001okay basketball team wrestlers stick around we're going to get a picture in a second but let's get to our main show here so every year Kipling has an inquiry fair and it's one of my favorite things they do over there because you really get to see the passion that students have learning and presenting about a subject that they get to pick so if I can have my fifth graders stand up here please welcome Matthew Zayn geneveve Olivia Ethan and what we are actually going to do is board Administration I want you to experience what the inquiry fair is like so if you want to take your positions and go around the table here we're going to set up the displays around the table Those Behind the table Get on Up you're going to walk and
002participate in your own Fair we're going to put four minutes on the clock you're going to have to come around on the other side you can put it on the table put it on the table they'll move their stuff for you they'll move their stuff for you okay so we're going to put four minutes on the clock and go ahead and present go get close go take a bunch of pictures that's [Music] okay we're about a minute in board members if you need to keep moving along a minute in yeah keep going keep going yep we got a station open over here there you go Mr quo two minutes left two minutes [Music] that's what they thought too more inate yeah yes oh [Music] yeah going okay going okay coming up on a minute had
003to your last last one if you haven't been there yet sorry [Music] oh wow 30 seconds left let's start wrapping it up [Music] and time let's start wrapping it up please fifth [Music] graders board members you can return to your seats fifth graders don't go anywhere just yet let's go ahead and wrap it up all right so as the board members administrators return to their seats fifth graders let's bring you up here let's have you have you make a line now you get to face the interrogation Squad come on oh we'll we'll move the we'll move let's move the the projects here here we go my goodness thank you Miss shider so any questions that the board hasn't had answered yet anyone want to ask anything so I have that's very go ahead I have
004a question um I don't have a student at Kipling so I don't know much about the inquiry project when you guys first started this what did they tell you you could research anything or there certain parameters it's really loud we were told that we can research any topic that we want but we need to find an essential question that we need to try and find the answer to anyone else have anything to say about that uh a main theme of it was that you also so couldn't like know a ton about it um because honestly the main idea of it was to research something brand new that you have never heard of before and then present it any other questions Dr dor was there anything I'll be wow that's real they little today anything that
005you guys learned that was super surprising or like wow I'm excited about this topic but wow that was so new to me and interesting nothing surprising come on I something here go ahead so Jackie Robinson was in the military from 1942 to 1944 he was the General officer and he got arrested from not moving to the back of the segregated bus all right I think Zayn and Olivia haven't talked yet let's see what was the hardest part of the assignment for me the hardest part of the assignment was probably just putting together the poster and figuring out where each thing can go because if I put it in like a random order it wouldn't make as much sense as if it were organized then Zane well oh you have the hardest thing okay go ahead
006so one of the biggest Parts about this was you couldn't just go to Wikipedia look up like all your information and then copy and paste so we did do a lot of work using using this online database called Explorer so it was a little bit new for us to like get information and site our sources because we usually like don't do that so that was pretty hard thank you for being honest about not using Wikipedia Zane I think some adults need to learn not to use Wikipedia any other questions from the board all right thank you that's what's good 109 thank you fifth graders we're going to give you a certificate now okay and now we've got a bunch of pictures to take we're going to move some exhibits out of the way let's start
007with our fifth graders since they're here give us one moment audience the board's going to assemble and we're going to take some pictures here so you guys are going to stand right there we'll bring you certificates okay oh oh my goodness if we can look behind the Border see one of the other miners a big thank you too to the whole fifth grade Kling team that is here today Mr victorine miss dejon miss bianc and miss guest thank you teachers for being [Applause] here all right let's bring up wrestlers board stay there let's bring up wrestlers wrestlers basketball team start thinking about making your move here yeah sure yeah sure now do we do we need Logan to kneel down oh what's up he went to shepher so I hope big things I'll be in
008the stand congratulations much to be proud [Music] of this is so great all right basketball team basketball team [Applause] and after this students are excused it is a school night free to stay but you are free to go home too e okay next on the agenda is the superintendent report all right well we start out with the Feelgood thing we have the let me see if I can get it to run here how do we ah we have the pet Wall of Fame at Caruso uh one notable pet in there is a a black lab called Frank in the middle who's got parents uh at this office and also over at uh the building yeah and so let me see if I see if I can get this to go all right so a little
009more seriously we have a public meeting coming up on uh March 18th a a problem we cannot ignore so the uh the focus of this is really the start of it was with the anxious generation conversation and we're looking to expand this into uh an entire uh CommunityWide conversation about anxiety and over scheduling and Screen Time how to manage those for uh adults and for kids uh also more seriously it looks like the uh Department of Education uh is uh has dropped about, 1300 jobs uh just in the last couple days want to speak a little bit about the impact on 109 uh it depends on who you listen to here the some folks say that uh the sky is falling others say no not at all a couple of things that are clear is
