001good evening everyone uh thank you for coming to our school board meeting tonight would you please rise and join me and sing the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the love for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice all right i think first on our agenda we have staff and student recognitions uh dr mccall thank you mr president uh tonight i'd like to recognize uh several achievements by our students and staff first one we had two winners in the statewide american legion americanism and government contest put on by the american legion ezekiel bloom and 11th grader at valparaiso high school won the junior level contest and benjamin barrowball 8th grader at thomas jefferson middle school won the middle school
002contest students will receive a certificate as well as american legion americanism medallion that again is a huge honor and a statewide contest at the high school we also received notice that there are five national merit finalists from valparaiso high school they are anthony grisolano carly laduka eric page isaac utah and carissa you again tremendous honor best of luck to those students finally uh the valparaiso high school 2021 millennium yearbook received an excellent rating from the indiana high school press association designating it a hoosier star finalists and one of the best in the state they will be competing for the hoosier star award susan hoffman who's the bhs yearbook advisor reported that they had a small but very devoted and talented staff last year put that together so again kudos to them representing valparaiso high school
003well let's give each of these a round of applause does that conclude our recognitions tonight all right well it's great to have these recognitions and all the hard work that these students put in so next we have uh the consent agenda board i think you have this in your packet any comments or questions that you have on the consent agenda see any nods or hearing any comments what's your pleasure tonight i make a motion that we approve the consent agenda i'll second we have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda all in favor indicate by saying aye aye all right motion's been approved thank you next we have performance of budget funds dr mccall thank you and uh mrs qualcomm bush is absent i'll do my best imitation uh but i won't
004do the voice for the month of january 2022 we present our financial reports and calculate a ratio comparing the beginning fund balance for the year to the ending cash balance for the prior month if the ratio is one the performance is good if the ratio is greater than one the performance is excellent and if the ratio is less than one caution is needed and we explain the cause as you can see on the chart uh the debt service and pension funds uh are ones that would stick out at 0.18 and 0.50 respectively and that's because we made our debt payments with our january payment thus it should stay flat until we have an influx again the education fund report compares the monthly expenditures to accumulated target uh accumulated target spending rate of point three three
005percent each month as of this month we have expended six point five seven percent of the budget and we would anticipate with a level spending of eight point three three percent per month we would have expended that eight point three three percent thus we are uh one point seven six percent under budget for the fund the operations fund report compares the monthly expenditures report to cumulative target of the same eight point three three percent each month as of this month we have expended six point three percent of the budget and we would anticipate with a level spending of eight point three three percent per month we would have expended that target thus we are two point zero three percent under budget for the fund we believe a review of the funds show a positive financial
006position and if there are no questions we ask for approval of the financial reports for january 2022 i moved that way i'll wait for you oh just any questions for dr mccall all right miss watkins yes i'm sorry i hope that we accept the performance and operation budgets i second that we have a motion and a second to approve the performance of budget funds all in favor indicate by saying aye next we have contract considerations dr mccall uh thank you very much uh tonight we have five uh contracts for your consideration fairly perfunctory with mr nikki's online educational music program for ben franklin middle school porter county expo and arrested sounds for prom services and district-wide are ad tech for e-rate category 2 internal connections and asset control solutions for our inventory service that we
007do okay what's the board's pleasure of these five contracts a motion to approve the countries second we have a motion and a second to prove these contracts all in favor indicate by saying aye aye motion's been approved next we have france this is molasto thank you mr president good evening board i have four grants for your consideration this evening the title two grant for this school year has a total out allocation of one hundred thousand one hundred forty seven dollars and forty six vcs is the lea for saint paul and emmanuel lutheran schools with title ii funds the non-profit equitable share is five thousand one hundred forty dollars and eight cents the title ii grant is a federally funded grant used to improve teacher and administrator quality through recruitment and professional development vcs utilizes these
008funds to support teacher recruitment through our mentoring program and also for professional development opportunities in all curricular areas thrivent is a non-profit organization this grant was awarded to sydney bronner and k magneti in the amount of 250 dollars each miss bronner and miss mrs magneti both second grade teachers at northview elementary applied for grants to assist with the purchase of books for northview's one school one book event northview students will be reading the one and only ivan this year congratulations to our northview second grade teachers on the receipt of this grant we are seeking the board's approval for a grant received by elementary art teacher jessica corral this is the fourth time mrs corral has been awarded the john w anderson foundation grant and this year's award is in the amount of seven thousand five
