these decisions really should be in the hands of people who have the training and expertise to make those decisions um and I think that and this this will go along with one of the um one of the additional comments that I have on this um I think and so the the point that I want to make there is also that I think when you pull that premise out um it becomes much easier to see where some of these books have academic value where some of these books have um can be enriching to students because if you don't start with the assumption that a book that has a depiction of a sex toy or a book that
246has an amorphous naked body um if you start with the assumption that those if you don't start with the assumption that those are obscene and pornographic you can actually read these books and get a lot out of them um I'll you I'll just use gender Queer as an example which is a book that we actually do not have on the shelves we own a couple of copies but we do not have it on the shelves um and I'm not going to question that decision um but I think when you stop and look at it and read the whole thing right which is another point that I want to make when you stop and read the whole thing it has some really really interesting commentary in it on what it means to be different what it
247means to communicate with a partner with somebody that you're in an emotional relationship with with somebody that you're in a sexual Rel relationship with which is a hugely important thing that you know doesn't get talked about as much as it probably should and a lot of us have to deal with that in our you know the first couple years of our adult life um and particularly around I can speak from experience as an lgbtq person right we don't talk about or at least when I was younger we did not talk about LGBT relationships in that way and so I had to Bumble through college trying to figure all that out so so I think when you take yeah I know right um and so I think that there's you know you look at it and
248you say it and you have to look at it as there's a lot of value and in fact gender queer I think is a great example because um there's that page that gets shown everywhere right it's shown online it's shown up here you know that one page that has a depiction of a sex toy and if you turn the page the entire thesis of the book is on the next page remember reading that page and being like there's so many lessons here lessons about consent lessons about communication lessons about respect for a intimate partner lessons about respect for yourself in an intimate relationship um and all of that can be valuable and so um all of that goes to examining these documents as a whole or these books as a whole which I think is
249incredibly important and the I want to give I want to end with a vignette on why I think that's really important is so um my experience is I discovered if I was ever going to write a book my discovery of my sexual orientation would take place in a locker room not sexual but I was a third grader and I was looking around and suddenly realized oh my God uh this is not the Disney movie I watched this is not these feelings are not what I was told to feel um and from what we've been told right depictions or descriptions of naked bodies in a locker room um is age inappropriate and so my my book the book of my story would start with something that was obscene in pornographic and the point that I want
250to make here is that often times queer stories start in that place because of what it means to be queer but then if you get rid of all those books you lose everything else you lose all of the rest of the story you lose the remaining 20 30 years of somebody's experience and that can be incredibly valuable to somebody like me when I was a kid who didn't have access to those things and who needed those things and who the only way I was able to get access to it was a TV show called Queer as Folk which I should not have watching at 17 years old and it is important that we have those healthy age appropriate resources that sometimes say things that sometimes start in a place that makes us a little bit
251uncomfortable so that we can have those conversation we can tell the stories that people that kids need to hear so that's my comment on and I would ask you a question I asked you when we met Mr Fortune I I don't want to get into to back and forth no no I think no it's not going back and forth I want to ask this because it's it's clarification it's clarified would you agree or would you not agree that there are age appropriate books available for children that Express those the ideas that need and and should be expressed that don't have the pornographic images in them and I think that is goes to the point that I made which is that often times partic and I'll speak just from queer experience because that is you know
252that tends to be my lens um queer experiences start often start because of what it means to be queer because of what it means to be to have a sexual orientation that is different from the norm those almost always start with something that someone is going to classify as obscene and pornographic and so if you take away all the books that start in a place that any that the most um small C conservative person um is going to think of as obscene in pornographic you're automatically going to get rid of a lot of really important books to kids and so I don't and so which is to say I think that it is a nice idea what you called clean reads I think that it is a nice idea I think in practice it is
253not something that is realistic okay I also I'm not going to address every single thing in the interest of time but if colleagues um want uh Mr Vargas or I to add additional context to the subcommittee discussion on any issue please ask um when we get to you I I have a question question regarding clean reads clarification please that was my interpretation of um I I made the comment yeah yeah do you do you w to well ask for What It Is Well CLE clean reads are are books that that communicate content without obscene language and pornographic uh images [Music] and and violence they they stay away from that and they're classified age appropriate so that you're not preventing access to information what but what you are doing is providing the content information just without
254the the the graphic stuff oh Oh I thought you had it well when I heard it from you I wasn't sure your what what your interpretation I was just okay I see yeah so they're books their books content books without the graphics and language and and you know there there's a lot of them out there um whether or not they meet the test of of content I guess gets back to who is making the judge part of it y yeah okay thank you um I I see just a few three or four of these points that that I'm going to address for now um Carmen began with um how often will materials be reviewed um we did not discuss that in great detail um but we did acknowledge that there is already a built-in kind
