001next speaker is Mr Ali shazra of Dearborn would like to speak to the board unbox ing hi my name is Salina school I'm pleased to be here I have some words and thoughts I would like to share I hope during this meeting and future meeting there is a Arabic translator and other language translators so others can understand what or on what those meetings are about I think it's best if there is websites and other language language and other language letting others know whatever being said or decision made by the board I believe that instead of teaching us things that will hurt our feelings and our and our parents beliefs we should be touched off subjects that we will benefit from like technology computer skills languages like Arabic Spanish French and other things like that we
002need to learn what what we will need in the future and what will build America should be told what are what will be given to the children especially if it's against the religion and not and not okay with Christians Muslims and other religious beliefs so parents can have trust when their parents are gone for seven hours a day and lastly please think about us we are the children of this generation and future parents of more children I hope our education doesn't relate to politics please let us live our childhood thank you for letting me speak next speaker is Mr wadia Zaba of Dearborn would like to speak to the board unbox the Moon and good evening members of the Board of Education at the front end of this issue is explicit sexual material made accessible
003or taught to students which is illegal in Michigan law section 722.675 titled disseminating exhibiting or displaying sexually explicit matter to minors but let's be very clear that at the core of this issue is an ideological battle and it seems like and I hope I'm mistaken in my assessment that some members of this board have inclined towards an insane liberal LGBT ideology that holds many fanatical views but none so deranged as the idea that pornography is good and students should have access to pornographic material in school as part of education and I don't accuse you of holding these stances however the way that you've handled it so far is somewhat doubting the book challenging process you presented is I'm sorry a joke because any pornographic books on any sexuality whether on homosexuality incest paraphilia zoophilia or
004other forms of sexual perversions is illegal and should never been on ourselves to start with and what's extremely upsetting what's extremely upsetting is that people like Abdullah the lady what's her name Rashida or something and the other goblins influencing them want to propagate this as an issue quote he says children having the tools to create their own future this is pure Shenanigans because you would allow materials on incest zoophilia or paraphilia for the same reason so this is not about quote he says our library is serving a gateway to knowledge imagination and this is ridiculous this is about where we draw the line and the moral corruption that the majority of us in Dearborn Franklin proudly don't accept this is about the deliberate targeting of students this is about the deliberate targeting of students with
005certain toxic and decent content of an insane Audiology that students must not be around and the reality is the proponents of LGBT liberal ideology here and elsewhere are fine with democracy as long as people vote for their fanatical views and as long as it supports their wicked agendas if people vote against their views the liberal Authority blocks the Democratic process and imposes the LGBT liberal positions on the populace they are Hitler they are the oppressors they are radical extremists ladies and gentlemen Board of members of the Board of Education if democracy matters we are the majority here in Dearborn let us draw the boundaries on appropriateness and I urge you not to fuel the tensions and to truly support the majority decisions of families students and parents in Dearborn regarding what is appropriate content to
006allow or teach in our schools and as far as we're concerned our Unity here is a blessing from Allah and through this evil we're able to know who to vote in or out next speaker is Miss Kathy Martin of Dearborn Heights would like to speak to the board on welcoming all our students may I also please remind people again do not use names good evening um I'm Kathy Martin and I've worked in Dearborn for 20 years as Educators our main roles is one of our main roles is to advocate for students in advocating for students we also advocate for Parental collaboration and we want parents involved in their own education so I'm really happy to see so many people have turned out and I hope to see every one of my students parents at parent-teacher
007conferences this year um becoming an educator is a calling if you ask most Educators many will tell you that they knew their career path at a very young age I personally Knew by the time I was in second grade we enter the field knowing that we are in a lifetime commitment to young people we were called to enter a field where we are paid less than professionals with the same level of Education we were called to enter a field that takes us away from our own children so we can tend to your children we are called to enter a field where we are underappreciated and overworked in addition to teaching Reading Writing math and history we teach kids how to get along how to solve problems and how to be good citizens in a democracy
008this is a labor of love we do this because we have been called to be here our career is our purpose we signed up for the good bad and ugly we did not sign up to be political pawns I can't stand idly by while public education is vilified for political gain I've seen a quote stating that students who are loved at home come to school to learn and students who aren't come to school to be loved we are here to teach love and accept all children all staff and all families the only way for a child to learn and grow is to First feel safe and I promise your child will be safe in my presence regardless of their background or family structure public school is where every single person who walks in feels safe
