001e e call order everyone rise pledge to of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you all right can we get a roll call absolutely Wonder J here K here stus here Gardine here Palmer here danan here hi board here whole house thank you very much um as a criticity to members of the audience and the Board of Education please silence your cell phones uh public will only be able to speak during public comment if signed up and I've got the forms here anything else all set good thank you all right first uh uh Mo or first item is the approval of the agenda can I get a motion support all those all those in favor yes
002oppos motion passes reports agenda Mr Gardine I want me to start with you sure hey um parks and Rex still has a QR code out there for um anyone to go on to and make some suggestions about things that they would like to see we're working on our next strategic plan we're at the end of our 10year strategic plan from prior and so um any and all ideas so we'd love to see that um it's been fun to watch our band get some of their highest scores that they've gotten in a long time I personally love our color guard uniforms so much they are like my favorite this year um um it's uh really great to see the sports teams kind of closing down their Seasons we have some really good success stories there I'm
003sure we'll have some tennis stories maybe from our president over there um and it's fun for me because winter sports are starting so Lou went to hockey today um and then I was super privileged to get to be at oakstown intermediate and do the amazing shake and so we were in like groups of four all around and there was question question hula hoop question and guess who got the hula hoop me and I'm not so great at it right oh I'm not so great at it you're better than okay we had some really good Hulu who pans shaking kids so um The Gauntlet still needs some judges if we have some board members might be interested in the gauntlet uh it's such a blast and it's such a privilege to be able to see the
004joy energy and plans going into that building Brian and Stacy are just they're just gifted administrators and I appreciate that so much so shows and the kids that's so thank you Joe uh I'll keep it short but uh volleyball is coming to an end as Amy alluded to so uh along with other sports but one thing that I I I just want to say thank you to the coaches again fantastic job one thing that I noticed we were at a in a we game last week at West Ottawa and a kind of a cool tradition they did it was their senior night and they presented all of our seniors with a rose and I thought that was a cool tradition um and so I just want to say that's pretty neat stuff so that's all
005that's all I have cool Bob no report Kim um in terms of activities first thanks um sorry I had to miss the last meeting I was really really sick for a couple weeks so glad to be up and moving around take those things for granted um the great Shake was there too I'll just Echo everything you said it was a phenomenal phenomenal morning of talking to kids and learning from and I learned so much from them in the conversations that really blew my mind um speaking of learning from students the Suburban our Spotify podcast um I have to be honest I didn't know much about it but the recent um Kudos that um go to Eden and Mr Cox for that work I started listening to it and I was in tears like I spent
006my whole afternoon um on Saturday listening to it while raking leaves and going oh this is amazing this is beautiful and again students can teach us so much so I'm really proud of that program and the things that it brings to our students U of course the band's been at many competitions uh I say this every year but it is absolutely no lie gets better and better every time and this year blows every other year out of the water um and I've been at them for about 10 years so it's pretty amazing and then uh participate in the aviation um Advisory board for Career and Technical education last week that we host here um we're bringing in Pilots we bring in um the county sheriffs for unmanned aerial systems we bring in the CER technical
007education center Representatives we have representatives from Young Eagles and talk about all the different ways that we um provide Aviation opportunities it's not just about flying the plane it's designing the plane it's fixing the plane it's um the folks in the tower all the different opportunities that we as a board have supported through um this Aviation class and the greater County network of people and it just keeps growing and getting better we took a tour of the robotic Center explains how those drone systems build into our programs um and in terms of learning and career Pathways it was a really NE opportunity um and finally and long winded alert here um I get a lot of questions this time of year about what is a school board what do you do because it's clearly election
008season um and so I feel it's important to actually state in the spirit of Education what it is that we do since we have an audience here and I get this question all the time and um it's it's a really important valuable service to the community uh which is summarized by the Michigan Association of school boards really well on their website so I recommend if you want to learn a lot go there and they'll tell you what we do and do not do but um they tie it directly back to the specific laws in our state um which is the Michigan revised school code and in summary the board of education has the ultimate responsibility for School District Operations but the most important and key part of what we do yes I have to read
009some stuff to keep myself from talking too much um is evaluate our superintendent and hire them and they in provide the Staffing the expertise the proposals the budget and decisions to ensure that areas of board oversight are met and boy do we have a great superintendent and staff all across the board so we're really fortunate for that the short of it is we don't manage the day-to-day positions of a district the operations the the granular decisions and as I had dinner with a friend from another District the other day she went I never knew that so I thought it was important to state that here that we provide oversight and uh approval on major items like like policy curriculum budget safety Etc and we ensure we have the best leaders to make those day-to-day decisions
010in the best interest of our students and our community and in alignment with the Strategic plan which we did help formulate as a board um but we also have to base our decisions in our policies on local state and federal laws that's a very important part of what we do is keeping in alignment with those laws we do not exist outside the uh rule of law regardless of our individual feelings about things or our whole opinions as a group we still have to follow those laws why do I bring this up it seems sometimes we lose sight of those things and sometimes we lose sight of the academic standards for which we are responsible to not only ensure instruction upon but also to uphold as a board regarding living in a plural Democratic and Federalist
011Republic as a former social studies teacher these things are really important to me and valuable to me and as an elected official for the school board we have to ensure the instruction of our standards which is a state law through our selected curriculum which is our board policy and it's our to impart and uphold these standards and it's yours my fellow members it's our candidates that are running it's our families that are here it's our instructors to haveh all those things and it also starts with our students who are held to a very very high standard through the Michigan Department of Education social study standards what kind of things do we teach them we teach them how do we get along with others why can't I have everything I want why is it important to
012learn about the past how do people work together in a community when they disagree we expect them to and these are direct quotes from our standards State an issue as a question of public policy and discuss public Solutions possible solutions from different perspectives we expect them to identify points of view and bias including their own we expect them to apply democratic values and constitutional principles to support a position on an issue we expect them to act out of rule of law and hold others accountable to the same standard we expect them to describe situations in which they demonstrated self-discipline and individual responsibility we expect them to explain the need for rules and the purposes of those rules including safety organization and fairness we expect them to give examples of power that are with and without
013aor Authority such as a principal versus a bully we expect them to explain fair ways to make decisions and resolve conflict we expect them to describe responsibilities people have at home and at school and in their Community such as taking care of yourself taking care of your neighbors having respect for others following rules and getting along with people and all those standards I just read to you are a handful of Standards from our K through three curriculum those are for eighty olds and Below not to mention all the way up to 12th grade I want you to hear the standards that we have as a state and as a board for our students and while we have the responsibility to ensure instruction on those things it is the modeling of them and I'm underscoring bold
014Printing and double tapping that modeling of them that will make the greatest impact on our students we are not above the rules even if we did not make them or if we did make them if we disagree with them or we disagree with others who made them if we dislike their point of view we don't have the option to go outside with those rules and policies which brings me to my final point it's election season and don't you worry I'm not here to stump for a candidate or talk about my political views this is important that we have a standard to uphold as a district which is to follow the rule of law and follow the example we expect for our students and community and all of these rules are outlined in our state curriculum
015and in our board policies 32 31a participation in political activities clearly states how literature can and cannot be distributed and during what times and what locations in our district by staff by students by community members 970 distribute distribution and posting of literature very clearly states no outside organization can come in here and do that it very clearly states those things and if you don't know where those things are at it is okay we have them posted for you in public in places where you can see them they're on on our website they're available here anytime for you to review they're in this giant binder of policies that we as a board have a responsibility to review and approve and I bring this up because I'm hearing violations of those things doesn't matter what side of
016political Spectrum you're on doesn't matter which candidate you support I don't support it and I hope our board doesn't either I'm tired of this divisiveness we must do better if you are aware of behaviors of groups of people that are actively breaking these policies state and federal law or just generally regarding a behavior that is not reflective of the expectations we place on our own students for managing a difference in opinion about something then do better we have constitutional principles of common good truth rule of law diversity federalism just to name a few or how about human decency to treat each other better even when we have differences we need to speak out against these kind of behaviors clearly loudly and immediately I'm going to leave you with one set of standards that also comes
