001okay great so it is 804 am this is january 14 2021 this is a special board meeting for the evanston skokie school districts awesome and again are we set to go ahead and get started or are we still waiting for everything to load up um i think we are good but i hear feedback on my end there's a delay and there's feedback yeah so just let me know when i can go ahead okay i'll try roll call kem here hernandez here lindsay ryan here mendoza here [Music] here so i hear a repeat do you all hear it too yeah yeah i'm hearing as well i needed myself does that help okay only hearing it through your audio a dealer not from my own oh great i'll try to fix that otherwise i'll dial in because
002i think moving forward uh you all have it and then i have the public comments so i'll try logging in from another device so jayla you said you're gonna are you gonna do that now log in with the different are you [Music] okay so i've dialed in hopefully you cut off but it did sound better um so okay so i'm going to go ahead and get us started due to the governor's executive order suspending certain open meetings act requirements in order to comply with the state of emergency the district 65 board of education will be conducting this meeting virtually and we're going to start off with public comments any member of the public wishing to submit a comment to be read at this special board meeting held today january 14th was asked to email their
003comment to the board secretary crushy a district 65.net by 7 am this morning you know do you turn it over to you to read the public comments that have come in you're muted we can't hear you public comments that have come in okay um so we did get seven public comments um i'm still wondering are we hearing a double sound all the comments that have come in um i'm not sure um so we did get seven public comments um i'm still wondering are we sharing with double sound or school departments um i'm not sure um um we're all muted so i don't think it's an echo for many of us a non-board member should probably read the public comments to the board i can walk over to our dealer's office and grab what she needs
004to read i can read them i can read them can everyone hear me yeah we can um so this is dear secretary qureshi we respectfully request these comments to be shared at the upcoming board meeting please feel free to edit for brevity as needed we were angered to learn of the recent homophobic hate crime against board vice president biz lindsey ryan sadly this is not the first time our board members or community leaders have been threatened we call on all evastonians to reject anti-lgbtq and white supremacist sentiment and stand against any attempt to terrorize or intimidate our leaders we share these comments and support of our leaders working on behalf of d65 students every day we stand with you we insist that the voices demanding equity can and will overwhelm the voices of bigotry and
005hate in our community chris and jonathan knew westma apologies for the name mispronouncing if i am parents of fourth grade twins at washington um [Music] dear members of d65 board as the mother of three brown children in d65 schools i do not have the words to express my gratitude for your leadership despite all the harassment and hate you have experienced i just wanted to let you know that i and my family highly appreciate your courage and dedication to our children we stand by you and pray that you remain safe marine are shot hello members of the d65 board and administration my experience in d65 as a white straight woman who is a parent to a white female kindergartner and white male 4th grader this past year has never been better i am so proud of
006living in a district in which we are actively rejecting white supremacy i am grateful to belong in a community in which the leadership of this district clearly and intentionally calls out racism and bigotry in all of its forms i feel honored to be a part of a community conversation that challenges my many privileges and asks me and my family each day what am i going to do to change this oppressive system thank you d65 admin and school board members for being the beacons of hope in such a difficult time i count on you all as the bedrock of our community and for the shaping of the important care of our beautiful innocent loving hilarious intellectually curious and brave children the shifting dismantling and rebuilding work is so hard but i see that you we us
007are doing it i see and hear examples of important conversations happening in the learning as my mustang scholars are in remote learning each day i urge you to take care of yourselves and to know when you are scared that i am with you many of us in this community are with you and will stand with you in solidarity we are around you remotely cheering you on each day thank you for embracing the discomfort of change communicating about these vicious attacks and being such an important example of resilience and leadership to our scholars in this district from the bottom of my heart i thank you megan shay the 65 parent dear school board members as a citizen of as of evanston i humbly petition our elected school board so please move swiftly to safely reopen evanston's
008public schools respectfully jerry voorhees you seem to our school board while families are experiencing unprecedented hardship during our school closure i want to express how meaningful it has been to know that leadership is constantly and unwavering unwaveringly focusing on the needs of students and families who have been historically underserved by our district it is difficult to retain perspective in crisis for each of us to see beyond our own households urgent priorities thank you for anchoring our community to the mission of equity during this crisis to ensure that the families whose needs have typically been met first and best are not the driving force behind our district's responses to this crisis and that we allocate our resources to prioritize the children experiencing the most urgent need and who have endured the most historical neglect thank you