009hundred dollars the foundation provides funds to organizations serving youth especially in the areas of health humanities and the arts the funds will be used toward the community event spring into the arts and the newly established yearly mural project we congratulate mrs corral on the receipt of this grant debbie sybre applied for and received a grant scholarship in the amount of 750 to attend the national school social work association conference debbie serves as the social social worker at hevlin elementary this conference is held in chicago this year we would like to congratulate her on the receipt of this scholarship and wish her a rewarding conference experience if there are any questions i can entertain those now otherwise i ask for the board's approval any questions it's always good to have these grants awarded and um these
010are really beneficial to both our teachers and also for our kids what's the pleasure of the board i make a motion that we accept the grants as presented nice okay all right we have a motion and a second to approve the grants that have been listed here all in favor indicate by saying aye aye aye motion's been approved thank you lord just make sure your microphones are turned on i think some of ours were off earlier so thank you all right next we have donations and gifts dr mccall thank you mr president i'll go through the donations and gifts report memorial elementary received two donations one from box tops for education 67 dollars 20 cents and the other from artsonia for 369.79 valparaiso high school uh received an anonymous donation of 1800 for valparaiso high
011school baseball caps for all levels christ lutheran church donated a hundred dollars for the band polo shirts and jeff and nikki templin donated 3518.24 cents for windscreens for the new softball field the first united methodist church united methodist women donated uh 500 uh catherine and robert gonzalez 50 joel and kirsten koch 99 anonymous donation of 250 valparaiso new kiwanis uh donated non-perishable food items valparaiso elks number 500 quarterly club donated two thousand dollars all to the backpacks and snacks program uh those were six donations totaling two thousand nine hundred twenty four dollars to the backpack and snacks program and then angela stearns donated school supplies for needy students to tj middle and of course valparaiso sunrise kiwanis donated 200 to the free lunch program all right board as our custom is uh we do need
012to approve these donations and gifts um what's your pleasure a motion to approve the donations and gifts a second we have a motion and a second to prove the donations and gifts tonight all in favor indicate by saying aye aye motion's been approved and looks like we do not have any old business to cover tonight so under new business we have several items the first is cancel old outstanding checks mrs molasto thank you indiana code requires that all checks outstanding for a period of two years as of december 31st are to be cancelled and receded back to the original fund these are checks that were written by valparaiso community schools and are not cashed in compliance with the statute we are presenting the board with six uncashed corporation checks written prior to december 31st 2019
013in the amount of 904.43 in addition we are presenting the board with 11 uncached extracurricular checks written prior to december 31 2019 by valparaiso high school ben franklin middle school and the porter county career center in the amount of 2093.62 cents if this process is approved the dollars will be received back to the appropriate funds all right board this is something we typically do annually um so we do need to consider action on this tonight i make a motion that we um cancel the outstanding checks following the law as described a second we have a motion and a second to cancel the outstanding checks as being as presented all in favor indicate by saying aye aye motion's been approved and uh we also have a fema expanse expense transfer mrs molasto yes thank you in
0142020 we requested reimbursement of covid related supplies and equipment from fema in the amount of one hundred seventy eight thousand eight hundred fifty six dollars and eighty three cents the expenses were paid august through october 2020 for expenses related to disinfection and cleaning supplies hand sanitizer and dispenser stands engineering controls such as sneeze guards and signage to promote social distancing on january 14 2022 we received reimbursement of one hundred eighteen thousand one hundred forty one dollars and fifty eight cents from the department of homeland security we were required to deposit the reimbursement into fund 7944 since the supplies were purchased in a prior year we were we are allowed to transfer the money to the fund used to pay these expenses we will be asking for approval to transfer the money from fund 7944 the
015fema stimulus fund to fund zero three zero zero operations to reimburse the purchase of these items right this transfer does require board approval i believe it's pretty self-explanatory any questions for mrs molesto hearing none what is your pleasure i moved to um i'm sorry i moved to approve the transfer of monies from fund 7944 to fund zero three zero zero to reimburse the purchase of those items and i'll second all right we have a motion and a second to approve the described fema expense transfer all in favor indicate by saying aye aye motion's been approved thank you board all right thank you well that kind of concludes our new business um next we have public participation let me just give a brief reminder to the patrons of the valparaiso community schools you will be given
016three minutes to give board comments on educational issues you're reminded decorum is expected and discussions charges or complaints involving personnel litigation student discipline will not be permitted we expect you to address your comments to the board and not to the audience patrons in attendance are asked not to provide any comments or remarks during the speaker's address or afterwards including any applause this is an opportunity for you to provide information to the board and not to enter into a debate or personal attacks we are valpo and expect comments to be done with that in mind if you're not able to follow these guidelines you'll be asked to leave the meeting so i believe we have a podium here and um dr mccall will announce usually who's up and who's on deck and so when you come
