Fort Worth School Board Meeting 2-27-24

001good evening I am calling this meeting to order the time is 5:30 p.m. in accordance with the Texas open meetings act Texas government code chapter 551 this meeting is officially open with the quum present we will now move to our pledges and then the reading of our for Worth ISD vision and mission statements which would be led by our Western Hills High School jrc Cadets I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the Texas one State under God one and and indivisible the Fort Worth istd mission is preparing all students for success in college career and Community leadership the vision of for Worth ISD

002is igniting in every child a passion for learning good evening president Dr Rodriguez superintendent Dr Ramsey and members of the board tonight we have two groups to recognize at this time I invite trustees to come down and greet our guests tonight we recognize our greeters from Western Hills High School jrc and Young Men's Leadership Academy JROTC these exceptional students embody the spirit of leadership commitment and community service that is at the heart of the jotc program please join me in thanking Cadet Captain Xavier Garcia Cadet first lieutenant David Curry [Applause] L Cadet technical Sergeant Janet Messa Cadet staff sergeant Shelby Robinson Cadet Airman Julia [Applause] Tannis from young men's leip Academy we have Cadet Flores Cadet Carter Cadet tang and Cadet Palazio the program at Western Hills High School is led by Senior Aerospace science

003instructor for the Air Force JC Colonel Russell malisi and from Young Men's Leadership Academy we have Sergeant Major Anthony Owens Oliver [Applause] sorry [Applause] our next group is representatives from the district Counseling Services the district has celebrated school counselors week February 5th through 9th honoring the hard work and dedication of our counseling staff across the district our counselors work to ensure not only the college career and Military Readiness of our students but also the emotional needs of our student body our counselors are often the first to emotionally connect with our students and serve as a connection between the school and home we thank them for their tireless efforts and honor their hard work more than 100,000 school counselors Nationwide participated in this special week and here in Fort Worth ISD we celebrated our very own

004235 amazing school [Applause] counselors the school counselors honored today were peer nominated based on demonstrating exceptional traits related to the role of a school counselor within the respected levels please join us in congratulating them we have tamama McGee at ko elementary Natalie Guerrero at SS Elementary idma morina HV Hing elementary Chuck Hayes at Western Hills [Applause] primary Nidia esad at Diamond Hill Elementary Rachel case at Boulevard Heights Joe Kelly and transition Center Mary witchman at stripping middle [Applause] Martha Jenkins and Leonard middle Lonnie teal at Leonard middle Patricia Salasar at mea middle Kelly spell ernandez at Trimble Tech High School jamilia Smith at Western Hills High School ra Simmons at OD white high school Crystal Torres at Poly Technic High School Dr Kimberly guest at dumbar High School director Christina gallanis director Angela Hicks executive

005director Dr Sandra d Benavides and Dr Tama Brown thank you for your hard work and dedication to our [Applause] students trustees you may now return to the Diaz thank you again thank you to our cadetes for being here this evening we truly appreciate the work our counselors do for our students in our district as a whole I will turn it over to Dr Ramsey for their final recognition thank you president Rodriguez trustees during February the district has been observing Black History Month in many ways from campus programs and concerts to stories featuring black history icons from the Fort Worth ISD community on both social media and our website in fact on the monitors in this chamber you will see the history makers that are part of our wall of fame we've been privileged to talk

006to some of them as they continue to blaze a trail we would like to share parts of those conversations with you now when we talk about black history we're talking about the history of all of us black history matters because it's important to recognize those who pay the way I wanted to teach music and I heard a beautiful sound when I went to a church I said oh I like that but it's something about gospel music with the kids you love ISD has some amazing Trailblazers that have blaze a trail for our students that are African-American and they need to know about it we want to take the time to say you are worth being thought of as being a hero in our city General Michael E Langley he was named the first africanamerican the

007highest ranking person who received four stars with the Marine cors we have leaders like opal Lee who is the grandmother of the juneth celebration I'm everybody's grandma she is right here from Fort Worth and our students need to know that I just feel like there's so much more that has to be done they need to see people in leadership and in the community that look like them that give them aspiration and someone to look up to and something to Aspire to but if people have been taught to hate they can be taught to love when we celebrate Black History what we really what we're really doing is acknowledging that we cannot be what we are without the contributions of black people let go I'm Dr langson I'm the athletic director I'm the one that worked

008to try to get flag football to this District so that we could do something that nobody else in Texas is doing right now leaders care about the people they are honored to lead I made that a part of who I am the opportunity to be the first African-American female president of the niaa that would not have come about without the support of the leadership of this District good job guys and to be able to have that opportunity to celebrate them for for for from not only from a history standpoint just from a human standpoint of what they what they have done and that way we continue to pass that on to Generations now and let me call your attention to an art piece that's on the wall in the hall and I want you to

009go back there and and read that education is the pathway through a world of opportunity the more education you have the more opportunities you have to show your talent I had the opportunity to to sit on a panel with judge Clifford Davis and I've met uh judge Hicks and these people are phenomenal in every sense of the word black history is American history with the good the bad but for me it is a glorious joyful history because we have overcome uh I stand on the shoulders of so many people who sacrificed and did so much for Worth ISD Alum are pillars of our society that have grown up right here in our neighborhoods in our city of for worth that have gone on to literally change the world Fort Worth ISD you're on the map

010for [Music] greatness I want to thank our Communications team for doing an outstanding job on the video and all of our icons for be being so giving of their time uh to allow us a little bit of themselves and sharing of their story so with that I turn it back over to Dr Rodriguez I Echo your thoughts that that was a wonderful video and thank you trusty Bridges and Phillips for contributing and to all our leaders uh in Fort Worth ISD so thank you Dr Ramsey and team next on the agenda is the Esser update back to you Dr Ramsey thank you our CFO is up at the podium and ready to present Carmen we're ready to hear from you on the Esser update members of the board Dr Ramsey I'm Carmen ARA candelar I'm

011the Chief Financial Officer uh for the district and I'm here to give an S3 funding update uh to the board uh as just to reflect on where the uh this came from this uh resulted from almost four years ago through the cares act that was enacted uh and provided These funds to uh districts Across the Nation uh the same return to in-person instruction and continuity of services plan that we've been presenting for the last uh few years uh it's not required after September 30th 2023 but I am here this evening to continue that transparency uh and continue to provide a report to to all of you and to the community uh we want to continue to provide this uh information to all of you and with that I just to remind the board and the

012community of the various categories that the district selected uh back in 2020 that was within the guidelines that were provided by tea and we broke up the funds into five different categories starting with supported teachers rigorous instructional materials uh creating some more time for learning empowering parents through family engagement activities and providing wraparound services and then other priorities primarily technology and um facilities and infrastructure projects what I want to focus on this evening is our is our focus on academic return and investment and this was uh the first phase that we embarked in uh right around uh February March of 2022 where uh we um embarked in a partnership with District Management Group to look uh at the creation and the alignment of districtwide systems and processes that would help us at the time manage

013sr3 funds and we wanted to understand what the impact and the cost of those funded initiatives and we went through three phases during that time uh where we looked at how we could um analyze these eser funded activities and we were able to do that we selected three and that's been some of the ongoing conversation that we've had uh with the board and have been reporting out the next phase is really taking us into our district strategic budgeting process and Ari and this is uh broken down to about F uh four phases but I'm really pleased to uh report that one of the things that we U that's really embedded now in our dialogue and the conversations that we've been having about our 2425 budget is AI you can hear it from all of the

014members of the team certainly from Dr Ramsay about that investment that we're making and what is that return on that investment in the dollars that we're spending not just as are dollars but all dollars and that has led the work on the first and foremost in that first phase as that budget process refinement where we started looking at the not looking at individual funding sour sources such as federal and state but also looking at uh local dollars and of course looking at our development of our initiatives inventory what we're actually incorporating there and what what are the initiatives that we are going to be looking at ultimately look to measure and so we're in that second phase of the budget process integration where we're developing some customized materials into our strategic budgeting Playbook and we're

015also have we're evaluating three initiatives again developing that Ben strength within our organization going through the AI Institute um and looking at three different initiatives and then now we're starting our um phase four which is our budget process integration and ongoing support and so what you'll see from your lens is you'll see that we've Incorporated the um strategic budgeting process into our campus Improvement plans so our campus Improvement plans will now include all funding for that particular campuses that they direct so for example they'll have title funding they'll have uh their local fund also to have a cohesive and comprehensive budget plan that will be placed on each of the campus's websites so now you see that you can go download the CIP but that only contains the federal funding so part of this process

016again was to look at comprehensive funding let's look at what all of the funding and support that we give a campus so that integration process is is happening and that will be the result when we ultimately post all of those on the website additionally we're creating a repository of resources such as the Ari toolkit that provides guidance to departments and also we're going to go through an Ari strategy evaluation plan which will identify specific initiatives that we want to evaluate over a period of six months and then that way we can evaluate it as a leadership as a cabinet and incorporate any initiatives that we want to continue or change into the next budgeting cycle so these are the some of the work that we've been doing over the last uh year and I'm really

017excited about that work um and then in August of 24 we'll bring forward that final report of the use and the impact of Aer funding year to date uh we'll do a project wrapup including the challenges those Lessons Learned um and what the impact was that on the district and again we'll continue the work on the um measuring initiatives of success and then looking at how we continue to incorporate AI impact into the district so with that I also want to at this time recognize I have merette Crespo with me she's our senior officer for Grants and development and she's been uh leading some of the work along with Ed Patterson who has been leading the AR work uh as well within the department so I want to recognize the work that they've done to