009and cared for when we are safe and cared for when the kids are safe and cared for they were they will flourish and grow into Happy productive adults next speaker is Mr Muhammad shazra of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on books I think so all of us here is speaking English yes some family at home they didn't understand English because that I will speak Arabic and I will try to translate to English it's a family don't be laughing uh it's not uh funny I have a couple questions for you I uh Mr Hassan you're speaking Arabic either you're speaking Arabic you can't translate to him later maybe because we need that um foreign [Applause] foreign Italian foreign [Applause] foreign [Applause] foreign [Applause] books next speaker is Brandy Ahmed would like to speak
010to the board on community support and of Dearborn good evening board members my name is Brandi Ahmed I am a resident here in Dearborn and I have three children here in the Dearborn School District um I'd like to start off I'd like to thank um you all for sitting up here and taking the Heat and the criticism um it takes a very thick skin to do that so thank you I appreciate that I'd like to thank our mayor Mr Abdullah hamoud who has made it very clear that no matter what he will protect books at all costs in every book will remain in our libraries here in the city of Dearborn so thank you for that I'm not going to really speak too much about the book Manning here within the school district um what
011I really want to focus on is a lot of our lgbtq members in our community including students are watching and um you know a lot of people are saying we're not making it about them we're you know we're not trying to reject them we're not canceling them out but we've had people stand up here and say I am a gay person and you hear the booze and you hear some of the explicits and it's heartbreaking you cannot say that it is not about that and so really my message today and I'm going to read it um also I'd like to give a shout out to our Dearborn High School marching band who got all once this week in Festival so let's recognize that as a positive here in our district my message and comment today
012is for the LGBT community and students like I said many have said that this isn't about them um but seeing signs like leave your dirty books in the closet and other hateful remarks that have been made here and online we and I say we as a community because we are a community we have all the local news stations here we have National reporters here they look at us as we Dearborn one community so I will say we when I am when I am speaking in regards to all of us uh we clearly are still witnessing and displaying dehumanizing behaviors of hate and unacceptance uh some are loud and proud and some are just outright mean and then we have some that are really trying to look at both sides and and listen um I really
013I have a family with multiple lgbtq members in it and um we are proud of that but I've watched a lot of people struggle and I've watched people that I love struggle and to the point of suicide it is devastating and so what I want to say to our LGBT community members who are listening to the students who are listening and watching this you are seen you are important you matter you have worth and I encourage them to continue to be authentically and peacefully themselves thank you [Applause] next speaker is joho grimmel of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on transgender and queers in DPS hi I'm JoJo I'm an alumni of DPS and I started working at a school running a before and after school program I am queer and transgender more
014specifically I am non-binary and I use they them pronouns while this is a huge part of my overall identity and I'm very proud to be queer and transgender it is not my entire identity when you are young it is incredibly difficult to be unable to put names to what you're feeling and experiencing it was only very recently I was able to put the name to the cold lonely and isolating feeling I get as gender dysphoria had I been aware of the books and resources available to students in the libraries I have no doubt I would have had an easier time accepting myself and relating please allow the speaker to speak being lgbtq plus is not a choice and it is so hard to have your mind stuck in a body you feel isn't your own
015well people hate you for the very thing out of your control people who don't know the first thing about you only you're different from them so you must be evil I honestly don't want to be here but I know what it's like to have been a queer and trans student and now a staff member I personally found a way to deal with the blatant transphobia I faced as a student through my peers and staff members even though I still deal with it on a daily basis I refuse to let other children be traumatized in the same way I was I need to fight for the queer and transgender kids because I was one of them and I didn't have anyone in the system fighting for me I'm 19 and I'm so tired I feel it
016in my bones but I will not give in to the hatred we are here we are queer and we're not going anywhere lgbtq plus people will keep existing in the world whether or not you want to erase our existences and if you take these books out of schools where children are sent to learn you are aiding and endangering lgbtq youths lives I stand firm in what I believe and I will not back down it's as simple as not buying mustard if you don't like it if you don't want to read it don't check it out if these books are banned the only other alternative would be to turn to the internet a wildly vast Place full of misinformation and bigotry these books written by queer and transgender authors four queer and transgender kids are the
