001welcome everyone to our board meeting um superintend will lead us in the pledge indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay changes in the meeting agenda we have change in schedule a6 replacement pages administration of the oath of office for newly elected board members you raise your right hand please do you shower at least only swear that you will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution and state of new york and faithfully discharge the duties of trustee of the board of education according to the best of your ability yes congratulations do you see rosensweig solemnly swear that you will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new york and faithfully discharge the duties of trustee of the board of education according to the best of
002your ability i do congratulations please raise your right hand do you diana bev length so i'll only swear that you support the constitution of the united states in the constitution of the state of new york and faithfully discharge the duties of trustee of the board of education according to the investor ability i do congratulations that brings us to the nomination and election of president of the board of education i will entertain emotion okay we need to is there is there a second jonathan can't go on a paper post extensions we have a new president do you diana bevlinka solemnly swear that you will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution state of new york faithfully discharge your duties as a president of the board of education according to the best of your
003ability i do congratulations thank you [Applause] come with me the time clock yeah i'm gonna do that too no i could no we'll have that switched up yeah just assign somebody like that okay so now you're gonna call number two okay nomination and election a vice president of the board of education 2122 and administration of oath of office to vice president anyone i nominate sue rosenzwig did i say wrong listen swag sorry oh that's this okay okay all in favor all any opposed abstentions seeing nonemotion carries do you see rosensweig solemnly swear that you will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new york and faithfully discharge the duties of vice president of the board of education according to the best of your ability congratulations [Applause] number four
004nomination and election of district clerk pro tem 2122 an administration of oath of office to district clerk pro-tem okay all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries do you charlie lee solemnly swear that you support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new york and faithfully discharge the duties of district clerk protem but the board of education according to the best of your ability i do [Applause] congratulations i'm sorry number five appointment of district clerk 2122 an administration of oath to office to district clerk okay raise your right arm do you inger germano solemnly swear that you will support the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of new york and faithfully discharge the duties of district clerk for the board of education according to the
005best of your ability i do okay okay appointment of office numbers six through nine oh we didn't oh all in favor of ingerborg district clerk oh i thought we did that already sorry yeah and nobody gave me any training all in favor opposed obsessions abstentions good perfect so number six through nine we just did that was zinger so number six through nine now we all vote right you don't have to leave no i'm not they told me not to okay all right all in favor opposed abstentions great section six other appointments 10 through 26. okay all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries minutes of the board of education meetings for april 14th may 5th 18th and 25th great all in favor opposed abstentions okay policy we have four policies that we'd like to move uh
006dr baum the first policy you have before you is 92.40 ninety two forty actually rescinds ninety two thirty it's been renumbered as per the suggestion of the new york state school boards association it has to do with recruitment and hiring uh it brings our language up to date with current uh recommended languages you have 45 13 information center resources this just incorporates digital resources into our libraries you have 45 26 computer internet network usage this just corrects in eric some of the other policies we did earlier in the school year referred to the executive director of instructional technology this policy we forgot to omit the word executive in a couple of the lines and it re it defines what doesn't define it it mentions district devices and it gives the exp excuse me examples such
007as desktop computers laptops chromebooks and then finally the big one you have before you is the code of conduct each year the district is required to review and reapprove the code of conduct the committee met several times during the school year and we are making four recommended changes one we just clarified language that the code applies to not only in-person instruction but remote virtual instruction we added information about stickers pendants patches on clothing they have to be free of vulgarity or obscenities we added clarifying language that principles can take into account not only a student's chronological age but also their developmental and cognitive abilities and finally we added a definition for restorative practices any questions are we ready to move this okay great first irene gish second reading okay second vinnie bizzo all in favor