018get us to this point so with that I stand ready for any questions you may have trusty Jackson thank you president Rodriguez uh just a quick question on implementation uh February through June of 2024 uh will you go live simultaneously on all 143 campuses or how will that look yes so the incorporation of the CIP plans they will all be we're in the process of they're in the process right now developing their budgets for 2425 and then I would assume maybe in July or August we will populate all of the campus uh websites with their new plan for 2425 and that will be at the same time so every campus will go live at the same time every campus than typically now just just to give you a little bit more information we typically do

019that in October of TW we do that in October which for the year that we're in so we started looking at part of the alignment is we need to get that in front of people at the beginning of the fiscal year of that fiscal year instead of waiting till October where we're already three months into the into the new year so we want to get it in front of of of the community in front of all of you and and and get it in earlier that's great thank you so much of course any other questions all right uh thank you oh trusty Bridges I'm sorry I had one question and I may be jumping ahead of the gun on on this question here so help me if I on the um I noticed that we

020had spent $72,000 on the sex education that came out of Esther funding yes and I I was a bit confused by that absolutely so if you look back at one of the categories uh where it says rigorous instructional materials that specific allocation was uh allotted at the beginning of the SR funding so that was part of that planned expenditure when it uh for Sr funding for this particular adoption if you will recall I think I reported out at one point in time the state did not fund instructional materials to the full extent and so we had to plan other funding sources that would be available to fund uh um certain instructional material adoptions so with regards to the uh the item that's on the agenda right now it's it's the first year will be funded

021from Esser and then the ons suing years will be funded by uh primarily general fund and so we'll come back to the board for that authorization of that extension in the following year thank you of course okay thank you Dr Ramsey and team we are up to the board committee and superintendent reports are there any comments or questions from any of the trustees concerning the written reports there are none so at this time we'll hear public comment addressing items on the agenda as well as items of a general nature or topics not specifically listed on the agenda let me let me remind you that because of restrictions by the Texas open meetings act board members may not engage in a verbal exchange about a subject that has not been posted we will listen and take

022notes but the board is prohibited from responding to any inquiries made during the board meeting on any topic not posted on the agenda however the board May reply with one a statement of specific factual information given in response to the inquiry two recitation of existing policy in response to the inquiry or three direct the person to visit with staff about the issue no presentation May Exceed 2 minutes unless the speaker has prior approval for additional time because of the use of a translator speakers who require the assistance of a translator are permitted double the allotted time of speakers who did not require the assistance of a translator speakers when your name is called approach the podium by going to the back of the room down the stairs and coming up the side wall on your

023right as soon as the speaker begins speaking the time clock will begin our first speaker is Marisol Herrera followed by Jill black and Rosal ESO good evening good evening Fort Worth ISD trustees staff members families and community members thank you for the opportunity to address you today as your Fort Worth ISD Council of pta's president for this school year I'm excited to present the state of the council districtwide our Council currently has 6,891 members with 55 local ptas and three newly chartered chapters we have 15 ptas in Network 1 10 in network 2 11 in network 3 10 in network 4 and eight in schools of choice we proudly have one of only three special education PT in the state our goal is to promote and share information about PTA across more areas of the

024district to increase equity in representation advocacy is a core value of our mission last year we participated in the Texas PTA Rally Day and with your support took 27 students to Austin to experience the legislative process this year we hosted a watch party for Texas PTA Straight Talk 24 a panel discussion on the impact of smartphone technology on our children's mental and emotional health it was an eye-opening discussion that we hope to continue within our community we urge you to keep student mental and emotional health in the Forefront of your priorities in addition to these advocacy efforts our Council promotes parent engagement and Leadership across the district we provide annual training opportunities through our delegate meetings and workshops this year we also hosted a Fort Worth ISD Family Resource tour in in collaboration with the

025Department of student and family experience our members heard from directors in this department about the many resources available for families and students within the district and visited a vision clinic event thank you for the opportunity to work together with us and we invite you to our pyramid engagement meetings that Outreach members all across the district thank you for your [Applause] time thank you Jil black followed by Rosal escaro and Missy Cara Dr Ramsey and bour thank you so much for your service to our what did you say oh y sorry thank you so much for your service to our district my name is Jill black and my husband and I have been active parents in for Worth ISD for years my father also served on the for Worth ISD School Board while I was in

026high school I worked in foster care and Child Abuse Prevention for five years and taught parents about child sex abuse I'm speaking today in support of fact-based sex education not shame based but helps them to develop the social and emotional skills they need to become caring and empathetic human beings research shows that this kind of sex education early and often prevents child sex abuse develops healthy relationships in our children helps appreciation of sexual diversity dating and intimate partner violence prevention lower STI rates and fewer unintended pregnancies the overwhelming majority of Americans want young people people to have fact-based sex education extreme groups are funding and organizing a vocal minority of individuals wrongly portrayed as Grassroots to stoke fear and outrage around sex education there are many religious school options or homeschooling for opponents they can

027also opt out for lessons their view is myopic and not grounded in science but in a singular belief system that is exclusionary and controlling public schools are governmental bodies and the separation of church and state applies here eliminating or sensoring sex education puts young people at risk and sets them up for failure instead of [Applause] success hello good evening trust Fort Worth ISD Trust es I'm Rosalie esab I'm a for I'm a tant county taxpayer and I'm also the executive director of citizens defending Freedom tant County um I'm speaking on agenda item 11 d1a pertaining to the approval of the shac recommended human sexuality education curriculum specifically I am in support of choosing the best in that this abstinence based curriculum is superior and closer in moral alignment to the objective of um preserving the

028purity of the youth now I will note that in an Ideal World there are some components of this curriculum that I would line item veto specifically I particularly the items in the curriculum pertaining to the contraceptives especially Plan B condom instruction in any any gender fluidity language however when a comparison is done between choosing the best and Hell spart choosing the best is a preferred curriculum moreover choosing the best meets the require requirements and on February 5th 2024 the shac finalized their decision through a vote formally recommending choosing the best to the board of trusties as the human sexuality education curriculum to be utilized in the sixth grade moving to Wellness Health course in the high school health one course I am in agreement with their recommendation and I ask that you all adopt this

029recommendation in formal action thank you very much Missy Cara followed by Dorene guer and Reed wits so thank you for taking the necessary steps to comply with the law for the sex education adoption and I ask for you to vote Yes for choosing the best it received the highest scores from both the Review Committee and Shack and has been widely supported by the community and if you're here tonight in support of choosing the best would you please stand stand up and raise your hand board and admin I ask you to please take a look around this room and think about what could be accomplished if this number of people were actually here to help you instead of coming to fight against you or programs that you've implemented like Health Smart the journey to be here

030to this point has been very long but not as long as the journey ahead because this district is actually in a terrible crisis one that a new sexed program cannot fix huge losses of enrollment budget deficits High teacher turnover discipl issues and academic failure are just some of the critical symptoms that are in need of immediate intervention and I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to address everyone in here about it tonight Fort Worth ISD is in need of a new local strategy and it's one that requires personal sacrifice and commitment for the sake of our kids and Community some simple ways to do this are things like reading with students helping to monitor playgrounds food and clothing drives or providing teacher support just to name a few everyone in here has different

031skills gifts and interests and I ask who among you are willing to help even if it's just once if you are would you please remain standing and plan to make a commitment to either connect with the main office at 8178142000 or at your local school campus and then ask them what they need members in Board of District I implore you to please create more opportunity to engage our local community and let us all begin to help to repair and restore what has been broken see us Lewis once said you cannot go back to change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending so would we all please just give that a try thank you those viewing on YouTube uh we want to make a comment that we are aware there's

032a YouTube buffering issue with the live feed and we are working on it the next speaker is Daren guer followed by Reed builts and chaston Crump thank you board of directors I'm here tonight to ask that you not approve the choosing the best curriculum because I think our students need something much more comprehensive I think students make the best decisions when they make informed decisions so we need to give them fact-based education so they make the right and good decision for themselves and for their families thank [Applause] you Reed builts followed by chasten Crump and Emma barbar barbarina my name is Reed bills and I speaking on behalf of the league of Women Voters of tarant County the league is a nonpartisan organization that does not support or oppose any political party or candidate our

033local league has studied education issues in Fort Worth ISD for many years and after extensive study of important issues we have reached the following position the League of Women Voters of Taran County supports a quality public education system which develops the greatest potential in each individual and specifically we support a coordinated age appropriate comprehensive program of sex education that is specific and explicit in providing information on all methods of preventing unwanted [Applause] pregnancies we also support a program that includes skills and knowledge which prepare students to make appropriate decisions on issues such as gender expression and sexuality we support a program that teaches decisionmaking self-esteem responsible behavior respect for others resistance to peer pressure and Stress Management we support sequential instruction at each grade level covering topics appropriate to age and development of students and

034we support a program that ensures qualified teachers teach this curriculum and requires initial specialized training and periodic training workshops in selecting a program for Fort withd students the League of Women Voters of Taran County urges you to consider these important [Applause] [Music] points [Applause] chasten Crump followed by Emma barbarina and Jennifer Nelson good evening my name is chaston Crump and I'm a junior at Arlington in this shared space of advocacy I bring attention to a significant transformation underway in our Texas schools a shift that intertwines religious ideals into our educational fabric chipping away at our rights and affecting the well-being of our students Texas Education Code 28.4 the guiding principle for sex ual health education mandates an abstinence centered approach in Texas schools while this mandate is explicit the oversight within Texas Education Code 28.4