017to the podium if you could state your name and your address uh that would be appreciated for uh the minutes dr mccall thank you uh we have 15 speakers uh we'll start with paul schreiner followed by jessica jepson and then simon shelling is in the hole thank you my name is paul schreiner i live at 1755 lawndale drive and i'm filling in for a familiar face george terrell representing allies against racism george is recovering and we'll be back in the saddle shortly today allies against racism and i believe we have some people here that uh share this commitment could you guys stand up for a minute thank you today allies against racism officially presents our change.org petition to the vcs school board with over 500 signatures from community members we hope that the board hears
018our requests loud and clear the requests within the petition are as follows number one implement restorative practices justice process to deal with racial and other discrimination against marginalized groups and to resolve conflict and bring an end to racist and other forms of bullying number two provide implicit bias training for teachers and administrators number three hire people of color in teaching administrative counseling and other positions and number four conduct a thorough and critical examination and updating of curriculum to become more inclusive not less allies against racism has been striving for years to make sure all students have an equal opportunity to succeed at vcs many who have encountered barriers to success have come to us for support we have developed the four points outlined in the petition in order to protect vulnerable students and to help
019them succeed we want valparaiso to do more than just proclaim that it is a welcoming community we are here to ensure that the city of valparaiso lives up to that promise equal rights for all and now i'm going to give dr sender a copy of the signatures 30 seconds i'm done jessica jepson simon shelling and then ezra burke thank you mr schreiner just point of clarification i'm not a doctor so we are now okay uh jose cajabson 1259 sherwood drive it is very nice to see everybody's faces whether they're smiling or not right all the serious stuff um i wanted to point out at the october 21st 21 board meeting if you go to the live stream video at an hour nine minutes in 38 seconds dr mccall had made a statement of schools are
020not paid to mask or unmasked kids there are no strings attached no incentive to deploy that as a mitigation media mitigation strategy so the indiana department of education in order to receive sr-3 funding this is the document um and it was updated 4 28 of 21 so before the statement was made that universal and correct wearing of masks was a requirement to receive the funds and that's through the state of indiana um went through thank you for putting the financials i don't know if they were there previously or not but i i did my due diligence this month and saw the financials up there so thank you um the school is receiving us or three funds on your financials so to me this is a very misleading statement that is not truthful and if we've
021uncovered this that's untruthful what else is there that's it thank you thank you thank you simon shelling ezra burke and deb porter hello my name is simon anderson shelling i live at 107 hickory street in valparaiso indiana so i'm going to start we the board of directors and the community members of lgbtq outreach of porter county in keeping with our mission of promoting and affirming community to lgbtq plus youth show solidarity with jasper weiss carver in his lawsuit filed by the aclu of indiana the acts of valparaiso community school corporation and continuously denying jasper appropriate and legitimate access to student bathrooms and locker room facilities is an atrocious violation of his rights not only is vs vcs not doing right by jasper and their unwillingness to ensure his rights but they are sending the wrong
022message to lgbtq plus students students of color and other underrepresented groups in our community all of our students need and deserve the support of adults in their lives today we come before the board to ask the district to examine and revise its policies on bathroom and locker use by students in line with their gender identity according to protections under title 9 and the 14th amendment second we ask that moving forward the school board institutes mandatory annual diversity and inclusion training for all faculty and staff to address these patterns of discriminatory actions thank you thank you thank you ezra burke deborah porter and then mark fessenmeyer good evening my name is ezra burke 1614 napoleon street in valparaiso i'm a board member for lgbtq plus outreach of porter county and in response to a 2021 national
023survey on lgbtq mental health conducted by the trevor project with over 100 000 participants i have some statistics i'd like to share with the board 94 of lgbtq youth report that recent politics over the past year have negatively impacted their mental health 27 percent of transgender youth indicate they feel unsafe attending school in the past 30 days compared to 6 percent of their cisgender peers in that same study it was determined many lgbtq youth lack access to affirming spaces with only half of lgbtq youth saying that their school is affirming and only one in three saying that home is an affirming place for them these numbers need to improve and the schools can do our part to do that additionally 75 percent of lgbtq youth report they'd experience discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender
024identity at least once in their lifetime and more than half say they experienced the discrimination in the past year unfortunately this is considered the norm for these youth in terms of covid and long-term impacts 48 of all lgbtq students report they wanted counseling from a mental health professional in the past year but were unable to access it including 45 percent of white youth and 53 and 54 of black and latinx youth respectively national organizations such as the trevor project the aclu glaad and hrc help bring these types of statistics to light and fight on the national stage for matters of equality and discrimination legislation a survey from west ed found that almost 14 percent now of both middle and high school students identify as having a sexual orientation other than straight and about 3 percent
025identify as someone whose gender identity did not correspond with their birth sex these numbers are higher than they've ever been as more and more folks in the lgbt community feel more empowered to come out younger however lgbtq students were at higher risk for bullying chronic sadness thoughts of suicide poorer learning engagement and academic performance these studies found that if lgbtq students experience the same levels of support and safety at school as their peers then these disparities would disappear or greatly diminish 30 seconds for reasons made clear from the results of these studies there's work to be done to protect and support our underrepresented populations in our schools and that's why we ask moving forward that the school board institutes mandatory annual diversity and inclusion training anti-bias training for all faculty and staff thank you thank
026you thank you god porter mark fessenmeyer and then lee skorupskra garupskar correct me please when you get up deborah porter 3602 candlewood drive valparaiso i'm speaking as president and founding member of valparaiso pflag pflag is the nation's largest family and ally organization we advocate educate and support the family friends allies and members of the lgbtq community and we rise to show our solidarity just as valparaiso and northwest indiana are beginning to draw more and more new residents and businesses who desire the opportunities and offerings here in this area a simultaneous and less visible fight flight is occurring there is an ongoing exodus of a generation of creative intelligent young adults who leave the region with no intent to return after their graduation from valparaiso community schools this has been going on for decades and has
027impacted my family alumni who follow the local news of ongoing incidents of discrimination have two consistent reactions dismay about the lack of change and outrage that students continue to experience the same adversity that they did in the 90s and the 2000s many students from those years left the area rather than come out in such an oppressive environment for those young people who did come out they soon discovered that it's better in valpo did not apply to them and they chose to leave due to the ongoing culture of intolerance and discrimination that they've experienced this leads to a void of 20-somethings who would otherwise return and contribute to the community in which they were raised we the members of pflag ask that you as the representatives of our schools stand on the side of doing right
028by all of your students acknowledge that all of your students must feel safe in school and implement change reconsider your efforts at becoming a visibly inclusive and diverse school system by acknowledging mistakes of the past and move forward with the goal of making it better in valpo for all students thank you thank you thank you mark then lee and brad bernard [Music] hello my name is mark fussenmeyer i live at 2400 nottingham drive i'm a valparaiso resident a neighbor to several of you up at the board and a board member of lgbtq outreach at porter county in preparing my remarks for tonight i began with a review of the vcs website i found that the mission of the vcs is to empower students and staff to pursue personal excellence while developing empathy integrity and perseverance
029the vision of vsc vcs excuse me is to be a leader in education fully dedicated to bettering ourselves our practice and our profession to best serve the interests of children the core values include integrity high expectations respect safety community and student centered in that every decision is based on what is best for students we have heard from other speakers tonight that lgbtq plus students don't feel safe at school that they are at higher risk of bullying chronic sadness thoughts of suicide and poor learning engagement and academic performance if these students have the same school supports as their peers the same access to high expectations the same positive relationships in school the same experience in terms of lower victimization rates their outcomes are dramatically better lgbtq plus outreach at porter county is focused on the primary
030goals of empowerment advocacy and support of lgbtq plus people and our local community beyond as such we are compelled to speak out on issues involving the lgbtq plus community in valparaiso we ask that the school staff and administration do their part to empower all valparaiso youth facing discrimination we need these students and youth to feel seen heard understood supported respected and treated with equality every student has the right to learn and thrive in a welcoming and inclusive environment that nourishes and encourages the whole student when we fail a student or a group of students we fail all the students in the entire valparaiso community no student should ever feel less than another we ask the vcs to do right by mr weiss carver lgbtq plus students and all other marginalized students we ask that you
031immediately revise your bathroom and locker room policies and look to enact diversity and inclusion trading in a district-wide level i'd like to close with a paraphrased quote from a former first lady and senator lgbtq people are born and belong to every society in the world they are all ages all races all faiths they are the jocks and the cheerleaders the student council members and the theater kids the art students and the quiz bowls members the preppies and the goths and whether we know it or whether we acknowledge it they are our family our friends and our neighbors being lgbtq is a human reality thank you thank you thank you mark lee brad and then ruth vance thank you lee skrupskis 905 jefferson street i'm new to valparaiso relatively so thank you for allowing me the