255of refresh cycle for our library materials lots of folks here today have spoken about their desire to see uh greater selection more funding um if anybody on this board has any questions about that refresh process right now we can ask staff about it I'm not going to address it now um let's see on the library materials protocol um so the language actually says um it it doesn't say that there is one rating system it actually lists four and it says um not limited to so I read that to mean we can add additional so um I have no objection to that anything you know again that meets the legal criteria I have no objection to using um so more than let's see um and then you know Mr Forin I think rightly highlights that language
256of the value should be examined as a whole I too think that that is kind of one of the fundamental differences um that we have you know right again our I think probably everybody on here you know has a desire to just have a clear bright line and be able to communicate that simply um but the reality as you go through all of these criteria is that um there are some really valid reasons for examining the value as a whole um I want to address the suggestion of um images being you know creating a standard like that for certain sexual images we did discuss this kind of a while back but I think it Bears repeating because this is something that can sound again very simple and reasonable up until you interrogate it so for
257example images of fellatio as Mr Fortin mentioned that sort of thing we know and we have heard time and time again is critical in in comprehens of sexual health and the supporting materials for that in the prevention of abuse in um in helping our children understand when they need to speak out when something inappropriate has happened um so again it's very easy to say you know well why would we ever put an image like that in front of a child um and there again when you take the time to listen to the answer find that there are some really important reasons for doing that um and you know I also want to note that um if we are applying a lens here of you know the things that make me Clutch my pearls should not
258be allowed that's the wrong lens everything that we're doing here is about removing our own biases as we know everybody has got them right so miss Alani may remember when we did our Equity training through the California school boards Association one of the biggest takeaways was about sitting with the discomfort interrogating your discomfort um and really understanding what it was trying to tell you and I think that is just as applicable here right um it's not that um you know none of this stuff makes me blush um but I am in that practice because members of the public of course have every right to be uncomfortable with some of these materials but we as board members are are not allowed to just stop there we really have a responsibility to go further and sit with
259that discomfort and interrogate it um and try to create processes that are going to help everybody involved with this process in um in going beyond their own biases so I just I want to mention that so it's it's not that again you know we have to remove our Humanity it's it's actually a part of of the process so I'm going to open it up to uh colleagues and um let's see um Miss Gala would you go first um I yeah I didn't really have any other um questions or comments about this section um I kind of yeah I just stand where I did before I have um I just want to say to add thank you um too for the discussion it's been enlightening and I've learned a lot um and that's pretty much it
260much appreciated look at Miss seala setting a wonderful example of how to proceed so um let's see Miss Alani can I go to you next I don't have any comments thank you I'm good okay Miss Jamerson I just want to respond to one comment um that Mr Fortuna made in uh the protocol document area a criteria for selection number two um when you spoke about Librarians using their professional training and judgment I feel that when we question their judgment in the way that you did that it devalues I think that every person in a job has professional judgment and uses profession judgment in whatever job that we have and um our Librarians have training expertise education and we rely on their judgment we cannot supervise every single decision every single staff member makes in our
261organization anywhere so I just I I just want to reiterate that um we go down a very slippery slope when we start uh Dev valuing the Judgment of our Librarians or any staff member that we have deemed eligible to be in that position I'm going to go to Mr Bettis and then Mr Yang Mr Bettis do you have anything that you would like to see change in these documents I'm concerned about your microphone on thank you um I agree with uh Mr por on some a lot of these issues again make that and again that D was on page three the value of work should be examined as a whole I believe that too but yet has to be age appropriate no images uh for you know for a certain grade level and I still
262think we should have a human sexuality class um using these books uh very concerned with the the following criteria you know um our our community our district like it says there materials and collection represent student multiple life experience and backgrounds uh so when when I read that I was wondering you know like a lot of things that you know images of these students go through you know um from broken homes drugs alcohol pimping uh prostitution U all these things I know that kids today are a lot more sensitive or more knowledgeable than I was when I was you know 18 or 16 especially from the city so you know I'm I'm not I'm not going I'm from the old school and I want to keep kids not learning so fast and and that's what I'm
263concerned about the health and safety and learning so fast that you know that that that still worries me a lot being exposed to this stuff you know I know they get on the internet on the they have access to a lot of this stuff so you know that's that's because of the internet but yet you know that's my My Lens or or my thoughts or whatever so you know I want to express those to all my fellow um board members and the community you know um and I know that Librarians go through I don't think Mr fora actually meant what Miss Jameson what you interpreted I think he just that you know liberians need to know especially this community it's not growing as fast as the the suburbs people coming in from the Bay Area