017from social studies as well in social studies in middle school we talk about the five major world religions something that's really important whether you subscribe to all those religions or none at all it's fine because understanding others helps us understand ourselves and I think understanding other religions helps me understand how to put this into perspective for me and where I'm at not necessarily for the board in Judaism the Torah says that slander kills three people the speaker The Listener and the subject in Islam the Quran emphatically forbids mockery and ridicule and fault in others and describes these actions as sorted and ugly in Buddhism it is taught that the mind is the Forerunner of all actions Buddha's response to The Human Condition isn't to suggest political or social change but to First examine yourselves uh
018Baba buy an ancient Hindu scholar warned people to avoid getting caught up in rumor mongering if someone puts you in a position where a reputation is at stake oppose slander and fight it and finally in Christianity the Bible stats in Ephesians 4:31 get rid of all bitterness rage and anger brawling and slander along with every form of malice if those reasons don't move you hopefully the rule of law and decency will I'm done thank you order please order I'm not saying anything more I didn't really have a report but I think what you said I should sit with and I appreciate um bringing the attention to what happened um I was out of town but certainly heard about some things so I'm hoping that as a board we can do better y so that's my
019report thank you for me uh just wanted to say thank you to the staff and volunteers for Victory Day again a lot of a lot of parents and people attend that I wasn't able to attend this year but uh I've seen pictures and heard reports that it was awesome and I when I you know from all of them that I've been to the thing that I like to watch the most is watching the parents of the all the students just seeing their excitement when the kids run out on the field that um means a lot to me also um seventh and eighth grade football season just got done my youngest son got to coach that this year got to go watch him at Kenwood that was awesome such a great experience for him to get
020to be able to do that you you'd probably be surprised that he talk to anybody out there but uh I hear that he does and then um like I was I was not at the football game Friday night but I was I was at North but I watched the football game game and and having them on YouTube is really awesome like I watching basketball games last year and football this year I don't know if that hurts our attendance at all but have having the ability to do that is pretty awesome for most of the games so I don't know who who all does that but it's it's good to good to have that option absolutely that's all that I've got all right thank you um for my items yes Victory Day sounded like it was
021great I was right next door at the uh the conference meet for tennis so I got to hear it all morning but I didn't get a chance to get over there cuz my son's uh uh competitions were happening so appreciate everyone that was able to come and support those students there um we did have the end of the tennis season along with number of other fall Sports so um I think we ended up Fifth I think in the conference or something like that so the team is Young we've got a lot of young kids on the team on the varsity team so they should be set up pretty well for the next few years um little Bragg my son did get all all conference honorable mention for one double so that he was pretty happy
022with that so that was a lot of fun um the band competitions right those have been going hot and heavy and then just a great event Saturday I mean so Saturday was all day band right we had uh um uh the I'm G get it backwards we had the Grandville one in the morning uh and then we did the AR puffer one in the afternoon and a number of us were there for basically the entire time so that was a lot of fun and just a great uh showing and um just so much fun and and I do love every time we get a chance to see our kids get involved and volunteer with stuff they had so much fun running in the uh uh the uh concession stand I was in there for quite
023a while um the kids just were just willing to jump in and help I had one uh kid that was done you know marching and he came back in he's like hey do we need anything else we said yes we need to have someone go clean the uh uh um go clean the the stadium got it boom he just went right out to it right and just shows you the character of a lot of our kids that we have uh especially those that are involved in different sports and activities so that was a lot of fun to see we had student conferences uh at the high school and another of the elementaries it looked like I was a little worried with the high school because we didn't offer the uh um online option this year
024so I wasn't sure how that was going to work out he a little grumblings about that nothing major but it was still had great attendance I thought you know for the high school uh for conferences so that was pretty cool um we we did get a chance I'm just going to poke Roger here a little bit uh West Ottawa they had a band competition out at West otwa and I got a chance to meet the superintendent out there and get a tour of the Press Box uh that football field so I'm not sure you know what's in the budget you know here coming forward but uh you know he did mention that was a kind of a prefab uh uh unit that we could just go and plop up there so just just FYI so
025I mean just it was one of those things I saw um say he would give it to us yeah you know yeah I asked him if you had any money left over in that Bond he passed but uh no he wasn't really offering that off and then uh the Suburban I appreciate you uh mentioning that I got turned on of that last year when dve and uh which was one of our students on previous years he had done an episode and um I've been listening to that for a while so that's really cool uh um to see them getting recognition for that um so congrats to them um I got a chance to go to the choir concert uh that Mr Moore and Miss niat put on and there was a special guest uh for
026one of their performances so uh um not going to name any names um but uh that was a lot of fun but there was one one piece that they did I think and I'm going to get it wrong I apologize I think it was the title of the show was like me you us I think or something was that that the way it was something like that right and it was just kind of exploring that all the songs were kind of exploring that and one of the songs um was called the open hand and I just want to kind of read uh passage about this the song um and where it came from so born enslaved in 1818 in Mississippi Bridget biddy Mason's life was nothing short of amazing as an enslaved person biddy was
027owned by slave holders in Georgia and South Carolina before returning to Mississippi where she was taken by her last owner on a trk to Salt Lake City as part of the Mormon migration to the West biddy was made to walk 1,700 M behind a 300 wagon Caravan it was responsible for cooking making camps and hurting cattle all while also taking care of her own three children biddy's Journey eventually led her to California where she challenged her owner for her freedom and won biddy worked saved her money and eventually became a prominent land owner in Los Angeles where she started the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the city in the midst of her unbelievably difficult life she spoke these words if you hold your hand closed nothing good can come in the open hand is
028blessed where it gives an abundance even as it receives it's impossible for me to imagine the strength a person must have take to make such a generous wise and optimistic statement when the life lived would certainly permit a much more negative outlook and I I share that with you right because I do think sometimes we do go through life with our hand closed um and not being willing to open up and hear what the views are what the other people think and so forth so I just encourage everybody you know to live your life you know with your hand open because I do firmly believe we can gain so much more by being open uh then may by closed off so good that's all I have Roger yes uh thank you for sharing everybody appreciate
029that uh we have some special guests with us today and a special presentation I'm going to turn things over to the big guy in the front row Fred Fred did you go ahead and uh fill us in well today we have with us uh JJ and Josh from Consumers Energy um we've partnered up with them on our last few construction projects to try to see what we can do to be more energy efficient for the district and on that note they've went through our our projects went through all the prints and plans and helped us figure out how we were saving the money and what we were doing to be more energy efficient and they provided us with a rebate check it is roughly around uh 79 78,3 81 wow wow and and and that
030was for the 78 building our last phase of gec and then uh $1,500 for uh employee training wow and uh JJ would like to say a word yep good evening everyone thank you for having us tonight um um my name is JJ Carpenter I'm with consumer energy and I'm your account manager for Grandville Public Schools I'm with Josh cockfield who is our Energy Efficiency um partner with all the projects that Grandville public schools have been doing so we're very excited to be in front of the board um superintendent Mr bar and everyone else uh this is really a milestone for a lot of our K through 12 schools right partnering with them um and your parents as well to be more energy efficient to make sure that we're providing our kids with the best and
031um as we go into the future make sure that you know um all the buildings that they they've been in is all energy efficient as well so thank [Applause] you so that's what we say awesome she have a wallet thank you thanks and thank you to uh Consumers Energy and thank you to Fred um I know our crew works very hard uh to you know look at everything analyze everything and determine where we can have uh Energy savings so appreciate that a great deal great I have one other thing that um I want to talk to everyone about um wanted to provide some thoughts and truths regarding the new title 9 policy that we passed back on August 5th this new title 9 policy no matter whose name you attach to it is policy based
032upon on federal law we cannot choose which laws we are and we are not going to follow I have to admit at times there have been laws that I do not like and I Grumble every time that I have to follow them in those instances and in the particular situation this particular situation I refuse to break the law as a district we cannot do that without serious ramifications there seems to be a great deal of focus on a fear that our lgbtq plus students will just be barging into whatever bathroom they want whenever they want or using whatever locker room they want whenever as well as a fear of athletic concerns truth is we've been working through these scenarios with parents and their children for over a decade we are not concerned about this area
033of the title new title 9 legislation as it does not change what we do and have done with a high level of success here are some truths about this policy to help clarify this law does not negate the practices we have in in place in regards to how we work with our lgbtq plus community in regards to bathrooms locker rooms pronoun usage and the like again we've been doing this for more than a decade whenever there's a request by a student we always bring the parent into the conversation regarding these topics and we work out a plan that works for all involved including our non-lgbtq plus population who also has rights within bathrooms locker rooms Etc again this does not change the new regulations omit Athletics from their scope the mhsa has been and is