010that the funding obligations from the ACT are not going to suddenly drop but it's really hard to imagine that some core functions aren't going to be affected by this so what does the department of Ed do wide range of things Department of Ed uh is in charge of idea also known as special ed and also in charge of title funds Title 1 through five uh supporting all kinds of reading but also other important things like student loans Title 9 and importantly investigation anybody that's paid attention to the Civil Rights era knows that it wasn't until the federal government got involved that the Civil Rights really became something that were applied nationally so the investigations plays playing a significant role there you may have heard that Governor pritsker has announced a cell phone ban a proposed
011cell phone ban in in all schools during his State of the State address 109 currently does not allow self phones in instructional areas uh students can have them but the phones are need to be off and put away so we are ahead of the curve on that uh this past uh just yesterday and today we had the beginning of the Consortium for interdist inter interdistrict collaboration uh site visits uh began uh yesterday continued today there are seven districts involved uh Lake Bluff Lake uh Forest Libertyville 109 uh Highland Park uh both the high school and the uh the elementary and also True North like to say thank you especially to Dr Arnold and Jason Jesuit for their leadership and extraordinary amount of work uh it's like putting on a wedding we joked about that but
012a phenomenal amount of work organizing for all these folks to come in and then observe all of our classroom so they fanned out across the district yesterday and today so see some pictures uh preparation in this room and then later on you can see the pictures of some of the visiting visiting staff in all different classrooms and really like to say thank you to our staff because I think I don't think there is a single staff member that said uh I think every single staff member welcomed people into into their space which really speaks to the quality of our instructional team reminder that our kindergarten registration is open it's really important to get your kindergarteners registered because it helps us figure out our staffing for the year and Staffing benefits everyone uh important reminder we
013have upcoming spring uh parent teacher conferences this is only the second time we've had that on March 20th and 21st it's really important no matter what the age of your kid is whether they're a kindergartener uh even in high school all the way through make sure you go go to your conferences and it's your opportunity to find out who your children are as people when you're not around and when they're with their classmates and that completes the superintendent report for March any questions for mik all right thank you Mike all right next up on the agenda Community part Community participation relative to matters on the meeting agenda District 109 has two opportunities for public comment many organizations offer one opportunity our policy stems from the community's long-standing commitment to public discourse and representation we take
014all public comment very seriously while public comments is in a back and forth but instead an opportunity for the listen to board the for the board to listen please know that we listen very carefully our first period of community participation is for items related to the meeting's agenda and the second period of community participation near the end of the meeting is open for all matters if you wish to comment please fill out a community partici participation form located on the podium and hand it to Rebecca rud who's sitting right over there we'll call you up one at a time to the podium to speak please limit length of all comments to No More Than 3 minutes all right seeing as how there's no comments on this first period uh moving on to the next item
015on the agenda 8.1 Freedom of Information requests John yeah there's one in your packet for some accounts payable records all right any questions all right 8.2 resolution authorizing statements of completion for health Life Safety amendments yeah as the board will recall um uh at our last meeting the board approved the New 10- Year Life Safety study uh with the Illinois State Board of Education it's something that we're required to do every 10 years um while we've approved the new 10e life safety study um we've had uh our previous architect of record working on closing out the previous uh 2013 Health Life Safety study uh all of those items had been done but there's a number of documentation steps that are required that they had to follow through on um and presented for you this evening
016is a resolution uh authorizing those statements of completion so that they can finish their work and close out that uh prior Life Safety study is this okay thank you any questions all right next on the agenda amended 2025 budget yeah we are recommending that the board amend our fiscal year 25 budget that's the 2024 25 school year budget um we are uh changing one line on the budget it's to increase one expenditure line in the capital projects fund by $1.5 million that's related to Summer 2025 work uh that the board has already approved um we're expecting an early start this year um and we we did take delivery of some HVAC units that are uh fairly costly early so that we don't have any delays this summer uh so just just an issue of timing
017um and that'll allow us to avoid that audit comment that we overspent a fund and then just a clar sorry so L just I'll speak from behind just to clarify the items are already ordered already proc already arrived uh even better I was asking only because I was curious if costs are going to rise but it sounds like they're already here they're already here that's something that we've been struggling with for a few years as the supply chain was not what it used to be and we got very much ahead of it this year anything else okay 8.4 FY 26 fees and facility rental rates yeah in the board's packet for information this month are the recommended um fees and facility rental rates for the 25 26 school year um the policy committee met I
