001the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all call please Mrs Den zealous here Mr hton here Mr Jones here Mr manelly here Mr SE here Mr tensley here T here Mr here 2.01 is the approval of minutes motions to approve the minutes of August 16th through September 20th the special board meeting of August 23rd 2023 we have a move so move second questions or comments all those in favor oppos motion pass 2.0 two is the invoice listing motion is to approve the invoice listing for August through September of 2022 vs move so move second question for comment all those in favor I opposed motion passes Miss in charge as of July 31st 2023 Del bounds with 32891 600 during the August
0022023 local state and federal revenues total of 32 m614 1989 dispersements were issued in the amount of 7, 61528 and as of August 31st pel's current balance is 57 m95 61 the motion is to approve the treasures report for August 2023 second questions or comments all those in favor I opposed motion pass like to welcome tonight's student representative sport of the board welcome this year for meting back and uh um hello members of the board it is very nice to be with you again uh as we start off this new school year I'm very excited to be back this year at Sophia's replacement and I know that this is going to be a great year I would like to start off today by introducing the new vice president of the student Senate Olivia Ellis uh
003okay and let's dive into the fun stuff shall we the school year has just begun and with that comes the annual homecoming game and dance students in all grades have been working tirelessly on their floats for the homecoming parade that will be held this Friday the theme for this year is movies and I'm and I for one I'm very excited to see what each class creates and just throwing it out there but the senior's Wizard of Oz themed float is looking pretty good tickets for homecoming were sold this previous week during lunch us for all grades moving on fall sports are officially halfway through with their seasons and things are off to a good start some highlights so far have been our volleyball team who are off to a great winning start as per usual
004and our boys soccer team who recently won the Vanguard Invitational cup for the first time in four years as you can guess school spirit is at an all-time high as our student section continues to grow louder and prouder with each home game at the valley finally with the start of the New Year many honor societies have begun to come together and have meetings to talk about plans for the upcoming year honor societies at Sun Valley finalized their members toward the end of last year and have now begun to discuss their plans with new and old members hello again my name is Olivia Ellis and I'm honored to be the new vice president of student Senate and cannot wait to see what's in store for this year to begin the sophomores Juniors and seniors had the
005opportunity to buy their class rings during lunches this month and it looks like many students have been excited to purchase them a class ring rep was present to help with sizing so that each student could be satisfied with their purchase this month many college Representatives have come to Sun valy to talk to interested Juniors and seniors about their programs in schools this is a great opportunity for students to get a feel for colleges they want to attend without having to physically go to the college it is great resource for the students at Sun Valley and many have been taking advantage of it also with the start of the New Year many honors studes have begun to come together and have meetings oh wait is that yours the the National Honor Society was recently asked to
006help with Asing and Caven Community Days we've also recently helped out the freshman at orientation and are planning some big things coming up this year our intro our in production is coming up in November and we are very excited to see the new faces of NHS we've been working with Miss miall these last few weeks and she has been very great picking up the gist of things very quickly you very thank you number four tonight is is DCR report we have number five is superintendent report Dr thank you okay evening uh members of the board I I'll present for the floor again and also to everybody who was here joining us tonight great to have you great to have your interest U number of items I had in our superintend report uh that typically can
007run quite lengthy but recognizing that we have a lot of guests in the house this evening I will try to uh truncate my comments just a little bit we have had a really fantastic start uh this is my 16th year beginning uh as a superintendent Pelco this start has felt like it's just a really terrific one it's a testament to our staff to the kids to the families uh to the principls who worked very hard to make sure that we had a great kickoff um we opened our doors to 3,237 students I'm really excited to say we were nervous about full day kindergarten but it has gone Splendid it's been wonderful to be able to bring full day kindergarten to this school district uh with the resources that we have to be able to have
008small class sizes full day kindergarten for parents huge resource and because of that likely our number of kindergarten students ticked up it's typically 180 we have 210 full day kindergarten students now in our building and it's great to have them in here so it's been a wonderful start this type of year this time of year rather uh we also uh make sure to be a presence at the community days which are fantastic you know we we love the Partnerships that we have with the three municipalities the first one has already been held I was at that very well attended great turnout by our Parkside staff wonderful to see so many kids and parents um our Teachers Association our support staff they host District tables um we do pend out the proud photos we post that
009on social media we give out t-shirts just an opportunity to connect with the students the communities and the families and we look forward to being a Brook Haven Day family day on September 30th coming up in just a few days and also also the Aston uh Community Day on the 7th really pleased that we continue to have a partnership and a presence at those events as the student ref to the board mentioned home coming up on Friday we will tell you we are monitoring that very closely weather permitting U only one time since I've been here have we had to cancel the parade and uh Friday night is looking tough I mean the game will happen uh we will honor homecoming Court uh we're want to play Penwood there will be a homecoming dance Saturday
010night um but we'll have to make some hard decisions uh tomorrow evening certainly by noon at the very very latest because they're calling for some uh tough weather and we can't have a parade in the rain when you have uh cars without tops and you have the marching band and you have floats uh just would not work so we keep an eye on that and there's the names of really wonderful students who are being recognized in the homecoming cord for this year this year also brought uh news this month rather of the uh Sun Valley High School being named to the best high schools list by US News and World Report and I was really happy to see that because when you're in the building when you see what happens in there and you rate
011the building by what the kids do and what you see you know why they deserve to be in there and we're really pleased to see that a lot of winded the sales at Sun Valley uh as you will see FR today uh we hope hosted the first multi-team cross country meet for the first time that the athletic director and I can can ever remember um and really that this is a sign of initiative the coaches the athletic director the athletes are saying why be average if we can be great we should host a multimedia at our at our site and there you had Trevor had a great race and there you had Kate had a great race and the team they're building a program and they're keeping kids involved it's wonderful to see got a