034the governing body for student eligibility in each sport they have a process that has been in place in the past sit pass for situations that may arise and I've not heard one word from director Mark Ule regarding any changes in their plans here is what people are not talking about regarding the new title n policy the new title n policy addresses all forms of sexual harassment between students between adults I was recently asked what would happen if we broke the law and didn't adopt the policy or if we resented this policy for any Title 9 complaint after August 1st for those buildings not linked to Ms for Liberty and the Kansas case at this time which for them would be using the old policy we would still by law investigate and probably do so under
035the old RS we would make a decision and be sued by whoever didn't agree with our decision and our process as we would not be following the law they would lose more than likely owe the person a great deal of money and damages and they would be back working with us or be back in school as things were this would happen for every case that we would investigate that takes place after August 1st in my 31 years as a excuse me 36 years as an administrator the last 10 as your superintendent I can honestly say that sexual harassment or discrimination lawsuits I have experienced very rarely include our lgbtq plus populations but rather non-lgbtq plus students and non lgbtq plus adults look I know this policy can be emotional for people and has become become
036quite politicized during this election season we assure you it does not change our practices within our schools in regards to bathrooms locker rooms and athletic contest simply put we are not worried about maintaining our practices and procedures already in place also I want to reiterate that this is federal law personally I will not violate the law it does not matter who people think chose to bring this into law it is important for us to listen to people's emotional fearful and yes sometimes political um concerns and opinions however at the end of the day I hope you understand that this title n policy needs to pass needed to pass in August because it is a law if we did not pass it the exposure would have so many detrimental effects on the district we all love
037thanks for listening done all right thank you very much all right moving on uh any old business no old business all right fantastic consent action agenda can I get a motion support all those in favor yes opposed all right motion passes regular action items start with five I'm sorry yeah 5A the pace parent recommendation for 2024 recommendation is recommended the Board of Education approved Miss Lindsay clockner a central parent for a second term of three years as a granded representative on the pace the parent advisers for special education committee at kisd Lindsay's first term ended in August 2024 but we would like to extend her another term and this needs to be renominated and submitted for board approval can I get a motion so moved supp so as you know we have Representatives on that
038committee and from time to time we have to either renew or um elect new people to that um Mrs Ernst is here to talk to you about it take away m Mrs well I to see if you guys had any questions but um Mrs clner has already served three years and she is looking to serve another so I think that's really special I don't think that always happens and she's also um been um the treasure on that committee as well and I think she's going to continue to do that so I think she's been an important part of it and she's looking to continue good I think so I was pack for 6 years prior to being on the board and I'm not it's it's a hard job because you are an advocate you're a
039voice for those families especially special needs families throughout the district so to find someone who's willing to do it a second term she's must be a very special lady so I think that's very cool I Su what you have to say Bob it's and we both have children with special needs and understand the importance of having that extra Advocate I often sat in meetings and wondered how does somebody without a background in this navigate the system and having a parent advocate like Lindsay is just an invaluable asset to our district great I'd also like to thank Administration for supporting her well also because that's an that's an aspect of that too so thank you any discussion any other questions all right let's vote all those in favor yes opposed motion passes thank you Mr 5B
040authorizing resolution for proposed refunding of 2015 building and sight bond series 2 is recommended the Board of Education approve the attached resolution which allows the district to proceed with refinancing outstanding debt provided favorable market conditions are present yes very exciting and Heather's gonna I'm sorry give we get a motion oh you better do support discussion so Heather 11% yeah it's awesome isn't it that's like wow I'm over the moon with it yeah now this is uh you you'll recall we brought you the um uh 2013 refunding couple years ago um that was a lot smaller um this because it's larger 30 just up not to exceed 39.5 um that helps too with the per perc return but um yeah so about 4 million um savings on interest for taxpayers um it's not it's not something
041the district sees it but it is a direct impact on um those that live in the community and are paying the taxes so Heather um with the fact that we do not go into the state um bond fund and we we do it privately or separately does that help us in this particular situation or is it just the market itself right now anybody would get it whether you're doing it on your own or part of the State uh bond fund it helps that um it helps in that um you know if your property values were to line um you you wouldn't have all of the rules to follow being in that school bond Loan Fund um so it does help with that a lot of it is the market right now okay for this type
042of investment um but it's definitely the right time and um how long does this process take like so uh the next steps will be will um very similar to the previous time um if you approve it tonight then we'll get rolling with like um our preliminary official statement all those in financial documents will go out to people and then um uh april-ish will go and sell and then um close after that bring bring those results back to you and you approve that we'll we'll close so Market has to stay for this as it is till through April then what's that so the market has to stay as it is through April then yeah but I believe just the way I feel about like our financial investors or investment firm that we work with and stuff
043they have actuaries on that and I'm I'm pretty sure that 11% is pretty conservative and um it should be close to that so good sweet wonderful job nice job for keeping your eyes on it at all times yeah thank appreciate you any other questions this discussion all right let's go ahead and vote all those in favor yes opposed motion passes thank you very much on to 5c the 100% summer tax collection resolution this recommended the Board of Education adopt the attached resolution imposing a 100 100% summer tax levy on all school property taxes including Debt Service upon property located within the school district and request each City Andor Township in which this district is located collect those summer taxes can I get a motion so moved support support discussion so this back to 2000 uh
044well before my time here um I believe Tim rer was in my role at the time and wow um was an advocate to help get this through um it helps us immensely because um our state aid payments uh we receive over 11 months so the month of September we do not receive a state aid payment and so being able to collect the These funds helps us with cash flow um and meeting those obligations that we have outstanding so um there's about roughly 20 districts in Kent County um about half of them have a summer 100% summer tax base the others have twice a year uh summer and winter so great you already answered my only question than does Ottawa County Schools do it too do you know I'm just thinking maybe some of our neighbors
045yes but I'm not sure which I I I'm not sure which ones okay I I could look that up or okay that for you good any other discussion or questions all right all those in favor yes opposed motion passes thank you very much on to reports and discussion review of through policies 405 [Music] fun stuffff yes so 4,000 and 5000s uh tonight you may Rec recall this process we started out with the ones twos and threes last time and had a discussion took questions and so on uh the board has had these policies for some time now to review tonight we'll do the 4000s in the 5000s and John's here to help uh me walk us through this um so I guess starting with the 4,000 like we did last time uh why don't we
046just throw it out for any questions you might have uh if you don't mind I noticed a couple of things pretty much throughout that talk about policy 3118 the last reading I don't know maybe it's easiest just to click search on 3118 and switch it all to 3115 I know if and I talked about that today um their 2020 9 policy was the 3118 and then they had the now it's all the 3115 and so yes I'll need to go through and make sure that I catch all those 318s and make them 315s and we we talked about it today I was looking at the 520 something with the student piece and I was like oh there it is so we we'll have definitely have to go through and make sure that that's that's all
047there okay thank you yeah I do have one other question do okay go for it go right in um so we're talked I think the last time a little bit about the student handbook yeah and how important that was to get that out and not just electronically but are we going to consider doing it in writing as well and if so or either way actually um will be available multiple languages I think we kind of talked about it last time a little bit if somebody wants a paper copy for sure we can we can print it um the way that we have it online they can access the the multiple languages uh and I asked the question about um hey at what point do we hit hit some of the the key components of this
048and I know they hit those key components early in the school year at both the middle school and the high school uh but then anytime there's a change in the handbook that's also brought to students attention if we see things that are popping up that are outside of that they bring that in as well um in most cases our our students are looking on digitally as opposed to the paper side of it we can we can replicate a paper copy at any point okay yep you say they hit on it how and how in what form I mean what's the format that they hit on it's on a Google site at the high school no I'm sorry we talked about reviewing some of the main topics sorry yeah so and what's yeah sometimes they'll do
049that in announcements um so like Mr lanto or the uh assistant principal will go on and say hey we need to talk about this this this or this I know that he and Roger talked to some of our students at the um at their student leadership meetings about some of the things that are going on and some of the policy pieces and what can we do to help share that information with people in a more effective way most of it comes out at the beginning of the school year when they hit at their orientations um in those in those moments but again if there's something that changes throughout the year or something needs to get highlighted they just do that live at and the announcements okay I know we had talked about trying to do
050something a little more formal and and I threw out the idea of you know is it the first seminar class you know for the high school right where we've got everyone's kind of captured then so I would encourage you guys to you know find out if there's a way to have something a little more formal to review some of thep any kind of orientation that would be the perfect time to do it m especially new I'm sorry especially new um like students we've had some refugees come in and then have something in their language bullet pointed might be good especially with because they're familiar a lot of times with the state law but they're not familiar with the student handbook bullet point some of those for them specifically would be exceptionally time saving in the