018think a week ago um to discuss uh proposed fees for 25 26 as we reviewed uh the fee structure we made only one recommendation to increase a fee related to our early Learners program uh that's our preschool program uh the fee for early Learners had not increased since the 2324 school year um and consistent with the philosophy statement as it had been written uh we were recommending just under a 2.75% increase uh to uh that um fee um but also there was discussion at the policy committee about doing a comprehensive comparison of our fee structure not only compared to other public school districts that offer um fee uh uh option uh preschool uh but also some of the local private options compare um what we offer in comparison to those just to Benchmark our fee
019a bit more next year uh the other recommendation was a modest increase to our facility rental fees and then with what you're proposing with the Early Childhood would that uh needed us to revisit the philosophy related to the fees or do you think would stay within we made a modest uh adjustment to the fee philosophy statement uh for two reasons this year uh one was to capture that we were targeting 60% of our uh cost to run that preschool program instead of a range of 50 to 60% the other was that um uh we recognized that for transportation um we had a bit of an anomaly in that we were able to realize greater State reimbursement um and it was a function of um kind of a bubble in uh a part a portion of
020the formula that the state uses to calculate that and we do not expect to get that Revenue in future years so if we had responded to that we would potentially be cutting our transportation fee markedly and then increasing it even more more so in the following year so we made an adjustment to keep that fee flat for next year appreciate it we uh we vote on the fee recommendation next month next month okay thank you all right 8.5 Transportation bid results yeah um this is one that's been a long time coming um the the state changed the law such that um it no longer allows the district to continue to extend uh one-year contract to our uh incumbent vendor which was Olsen Transportation um so um as the board may recall there's been some concern
021over the years that if we went out to bid for transportation services we may not get uh competitive bids back um and it has happened to other school districts before when they went out to bid where only the incumbent provider would respond and uh instead of giving you know perhaps a 5% year-over-year increase they got a 25% year-over-year increase uh it forced our hand to go to bid this year um so we uh issued a joint bid with Lake Bluff uh and the two Lake Forest school districts um we were pleased we got um four respondents um and olssen transportation was the uh lowest bidder um and owing to the fact that we have a long relationship with them and that we know they can deliver on their service uh we would recommend that the
022board extend a fiveyear contract to olssen uh gives us some uh predictability and we don't have to go through that annual exercise size of uh a one-year renewal and having that uncertainty correct and then is there anything related to fuel fuel um we we we would pay um fuel uh so we kind of we ride the wave with Olsson so if fuel prices go up we're going to pay those higher fees if they go down we're going to realize that savings but overall with the 5year contract year-over-year there's no major lifts which was nice to see no you know what we were what we were actually uh they I think were very aggressive on their bid and they actually came in um like 0.9% lower than their current rate um and then their year-over-year increases
023were significantly better than the competing uh companies and then do they you would have an option after year five to roll over you could the state law has now changed that we canot we can roll over a five-year extension at that point in time oh you can't do year year uh correct okay thank you all right any more questions sorry just one more and I don't want to bager the topic just one thank you always just one my friend um with anything with electric buses should in the next five years of this contract something were to come up that that becomes a bigger reality is that somehow baked in there or we could just revisit yeah we put some language in the uh bid conditions I would have to go back and review them on
024uh the pushing some of the onus onto the vendor to look at sustainable options that may become available I wish I could say that I see that being feasible it just seems like a big lift for a small District like ours who is outsourcing Transportation the districts that I've seen that are uh securing electric buses are typically larger districts that are operating their own fleets okay okay hey next on the agenda IB Vision Mike yes up for the board's consideration is the uh Illinois Association of school boards Vision 2030 ISB works with the two other eyes isbo which is the business officials and Isa which is the school administrators uh you may remember when uh they did the vision e e e uh 9.1.1 approval of regular meeting minutes from February 13 2025 9.1.2 Personnel
0259.1 1.2.1 resignations retirements 9.1.2 point2 leave of absence do I need to read the numbers yes Yesa yeah 9.1.2 point3 cert employment is certified staff sorry I'm 9.1.2 point4 employment of educational support staff 9.1.2 point5 employment of at will staff 9.1.3 bills of payment and 9.1.4 destruction of closed session audio from May 18th 2023 May 15 May 25th 2023 and June 15th 2023 may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move second roll call please miss Bonner i dreld i m jacku I miss Joyce I president Montgomery is she still on the phone no she's she dropped okay and vice president qu I motion carries thank you all right 9.2 Treasures report may I have a motion to approve I move second roll call please dornfeld I miss jaamu I miss Joyce
