001next item please citizen participation citizens wishing to address the board on agenda and non-agenda items for Action who are signed in by 7 10 pm by submitting a blue card to the board's secretary may speak at this time the board may not be in a position to respond to non-agenda items therefore speakers should not anticipate an immediate response to their comments or questions for the benefit of all concern do not mention the names of students or School District employees please keep your comments as brief as possible there's a three-minute time limit on comments made to the board the first person Mr Hassan ayun would like to come to speak to the board about B uh next next is uh Muhammad shagira he would like to come to speak to the board about I'm sorry I
002can't hear your um how many minutes for translation Arabic to English do we have important in the terms I'm going to ask Mr mustinen to come forward um and kind of give a rundown on Logistics if you would hate to put you on the spot David um well in this situation I think we want to be fair to the person speaking so you know without rambling on for a long period of time I think at least you know giving the um time for translation uh you know five minutes would would be fair okay five total minutes you know but but let's you know but I think that since there's no real hard and fast rule on this we can see how things things play out I think it's to your discretion okay so three minutes
003for the initial comments and then a couple minutes for translation yeah they may go back and forth you know sometimes I know when we've done it in meetings before sometimes you know sentences at a time okay sometimes works a little bit better yeah we'll have a translator right here with us uh to help in the process one other thing while you're there can you just real quick are we doing a similar thing as we did last year we will uh we we do not have the names on the screen this okay but we do have both microphones so if people are on that side of the auditorium we invite them to use that microphone if they're on this side whatever's easiest to get down to expedite the time okay ready to help thank you Hi
004how are you first thank you so much to uh answer my question last time to bring translation and I need this message to everyone families and uh is why I speak last time in Arabic and they don't understand us ask you will get you got what you ask that is my message uh first think uh Mahia arisella Minnesota [Music] foreign Al qutube lab the books have to be removed period mean Italian America is America yes foreign I'll try my best in the two minutes which are left okay uh first of all he thanked you for responding to his request to bring a translator or an interpreter and he wants this message to reach to Osama sibleni uh and he is sending a message to all the parents to ask for what they want because they
005will get what they want because the board here is to serve the parents and not to serve the parties I'm trying to translate what he sent me okay uh the book The Box should be removed what's the point of having this box and what's the education and knowledge that the student will get from this box are we trying to keep the student away from learning is that the way to build a country with science and uh science uh or is it that you have a lot of more money and you find there's no place to so you're finding a place to spend the extra money uh also don't the uh the members of the board know that schools need maintenance and that books the students need scientific books and art books and notebooks like this
006uh why the schools are not maintained to help the students get better education also do the board members know that some schools have a deficiency in English teachers language arts teacher some schools do not have English teachers according to this anyways some of the students who graduate from here with high grades when they go to get when they go to get a license to get a job and teaching they have to pay money and they fail so many times in the tests uh basically he also added something which wasn't here is uh he wants the board to raise the salaries of the teachers because the teachers are important to the district and to the students thank you thank you next Hassan ayun would like to come to speak to the board about B B good
007afternoon you guys know who I am anyways I just wanted to tell you guys what's the agenda of taking the books down you want to bring a 1982 law is acceptable from for you or any of you guys for me to come and give those kids those literature or read those literature I will volunteer to come to your school and read those books to your children would you accept it volunteer I'll come and read books seven days a week for one hour to every class what do you guys think about that what is it going to take for you guys to get these books out and you say committee everybody on the committee right who's the committee people how do we know you guys got a committee it's Anonymous how do we know you guys
008are not doing it yourselves behind closed doors explain to me not one single one of you people want to sit there and take the books out I went to Hamtramck hamtramck's taking the books out Dearborn Heights taking the books out you guys got an agenda and I don't know what it is maybe your guys are Democrats you guys with the lgbtq is that what it is listen I got gay friends and if you got what you want proof go to my Facebook has cash okay this is not about gay people this is not about it's about children something that you guys don't know about so what is it for you guys are gonna take the books out what are we gonna do I'm gonna come every time I'm not gonna stop coming until these books