035raises concerns school health advisory councils better known as Shaq Statewide are attached with reviewing instruction they also lack a mandate for members to be versed in selecting a health curriculum the consequences committees influenced by personal opinions often linked to legislative outcomes FWD Shack for instance proposes a new vendor with outdated sh game based material sponsored by hate groups plunging our education to an unprecedented low proposed legislation such as Senate Bill 155 Senate bill 1396 Senate Bill 1566 and Senate Bill 763 reflects an Endeavor to control our education system by limiting curricular choices as our state undergos incre increased diversity in race culture and religion there's a palpable fear of power loss resulting in the suppression of differences sex education falls under this umbrella let's acknowledge that absence only sex educ falls short Texas stands among

036the top 10 states with the highest teen pregnancy rate reporting a staggering 29455 cases of sexually transmitted infections I would also like to point out that the video displayed pertaining black history earlier uh stated that more education is more power more expansive sex education is more education for us students these challenges directly affect us the students and it's not just about advocating for our educational rights but ensuring our safety we must not only speak up for for our rights but actively participate in shaping an inclusive comprehensive sexual education that safeguards our well-being we urge the board to consider the evidence and the voices of the students thank you for your [Applause] time Emma barbarina followed by Jennifer Nelson and Julie Butner hello I am Emma Elise barbarina a junior at Arlington Heights High School and

037today I bring this Coalition of people together to highlight the FWD community's understanding of what sex ed curriculum is and what it means to us rather than the opinions and values of non- stakeholding Christian nationalists I have been enrolled in the district since I was 5 years old and in school I've been taught that I should excel in all of my classes and engage my community all of this to say is that I have been set up for success and have put full faith into fwic to prepare me for my future yet it is contradictory if I'm being hidden information because somehow in some World it will save me if the state is going to fail us when it comes to abortion access and are threatening the access of contraception I would hope that the

038district I have spent the majority of my life at to take a strong stand and make sure that they don't let their students down either I was going to come in here and lay down a bunch of statistics and um but I figured that a lot of people would cover that here today I come in front of you to today to Showcase that there's so much more Simplicity to this issue abstinence teachings do not help teenagers who have already had sex abstinence teachings do not help teens who want to have sex when they are adults and absence teachings do not help someone who has been sexually abused an absence focused curriculum is taking the easy and comfortable way out of preparing your children as they enter for adulthood a public public school is a public

039place for free learning censored curriculum should have no part in it if you want to protect your students allow them to take a course that informs them of their bodily functions not hide important information leaving them to resort to the internet sex education is a human right decline adopting choosing the best and instead review the Comprehensive Health Smart curriculum that the district has already spent over $2.6 million on already thank you [Applause] Jennifer Nelson followed by Julie Butner and Tracy Carter noes my name is Jennifer Nelson I'm a Fort Worth istd parent Latina my child is currently attending a Fort Worth school I'm also Christian and proudly on staff at the historic Broadway Baptist Church here in Fort Worth Texas as a Baptist Christian I'm a strong believer in the separation of church and state

040for the the very reason that I stand here today so far this year extremist Christian nationalist groups have accosted our district with divisive agendas the 20123 school year began with our libraries closed in book bands today sex education has not been taught because of these extremist views and their use of our campuses as a Battleground over lgbtq plus rights all at the cost of our children's education and well-being as a Christian I believe in Christ's message of inclusive love for all and is called To Love Thy Neighbor We Are Made In His Image all of us the US Department of Education confirms that title 9's prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex to include discrimination based on sexual orientation discrimination based on gender identity Title Nine of the education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination

041on the basis of sex in education any education program or activity offered by a recipient of a federal financial assistance to choose a curriculum that does not acknowledge the existence of sexual orientation gender identity of anyone is discriminatory and deprives an entire section of Youth Equitable education you seek to purchase the proposed curriculum with federal funds Esser or Co relief dollars I ask you to comply with our US Department of Education standards and guidelines first choosing the best is not best for our children it uses outdated language and poor teaching modalities please let me remind you of the realities we live in let Texas leaves a nation in teens who give multiple births more than one in six teenagers who gave birth in Texas in 2020 already had a child Texas remains above the national

042average ranking in top 10 states for team pregnancy parents who do not approve of evidence-based non- shaming inclusive and non-discriminatory curriculum like Fort West RSD already purchased for 2.6 million dollars have the option to not opt in and teach what they choose at home what they do not get to decide is how anyone's child mine or anyone else's is taught according time ma'am Jennifer Nelson no Julie Butner followed by tra ma'am Julie Butner followed by Tracy Carter and Stacy Marshall uh good evening Fort Worth ISD trustees my name is Julie Butner I'm the president and CEO of tarant area food bank that's located here in tarant County we provide services to 13 counties so 12 in addition to the tant county there are 2.9 Million people who live in these 13 counties of which 400,000

043go to bed at night hungry and 100,000 of those 400,000 are our children I am very very pleased that we are partnering with the Fort Worth ISD to bring in school markets to schools that reside in food deserts in communities that don't have access to fresh food we started this program uh three or four years ago um and since October of 2023 we have provided over 225,000 meals right here in Fort Worth with the Fort Worth ISD as a partner um and I just want to invite all of you if you have not been to the food bank to please come to the food bank I don't want to take up any more of your valuable time I understand you have some hot topics tonight but I invite you to come on out to the

044food bank and hope to spend one-on-one time with each of you to tell you about this fabulous program thank you Tracy Carter followed by Stacy Marshall and Heidi Schwarz okay uh hello everyone uh Dr Ramsey uh to the trustees to our community uh my name is Officer Tracy Carter I work for the forward Police Department and I'm a proud graduate of uh Eastern Hills High School many moons ago uh I'm here to stand on behalf to share uh we have a partnership with forth ISD uh and the police department we started a CJ program which started last summer I want I'm here to to report that we started with 32 kids uh 24 kids are still withstanding with the program and they're doing excellent with it it's a program that we're hoping to grow uh

045to better our Partnerships as far as what we do within our community to help and show people how to serve uh I can say proudly that I never really want to be a police officer until God led me in a direction that changed my life um I know a bunch of people that's sitting on the on the board there and I thank them for uh allowing us to make this partnership work and how we can grow it right now we're at Eastern Hills luckily and uh South Hills High School uh it's it's again progressing we're changing a lot lot of people's lives that probably never would have ever thought they would ever enjoy law enforcement and again this is not about them going into law enforcement we want to just help put them on point

046them in a direction that can help give them life-altering things that help them do something better with their life uh again I don't ever care if you become a cop I don't but what I can say if you're in this to serve I think this is a definitely a program that we need to try to enhance to do better with um again I look at the off around the room I look at the people up there that are serving uh to to know what it's like to be a part of something you have to be able to serve and again I just want to thank everyone and uh before I leave today uh I want to say go Eastern Hills I'm going to leave after I leave here to go watch this playoff game that

047hopefully we'll be back here again and we'll be fighting for a state champ basketball state championship thank y'all again for your [Applause] time Stacy Marshall followed by Heidi schwarts and Charles bills all right good afternoon everyone I'm Stacy Marshall I'm president of Southeast fo Worth Inc I'm not here to talk about Southeast forw Worth Inc and first of all um good afternoon board trustees and superintendent I'm here to talk about being the president of the Rotary Club at Western Fort Worth over at richle Country Club and I want to talk about some of the great things that are happening out of stop City particularly with Young Men's Leadership Academy we recently had our four-way um test competition where two students from ymla took the first and second prize and a student from Arlington Heights took

048the second uh the third prize first prize went to a student by the name of Maddox Musgrove he's going to be awarded a trophy and $1,000 from our rotary and go on to Regional in um April the second place went to ellon Hawkman if I'm saying that correctly he'll get $750 with also a prize as as well but the good thing about it is when I came to this rotary I introduced ymla to the rotary at ridgley Country Club and for the last three years they've done a sweep and our last year contestant which was Kan Kane Bivens out of yla it's actually going to Harvard it's not because of rotary but because of the fact that we introduced him to other things within the school itself but I just wanted to talk about the

049great partnership that we have with Fort Worth ISD you guys are doing an amazing job uh we look forward to contining to working with you not just at uh the Rotary Club OR at richly Country Club but also within Fort wors [Applause] ISD thank you Heidi Sports followed by Charles bills and Holly plens good evening and thank you to the board the trustees and the superintendent I'm Heidi Schwartz and I'm the executive director of the Cowtown Marathon this past weekend we produced our Cowtown with 23,000 runners with over 6,000 of those being children 4900 of those children came from Fort Worth ISD they came through our calf program where we awarded each one of those children a grant so they only paid $10 to run our race and we also provided them with running shoes

050and socks these children some of them have never had a new pair of shoes before we deliver the shoes to them at their schools fit each child with these shoes some of these children have now come back as adults through our program and are winning our races so we thank you for letting us participate with Fort Worth ISD in this program that we do in addition we have a scholarship program and to date we've given $105,000 worth of scholarships to Fort Worth ISD students and we have 22 students in that program right now which will receive $88,000 and it's by the partnership that we have with all of you that is making this possible and with our great team Tamara ogal who's with me tonight Works tirelessly delivering shoes to over 89 schools here in