008opposed abstentions we're going to do a second read right okay 32 is statement of assurances they they're all cleared and approved and 32 and 30 well you have to move 32 33 separate second mr vizo all in favor opposed abstentions seeing none motion carries okay 33 designation board member liaison and standing subcommittee positions the board has agreed the following board members will be liaisons to the following schools uh charlie to arrowhead and minnesotaki deanna bevlinka to mount jonathan cornreich to nessa keg irene gish just to talk it to rosen swag to julianas vincent vizzo to murphy and jeffrey kerman toward melville the pta council septa and 3b sage will be wrote on a rotational basis with the board trustees uh let it further be resolved that the audit committee chairperson will be jonathan cornreich trustee
009one of shower lee lee and trustee ii dr jeffrey kerman facilities committee chairperson dr jeffrey kerman trustee vincent vizzo and trustee jonathan cornreich policy committee chairperson irene gish trustee deanna bavalenka and trustee c rosenzweig they're going to split minnie if sue and i share mini stock here you guys flip any mm-hmm okay can i have a motion second mr vizzo all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries now we're going to do number 34 through 48 any explanations or anything needed to be said no these are all uh routine uh annual appointments can i have a motion thank you second all in favor opposed abstentions seeing none motion carries okay items for board action number no this is inger our district clerk uh 49-50 authorization of destruction of cast ballots and authorization of destruction of unused
010ballots we have to have a resolution in order to destroy any of the balance second all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries number 51 through 66. no excuse me can we do 51 by itself and 52 by itself oh and then 53 through 66 can go okay i will fix that okay 51. adoption of 2122 contingency budget can i have a motion second okay all in favor opposed extensions seeing none motion carries 52 establishment of 2122 tax levy can i have a motion thank you all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 53-66 can you just say when you move it could you just not just a hand just say that you're moving it just so i can get everyone just saying just say i can see i can't see when you put your hand down
011what do you want me to say oh it was me okay 53 to 66 can i have a motion jonathan cornright vinnie vizzo all in favor opposed abstentions excuse me uh madam president uh the only one i would like to uh make note on in that group was the donations we had a donation in the amount of uh a check for one thousand dollars donated by the long island community foundation matthew grimaldi memorial fund to the ward novel high school scholarship fund wonderful absolutely wonderful okay so can i have a motion on 5366 did we do that right now we did it we're done okay 67-73 and second okay all in favor opposed abstentions seeing non-motion passes number 74-78 second all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 79 to 85. can i have a motion
012mr vizzo mr cornright all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries okay 86 approval of memo of agreement between the three village central school district and ups eu clerical union unit can i have a motion second thank you all in favor opposed abstentions seeing none motion carries approval of a memo of agreement between the three village central school district and the tv saa ri regarding addition of title can i have a motion mr vizzo mrs rosenzweig uh all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 88 approval of memo of agreement between the three village central school district the three village teachers association and the employee named in the attached confidential schedule c can i have a motion please mr vizzo mrs rosenzweig all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 89 resolution recalling excess teacher mr cornright number
013um second mr vizzo all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 90 personnel matters one instructional two non-instructional gary anything nothing unusual just typical hires okay can i have a motion mr vigil mr cornright all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 91 recommendations of okay got it who's first i don't know you're on second who'd like first all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 92. okay all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries 93 approval of district plan for special education can have a motion mr vizzo mrs rosenzweig all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries you did it it's over okay informational items of interest okay so finger had asked if we would um let her know who was going to the conference in october so that she could make the proper reservations for us so okay
014who wants to go i'm going i think we're all going right it's in october and it's three days okay we'll let you know the dates um i have an additional item of interest very informative it's uh run but go ahead good no that's it that i just wanted to i just wanted to say that today is actually a historical moment for the school board because our district is approximately 13 percent asian american and tonight we swore in the first asian-american uh member of the board of education of three villages i'm very proud of cherry and her leadership in our community so thank you congratulations thank you jonathan i'm proud to be one of the board members and i trust the community who elect me and i will do my best to help our community thank
015you hey public participation 30 minutes in length three minutes per person we have uh mrs gish somebody mrs gish and gary young will fix that okay if you're going to use the microphone please wear a mask obviously everybody has a mask i appreciate it and i'll call your name clock will start and then she'll stop you at three minutes as soon as we start i'll call the time okay oh time is exactly eight o'clock first speaker is so shauna hershwitz good evening hello how are you okay i'm good when you are you are very good at it so um thank you for your time i am here on behalf of the book persepolis and the importance of including it in our curriculum after last month's board meeting i went home and read the book and