009will be removed I hope if you guys want books I'll give you books for you guys through them to your children what is it for you guys going to stop what is it going to take you guys are looking at me like I'm a bad person what is it I'm not understanding you guys what is it for you guys to take these books up you guys gotta ask permission from mayor hamud who the guy that's got to ask permission from the Dolly Parton that was given two 8.8 million dollars who are you gonna ask permission from read it to your children the books to your grandchildren and if it's okay no problem we don't want to up out we want the books off the shelf nice and simple so are you guys going to do
010it or not and every time you guys want to call me first to get rid of me you're not going to get rid of me until the books are gone now I think we all have an understanding don't we we're looking at each other right now and you guys think that I'm not I'm gonna stop when the election is done election is done I'm not going to stop I'm a Republican and I'm gonna sit there and save the children and yesterday I drove three hours to protect the children to go to a meeting every single one of your great people people don't want to see her and thank you for your comments thank you next Venus Jackson from Garden City would like to come to speak to the board about book Banning someone else has
011the floor now we've heard your comments thank you for those I just wanted to say first off thank you all for um the uh what was it the emotional stuff for the the um kids and also for how many um social workers you're putting in there that's an amazing thing I really like that and I think we should all be appreciative of children and also adolescence and you know any of the students being able to have someone to speak to because not everyone does but um I'm here to speak about the the book Banning um and so here's what I wrote anytime you write a book where you write about your truth there's going to be people that are going to want to silence that truth Johnson author of one of the books that wants
012to be banned all all boys are not blue if I sit up here and say that everyone wants these Books banned or homophobic then I will achieve to nothing what I need answered by the by the school board is if queer relationships aren't allowed in books then why are straight ones there's a blatant difference between hard subjects and glorification the school system is is to prepare students for the Working World and guess what the Working World is harder subjects than two people kissing I have never seen a call to ban Twilight 50 Shades of Gray or Jamie McGuire's books and all these books glorify assault and abusive relationships but they are CIS Straight gendered White characters as for the ban on books with the subjects of a sexual assault such as sapphires push I have
013to say who are we to take away that representation from victims by Banning these books you're saying that with saying that what these victims are going have gone through is to stay behind closed doors that it's not something we are comfortable enough to talk about to allow others to express and know about their experience parents you've done an amazing job raising your kids and I'm sure of it just a blatant I'm sure you all have children in the school district but I think it's time to allow them to decide what they are going to read and what their opinions are on it all of these all of these books are in the high school these kids are going to be adults in less than five years they're going to be taxpayers they have to understand
014that there are queer people and queer experiences if they want to have that emotional you know growth I had a poem that I wrote for this the oppressor doesn't care when you took their side because it wasn't about you the oppressor didn't care when you turned to your co-worker in against for crimes against them because it wasn't about you what it was about and now there's no one to to blame thank you next Janine zahi would like to come to speak to the board about inclusion from Dearborn Heights hi assalam everyone my name is Janine I am part of for the Banette Urban agile Bennett we are an organization Grassroots voluntary made up of Arab and Muslim in Dearborn Michigan dedicated to dismantling the patriarchy and confronting gender-based violence in Dearborn Michigan and Beyond um
015for the Bennett accountability for Dearborn and queer Crescent call on the Dearborn School Board to continue to make accessible books with lgbtq plus content including those currently in debate for Banning we believe in the importance of deliberate courageous and clear support of lgbtqi Plus members of our Arab and Muslim communities transform transphobia homophobia and patriarchy appear within all communities Arab and Muslim communities are not unique in that we also must work to build a greater support care and information for Arab and Muslim community members who are gay queer transgender or gender non-conforming much of this hatred is being fueled from outside Arab and Muslim communities in August 2022 moms for Liberty and other alt-right and ultra-conservative white nationalist groups started using lgbtqi plus affirming books to stroke violent hatred in Dearborn Michigan we're seeing those
016same folks travel all the way to Hamtramck to stroke violent hatred there as well this has resulted in several Board of Education meetings to discuss potential removal and banning of several books from the school's libraries for years immigrant parents have experienced Dearborn Public Schools as inaccessible exploiting the marginalization of Arabs and Muslim within the school systems moms for Liberty equated the presence of these books of the school district's failure to meet the needs of Arab and Muslim families and in the process completed the community's existing sensitivities and homophobic transphobic and gendered violence the same formula has been imported in communities across the countries with devastating consequences you can go to bit.lee love for Dearborn to see all the evidence that we have gathered access to information education are critical to all members of Arab and