009for your commitment beth brady as a parent in dc district 65 i condemn the hateful attack on biz lindsey ryan i am grateful and indebted to ms ryan for all the work that she does for the district for all of our children and for our community thank you to all board members and d6 district 65 leaders who persevere in the face of an unprecedented pandemic entrenched white supremacy and a ton of hard work megan navarra we the presidents of the unions in district 65 are standing together today representing our 1000 staff which includes support staff and certified teachers administrative assistants health clerks child care food service paraprofessionals custodians and maintenance staff as we have stated in the past our members are looking forward to the time when we can safely return to our workplaces our
010students are why we do what we do every single day we stand here today in support of our superintendent district administrative team and district 65 school board's commitment to a safe return to school and educational equity for all students especially our most marginalized students we condemn the racist homophobic white supremacist attacks on our leadership and board members we stand in solidarity around the important work to dismantle the system systemic racism and our educational institutions and the commitment of our board and leadership around equity we continue to look forward to partnering and working collaboratively with our district leadership to support our students and families natalie copper president of eaccp don jackson president of etaa med crewley president of dec dana smalley president of dssd desk omar white president of e-c-m-a and that concludes our comments thank
011you dr greene and thank you adela for the valiant attempt um good morning we are next on our agenda our superintendent and board comments dr horton you're you're still muted still haven't figured that out yet sometimes it's like that good morning everyone so i want to share something that uh that was that i sent to our staff this weekend and i think it's more than um right for this moment never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world indeed it's the only thing that has ever changed margaret mead that's a quote for our current board our current teaching staff our union and other members of our community who share the sentiments of fighting against the inequities that is exist in evanston well we are happy to have each and every
012one of ours our students and our staff back uh for the new year so far 2021 has started off quite the sequel to 2020. over 19 is showing up as if it's going to be here for a while but there is hope there is an active vaccine that our medical experts believe will be a strong solution to get this pandemic under control on friday we receive communication from places that educators will be placed as a priority for the next vaccine vaccine ride in addition to the vaccine there is more research available about how to protect ourselves from covet 19 that has proven to be extremely effective now while 2020 was dominated by the covet 19 pandemic 2021 has shined not so brightly on a pandemic that has plagued our country for centuries when someone so
013shows you who they are believe them the first time people know themselves much better than you do that's why it's important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are for maya angelou what happened on january 6 2021 should not have shocked many and historical in a historical election this past november seventy four million two hundred twenty three thousand two hundred twenty two thousand seven hundred and forty four people voted for donald trump as an american citizen we are free to vote for who we want but understanding that our individual vote reflects our core values and beliefs these vote totals were the second highest number of popular votes received in any election fast forward to january 6 and now we can see what this really means for our country here in evanston
014skokie we are considered to be one of the more woke communities and school districts in the country our approach to creating learning environments that will support closing achieving gap between black and latinx students and white students will go must go deeper district 65 culture is right for deep intense racial equity training and it has been happening and yet we still have pushback from those who don't believe in our work our school board has courageously been public about the inequities that exist in evanston as well as nationally around police brutality health gaps and other other racially driven issues including homophobic anti-homophobic acts that continue to hurt individuals on this board in the society and in our country as a result our board members and administrators get attacked through emails and postcards with death threats i'm not
015referring to emails that outright call us derogatory names but communications that attack our character decision making and leadership the privilege and communications i receive is often blatant asking me why myself of the board prioritize the health of teachers and staff when they should be considered essential workers never mind that our community makeup is completely different from many school districts who have been able to successfully open in in a sense of what success means when we challenge this privilege we get hit with foyer requests or offers of civil rights complaints i want to be clear about our efforts to fight the pandemic of racism that has taken just as many lives it as covet 19. we will not stop we will continue to provide equity training for our staff we will continue to diversify our workforce
016we will continue to build an anti-racist curriculum we will continue to build learning environments where all students can thrive and be the author and be their authentic selves we will not stop because what happened on january 6 in dc is only what we could see in november this presidential election showed us that there are many many more thank you dr horton um do any of my board colleagues have any additional comments i um i'm going to read a few brief comments um it's a combination of some words that i have shared previously with the board as well as um of the letter that was shared with our staff and community this week in response to children being exposed to interpersonal racist attacks in 2018 i said let us continue to link arms and put ourselves