016i'm here to say that it's incredibly important that we keep that perspective in our students curriculum reading that book was really enlightening to me because that's an area of the world we should know more about our military is wrapped up in it our foreign policy is wrapped under and our money is wrapped up in it and to be able to see the islamic revolution and also the theocracy that followed through a child's eyes was incredibly enlightening and there's no better way to create a sense of empathy than to see a child to read through a child's perspective it's an incredible book beautifully written beautifully drawn and i think it's incredibly important that we keep it in the in the canon of our literature i also want to say that i'm an arts educator and often
017great works of art are not appreciated when they're created they're not always well received and a really great example as a music educator mozart's operas when he wrote le notze di figaro and don giovanni right around the time of the french revolution the aristocracy was not pleased and no one can deny the relevance of mozart's operas today or stravinsky is the right of spring these are things that are unquestionable but when they happened they were not well received and in the 21st century some of the books that are the most challenged are by authors of color it's maya angelou's i know why the caged bird sings it's tony morrison's beloved and the bluest eye it's khaled hosseini's the kite runner and it's persepolis and if we start going down this slope you are going to
018wind up removing a lot of authors of color from the the literature canon and that flies in the face of the anti-racism task force that i sit on in the work we've created i will also say as a lifelong educator you have hired experts in their field you've hired people who know what they're talking about who have thoughtfully programmed this literature who've thoughtfully programmed music education and arts education and while i understand that these conversations these books and that this art can bring up can sometimes push boundaries can sometimes make you uncomfortable we cannot dictate educational curriculum and policy because a couple of people are uncomfortable are unfamiliar or perhaps harbor bias that is not a way to educate our kids to be global citizens we're talking about an anti-racism task force and the very
019first time i sat in that anti-racism task force i said if this is going to work you're going to have to empower your teachers and you're going to have to back them and this is that moment and i'm asking you to trust the people you hired and to make sure that diversity equity and inclusion is a part of our curriculum and it's two seconds so thanks very much thank you very much alison pappas please good evening hello my name is allison pappas i'm a mom of six three are now three village students thank you for letting me speak i could use my time tonight to talk about the science how it's been proven masks don't help spread and how cases among children are low but i won't i believe the board has been given these
020facts and the parents many parents of three village still feel unsupported on this matter the matter to choose for our own children instead i'd like to talk to you about my children parent to parent my son is entering 10th grade a few of you may know him i know mr vizzo does you've seen him on stage he was the lead in murphy's newsies he was the lead in arrowhead drama club two years in a row every year he's been a lead in three village musical theater camp for the past several years all he's done is theater and his free time this past year he was pippin and murphy's show if you got a chance to see the show on dvd you may not have recognized him he was wearing a mask my son's passionate about
021theater to everything he quit he said mom why would i want to do another show in a mask it's depressing because because of masks in school my son lost his passion my daughter just finished third grade at arrowhead there were teachers and students she spent all year with and didn't recognize them outside of school because she'd only ever met them with a mask on she told me mom i see people in school they don't i don't even smile anymore why bother they can't tell because of masks my eight-year-old lost her smile my daughter is speech delayed she received services five times a week before kovid she knew a few words she made no progress in the past 16 months because you can't teach a child to speak with a mask on she's not only lost
022any potential progress but lost the words she had and is now categories as non-verbal because of masks in school my child lost her voice all summer my kids will be masculine camp sports activities church shopping daycare no masks since school ended my kids have had a light renewed in them removing masks has removed a burden that should have never been theirs to begin with as parents aunts uncles don't you want that for the children in your life to see them light up to let them be kids what i'm asking is will you support parents choice for masks in the fall for all children and if not which one of you is coming to my house the morning of september 9th telling my kids look them in the eyes tell them to turn off their light
023put on their mask and get to school [Applause] thank you next up nicole heritage sorry good evening though okay that's okay congratulations yeah congratulations to all of our new board members okay i'm going already okay um hello my name is nicole herratinitis i'm also a lifelong educator and my son robert will be entering third grade in the fall i spoke a couple of months ago about my concerns regarding crt and its effect on our children both emotionally and psychologically charlie you and i spoke about this specifically although it has been stated that crt will not be taught in our schools crt is the ideology for which dei is based in recent days we have heard from teachers unions that have declared schools will be required to adopt this ideology i would like to take this