012lot of compliments from the Westchester russan coach but these are the things that we see from our kids on a regular basis you one of our five sees in our for of a graduate is character lot of District talks about the four seed we added the fifth character and we promote that by making sure that are opportunities for our students to be grateful and give back to the community so we had the Frank Garrett charity game at the volleyball team wonderful program they made sure to take time out to recognize something as important as the pan foundation for pancreatic cancer while a lot of people were in their house on a Sunday Sun Sun Valley cheerleaders are preparing and packaging 150 bag launches they filled four cars with donated clothing donated cases of water to
013the kington project northly cross country the middle school team wonderful start at North this year they're also coming out spending time preparing a packaging lunch for the kenon project so developing character is very important for us as well as making sure that kids learn what they need need to learn it starts early right here's our beautiful School of Coburn they make sure that every year they go out and they honor the First Responders who cycle through the county in memory of those affected by September 11th so empathy respect patriotism those are the kind of feelings that we start to instill in our kids at very early ages last Friday night was create to be at the game far right there's a picture of our student section you know they get compliments every week for a
014good the great kids come out they enjoy the game they do the right thing they behave themselves they reflect really well in our community the kids picked the themes and our students themselves decided that last week was going to be the pick out football game so they sold t-shirts to raise funds for breast cancer and honored three survivors including parents and teachers and uh former staff members so hats off to them because they give back to the community if you want to be a part of that uh consider working in our school district we will be increasing the Outreach that we do uh to try to make sure that people understand that there are opportunities to work in this District school districts across the country are fighting for the same Workforce everywhere you go we're
015looking for drivers AIDS home monitors power Professional Security for those people who might want to potentially get into law enforcement right many times you start as a security officer long-term short-term building substitutes you no longer have to have a teaching degree if you have a college degree and you want to learn what it's like to be a teacher go through a training program that Kelly substitutes offers contact datr office so we will work hard to make sure people are aware of these options last week I talked to the board about a pilot program that we're looking to introduce a Parkside Elementary called the leader and me pilot program for people who are familiar uh with the seven habits of highly affected people Franklin cuy work the four disciplines of execution uh they have a module
016and a program uh for high school middle school and even Elementary and parents are very clear you know let's start teaching important life skills to kids at early ages how to be responsible how to set goals time management public speaking and leader in me enables us to do that but we want to make sure that it's a good program that it's has a value before we roll it out to the entire district and Parks side you know as a Leadership School that they are their staff said yep sign us up we're happy to give us a try one of the things I love about it culminates in a theme day in which the students themselves kind of lead the school and present their personal leadership projects to the school community so we're happy to U
017give this a shot pilot it at Parkside and I'm looking forward to seeing how the program operates throughout the year on tonight's agenda the school board is asked to approve a comprehensive plan uh you'll see on the left hand side a one-page document that's also on our website um that we put together to to condense the critical items in a comprehensive plan that when printed out can run 140 Pages our mission and vision will speak to in a second it does include our three established priorities which we'll speak to and then measurable goals we're going to be implementing the Ed leader 21 multi-year uh road map for putting our Fortune of graduate into practice and developing 21st century skills by the end of the 2026 school year we will have ready for Life knowledge skills
018and dispositions I identified for each grade level we'll have those established so for instance uh teaching a kindergarten student the proper way to greet a respectfully greet an adult or stranger that is something that you want to teach kids how do you tie your shoe that's a ready for life skill that a kindergarten student might need to have far different than what a 12th grader would need to have we'll have those for each grade district will develop and implement the components of a curriculum Management program that will help our staff with instructional strategy IES resources and assessments K to 12 100% of our districts will be implementing the mtss approach which is a multier system of supports to ensure that all students high low and in between receive personalized attention regardless of their skill level
019and we'll also make sure that there are effective anti-bullying programs seal programs positive behavior programs and schoolwide character programs in place little more on that that um we had very very successful feedback from the survey we sent the parents staff and the community last spring uh in summary some of the main points that came out high levels of satisfaction appreciation for teachers and staff which I'll show you in a second parents said critical thinking character development and collaboration these are priority skill areas that we think our kids need because we know that that's what employers are looking for getting students ready for life was rated as more important than doing test prep and worksheet packets just to raise school rankings keeping students safe came up a lot um physically and emotionally that was noted as
020a priority in an increasingly unsafe world that we live in please make sure that our kids are safe so that was a big piece in the feedback district and school communication efforts were rated highly we've been asking the principles to stay on top of their weekly and bi-weekly newsletters feedback suggested that there should be more learning Partnerships with local businesses and institutions and I agree with that so we'll be looking at establishing some more Community Partnerships to help our kids get more real life experiences all the groups surveyed we interested in seeing this kind of talk and about our vision and portrait of graduate be a little more specific so parents said less worksheets more higher ordered thinking problem based learning 21st century skills developed velopment academic Pathways and lessons that are relevant to life