032opportunity to speak i'm kind of changing the subject a little so i apologize but um at your last meeting you indicated that the budget and whatnot was available online and i did do my homework and i did learn that the purpose of the 2015 referendum was because we needed to make up for the difference from the loss from the switch from the local property tax to the state sales tax so i thank you for that that helps make a better picture of what that's being used for so my i have a question i apologize because i guess you really don't ask questions but in the seven years since we had that last referendum what has not changed at the state or the local level that that can have been it could have been addressed it
033seems like instead of switching to the local sales tax that now we're tacking back on the local property tax so it just seems like it's an ongoing and i would just like to understand better so if if someone could guide me and who in the state can explain why we switched from local to sales tax only to have it added back in that would be very helpful thank you yes thank you okay dr mccall will address the questions at the end oh yeah please don't leave uh brad bernard ruth vance and then adam gibson ever hi my name is brad bernard 3054 sega road i'm also here to address the referendum in the budget um i know it's a little late and i know it's already been put forth and approved in a certain way
034to be put on the ballot but i have to really question the wisdom of the rate that you've been asking um it's not just the money it's what the money's going towards this is a permanent increase to the yearly school budget you can't undo this once you do this there's no way to trim it in the future without laying off teachers and staff in eight years from now when the next referendum has to be passed what are you going to do fire all the staff if you don't fi if you don't vote for higher taxes you're going to hate kids and teachers this this large jump in yearly budget isn't just a one-time expense it's forever and then the next referendum those teachers are going to want to pay more so you're going to have
035to do a higher ask next time in eight years with uh increasing enrollment in just a few years we're gonna have to come back for more probably before the eight years are up not just for the 15 cents that you asked but probably even more like 30. big surprise with illinois moving here uh there's the the number of developments the number of people moving here the enrollment's going to get larger and then pretty soon you're going to be saying well our cafeteria's too small we have to do this or another building has to be built well oh we got to do a referendum again but in the meantime you've already asked the public to do 15 cents per assessed you're going to be asking the same people for money earlier than that eight years i
036can guarantee it um counselors 13 of them is valparaiso not doing a good job educating their children now are you guys doing a good job you think a good good product because if you think you are why do you need 13 counselors what are they gonna do maybe they'll counsel the children for the emotional and social damage they've been by two years of masks just doesn't seem necessary uh we seem to be doing fine without them this year during your presentation i didn't hear a purpose for those given home prices they're skyrocketing assessments are going to follow shortly and the increase burden on valpo families is going to be felt so your your hundred thousand dollar uh assessment is gonna become the rare one uh the average new home cost is what now you wanna
037build a house in this area it is 100 000 uh to call this reduction to call this a reduction is misleading the last referendum built buildings they're paid for this is new spending uh what we have after eight years you would need to increase your ass next time just to cover the increased salaries let alone teachers does anyone here think that class size won't be an issue buildings are very expensive and we know we just got done paying for them like i want to have a great school and kids from my community i believe we can do that with a little more fiscal responsibility a more moderate ask might have been more appropriate thank you thank you ruth adam and then mary jo newland [Music] yes go ahead hello um i'm ruth vance 3811 quail
038cubby drive i wish to address the petition presented by the allies against racism i'm against racism and bullying too i don't think hardly anyone could be against that but as they say the devil's in the details there's certain buzzwords used in the petition that raise red flags one of them is implicit bias training that raises the red flag of critical race theory or crt no training for teachers other employees or students should single out people or group them on the basis of an immutable characteristic such as skin color or disability or anything else and people should not be made to feel bad or to blame for anything because of an immutable characteristic people should not be pitted against each other as oppressors and victims crt training itself uses a form of bullying another item on
039their petition when they ask a demand to hire people of color i see no qualifier of merit on there and hiring should be done on the basis of qualifications and not done in a discriminatory manner item four any curriculum committee should be advisory in nature and should be made up of a cross-section of the community and the school not of just one narrative all valparaiso community school teachers administrators employees students parents and taxpayers should be partners in the education of our students not just one group i urge you to reject the petition of the allies as written thank you thank you uh adam mary jo and then len hahn hi my name is adam gibson eden i live on napoleon street i'm a member of allies against racism i support the lgbtq plus outreach but