051long run get a group together with our high school and middle school people and have some conversation about it about some different ways we can do it and as John mentioned there are several ways we point things out now especially if something's not going well we definitely pointed out what the handbook says but um it yeah I think there could be uh multiple Avenues added to that so we'll definitely consider that perfect 4 go please no go ahead I was going to say 4217 I just had a question on social media um so it doesn't necessarily it talks about not you know the use of social media while on District property but it doesn't doesn't necessarily unless I'm not seeing it talk about is that you know is it their own personal social media or
052School social media accounts so yeah it it covers both it does cover both okay all right I just wanted that clarification so appreciate that 4210 John so when we look at society and the changes that are occurring and especially with this drug and alcohol-free workplace and the definitions um talk about marijuana but it doesn't specifically mention THC and I'm just wondering why because I think that has become a recreational I'm going to call it a drug it is it is a recreational drug um and I just think we need to have some type of control on it with our staff if we're going with everything else you're providing why wouldn't we is that is that considered controlled substance I believe still so it falls in that I mean you you can you can label out
053everything but I mean that is when you mention marijana pretty much it's the THC and marijuana that that has that effect so yeah just from a point of definition yeah I could see the the importance of having that um as it relates to vape pens oh yeah right so i y that is an issue that we have in the high school to this day with the bathrooms so to me I know we're not talking about students now we're talking about staff but it's one of those things uh um and then going back into 4211 just the controlled substance again John that's all I'm I'm just stating it that I'm paying attention to these as I went through them understood um outside activities and employment um when it comes to conduct standards unless the superintendent design
054need grants written authorization employees may not engage in the following outside activities provide private Services lessons tutoring or coaching of students John you have any idea how many teachers probably are tutoring so does this create a violation I think the way that that's mostly written is the the goal of that is to make sure that our teachers aren't using their teaching role to advocate for tutoring and extra extra money in tutoring for their children so like we run our summer tutoring program um that's in school but not necessarily in school uh so that's what that that's really written for but I can see based on the reading of it um that I hadn't read it in that way I can see based on the reading of it that that would ask a question okay yep
055yeah if you look at paragraph two there it really explains you know what what this policy is alluding to um such activities must not interfere with an employees ability to carry out the employees responsibilities to serve as a role model in community example so they're really alluding to those things can't happen unless the superintendent says it's okay for them to happen during their employment duties yeah or the principal and in most cases if we have folks that are doing some of that tutoring or support outside of school for our students the principal knows or Roger knows just to make sure that we know that our teachers are out with our kids outside of school having seen some of those examples too um just with friends in the elementary school I think it is important also
056that this also says no tutoring to those assigned to the employee because I have seen where people will tutor but they aren't tutoring the kids that are in their classroom right so it it it creates this sense of um being able to make sure that more eyes are seen on that student that might need help so John I got a smile when I read this one okay 51006 under student rights it was intentionally left blank yeah I did that too now you're not going to complain about that I expect students to complain about it I'm just I'm just saying it made me smile that's all it's just a point of reference yeah like I sh that to them be like I had shared early on that there were some policies that they put in there
057that said this is an optional policy if you choose not to to use it put in intentionally left blank put that in your table of content as well so that it's a placeholder so yeah I don't that one was off the top of my head and I will say after after reading um I'm going to say the most boring section was 4000s but I didn't have much to it my 5000 got excited but 4,000 didn't John that probably got you excited in yeah those are my favorite part but I I'd asked Roger about this but on the 4404 the student or does or the superintendent or does he may Implement a performance-based compensation Roger said that we don't do that at all but that's it's really based on if if we negotiated performance-based compensation it
058allows us having that in there really allows us if we if that's where we decided to go with our bargaining units then we would be able to do we don't do that right now right no all right ready move on to 5,000 then yeah all right perfect 5204 my only statement on this is I believe it is a policy that is not monitored or adhered to effectively okay specifically middle school high school and I think if you were to periodically ask staff whether they're teaching or in the lunchroom I think that they could easily see violations of this to the point that Administration in those buildings should easily see the same thing and every one of these is in here for a reason MH and we need to make sure that they're adhered to understood
059so I'd love it if you guys could make sure that gets down to the principles yep 5407 on the complaints about Library material I think the resolution on that we had previously was that there would be an adult section in the library but I didn't see that in here in the policy there's the the procedures but I didn't see that called out yeah and I what I did when I looked at this one is I looked back at our Neola specific policy and we didn't specify it in the Neola policy as well we have this piece that was under if if you have a question or you want something questioned here's how you do it the the adult section or the Aged section at our high school is more of the practice that comes out
060of uh the work of the policy so that's just as an explanation of why it's not in there so that's more of a guideline that we have based on the policy from theola and it would be the same here for sure so while we're here yeah why don't we have a policy on Library materials we do right here yeah not on the acquisition or how that how they are acquired and I think we need guard rails because when we got into this about 3 years ago remember me correctly if we had a policy we wouldn't have let it get out of hand 12 to 13 years ago when it started coming into our libraries yeah I we hired a media specialist to focus on that on on looking um at all books that are purchased
061and reading out books that um are not uh in you know really used in circulation um and that's been done that was a thorough process that was done so um and Scott I don't know if you want to add anything to that but that's a it's a our media special is responsible for evaluating all books that now come into our libraries and we can't we couldn't say that before I understand that go ahead from a process standpoint specifically what she implemented are written processes to the main things are a verify age appropriateness and B uh verify two professional positive reviews um and she does all of that and then all like books are then approved by the building Principle as well so we have a multi-step process okay you know what I I know you're
062you know I'm don't get offended I just think you're sidest stepping the need for a policy this book that we've read has how the district will operate how we will manage how we will take care of our staff how we will ensure our employ our our students will learn but we don't have anything on the libraries which is contentious to some of our population and some of our board members I'm telling you this highlighted part is on the library but it is not on the acquisition of it and I think we I would love to see a policy on it or at least ask thrun have other districts done it I I still believe in the need for it if we have a filter for electronic access we should have the same a similar process
063for the written word on paper maybe we should Scott maybe we should look at the guidelines that are followed for those abs sh with I want to do some diing into this too uh before we approve before you're asked to approve because I think there is some guidance in one of the policies um so absolutely okay thank [Applause] you 5207 e the annual bowling report I did I miss something is that something we've done before that you provided us because I I don't ever remember jumping backwards I'm going backwards hang on sorry sorry no you're good um we created 52727 e the reporting of the bullying incidents on an annual basis by the schools so have we brought it here we have not brought it here um in in our past uh that is something
064that as we started looking at these policies we were like oh well here's an area that we need to improve right um because we pull that data uh and we have to report it out to the state every year so we need just need to make sure that we're holding ourselves accountable to bringing that uh to you guys do you know uh is that going to be then reported directly to us or that beish we would do is uh probably at a June board meeting since school will be out we would present that to you good seems like we've had that through our safety officer kind of a description of really all the kinds of activities that were happening dist yeah we've had that in the kind of comprehensive but we can be very because
065this policy does it that way we'll be very formal about providing that with you we'll also talk about trends of those things that the behaviors that we have seen over that year aesome so just out of technicality while we're here I'm just wondering if this is the technicality or we're doing it right now so in the blue having a public hearing with this renewal do we have to do that again so this would count as part of that um part of the reason why I left it highlighted in blue and that also highlighted it on this part was if you hadn't asked about it I would have said hey do you want to talk about policy 5207 um because we we definitely have to have that uh at least some dialogue in and around that
066similar J to asking that question right um but this would this does qualify as that for this policy would would we want to do a general notice to the public about it and that would be something that we could do going forward if we wanted to do a more in-depth dive into the policy for sure yeah all right so but this covers that we not in violation correct okay you are very correct we're not we're not in violation by having the dialogue in and around it right now okay um 5209 the cell phone one mhm I thought that was an interesting one because it kind of goes back to listen so there's so many policies I don't know how you police them right I mean there is it talks about using like cell phones in