021and future careers folks that asked for full dayc we delivered folks to ask for a breakfast program we anticipate we will have that in place potentially within the next two months uh there was a request to have continued social media presence so that we could combat misinformation that gets spread and also consider additional opportunities to share positive news stories about our students to reflect the actual School experience this is just an example we had uh I think 48 pages if you printed out all the open-ended responses and this one really I thought tells the story one of the questions was what makes you pandelo proud if it's highlighted it talks about people or our programs and that meant a lot to us a lot of times folks were saying you this particular teacher this staff
022The Faculty the support staff um that we have safe and supportive schools my children have loved this District they love the opportunities to do dual enrollment etc etc etc so these weren't my words these were the words from the parents who took the survey themselves and again the highlighted points my students are excelling and are recognized for the hard work the music the band programs have been important part of all my students growth so those type of things teachers and staff love and care great nurturing environment um one and one nor so I shared this with our staff our to school cuz I wanted them them to understand that the work that they do is Honorable and it's also appreciated so our mission is called out again the comprehensive plan uh enable all students to
023achieve succeed and Excel achieve Mastery of core academic competencies so for instance we know that to be successful students have to be able to read and respond to texts by the end of third grade otherwise there is very difficult outcomes so that's a core academic competency succeed at acquiring ready for life skills and that last one's important excel in pursuit of a personal Talent OR interest we don't really want any student to be in their final years of high school and you said hey what's your thing and they say I really don't know what are you interested in I'm not sure what excites you and not much that's not what we want to do so we want to partner with parents and we want to make sure that we give kids opportunities to pursue their
024first Talent or their interest and that comes about by having a lot of after school clubs for instance in the high school's been trying to expand its offerings of a of affinity groups and activities so that kids can say this is what I'm good at every kid should feel that they're they know that they're good at something or they're interested in becoming something better than themselves our vision stays the same we're committed to ensuring graduates are ready for Life prepared and capable to make a contribution to society so here's the three pillars those 140 Pages were put into three areas wellbe and belonging we heard that from all of our surveys that mental health matters now kids need supports kids needs to feel like they fit in and that they belong at the school kids
025should want to go to school and be with their friends highest quality teaching and I believe it that's the core piece most important thing that we can do is support and train our teachers hire the best that we can hire who and have them stick to High Fidelity high impact proven teaching methods and then Readiness for life as we've talked about we break those down into action plans I will mention those three items curiously enough match almost exactly to what they call the new three art that good schools offer rigor relevance and they make an effort to build positive relationships those three fit right in there high quality teaching uh we have a new data warehouse for our staff we are building an updated cural management plan tier one strategies means that when teachers see
026kids who need supports and need interventions they don't just say go down the hall and get tested for special ed no they do it in their own classroom they provide those supports in the first lowest level tier a revised curriculum map that's updated with revised standards Readiness for life we're talking about academic Pathways we will assess our course offerings to make sure they're relevant to our kids establish an artificial intelligence task force to figure out how do we manage schooling in the time of AI when kids can just go and chat GPT and get answers how do we incorporate that and teach people to use artificial intelligence responsibly have competencies more service opportunities and continue to expand our dual enrollment which we have done and finally well-being un belonging as I mentioned you know you
027you address that by a lot of co-curriculars clubs for kids because we want them to be doing things that they enjoy we want them to be around friends physical security enhancements right we've been doing that we had an assessment of all of our schools by a center for safe schools to ensure that our practices conform with best practice in terms of school security a lot of parents talked about that they worried about shootings that they hear about in schools around the country never ever want to see that happen in ours supports for our employees character education Mental Health Services for some students who really need the support the parents are asking us to help them we want to be able to help them as well so those items are listed in there thank you before
028I step up and anyway these are all achievable goals that we we really feel confident can happen because we're just building upon what are already in place our everyday actions and finally I'll mention that just like you know the Eagles uh color sometimes evolve a little bit you had the Kelly Green you have the midnight green the taglines going to evolve a little bit as well from excellence in education to committed to Excellence because what we do is a lot more than what people think of in terms of just education we want our custodians to say be committed to Excellence we want our maintenance workers to be committed to Excellence we want our bus drivers to follow the best practices be committed to Excellence I want my administrators to be committed not just to be
029average but to be excellent in our responses to parents and our community and that concludes my superent support for [Music] respon thank you Dr St number seven announcements for the poet tonight board met an executive session to discuss personnel and litigation matters any comments by members of the board number eight is board information the board has asked Dr St to give us an update on procedures we've been working on sure yeah I don't normally talk right after Super T report but I happy to come back uh and provide some information as requested by the school board of the administration so last week uh the school board uh Administration heard from parents who had questions about the requirements of public school districts to permit students to use bathrooms that are align with their gender identity between
030as you remember between Mr poio who serves as our legal legal advisor and cicer and myself uh we refreshed the school board and shared with those who were in attendance last Wednesday the the legal basis that informs practice that school districts must permit we referred to court rulings Title 9 regulations guidance from governmental agencies that all serve to inform the public school districts in our region who also permit bathroom use based on gender identity finally I shared an example of the adverse and costly impact that school districts have suffered when they attempted to enforce a policy based solely on biology of birth that does not accept the gender identity as an option now it was mentioned that on this matter a board or staff members individual beliefs or opinion about what should or should not