026I miss Bonner I and vice president qu I motion carries 9.3 resolution authorizing statements of completion for health Life Safety amendments may I have a motion to approve so move second roll call please miss jaamu I miss Joyce I miss Bonner I Dr dornfeld I and vice president qu I motion carries 9.4 2025 26 board meeting schedule May I have a motion to approved no moved second roll call please miss chice I miss banner I Dr dornfeld i m jaamu i and vice president qu I motion carries 9.5 middle school classroom display refresh may I have a motion to approve so moved second roll call please miss Bonner hi Dr dornfeld hi Miss jaamu hi Miss Joyce I and vice president qu I motion carries 9.6 administrative contract amendments to revise section c. A.D of
027fiser and Arnold one-year administrative contracts may have a motion to approve so moved second roll call please miss Bonner hi Dr dornfeld hi Miss jaamu hi Miss Joyce hi and vice president quo I motion carries all right uh next on the agenda is committee reports anybody have yeah uh True North had a board meeting last night uh we had a really wonderful presenter that um gave us some information on the researched benefits of inclusive education specifically how inclusivity early on leads to uh much better vocational outcomes for young adults with disabilities so that was a wonderful presentation we also got our information on our specialized Transportation specialized Transportation bid um and through the rubric that we used uh it worked out that our current vendor septran is the continued recommended vendor based on all of
028the parameters of the rubric plus we're happy with the company parents are happy with the company and their bid was very aggressive there is no increase in fees for next year so that's fantastic and then cap at CPI moving forward and no fuel escalators so very good bid it was reviewed with the finance committee and the cbos and everyone felt really good about it and then there was just housekeeping as uh Dr Philip likes to call it policies inter fund transfers and igas so all the fun stuff so that's my true north update you say there's no increase to Fe is that for I apologize I should have been more specific True North is not incurring additional charges for the contract next year okay so whatever we paid this year for sepon is not increasing
029percentage wise for next year okay I was in sorry I realiz as I said it that that sounded confusing yeah sorry sorry I hate to now burst bubbles it is good uh as Dr phle alluded there is always a fear when you go out to bid that you're going to get uh jacked up rate and we did not experience that and everyone was very pleased any other committee reports policy policy met last week Dale we just kind of explained a little bit what we talked about in terms of fees and philosophies and we'll keep kind of revisiting that as we get more information okay then Finance we don't have do we have a meeting coming up we haven't scheduled one yet but we'll have one later in the spring to review budget and our internal
030audit control findings and I think EDC has met since yeah we just had the EDC meeting last week actually um so we had that closed session to discuss those topics so all right all right next on the agenda open communic open Community participation this period of community participation is open for all matters we take all public comment very seriously and while public comment isn't a back and forth but instead an opportunity for the board to listen please know we listen carefully if you wish to comment please fill out a com Community participation form located on the podium and hand it to Rebecca red who's sitting here at the table to my left um we will call you up one at a time to the podium to speak please be mindful of the three minute time
031limit for public comments if you exceed this limit we'll request you quickly complete your statement and we ask that you respect the time limit So Others May make their statements as well thank you for your understanding and Co cooperation okay our first um participant is Oliver vran oh hello uh my name's Oliver I was not expecting to be the first person to speak today yeah oh this is actually my first time uh speaking at a board meeting and um the reason that I'm here is because uh I'm a member of the lgbtq community um and a a trans man um and I'm here to advocate for inclusive policies within the school school setting um I'm aware that there there may be folks here advocating for reading uh trans kids differently in regards to locker rooms
032or traditionally gendered spaces um and I wanted to voice my support for more inclusive policies if that comes up um it's really important for Trans kids to feel supported in all areas of their lives and a large chunk of time is spent at school being able to feel safe at school um is really important for development uh for mental health to be able to socialize uh you know the board was talking about uh managing anxiety and addressing that in in children um and having more inclusive policies is is something that can help with that particularly for for Trans kids um in regards to to mental health um having support from adults administrators uh school officials peers is incredibly important uh last year I I was a a mentor for 12 months for a trans youth
033from Chicago and being able to to walk with them through their gender Journey was incredibly impactful to be able to see how they you know Express concerns about how they're going to be treated by their peers or by adults um and being able to to help them with that was um such an impactful experience for me but also for them when kids are able to have supportive people in their life it really makes a long-term difference um according to a a study published in Pediatrics in in 2018 uh titled parent adolescent relationships and mental health of transgender and gender non-conforming youth some of the key findings were that transgender youth who reported high levels of family support had 70% lower rates of depressive symptoms and 65 lower ratees percent lower rates of suicide attempts mental
034health and suicide uh is a huge issue in our community and we need all the help that we can get uh especially in in you know the moment that we're experiencing right now there's a lot of outside forces that are um creating a an incredible amount of traumatic stress um on our community and I see my time is about up so I will leave it at that thank you for your [Applause] time okay our next participant is Carrick Goodman Lucker my name is Carrick Goodman Lucker um I am here speaking as a classroom teacher and an educator in a variety of different settings um I'm a parent uh I'm a member of the Jewish Community uh today is two really important holidays in My Religion uh one is porm which is a holiday where we