067a locker room and so forth right I don't know how you police that but good luck with that one so definely uh um 5210 though the GPS tracking device what what is that referring to so we've had some instances in the past where parents have like put an air tag on their child oh because they want to know where their child is at all times um the this guidance says you're you're welcome to do that but it can't collect audio audio in the midst of that uh and that's what that really boils down to so for folks for our students that carry like an iPhone or they use 360 it's the same thing right right I mean it's it's a GPS tracking device but at some of our lower levels we've had parents that have
068wanted to have an air tag on their kid just to know where they are they put it in their bag and they but they need to obviously let us know if they're doing that and we need to verify that it's not recording audio or video very good yeah all right thank you 5705 this is just a question not on this but on the background of it so this is the student health and safety and the emergency emergency anaphylaxis right cuz this is life for death yep so we do maintain epipens in every building correct that are accessible to at least the principal and the secretary and or whatever health staff is there yep and they do they do periodic training yeah so all four of our nurses work with the office staff to do that
069we have in three four of our elementary or or excuse me k6 buildings we have a healthcare aid that we've hired as a pair professional because we have multiple students with diabetes there so we need somebody that can be specifically trained to monitor our students with diabetes they're also trained um but they do that training with our secretaries and principles right away at the beginning of the year and then they follow up with them mid year to make sure that that's all there and our nurses are responsible for ensuring that they're up to date okay all right just you know peanut allergies and yeah you know we had one allergies this week at the high school this week or or late last week we had one at the high school do they carry them on
070the buses John yeah if if we if there's a known allergy yes I don't know if there're if they're on every one of our buses I'd have to ask Ryan if uh if those are carried on the first a kits inside the buses if they are then obviously our nurses are training there too it just be something I don't know yet okay let me replace those because of expert dates yeah yeah they take care of all of that our nurses are on it looking for grant money doing all the things we're lucky to have the four of them so more of curiosity 549 and 5421 both talk about what I'm going to group as you know basically the work based learning experience I was fascinating to see that cuz I had I wasn't aware that
071we allowed internships for those types of activities uh work-based learning like that for credit and count towards credit have we had many students use that it's becoming more prevalent yeah um and so have we recently no and I think that you go track all the way back to when uh No Child Left Behind was brought in it was every kid goes to college right so it was the college push College push College push and so some of those pieces weren't as prevalent or weren't pressed as far forward but they were still in policy yeah and now we have more and more students that are looking at those has great opportunities to learn and grow and to move forward in a in a career yeah um and so we've we've worked a lot harder at trying
072to find some of those connections uh and driving that forward well I think this is a great opportunity for kids that are thinking of doing like skill trades and so forth there's a lot of different organizations out there that are that would love to come to our school and talk to our kids about those types of things and and to give them some work experience if they didn't want to go the kctc route right if they wanted to do something more work based or directly work based so um yeah I just those those two caught my eye and just wanted to understand those a little bit more can I go ahead I was just going to say our county has a work based coordinator to at K County so through the kctc or through K
073gotcha has I'm going to gladly age myself I did Co-op when I was in high school it's has it ever gone away or has it come back it it went away because know I can relate I can relate it did go away because the focus was so much on College and it was hard to get you know back in those days you know kids could do co-op they could earn credit uh and or earn maybe earn some money and it went away and the you know the um I mean our business people suffered because of that and it's been more and more in the last I'd say especially the last five years really trying to bring back those pieces but to do that they had to have flexibility in the uh you know Core Curriculum
074the content standards from Michigan because it was very College focused and not that you don't want kids to go to college and some still go you know lot still go to college and do work-based learning because you know they get some higher level certifications at college or what have you but um they' they've given us more flexibility Over The Last 5 Years um when I was a curriculum person in L you couldn't do it you just couldn't do any of that and we we tried and we kept saying why not gotten kids we' got businesses let's get them together but they finally have provided that flexibility yeah the number of core classes that were required to grab simply put increased Inc and so then it left a very narrow margin of opportunity for students to
075leave the building and do something now there's also more standards around what kind of placement they're put in it's not just like I want to go get out of school for two hours you know um there's got to be some structure and standard and Reporting around that you can see some of those possible a lot of articulation and what credits you can earn by doing those experiences we've had few of our students from Pathways um that have been able that were able to do that last year I think we had two uh and I we honestly we have a student from Hudsonville who's really interested in working in grounds and so he comes and does work-based learning at Granville in grounds um so we're working through that even with other students I mean there's been
076a number of programs right around around the area I mean can go tool and die is a perfect example of one that they've had for for years right so it takes a partnership as you said you between the company and the school to really develop something that's worthwhile right so you don't just have someone go and pushing a Brom for correct you know two hours a day not really get anything out right so we have a huge advocate in Roger right this the class 2030 where I mean you're doing so many cool things with that so huge and so much work has already been done I mean you are doing laying the groundw for some really impressive things cool so appreciate that that's exciting thanks foring too any other questions comments All right you know
077what I'm just going to wait but I'm going to do it now you know what I appreciate your stance um where we're at with Title 9 2024 I'm not in alignment so I'm going to make a motion that we resend the 2024 Title rules that we adopted on August 5th and adopt the 2020 I'll second that what discussion so from a perspective of discussion so I've done a lot of research on this this because it's it's bothered me since we it was brought to our attention and the national chapter or the chapter in Kansas is planning on doing a major update at the end of the month right now all schools in Granville with the exception of two are covered I believe it's a um I wrote it down Central and coming are the two
078that are not covered so we've got over 85% of our student population that is covered under the moms for Liberty now part of my justification for bringing this tonight is also it would ease a lot of stress in the community it would bring the lever down now I understand um potential consequences but I still believe with the amount of legal um activity that's going on with this that we would be justified in our position due to the connection of parents um to the buildings and and I'm going back on what was discussed on the on the August 5th meeting John it was stated now maybe it was not fact but to me if you stated it it's fact that if the majority of the district fell under the mom's Liberty for schools and population the
079board could make the distinction to just bring everything under the 2020 rule so that's my motion I kind of thought it would have been litigated a little quicker but knowing the history of the federal government I should have known better but I kind of thought it would have been rushed a little more that's kind of what it sounded like was happening at the time here we are kind of stalled out there are districts within K County that have not accepted it what two disc how many uh calonia and can I ask a question please absolutely okay sure so if and and the list so far that we have isn't doesn't align with the amount of schools you've said and maybe it will be when they release another one cuz the last time it was updated
080was July 31 yeah so so maybe it will be but right now it's not but let's say it is my question to you is then why resend the policy if they're all going to be under the old policy anyway and then why not let this shake out in court systems so that if in fact you have two schools that hard and we have to investigate that we're not going to lose no matter what that decision is and get sued because I mean if you already have those why worry about it under the old policy because it just to me it it it levels the playing field back to what I believe the majority the community would like now granted it's my own thought but why not reset because I will tell you what was my
081what were my discussion points at that time my discussion points were you cuz I I I remember what Kim said I remember what you said and at the time it's what's in the rules are not in this policy this PO policy was on complaint and process resolution for the most part it is not on what's inside it and I felt this board needed to have that knowledge to make an informed decision and we didn't have it which is why I voted no so I will state clearly and loudly that I am not willing to vote against the rule of law I'm not willing to put our students our finances are a district in a place that could be detriment detrimental to our continuance I Believe In Justice in the justice system and I believe that
082it will shake out in the courts as our constitution has outlined the plan for our federal government with branches of government and checks and balances whether that is in our individual or whole favor and opinion of that policy or not is not Germain what is Germaine is what our legal Representatives that have been sought advice of in multiple ways and multiple times under the advisement of our superintendent of what we should do in order to protect our students to follow the law and to provide options that are legal to follow either policy in places where there is a question it is very clear to me what we need to do and it's maintain legality and rule of law let the justice system shake it out the way it's intended to be any other discussion is
083there a simple description of what the difference is in okay it's just very okay I thought I was want to know to make it you know kind of clear I suppose but it's u n okay there's not a simple description of of the differences I talked with both T and Miller Johnson as I shared in the email when I sent the two documents those are the documents that both of the groups that we work most closely with are saying if you want to learn more on Title 9 here's where it is because it's in court okay and so their role is to say here's what we suggest you do in order to keep yourself compliant underneath the federal law as it's currently written thank you there was a very conservative judge on our Supreme Court