017Muslim communities it is for this reason that Arab and Muslim community members have fought for years in Dearborn and across the U.S to ensure access to education about Arab and Muslim histories cultures and traditions this is a success we must build on by affirming all members of our community not by restricting access to lgbtqi access to Identity affirming histories and education is vital to marginalized student survival and sense of belonging thank you guys so much for letting me speak today thank you everyone that comes up here has the right to to express their thoughts and their concerns and their opinions we gave you we gave you next Minister fuad al-badani from Dearborn would like to come to speak to the board about the books yes hello good evening everyone um this is like the fourth
018time that I come here I don't know how many times so parents um everybody have come over here about the books and everybody talking about the books and um yet I mean we're still waiting for any kind of statements resolutions uh from the board uh from the people uh that are making the decisions about these books going into uh the libraries or these books going out of the libraries um from the way that I I see everybody is talking about these books and um learning a little bit about the contents of the books and hearing about them uh it seems like they are more than sexually explicit and uh sexually explicit meaning that they should be banned and it's not a question about reviewing those books and challenging those books I mean one parent can
019challenge the books and the books get taken off the shelf we have a whole Community coming out and challenging these books so do we have a process for the whole Community challenging certain books what do we do with that so do we go through a panel and see take a look at these books that already have been classified as sexually explicit so the law says take him out and we're still trying to do review on the books I mean you can just read two pages into the books and find out that this book is classified as such so we need to hear from you guys what what you think what's your are your concerns the same thing as our concerns I mean you do you guys do have kids and we have kids I'm really
020concerned I don't want those books to get any close to my kid or any kids in my neighborhood or my friends or relatives so we're still waiting to hear from you guys we want a statement we're not going to come keep on coming and sitting down and listening to all of your presentations and and coming out and speaking and and with no use we're not having any resolution and any statements from you guys uh like uh Hassan said you know Hamtramck took the book open the book find out a sexually explicit explicit taken out they took it out it's simple I don't know how complicated this situation is we we're not asking for three thousand three hundred thousand books to be reviewed we have certain books that people have come and said those books are
021no good for our kids so it takes 10 minutes half an hour maybe an hour or two hours to go through those books and find out their ex are they this criteria or not take them out or keep them thank you very much next Abdul Nasser al-nager would like to come to speak to the board about the book issue from Dearborn assalamualaikum peace upon you all first of all it's very sad that we are trying to shift this discussion from the bookish shoes like are these books are good for the kids or not to lgbtq this been the target for the last three meetings we have been here and we would like you guys as a school board to step up and then say let say that this is not about you know LGBT issue
022we cannot keep saying that and then every time we come here the same thing you know same people comes here and and they try to to shift that you know that you know the discussion toward that side so my point here today is that we are very disappointed of the resolution that just was mentioned at the beginning of these meetings about the review process because we are we are blind about the process um as a parents don't know what is this process who does the you know who is the reviewer for the books you can't just come tell me here oh we did review the books and we you know we figured out two books are will be banned and the rest will not be you know the rest will not be banned um as
023appearance hold the right to understand every single step that was taken to make this decision I can't just come here and then listen to you just make those decisions Mr hassanbury said that we hold that's a god-given rights and we we we insist to keep these rights it's no one no one right to take this right from us as a parents so the question is that we need to understand very straightforward who does that review process what is the criteria this is a very important here the criteria it looks like it's not it's you know it's not the right one because if you guys have a wreck you know a criteria all for these books the books will not be in the Shelf the second thing is why why this meeting is for me this
024you know this meeting is very useless because we can't talk with you guys we just come here speak for three minutes and then say and then we come next meeting we come set with the same thing so we're not getting anything out of this meeting we are getting very frustrated and let me tell you this if you guys think this tactic would work with us trust me that's not gonna work we're gonna be here every single meeting for the next 20 years if you know you know if that's needed I'm not willing to allow these books to be reached to my kids and then we when and then we're not doing anything so I would request you guys to have an open dialogue meetings we can hear from you we want to hear what you