051Fort Worth we have 96 schools in the program 89 of them are Fort Worth ISD schools that are participating so thank you thank you for being a partner with us and thank you to all the staff and faculty here at Fort Worth ISD that helps us make it [Applause] possible Charles bills followed by Holly plens and Cheryl Bean Hello I'm am a a lifetime uh product of Fort Worth highd schools I graduated from Southwest High School nearly 40 years ago and about a few more years than that I took driver's ed and even though it's the only way to truly be safe is to abstain from getting in a car we still completely learned all the safety techniques and how to drive responsibly and we ignored The Fringe element that thought that premarital driving was

052a sin and it had to be [Applause] banned and on an that was an analogy just just to say um I also took high school sex ed and one thing is pretty much all of us already knew everything that they taught us the one things that I learned were some of the technical uh or you know medical terms and the consequences of specific consequences of venial diseases so uh you know that seems like that was an important thing to learn and it seems like this uh uh system or whatever that you're uh proposing is not going to include that so I recommend something better thank [Applause] you Holly plens followed by Cheryl bean and Kelly persley Holly plens mom of three taxpayer in Fort withd in 2018 I pulled my children out of charter schools

053and brought them to Fort withd for the programs of choice of choice it was not it was Health Smart he was taught about the 42 genders that you can chop your penis off and call yourself a girl he was taught about all of the things that are against our family values other families can have different values but in our family that's not something that we support and by sending my child to public school my family values should not be trampled that child is now 16 years old and because this vote is coming up and he heard about it he talked to me about it because because I also have a 10-year-old and he said mom if somebody was to ever teach our 10 his brother my 10-year-old uh what I was taught when I was

05411 I would literally run them over to stop them from telling this to my little brother because it was that bad and I said why didn't you tell me whenever this happened to you and he said Mom it was embarrassing your teachers are embarrassed to teach this some of them are are skipping over it with Health Smart and you guys need to do what is not politically divisive public school is for all and it should be not politically divisive people have said here that we're bringing our politics we have brought no politics here the only politics that have been pushed off on our children are Democrat leftist policies and they're not fair they should not be happening and Miss Rodriguez if anybody else was standing here and the crowd was behaving this way you would

055stop them but you don't do that for me perd board policy bed local disruptions of the meeting are not tolerated please accept this at everyone's first warning please be respectful of everyone's point of view you will have your time and you will have your time to address the board's un uninterrupted please give your fellow Community member the same courtesy if there is another disruption from from the audience you may be removed from the meeting thank you Cheryl Bean followed by klyy perley and Sabrina ball can you check to see if the it's on there it goes okay I am Cheryl bean I am the first of three generations to attend Fort Worth Public Schools I grew up in the Southwest High schoool School pyramid my kids went to Tanglewood through Pascal and now I have

056children grandchildren in the Arlington Heights district I am an advocate for public school education however I am very concerned with the lack of moral compass this country is heading in and I'm going to fight it tooth and nail to try to help get us back on track I believe that some combination of the media as well as the schools and how it is attacking or presenting things to our children that they don't need to be seeing is a large part of that c C so when I think about the whole sex ed thing I learned about it quite some years ago in fact I'm hitting my 50-year high school reunion coming up this year and guess what I learned the basics I didn't learn about gender options I didn't learn about a lot of other

057things that are being taught now that's the way it should be but because we can't seem to keep that stuff out of the schools I am going to vote and promote no sex education in the school as my first choice and let the parents teach their moral moral values from home given if that's not going to be appropriate then I would certainly go for choosing the best because I think it has the better are the least amount of the um indoctrination and agendas in it but those need to be addressed as well so with that I say thank you and that's my opinion bye Kelly parley followed by Sabrina ball and Daniel coger hi there nice to meet you I just wanted to honor you all and thank you for your hearts for the children

058and your service um I'm a mother of girls I'm a grandmother of girls um and I've worked with women who've suffered from abuse and Trauma for over 20 years um I've heard a lot of talk about concern for the Children's Mental Health concern and and advocacy for the Reginal curriculum for women who suffered abuse and Trauma and as if this existing curriculum is the better choice rather than choosing the best and so I want to appeal to you guys on three different points to select the curriculum that your committee has selected one that's your process it is designated that an outside committee is to select it and then you're to review and evaluate and so I encourage you to respect and honor the process and the selection of the committee um so respect the decision

059that they were given a job they value did everything and they made a choice secondly I would like to talk to you about just the over sexualization of our children and concern for their mental health um we live in a society where girls are over sexualized and we have boys who don't respect their boundaries and it's gotten to the point to where the girls are buying into the lie and they don't think that they think they're nothing more than their body when someone is sexually molested and abused and only valued for their body that they tend to think that's all they're worth I've wor watched that firsthand my daughter was date raped and she gave herself over to that and she suffered tremendously for that she lost her sense of worth and identity and we

060need to speak value into our children and we need to teach men to respect girls we need to tou teach boys to respect girls and respect their no and that that there is um a right for them to say no and to choose to give their body away um also thirdly time oh Sabrina ball followed by Daniel cokau and Mary low Texas lawmakers do not consider Health expertise when writing laws and it shows we have one of the are the worst maternal mortality rates in the country and the highest in repeated teen births you have an explainer of Texas law that guides sexed adoption from UT Health Science I've highlighted some info this law gives a lot of power to a committee of opinions without requirements for those members to have expertise on the shack

061page I can see how many members are parents community and staff but I can't see if they have any expertise in health or education looking at public comments made by both sha members and people in the community you can see that decisions were not always Guided by science or in the best interest of a diverse population I can't find the vote count for the recommendation or the scoring specifics so how close was it you have the slide for scoring from content experts ETR scored higher in every major category except the last one which is cut off I asked the staff for that info I urge you to go back and look at that you are not required to approve this or listen to non- stakeholders you have a strategic plan planning goal to increase inre

062support for emergent bilingual students choosing the best is translated using Google translate that is completely unacceptable ETR is fully bilingual you currently have 27328 emergent Spanish bilinguals in this district and their parents could not review it in Spanish this adoption is funded using Esser funds which are not to be used for recurring expenses it's a one-year adoption when you've already paid for a comparable vendor I've shared a recent funding request from a stakeholder who has been asked to join our mayor's committee on persons with disabilities with this money you can afford to give students with speech delays across the district tools that have been adopted by other districts and our own Fort Worth Sue that's one of your strategic uh goals the M this money has not been spent you are not required by law

063to take this recommendation from Sha and you can revisit [Applause] [Music] ETR Danielle cokau followed by Mary low and Hudson Harris my name is Danielle cokau and my husband and two children live in Fort Worth I am here urging you to not approve the choosing the best program I was born and raised in Justin Texas graduated from Northwest ISD during my time in middle school I received abstinence only sex education and I cannot recall having any sex education during my high school years my husband was raised in a small town in Pennsylvania he truly does not understand it when I say that I didn't have any sex education in high school because even in his conservative small town it was normal to give teenagers accurate information about their own bodies so for this meeting today

064I wondered what the outcomes were between Texas and Pennsylvania this is 2021 data from the CDC per every 1,000 teenagers the birth rate is 20.3 in Texas 11.5 in Pennsylvania so nearly double here in Texas that's not great accurate Health SE sex education provides much more information than just teaching about how to avoid pregnancy it encourages students to take charge of their health and make informed decisions it educates them about healthy relationships and the concept of consent it is for these reasons that I strongly oppose absence only sex education and the choosing the best program it does not give our children the health information they need and deserve abstinence only sex education was a bad idea 17 years ago when I was in high school I'm dating myself and we have the stats to prove

065it I am a part of the next wave of parents at Fort Worth ISD and we value comprehensive sex and health education thank you so much Mary low followed by Hudson Harris and G perau thank you Board of Trustees as you sit here tonight teetering on the brink of losing local control I realize that this is a very heavy decision for you however the law has gone before you and set out very clearly what your guidelines are first I want to thank you I've done over 35 grievances in this District on this matter and the district laboriously slowed the process and followed the law of Shaq now you were tasked of continuing forward in following the state law state law is not comprehensive sex state law is abstinence-based human sexuality and it is by choice

066it is not mandatory I'm encouraging you to educate not just St but citizens to understand that the place to advocate for the law to be changed is in Austin not here and also to educate them that the access to birth control is not being limited birth control in Plan B as of January or over the counter in the state of Texas so my dear friends you're not doing any of the things you've been accused of however I want to ask you in this need for you to follow of the law to redirect the focus and emphasis of this school district to core academics and as I proposed in grievances that there are other community organizations that can make comprehensive sex education available to the constituents and students that want it it should not be the

067burden of this school district to do that it's divisive and unnecessary follow the law thank you for following the law Hudson Harris followed by Gabe perau and Shelley Kellum hello I Hudson Harris a student from Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth uh ISD pushing a religiously founded abstinence focused curriculum in sex head just isn't right and abstinent centered approach just doesn't work Texas is second in the nation in STI cases and we can statistically connect it to lack of proper curriculum for most of us we can approach this through a selfish point of view we take advantage of our resources and opportunity to inform ourselves yet there are so many kids that lack the support from home they aren't taught how dangerous unprotected sex can be they don't think they will be the ones

068who find themselves in this type of situation and it's due to lack of Education these are the kids we are speaking for to follow that we're also speaking for those who wish to keep their right to freedom of religion behind the abstinent centered sex head is a group of people who just want to force the religious ideals into school this is the school health advisory Council if these ideals force their way in through Gateway policies such as this one we slowly start to see our school turn into a church school is a place to learn The Facts of Life not the faith inside learning should have a secular Focus not a religious one finally I'd like to expound on my point of view as I said before I am a student in FWD and a