024time to comment on the dei presentation and the statements that were made some of the statements on 6 15. on the surface it makes no sense not to embrace dei respect for diversity and inclusion of all races the problem is with the e the equity piece is that's what's concerning equity is assumed and is not the same as equality it was stated that dei is imperative because our community is homogeneous meaning we are the same why are we the same we are the same because the majority of us are white that in itself is racist both crt and dei do not consider people as individuals with their own struggles like my own child whether a person struggles from within or they are suffering due to external forces is not relying on skin color and when
025you seek equity for certain groups based on skin color it minimizes those personal struggles social justice and anti-racism are political terms and they are part of a political narrative a person's political beliefs should be respected and they have no place in the classroom when you have members of the task force who are themselves politically motivated there becomes a clear conflict of interest members who are in fact activists themselves cannot be neutral and unbiased and should be removed from any of these committees when statements from committee members refer to those of us asking for transparency and i am quoting i was proud to speak up in defense of anti-racism and education in our schools last night don't let the bigots distract us from diversity equity and inclusion for all of our students that is a statement
026from somebody on your anti-racism committee that is a problem i am not a bigot for advocating for my child to be treated as an individual i am not a bigot for wanting politics and a divided country out of our classrooms i am not a bigot for wanting my child to be given the opportunity for an education that teaches core subjects and life skills let our children be children teach them what is appropriate for their age and according to their level of comprehension let them be free from the political narratives that are taking over our country and free from the lack of tolerance and respect for personal beliefs that are dividing our country and this community it is too much abuse homelessness physical and sexual assault are called excuse me your timing okay thank you very
027much you're welcome thank you next up is heather coppola good evening okay good evening um i know you guys are all awaiting guidance from the state on upcoming school year as it pertains to covet and the guidelines but i'm here to continue to advocate for parents to have the choice when it comes to their children with masks medical decisions and for parental involvement as far as curriculum goes many parents are sitting here the summer stressing floundering worrying about what their next school year is going to look like for their kids with what's going on in this world as it pertains to our children i'm speechless with the lack of concern the district seems to be in displaying and advocating for our children as a board you are our voice the community's voice yet when we
028reach out we rarely receive a response from board members all responses are always from the superintendent which are greatly appreciated and i've heard it stated the last few meetings that you know by board members and by committee community members that we want transparency how can we have transparency if we can't communicate openly here at board meetings this is our opportunity to speak to you but it's not a forum we we don't go back and forth we speak you guys nodder your heads and that's it we share our thoughts and concerns and that's all we get there's no parental committee being organized by this district other districts are doing just that they're starting groups for parents to help relay feelings of the community to the board and i believe that three villages should have that too
029parents need to be involved in decisions and plans and i can't believe i'm even saying this but parents must have a say when it comes to their children and their medical decisions for example dr sussman is the medical director who you guys give the rights to to make medical decisions for our children my daughter had two medical exemptions denied by him he has never seen her ever never talked to her never spoke to her pediatrician or cardiologist who put these through never spoke to either any nurse at arrowhead elementary where she goes yet he's making decisions for my child if he's going to make those decisions then he should see her but he can't he's not even a pediatrician yet he overruled her pediatrician and her cardiologist and i know you've heard this from multiple
030parents i need to have a say when it comes to my daughter and her medical decisions i am her strongest advocate for that and he is sitting here making these decisions but he won't even speak to me he refused to speak to me he would not get on the phone and speak to me and that happened to many parents that's not right that doctor cannot be making these decisions from my kids and other kids in three village when he won't even speak to the parents or their pediatricians as far as next year goes i stress the the year needs to look different for our children we need to give them some normalcy however that needs to happen with the guidelines that are given i'm just hoping that you guys can just give our kids back
031a little bit of 2019 a little bit of 2018 just because they're having like stated by allison an amazing summer in camps now wearing masks they're out and about being normal and our fear as parents it's going to come in september and we're going to punch them in the stomach and have to give these guidelines back to them for in the schools that's it thank you thank you next up is ian farber good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak you need to know where you came from to know where you're going learn history or you're doomed to repeat it history doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes these are all quotes that speak to the importance of learning history learning the complete history the good the bad and the ugly this includes events