035celebrate with joy and fun and costumes especially gender playful costumes um the resilience and freedom of the Jewish people the other really important holiday is it's my 45th birthday um and when I was a teenager I didn't expect to live to see 4 45 um I didn't know what 45 was it was so far away um in uh middle school and high school I began to be bullied by people for not uh conforming to their gender expectations and um in college I was with a friend when she was uh pulled out of the women's bathroom and you know um like attacked by a police officer for using the bathroom where she felt most safe um the um it is the most important to me on this day to celebrate trans joy and trans resilience um
036and to uplift trans kids because they are some of the most vulnerable and attacked children in our country right now um they're they are being attacked as Liars um as if they made up their their gender they're being attacked as uh deviants or um people who would victimize others and trans kids are not any of that they just want to live and so I want to share with you as a teacher as a parent as a trans man um and just as a person who cares about kids um I want to advocate for policies that protect that support trans kids that we listen to them uh tell us who they are and what kind of support that they need um and that's all I have to say today [Applause] [Music] [Applause] our next participant is
037Nicole Georges hello my name is Nicole geores and I'm here to demand that the locker rooms and bathrooms at District 109 be designated as biological male and biological female as there already is a gender neutral option the girls want their locker rooms and bathrooms back they want their pri privacy back this is why I'm here tonight my 13-year-old daughter's well-being and mental health and privacy is is at stake this nightmare began on February 5th when my daughter was using the girl's bathroom and was stunned that a biological male student was using it as well she came home frighten and was extremely upset I asked her to talk with her teachers and find out more information she was told by the administration that a student can use the bathroom as well as a female locker room
038because they now identify as female I was sent an email to the teachers involved and received a call from Principal wagley he verbally reiterated that under Joanna Ford's Direction and their legal council that the student could Ed both the locker room and bathroom I expressed that the school was in clear VI violation of federal policy the Trump Administration issued an executive order restricting biological males from participating in sports and accessing female locker rooms that day I filed a civil rights complaint on behalf of my daughter with the Department of Justice it has now been referred to the the Department of Education a federal complaint has been filed with the district to Pro to protect the students the situation went from bad to worse a few days later the male student was present in the girls
039locker room feeling violated the girls made the choice to not change into their PE clothes with a ma with a biological male student present the next day assistant principal Kathy vantrice pulled the girls into their office questioning them the same day assistant superintendent Joanna Ford Kathy VRI and multiple teachers all came into the girls locker room making them change into uniform this went on all week with the addition of Ginger Lerman my daughter refused to take part in having her privacy being violated how dare they she ran out and called for me for help principal wagley answered was answered we're offering my daughter a new answers was offering my daughter a new PE class the answer was no she is not changing for the remainder of the year and she is not changing into another
040class the girls just want their privacy and they want their locker room back there are gender neutral options this is my daughter's story and the story of many other young girls who have been forced at the difficult age to do something they know and most adults know is wrong do the right thing Deerfield and give these girls their locker room and bathrooms back allowing biological males to access girls locker rooms sets a dangerous precedent that erose the very Foundation of female privacy and safety by making this decision the school board is not only disregarding the concerns of young female students and making their families but also establishing a legal and policy framework that will make it increasingly difficult to protect the Integrity of female only spaces in the future thank you children's genital yeah for
041real nobody was born you when you talking weren't you yeah ex we'll call our next participant Charles we we can be respectful of everybody's time here so yes thank you I'm happy to go after that one um thank you school board from what I've heard y'all are following the law which is fantastic my name is Charlie fredman my pronouns are they he I am a transp person I am the parent of a trans middle schooler I am also the director of operations for Trans upfront it's a nonprofit organization fighting for Trans rights we partner with over 30 major organizations including the ACLU Lambda legal HRC Etc we have a protest coming up for Trans rights on March 30th 1M Federal Plaza we have a um and I would like to take a moment to talk
042about Illinois we're all very lucky to live in a state that protects everyone here specific to today executive order 2019-11 which my kid with standing next to pritsker when he signed yes an executive order from the governor and in that order it's called strengthening our commitment to affirming inclusive schools which protects trans non-binary and gender non-conforming students from the type of bullying that this parent represents also under the Illinois Human Rights Act Section 3 B-1 the use of restrooms locker rooms and changing rooms may not be restricted based on a student's physical Anatomy or chromosomal sex a student must be permitted to access restrooms or bathrooms locker rooms and changing rooms that align with their gender related identity and without having to provide documentation or other proof of gender under this act and is stated