031be a practice is really immaterial to governing and administrative obligations these are obligations which must of course comply with law should be responsible to all students should be Equitable and meet the fin fiduciary duty that taxpayers expect of us the key and most important point was was that this discussion around gender identity should remain focused on people um not burdened by the disputes over policy or procedures the matter impacts students all students in the school all of them are deeply loved our district will care equally about all students regardless of their sex orientation or identity and to that end since we know that students with a Bonafide and sincerely held G identity that is contrary to their sex assigned to birth have a right to certain accommodations we can also we can also acknowledge we
032can also the feelings of the rest of our students who report being potentially uncomfortable or who struggle with this Arrangement as well guys this is not time for public comment please as our principal has said discomfort of any student will always be something that we will work to relieve and address and I complement the high school and facilities for quick action since last Wednesday they have already added two more gender neutral single used bathrooms to address the issue now to be responsive to concerns brought to our attention we have begun work on administrative regulation that will provide reassurance and Clarity for students and parents and guidance for staff this has not been a matter uh that has been brought to our attention that required this type of detail now that has been brought to our
033attention we need to be responsive and work to solve a problem that has been brought to our attention which we're doing so an administrative regulation of that sort will make make General practices that have been in place more apparent and they could include something along the lines are the following schools maintain separate restroom facilities for male and female students in accordance with Title 9 regulations mandatory court rulings from the third circuit court and non-discrimination policies where schools maintain separate resturant facilities for male and female students transgender students shall have access to the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity students who are not transgender no no do not need bathroom accommodations shall use the restrooms that correspond to their sex assigned to birth or a single used bathroom that is available schools shall consider bathroom
034use requests based on gender identity on a Case by case student by student student specific basis students indicating a need for a bathroom accommodation must meet with their counselor prior to approval to ensure that the school is aware of all potential accommodations that the student may be required for the student this meeting which serves to best support the student also serves to substantiate the sincerity in necess of the accommodation once a student is approved to use facilities aligned with gender identity the student is required to use those facilities where available a single stall restroom should be made available to any student transgender or not who wants increased privacy regardless of the underlying reasons if a student wants increased privacy an administrator design shall make every effort to provide the student with reasonable access to an
035alternative restroom such as a single stall restroom the use of such a single stall restroom must according to the law be a matter of choice for a student and no student is to be compelled to use such a restroom in accordance with law the school district may take steps to designate or create additional General neutral restrooms throughout its District facilities the school district May engaged architectural design assistant determine if the to determine if a restroom or locker room modifications could occur that may increase privacy for all students the school district May provide more private options for changing and locker room use that can include single use areas private stalls curtained areas or use of a separate room the annual student handbooks will be updated sted to provide notice of the procedures the school district will
036continue to be non-discriminatory in its practices and procedure to ensure adequate levels of privacy support and comfortability for all students regardless of identity so I believe uh to our board members that steps such as those that I have outlined here uh reflect the good faith effort by this board to respond to concerns that have been to our attention while keeping the best interests and rights of transgender and cisgender students as continued matters of just a quick note for those who are new to board meetings so they know what's how to how proceeds uh we're now uh comments by members of the public for agenda items only um this time you can speak on agenda items only um uh it's up to 3 minutes per person 15 minutes total and everything comes from the podium and
037please state with agenda item your I remember when I was walking through theall my name was Brian Divine I 172 met Brook l in B what agenda item you I'm speaking on the bathroom agenda that is not an agenda are you kidding me agenda okay so then who can we talk to about the end of the meeting section for public comment at the end this section of public comment for items on the agenda been that way always has um first of all my name is Jose Cas D isav andow Charles Henry A's and apple L's and Larry a and apple I Live On th Avenue I've been a member of the Aston Township community since 1985 I'm the 1990 graduate of Sun Valley I'd like to address three things but I want to preface this
038one you not under any uh obligation to take public comments but once you do this podium is open and protected under the First Amendment as a public for sir you're incorrect incorrect the policy once a policy is set this board governs those procedures I'd like to talk about that is not for this tget sir that is not that is not there is a public comment of the meeting at the end where you discuss items that are not on the agenda to address the board at the end of the meeting sir there's 30 minutes 30 minutes minutes then I will wait until the end of the meeting not anywhere and My First Amendment rights will not be violated outstanding is there any member of the public that wishes to comment on a specific item on the
039agenda at this point in about that we got issues you know the reason it wasn't put on the agenda comment is closed on sneaky stuff we start on page two goes on page three four five 2022 through 2023 2023 2024 act 93 plan pdaa agreement code SE 118 B is the administrative recommendation to approve all personel items as present questions or comments all those in favor iOS motion pass uh tonight we'll do a consent agenda for 10.03 through 10.15 does anyone wish to vote accept with that I need a motion to approve 10.03 through 10 questions or comments all those in favor oos motion pass any comments by members of the board all right number 11 on tonight's agenda is comments by members of the public tonight please restrict your comments to three minutes if
040not you're taking up someone else's time and the whole section is limited to 30 minutes uh good evening my name is Emily Willow I'm speaking on behalf of GSA at s Valley high school and I've read your bylaws and I don't live in the community but it does say that a Community member can speak on behalf of of a group no I can show you in the in your bylaws I have I understand the bylaws have you has has G has your entity has existed for over a decade have they authorized you specifically to be here and speak on never half I am the the teacher sponsor of GSA at Sun Valley High School I'm I'm the art teacher um uh I'm allowed to start now okay uh good evening I personally read many hurtful