032like the tulsa massacre redlining and all atrocities inflicted upon marginalized people as we come off the heels of our nation's birthday we should all keep in mind that we can be proud of our country and at the same time learn about and acknowledge the sins of our country's past and sometimes present to critique doesn't mean to condemn critique allows for growth a smart man once compared our nation to an unfinished symphony i find that analogy very fitting as america is a constant work in progress we all owe it to ourselves and our children to be part of that work in progress works of literature provide insight into differing perspectives perspectives on coming of age perspectives on world events if we are to grow as a people and as a nation those perspectives must never be
033silenced by banning books that in itself is part of history and never shines well on those who attempt it in the past books such as catcher in the rye to kill a mockingbird were banned but later cleared for education these books force people to confront difficult topics but again that is how we grow i would also like to thank dr gold and all those on the anti-racism task force for the great work they're doing as that is also part of how we learn and how we grow and i would yield the rest of my time thank you next up is jeannie brunson thank you i'm as a parent uh and a member of the anti-racism task force i speak today in support of the district's dei efforts there is a vocal group of people in
034our community as you've heard tonight opposed to supporting students of diverse backgrounds and needs with curriculum-wide equity and inclusion i wonder what they're really so afraid of i don't think they actually fear including books that allow students of color to feel seen and important maybe they have been called out on social media for those culturally ingrained biases that everyone has and think the word critical in critical race theory means public criticism of individuals rather than careful analysis of historical events please trust the teachers know better than anyone that schools are a place to grow and have your ideas challenged with kindness but let's dispense with this myth right now crt does not mean that your white child will be told they are an oppressor a critical race theory approach which means looking at history through
035the eyes of people of color does mean that white children will learn that their own race is not the default being seen this way has led to many opportunities we as white people mostly take for granted for example if you have always seen yourself reflected in the learning materials at school if the name on your resume is more likely to land an interview than the resume with a culturally distinct name if you have never been followed in a store or had your credit questioned or been harassed based on your race or ethnicity if you have not had to teach your child how to be safe in a police interaction one's right to life and liberty should never depend on one's skin yet it still so clearly does we are not the default and we cannot
036be inclusive while thinking of ourselves that way i believe this is the true fear behind this vocal anti-inclusive group this should not be an idea that scares you acknowledging systemic racism will not cause you to get paid less lose your job or your children to fail to get into college in fact building a system that teaches our children to better understand one another creates opportunities for everyone it will make them more able to interact effectively and collaborate with others in careers here and around the world a diversity equity and inclusion curriculum is just that inclusive designed to lift up all students help every child overcome challenges and maximize their own potential to thrive and contribute to the world to teach this we must acknowledge honestly how we got to where we are we must see
037race to acknowledge that history the present disparities and injustices and those diverse perspectives in order to move beyond the systems that hold people back and instead lift each other up thank you thank you oops next up is kate davis good evening hi hi congratulations to the new board members um sorry that i had to walk out for a second um i'm just gonna start off my speech with saying that um i'm a second generation american here um my parents uh were the first generation born here and i'm second generation i didn't see myself first i have white skin but i didn't see my culture and stuff reflected when i was growing up in everything that was provided to me anyway um i'd like to address a couple of things this will be short and to
038the point i'm employing the board the community members to look up the items that i'm mentioning and think critically about them firstly i'm sure as you are aware many of you have seen the national education association's approved plan to promote crt to all 50 states teachers are going to be required to attend seminars if they haven't started already under the guise of dei and social emotional learning and to receive trainings to learn about crt and how to push back against those who oppose crt i know we've been told many times crt isn't our curriculum and i wish i could truly believe it with these new guidelines i'm not sure i'm convinced new york state has also put through crs which is culturally responsive sustaining education it claims itself to be asset-based pedagogies that recognize cultural