084named Antonin Scalia and one of his famous quotes was I am not the final say because I'm right I'm right because I'm the final say we got to let it get to where it needs to get to make the decision for our nation for our communities for our states it has to work through the process and I'll argue that due process has already been partially served with Mom for Liberty caveat that was decided on by the court while it's in appeal all right so just for clarity the motion on the table is to resend so a vote of yes would resend the 2024 the or the uh the policy approved back in August August August 5th and a nay would say no we do not want to resend okay is that clear for everybody yes
085to resend no to leave it as it is right now with the the title 9 including the 2024 RS any other discussion all right all those in favor no roll call please roll call goad one your G yes Klein no stus yes Gardine no Palmer no Dean yes hi bore no it does not pass okay any other items for uh reports or discussion order please all right public comment on the public comment as a reminder excuse me each individual will have five minutes the Han will keep track of that got a number of items or a number of forms here so we will start at the top with Jeff Johnston and Sara Mur is on Deck [Music] I want to say as a longtime Wordsmith I appreciate all of the uh the the puns the
086popcorn puns on on the board here um well good evening everyone members of the board fellow Granville parents friends neighbors I came here first to say thank you members of this board and the Granville schools Community have enriched the lives of my four children and continue to lift up my youngest who is a senior this year we and Granville are fortunate to be served by a public school district ranking the top 5% of school districts in Michigan with a reputation welld deserved for committed faculty and extensive opportunities the educational team here tonight deserves credit to the extent that they have shaped and advanced the district's Mission values and principles they're posted on the wall here respect compassion humility communication learning grit like the grit to be up here Excellence Equity it's an often misunderstood or
087mis misrepresented term that simply means equipping every student with the same opportunities to succeed and another maligned term diversity just means that we value our differences and believe that they make us stronger together it's nothing to be scared of in Granville schools we believe in providing safe positive Innovative and engaging learning that all students will strive for excellence while learning at different rates and in different ways we believe in the value of inclusion of all individuals and the family community involvement and support are essential to Student Success we grow students who are ethical CI excuse me mouth is dry ethical citizens agile adaptive curious Learners who are ready for college or careers culturally competent citizens who celebrate and respect diverse populations collaborators who understand we live in a large world and need to know how
088to work with people of all Stripes Relentless creative problem solvers leaders and I will just note that true leadership is not based in fear hatred or division our school's mission is to improve lives right the board improve lives and really you know this is about improving our world by producing successful lifelong learners but I anticipate that some members of our community are here tonight to paint a different picture of our district to so fear about people in issues that they either don't understand or don't want to and to advocate for a different Vision I respectfully reject that Vision part of their message is campaign related and I leave it to others to address their incorrect understanding of a school board's role and function I want to talk from the heart I want to tell you
089a little bit about my son he's a nearly straight age student a self-starter whose reliability and organizational skills put mine to shame his teachers love him between classes and extracurricular involvement he is out from dawn to dark most every day and yet he loves the chance to sit down with my wife and I at the dinner table or play games as a family he is happy he hosts his many friends at our home graciously joyfully he's held paying jobs showing responsibility he's applying to colleges that can prepare him to blaze a trail I could go on but all I will add is that he is trans for many of his successes my son has Granville schools and it's welcoming and respectful policies and people to thank for who he is here he has gained the
090confidence and self assuredness to tell me without hesitation that I could come here tonight and tell you about him how dare anyone suggest that he or his peers or his school or his community would be better off denying the reality of who he is or asking him to pretend to be someone his not so I'll say thank you again to those in Granville who stand up for our core principles respect compassion diversity humility Equity communication learning gr and Excellence these values have led Granville schools to a place of leadership and admiration Statewide they lead our students to respect themselves and others on their Pathways to success changing course for a backward and fearful agenda would be a tragic mistake thank you thank you up next Sara and on Deck Alysa Parker [Music] hi this is
091my second time to be here in this board meeting I inform you guys on May 20th that my son a call was targeted and deliberately assaulted by two boys until it result in his tooth being broken in half and I inform you guys on how mle School principal and his assistant did not provide us with the support that a call needed and I came here and I asked Roger for help and we didn't get the help that a call needed we didn't get the only thing we got is a message that is unacceptable especially to a parent like me I want all this to be under record on March 13 2024 it was the worst day ever for the ab family and it continued to continue and it continued to be the worst year for
092the AOL family to our knowledge there were only two video footage I inform you guys of of those footage show how AAL was targeted at the first footage Cody and Walter grab a call slam him against the locker grab his arm behind his back they were kicking they were punching him on his arm they were using their knee to do kick him with and then they said every horrible thing to him the only thing my son could do is he turned his head he turned his head to the left and took it and he cried he cleaned his face he went to class he came out he saw those boys he asked them why did you guys do this to me and he and the boy responded C responded you better start running and he
093ran he got slammed against the wall his tooth broke we were showing those video but on September 9th of this year a third video was sent to the prosecuting off office that we never watched before and in that video it show that our son was assaulted by Walter that's no longer in the district and then he show our son running and he got a for Slam against the wall and broken and his too broke his the Prosecuting Office Prett much that's the only thing they could do show was those I came here today to just tell you guys that the message we received from Roger bar was unacceptable Roger this is a call he is the victim of the hate gr that was committed against him on March 13 2024 those two boys assaulted him
094over and over and over again that day and if they and they continue if they didn't break his too that day they would have continue to assault him a call AAL still refused to go to school I inform you guys on how he refused to go to school until this day he still refused to go to school a call who come home from school and he was sit in a corner of his closet and cry on May and August 5th a caller asked me why did those boys do this to him and a call I'm going to answer that to you today one minute all right he is the victim Roger but from the footage that we got to the pro that was sent to the Prosecuting Office he was made as into a villain
095he is no longer the victim but he is the victim his tooth is broken in half Cody dor is he Target my son Walter was never held accountable and for me to come here and to ask for you your support and for because I didn't get the support from the Muro school all I need is Justice for a call you prise said hey part of your message is he's just a black kid with immigrant parent she's going to try and fight and fight and fight until she give up and then remove her son from the school that's 5 minutes so thank you I thank you Alyssa Parker on Deck is David brette Sor um so I do want to start by saying I also have a senior um I practice this a lot and I'm
096not I told her she should go first maybe I should have um and there are a lot of cases where I have been proud I'll be like that's my guy big Raj you know I'm proud of the way that the administration handles things and we joke around about that at home we've really enjoyed um I went to East Kentwood and I think they at the time it was really opposite you know they kept trying to sweep things away you know kind of just make problems go away hide them get rid of them instead of really addressing them um and so when Z came to me about what happened and um I was just shocked and I think she only came to me because she she was just breaking down outside of a football game and
097I'm like oh my God what's happening right I mean no clue and I was just shocked about her story in a way that at that football game I told her like tell me anything that's happening that I can go to and be a support so we do have a group of us here today um also not really you know connected to the case but con connected to the spirit of what is going on um okay so I'll start um so I'm here tonight with several others to support a Grandville mother who son was assaulted inside of his school I'm an advocate a mom and a concerned member of the safety in this community this family has been shaken their son should be thriving and growing inside of his school this year and instead he's facing
098emotional and physical scars from the incident if they had not broke his tooth on that day what would have stopped them no one spoke no one's spoken since a mother sat in a school and saw a video of her child being brutally attacked and then when prosecution needed that video that's not the one that's released um I'm shocked that Grandville is is is not um you know reacting in a way that I have seen um than before I'm concerned for the accountability of all children um she watched the video and I believe her a trategy like this going unnoticed will lead to a culture where safety seems negotiable consequences are inconsistent and Trauma lingers they trusted this institution as all the parents sitting here do and now their son is lost in a system and
099he that feels indifferent to his pain it's time for the transparency release of video communication about the events this could be used as an opportunity every every staff should know what happened learn from it um prevention response accountability um every student should Walk The Halls without fear of violence and retaliation it's about ensuring families who UST their children and this school all day long have a community that's going to protect them hiding the truth only deepens the wounds and erodes the trust that we place in this board and the administration and we ask that you provide full unedited all videos to prosecution to show this family and every family in Granville that they matter their children matter the school is a place of learning safety and respect thank you thank you thank you order please