069stakeholder in its policies I am the one being affected I am the one who will have to endure the consequences of this decision many of the people supporting the outdated sex education will not see any impact of the final ruling and will be apathetic to the situation they either don't have children in FWD or they choose to send their child to a private religious school where they choose their religious path they shouldn't be involved in the decisions of a public school they shouldn't be deciding deciding what is right for the students and shouldn't be forcing religion into our schools I reject what's best thank you very much Gabe perau followed by Shelley Kellum and John Beck good evening as a Fort Worth resident and future parent of children living in Fort Worth I want to

070thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak you know I I had a bunch of stats and I'll I'll get into those but before I start I want to address a a reality when I look at each one of your names as a school board I don't numbers next to it and I'll explain why you see your bank account is so valuable that you're not willing to give it to the public and as uh as as much as people might need money as much as people might think that it is empowering to have public access to your bank account you value your possessions what's so much more valuable than money money in our bank accounts is the very innermost parts of our bodies and you see the the truth about this abstinence uh teaching

071to kids is not that we're trying to push some religious Doctrine onto the Next Generation it's actually just that we want to teach them to protect themselves just like we protect our bank accounts just like we protect our homes you see there there's a reason the American College of Pediatricians strongly endorses abstinence until marriage sex education recommends adoption by all school systems in lie of comprehensive sex education abstaining from all sexual activity is the only 100% safe and effective way to avoid teen pregnancies SDI and the emotional Fallout of adolescent sexual activity almost 40 Years of emphasis on safer sex and comprehensive sex education with values neutral sex education condoms and contraceptive and abortions at whim late night hookups whenever you want has clearly failed our young people we have the highest suicide rate we

072we don't have fathers and mothers anymore we don't even know our identity in fact 33% of Generation Z if you put them in a stadium 33,000 of 100,000 students would walk down to the front and say I don't know who I am you see what we're pushing here is not some restrictive traditional religion we're here to empower kids to know who they really Shelley Kellum followed by John Beck and Paul Fleck hi good evening I'm Shelley Kellum and after hearing that and all of the misinformation I CH I'm changing my speech a little bit uh I'm a a master's repaired certified nurse Midwife retired and I prided myself on providing full comprehensive information to to my clients uh we need uh students need education comprehensive sex education fact-based evidence-based and they don't need the indoctrination

073of this abstinence only program thank you John Beck followed by Paul Fleck and Amy Ramsey my name is John Beck and my wife Christie and I have been very active in attending Schoolboard meetings as well as Sha meetings over the last couple of years between the two of us we attended all the recent sha public meetings and have reviewed choosing the best sexual health curriculum at length I wondered how many of those here tonight against ch Ching the best have actually viewed the curriculum for themselves as we reviewed it we found scientifically and medically accurate terminology throughout there is nothing religious about this curriculum we also found correct terminology of male and female we found that is abstinence-based and it aligns with the tees my wife and I find this curriculum to be developmentally appropriate

074as well we have heard critics say the curriculum contains information about Plan B what they don't say is that this information regarding Plan B is in the teachers manual only it's only for the teachers information it's not in any student lessons the critics also say there's lgbtq language which again they don't explain that the only mention is in a small paragraph in the teachers manual only that explains that this curriculum is inclusive meaning it's for all students all of this brings me to why these critics are ra really raising a fuss the underlying battle is local control versus State Control do we as citizens have a say in our local schools or is there a push in the state government to try and Bully districts and parents into more government control do we want the

075state deciding what curriculum we can or can't choose or should districts still be allowed to decide that for themselves take a stand today and keep local control and vote Yes to choosing the best Paul Fleck followed by Amy Ramsey and Susan Wade good evening everybody my name is Paul and I have come tonight to share my heart about what I believe is right for our city and state I believe as a Believer it's important to bring what is right for our schools I believe that what that I'm called one day to be a father to kids one day I'm going before them to make sure that they are protected in the schools one day let me tell you a little about my personal testimony of Freedom when I struggled in homosexual for years it brought

076depression anger and fear I got set free in my 20s and I believe the school systems are bringing confusion by the LGBT curriculum in teaching false information this is leading kids to make wrong decisions and walking away from their true identity in Christ I'm going to be a voice to ones who don't have a voice right now and I believe it's important to teach traditional moral standards in schools I would like to see you guys vote for choosing the [Applause] best Amy Ramsey followed by Susan Wade and Aaron James hi I'm Amy Ramsey and I am a Fort Worth ISD parent of a 14-year-old at mlan and a 17-year-old at Pascal I am also the Chief Operating Officer for the national nonpartisan organization defense of democracy and I just have something short to say um

077we only have two minutes so I'll be brief into the Point Health smart is comparable and it's already paid for $2.6 million it teaches kids what healthy relationships look like how to make healthy decisions about sex and relationships instead of just saying don't have sex it comes from a place of privilege to think that all families have open conversations and answer their kids' questions honestly about these topics parents have control of what modules their students are caught and they can opt out of the ones that they don't want um choosing the best is $772,000 and as trusty Bridges mentioned earlier considering using covid relief funds for a new sexed curriculum when parents can simply opt out of modules that do not align with the biblical morals they wish to instill in their kids over 27,000

078emergent biling students in District and they used Google Translate to translate it into Spanish and if you've ever done that it's it's like illegible um I find it curious that the group for liberty and justice is here and they mentioned in a clip on their Instagram page that they're not playing games we're going to tell the board they need to adopt choosing the best or else some groups claim that there's not transparency and I see these signs saying that there's no transparency but you can simply go time [Applause] time Susan Wade followed by Aaron James and Sheree Allen good evening um I'm Susan Wade I have a long history my family does three generations through uh attending for Worth ISD schools or teaching in Fort Worth ISD schools um I think I believe firmly that

079Fort Worth ISD does need comprehensive sex education and we already have that program already paid for but if you decide that you want to purchase choosing the best in addition to the one we already have then I would hope you would give a choice to the parent parents all the parents deserve a choice in this matter so and it wouldn't be that difficult they could opt in right now it's an opt-in requirement probably I would assume for both so they could choose either choosing the best um Health smart or none and if they choose none they don't have to do anything they're automatically not in so please please don't let a small majority I know it's the majority here I mean a small minority this is the majority here but it's not the majority of

080for wor istd and give all parents a choice I cannot say that often enough don't take away anybody's choice for their own child thank you [Applause] Aaron James followed by Sheree Allen and Judith stle good evening board I'm here tonight because I am in agreement with Taran County GOP chairman Bo French and I would prefer that Fort Worth ISD teach abstinence but since y'all are dead said on adopting a sexed curriculum to to our children then I UR en you to adopt choosing the best for Fort Worth ISD God Bless Texas Sheree Allen followed by Judith stle and Celeste hob Brook good evening I'm Sher Allen my pronouns are she her I'm the caner of mome shelanu congregation in Fort Worth and I'm a firm believer that sex education should be taught in public school

081because this might be the only way some students get this information I also firmly believe that it needs to be taught in a way that is sensitive to students needs meets them where they are and affirms and honors their identities as choosing the best fall short of these goals I asked you to decline adopting this curriculum in favor of revisiting the curriculum that you already have and have already paid for Health Smart choosing the best in Health Smart have almost the same content and follow the te's abstinence Bas standard which is problematic on the get-go because because the top 15 states with the highest rate of teen pregnancies all teach and emphasize abstinence Texas is number 10 that aside the difference between the two curriculums is not necessarily what is taught but how it's taught

082choosing the best doesn't speak to the 60% of high school seniors who have already had sex mostly unprotected it doesn't speak to lgbtq students for whom puberty and navigating complicated feelings about gender identity and sexual orientation is particularly challenging nowhere are their needs even acknowledged I speak from experience as my spouse and I have raised three now grown queer children in Texas thankfully not in public school because in seventh grade when my child asked a multitude of difficult questions he's a transgender man who had not come out yet including can lesbians get STDs to his health and science teacher she answered each one honestly accurately and compassionately making him feel validated and encouraged to continue exploring and learning how he could be comfortable in his own body and I believe he's alive today because of

083teachers like this Health Smart approaches sex ed from this place of openness and curiosity this is the kind of education every student needs it deserves another look because students deserve better thank you Judith stle followed by Celeste h Brook and Conor wheeler I'm Judith stemle an ordained Christian minister now retired but formerly served University Christian Church among other congregations I strongly recommend that you reject Shaq's recommendation and vote for the Health Smart curriculum which you have already purchased both hell smart and choose the best are aligned with Texas standards the primary difference between the two curricula is that choose the best uses shame in in order to attempt Behavior change it is also inferior in depth of content research shows that guilt and shame do not work in preventing sexual activity among teens I think

084we can all agree here that we want teens to make healthy decisions around their bodies how we do this is the issue the Health Smart curriculum has already been purchased and given the district's Financial situ situation it seems irresponsible to pay an additional 70,000 plus dollars to purchase this curriculum that does the same thing we already have in an inferior way thank you Celeste Holbrook followed by Connor wheeler and and Melinda akowski I'm Dr Celeste Holbrook I'm a sex educator with with a PhD and 13 years of sex education curriculum development and evaluation experience I have two kids at wlli here are two strong educated reasons to choose Health Smart curriculum over the choosing the best curriculum the first is that the content areas are actually very identical we have to use content that is