017most reliable and safe options my question is why would you take this resource from kids who need it don't pretend you're all doing this for anyone except yourselves you aren't protecting your children you're all thank you for your comments next speaker is Dearborn would like to speak to the board on book selection while we're waiting for that speaker I just want to say one thing real quickly we are all human up here we're doing the best we can we make mistakes please understand that thank you foreign we are here for this we are here for our kids and when I say selection book I didn't say Banning books so we are here to select the right box for our kids we're not here to just then any book for no reason there are reasons to
018remove this box from the shelves and you guys have to understand the fact that it's your responsibility to do that not mine not them we're here because you get spelled to do that you're talking about revising your process it's been there for years but why we're here the process has failed you don't need to enhance that process get rid of that process come up with the complete and new process that's for the parents when you say oh we we revise that process this is going to be good no we all know that this is a trash you just now trying to count the parents with this nonsense talking we are now targeting any group and I'm talking about myself that I'm not targeting any group I was sent my by my family here to get
019education because they know back home U.S has the best education in the world education science physics math to enhance the brain of the kids they did not send me to look to some books like I can't say because it's when I discuss with my when I discuss with my daughter she's gonna have to ask me dad why these books are on the shelf for us how can I justify that to her you guys are parents and I know you guys taking a lot of heat for that I know it's your job is a lot of heat because now it's become a national issue but please do not undermine any parents it is not your job to undermine parents your job is listen to them and the last thing I want to say it feels sad
020to me that we are up against teachers no we are not who is trying to put up their parents against futures that's stupid my mom is a teacher she is now principal she's a teacher for 30 or 40 years and I respect teachers so I feel bad when all the teachers are coming up here is just trying to defend and then point appearance we work together next speaker is Jamal khayyafi of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on books on good evening board um I think after three hours of listening to the parents after three hours of listening to the parents what else can we say the board today sent an email and they basically admitted or confirmed that such material should not be included in our school media center and they also
021stated the the law number MCL act 33 section you know until the end so you believe in that okay and you send it to us and you hear the parents the majority of the parents saying that we don't want these books so you stated and reminded us of the law you heard the parents tomorrow morning start moving these books from the libraries they start working that's it that's what we need from it okay now last Monday some of you talked about opt-out form I looked at the opt-out form it's either my kids should be banned from all the books and that's unrealistic or I should State the title and the author of the book that they should check so I should do your job and check more than 500 000 books to do that because
022that makes sense that doesn't make any sense you know why don't you classify these books and move them out move them out this is very clear from what we heard this is not a religious matter it's not against a group it's not against the teachers okay this is This Is Us loyal to our kids not to the right not to the left not to any political party we're not here for a political issue but we will remember your names when August and November of every year comes I will remember your name every August and every November comes if this man is not solved then I'll make sure you know my vote's enough for you and I will I will be active for that thank you next speaker is Christina Camaro no City would like to
023speak to the board on um how this harms the community and loyalty of what school board is to the community yes thank you for having me and I speak here in support of many of my good friends from the city of Dearborn also with parents and I'm speaking as a parent and as an educator as an educator I have seen throughout our school system how our students are struggling to read They're struggling to do math our students come to school for College and Career readiness [Applause] kids do not come to school and back up parents do not send their kids to school to explore their sexuality that is not why people send their children to school and also we as a society have to love and be kind to everybody absolutely all of us even
024many of us who stand in agreement on this issue of parents rights disagree on certain issues but it is a false narrative that parents who do not want their children exposed to graphic sex acts somehow hate somebody that is nonsense and when I look at what our kids are exposed to in the media the last thing they need to do at school is learn how to sexually pleasure themselves also I haven't heard the comment made recently but many of the speakers here are disparaged the parents here as though they're being held captive by some right-wing agenda like the parents in this room are too stupid too ignorant to come to their own conclusions like they have their they don't have their own set of morality to not want their kids exposed to this content I'm
025speaking as a parent we the parents of America are tired of the schools turning into social and political machines instead of institutions of Higher Learning as we are watching the students of America slit behind on a global scale to compete academically this is not the time for more sexualization and also parents have a right to determine what their kids are exposed to I think it is absolutely unacceptable for people in education to think that they know what's best for somebody else's child God gave me my child not the school district and I guarantee you that every parent agrees and every parent has a right to object to the things their kids are being exposed to but there is a Breaking Point and the breaking point is this the fundamental existence of school is not to