017between our children and those who are targeted for harm and the effects of the effects of dehumanization i want to explicitly say to our children and families that all of our public schools belong to all of us and you are bright loved and wanted i believe in and support your greatness and expect amazing things from you too once upon a time was underestimated and viewed as a statistic and i have defied every single one and you who feel weighed down by those same low expectations can defy them too we black people and descendant are descendants of greatness untold history and cultural values that have shaped the world our ancestors founded the first libraries made architectural wonders are built have built and have built vast fierce and bad civilizations we have resisted subjugation in many forms
018and we can and will resist it today and tomorrow together shine bright beloveds well as a board we did put ourselves fiercely between our children and those who were targeted by harm and the effects of dehumanization and what we have seen is the full image of the hate and harm that was intended in the past six months alone we have experience in different yet very personal ways the workings of white supremacy the way that is weaponized against our black leaders and any of us that are committed to prioritizing the needs of black and brown children the weaponizing has manifested itself in persistent threatening mischaracterizing messaging recently escalating to veiled death threats since august 2020 to our board members and district administrators there seems to be no limits or boundaries to what those who are opposed
019to equity are willing to do when and if they feel challenged i want to restate that again there seems to be no limits or boundaries i would say ethical boundaries behavioral social boundaries there are no boundaries to what those who oppose equity are willing to do when and if they feel challenged and i would expand about upon that to say not just those who oppose equity but if we flip that on its head those who are committed to upholding white supremacy our stakeholders have every right to voice their frustration and share their disappointment about where a lack of federal leadership and clear guidance on opening schools has left every district for themselves however there is a difference between asking questions and insulting the intelligence character and motives of the person in which you are asking
020the question there is a difference between critiquing a decision and declaring the decider uninformed uncaring or operating with malicious intent because based on the information and context that they have available they came to a different decision we must challenge our feelings of sadness and outrage and grief into continuing our meaningful work in the coming months we will celebrate both black lives matter at school week as well as lgbtq plus equity week these are important ways we can come together as a community and affirm the lives of black and lgbtq plus students staff and families these are the ways in which we can all play an active and active part in concretely demonstrating how our commitment to equity is tr is translated to change in our classrooms and community as we work to achieve our mission
021of helping our students to become active global citizens we ask for your continued support and partnership and we thank the the many people who we know are we know that when we are hearing from folks who are clutching tightly to white supremacist values and structures that that is not the majority of our community it is a loud and vocal and [Music] mal-intended small group and um you know we're here today because we need to recess into closed session so that we can prioritize our safety as we continue to stand for what we know is right for our community and we will continue to stand for what we know is right for our community and our children we will um continue to be brave and bold but we also call on our community to to notice
022um when the vestiges of white supremacy um violently resist us standing for justice and when i say us i mean our entire community um not just the seven of us who are on the board not the folks who make up the cabinet this is a threat to our community to the potential um for our children to have the opportunity to be educated in a system that is loving and caring and uplifting and that prepares them to enter into the world as fierce advocates for themselves and their neighbors in a way that creates a world that is more beautiful and more kind and less tolerant of bullying and violence we have the opportunity to do that together in this moment and to engage in small acts of resistance such as challenging um falsely propped up stories
023and mythology that get propagated challenging inquiring looking for facts looking for details in order to stay informed and look for opportunities to stay connected with one another's humanity [Music] that that concludes my comments joey did i see your hand or did i no okay i'm good thank you all right so that i believe concludes oh i'm sorry biz yes i just um wanted to take a second and express my gratitude for the outpouring of care and love and support for uh my family um while i was the target of the recent escalation it's imperative that we not center my white experience but see it as a part of a larger narrative and a concerning pattern that's been escalating over recent months and the threats and violations threaten all of us um i'm incredibly proud to
024work with this board and i know i can speak for all of us when i say we will not be deterred thank you so i think that concludes our board and superintendent comments for the special meeting um said gail you have the motion the motion um i moved at the board of education recess into closed session on january 14 2021 to discuss security procedures and safety of employees students staff the public or public property m yes hernandez yes lindsey ryan yes mendoza yes parsa yes yes tanya buddy yes with that and with no further business before i were bored for this special meeting i adjourn this meeting at 8 33 thank you all thank you everybody