025guys think about it your conception about it we can't just come here and then talk to you and then we just you know you guys are keep silent and then we come next meeting you have your and then we don't know anything about it please you guys have to next Khalil Atman would like to come to speak to the board about sexually explicit this is already ready good evening I just want to touch base on the process honestly the weird View and we listen to the process but we talked about it last time this process is broken honest God that's broken it's been almost three months or five months since last time we this issue came to you and here we go we heard the presentation there is only certain books that are going to
026be removed the reason I'm saying it's it's broken because it's subjective it's based on emotions and feelings of the people who are refueling these books there is no solid process that will tell these reviewers this book should not be here because of sexually explicit content it doesn't make any sense we pick and choose which books should be removed if we have a solid process objective process that dynamically can remove these books that are sexually explicit we don't even have to have a reconsideration meeting or review because we have a solid process in place that will eliminate all these issues the second thing I would like to refer and hint to the point that uh trusty Saint Barry mentioned if you believe the law is against the board not to remove sexually explicit book due to
027lawsuits I would love to learn how many lawsuits are there and how many judges actually ruled the sexually explicit books should stay in the school I bet you you will find none because assembly against the law these are sexually um explicit content materials should not be exposed to these kids our neighbors my friends mentioned our neighbors Durban Heights and Hamtramck removed these sexually explicit books within days actually turbo high is within three hours I know some of you actually expressed their opposition total oppositions against these books and you have the freedom of speech I'm totally shocked why you are why you still silent and not saying that you stand against this books some of the elected officials in our city already said they are with these books and they support these books so you have
028the right to say you are against these books and the Constitution will protect the right for you lastly I I honestly hate to see people labeled you as um supporter or woke agenda activist because the resistance to remove these books from these schools adjustments you as you are pushing the work agenda into our Syria and I hate to say a lot of efforts and a lot of people are trying to push that destructive ideology into our schools and I don't want to see you the people who are trying to do unable or enabling them to do so thank you next Jackson Wagner from Dearborn would like to come to speak to the board about last month's public comments and books so I spoke at the school board meeting a month ago um you know as
029I said the words I was born gay a Heckler shouted you can choose to become gay if you want but leave the kids out of it being gay is in many ways like being left-handed sexual orientation and handedness are both set in stone before birth less than a century ago it was common practice for left-handed kids to be forced to write with their right hand but nobody today says that handedness is a choice years ago my Catholic faith was a core part of my identity it meant so much to me but it also told me that all sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage was sin and that being gay was an intrinsic disorder that while not itself a sin because it's not a choice predisposes one to sin I did not receive sex education in
030Catholic schools I had no preparation for dating for setting boundaries for noticing dangerous situations I was 18 years old when I started at Michigan State University in 2011. I would have gone through a sexual assault and relationship violence program mandatory for all freshmen and transfer students but because I had enough college credits from AP classes that I didn't count as a freshman I slipped through the cracks so did my perpetrator when I met an openly gay student in the dorms at MSU I found myself drawn to him he pursued me as I was navigating the tension between the inflexible Theology of my church and the part of who I am that I could not change on September 21st 2011 I was with him in his dorm room that's where he sexually assaulted me I did
031not know how to clearly set boundaries and he hadn't been taught that silence means no I tried to shout at him to stop but my body froze I couldn't speak or move that incident destroyed my faith I followed all the rules of the catechism and yet I still got burned I could not change who I am or how God made me but I could survive by letting go of the church the primary target of the book ban pushed these past few months months is this book is gay by Juno Dawson I read a 13-page PDF that has been circulating among opponents of the book and I can say that these Snippets were all taken out of context that book doesn't encourage anyone to do anything but it does educate if I had known the things
032it teaches back then I could have protected myself the same homophobia that kept me from reading books like that left me vulnerable instead leaving the kids out of it is a recipe for leaving more people like me vulnerable a recipe for more assaults next Steph Duvall I changed my speech this is no longer about the ball but I'm gonna play you a clip from the executive director of care Michigan we're gonna hold on it's not my phone and say so voice curricula is shaped it right why because we're talking about miners we're talking about people who are not legally adults any books that are considered overtly offensive have material is considered lewd or lascivious pictures as well as in words should not be feasible to minors in that there's a Michigan law felony to disseminate