026learn about sexual pleasure to not to learn about new sex acts the fundamental purpose of school is to prepare our kids to be successful adults who can go off and have careers and it is up to every parent to then teach their kids morality it is out of the place with the school to do it and I reject any notion that parents here are filled with hate or bigotry the parents don't want their kids sexualized if other people want to sexualize their kids that's their business not a next speaker [Applause] of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on the dirty books next speaker is Jeff Davis of Dearborn would like to speak to the board about sexual materials and children curricula good evening and good evening school board and teachers and parents if
027I could I'd nice to lower the temperature a little bit as we talk about this I'm very thankful for this city and for the schools my kids graduated from schools here and I now have grandchildren in the school two of my children are Educators although not in this city and we we need education it's very very important and teachers have a really big job to do and it's already been mentioned look at all the subjects that have to be taught and learned well Reading Writing arithmetic science technology and the Art of getting along with other people that's very very important and is this lady very well said it's not about teaching them sexuality that's not really the duty of the schools and so the teacher shouldn't be made to be responsible to teach sexuality they're
028not authorized to do it and they're not actually able to do it and so let's keep that out of the schools some Educators and education boards mistakenly think it's their duty to raise other people's children especially when it comes to sexuality and gender identity in some cities schools are even doing things that their parents don't agree to and don't know about when the children come to school they're helping the child dress in a different way according to a different sex take on a different identity when they're at school and then change back when they go home now God forbid that that should happen here but it's happening in real cities in real schools in America and and teachers mistakenly think it's their job to do that and they're not it's not their job and they're
029not helping children and they're not really doing the responsibility that we've authorized them to do although some people think so now my my daughter and her husband are both teachers they have two little boys my grandsons they love their children very much we love them and they love their students but they know the difference between their students and their children and they can say these are my kids and they mean these are my students and they care for them and they love them and when they say these are my kids and they're their children they love them but there's a difference they send those children back to their parents and they're not undermining the parents uh tutelage and the parents raising in them so I just think this is a fundamental idea I know um
030it's like I bet in a time machine back in 1995 in another city very similar to this this kind of thing went on and it's it's only gotten worse so we really need to rethink this whole thing it is not the response of the school boards and the teachers to raise children and issues of sexuality [Applause] next speaker is Abdullah Ahmed of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on pushing sexual ideology on teens and pre-teens either side would work assalamu alaikum and for anyone who does not speak Arabic this means may peace be upon you keyword peace misconstrue our religion and culture we are here for peace of mind my name is Abdullah Ahmad and I grew up in Dearborn schools and lived in Dearborn my whole life I think I can say
031on behalf of the majority of our community that we don't care whether the pornographic photos and erotic speech are homosexual lesbian or straight there is pornography in any books available to kids and teens we want that out gay or not and to one person earlier saying that porn in books is the American way keep that phony American way in your home not in our communities parents have responsibilities and try to upbring their children in the best way possible and they send their kids to school which is supposed to be a safe haven come to find out these books and schools are teaching kids that to make decisions they are not capable of making you aren't their parents and if parents want to show this kind of disgusting material to their kids that is their choice
032to be made at home not at school nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes but mistakes are quickly resolved or at least a great effort is given to make things right why are we split in the first place does the LGBT community show porn to their kids growing up I don't think so as a married man and inshallah a parent in the future this scares me I do not accept this and Dearborn should not accept this next speaker is Shady Maori of Dearborn would like to speak to the board about the current situation everyone good evening um first and foremost I'd like to ask everyone to just hold the Clapping uh till the end just for all the speakers in general I'd like to offer you guys a student perspective from my opinion as I'm
033not a parent but I am a former graduate of Dearborn Public Schools and actually this is this was my middle school Stout being here just brings back so many memories aside the point the reason why many of us are here today is isn't about censorship As Americans living in this country we're well aware of the First Amendment the freedom of speech religion expression we're here to talk about the explicit sexual content and in certain books in the urban Public Schools children are at school for almost about eight hours a day which is practically half their day not counting the time that they're asleep so I would say that a school is a children a child's second home besides from their actual home this is where children are taught that's how where they grow up and
