001good evening okay we want to welcome everyone who is joining us here this evening both in person and Via zoom and on our live stream the purpose of this public comment session is to hear feedback from the public on policy 1310 parental engagement on November 2nd the board announced that the administration would be facilitating this opportunity to receive feedback on this policy a quick review of the rules if speaking in an individual capacity please state your name if speaking for an organization please state your name and the name of the organization speakers are asked to present their comments in a specified time of three minutes when the yellow light comes on you have one minute left to start winding up your remarks when the red light comes on it will beep which indicates your which
002indicates your time is up complaints about names staff students or parents should not be voiced in Open Session finally DPS Administration and board members will listen carefully and consider the comments but do not engage in a discussion with speakers and I will turn it over to Miss Smith to read the people that have signed up thank you good evening our first speaker is Grant Barry followed by ingred Connelly hello um my name is Grant Barry and I'm a Durham County resident um I wanted to voice some concerns I have about the proposed policy 1310 um number one uh yeah I guess I'm just not close enough um my first concern is regarding SB 49 section 115 C- 76.7 C that prohibits the partic ipation of a child in these surveys without prior written or electronic
003consent of the parent or the adult student policy 1310 allows collection of a child's personal information without parental consent or notification under opportunities to withhold consent optout notifications on page eight for marketing purposes the law does not allow an exception from parental consent for marketing purposes the next concern is the healthc care consent for treatments by Health Care practitioners um the policy does not mention the requirement that health care treatments can be provided only with parental consent most schools do not have school-based clinics provided providing treatment but Hillside High School has a school-based clinic which could provide treatments requiring parental consent and my third and final concern is sb49 requires public schools to make specific rights available to parents either electronically or on display on their website that is in reference to section 15 C-
00476.2 5B um policy 3 1310 does not appear to require that notification of rights to parents I'll read some of these rights as my time permits uh the right to consent or withold consent for participation in reproductive health and safety education programs the right to seek a medical or religious exemption from immunization requirements the right to inspect and purchase Public School unit textbooks and other supplementary instruction materials the right to receive student report cards on a regular basis that clearly depict and grade the students academic performance in each class or course the student's conduct and the student's attendance the right to opt in to certain data collection for their child the right for students to to participate in protected student information surveys only with parental consent the right to review all available records of materials
005their child has borrowed from a school library the right to request an evaluation of their child for an academically or intellectually gifted program for or for identification as a child with a disability the right to participate in parent teacher organizations the right to access information relating to the units policies for promotion or retention including High School graduation requirements the right to review Statewide standardized assessment results as part of the state report card and lastly the right to access uh access information related to the state public education system State Standards report car requirements attendance requirements and textbook requirements thank you ingret Connelly is next hello my name is ingred Connelly I am a resident of dorham I have uh three children in the dorham public school system actually in a charter school um I'm here to
006comment on the board of education policy manual um changes or updates um and so the previous speaker did a very good job of indicating the differences between the actual SP sp49 versus this document um and I have not had the opportunity to call out those differen is as well as he did um but I guess the first point I have is that when you have a document that is as detailed why is it being Rewritten in a different way um for this policy manual second of all um the bill does indicate that the documents need to be easily understandable for parents and students this document in my opinion is not I think there's a lot of um wording in here which is vague which I think is then hard to enforce um it's hard for
007a parent to come to the school if there is vague language because it could be interpreted differently um just some examples of that are on page one um a uh sorry par be have helpful I Ed my glasses parental involvement plans be responsible parenting that is about as vague as you could possibly get um there's also um another section in here noted it um where the wording is just very um open to interpretation um also under opportunities with to withhold consent or opt out notifications I am concerned about number four um that's the opportunities d um there are some um parental notification and permissions are not required for again items that I think are vague and could be um could create a problem in the interpretation um I would just say that as a parent
008in looking at this document um I I really have a lot of reservations just because because of the language because of the vagueness because of the fact that there are differences um I am really hoping that there is some additional time and effort and perhaps some involvement of parents um in the finalization of this document um because I I do think that is lacking um but thank you for all the work that you do I appreciate it and thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts our next commenter will be Sky Sanchez followed by Kate elander afternoon my name is Sky Sanchez um and should I um and yeah uh I went to Northern High School um I was germ resident um I have a lot of cousins and nieces and nephews