033sexually explicit matter to minors in pictures or verbally in words is literally a criminal statute to give something to a minor that talks about explicitly or refers to sexual acts be they heterosexual or homosexual so we can stop the discussion about what is and what isn't I mean this is the law I don't care what ACLU says I don't know if they've read these books we know our rights as parents and we know that right now our rights are being infringed upon so I'm going to read from from this book I didn't want to I have not had to do that up to this point but considering that someone said that this book should go back on the shelf and by the way I'll pay the library fine I'm not returning this book so you
034can reorder it whatever you're gonna do hey Elias where'd you go I'm in here with Mark and Bobby hey guys what you doing taking care of business have a seat huh why is it so dark in here can I come in now no you're too young no I'm not fine but you'll have to prove it I will uh oh I think I figured out what taking care of business means we're each busting a load into this bottle if you don't come you have to drink it ha ha ha give me that I'll show you I learned about masturbation two years ago kind of by accident no one ever told me what it was one day when everyone was out of the house they came across a videotape hidden behind the TV my dad had hidden
035movies before with dirty scenes like Fatal Attraction it was exciting to see boobs and butts but this time it was different I could see everything people were thank you next Hussein gallan would like to come to speak to the board I'm sorry Hussein would like excuse me Hussein gallan did not want to come to speak to the board they said I do not wish to speak to the board but would like to make the following comment what is the school board's final decision about the pornographic books why hasn't Dearborn removed the books like Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck next Francesca Stevenson would like to come to speak to the board about protecting kids rights to an education from Detroit okay all right hi thank you for letting me speak today I would like to urge the
036school board to continue to make books with lgbtqi plus content accessible to our kids um access to Identity affirming stories is vital to the survival of marginalized kids art research shows that lgbtqi plus youth are struggling with mental health decline growing rates of suicide attempts and even increased violence from peers and teachers for their own Survival lgbtqi plus students need to see books that affirm their identity in school libraries and even for kids who aren't marginalized throughout their lives they will meet people who are you know their friends family members neighbors co-workers and it's important for kids to develop empathy for people who aren't like them and books are a great way to show them the world through another person's eyes our kids have a right to a quality education and banning books runs counter
037to that goal uh thank you so much for your time and for the important work that you do I'm going to yield the rest of my time next Naji ahmud heji I'm going to say it incorrectly I would like to come to speak to the board about parent involvement from Dearborn assalamualaikum peace be upon you all so um I graduated from college probably 25 years ago and my degree was engineering so uh we studied thermodynamics we studied calculus we studied heat transfer Mass transfer they were a bit complicated subjects but I was able to wrap my head around all of these subjects one thing that I cannot understand is why is it so difficult for you guys to remove these damn books I honestly don't understand [Applause] um all of this talk about education and
038about affirming and all of that stuff I mean we heard one of the excerpts that Stephanie uh actually read and I think most people in here my opinion God Knows Best I think most people here know instinctively in their heart that this type of material does not belong in school so I don't understand why we're in the situation that we're in to be honest with you and um the other thing that I want to touch upon and I think somebody already mentioned it before I really don't understand what exactly is the purpose of these three minutes because um back in September when we had uh when I went to my first uh Board of Education meeting I sent an email to the board and the middle of September and I want to read you what
039I wrote in that email I said uh thank you madam president for your response I know it's a lot of work to respond to emails but I wanted to ask you a few questions how can we interactively engage with the board if there is no back and forth at the public meetings I suggest having Town Halls where citizens can ask questions and debate issues in a thoughtful and respectful way because the way um this is going there's really a I honestly I don't see any feedback and I really uh really highly recommend that we have maybe like a town hall where we have a couple of hours where we can honestly I swear I I'm trying to understand the rationale of the school board to be honest with you because in my mind in my
040humble opinion it's like an easy open and shut case this type of stuff it's not you know nothing related to homosexual heterosexual it's just not appropriate for minors and I really it's nothing more complicated than that thank you guys very much next Steve Nuri would like to come to speak to the board about ambulance cost from school to hospital from Dearborn good evening um earlier this year my daughter had to uh take an ambulance ride from um so4 to Beaumont um we didn't call the aimless the school did and I applaud them they did a very nice they did a great job on it um I got the bill for the ambulance ride if if I'm supposed to be cured a cost I'll I'll critical costs but now my question is is if it's a