034as a student growing up in Dearborn Public Schools I was never exposed to this type of sexuality I took um two success classes once in a fifth grade and another in seventh grade but it was like pretty much straightforward talked about safe sex HIV Etc but to find out to hear that there are certain books in our in a school Community which I I'm prideful to call home is honestly disappointing and to the school board I hope you guys can see where the community is coming from this isn't an attack to you guys directly or to the teachers because we are well aware of all the hard work that you guys all do this is just about the sexualization of children exposing of children to these this type of content we are aware that this
035content is on the internet everywhere but we're talking about just these books specifically this isn't an attack to the lgbtq community or anyone in particular like I said this is America it's a free country thank you everyone next speaker is Adam milk uh the name the it's not as clear but I think it's Miller Bond would like to speak of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on the review and removal of books from the school libraries Adam Miller Bond okay they're not here okay Mr Ali Cindy of Dearborn would like to address the board on why we give parent rights to vote and each School depends on how many kids they have in schools Cindy next speaker is Dearborn would like to speak to the board on books next speaker is Mahdi or
036Sami mahadi of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on box [Applause] hello my name is Sammy mahedi and I am from Woodward's middle school and I am in the sixth grade these books are influencing us youth in a negative way these books are unacceptable and inappropriate for people of all ages let alone the youngsters their presence alone in the library affecting the use of this community making the library an uncomfortable disgraceful and unethical place to be these unethical books do not benefit do not benefit us in the developing a stronger character with integrity and honest although they do the opposite what is the central the library to you the central library to me is a respected place in a sanctuary to better myself these unethical books are mostly in our library and most
037of us students go to the library as a safe haven and just knowing that these books are in our environment is disturbing and we students do not feel comfortable in the library and knowing these pedophilia like books are present in the heart of our community what can we replace these mean Lingus books with we can replace these books with positive and beneficial books we can actually learn from and positively influenced and educated by we cannot let these books affect you the use of our community we are an anti-semitic we are not anti-semitic nor hateful people towards any group of people we respectfully request the board to remove these book books from the library and end this crisis and that's a right next speaker ishi of Dearborn Heights would like to address the board on the
038issue of the topic foreign would like to speak to the board on Parental ban of books foreign just a moment she can't the microphone isn't working give us just a moment try it again please and you try the other mic please better there we go yes thank you hi Dad I'm a third year loss student at Michigan State University a Lebanese Muslim American and I have been a proud resident of Dearborn for 25 years before I begin I want to warn those listening and present that what I speak about today may be triggering for some 16 to 19 years old that is the age range when most young girls are in high school or just starting College this also happens to be the age range in which females are four times more likely than the
039general population to be victims of sexual assault attempted rape or even rape itself 16 to 19. this also happens to be the major topic of the novel's push and The Lovely Bones which are two books that are currently under review how about another one it is estimated that every one in six individuals identifies as being a part of the lgbtq plus community that means for every classroom of 30 students there are five of those students who are part of the community the novels this book is gay and all boys aren't blue which are also currently under review gives real life insight and a breakdown of what it means to grow up not identifying as a straight individual these books have been deemed pornographic against good Muslim values or is being set out to carry on
040some sort of homosexual agenda many parents here tonight are under the assumption that the only resolution is to ban them however the first amendment is not dead the truth is that the statistics that I have discussed here do not exempt the Dearborn Community as strong and as you as United as this community has proved itself to be there are still young females amongst us and throughout our own Community who are suffering or have suffered at the hands of their abusers and despite the strong religious presence within this community that does not take away the fact that there are still young adults out here in the Dearborn Public School System who are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality For Better or For Worse books are the gateway to Independent critical thought imagination and understanding
041of differing experiences and to force a ban on books that will 100 percent benefit students who identify and resonate with the themes we've talked about tonight is an act of selfishness and intolerance I understand that not every parent is okay with their child being exposed but the board and its media Specialists have taken the time to curate a wonderful Equitable mechanism that adheres to both state and federal law and gives parents precisely what they want right so why has this become public News why are we here today our chief police was not mistaken on Monday when he said the eyes of the nation are on us what have we shown the nation we have shown that we as a minority population of primarily Middle Eastern Muslim Americans have forgotten our own struggle with hatred discrimination