085tis approved and both of them are so we're choosing between two abstinence centered curricula the difference is that healthmart has a more depth of information Superior teaching methods and is compassionate about being abstinence forward choosing the best curriculum only reaches the lower levels of taxonomy such as blooms and others and utilizes old kind of outof touch teaching methods like cheesy videos of paid actors talking about and telling their sex stories it has outdated language like STD versus STI and severely lacks depth of content a according to the vendor of choosing the best zero sex Educators worked on creation of the curricula most importantly it uses shame techniques to attempt to create Behavior change rather than positive helpful Guidance the second is that school-based sex education is not just about educating our kids so they can

086make healthy choices more importantly it's about how we detect the ones that are currently being sexually abused after the sex ed unit and every year many kids disclose their abuse to a trusted adult if we choose shallow shame based curricula not only do kids who are abused not come forward they will feel shame for the abuse adting and paying extra for ineffective harmful curricula is the wrong choice choose Health Smart same content more depth and Concepts already paid for and excellent teaching methods that detect and stop [Applause] abuse Connor wheeler followed by Melinda Kowski and Terry roach let me just start by telling a story of a friend of mine uh he was molested as a small boy by older family relatives he bought into the LIE of sexual expression as a thing that he

087needed to explore from that point on and bought into identities not true about himself today he talks uh to me about thoughts of killing himself and we work through a lot of things of suicide that he's going through he has a boil on his leg because he contracted an STI that nobody showed him how to avoid uh I'm a follower of Jesus and herpes is is an incurable disease but Jesus healed him of a herpes boil on his leg and his story is why I'm here today uh as a medical school student who's also a follower of Jesus I'm not against science I graduated top in my class in most of my science classes there is no safe sex young people you need to hear this today because people have lied to you there's no

088doctor who would ever have any type of safe contraceptive sex with somebody who's battling an STI it would not protect you this is why I advocate for abstinence-based teaching we don't need stats but there seems to be some confusion so I'll just say this over the last 65 years since the sexual Evolution exposed our youth to more sex we've also had way higher percentages in the problems that everybody in this room is talking about we don't need to get into stats about how uh I'm going to just say deviant versions of sex are the ways that more HIV cases spread than the other 13 ways combined that's a university stat for those people who are saying that this isn't science where I learn that there is no safe sex where I learn the fact that

089people who buy into sexual confusion ideologies are five times higher to hate themselves more likely to hate themselves and five times more likely to commit suicide after accepting this I don't have time to say much less but I really advocate for abstinence-based curriculum thank you Melinda akowski followed by Terry roach and Gail Smith good evening trustees I attended the Sha meeting when they voted to recommend choosing the best I listened to the the comments from the committee members and most if not all talked about how inappropriate the Health Smart curriculum is and that it has no place in a public school setting tonight I am here to remind you that parents have the final say when it comes to educating their children my concern with any sex ed curriculum is that it is presented to

090all children at a predetermined age there is no consideration for the individual student and their developmental age or maturity I would submit to you that it is a parents responsibility to decide when to introduce topics of such a sensitive nature to their children we all know that Educators oftentimes have views and un and biased opinions that are in direct opposition to the values of a family I do not believe that the public school setting is an appropriate environment to teach children about sex Educators should be focusing on Reading Writing arithmetic and history these are the subjects that are going to set our kids up for Success we are asking that you simply educate our children and stop trying to indoctrinate them remember your role as a governing body is to ensure that our children are

091receiving a quality education that's it nothing more and nothing less my children were entrusted to me by my God it is my responsibility to Steward them and to train them up in the way that they should go I respectfully ask that you stay in your lane stay out of the area of social programming and adopt educational programs that further promote higher levels of learning that is how we will set our children up for Success also many have mentioned we have paid 2.6 million for healthmart and although that is true that doesn't make it right the board purchased healthmart curriculum outside the state mandate mandate mandated guidelines based on the fact that Fort Worth ISD is in a self-proclaimed budget crisis I think that we also should take some time to reflect on why we would

092time time Terry roach followed by Gail Smith and Kenisha Redeemer Gail Smith followed by Kenisha Redeemer and Jonathan signs hello um last time I came to you as a single mother asking you to defend my children from the evil program put out by today I'm here to let you know a little bit more about who I am and my commitment I'm a Precinct chair who has been put in place for such a time as this my commitment to my commitment is to the children of our community because they are sacred to the one true Living God if a choice is made to violate these children now or in the future me and others like me will sure will make sure that everyone in your districts know what you've done and that they are registered to

093vote we will replace you swiftly and undoubtedly make no mistake I have the influence and authority to do what I'm promising I hope you'll make the right decision oright I also want to read a letter to you that was written by the chairman of the tan County GOP says Dear for orthis D TR Board of Trustees I am the chairman of the Taran County Republican party and I can tell you the Taran County GOP is more united than ever we are the Grassroots the the direct connection to the conservative voters in Taran County and for Worth ISD I will not accept any curriculum that contributes to the degre de degreg of our society I will however pursue what is wholesome and honorable while choosing the best is a step in the right direction I still

094prefer a full abstinence based morality morality based curriculum that doesn't teach that medications such as Plan B pills are contraceptives I believe that is the right of the parents to choose their children to teach their children about sexuality and sexual practices as they see fit I believe my party does not want anything taught in our schools that doesn't represent Traditional Values values that serve the common good of the public my demand is simple and I will be heard I believe We Stand United as a group of influential leaders parents and citizens in our community we are Precinct chairs public officials time okay [Applause] Kenisha Redeemer followed by Jonathan signs and Amina shaas Kenisha redemer this sack of papers is only a portion of the documented behaviors that have been allowed in my classroom this school

095year all except one incident are considered to be minor infractions if the same same student continues to disrupt the learning environment and consistently violates school rules the offense has to move beyond the teacher managing the behavior in the classroom teachers show up every day expecting that this day will be better than the last but being met at the door with Defiance and disrespectful behavior in addition we have to guard the other students from inappropriate language flipping of death objects being catapulted across the room and the harassing behaviors of their disruptive classmates when will we stop coddling and Catering to the desires of the disruptive students and their quarrelsome parents I am requesting that we begin to protect the learning environment for the other students this is a serious matter and it seems as if no

096one is taking notice that the teachers are leaving the profession they are being prescribed medication due to workplace anxiety social drinking is an under statement and EAP only offers three days of counseling the way some of our classrooms are carrying on we need combat pay a lot of what we endure is a hazard to our retirement and our well-being recently I appli for a leave of absence due to being assaulted by a student he received one day of suspension no legal action because he's under the age of 10 years of under 10 years of age and according to the powers that be I should be doing okay because I did not sustain any noticeable physical injury well what about the emotional injury what about the mental injury what about the reservations and the disease that

097Educators have when they step into a classroom our Educators needs and well-being are being ignored and neglected by those that are in position to do something about it will you step up to the plate and do something about it thank you for the opportunity to stand before you [Applause] today Jonathan signs followed by Amina shahz and Lon vernham good evening Dr Ramsey members of the Fort Worth Independent School District board my name is Jonathan signs I'm president attorney for a Statewide nonprofit law and policy Christian organization called Texas values we've got supporters in all 254 counties of the state and many of them right here in Fort Worth including two of our board members you're getting a couple of handouts one of those I think has been verified about the school district uh spending $2.6

098million on healthmart I also want to make the point that our organization has not been supportive of Health Smart we also have not been able to support choosing the best because we have concerns about some LGBT and pro-abortion content as well as Dei we've been told by the public that the shack process was not the time to make those changes there' be an opportunity later I think that's this time so I'd like for you to uh take that in consideration and that could impact our ability to support that curriculum moving forward but the two main things I want to stress in my time with you is facts and law it is a fact that the only 100% way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is abstinence and that's a key reason why we support

099abstinence as an organization number two the 2 .6 million that you spent could have been avoided and this is where I'm going to bring in the law I've got another handout going around House Bill 1605 was passed this pre this past legislature and one of the bullet points you're seeing it it ensures parental access to materials through a parent portal it also ensures that you get funding for curriculum that's gone through the State Board of Education process choosing the best and Health Smart neither one of them went through that process you've missed out on that opportunity as that goes forward that could arguably have or could in the future save you $2.6 million because you get that funding for the curriculum and it uh not a taxpayer dollar from here has to use lastly I

100want to say a comment was made about stakeholders if you're a parent and a taxpayer you are a stakeholder that should be listen [Applause] to Amina shz followed by Lon Burnham and Lucero chakon good evening I'm Amina sherov a junior at the Fort Worth ISD High School Arlington Heights whilst taking our mandatory moving to Wellness in Middle School in my high school's Health one class my experience like many of my peers was quite poor instead of learning about my bodily functions I learned that my education is in the hands of people who do not understand nor care for my risk of being uninformed when the teacher responsible for instructing said curriculum but instead of using correct terminology refers to our anatomy as the private Square the issue does not lay in the curriculum it lays

101in the system you have set up for us you you'll worry about it when you're older should not be something a 12-year-old is told when she's supposed to be learning about valuable information over her well-being which will be carried into adulthood choosing the best is not the route we need to be taking abstinence only material is not what teenagers should be exclusively learning simply because it leaves them in a state of V vulnerability if any other choices was were made which which is a consequence of Diversified curriculum being withheld from them biology rather than ideology should be taught in our schools religious driven values have no place in government funded public settings better teacher training is necessary so they do not enter this environment uninformed unconfident and unaware spend the $72,000 on bettering what you