041school function or they're in school or if somebody gets hurt playing a football game or or basketball game and they're taking to the hospital in the ambulance is it the parents right to have to pay for that cause for the ambulance that's all I'm asking if it is if it's my cost I'll take care of it it's no big deal it's just a question I'm just going to ask thank you okay if I I want to respond to that uh Mr wall who is our financial director um he has to please reach out to him and your name is with that question Tom wall thank you very much so that's a specific question for a specific individual case thank you next nabilia would like to come to speak to the board uh they didn't say
042about what from Dearborn assalamualaikum good evening everybody I wanna I wanna see thank you so much for your hard work and for the board thanks for the first respond when the um when we reached to you guys about the books and you first action uh call for investigation thank you so much and also I wanna say a million thanks to our teachers and special thanks to Mr Hassan she did amazing job thank you next Ann Clark would like to come to speak to the board about transparency from Dearborn and this material we're here again I don't understand it I'm a resident of Dearborn I'm a Christian these are Muslims they're Christians they're methodists I don't care what they are religion we're all here together as one community this is about our children this has nothing
043to do with LBG this has to do with children all children I don't care if they're black blue polka dot or whatever your children we have to protect our children you're failing miserably on protecting our children and we just have to fix this and the fact that you sit on your platitudes and just no comment is not good enough your Day of Reckoning is coming we as a community are going to do something about it because we have the power of the people we outnumber you and we will do something and what we're passing out now is an e-book at Duvall now you can't get any more explicit than seeing a guy's penis okay you can't get any more explicit of seeing a woman naked with boobs and a crotch so what is what is
044your definition of explicit do you have to actually see it in video well now we got you know the e-books are a a danger too not just books on the shelf and you don't have a process you come here every week that you have a meeting to say oh this is our process but the process is words they don't even have action steps like we're going to do this I'm willing to be on a committee to help and we'll have other parents because it should be a parent driven committee not paid staff we pay you we pay the teachers and you're not listening to us so in accordance to any Corporation we should fire your ass but the fact is that we have a process we're going to have to I cannot hear the speaker
045please go ahead they're they're fine I have no problem either you hear what you have to say I I am well that's good I'm glad thank you because I half the time we have we feel that you're not listening to us and we want you to listen and if everybody else can get mad well I want to join the club too because I am mad that you're not listening I don't have children in the school but I'm in this neighborhood I'm in this city and they are my children next Mike Hashem from Dearborn would like to come to speak to the board about admin ster um can you give this my king it's a solution Miss Roxanne Dearborn Public School of Education you guys have been served with a notice of claim and intent to
046sue by attorney Darren Wesley [Applause] I'm sorry we had to go the shroud but the parents had no other choice but to retain legal expertise in this and the problem is this board did not take any parent or person up here seriously and as I said at the first a board meeting that I went to that we will take this to court we will pursue legal action the words that come out of my mouth is not a joke but the problem is when I say we're gonna do something we will do something so I'm gonna let the public know what's in the document that was just served to miss Roxanne McDonald the board president of the Dearborn Public Schools this is from attorney Darren Wesley Dear Miss McDonald my firm has been retained to contact
047you on the behalf of many concerned parents within the Dearborn Public School District as you are well aware these parents have expressed to you great concern regarding books dissipating describing pornography pedophilia and or sexually explicit content in your school library there are also concerned over your sexual education policy enhanced by your own denial of their right as parents to be provided with the content taught on the subject and the denial of their right to opt out of your District's sexual education program in direct violation of the Michigan State law despite the repeat the repeated attempts and the best efforts of my clients to bring these grave concerns to your attention and have them taken seriously they now have no choice but to pursue legal action this Shall Serve as a formal notice of my clients
048intention to Sue and Vindication of their fundamental rights including but not limited to freedom of religion speech and Association procedural and substantive due process of the law the direct custody care and control of their minor children participation in their children's education and their children's right to a public education and the children's right to be free from sexual harassment as protected by the United States Michigan constitutions federal and state law and other administrative Provisions should you have any concerns regarding the matter please do not hesitate to contact my office via the information and the letter above and within the coming days we will have a official press conference of the next steps to take action against the Dearborn public school board thank you next Jane Mazza DFT 681 president would like to keep just would like