264you know Los Angeles in some respect you know this this is this community's cow cow town it's rural but yet you know it's we're going through changes you know so uh so we got to be aware of that as board members and throw and put this this information on the book on the shelves you know um and and Cat I think you know we and I like that soft what was what that terminology I mentioned you mentioned uh the soft approach was what you mentioned word clean reads clean reads I think we need to start so uh with clean reads and you know uh at you know at the earlier age or you whatever and and have a u um as an introduction I guess or whatever into this particular uh subject matter um again
265the process again the process still does not uh recognize the ptas the parents well I does say this way but you know there's PTA parent teacher uh Association you you know they need to get involved with this this stuff and I think they've learned that hey they better start going you know some of these uh school meetings because you know this is what happens if you don't get involved with school activities so you know that's what I want I want to make sure that you know teachers and parents and parent um you know parent engagement in this process very um l that you know I want that language in there does that conclude your comments on those documents Mr P Hold on hold on okay okay um I notice like in in in the process
266removal process now uh it has the one two you know I agree with those but do we have a process as a board does l grow this is what I one I put here add by add by the El Grove unified school district board members could pull materials books off off the curriculum that we we should have that Authority we do and we exercise it but but why is it written not written in number three because this is uh the Library material selection protocol not the curriculum adoption it's a it's a process it's a process or you know and why it's also be some language like the principal of Staff members here at the at the at the district office and us could remove books so I think there should be language in there can
267I address that's a kind of note I put in there let me address that really quickly so uh with the Advent of a1078 literally anyone can participate in the complaint process to to have a book reviewed um and considered for for removal yeah but look how let me ask you did we pull any of those books off the libraries um we'd have to look at them Case by case we did we did right who two of them what was the process well so we have always had a review a complaint process super sir again when you ask a question you need to pause and allow an answer okay so real quick we have always had a challenge if you will process in place what we are doing is formalizing it being more transparent and consistent
268about it so so is it written down anywhere yes that we're going to get to it next you want to say something I'm just say one one of the things that um that I think one once the board makes a decision with regards to this work it's going the board is going to set a um a set of guard rails that are going to be within within these guard rails this is what we want our instruction materials and Library materials to be and it's going to be in that in that range and what's going to happen is we're going to work through the staff's then going to implement those policies and then 18 months to what at some point we're going to need to go back and take a look in okay that was our
269best effort based on the information we had at the time right and then we're going to need to make adjustments we we could come to the conclusion the guard rails aren't close enough and there's materials there that we don't want so we need to adjust the other could be true the other could be you know what we ended up eliminating kids may tell us you know what these are really important books and they're now no longer in in the library so I can't tell you what I can tell you is we're not going to be perfect but we're going to come up with I mean the subcommittee has done a ton of work staff has done a ton of work to come to what we think is a legal defensible and Broad enough policy to
270allow a wide range of books to be available in in and a process to challenge and and remove a book or not have that book in the library but in the end it's going to be our best effort based on all the work that's put into this and it's not going to be exactly right and we we're not going to get it perfect this time but it is going to give us a place to be able to very clearly across all 68 schools across our classrooms to have an agreement on on what is the policy from the board level and then my responsibility with my team to carry it out and then we're going to have to adjust moving forward that's that's going to be the reality so your your piece is when we get
271this done we're going to run more of the books through this information and and then we're going to make some decisions about that but we're getting that we're getting the direction from the board right now okay um Mr for is it thank you sir is it is it a quick clarification or something because we have yet to get to Mr Yang yeah very three things but they are are all very quick uh number one I I don't like I I don't like uh my comments judged when people don't know what the hell they're talking about and and and and they look they view my judgments through through their lenses uh I am the only member on this board only veteran board member on this board that support and wanted during the days when we had
272an opportunity as a board to discuss the budget and to set priorities I was the only board member that wanted to increase the hours of the library technician excuse me Tony agreed Mr when I no I gotta say this no but we can't get into closed session matters so if you're talking session matter session matter I understand what I'm talking about okay I was the only board member besides Tony who supported increasing the hours of the library technicians and who supported more Librarians so I get irritated with comments made by people that don't know what the hell they're talking about and I've already challenged comments made by one of these board members to them I sent them a comment uh they they challenged me on something and was false I provided the documentation showing they
273were false they never got back to me why was that they probably were embarrassed that they made the comment um number two um yes you do your best to serve and we have a responsibility to serve our constituents We Do not sit up here in isolation and the day a board member once they're elected only serves thems there's a problem the other thing people have said and they rely on it is that parents can sign a form that their kids can't check out certain books that is true but it doesn't deal with the issue that libraries are open and when classrooms and I've seen it time and time again classes are brought into a library to check out books they're given freedom of the library so even though you may have age appropriate books you