040speaking here tonight really is a community member my kids are at ben franklin and at the high school on my mind our kids at our schools that we're all familiar with uh maybe i'll speak in the abstract but the board is familiar with the students you guys know the details i'm afraid that it speaks to a cultural problem at the high school within our schools you know what does it mean that a student feels so alienated that they need outside organizations to support them uh that the board needs to overturn an expulsion that legal charges are brought against a student uh when a student feels their only resort is to file a lawsuit against the high school you know i'm glad there are community organizations that can support the students but who's their advocate within
041the schools you know who in the administration can support them why are they left in such desperate circumstances the board has to take a serious look at the culture in our schools hard would it be to work with a student according to their gender identity who cares what bathroom they use if accommodations have to be made why can't they be reasonably negotiated why would an administrator threaten a student's college prospects who within the administration advocates for these students if a student is being bullied who's got their back who within the administration is in their corner if a student of color is being bullied do they get fair treatment equal treatment what does it mean that they receive an expulsion that the board has to overturn that legal charges are brought against them that have to
042be dismissed if it was your daughter your grandson your nephew how would you want them to be treated so board please take a serious look at the culture in our schools how we support and how we fail to support our diverse students thank you thank you who's up next uh mary jo newland len hahn and then stephanie pals hi i'm mary jo newland and my address is 3005 virginia park drive apartment 18. i am a 1974 valparaiso high school graduate i am very concerned about your special ed program as well as other concerns i believe it is awful that you have lawsuits pertaining to your special ed program i also feel awful about the allied against racial discrimination and because there are people who are lbgtq there are people who are minority they're black they're
043asian they're hispanic and we should be able to live in valparaiso and to go to school and to not school sue the school system i am asking you for accommodations i am asking you to ensure that our special ed students be able to graduate and either find well-paying jobs or go on to college because special ed students with disabilities can be productive citizens as well as neurotypical people and i'm also asking you yes i know that we decided to um have face masks be optional however 30 seconds i do believe that we do not want to expose children to covid and i do believe the masks help and until covet is completely over i would like to see you reverse your position on face masks thank you very much thank you len hahn stephanie pals
044and then leslie nuss hi i'm len han i live just down the street from gym and i haven't seen you guys in a while um it is good to actually see you um and i want to tell you my children were extremely happy to be able to go to school without having to wear masks [Music] i didn't think it had really impacted them negatively you know they're pretty robust kids but the relief that they expressed during the entire week when they didn't have to wear the masks was was really touching and in a way frightening because they just did this for two years um the thought of bringing this back okay if we look at all of the exist all of the now coming to light everywhere data the thought of bringing masking back is
045is is scientifically and and emotionally foolish for these kids and i'd like to see them get off the buses the masks as soon as we can um i know there are guidelines that you're following but the if if we're still wearing them we're we're we're not serving the children at all um that's it that's it for me tonight thanks thank you stephanie pals leslie nuss and then our last speaker will be don miller um stephanie pals 2653 bonita drive i have my problems with valparaiso community schools but racism is not one of them my husband and i have three daughters our middle daughter was adopted and she is black she spent her seventh and eighth grade years at ben franklin we started her at the high school but pulled her out because of the mass
046mandate prior to moving to valpo two years ago our girls school community and friends were very diverse and that was created by design my husband and i did not take lightly that we were now a multicultural family and that we do not understand what it means to be black in america we needed to move to valpo for family reasons and we had our reservations this would be the first time our black daughter would be the obvious minority in her school and future friend group our daughter felt accepted she felt safe and was not treated differently by any teacher staff or student she made friends easily and no one cared that she was black we did have one incident that i want to share several weeks after school started while in pe class a middle school
047boy came up to my daughter with a smile and a joking manner and called her a very inappropriate name my girl is strong and she knows who she is she puffed up her chest put her finger in his face and said no you will not talk to me like that and then she stormed off we were able to call our friends who were black to help us navigate this my daughter did not feel threatened and we did not feel the need to talk to the school about this the incident happened on a tuesday and on friday night at a football game that same boy walked up to my daughter and apologized and it was a genuine apology he said he thought about what she said and realized it was wrong and not funny to call
048her what he did i wonder what would have happened if i on wednesday would have called the school about a racist instant incident that happened to my daughter how would various groups in the community against racism advise our family we all know that middle schoolers can be pretty dumb and middle school boys probably take the cake on that one it was 100 wrong for that boy to call my daughter that name even if he was joking the color of my daughter's skin has been of zero concern to 99.9 percent of the people that she has encountered at school and throughout this community are there racist people at 30 seconds or in this town probably but when all but one of my daughter's interaction with people have been kind and appropriate i have a hard time