049to come to speak to the board about positive events and DPS good evening School Board trustees Ms Harris president McDonald and Mr Tom law Jane Mazza president of DFT 681 first I would like to congratulate board trustees demrazio and Barry who well won election congratulations gentlemen I'd also like to thank the staff students and parents for a successful first card marking Dearborn Public School staff has again stepped up to make sure all students were supported that included extra tutoring coming into before school and after school to make sure all our students receive the academic care that they needed to have a successful first card marking working our way back from the pandemic has been a challenge for all but the students and staff have shown that focusing on the positive has been the best course
050of action the media Specialists also deserve a big thank you for all the hard work and time they have spent and will spend on the issue of appropriate reading materials for our students I would also like to highlight a few positive events that have happened in our district lately tonight was the empty bowls project at Park Place which is put on in part by our art teachers to support local food banks also all three high schools are involved in a battle against hunger collecting again food items for local food banks Lori held a Veterans Day memorial celebration and this is a time-honored event that Lori has taken place for I don't know at least over 50 years so I congratulate the Lori staff on that also Salina Elementary in Oakman have had reading events for
051both students and parents just this weekend Lindbergh Elementary had a craft fair that supported the school in the community and teachers helped to get that ready for them also on a personal note I wanted to even though we're not supposed to say names I'll say the Edsel Ford boys soccer coach and the fortune boys soccer coach Varsity in both cases I want to congratulate them for their win at districts I work with both gentlemen and I know they're very hard workers as well as lots of time in the community and again I don't want to take anything else from the other coaches I know this whole fall sports program coaches have worked very hard to make sure our students have had a wonderful time in the sport that they chose so these are just a
052few of the positive events that the Dearborn public staff and students and parents are involved in I'm hoping that as the school year progresses we continue to highlight and celebrate our District's success I have one final thank you to the community that voted to keep our Public Schools secure thank you next Samra lukman would like to come to speak to the board about a concern good evening my name is Sam lookman I first want to denounce any sort of homophobic rhetoric that has existed in the last few months because that is not representative of our community I also want to say that people that do say those things forget our struggles as a colored people I also want to support teachers and red for Ed it does not stand for the book's issue it stands
053for teachers who are doing God's work however I do wish to criticize the response of the board and the district that created an escalation and thrust Dearborn into the national Spotlight pinning one minority against another and here we are today continuing what is the third what will be the fourth fifth sixth debacle down the road until you actually start listening instead of hearing I've been told to come and voice my concerns with the process so I'm telling you your process is flawed and does not answer the concerns of these parents you have parents saying that these some of these books should not be placed onto the shelves to begin with and yet your process only answers it after the fact the census revealed that over 50 percent of the South End does not speak English
054as their primary primary language they do not speak it and you're you're asking them to read it and then object to these books you're placing an undue burden on a community of immigrants majority immigrants so what's the solution currently you have Librarians picking and choosing at their own whim what is appropriate for their schools and I don't blame them because you've left it up to them currently I've asked friends from all sides of the spectrum at what age are sexually explicit contents appropriate I've had some say 13 some say 16 some say 18. so you've left each librarian or teacher to currently select their own age at which this appropriate this content would be appropriate then what's the that's their opinion I mean they decide for each school what should be in their school and
055it's because you don't have any standardized method for them to go go by what you need is a rubric for all Librarians across the district and all education Educators to be able to use whether it's established by a committee or legal or whatever it is you need to provide a solution and I understand that this is a novel idea but it was a novel idea when the MPAA was established and had to create a rating system for movies but now it's a tried and true measurement of what we the public use to understand the content of movies and much like the way youth thrust us into the national Spotlight then you need to lead the nation in establishing a new process that will appease the entire community and allow us to reunite and heal enough
056isn't off thank you the last blue card I'm not quite sure if they wanted to speak or not uh Yaya elgami wanted to come to speak to the board okay they want it please do your job the way that you promised us before you get to this position thank you that's the end of blue cards