041posts comments and emails surrounding this current issue and I hope that by reading the actual words of trans and non-binary Sun Valle students that it might affect the way you speak about students here this evening going forward I want to remind each member of the community that is speaking tonight that trans and non-binary people you're speaking about this evening are children they are students and they are scared I I would like most time to be respected as I will respect yours most of them have been scared for years he can you guys please respect this lady while she speaks great thank you um uh and have been and have felt frightened because of this very public backlash I'm going to read statements by students I'm not speaking my opinion uh a sophomore GSA writes being
042a black and queer student at Sun Valley High School is not as easy as other people may think the things I see around me have always made me scared to express myself I have seen my queer friends get picked on because they are not scared of who they are I have seen uh some people have it worse than others but what I can't do that my friends can do is ignore their hate and judgment if I expressed myself I would no longer be unbothered I would have to be at school for another 2 years and and just hope that they mature enough to see how hurtful the things they have been saying are um the slurs I'm called in the hallway are not targeted at my queerness not yet at least a 16-year-old Junior writes
043being a queer student at Sun Valley is hard not feeling accepted by the people who are supposed to be your peers is awful it can make you feel extremely isolated and alone like there's no one that will understand what you're going through halfway through my freshman year I came out as trans I struggled with deciding to come out but once I did I was met with love and understanding for my friends and family all of my teachers were extremely supportive and understanding cannot thank those people enough uh I haven't used the women's bathroom in a long time I feel extremely uncomfortable and also unwelcome there I've always opted to use the nurse's bathroom while it is a viable option it's not the most convenient it's all the way across the school and it isn't always
044accessible I shouldn't have to avoid eating and drinking and forcing myself to hold it all day or walk halfway across the school missing classes during this crucial time as a junior just use the bathroom at school I want to be able to use the boy bathroom but I know that a trans student as a trans student I would most legely get meat up or straight up attacked every quer student de should be able to feel comfortable safe and accepted by their teachers peers and admin but this is not currently a place for that happens I hope that one day it can be ma'am that's in time of 3 minutes thank you thank that was 2 20 minutes 2 minutes 20 seconds Sir 3 minutes and 27 seconds I'll keep the clock I will I will
045thank you well I would know sometimes individuals that run out of time will submit their comments in writing to the school board I even if the board would you and anyone else in in the room have the ability to submit comments if they run out of time okay uh Jamie H 2157 North L ason PA there is no greater Warrior than a mother protecting her children last week today tomorrow and however long it takes I will stand here and continue to remind you of this my number one job as a mother is to protect my kids I am I will not allow anyone to hurt them physically or psychologically sadly children are the ones who are losing and out in all of this they're innocent school experiences and memories are being taken away from them
046I know majority of the people here including most of you up here feel the same way I believe we can all agree the safety of all children and pendula school district is the number one priority I am no fool I know this argument goes well beyond pendulo but I refused to sit back and take it on the chin I understand this entire problem is a federal issue but as but as another parent stated last week why can't we be the first district to work together to come up with a solution that fits all amen what out of History you want to be on I know the cost of lawsuits came up last week but I am here to inform you you will never put a price tag on my child see with that being said
047the district should be doing things to help regulate or control this situation I think it is important for us to ask how they will be regulated at school who gives permission to these children to use non-assigned bathrooms I know at last week's study session you assured us that only children with per permission will be granted access to non non-assigned bathrooms but I'm here to inform you that's not the case I am not sure if you are aware but last week just in Sun Valley a biological mail was in the women's bathroom he sat on the sink talking to the girls stating if anyone asks I identify as a girl and this right here is exactly what myself and the majority of the parents here were afraid was going to happen it is not only it's
048this is not only the beginning how would you be able to stop a non-transgender from entering the bathroom just to get off or Worse assault another student what if it was was it even considered that there may be girls in pandela that have experienced sexual trauma and now they're going to be experiencing men in the locker rooms and bathroom how is this creating safe places for those girls or any girls for that matter and what about our sons that goes vice versa for both of them if someone decides to gender identify and accuses them of sexual assault there are sick people everywhere I'm sure you recall from the countless articles I shared with the board last week where last year in Lowden County Virginia under District policy a trans student was allowed into the women's
049bathroom where he assaulted a girl to cover it up they moved him to another school where he did it again in Riverside California a transgender high school student exposed his genitals in the locker room then when confronted by the girl he beat her senseless in October of 2021 a 12-year-old girl was assaulted and violently attacked by a transgender classmate in the bathroom 12 years old a transgender student Oklahoma assaults two female students in the girls restroom at a high school this has happened multiple times in multiple States I have the documents right here I will gladly share them by thank you for your comment minutes Joseph Das I'm Dy Avenue I've been here since 1985 1990 graduate of Sun Valley three comments one is about the taxes just because you can raise them every year
050doesn't mean you should the old ad adage of jumping off a bridge applies stop it take some money out of the bank you guys got money the coffers use it enough of the taxes we're bleeding here two safety there were four police cruisers and two ambulances had to show up for a fight between two eighth grade girls from northly while it didn't happen on pend Delo property this is very distressing the community is probably not even aware of this I also understand there was a racial component involved now number three this whole transgender thing train people are liars they lie to themselves about what they are and this is a problem furthermore if you want to solve this problem here's what you do boys think they're girls you give them an out housee by the
051middle of January they're back in school and they're not confused anym there is a reason children are called dependents because they depend on the adults in their life their teachers their principles their board members their superintendents and police and everybody else interested in engaged parents they are dependent on us to guide and lead them social and emotional learning is garbage it is nothing useful to the kids they need to learn the three Rs Reading Writing and rhythmetic the old three are the only goal of the schard and the school should be as follows to educate the students to prepare them to be successful at any career that they so choose to do and also to be upstanding members of society that is the goal of the schools I get my pocket picked every year from