043the discomfort or privacy concerns of other students teachers or parents are not valid reasons to deny or limit the full and equal use of those facilities based on a student's gender related identity instead any student teacher or other individual seeking more privacy should be accommodated by providing that individual with a more private option upon their request sounds like that would be a great option in this case for your kids talk to everyone else don't point us out do not look EXC so the whole audience is that direction excuse me this is it's her it's it's his time to to talk right so thank you so if needed if needed we'd be happy to dig in to contact our coalition to make sure that the board is supported in doing the right thing for the right
044reasons and following Illinois state law if you need my assistance please do reach out it's trans upfront.com thank you thank you we'll call our next participant David weisberger please good evening board members and neighbors my name is David weissberger I've sent two children through District 109 and I'm here because our schools should be safe inclusive places for all students where policies are based on facts and not fear-mongering let's be clear about what's happening the claim that girls were forced to change in front of a boy isn't just misleading it's a deliberate misrepresentation what they're talking about who they're talking about is a girl a transgender girl but instead of acknowledging her for who she is they're framing her identity in a way designed to provoke outrage and fear the same tactic that's been used throughout
045this country's history to Target People based on race sexual orientation and other differences that people don't understand we all care about out student safety but real safety means ensuring every student can go to school without fear not singling out kids just because of who they are Shephard already has policies to ensure fairness and privacy including alternatives to changing publicly in the locker room no child is being forced into unsafe situations and no child should be treated as a problem just for existing and let's consider who is pushing this complaint I'm here because I was alerted that moms for Liberty were organizing a presence here today who have been identified as an extremist hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for spreading bigotry and division this this isn't just about a locker room policy it's
046part of a national effort to roll back lgbtq plus rights and push a political agenda that has nothing to do with helping students do we want Deerfield to be a place where outside groups spread fear and Target kids just trying to go to school in peace let's show we actually care about students by focusing on real issues ensuring students have quality learning resources supporting teachers so they can focus on education not distracting board members from their jobs and strengthening academic programs our attention should be on improving schools not dividing the community and turning children into Political targets Deerfield throughout its history strives to be a place of compassion and tolerance where we look out for one another and treat people with respect that's the community I enjoy and that's the one we should protect not
047one where kids are made into Political targets I urge the board to reject fear and stand for the values of fairness dignity and inclusion that make Dearfield strong thank you thank [Applause] you we'll call our next participant Jesse Holman please [Music] good evening y'all my name is Jesse my pronouns are they them theirs I grew up in Highland Park but Deerfield has always been a second home to me many of my closest friends went to Deerfield I PL played I spent Summers playing softball not only against but also for Deerfield this community has always been one that values education inclusion and doing what's right and that's why I'm here tonight to urge you to reject the harmful anti-trans roric that is making its way into schools and into uh school boards across the country these
048attacks are not about protecting children they are about erasing and endangering some of the most vulnerable youth in our society trans and non-binary youth already face higher rates of bullying mental health issues and homelessness due to rejection from families and communities schools should be a place where all students feel safe supported and able to learn without fear policies that affirm trans students like using their names their pronouns and allowing them to participate in sports and ensuring them access to the bathrooms and changing rooms is not controversial they are evidence-based best practices supported by Major Medical and mental health associations in this country when people spread misinformation about trans youth they create an environment of fear Division and harm but here's what's true trans students are not a threat they are kids like all kids who
049deserve dignity respect and the opportunity to thrive and when schools take a stand for inclusivity all students all students do better academically socially and emotionally Deerfield has a chance to continue to be a leader in this moment as someone who spent so much time in this community I know Dearfield Prides itself on fairness sportsmanship like we heard tonight and doing what's right you have this opportunity to show that this Community Values all students and that fearmongering and discrimination have no place in our schools and that every child deserves to learn in an environment free from bigotry so I ask you to please do the right thing stand up for every student and show up for a trans and non-binary youth and show them that they belong here thank you thank you we'll call our next
050participant Crystal Larson good evening honorable school board members for district 109 my name is Crystal Larson I us you her pronouns I'm the executive director for the lgbtq plus Center of Lake County and as clerk for Avon Township I recognize the difficulties that you face as elected members of our community today today I rise on behalf of nearly 2,000 transgender or gender non-conforming students across Lake County and the more than 10,000 who identify as part of our queer umbrella I Rise to support this board and the efforts you've made including demonstrating tonight through item 8.7 in your policy reviews that you've undertaken so stringently to continue to protect and support the students rights under titled of the Civil Rights Act the rights that are enshrined under the Illinois Human Rights Act and have been implemented