274have kids who are not age appropriate having access to that material and uh you know I I'd I'd say you know at this point in time uh we've probably been lucky if if if fouryear olds uh can go go into a a library and look at a book that's showing uh genitals uh uh and in their bathroom in their little classroom want to explore with a girl you know this is what I look like I want to see what you look like because I saw in book we will be right for a lawsuit um I'm done it is OB okay okay all right Mr forina had a second bite at the Apple let's go Mr Yang all right um well I uh I really like what U Su superintendent Chris has alluded to and I'm
275in align with his thought um as far as one we not perfect as I said earlier two is we want to have a process where give us a chance also to eliminate some books that is completely out of whack and that doesn't mean that we're going to eliminate a you know every single books with one word so or or another but we trust our staff but we still have to create a process that it will govern their doing and and you know for me I focus on protecting the kidss and educating the kids but I think that some of the comment that I heard you guys or folks saying it to the extent where we are being so blindfolded where we not gonna we're gonna eliminate books and not going to educate our kids I
276mean to me that's extreme and that's not what this is about you know there's like so much book out there but there's are books that we should not allow it to be out there so don't go to the extent where just eliminate a book or two because it's so inappropriate don't jump to the conclusion we are not providing material to educate our kids don't go to that extent right so we got to be logical and intelligent to know the difference you know so so with that said um yeah we we have to um create a process that allow us to filter a little bit here and there right and that's what to me a logic board intelligent board do right and then but if we don't do that and just say oh yeah if we
277eliminate this book or that book we gonna you know not educate our kids we can't think to that that extreme right because we know that uh we we all I know that we all could agree that we are here to protect our kids and educate our kids so so so having that mindset you know we have to open up to a a a better process that's why we make Corrections and amend our policies um doesn't matter is this local government board all the way to the presidential board you know it's all the same so so come on guys I mean and Ladies we we have to think outside the box and not being so you know you know just just don't be so sounds like to me it almost sounds like very narrow-minded and we
278we have to be very uh responsible of what we are saying right so so with that said um we not going to get it you know this time that's for sure but we have to be looking through the lens of making the process better you know and and and that that's what we need to do and not looking through through the lens of you know um favoring I don't know I mean this or that or or you know whatever it is but to me I just want to make sure that we are open to make a process to be better so that our professionals like our staff could do the job even better and then of course we trust them right because we don't trust them then you know I mean there's there wouldn't be
279any efficient work done um especially for our kids so I I just felt like some of the commment is like very extreme you know and so we got to be very careful what we're saying about with that said um I think that we need to have at least some sort of uh rating of our books you know um to begin with because why not right you know um age appropriate you know rating I think these are like common sense to me and and if it's you know if it's common sense you know let's you know uh apply it right so so with that said um I I still um you know wanting us to maybe have another meeting toward these materials and really think about it and and then vote it on you know um
280vote it on so one more meeting and vote it on because this this is like it it's it's the material that we have seen it but we have not discussed as a group of seven right or more than that right because uh we got the board uh student here too and then also Chris here um discussing on this dice so I think this is really the first time and this is such a critical important uh process for for not just not us really it's for the kids you know and the parents that they give their trust to our school district um the money that they pay right you know and I'm one of them and you guys are too whoever you know works that pays is part of you know what we do you know
281and and so we have responsibility you know um the whole night yard really so with that said I just think that we have to um give it a a chance to to Really uh amend this the best way that you can to to make it a better but again this not we're not going to get it right 100% this time that's for sure but we have to try thank you Mr Yang um I I don't really have anything to add other than um to Mr Hoffman's comments about our process for policies and and similar to the conversation that we had about our governance handbook um we put forth what we think is the best possible thing we can do right now and we are always open to refinement we are always interested in learning whether
282the process that we have created is having the intended effect um but with this case in particular with this topic it is highly likely that there will be additional legislation and or additional case law I mean as soon as maybe even in the next year right so this is a very active area of law um I would be shocked if we do not have to come back and and bring this board policy before the board again you know in about a year or less so just I think that context is important um thank you 11 on the dot folks um we we want to set a reach goal of 30 minutes for the remaining section I move to extend the meeting to 11:40 40 so we have a second second move by Miss albiani second
283by Mr Vargas all in favor please signify by saying I I no no no extending the meeting to 11:40 40 minutes yes all in favor please sign signify by saying I I I both okay we are good uh to through 11:40 um so again for the purposes of Staff direction we heard uh a few members support different um in some cases overlapping and some cases not request for changes I did not hear sufficient support for any particular change to direction to staff about that I think I I feel like both you and I said we wouldn't be opposed to staff exploring other potential um what was it other than the Ala sources which mind you have their own rating criteria and address age appropriateness so yes we are we both said we're not opposed to