009who also attend durm public schools and um yeah I just wanted to basically just I guess voice some of the concerns that I had with the new policy and just see if you guys could also take a look into it um well okay I was looking at uh s sp49 the original copy and I noticed that right in the beginning it has all of the parents rights and some of them are like to direct the education and care of his or her child to direct the upbringing and moral religious training of his or child um to enroll his or her child in charter schools if they would like to make Health Care decisions for his or own child unless otherwise provided by the law um yeah and to review medical records I just think it
010should be like kind of I mean it's basically a policy about parental rights I think that should be I don't know the first thing just to make it obvious and um yeah so I would also like to talk about uh page seven number four section D um it talks about parents permissions um and it lays out some of the things like you know you have to give permission for giving out the child's telephone number or their um like sorry address name we have to have permission from the parents to do that however there is a section that says that um parental permission is not required for short duration academic career personal or social guidance and counseling and Crisis Intervention that is needed to maintain order discipline or a productive learning environment um my concern is
011for the parents who have children attending during Public Schools who are unaware of the academic career personal and social counseling that their child might receive especially if it's um in the form of discipline I think that parents should definitely know that their child is receiving some form of discipline even if it is shortterm and even if it is in the form of counseling um and so I understand that I only 41 more seconds um but I would also like to talk about um when sorry there's like another part um page 10 I have 28 seconds uh section e number four um it's titled instructions on gender ideology sexuality uh sexual activity um and in this section it states instructions on gender identity sexual activity um and gender identity are basically not allowed from K to
012fourth grade uh which I agree with um but I do not like that it has under the exception that children um have student initiated questions that we might be giving that uh sort of information now um thank you guys for listening Kate elander good afternoon y'all I'm a DPS grad and a Durham County resident and I have a first grader in DPS as well um I'm here mainly to provide comment on the section under changes related to discussions related to student well-being um I know that a lot that is here is a part of the requirements from SB 49 and I know that whether or not we agree with that we have to figure out how to comply unless we're making the choice as a district to say we're not willing to comply because we
013think it's discriminatory um but I think I I mainly I just have have question questions I think related to section two of of the procedures for parent involvement around student health related to disclosure about students preferring or using different pronouns or different names in school it says the school will notify parents when that happens I'm kind of wondering I know that's a requirement of sp49 can this also include that the student will be included in that like that the student will understand that before they their parents are notified it doesn't seem right to me that like I think it should be codified in the policy that the student knows if they're making that choice at school that that that's going to be uh that their parents will be notified the other is in section four
014and now my phone is is gone uh anyway um related to instruction around sexual activity and gender identity and sexuality in grades K through 4 and I think my questions are just about like we acknowledge that there are students in Durham Public Schools many students who come from families who who may have two moms or two dads or just a mom and um and I think and they're also gender diverse students in kindergarten right like these students exist um and I think it's I I'm wondering about how we're addressing that with this particular part of the policy like are we not allowed to read a book that has two moms in it or that has a transgender young child in it is that con is that considered instruction or a curricular material or a source
015material uh or are we allowed to acknowledge that these families and these young children exist in our community the same way we're acknowledging that students from families with a mom and a dad or students who are not gender diverse exist in our community and I just think we have to think about that with regard to this uh policy thank you our next two speakers are Jim Walker and Ron Duffy ladies and gentlemen of the school board esteemed members of our community thank you very much for the privilege of speaking with you this afternoon 345 345 students in during public schools have a non-majority gender identity this afternoon we stand at a critical juncture where a policy rooted in fear threatens to overshadow our most sacred duty to nurture and protect our youth your opportunity and
016our opportunity is to uphold the Dignity of every student in Durham seeking education and acceptance the draft policy before us compels our Educators to report changes in name or gender identity effectively making them agents of scrutiny rather than support thus it is all the more imperative that we must remember that our schools are sanctuaries of learning not places of surveillance think of our middle school students our high school students the draft policy sends a message to them the policy says you are further alienated for those who have no Safe Haven at home you now have no Safe Haven with your school school counselor or your teachers consider the message we send our children when we prioritize compliance over compassion do we wish wish to teach them that Conformity is more important than character the esteemed
017board in front of me we have an opportunity an opportunity to Foster our students and an opportunity to resist this policy though mandated by the state clashes with the very essence and purpose of our Educators and as Guardians of the future I contend it clashes with the will of the people of Durham County I therefore urge you to say to Proclaim it shall be the policy of this board that no students Identity or change in chosen name shall be reported by DPS staff to any private citizen whether they be parent guardian or otherwise under any circumstances we must not be complicit in a system that will harm the very Souls we are entrusted to elevate history has its eyes on us and will remember the choices we make today will we choose compliance with a