052this school board raising taxes incessantly without no end to it you guys are doing a worse job than the all Delaware County Democrats that are holding the line on taxes we know that's going to change pretty soon so in conclusion okay you guys got to organize and you got to write in votes and get these guys out you need five ran candidates to take the school board back I that Del no for Del you come see us at Gatsby's in the Bas B room on the first Thursday of every month and I will help you get these guys out of here because they're running un opposed and even the Democrats aren't challenging because the Democrats are getting everything they want out of this transgender and high taxes and everything else and there is my Less
053Than 3 minutes son aritic starts with a arithmetic is started with an a you would know that as a sun and a man with a penis a boy with a penis is a man Brian Vines 172 met Brooklyn and Maven um yeah I want to bring up that you were saying okay people will have special like if they come to a therapist or whatever and they'll have special arrangements so what does that look like cuz I have nieces that together the school district I walked through the school district and I got away with smoking cigarettes in the bathroom so who's to say that you're going to you're going to be able to go into the bathrooms and say hey I identify as a girl and not have sexual activity going on it's a bunch of
054teenagers they're all horny are you kidding me to put bathrooms in the same with the same gender because they say they identify differently and you're okay with that what happens like they said what happens if if my daughter gets raped because of a guy that wants to identify as a girl are you guys okay with that yeah they don't yeah okay that's that's that's what I thought like they said in L County Virginia somebody was wearing a dress and had a penis and rape somebody is that okay for the few is that okay you're you're allowing this because they identify different them have kids in the school every single one of us not so so so what so what what is the drawing line here like that's really the the that's what makes me mad
055cuz you said oh we have two single saw bathrooms listen like I said people used I when I was in school I used to smoke the cigarettes in the bathroom and nobody and nobody cared so what's going to happen when you when you unify bathrooms with with girls and guys saying tital 9 tital 9's ruined at this point tital 9's about women about women not transgender not because you identify different that's all I got my name is Kathy K I live at oneone Carriage Lan um as some of you already know I am a mom of a lot of kids and I've been a part of this district for over 22 years I have a little less than six years to go and I never thought in a million years that I think I'd have
056to stand up in front of you to discuss whether or not my daughter can go to the bathroom without a boy in there um I would also like to ask fre to please stop referring to my daughter as a cisgender she is a little girl I am [Applause] aw um others may choose to label themselves but I am not one of them I am here tonight to be the voice for my 13-year-old daughter my grandsons and my granddaughters not just mine but your years too I found it hard to comprehend that we were even discussing this biological Boys in my daughter's bathroom or locker room little girls in my grandson's bathroom or locker room I can't believe that I have to fight for my daughter and approximately at le600 other young women in this District
057to not be forced to accommodate a handful of students I am not trying to punish these students these are decisions and choices they have made why should they affect my children your children have you ever considered the possibility of what you may be doing to a daughter a girl in your District who may or may not have suffered sexual assault or abuse at the hands of a relative in their own home their only safe spot is school and now you're taking that from them imagine being that girl in a bathroom stall that you're going to put them into because that's the only safe place for them not knowing what's on the other side that is trauma that is trauma that you're putting on these girls unnecessarily I appreciate the effort that you have made with
058the single use bathrooms but why are you forcing my daughter to use that bathroom why not accommodate these handful of children they are children and I'm not faulting them but why are we up why are we changing our children's lives around to accommodate a handful of kids you say it's about the law there is no law you're worried about a lawsuit walk face God forbid something happens to one of our daughters in your school district something happens to one of our sons in your school district you thinking to afford that lawsuit I'm just begging you to look at it reasonably as us parents are these are our kids we want them all to be safe all of them to have a safe space I thought that was what it's all about everybody deserves a safe
059space right so why are you taking our daughter's safe spaces away why are you taking the comfortable places that they have in this school which obviously there aren't many and you're taking them from them so I'm asking you to please think about what you're doing like I said last week be the district be the first one to make a change be the first one to do the right thing for our children thank you hi guys my name is Maria Hilson uh 17 mil Ridge Drive last n pa um I was here last Wednesday I'm sure everybody remembers and from what I gathered last week was that my three children uh I have two girls and a little boy have absolutely no rights not at all at all they were taken away because some students decide
060that they want to be a different gender so my kids and everybody else's kids that are normal or are what they or were assigned at Birth have absolutely no rights my daughter is uncomfortable going to the bathroom she's in ninth grader in high school I'm not sure if you guys know how hard it is to be a little girl in ninth grade with a bunch of kids and have a boy walk into the bathroom with you it's not comfortable it's not comfortable and it's not fair that these kids have to fight every day to go to the bathroom and feel safe it's not fair we talk about equality but there is no equality because equality is for the LGBT community it's not for everybody else amen we're we're giving equality to one specific person we
061want equality for every child here we go and I did bring somebody in school for now until we can figure out a situation but at least when I send my kids to school I want to know that they're safe I have a little girl who's 7 years old I will be here for a long time I will fight every single day until she gone weeks I just want you guys to know I uh good evening Kevin Grime 244 General Drive uh I appreciate Dr steinhoff's comments uh regarding the issue we're all here worried about tonight um I think one thing that we're lacking and we're missing out on is empathy and respect uh empathy for the people suffering from uh gender dysphoria and people like me that don't want my daughter in a bathroom with
062someone that identifies as a girl uh we need to respect both sides uh I can respect people that are the body they don't belong in that's something that I don't have to deal with my kids don't have to deal with and I'm grateful for that um but there needs to be empathy coming the other direction also yes people like me and a majority of people in this room tonight feel like we're cornered a lot of times we're told we're bigs I've been told by family members I'm a Nazi I'm a racist I'm a transfer all these different labels you want to put on me and I'm none of those things I possess empathy I try to impart that on my children every day when we sit down at dinner because we're one of those families