102already have in place these coures should be extensively discussed with medically correct terminology so students who lack sex sexual education other than the ones provided by the district have adequate understanding of the reproductive system the fundamental sexual education these sixth graders receed from the Fort Worth ISD curriculum will carry on with them well into these Futures these students are entitled to receive correct education on human development reproductive anatomy and consent in order to ensure they have thorough knowledge attitudes values and tools to make healthy and responsible decisions based off the solid education implanted within them as they mature the most responsible decision is to re [Applause] time Lon Burnham followed by Lucero chakon and Jennifer crosslin good every evening to everybody I hope you're all well uh I'm a proud K through2 graduate Fort Worth

103ISD and my late mother retired from the school district she taught Elementary School here for for more years than she wants to remember I suspect um I'm also a longtime Public School Defender and Advocate um I have voted in every school board election for over 50 years now and for 18 years I was an active and vocal uh representative for you in the Texas legislature I'm here to tell you with more experience than anybody else a lot of the laws that are passed are fundamentally flawed and motivated for ill conceived purposes that said I recognize you have to support the law what I want to talk to you about is false labeling there's nothing best about the program that claims to be the best in fact it's almost as if they believe ignorance is bliss

104ignorance is not Bliss it leads to unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases I think it's really important that you comply with the law I think it's really important that you're working on doing that and I think you have end endured a whole lot over the last 15 or 18 months of verbal abuse I want to remind people in this audience that may not have been involved with the school districts before covid we used to have programs that were about anti-bullying they certainly don't seem to understand that concept so I'm not here to tell you that I'm going to bully the school district I'm going to support the school district but I'm going to ask you to do the right thing by these kids and that is not doing what calls itself the best but doing

105what you've already paid for it and truly is the best thank you for your time lucera shakon and followed by Jennifer Crossland and Lindsay deals hello everyone my name is Lucero ariadna chakon I am 17 years old and I'm a senior in in Arling at Arlington Heights High School today I would like to briefly speak about my concerns of the sex education in the fort wor ISD district many of us have the P privilege of educating ourselves but there are countless of kids who lack this support at home and we are here today to speak for everyone one of the major concerns is the current abstinence Center approach while it promotes waiting many can argue that it falls short in providing comprehensive information about sexual health we can we can't ignore statistics Texas ranks the

106highest second in STI cases and can't ignore and we need to address this headon we must find a middle ground that repeat that respects these values while ensuring that students receive the correct accurate and inclusive information comprehensive sex education goes beyond promoting abstinence it provides students with a crucial knowledge about con contraception safe sex and uh safe sex practices consent and healthy relationships by omitting this it can it can inadvertedly contribute to higher rates of unintended pregnancies and STI among our students moreover a lack of comprehensive sex education can perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes and reinforce the stigmas surrounding gender it's essential to create an inclusive and safe sexuality environment where students can openly discuss with their questions concerns and experiences without fear or judgment the best decision is to reject the appeal to convert our

107curriculum to choosing the best thank [Applause] you Jennifer Crossland followed by Lindsay deals and Natalie weamer hi good evening my name is Jennifer Crossland I've been here many times and tonight I'm here to ask you to vote Yes to choosing the best um I know there's some confusion but tonight I believe on the agenda is a vote Yes or No for choosing the best so I'm here to encourage you to vote Yes to choosing the best the reason why is if you go uh 3 years in the past three years ago the State Board of Education looked at many curriculums to decide what are we going to update the human sexuality instruction to many parents like myself were able to access those materials we emailed our state board of education Representatives mine was um just

108here tonight actually and we emailed all of the State Board of Representatives they then voted on a curriculum that curriculum was goodart Wilcox unfortunately in Fort Worth ISD at the same time we accidentally illegally purchased a curriculum that was not approved by the State Board of Education and it actually wasn't approved legally so luckily thank you Dr ramsy for starting the process to reopt a new human sexuality instruction that's why we're here today I've been at the Sha meetings I was able to review the six curriculum s that the shack reviewed and by far choosing the best was the best one it was so good that it scored over one point higher with the experts and with our very own sha committee so I want to remind you that what you're voting on is the

109best of the best and I can just see it now your next election vote for me because I'll choose the best for your students I'll choose the best for your kids and I would love to see that we don't always see eye to eye but on this I would love to agree that we want the best for our kids say yes to the best thank you very much Lindsay deals followed by Natalie weamer and Timber Timberly Kelly hello I would like to just start by saying my stance because we're all gonna get there eventually um I would urge you to vote no because it is to me just appalling to know that a shameful program that teaches kids to be scared to talk to their parents to talk to anyone about sexual activity and learning

110about anything involved with that because the ideal is waiting for marriage what about once you're married do you do you then you know you're not the education board's problem so whatever but is that really the idea we want to go with is that if all you want to do is say abstinence only why have sexual education in your school I I can't make it any more simple than that if you want a program that is shameful that is punishing kids and only going to hurt them I would please like to ask anyone who is a current student in Fort Worth ISD to please stand up [Music] [Applause] every everyone yes they sorry they are all minors but they I would like to say that I'm a senior at TCU and I'm not a student in

111Fort Worth ISD but I ask them to stand because they are not taxpayers but your vote affects them and they're taking the courage that most students can't and they all agree that the best choice is awful so I would simply like to ask you to please not pick the best [Applause] choice Natalie weer followed by Timberly Kelly and Mary bradin hello y'all um my name is wymer um so I was going to actually speak to the um Spanish issue because it it's just so terrible that the best curriculum uses Google translate I I think about the fact that you know you go on Amazon sometimes and you look at the translation and you're like what the heck did they use to translate this and then you think about doing a sexual health curriculum using Google

112translate and I think wow that is just so not effective way to communicate such delicate issues um but actually when I just walked outside I was chatting with um the parents of one of the Fort Worth ISD students that a grandparent about the um curriculums that are under consideration and they were actually asking about the shame based portion and I feel like people keep kind of talking about that and I don't know that everybody actually understands what the issue is in the best curriculum and I've actually I went up to Fort Worth is when my kids were in school to look at the curriculum and I've actually looked at the best curriculum and I think it's really interesting to think about one of the stories that's in the best curriculum they talk about Amber and

113Jared and that Amber and Jared get together they suggest that they have sex and that they then get married and they have a kid and then in the story Jared doesn't really help with the kid and then the questions afterwards [Music] are how did having sex before marriage impact their relationship and that's the shame based portion is that somehow having sex before marriage implied why they had a problem with parenting their child why Jared was a bad dad and somehow or the other that's connected back to premarital sex and that's the shame based portion that we don't want to put on our kids abstinence whatever if we do that that's fine but let's not make them feel bad [Applause] Timberly Kelly followed by Mary bradin and Mia Morales good evening um my name is timly

114Kelly I live in Fort Worth I am a grandmother of four or grandmother of four a grandmother of seven and I'm very glad to be able to speak with you in support of choosing the best curriculum I am a former social worker I'm an investor an adviser and a reverend here operating in Fort Worth I thank the board uh for recommending the choosing the best Ed sexual education curriculum I was able to view the presentation to the shack of the curriculums Via Zoom there have been statements made by some that public comment was disallowed at the Sha meeting as curriculums were considered actually this was not the case we could participate through a written format all through the meeting I personally commented on a number of the curricula presented without any limitations the reason I'm

115support in support of this curriculum is transparency this company uh encourag parents to review the material I was surprised that the other vendors disallowed par parental preview of their material parents not the state or education system are the primary guardians of their children's lives and absolutely should have a say in the type of sexual education that their children receive if they will participate and when they should participate each child is unique and only parent should guide their children in this sensitive area the vendor uh presented statistics on how this abstinence-based curriculum has been shown to help students focus on education and their future as to as opposed to succumb to pressures to involve themselves in premature sexual activity finally I want to thank you for giving parents the ability to opt their children in if

116so desired as a opposed to opting children out this level of par parental choice is very encouraging thank you for your time Mary Spradlin followed by Mia Morales and Meredith Bowman good evening I'm Reverend Mary Spradlin I'm the senior pastor at Arlington Heights United Methodist Church and a member of pastors for Texas Children just 10 weeks ago I was appalled to read about Jed Moss a former band director in the Keller ISD who was sentenced to prison after sexually abusing at least 13 Middle School youth under his care the Star Telegram reported that one reason he was able to do this over a period of time is that most of the victims said they didn't even realize at first that they were being sexually abused one parent testified that her son didn't understand what was

117happening and did not have the vocabulary to explain it to trusted adults my immediate a concern upon reading that statement is that the Fort Worth ISD has not provided sex education in recent years many here would say that this subject should be taught at home however many parents do not we are failing our kids by not teaching them basic anatomy and helping them gain a clear understanding of how their bodies function that said I have reviewed the choosing the best curriculum and I see that it is very focused on abstinence but it does not actually educate our students about critical basics of human sexuality the Middle School module teaches kids that condoms are not always effective in preventing pregnancy but nowhere in the curriculum does it explain or Define what a condom is in this