018statute that may or may not be feasible in the end or will we choose the Unstoppable power of love and acceptance our children deserve a world where they are free and safe to be themselves let us stand on the right side of history let us choose to protect to embrace and to ultimately Empower all of our students thank you Mr Ron Duffy good evening um I am a uh probably as I look around probably the oldest person in this room what does that mean that means I do have a little bit of knowledge but I didn't come uh ill prepared so I don't have all the background I have it at home but uh didn't bring it with me because really I don't need to say much um they've eloquently just explained the uh the
019agenda now if I'm not in if I'm I think I'm correct sp sp 49 passed the legislature did it not it did did that pass it passed I think it didn't pass there 100 counties in in this state it didn't pass 99 with one exception ction all 100 counties are expected to comply now all the options and the legal ramifications and I'm not at that level but I do know that whether you like it or not uh it passed and what you how you want to make Durham County exception but I grew up in this County uh I went away when I was in the military and everything else but I still I live in Orange County just outside of Durham County but um I uh I think we we have an event and uh
020count the second song I we had an account an event in our church October the 14th and it the name of the event was culture Clash what to do how do you respond when the current culture clashes with um the current things that's going on in this country uh I have seven great grandchildren in this school system I'm concerned for them very much and I'm there's no need for me to say all the things other people said thank you for your time our next two speakers will be Dr Luca Thornton followed by Lorena Perez hello my name is Dr Luca Thornton um I do concur with Governor Cooper's statement regarding Senate Bill 49 um and I do have some comments about policy 1310 changes that correspond to uh the content of Senate Bill 49 I
021would like to encourage the board to please uphold your values um I was here one of the last rounds of when after the bill had uh received some traction already and and I heard some positive feedback from um many of our community members as well as you all and I really encourage you to stay strong to those values um in addition to those shared by the rest of our community here in Durham the city the further County um I'm currently applying to jobs in education and DPS is basically the last safe Bastion for lgbtq folks like me um our allies and those who want to help amarate the disparities in our state's public education system I'd like to keep it brief in terms of policy 1310 um I particularly disagree with uh on pages nine
022and 10 items one the very last paragraph and item four um due to the language that holds Educators accountable for outing students and breaking that important level of trust um between Educators and their charges um you know that our town will support you whether it comes to in spirit bouting at uh rallies and such um even financially I think leaving it in the hands of the Educators to make their own personal decisions on how to move forward in light of this legislation is important and thank you oh also thank you for the inclusive language that you all revised in uh 1310 I do very much appreciate that hi my name is lurena bis um I am a parent of a kindergartener this year at TPS um and I do also want to talk about the
023proposed changes to policy 1310 um specifically the same sections that Dr Luca was just referring to um I urge you not to backwards um these proposed changes contradict with our own support policy that like you all passed we fought for it's a good policy um it has offered my child a space to be poured into with love that's what elementary school is supposed to be right like figuring out that like oh my word numbers and counting and I exist and what does this world entail right my child is trans they exist so they deserve also to get seen themselves in the books that they're going to read in the classroom conversations they're going to have it does not need to be placed on the burden of their teacher to now have to weigh what conversation
024will this policy in the language that is overarching and way too vague right the exclusion of all what would that look like in a teacher's classroom which books will you need to remove all gender identity really should then remove all human and anthropomorphized figures from all books but that's not what's going to happen right it's only going to be the queer characters that are taken out it's only going to be the queer families that are taken out my queer family my queer child deserves to get seen in the same way that every other child does this is supposed to be about parents rights well I am a parent and I deserve this right as well this I know you all care about this and I recognize what does it take to say like we will
025not comply in this my understanding is that you can file a declaratory ruling and slow it down halt the changes right let's not do their work for them let's not just like slide it past um there is precedent Parker versus Hurley the US court of appeals in the first circuit and I recognize we're not in the first circuit but there were parents who sued the school district of Lexington Massachusetts on the grounds that their children were exposed to ideas that they found because they were promoting lgbtq acceptance and they lost because that is not a burden that the first circuit found violated those parents or their children's rights to an education it was not burdensome enough because the fact of the matter is the world exists and school is about teaching us what does exist
026in the world my child exists my family exists and we deserve the level of care and education that every other child is also going to receive and so I urge you in the same way that Luca offered we will have your backs if you will have ours we will figure out how to make sure that you are cared for in the same way that you are caring for our kids U members of the public and those watching the stream uh we are scheduled to be here until 6:30 and we will not leave until 6:30 so um we encourage anyone who is on their way take your time uh we'll be here until 6:30 and anyone who's considering it um we will be here and there's also for those who W are not able to make
027it we do have the policy 1310 at dpsnc.net and when I have been getting those I have been replying with received so that you know that those have been received but um with that said um we will be here until 6:30 thank you e