042Prejudice and violence we have forgotten the signs that were held up against us the isolation the pain and fear we have all felt because those harming us couldn't take a step back to see what peop to see who we were as people I urge the Dearborn Community to please reflect on this when they pull up the signs next speaker is ihab Al madhawi of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on child at Ahab next speaker is micro of Dearborn would like to speak to the board on books hello thank you um I'd like to talk a bit about some books I think everyone is familiar with Romeo and Juliet well in act three scene 5 there's an underage sex that happens in Romeo and Juliet but that book is not on the ban
043list why because it's not gay that's why there's another book called The Diary of Anne Frank where she talks about how her thoughts on sex and sexuality and while she was hiding from the Nazis that book is not on the ban list because it's straight it is not about the book just like many people have already said here it's people who say they're not bigoted are the people who are trying to ban the books and the people who are saying they're being silenced and the people who are saying they feel attacked and ostracized are the people of the LGBT gay community if I were to believe one over the other I would believe those people that are feeling attacked you're the one that keeps saying you're being a bigot in any case I didn't accuse
044anyone of being a bigot uh you people keep saying they're not bigots what I'm trying to point out is that the people keep saying they're not bigots are not part of the community that's being targeted the people who are targeted the LGBT community saying they're being targeted keep saying they're being silenced there's been a lot of talk already about suicide rates in the LGBT community if the theory here is that we're trying to help children and protect children then we need to keep these books in schools because that will help them not commit suicide or is that not really the truth foreign ly if I can say anything else to the LGBT community these people who are trying to silence you are terrified of you they think that reading your books will turn their children
045gay which is like me saying if I read a comic book I can fly it is a nonsense statement so stop being afraid of these books if you're really worried about them I don't know maybe talk to your kids about them read them with them give them context try something like that and finally I lost my train of thought because Applause makes me uncomfortable so good night our last in-person comment would be like I call Amar al-rahi to the stage please may we have quiet thank you she would like to come to speak to the board about books and she's from Garden City go ahead good evening my fellow brothers and sisters my name is Amar anahi I am a 22 year old American citizen born and raised in Dearborn Michigan I can confidently say
046that never in my life did I ever think that I would have to question our state's ability to protect our kids as an educator I will not condone such Reckless and dangerous actions taken upon by the Board of Education when was it okay to enforce inappropriate sexual contact on content on our children if books about weaponry and violence are banned from libraries in order to prevent premature damage on impressionable kids how are books with content that could easily be considered pornography any less dangerous guns kill people and porn kills brains the damage is quite Slayer but no less influential but in the United States of America kids that are 17 and younger orphans are mandated by Court to live in foster homes and because of that they are old enough they aren't old enough to
047be independent to work for themselves to pay for themselves and and to even think for themselves so I asked the Board of Education since children are seemingly old enough to read or look at such promiscuous content why can't they live independently drink what they want smoke what they want there's a reason they can't and that's because they are impressionable bodies given to us as a trust from God to nurture and mold them into human beings in our Great American society but not but not only are children incredibly impressionable they can be extremely impulsive the decisions that make are always factored by the friends they have the shows they watch and the books they read and of course I must say I'm not here to bash the lgbtq committee that's not my intention is to be
048completely honest at the moment I couldn't care less what I can say though is that we seem to care a little too much are that are we that wimpy that we deny facts in order to safeguard feelings have emotions overcome the world to such an extent that they've cpued into politics into a way there are laws for enforcing me to accept delusion and gender dysphoria but it seems worth but it seems we're fighting the massive schools are more fit to teach our kids about forms of sexual sexuality than the things that would actually contribute to their education but according to the school of board these books are imperative into the development of our children and our kids can have a gateway to imagination and a gateway to knowledge am I right mayor these are your
049words but I'm certain you would take them back if you understood it's vile and has its consequences and before I go I must say to the people behind me thank you for showing up because regardless of why you're here you're here for the sake of our kids so please after this meeting ask your children what they are leaving learning in school they need your help as much as this States let's become more involved in our kiddos lives and hopefully gain more Connections in their districts and Community our kids are our future and they need all the help they can get thank you for your time and attention [Applause] next I will read from the blue cards for those um who submitted blue carpet did not wish to speak uh this is from Yaya algami she