284to that I read the language as not precluding that because it says uh not that that was my point is that the language your point was that the language allows that it doesn't doesn't preclude from doing that so that that would be a good clarifying point for us I think that's fair and I would add to that I think it would be appropriate for a board instruction that they actively look into it see if there's anything else they like and if the answer is no the answer is no and we're fine with that but I would also because I'd be curious okay so so um you're proposing we ask staff to look into that um and if they find any additional sources including the ones that have been proposed to be something that we are
285allowed to use that that be added to the language back for consent that okay colleagues s good so Mr forina is that something you're okay with no okay I don't have anything okay we're just doing a straw pull here if we do that if we do that uh and given that you and Michael are are okay with looking at additional sources it deal it would deal with a couple of issues it would deal with age appropriateness it would deal with book ratings so uh a a look and an inclusion would address a number of issues and just to be clear yeah just looking right now yeah looking and and the trick is yeah the trick is the um the source that the source and that that and because I'm just tell you any rating system
286has to have a set of criteria quote unquote quote which is their bias I mean so that that that's that's so so that that's the trick is you know if um so that we just we have to be really careful about when we present these things is making sure we're clear with the board about yes sources of the rating because depending on who who that source is the rating system would be very very different but but we haven't looked into how the the the rating systems organizations that are mentioned how they arrived at whatever they arrived at in in terms of of making their recommendations so you're saying if we look at it at the sources I suggested for other sources they need to be consistent with all that we need to to be concerned
287with corre but we didn't do that for the ones that are listed right wow what's good for the goose right if you want dep if you wanna do you want to go through and look do but well the ch ch no this you get you get you get all this so I get to do all this too so you're not a chall I German and I get I got I got all kinds of stuff in me so so don't so so just the trick I'm just all I'm saying is we have to be very careful when you go to a rating system that were that we clear about who's behind the ratings that's that's that's all that's all I've said and and if that's the standard you're going to apply to looking at other sources
288is it not appropriate to look at the sources that have been listed in the document we think I believe that's already been done but I will but we can on on a 39y old document I don't think that part is 39 years old no it's it's practice and God knows how long practice is gone okay um so I I saw consensus to ask staff sorry Mr no we're good we're just but but what what we look at it's really important that we're looking at where uh what that what those sources are and I think the board has an interest in that so if if I am hearing folks um we are interested in knowing if if there are additional sources specifically the ones that have been suggested I think there were two um that meet
289with all of these criteria and are appropriate for inclusion yeah that's going to be interesting look but we look forward to okay so with that I think we have put another two documents to bed um and we are moving on to the next to switching screens here uh board policy 131 12.2 complaints concerning instructional materials supporting documents for this board policy is AR 131 12.2 and exhibit 131 12.2 which I think is the actual Complaint Form you want to address those Mr portina um is your microphone on Sir they had it I just I had it on never right um again um on the on the bottom of the page it is it uh addresses an issue I brought up in that states that they can check off do not assign to my child it
290doesn't deal with the issue that a child has access irrespective of whether or not they check it out and then um this one I don't know why I didn't ask more questions on it when when we worked on it it says restrict use to a particular grid level or grade level band uh for a parent filling out the form that what you get yet is a an opinion right I mean it doesn't doesn't you're still on the BP yeah uh I'm I'm on the the form the exhibit whichever one you want to speak to Sir oh you want the exhibit first I thought that's what you were oh I'm sorry yeah so I thought you said the form yeah so are we going to go back to the policy go in the order or on
291on the policy um again I know there have been comments made by uh by a number of members that we have to trust and I understand that but there's wording in the one 1234 paragraph it says uh or other competent author ities and and you know for me is like who who are those who would who who determines how do they determine uh it to me I would suggest that we we expand on that um again reviews of the materials by reputable bodies who decides if they're reputable how do they decide if they're reputable uh I would just suggest this that the definitions are expanded uh a little bit better and then the one that we did discuss and I and I and I did not agree with it at all is the fact that
292there's no no expansion on the term Community standards and and when we talked about it what what it was said is well the courts could determine what whether or not we met Community standards what that says is then once again the burdens on the parent to make statements within their complaint and if if if their complaint is denied and they decide to move it further that a judge will decide what what our community standards are uh I I don't know I'd I I would imagine if you ask everybody at this table what the community standards are you you get some differences so I would just just e either uh eliminate it I'm fine with eliminate it or Define it better because we're we're made up of many communities pardon me we're made up of many
293communities to to your point there the idea that somebody from the outside would come up and Define am I I elro UniFi a community I mean with with within it so it is I I I agree I'm I'm actually in your range this time with the idea that if it's not there um because there are there are so many well we're so diverse right how do you make a statement about Community standards so I don't I don't want to get ahead of ourselves but um there there is I think if I remember correctly more to that discussion so if we could go ahead and and we'll come back to it that's all I have on the policy on the BP would you uh do you have anything on the AR yes um and this is