063we sit down dinner every night um I can't imagine being one of those families that's a victim of any of these sexual assaults or any of these issues we talk about but I just ask everybody in the room tonight let's remember to respect each other let's have empathy for both both sides I hope that uh the board hears my side the majority of the room's side and how we feel I understand that your hands are tied in some of these situations but uh the accommodations shouldn't be solely placed on my daughter going using the GLE neutral bathroom she should be able to go in there and use the bathroom and not have to worry and again I I have a lot of empathy and I'm glad I'm not in a position where I have to
064worry about my child child going to school uh and feeling at a place and feeling like they don't belong that's a that's a fate that I don't understand and I'm grateful for that so I appreciate your time thank you good evening my name is Sarah conston with a c Sarah with an H thank you I live at 15 H Lane and Aston um I'm speaking on behalf of students these are students voices I'm just continuing um that discussion uh I just wanted to preface that by saying that some of the most impactful actions that we can make as a community is to listen more to reflect often and to react less I hope these student impact statements will do justice for us as a community whole let's place our own personal experiences and opinions aside
065as the words of our children are heard and respect it because I know my life experience is different than your life experience which is different than your life experience and that's okay these words are spoken uh by a senior trans student who writes I came to this school to get the chance to live authentically and happily in my body unfortunately a simple and everyday task like using the bathroom is rough with fear last year I was so afraid of backlash that I consistently dehydrated myself to a avoid ever needing to use the bathroom I did this to the point that my doctors had to intervene strongly encouraging me to drink more water but that fear remained every time I had to use the bathroom no longer able to stay in the pain of holding it
066in I would be nearly immobilized with fear the only option being to walk across the school wait and come all the way back just to find relief or be harassed and judged this year I started with more confidence in myself myself and my appear appearance and was able to use the bathroom not without fear but with at least a manageable level of it that was until I was harassed in the Halls disrespected and delit here's a big word for me delegitimized I struggled to not relapse into self-destructive behaviors like avoiding food and water the fear of being watched in my most vulnerable and private moments the fear of being attacked when there was no adult supervising the gender neutral bathrooms are a Saving Grace allowing any student privacy the idea that trans children are in
067any way dangerous or harmful is nothing but a lie we are scared every single de excuse me these are the words of our children you can respect that I don't see a clown doing any type of jokes so save the gos we are asking for basic daughter is your student we are not monsters to be attacked she's lucky these attacks on me and my community because of our existence is dehumanizing and shouldn't be tolerated by the board admin or our community again we were asked by students to share their voice because they couldn't share it themselves tonight thank you speak up ma' my name is Christopher 1650 prane I'm going to P you back on for what she just said we're talking about like maybe a handful of students here and we're changing everything for
068this handful of students that are afraid to go to the bathroom we now we're going to be looking at the majority of students who are going to be afraid to go to the bathroom where you're going to have this nurse's bathroom with 10 Deep everyone's going to be late to class before you're going to have an assault what happened to being proactive versus reactive why have we lost that concept so you're going to wait for something terrible to happen for you to go back and do the right thing after someone is traumatized that bad in your school district is that what you really want cuz I don't think any of us do what's wrong with these handful of students having to have the faculty bathrooms or the nurses bathroom like someone said earlier what side
069of History you want to be on because the side you're going down that's not going to be the winning side thank you members of the board I'm here today because it was brought to my attention that the district was allowing transgender sir please state your name and address your the board please okay Matthew messenger 105 greenber is graduate of 2007 yeah it was brought to my attention that the district was allowing transgenders to use ladies restrooms and locker rooms if this is true I feel that you have failed to protect our children you are taking it away away from their safety from our daughters I feel that pleasing a handful of students like others said causes a larger majority of your students discomfort if we if I would have thought we were having this conversation
070when I graduated I would have laughed it off I think most of us would the truth is by allowing this to happen you may please a handful of stud students but you will be leaving the door open for disaster the girls will have to constantly look over their shoulders watch out for perverts uh leave the you leave the door open for rapists which others said happened out in County Virginia though I do oppose this I do feel that other students do feel other ways out their sex I think like they said unisex unisex BS that's all I got hello my name and I live 2150 I'm student at valy up can't hear as someone who was sexually abused by whole childhood by male it is very uncomfortable to be in a bathroom surrounded by a
071bunch of men that think that they're wom it's not fair to me and it's not fair to them that they have to feel like that but everyone else around them should not feel it uncomfortable I go to school every day and Fe that something's going to happen to me in the bathroom now now I'm not using a gender Mutual bathroom that's just not happening and that's all I to say that was actually one of your students not a parent by the way or a teach you know or a teacher just so you can really let that one sink in that's just one girl sir if you'd like to make public comment pleas press the button hi I'm Angelina Montgomery I live at 53 Green Lane as& PA um I also go to the school so
072mie um I just think it's crazy that I get called transphobic every day for finding it uncomfortable um having to go to the bathroom about 2T away from somebody that is not the same gender as me along with about more than half of the school I support transgender people I'm not transphobic but I just think that bathrooms were separated a long time ago for a reason we shouldn't have to worry about going to the bathroom in general but the fact that we have to worry about it in school is wild and the fact that I got told by my principal or assistant principal or something that if I feel uncomfortable I should go use those gender neutral bathrooms is that's insane I was assigned to add birth to that bathroom so why do I have