100order up next David briquette on Deck ly Jansen uh thank you for the time um going to partially cover a few different topics here but uh first I'm going to start with a clip from a recent school board meeting I'm GNA take my phone off silence first what are we listening to again I'm sorry I didn't hear you this is a clip from a recent school board meeting one of our school board members and I'll touch on the content the changes in Title 9 that came from the Biden Administration from a federal level dealt with lgtbq plus whatever else the alphabet was right uh so here we've got a uh a school board member um who had said uh lgtbq plus whatever else the alphabet wants um so our our job here is to protect
101and respect all students from the boy who's creating an elaborate proposal for the girl of his dreams to the gay child who has found a Lov and connection in the same gender unfortunately we don't have that when we have board members like Bob wonder who not only cannot be bothered to respect students by learning the simple acronym lgbtq plus but who additionally take it a step further and employ a common homophobic insult like the one you just heard this was replayed from the August 5 board meeting it's time to call this what it is it's it's an attack on children the board's first job is to protect and serve all children not just a few it is definitely not supposed to carry out a hateful agenda against kids who just want to exist so I
102respect the work that most of you do on this board and I've got a deep appreciation for the community members here showing up out of concern for our kids many who are willing to speak up and provide context to their worries and their anger unfortunately Ely much of that concern has been a consequence and intended product of misinformation and falsities uh many of these harmful and ill-informed claims have been spread throughout Facebook coming from groups like Grand parents for Education now don't get me wrong um those who are spreading these lies uh I don't I don't believe they understand title n um nor have they put into effort put effort into crafting their own messages uh these are disinformation campaigns and propaganda perpetuated by groups like Ottawa impact uh the um hate group moms for
103Liberty and other extremists so I implore those of you in the community who came here with concerns about boys and girls bathrooms and the like to educate yourself on Title 9 the Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act and our own Granville Public Schools processes and systems already in place and if you came here to comment I hope you're listening to the words you use and ask yourself if you are truly aware of the content you're speaking of many of those words may be coming from a place of anger and please let me remind you hate begets more hate these lies do nothing but create an unsafe environment for Trans queer and folks sorry trans and queer folks this includes students at our own schools who we're supposed to protect this is not okay as stated earlier
104even if our school board decides to ignore the 2024 to9 modifications we only open ourselves up to lawsuits and loss funding now if you've been paying attention that's a Playbook directly from the financially irresponsible how what impact it' be remiss of me not to mention our current school board members in uh in bed with oi hate groups like moms for Liberty and those debts set on defunding public education in favor of privatized exclusive schools it's Bob W Jim and Joe steps as you heard in the clip I shared Bob has been on record spreading hate towards segments of students he does not support all students and Joe had actually tried to take away a funding decision from us the Grand Republic he voted to not allow us to choose to renew the non-homestead tax which
105by the way would have been against the law this wasn't him deciding it was wrong this was him trying to take that decision about our children's future away from us and and Brett danan uh we see you affiliating and conspiring also with these individuals who are tied to these hate groups so I truly hope Bob Joe and Brett find it in their hearts to support and protect all children and I also truly hope that their endorsed Affiliated and extremely unqualified candidates Mary Gunther and sea yoner do not make it on this board thank you thank you Lyn Jansen on Deck Julie Dole the following is the opening text of Title 9 no person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participating in be denied the benefits of or be
106subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance according to Webster's Dictionary the word sex has several definitions the most relevant is either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female and male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures in contrast gender identity is not a well-defined phrase and law without an agreed upon societal definition this allows an individual to be fluid with his or her gender identity an individual may only feel like a female when he wants to use the girls locker room or in days when the girls basketball team has a game we should not even consider abiding by these new regulations until the federal Administration can definitively answer the question that Justice Brown Jackson
107couldn't that being what is a woman the new regulations are enjoined from enforcement in over half the states they are also enjoined from enforcement in schools where students or faculty are associated with group with the groups female athlet United young Americas Foundation moms for Liberty and several other associations the new 2024 regulations clearly violate the administrative procedures act because they are specifically contrary to the actual Title 9 law passed by Congress the new regulations also go further than Title 9 statutory Authority they do so in a couple of ways one they redefine the word sex to also mean gender identity sex is a well- defined was a well- defined term in 1972 when Title 9 was passed and obviously it was not meant to include the concept of gender identity a concept that would not
108come into the public discourse for about another 50 years because this regulation would force schools take that take Federal money to allow male students into female bathrooms which it does they specifically contradict Title 9 section 1686 which states nothing contained herein shall be construed to prohibit any educational instit ution receiving funds under this act from maintaining separate living facilities for the different Sexes these regulations also violate the constitution in a few ways first they violate the first amendment by forcing students and faculty to refer to transgender students and faculty using their preferred Pro pronouns this forced speech obviously is in contrast to the first amendment's freedom of speech for many Christians students and faculty it will also violate the freedom of religion this is likely also St true for students and faculty of other religions
109whose practices and traditions I am not familiar with these new regulations also violate the 14th Amendment specifically the due process clause with regard to sexual harass harassment which is now defined as sex-based harassment they do so by promulgating the following rules one a live hearing and cross-examination are not required so a student or teacher may be punished without being able to confront his or her accuser two a the single investigator model is permissible meaning that one person can both investigate and determine the guilt or in innocence of an accused individual three schools must use a preponderance of ever evidence standard this means that a single investigator shall determine your punishment based on whether it is likely that you have committed an act of sex-based harassment again no longer sexual harassment but sex based harassment that
110means that if the investigator is 51% sure that you've done something wrong then he can determine the future of your educational or professional career with regard to women's sports by using the logic of treating people who identify as female as if they were actually female there is no way that we will be able to keep our girls Sports Just For Girls 18-year-old men will be playing basketball softball vol volleyball and soccer with our daughters girls track records will be held by biological men as they now are in many other states in short the new title 9 is exactly the opposite of what Title 9 was meant to be I urge this board to reconsider the adoption of these new rules if they do not I urge this community to elect a board that will enact
111policies that better fit the values of the Grandville Community let's make Grandville a safe place to be a girl again thank up next Julie do on Deck Joan lanstra good evening my name is Julie dah um lots of heavy stuff going on tonight so I just first want to address something um the young man that was assaulted and his teeth was broken I just I know I need to address the board but he's going to be just fine in life because he comes from Two Loving parents who take the time to stand up for him and that is more important than anything and so I cannot give you guys enough respect and acknowledgement no matter how the situation is handled he is going to do great he comes from a great family well done um
112also I would like to remind the board disagreement is not hate speech I am educated on Title 9 I was in Lancing when Elliot LaRon was passed they legislation was passed saying that basically if you disagree offend or hurt anyone's feelings under Elliot Larsson you are now categorized as hate speech it is wrong sorry your feelings are hurt when the truth is confronted but that's the way it is I will not back down I'm a graduate of Granville high school I graduated in the mid 90s my kids have remind me all the time how old I am I was born in the 1900s I was I grew up here within these walls and I went on to play soccer in college and the only reason I was able to do that is because Grandville gave
113me the opportunity to do that it changed the trajectory of my life had I played against boys men that would not have happened I would not have had that opportunity my daughter will not have that opportunity future females will not have that opportunity I remember having my friend's mom record my games I'd get the VHS I'd package it up and I sent it to different colleges I got recruited off of that I went to college on a scholarship to play an A to play sports an athletic scholarship I would not have had the opportunity to go to college otherwise you are taking away opportunities from females to better their lives to enhance their lives because you're not being bold enough to stand up for what's happening right now you can say it doesn't involve Sports
114it will soon it's a federal federal law look at other states it's a matter of time you can say it's just about bathrooms and lockers and things like that and we don't have a high volume of that happening right now it will look at the trends prepare yourself do it now I have a daughter who's going to stand up for her who's going to make sure she feels safe who's going to ensure her opportunities who's going to make sure she's a lifelong learner like I was I went to college again it changed my life because I went to school on a soccer scholarship I didn't have to compete against men for that money for that scholarship I went in to Kinesiology into business and I now own my own business in the health and wellness
115field and it started here in these walls at Granville do not Rob other females from that opportunity please look at the trends look at what's coming I know that the the hesitation is saying let the legislative process play out and I can understand that I don't want anyone to break the law however it's not breaking the law we have two other schools in Kent County who have stood up and been bold and I'm asking you to do the same other things that were against the law were people stood up women weren't able to vote for a long time until bold people stood up and said women could vote segregation was on the law bold people stood up and said this is not right and Title 9 these changes are not right and I'm asking you