294my feeling and I would request other board members look at it from how they see things as being reasonable but in number four what it says is a a complaintant um gets a response if they check the box that says they want a response I I think that any time a complaints file a response should be given and I would like board members to consider just that statement this says a responsible given and not put it on the person filling out the form um and then I really think each on number nine I think each complaint should stand on its own period and I'd like us I'd like board members who weren't part of the discussions to to look at that read it and ask questions if if they have them uh and then and
295I've said this before this is number five review of reputable professionally impaired reviews of materials um again it's chosen by home um I suggested there's there's Compass book ratings novel book ratings they're going to be looked at so so that's good and if they are IT addresses a number of issues um under appeal the Board of Education um the complaint to and I guess you know is a typo it should be to the board at a regularly scheduled hearing is hearing the appropriate word um yeah would would be it wouldn't be at a board meeting it would be at a hearing so we we've had those conversations before where in an employee situation and you make a decision whether the board's going to hear it or you're going to have a um a law judge
296you'll take a look and so we make those decisions so um it wouldn't be at a board meeting it would be it would be at a um scheduled hearing so but not a regularly scheduled hearing public hearing um that's a good question we don't have regularly scheduled hearings so I see that I see that point so the hearing would could be attached to a regular board meeting which is which is kind of the I guess the more normal process that may be what so we can look at that language but that's what it's um you you would do the hearing um attached to attached to works yeah so uh at a public hearing is that what we think we meant okay so we'll check it all right go ahead sir and then based on public
297input I you know I think the board should should look at whether or not in the final sentence and and the decision will be made public the board's decision will be made public as opposed to in private okay um and we had one more there exhibit 131 12.2 yeah you may have already addressed this yeah I've already yeah I did that uh your microphone sir I went through that I just uh I think I I went through that okay just want to make sure yes thank you uh Mr Vargas yeah we touched on a little bit of this uh already so I'll try to fly through um so the uh on the board policy uh that fourth paragraph We did I recall the committee had quite a bit of discussion around that um this goes
298back to uh wanting the uh criteria and um for selection to be relatively broad at the front end and then process on the back end um and I think it's a correct I mean it's a correct description of what we're looking at that in these cases the burden really is on um on the parents rather than on staff uh whereas with curriculum and stuff like that it burden starts on staff um and so that's that is kind of that's built in and I think that's accurate um on community standards I think actually this is one of those weird ones where I think all three of us had a different interpretation of community standards um so I actually probably I think I interpreted it the most broadly of everybody where I was comfortable with it being
299a broad statement of whatever the reviewing party thinks Community standards should be I'm comfortable with that with the state with the added caveat of there's process on the back end if they get it wrong um I think obviously Carmen had a different interpretation I will leave n Nancy had a different interpretation for me um that I and I think nany's interpretation ended up being what is reflected here with the non-discriminatory Edition um so I will I'll let you add on to that um and then the last thing was on number nine in the reg um and we talked we got some comments about this how do we treat I think this is a so something of a misunderstanding because like how do we treat duplicate uh you know complaints so what if one person complains
300we go through the whole process and then someone else complains and someone else someone else someone else and we just kind of get this what happens when you have multiple complaints on a single book um and I think that what's in here is correct uh or is the right way to do it which is that we take every complaint we accept every complaint um but if this has been reviewed before then we don't necessarily need to go through a full review every single time it gets there's a complaint um because I think that that would that could easily become overly burdensome um now what exactly it looks like you know uh in terms of the sort of smaller review um or more cursory review of there's multiple complaints like multiple consecutive complaints um like I'm
301I'm comfortable leaving that up to staff um to kind of work out what tease out what that looks like um and again this may be one of those situations where you run into a wall you're figuring it out and you guys have to come back to us and say we need to kind of tease this out a little bit more in the in the r um that's fine I think what's in here is fine um but I will leave it to staff if more needs to be teased out here uh as we as we hit stuff with implementation and I think that's all I've got on this yeah I'll be brief on this as well um yes my recollection is that we all had a different interpretation of community standards and just so the board
302knows we actually spent a fair bit of time teasing out uh language and terms that we felt did not have a clear meaning and either getting rid of it or defining what it was this was one where we all landed in different places um but uh please correct me if I'm wrong um the community standards term comes from case law do I recollect that correctly okay so that is why we ended up leaving it in because this is us showing signaling should we get to that point um for the courts that we are attempting to meet the tests that they have created for us so that that is my recollection ultimately why we left that in um let's see the the check box if you want a response is intentional and it's not because we