051so thoroughly by this board through this Administration and through its faculty for that I thank you all we've heard a lot of facts and figures tonight we've heard a lot of arguments but I want to share an experience because when we see a 13-year-old student who's undergoing this type of thing how are they feeling that's what we really need to be considering back in the 1980s I was a young boy in middle school I was a boy then I didn't know any differently but I never felt like I fed in I intentionally stayed away from changing spaces changing in private spaces because of my fear of being in male-dominated spaces I didn't know why the language wasn't there the experience wasn't there but that transformed My Life by high school I was able to opt
052out of all of my gym classes I did not need to go into those facilities I participated in athletics such as is track and field or cross country but I was able to change in spaces that were free from that not in these locker room environments I avoided it at all costs for the next 25 years I wouldn't go to a public gym I struggled to take my children to public pools into changing areas and struggled with that until I eventually found out who I was the day I found out who I was I was started to look at things like going into gyms I was able to go to the public pool as myself feel comfortable in those spaces not feel afraid of being in those places and so for this 13-year-old who's going
053through this right now know this child's going through what I just went through a few years ago they're able to go into this space where they finally feel safe they finally feel authentic they finally feel like themselves and we need to raise that up we need to support those efforts we need to make that child feel just as right and just the same as every other student Within the district with that I've submitted additional comments that are available to the board and I thank you very much for your time tonight thank [Applause] you we'll call our next participant Beckett [Applause] okay sorry I'm kind of shaking um I'm here as a student a quo student with a quo iing and multiple queer friends um one of those queer friends being a trans girl who was
054harassed in the locker rooms uh for being where she thought she would feel most safe and clearly it didn't end up being safe I agree that um changing rooms should be safe for girls because that includes trans girls and not including them doesn't make it safe for anybody the threat isn't trans people it's transphobia I um it's International oh not it's women's history month and that is no time there is no time but it is definitely no time to be going back on young girls and women uh and taking away safe spaces and rights um I was recently hospitalized for about 2 months for my mental health um for multiple reasons one of them being that I was career um and my experience with that so I know firsthand how dangerous it can be to
055not have safe spaces to be and for every space you have to be to be an unsafe one and I me clearly there are people who have talked about it today but I urge you to listen and recognize that too how important it is how unsafe it is to be without a place like that that thank [Music] you we'll call our next participant Jane [Applause] Sadowski good evening my name is Jane zawadowski and I am the proud parent of a 17-year-old transgender son and I wanted to come here as a community member and speak to a lot of things about this topic um first my pronouns are she her also um so I wanted to actually address that I feel compassion for when people do not understand and they are scared and stunned because of
056something that they don't know and so I I would really love to urge the board to take into account teaching people about the actual history of transgender people of intersex people and how this has been existing throughout time throughout cultures throughout the ages and is a fact it is not made up it is true and it's not going to go away it's not an ideology it's just something that I would like to see us support we're going to be handing out these you are beautiful stickers because I really believe each one of us is beautiful and I don't like to think of it in terms of sides but our side sees the beauty in people I see the beauty in all people here and I want you to feel that I want you to feel
057how it's not going to be scary it's not going to be a shock once you start to learn and understand and have compassion for more and more people it's what I had to do I didn't know anything and I told my son oh you'll find your people in in college because I didn't understand what he was saying so I educated myself a ton and this is a place of learning this is a place of growth and this is a place to learn of our civic duty our interdependence with each other and I believe that you can do it I really believe you can um I wanted to say also that a lot of s part of the education is to know that a lot of transgender people pass you wouldn't know that they're transgender and
058so what do you want to do like have genital checks of people talk about privacy an invasion of privacy that is a logistical hurdle that you would not want to even try to accomplish I don't think it's very serious issue and so I ask you to look at respect and Justice and truth and compassion and education which is what this place is all about um back to the scared children I just can't get them out of my heart I really really wonder if there's a way for this place of learning and of great learning and compassion to extend to those folks who need to learn more I don't know how but it's a question that I pose to I honestly don't know but I I really wish we can come together on this thank you