049believing that this school is racist i'm not comfortable talking about my black daughter's experience of a community reacting to her skin color i was given permission by her to talk today the reason that i felt like i could do that is because i've only ever seen white people come up here and talk to the podium about racism in the school maybe a minority person has and i've missed it but you maybe need to hear a different perspective not every black person has the same experience thank you thank you thank you okay leslie nuss and then don miller hello my name is leslie nuss i live at 3161 haveland road and i am the president of the self pto and some of you may know self as a school that is in bel prasad that is
050for children with disabilities so that's something that i can more easily talk about than some of the other things that people are talking about today but um mostly i did want to talk about support for the lgbt community because i'm sure many of you know that 60 years ago most children with disabilities were not welcomed at the public school there was no public school for them and that is why self came into existence and my son did not ask to be born with down syndrome and he also has epilepsy and right hemiplegia and microcephaly but that's besides the point um and i have seen public um perception of people with disability change even within his lifetime he's 13. and so i just think that we do need to give support to the lgbt community and
051we do need to make accommodations for children who are trans it's not something that i personally experience in my own family but most families don't have a child with with down syndrome either and so i don't think they would be an expert on what it's like in our family um i do know a trans artist her name is bry daisy she sang on a recent recording that i made and i did reach out to her and she said it never hurts to have statistics about trans suicide rates and stating that psychologists have proven that giving trans students access to the proper facilities reduces this and if that is the only reason to make accommodations that is reason enough something i don't really feel comfortable with is that my nephew who was gay committed suicide when
052he was 21 and i would give anything for him to be here and he didn't i mean i don't know exactly what was going on i'm not going to say he killed himself because he was gay but we do know that children who are lgbtq attempt suicide at a higher rate and actually complete suicide at a higher rate and it doesn't just affect you know a nuclear family it affects a whole larger family in the community 30 seconds so anyway i just want to give my two cents for having a child who is different and seeing changes in 60 years and i know that you can make accommodations for trans students too thank you thank you thank you don miller hello don miller i live in valparaiso a couple questions um mr mccall the handbook
053said um vcs purchase for um let's see the restorative practices were they made available to the public do we know what's in those books first question more information can be provided for for us in the community on the training sessions that the teachers will be having regarding those same uh restorative practices those are the two questions now i would like to touch on the lbgyq i'm sorry if i don't say it correctly um i say we should not change the things that are going on right now i reject the position there are certain circumstances i don't know how many i haven't done enough studies obviously but in virginia 15 year old male identified transgender raped a girl in a bathroom in the school so i'm sorry when it comes to something like sharing a bathroom
054with someone that identifies as being a male and they're actually or if they're female and they're going into a bathroom with you figure out all you want honey but it happens it's happened it happened in virginia um these these kids get raped it's happened it's happened more than once it's happened more than i i'll get the numbers the next time but i say no we should reject the position thank you hey please hey please please no further comments thanks for your comments thank you all right that concludes public participation um dr mccall do you have some responses uh to some of the questions tonight uh absolutely thank you very much um i have some comments uh some offers of suggestions and then uh maybe some final words of wisdom so first i will address the
055the issue regarding trans students and i do appreciate all the comments on the issue of transgender students uh as you may be aware and i think judging from your comments many of you are we do not make comments on individual students staff or litigation that being said it is important to note that valparaiso community schools strives to provide the most supportive and inclusive learning environment for all of our students and as such our current practices are now aligned to the most recent case law on the matter and our administration will continue to engage in the topic and we sincerely appreciate your support of our students as well as of vaporizer community schools as a whole regarding the esser funds that i will now address for a third time in public there are no strings attached
056to the arp funds we in regard to getting paid to issue a mask mandate in the uh arp esser application it only requires that the school's return to learn plan addresses how the mitigation strategies would be incorporated into quote the greatest extent practicable end quote not that a mask would be required for all in the schoolhouse at all times we outlined those components in our plan and began the year in the mask optional environment and we've now returned to a mask optional environment because of the factors and only the factors that went into that decision which has been outlined in several communications by my office to our parents to indicate anything other than what is fact is just irresponsible for our friends from the allies against racism appreciate the petition uh it is validating to