073out a girl no students more students real one hi um my name is Jes Massie I go to some and I lived on 846 Aston Ro Aston PA um I don't know why I'm speaking but um I think that as a person it's important to have human decency and I don't oh like the micophone um I don't think that being transgender affects me or anyone around me but it affects fects me until it affects me so when there's people in the bathroom who don't have the same genitalia as me but say that they're a female just because they can simply say that they're female but have no surgery have no hormones like on like they don't take hormones they don't have like the sex change or anything like that it's very different and it's very
074uncomfortable for like people who have experienced sexual trauma um yeah so yeah that's what I have to say that brings a public comments to close [Music] tonight L speak if anybody would like to stick around and speak individually please feel free to we're not going anywhere better speak any comments by members of you guys really show what you care about counting minut and not letting people speak in their own town everybody we have you're go ahead topics on your list tonight they don't care care I know See's face this whole time sh like robots they're like robots they're not showing any faces or nothing you spoke about empathy and respect and you're not giving any of it nothing it's it's it's it's an absolute Travy that you guys are showing nothing for our kids there
075are kids there are future this is a target this is our kids let her speak let her speak we want to hear her speak we want how many folks how many folks in the audience would like to make public comments I think you guys can paid another how many folks in the audience would like to make public comments is that all in the audience that would like to discuss that Mr Mr armor two folks and as indicated Mr armor indicate if anybody wants stay around after the meeting and talk about it they volunteer we volunteered to do that thank you hi my name is Michelle Park Hill I live at 31 Veni Drive Aston PA um I'm standing up here today in in a way regarding the bathroom situation but to be honest um some
076of you may or may not know me my daughter's been in the school district for a while and last year experienced a lot of bullying and sexual harassment um we had to pull her out for being suicidal in February and I've kept my mouth shut for a while because I was afraid of the backlash but this just kind of brings me to today and so she missed all of most of eighth grade year and when she returned she was sexually harassed by a group of boys calling her names um you know sexual names for no reason um she nothing of what she did for herself um and when we brought it up it was questioned like who what is that and my husband and I were like aren't you trained in sexual harassment this is
077sexual harassment if we were to call somebody that at my job we would have been fired immediately that would have been immediate grounds for dismissal immediately and so I had to point out to a principal an assistant principal and a number of other teachers that what she experienced was sexual harassment if at this point she goes into a female bathroom and a boy comes in who does not identify as a female and I have nothing against people who are gay lesbian trans whatever it may be nothing against them at all but but who's to say who's going to be in there to be able to identify whether that was sexual harassment or not sexual harassment in the bathroom because obviously when I had to bring it up the school district didn't know what sexual harassment
078was or what the definition of sexual harassment was for her pathetic and she was back for 2 weeks and I had to pull her back out because she became suicidal and wanted to self harm again and I had to pull her out and put her back out of school so who's to say that she's going to be safe and that if she does go to somebody and say someone just touched me in the bathroom that it's going to be recognized and identified for her and to keep her safe because that's what I have to think about now is my child my children who are younger that are still in the school district I I mean this is this is just not I get it I come from a counseling mental health world I get it
079I'm not bashing anybody for being who they are who they identify as but this is not something that can that can be left open to just allowing men in the women's bathroom or women in the men's bathroom vice versa either way I have to protect my child in this situation did you get a response from the district after the report on sexual assault was filed no who did the report go to Dr K or myself I'm not sure we were just told that the situation was handled of course okay so it wasn't an official a title mind complaint or sexual harassment I want to make sure that that get dism they were tit come from the parent it will come from the parent um we actually were not given that option we were not told
080about it right you let us know tomorrow Dr Kam and I we're hearing about this now and we we get the report we want to [Music] respond MERS of board now we out folks Dr Stein I uh as one of the newest members of the board um as one of the newest members of the board I appreciate this this is a very difficult issue for everybody in in attendance I thank everyone for coming to share their their comments on both sides cuz we heard both sides tonight um since we've been this has been reported just in one week I appreciate what the school district has done to try to alleviate fears discrimination assaults whatever however you want to say and I I just want to thank you for that back other good job man good
081job um I will say that uh Dr St was asked to come up with options what can we do to accommodate all students Architects are coming in tomorrow to see if we can go to all single use bathrooms so there is no more bathroom issue it's not something I can change overnight um yeah absolutely I know they have to work but if we're going to try and find a solution we have to find a solution for everyone that works okay it is not it's not I'll tell you how it will work and mik can can uh answer a question if you have it if we say tonight that every single child has to use a bathroom of their of their gender at Birth okay by Friday we're going to have an injunction by the by
082the title um court that says that is no longer until they rule on it again we can't use it so the court has stepped in so we are looking for feasible options that can accommodate all children we cannot it it was made clear in the ruling that you cannot tell any one of his children what bathroom to use what about it's not law is that what you're saying so after the meeting we're at the end of the meeting after the meeting because the meetings are recorded and it goes back and forth I'm the district solicitor I'll be pleased to answer questions that you have and provide you with my understanding and my opinion of the law I don't necessarily provide you my specific guidance that I give to the board because I represent the board
083um I understand I understand that the the school sir I understand that sir I understand that uh that the entity is a taxpayer funded entity but the advice I provide is to the board I'll be glad to stay this evening and discuss it with you um and to provide you with some more Enlightenment on the topic possibly some more issues everything that was heard here today was and what Mr armor just said is this is a work in progress It's an issue that if it had an easy answer probably all of us that might have had an easy answer we wouldn't need to be sitting here may on some TV the answer is that's a possibility immediately though it's a possibility you be done tomorrow it it was discussed and asked and evaluated that's what
084it's a work in progress yes he definitely about it