059thank you we'll call our next participant Abby Merrick [Music] hello members of the board my name is Abby Merrick my pronouns are she her and I'm a member of the community um here in Deerfield and I've been gay my whole life um in 2006 I was a middle school student in a locker room terrified uh I had the privilege of being a CIS Middle School student so I was a girl in the girls locker room and that was great but I knew that I was gay and I was afraid of the isolation that would come if I was found out in that space today the cry is oh no we don't want to change in front of a transgender kid in 2006 a much more common cry was oh no we don't want to change
060in front of a lesbian uh so I'm familiar not to the same extent but to a certain extent with the isolation and fear uh that this student and that students um across the country who are just trying to meet their class requirements and change for gym are fac saying I spent uh the 3 years that I had to take Jim in school with my eyes glued to the floor um because I wouldn't I didn't want to subject myself to the ridicule and criticism that came with the public knowledge of my sexuality and what that meant in a setting like a locker room transgender students like other students and like all of us here care about privacy and modesty in places like locker rooms and they do what they can not to draw attention to themselves
061just like I did what I could not to draw attention to myself in that setting and schools now are well equipped to manage the different privacy needs of students in locker room settings the experiences of school administrators across the country have shown that schools can provide additional privacy for students who want it while also ensuring that transgender students can access facilities consistent with their gender identity um so like me in 2006 lesbians have always been here and they're not going anywhere uh and transgender people have always existed and will always exist and we need to make our spaces safe for them thank you thank you we'll call Laura Bernstein please sorry I'm really short hi I'm here as a teacher in a different District but I'm here as a parent I'm here as a parent
062of a kindergarten in this District who recently taught another friend when she said your brother she said no she's my sister she's my sister because in her heart and her brain she is a girl and you should respect that that is a 5-year-old we can do better and I also want to say to you guys when my daughter started at kindergarten this year I emailed the team because I have a 17-year-old they all know her but they know her as a different person and I shared her pronouns I shared her name and the day we walked into that school they all asked me how is she how is she doing and that's because you have set a policy that we respect people and I understand that some of the the some of the girls that
063at the shepherd are struggling but besides the locker room now it's time to teach them these are people these are children they don't care what your children are doing in the locker room they just want to survive they want to live to be trans adults I'm telling you this as a parent to parent they don't care about that they literally want to grow up and live and they said that it's from a parent and a Community member there are safe people and please please we need to expand this just from the Lac room and teach respect using appropriate pronouns is the first thing you do do not call this child a he she is a she from her soul her brain and heart match that please and I just want to thank you guys because
064because of you I know these things have been installed in the social workers who have reached out to me to help other parents you have taught taught you have expressed how important this is that every teacher referred to my child as a she when speaking to my 5-year-old and I know that's because of the things you have said and I appreciate that that's not just the teachers as people that's also what you do in 109 and as a teacher in another District that is not as easy so I appreciate that and I want to thank you and I want to thank the community here because although this is not my child we're speaking of you are speaking of my child and I appreciate you all being here in derfield thank you thank you our next
065participant is Tina Nelson [Applause] please Tina Nelson she her pronounce Community member and part of the lgbtq community um thank you to the board for prioritizing the safety of um the student that's been targeted by a organization that weaponizes religion to push the white supremacist agenda of their sis white husbands thank you excuse me excuse me this is It's I have let's be respectful please be respectful of each other's times targeting a middle school student because of your white God my white God yeah excuse me can we pause for a second this is a time for for us to listen to hear your Viewpoint and we we want to hear that right so thank you yes so children that are raised by those who hate vilify and fearmonger will hate vilify and fear-monger their peers
066so education is super important sex education is super important and um this is just a kid and it's I'm just I'm really grateful to see how full this room is of support for this kid instead of the petty women that Target him this way stop you're not all right thank you is there anyone else who would like to participate is there anyone else who would like to participate in the audience thank you so next on the agenda is board superintendent other I'd like to say again how much I appreciate the work that went into the visit today um it's a huge amount of work and benefiting every kid and potentially every student and community in the region because there are so many districts that are participating that and I really feel like 109 is led
067the way in this and established a benchmark for other districts to Aspire to and think it's going to be a huge benefit for the region I really appreciate all the effort that went into it for the uh cic today else just like to thank everybody for attending tonight we like obviously Civic engagement is important right we don't get a lot of people coming to our board meetings we appreciate yeah not the most exciting thing off half the time um but we appreciate everybody being here yeah wait until the budget meeting so all right I thank you again and I would like to can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting no move second all in favor I I everybody have a good night