050said they said that they do not wish to speak to the board but they would like to make the following comment Don't touch don't touch touch teach sex in class next this person is anonymous from Dearborn Heights I fear my children being exposed to the sexual content of anything the school board wished to expose my children to in the future next is from Dearborn Heights most of all Morsi I worry for my future children even as a 23 year old and what the full the school board will expose my children to in the future next from Dearborn Muhammad mare I don't want my kids to learn about sex next um Rebecca De Huli dehulo from Dearborn our children have access to the whole world on their phones this is not about books please protect our
051children particularly our lgbtq plus children next from Amar Bay Dune from Dearborn representing him himself please remove all explicit sexual books from our libraries for sake for children next a concerned parent please remove any sexual explicit books from our school libraries next from Dearborn representing myself himself and family from ashra please read my statement attached hello I'm writing to you as a parent and an educator of Dearborn Public Schools over the past few weeks it has been disheartening to see our community be broken up and pitted against one another schools versus parents District versus community and to do so in the most disrespectful ways to do so with misinformation and an agenda to divide there shouldn't be a divide we have one purpose and Mission to make sure that our students get the best education
052in the best manner aligned with our state standards students first always as parents we have every right to be concerned with our students education but there is a manner in which we can question and raise concerns with curriculum books and lessons that is respectful and not in a way that is accusing our teachers of slanderous things or in a form of harassment which is what we have been happening in the last few weeks as a parent every question I ever had regarding my child was asked and answered I'm in with teachers and admin to relay my concerns and was never once turned away I was always welcomed into the school classroom and meeting without hesitation our job is to make sure as parents we show up and ask to meet with our teachers admin Etc
053we should be raising our concerns in a respectful way that allows for Community growth and not in a manner that divides us thank you your fellow Community member next um from Muna mashra representing myself and family I'm a proud parent of three Dearborn school students I am shocked by the virtual and countless attacks against our teachers these past two months there have been slanderous claims that our teachers are groomers and pedophiles and our indoctrading children through the curriculum all the while the district has not publicly addressed the misinformation and slander as it continues as a parent I would like to see the district issue a statement that glare that clarifies that curriculum the curriculum misinformation and takes a stand against the slander being directed against our teachers it's not just the statement made about the
054book reviews enough is enough the only way to push back against these falsehoods is to is with clear factual information that is translated into Arabic and made available in audio formats too not all not all our families are litter in Arabic these people have created divisions and broken the trust between the community and the district address these lies directly to begin to repair the harm they have caused next from Dearborn representing themselves Abbas al-masi as a father I do not want you to teach my kids sexuality next Gamal Saeed from Dearborn don't teach sex to my kids next Abdullah Ali from Dearborn no sex in school next El baidani from Dearborn I disagree with sexuality taught next Deborah Bondi from Dearborn we need to restore funding for media media centers have confidence in the media
055specialist books should not be banned because the kids that need these books are the ones whose parents are looking to ban books next from Johnny Williams from Dearborn representing themselves My First Amendment right to be heard and also to be able to hear other people's thoughts next Jennifer Cordy from Grosse Ile representing Dearborn teachers everyone is welcome everyone is loved and everyone is safe next Joe Winkle representing Dearborn teachers good evening everyone my name is Joan Winkle and I'm a teacher in Dearborn Public Schools at Miller Elementary I originally completed my student teaching at gear Park roughly eight years ago and I'm thrilled to have been welcomed back to this community last year I'm sorry I cannot be there tonight to share these thoughts with you myself but I am needed at home to health
056care for my four-month-old son as I'm sure most of us understand the love of a parent has for their child will take priority over everything in their lives sadly the love this community has for its children is being taken advantage of by a wolf in sheep's clothing this wolf has joined the flock not to help but divide and conquer to lead the flock to slaughter for the good of its pack the pack this wolf belongs to wants to attack public education and public school teachers they are willing to sacrifice this community the Arab American community and the Muslim Community to accomplish this goal they are willing to smear to smear the good names of these communities to accomplish their goal public schools are a safe place where students of all cultures religions and races should
057feel safe this pack of predators wants to stop that from happening and they're willing to lead this community this flock to slaughter to make that happen parents and teachers want the same thing for children to grow in a safe space please let the schools and the parents Stand Together against this hate to make our community even stronger for the children and save their schools do not let the Wolves the true Predators manipulate us into fighting each other that's the end