116today to come together stand up for the female stand up for all students who are marginalized and say this is not right thank you order Joan lanster is up next Sally vck Is On Deck I'm here to help represent the abols and their son I agree with um the last speaker that they are phenomenal parents phenomenal parents and first of all Sarah would really like to have that third video that for some reason well it's the first one but there were from for the whole thing there were two now there's three they found another one where he was bullied by these two boys and we would like that to be seen um I was with the original meeting I actually um I am the sponsor that brought uh Sarah's family helped to acclimate them to
117the United States back in 1999 um there were four children three boys and Sara the three boys have as boys do go their way and Sarah has become my adopted daughter mother is no longer here so I've known them all these years been been involved in their life um love them like my own children and um one of the things that troubles me deeply is how badly this has affected them as a family at that meeting with the assistant PR principal of the junior high he was kind he was trying to be patient I could tell he was anxious to get home it was after school but I felt like he was kind of like H this is another you know incident we have these all the time blah blah blah and I said to
118him I just want to know what are you doing about this because there's no staff in the hallways they've got videos but what I saw was so upsetting a Cole you see him now he's taller now but back then they lifted him right off the ground as they pounded him against the locker and there's video of that I said what do you do and his answer was well our policy is to teach the students to tell an adult if they see something like that happening and I said they're seventh and eighth graders they're children why would they tell on something they saw knowing that that person that's doing that might come after them if they report it there should be a policy of no touching period you don't touch another person that does not want
119to be touched and if they're bugging you you go to an adult and tell them that they're bugging you if they said something you don't like you go that that you don't touch people you don't hit them it's not you don't have that privilege hands off crickets so here we are with a child that cries in the closet when he gets home he's up late because he can't sleep he walks around the house and then he has nightmares I have a daughter who's who's also having a very hard time with us because she feels like no one's listening no one's listening when how often does this have to happen is he the only black child in the junior high that's a scary thing he was fine until this happened he was playing basketball with the
120other friends they've all had all their five kids have friends one a minute but something has happened and part of it is they feel that they're not being hurt they would like the footage to be seen have you as if you as a board seen the footage that needs to be seen yeah now there's three the prosecutor had them his arm is being held back he's being kicked punched call every name in the book we just we just need to footage that's all we don't need that is what what she that's what the parents would like it's for you to see what we saw and the extra one that came from somewhere and when he went when it went to the prosecutor my understanding was only one video went over there and that was the
121one where they were chasing him down the hall pushed him against a and he broke his tooth 5 minutes so something's being covered up okay thank you sir thank you Sally vck Adam bush is on [Music] Deck there hard to follow because that's what our feel our school district needs to try to prevent um that's something to fear so I'm here today to commend my friends and C former colleagues Brian Moulder and Stacy bile for the amazing job they did on the amazing shake it was a phenomenal event um and here are some of the lessons that all of us as adults can learn is that when you employ honest forthright communication as a human to a human you can make connections it doesn't have to be us and Them the kids before the event
122they were going around helping each other shake hands and say hi my name is so and so how are you today and any adult that was there left feeling entirely uplifted because these kids were the models for all of us as adults and how we should behave not hiding behind screens saying nasty things but talking face to face reading each other as human beings not being sneaky and putting things on people's cars or whatever but talking face to face Being Human being kind being real so my heart goes out to this family and this this young young man but there are things that we can do as adults to prevent that when we can stop treating each other as enemies and try to come together and work for the common good for all of our
123students because that's the focus of why we are here tonight not for adult agendas but for the needs of our students I would encourage anyone to go to events like the amazing shake to see what kids are like listen to the Suburban podcast hear what the real concerns are of kids in our schools today I will guarantee you it's not the bathrooms it's not the books it's social media the they're hurting from that because it hides all the hatred you can hide behind screens it's breaking our kids down it's creating anxiety and stress those are the things that are hurting our kids it is dealing with family situations families that are broken families that are dealing with poverty and who's going to be raising the kid those are the things that we need to focus
124on and as Educators as Schoolboard members As Leaders as adults we need to put aside our own preconceived notions of what we think kids need and really find out what it is that's that's breaking them down because violent Behavior breaks kids down but where do they see that where do they get that from they don't it doesn't come from just anywhere it comes from what they see modeled in the adults around them and I for one as a citizen of this community as a 42y old 42y year resident of Granville a former teacher in this district for 21 years a mother to four students who graduated from this district and now Grandma to five kids that are going to be going through this District we need to do better we need to do far better
125as adults as models for for our students our children and I would just pray and beseech from one Christian to some of you who are Christians please what are the tenants of our faith it's not this it's not what this is you can see it in things like the amazing shake you can see those good things coming out and we need to trust our kids and listen to them and see what they're demonstrating to us they don't want want this they want people to take care of them and be the adults in the room so thank you for your time thank you for promoting those wonderful programs like the amazing shake and the other things that are going just wonderfully in our district and I wish you all the luck thank you thank you up
126next Adam Bush on Deck Jackie PA all so I was uh hopeful you would flip your vote earlier um but did you realize what you were agreeing to have you seen what's in the new title 9 uh because it sounds like some of you have not did you realize you just gave the green light for biological males to share restrooms locker rooms and showers with biological females we're talking about your daughters your granddaughters your nieces how are you okay with this the new title 9 states that schools must allow students to use facilities consistent with their gender identity regardless of their biological sex I repeat it says schools must allow they must single stall restrooms are no longer a workaround solution with the new title 9 I don't understand why I keep hearing that that
127is your plan what is to stop the band camp incident from becoming a regular occurrence in our schools once this becomes policy now imagine the same issue with field trips that invol that involve an overnight stay and legally you won't be allowed to inform the other parents ahead of time how do you think that's going to go Title 9 was originally created to provide protections and fairness to female students assigned at Birth Bonafide biological females this latest bastardization of Title 9 takes all that away Bo you cannot ignore the physiological differences between a biological male and a biological female it doesn't take an active imagination to predict what could happen What could easily happen with essentially restrooms and locker rooms whether it be consensual or otherwise experiencing this sort of thing would be a challenge
128for most mature adults how many of you on the board could handle that and we're talking about children here children with raging hormones and underdeveloped brains board please don't prioritize inclusion over safety I urge you to fix this if it is not too late do not adopt do not approve do not enforce these new title 9 rules I Know Your Law Firm has advised you otherwise I also know the new title 9 is being blocked in 26 other states in challenged in literally every state when you consider the bombs for Liberty lawsuit and others speaking of which it is my understanding that by agreeing to adopt the new title 9 rules you're essentially forfeiting the protections provided by the boms for Liberty injunction so that would be a good thing to double check as well
129I've also heard it said you can lose Federal funding by not adopting these Reckless policies however I found multiple articles that claim 80 to 90% of all public schools were already Title 9 non-compliant before all this business and not one of them has ever lost Federal funding not one so I don't know if someone isn't being completely honest or transparent with you but I would suggest you perhaps seek legal counsel outside this District it's free to you through the Michigan Association of school boards maybe you'll find a different or gain a different perspective ask questions lots and lots of questions and be sure you fully understand what this going to look like for Grandville if you adopt these policies I hope you reconsider your decision at the very least table it until after these law
130lawsuits are settled and for future votes such as this please consider the values of the people you're elected to represent thank you thank you Jackie Pullman order order Jackie Pullman pass okay up next Beth leate uh I'm a mom a Grandville graduate and a gr a Granville Senior band marching band senior um I'm a Christian I believe in Liberty the Liberty of all of us to live and believe as we choose while respecting those who believe differently than us and I'm grateful for the better part of this board who understand that this is a crucial part of serving a public school you can interpret better part however you wish it is a school system that is made up of a beautiful Myriad of ethnic backgrounds religion and beliefs Mr wjem you said it's a majority
131of people that want tial line overturned it takes one family from moms for Liberty to complain or make a report at each school to make that non-compliant one family is not a majority I thank uh all of you who serve the beautiful diverse mix of families and students that make up Granville School District thank you for the time that you have spent on title line you have asked the questions you have studied well despite what others have said I know you've done the work and I thank you for making difficult decisions that support all of Granville students no matter their background their orientation their religion their beliefs thank you thank you this concludes our public comment uh the next board meeting of the Grandville Board of Education will be Monday November 4th 2024 at 7:00
132p.m. at the administration building we are jour