303want to get out of responding to people it's quite the opposite so because um and I think we had this in here previously that you could submit a a complaint anonymously but a1078 explicitly creates that right we wanted to make it really clear for folks that we cannot get back to you if you submit anonymously so the the purpose of that box being in there is to call it out and I believe there's also a footnote on the application so we're doing it twice want to make it really clear for folks if you want us to get back to you um don't submit anonymously so your choice um and that is all I have so with that I want to hear from other folks on the board whether they concur with these three documents or
304they would like to see anything changed Mr Pettis I'm going to go back to you um paragraph one we're on policy 131 12.2 right yes sir and so comprehensive s process I'm glad you put that in there because you know that's everything comprehensive and then um District staff parent Guardians uh I would also include in that parent Guardian school committies or you know and members um yeah doesn't you leave out you leave out District staff School principles right in that area should because you mentioned School principles in the process of approval but you don't mean you don't put it in this language right here that's what I said principles and some and what else and PTA and the school committees you understand what I'm saying I'm not I'm not sure um anyone can file a
305complaint anyone this isn't a review process but I'm going clud that that that includes opportunities for involvement of District staff I want to include School principles in that process in the what well I want to distinctly say that because I think what's the problem they I think the the the librarian put the purchase order without the approval of the principles so it has to be language in there no that that's actually required what that that's already part of the process I believe yeah I know it's process but right over here I think they should be involved in this comprehensive process I the process should include School principles yeah in this process so anyway that's what I was thinking okay um yeah I like what you said the district shall accept complaints from actual parents District
306uh residents very good um Library issue um check then I went down here for oh paragraph four one two three four right uh you mentioned that the professional opinions of teachers of the subject and of other I would say teachers and teach uh I put teachers and then SL forward staff teacher Librarians of the subject and other competent authorities um can you list those uh for us what are those competent authorities that you have in mind did you discuss who were those yeah Mr Hoffman actually gave some example so it depends on the actual item right but because it varies depending on the item we chose to describe them in Broad categories instead of trying to create an exhaustive list and board policy oh NE I think we okay and then uh paragraph five education
307suitability of the materials and criteria establish again that word criteria establish that's very important that you discussed that in the other one I like that and uh what's the definition of educational paragraph five the educational subil of the materials is there do you have do you have something for each subject matter what is the definition of educational suitability of materials um seems pretty self explanatory to me but um Mr Hoffman uh who do you think should address that I don't know I mean like so what I'm trying to understand the question well each subject you mention that each subject matter has subject matter experts right yeah right we're not so what so where do they get their knowledge from to buy those books or get their consult Consultants uh it' be their credential area I
308mean so so you know if it's a um world language you know is the is the book you know somebody with the World Language credential a trying trying to list all the different ones that could possibly be is is an impossible list okie dokie so number uh uh admin regulations I seen the AR had learned that good job you forgot to put Administration in front of it when I seen the abbreviation AR I said what the heck is this anyway so uh that one again contact the teacher forward SL teer librarian principal for SL PTA Etc police legal whatever on that one I think everybody should uh if they think it's pornography how how do they contact the police the legal when does it go to that stage we are not a law enforcement agency
309so that's not addressed here but always they do always have that right that's correct they would but but law enforcement would make that determination who does whichever law enforcement agency they contract now when we get it do we give it to law a law enforcement we are not a law enforcement agency so no unless a crime has been committed okay time process is there a time process in order to do this and process would didn't see I didn't see that in this document um it's in different places number eight for example on on the on regulation 131 12.2 it says within a reasonable time period but not to exceed 30 working days I think this whole process should have a a c a time period it does um you just read part of it but
310that's too long well unfortunately a1078 uh specifies this time period 30 yes sir that comes directly from the new state law we could be proactive little bit is there a form okay title and all that it's the next document okay okay that's the next one okay forena I agree with forcina on those issues I agree that's all just a Time process corly report I agree we should get some of those last page that's it okay that one oh the actual form now right the exhibit did you have any comments on the exhibit even though they're largely duplicative of what's in the the AR because it describes it oh the last first page uh do not assign it to my child or allow to check out of the library were legally permissible what does that mean
311that means we wanted to be really transparent about the fact that there are that there are certain materials that we are not legally allowed people to allowed to um have people exempt their kids out of and specifically that is uh the uh Core Curriculum somebody remind me history social science the core The Core Curriculum is in a general rule but yes what about the library stuff uh that does not apply we do not have that legal restriction again restrict use of particular like I like that language use only parental permission where legally permissible what is this process okay uh then I put over here oh now no I was wondering where does comprehensive sexual health education advisor committee come involved with us is there it doesn't it do on that's a whole other topic that
312we I know but I mean they're the ones supposed to be uh sexuality so I'd like to address that because I think the context matters and other people might have discuss it other people might have the same question no we did not so so just because I think you know people might want to know um this is the end of the process right so to speak because we go through curriculum adoption um elction of Library materials this is the very tail end so the the advisory committee would be involved at the adoption process at the very beginning right this document comes into play after the fact when someone is saying I think you guys got it wrong but why can they be a Consultant Group to this issue so they would provide advisory that part