057see all of the support over 500 signatures as you said for the three-prong plan that i had outlined a year ago in our public board meeting and on which i've provided several progress updates throughout the past 12 months as you'll recall our three-prong plan from that time includes our media center and curricular resources staff training as well as deepening and diversifying our applicant pool for all of our positions but again i do appreciate your efforts and support in this endeavor uh referendum uh lee uh there was a presentation online uh 35 minutes of glory i think it was or outlined if you were unable to watch that i went through a lot of what's been going on and kind of the historical ups and downs of funding that would provide more information but if there's
058other specific questions if you're new to indiana or just new to looking at school finance i'm happy to answer anything specific just email me okay um and then mr bernard is saying it seems like you have several misunderstandings regarding the uh renewal the 13 counselors are actually social workers and we've had them for uh several years this isn't a new um endeavor that would be funded through the renewal of the operating referendum um so i'm happy to sit down with you as well and walk you through the particulars of uh the presentation and and how that works uh and then the special ed i appreciate the advocacy as well um miss nuss it's good to see you we are undergoing a review of our special ed services with porter county educational services that was announced
059several months ago and we are underway having completed now the parent uh focus groups uh with uh our consultant so we're looking forward to continuing progress in that way that was some heavier topics i would like to end on sort of a high note regarding our elementary science bowl teams uh this spring uh all eight of our valparaiso community schools um scored in the top 20 of the state with memorial leading the way in second place hevlin won third place cooks was a top 10 team and the other five schools were all in the top 20. so as you can see the middle school science olympiad team is well positioned for the next several years so congrats to our students and their families and of course the sponsors for all the hard work and a
060job well done all right thank you board members do any of you have anything you'd like to address tonight i would love to leave it on uh dr mccall's note um i usually try to remain quiet and almost speak when necessary but i reflect back to the pledge of allegiance and um don't need to recite it because we all are clear of what it says but that last piece is always the most reflective piece for me simply because many of you already have heard my daughter's story um about standing in class as a high school student not just as a middle school student and some of the things that happen in middle school but happened in high school her junior year when a student looked at her and said and justice for all white people
061so i want to caution everyone that is in this room as we should never be disrespectful when we should be clear of what we say to each other and how we say it we need to respect so we're talking about education and students needing to be educated we as adults need to be educated as well so when we call on a group we want to be clear to say lgbtq community we want to be able to say black and be comfortable with it because i am very proud of being a black woman but clearly your racial issue might be different from my daughter's racial issue and my son has had some racial issues and we've been here 11 years i'm your neighbor as well sir so i know the community quite well and i'm very
062familiar of what's happening here we have been talked about being educated about mass we've been talked about racial discrimination we've talked about special needs we all clearly in this room have differences but we will not be able to fully be in the same place at the same time and be mindful unless we're educated about each other because we all have gone through some things we all have some differences but how can we get to know the person next door if you don't ask questions because we all have suffered and we all have felt some pain at some point in time and we will feel even more but it is my deepest prayer and my hope as i continue to pray for this community is that we stop being so concerned about critical race theory but
063start to look at the differences that are happening here all of our children if your children were in a black school trust me you would want to know who's educating your children and what their background may be that same sentiment is for me as a black parent who is putting her children in a school where there are white teachers white counselors and white whatever i'm comfortable and i too have taught my children how to stand up and to defend themselves but they may not be looked at in the same light i thank you for your respect and allowing me to finish my comment we will never all disagree we will never all agree on everything even spouses disagree as my grandfather will say tongue and teeth fall out sometimes so there are some points that
064we will not ever all agree on and that's okay but i think what's respectful is to listen to one another hear each other out and have some sincere um conversation about what those could be and until people are ready to do that we will always be at odds with one another thank you [Applause] just want to thank all of you for coming and for all the speakers tonight i know all five of us and dr mccall we hear you and you know we we are thinking about what you have to say and um and i think there are a lot of great things that are happening in our schools and we are striving to make sure all kids have equal opportunities to to do well and excel in our in our schools and we're not
065perfect but uh you know we we're keep striving so thank you for coming i believe our next school board meeting is march 17th okay patrick's day st patrick's day okay right back here we'll we can all wear green all right do i have them are we ready to adjourn board do you have a motion we have a motion in a second all