039differences racial ethnic linguistic gender sexuality and ability these all sound great but there's a lot of nefarious things that are hidden in them the curriculum critiques a lot of things such as being white and having white privilege if you don't think that certain things are being snuck into the curriculum look into our recommended reading under the dei links on our school site school's website nothing recommended from the conservative viewpoint or other viewpoints next take a look at something as simple as your child's chromebook and you'll find an app called brainpop check out what your child children are being exposed to there is blm all over it along with pride and videos that say that if you're white you're basically an oppressor they have a whole link tree thing set up also why are we allowing
040these political agendas to come into our schools even under dei i agree that it's important to learn about diversity and all that kind of stuff but why are we so clearly struggling to define the evidence that's in front of us and also showing pornographic images is illegal such as those shown in persopolis however you say the book it's illegal so and there are victims of every race who have experienced horrors we'll never know many of which are results of systems that have failed him thomas valvo was white remember him system failed him we must teach our children about humanity we must raise to be strong kind caring and pathetic so that when it's their time to rise to the occasion and fight and stand up for others they will have the tools and strength to
041do so for everyone regardless of their skin color with this in mind i'm asking for further clarity an outline of what will be taught and how it will be taught the specific materials used for each grade level and for an open forum similar to that of the budget form recently held i know that this is the the i agree with the more board members statements that it's time to come together and lessen the divide with respect decency and understanding and focus on our commonalities and not our differences and we must learn the history of this country flaws included but it has to be age-appropriate your time thank you next up tara jim miso good evening good evening i first wanted to say congratulations to all the new board members good evening everyone i'm here tonight
042to express my deepest concern and utter disgust regarding an instructional third party site on the issue of systemic racism this app which is downloaded on all chromebooks in classrooms is called brainpop let's start with the first video on blm in this particular video a cartoon character of course let's use cartoons because we know this will help kids relate and pay more attention the character explains the history of the blm movement and racial progress made since the civil rights movement error this character also encourages students to join the protest move that is calling for major police reform the character says this isn't about blaming the police when an officer abuses their power that's just a symptom the power the problem is more widespread than that which is why we need everyone's help to change things this
043is what these protests care about and what they are about smart move let's start to turn our children against family members friends neighbors and the force do we not see how we are poisoning these young minds let's talk about another video from this app this one's all about new the new federal holiday juneteenth this video touch on touches on the holiday we now have that focuses mainly on celebrating when black people became free from slavery in this video the cartoon talks about how white people didn't like black people they make it clear how black people were treated as second-class citizens and segregated from society along with this they then mentioned how july 4th is now only to be observed by white people because it's when white americans gained independence you say you aren't teaching crt
044but don't know what blm is look at the clear evidence why would you then allow this material to be shown in classrooms this is not only continuing to separate us but it's poisoning our children's minds when is it going to stop parents i implore you please look at this program there's so much damaging material you must see it open your eyes people thank you thank you [Music] that concludes public participation i have one email from a megan mcdermott i am writing in regards to the book press press apollo apollo oh my gosh persepolis i do not currently have a high school student but i once was one and an avid reader one thing i appreciated about my parents is that they never limited what i could read i had free reign at the library to
045check whatever books i wanted i don't know if this was their design or their disinterest but what it allowed me was the love of reading that has carried into adulthood i understand that there is a loud minority calling for the removal of this book from the curriculum at ward melville i adamantly oppose this in the begin and the banning of any books books are a reflection of ourselves and these reflections are particularly important in the teenage years when i think back to the books i read in high school i am reminded of go ask alice and girl interrupted these books helped me to see outside of my sheltered life where were they mature themes yes and i had the guidance of an experienced educator to help me through them i learned from decisions of the
046characters in the books and did not mimic them teens today face a multitude of issues that you and i never had to add to the influence of social media and i can think of no better way for a child to tackle tough topics than through literature supported by their teacher any parent who questions the appropriateness of this book for teens is not paying attention to what their teen is already exposed to the banning of books is backwards and out of touch please do not give in to the demands of a few megan mcdermott is there anybody else that would like to speak i call for an adjournment second all in favor motion carried