313of their is is through the processes to provide feedback yeah they've already been involved they've been involved at the beginning at the beginning where I just see for that for that for that particular set of curriculum not for all curriculum yeah but I mean I would imagine that they would be the in-house experts know about regarding human on Sexual Health on that on that slice of the curriculum yes which is why we involve them in the selection at the very beginning of the process well and then I think some I think you need to explain what the roles of responsibilities in that process is in we have done that and we've actually done a lot of that over the last several weeks that particular you're looking at a particular board um communication with regards to
314that committee and there I can I can sit down and share specific information about board members picking um people to be on it and with that so there there's been a whole process that the board's been engaged with in that over the past several weeks but that's not this topic well I think they should be though that's what I'm saying that's it all right thank you Mr Pettis I just want to note by my count we have seven minutes until we have to extend meeting time again I don't know how much discussion or question there's going to be on this so I'm happy to get into the the rest of board feedback and deliberations I think missal would be next um yeah about these um documents I concur with everything and I differ to all
315of you about the specific wording I don't know about that okay thank you I'm GNA go down the line M Jamerson I concur as well thank thank you um I think if we choose reputable bodies um there we've asked staff to look more into those and so that could consider that would carry through most of these documents to be the same reference um in policy in regulation um crud sorry policy number four a complaint in form shall include a space to Mark Tate weather responses requested um I agree with that but I would um so my things is I'm a form person so um location to file complaint I would like it to say who received the complaint and what location and what um campus or location they're on so those two facts instead of
316we're on the regulation nope I'm done with policy and regulation I'm just under the form the exhibit so um request for reconsideration of Library instruction and materials who received the complaint the site that that's at I would put at the front I think reading complaintant name complaintant address complaint's phone number complaintant email it it becomes offensive actually because I think I have a very valid complaint and you're griping at me so um complaintant name address phone number email we don't need to write the word complaintant 79 times on this thing and then I would highly suggest um a line right there that says to be whatever we have in number seven should stick right underneath that because that's where we're Gathering the information to make number seven come true not at the end okay under
317the contact information so I would just ask under contact information that we move request for response a request for response should be right there where they're saying I'm either going to do this and then it's going to say I either have to do this to get a response and I want one or I don't do it and I'm not going to get a response so I I just would move that up there and okay and I just have one quick thing to say I um I spoke to some people on the telephone and I think step one was an issue step two was the process we've developed which I'm very proud of us getting together here tonight we've done a lot of good work and then step three is to introduce some of the books
318that people have trouble with and I think everybody wanted to be at step three and it really required us going through step one and step two and and it hasn't been an easy process but this is where we're at so that's it I'm done all right Mr Yang you're either going to give us your feedback in the minute or two or we're going to extend the meeting no no it's a um on this item everyone already made good point so um concur with this material okay thank you I have nothing to add um I want to look around and get a straw poll on um Miss Alban's suggestions for edits to exhibit 131 12.2 which I have down as U Move the request for respon box to under the contact info and remove the excessive
319use of the word complainant all right seeing some heads nod are you good sir you like those edits Mr Fortin in terms of things we're going to look at um the two specific edits to exhibit 13.2 131 12.2 that Miss ALB asked okay you're good on those m g okay staff um um so colleagues I believe we have gone through all of this I'm going to look at Mr Hoffman or Mr shudi to tell me if there's anything else we need to provide to them um be okay um all we had some low points but we also had a lot of really high points um and I want to thank everybody for that um I I think we have all um done our absolute best to do right by our kids and the people that
320we serve today so thank you very much um with that in the next three minutes if I'm able to get through it um board member and superintendent reports can I ask one question just real quick um the November 7th meeting opportunity to go downtown to um honor Mr Franklin I didn't hear back from everybody if we do a morning session go downtown to see if if you want to go take the break to to see um no it's it's it's downtown it's downtown right yeah yeah so so it'll be yeah it's a little bit of a drive we'll yeah we'll figure we'll figure out something out yeah but we do it then we would probably do the uh the onetime funding piece in the the morning we would break go down and do the and
321then we come back and probably just go into close session uh because we have a lot of stuff we need to work through in close session just wanted thumbs up that General process and we'll put a plan together okay all right all right thank you we can do a van have us ask any question uh we just did that sir oh no no he did not us I want to know we are apply for Equity we we are in board member superintendent reports and that is not an item report under this section I I encourage you to ask that question Offline that does not need to occur during a meeting yes um consideration of future agenda items we do not have any that I've been notified of so with that I'm going to adjourn tonight's
322meeting at 11:39 p.m. thank you all