118and many other areas the curriculum seems to assume that kids have already received sex education and they are now getting a followup to ensure that they understand that abstinence is best because sex can result in pregnancy and STDs the anatomy and reproduction mod modules do not include any explanation definition or teaching on intercourse at all the high school module allows for the teacher to mention this if the district allows it but gives no instruction on how to do that in this climate I believe teachers if allowed to do so would be fearful of teaching in their own words on this topic as they do not want their name on the on the newspaper in the morning [Applause] time mam Mor followed by merited Bowman and Joe Palmer good evening Dr Ramsey and Schoolboard trustees my

119name is m Morales I'm a junior at Young Women's Leadership Academy and my family are taxpayers in District 4 I'm here to voice my concerns about our bus transportation a week ago uh our college ship that was planned was canceled last minute due to no busz from the district I'm seeking answers why and to let it know was very upsetting for me and my classmates also I would like to voice my concerns on sex ed curriculum that are planning to vote I urge you to decline adopting choosing the best stop listening to Outsiders and listen to us students that live in the district we are tired of making the decisions without our input choosing the best is very flawed and not based on science also I want to point out that choosing the best materials

120not in Spanish for parents review my mom was told to use Google Translate and it was up to the district to provide Spanish transl ation so how can you vote for this will the suggested curriculums address medically accurate education in a way that does not shame or Insight fear in our youth have you seen what's happening adults bullying our youth especially my LT lgbtqia plus friends good good sex ed is based on science not politics keep your religion out of our classrooms vote please [Applause] no Meredith Bowman followed by Joe Palmer and Roberts van good evening board I would like to thank you um for deciding last year to allow the Shaq to do their job and follow the law I know it's been a long road a lot of time and effort has gone

121into this process I would also like to thank the Sha members for all their hard work and time as well I'd like to thank those who've joined this process along the way and supporting choosing the best curriculum I support choosing the best as well I agree with what someone said earlier very much earlier in the evening about asking yourselves everyone in the room what can you do to get involved and help our children with academics Reading Writing Math Science and History and helping teachers like the one that spoke earlier about disciplining issues these are what really are important this sex set curriculum as a as a big deal but that's not that's not the only thing going on here we have really we have things that we need to deal with lastly I know there

122were issues earlier with the live feed and I really hope that tonight everyone's comments are recorded and that this because this is part of the law and Fort Worth ISD local board policy thank you for your time Joe Palmer is not here Roberts van followed by Linda hanr and Keith Anis really that's what's printed on my favorite hat seems like a reasonable question to ask here tonight abstinence only really how many of you adults here tonight Pride yourselves on having a really good memory take a sec to think about it it how now how many of you can really remember just what hormones and and emotions were doing to your equilibrium when you were 13 15 or 17 year years old think about it no think about it try to remember what was that really

123like and you want to come here to this school board and try to for off abstinence only education on today's teams really now I'm not here to knock abstinence per se the more teen can focus on growing themselves to become responsible caring adults the better irresponsible sex can certainly distract from that goal indeed it can result in the loss of hopes dreams and goals which should be that teen's Birthright yet study after study tells us that abstinence only education does not promote a healthy attitude toward sex nor does it prepare the teen for adulthood abstinence yes but abstinence with a thorough grounding in what human reproduction and sexuality is all about and the knowledge and training to deal with the real life social and sexual situations of Life Fort Worth I ISD has for years

124employed the Health Smart curriculum which provides a well-rounded sexual education base what's wrong with that program this is a school this is not a church schools promote facts science and reality not mumbo jumbo use Health Smart or a similar program and become able knowing that you are doing what is right for the district and its students thank [Applause] you Linda HR and followed by Keith Anis and Gordon Jones good evening I'm a over 40y year uh taxpayer in the Fort Worth ISD district my CH three children all went through the fort wor biy my concern with I'm asking you not to choose choosing for the best because it goes back to what some people call Traditional Values and in in that case my brother was born in 1938 and he was gay and it ruined

125his whole life and he ended up committing suicide if you don't include that group of people you're missing the whole I mean you just have have to they have to be included in sex education because they are valuable human beings and I also had a as it crazy it may seem I had a crush on a boy in ninth grade and as it turned out I've later found out years after that he was gay and when he was in Community College he committed suicide now we have to have such education that deals with those people or we will have more suicides and we don't none of us want that thank [Applause] you Keith Annis followed by Gordon Jones and Lori kikendall good evening my name is Keith Annis I have two students attending Fort Worth

126IST schools one in fifth grade and one in ninth grade I a member of the PTA of both schools have served on the board at one I'm a volunteer for a booster club at another I have volunteered for the is D and served a term on the Fort Worth ISD Council of ptas I started a political action committee in support of a school bond for Fort Worth ISD I vote in every election I also like every person in this room a taxpayer because I buy things in the state of Texas possibly unlike some in this room my property taxes go to support Fort Worth ISD and I happily pay them my answer to an earlier question is what would I I do for the ISD I will continue to do what I've been doing and

127depending on this outcome this evening possibly more I speaking this evening to encourage a vote against the school health advisory council's recommendation I urge you to decline to approve the school health advisory council's recommendation and to revisit the issue if you go to the choosing the best website it repeat references the results of a 2012 study completed by Dr Lisa liberman impact of using the best program in communities committed to abstinence education discussing the efficacy of their approach the study focused on 9th and 10th graders in between that period in 2020 that same Dr Lisa liberman published three decades of research the case for comprehensive sex education it concluded review of the literature of the past three decades provides strong support for comprehensive sex education across a range of topics and grade levels results provide

128evidence for the effectiveness of approaches that address a broad definition of sexual health and take positive affirming inclusive approaches to human sexuality please vote against choosing the best and revisit this issue thank you for the time and for your service Gordon Jones followed by Lori kikendall and Katherine Poma good evening I'm all for the concept of abstinence when it comes to preventing pregnancies and STI however whether we like it or not whether we want them to or not some of our children some of our teenagers and some of our young adults are going to have sex as a previous speaker said I think he threw a number out of 60% I think it's a little high but he we'll go with that uh it is in their best interest to be as knowledgeable as possible

129regarding sexual relations for their safety and protection especially for our young women for Fort Worth ISD is not a church if you want to Shield your child from sex head keep them locked up in your church or your expensive private school for which you may be clamoring for your welfare dispersement also known as school voucher if you can't swing that if you can't swing that then sign the waiver shielding your child from sex head but don't you dare impose your religious agenda on my grandchildren's secular education [Applause] Lori kandall followed by Katherine Poma and Jessica Chek good evening my name is Lori Kirkendall and I am president of Beacon health education resources I'm here to provide public comment on agenda item 11 d1a approval of sha recommendation for human sexuality education I hold a master's

130degree in public health and have worked for 30 years in health educ ation in Texas schools I served on three of the tea work groups that helped to revise the health tis and I have provided invited testimony to both the State Board of Education and the legislature on health and sex education issues all Texas Health curriculum and specifically human sexuality education must do two things teach all the teeks and follow all the related laws as found in the Education Code the law also gives specific direction for local Shacks to review and bring recommendation of Health and sex education curriculum to the school board for adoption the curriculum the Sha has recommended to you all for vote this evening is choosing the best a national leader in sex education for many years most important for you

131all to know it teaches all the teeks and follows all the laws choosing the best has been thoroughly vetted and reviewed by District staff and by the shack and given more opportunities for parent and public review than required by law I commend Fort Worth ISD for the care they have taken to this point point in the review and Shack recommendation process which was not done previously choosing the best is evidence-based age appropriate medically accurate trauma informed and inclusive of all students and will help Fort Worth ISD students navigate the challenges and pressures they face with these critical life issues they will have the information skills and support they need to flourish physically mentally emotionally and academically I highly recommend that this board adopt the Sha recommended curriculum choosing the best is clearly a win-win for

132this District its students and their families thank [Applause] you Catherine Pomo thank you good evening board members I am a shack member who who voted for choosing the best but tonight I speak to you as a parent of 11 consecutive years in Fort Worth ISD and as a health care provider in Fort Worth for over 20 24 years I urge you to adopt choosing the best having extensively read and reviewed all curriculum options which by the previous comments here I can tell others have not choosing the best stood out to me is a clear favorite for many reasons not only does this curriculum aligned with the tis and teec it was overwhelmingly well received by parents according to all the public comments collected it is medically accurate which I can attest to as a veteran

133medical professional there is data to support its success and it provides an optimal message for all students supporting and reinforcing healthy decision making choosing the best provides age appropriate anatomical images and uses correct scientific terms in accordance with Biology it aligns correctly with the te's language of male and female in describing anatomical images and the physiology of reproduction along with physical changes during puberty the the videos and assignments are relatable easy to follow relevant and engaging for students a variety of situations are presented using a wide variety of people this is a great curriculum to educate all students and provide the healthiest information for making healthy and holistic decisions during this critical and awkward time in a child's life for those of you criticizing choosing the best I ask you to go to the FAQ

134page on choosing thee best.org and a lot of your questions will be answered thank you Jessica Chek followed by Mary Smith and Miriam Lambert thank you superintendent Ramsey board members and sha committee members who have worked carefully for over a almost close to two years to vet this material I'd like to dispel some myths and clarify information regarding the differences between a sexual risk avoidance curriculum such as choosing the best and sexual risk reduction AKA comprehensive sexed material akin to Health Smart sras like CTB emphasize abstinence and sexual delay which factually um are the only 100% proven method to avoid disease pregnancy psychos social and psycho psychological negative ramifications Studies have shown children under 18 who engage in sexual activity are more likely to have greater overall issues such as lower grades emotional distress depression

135poverty Etc comprehensive sexed programs focus on affirmative consent which normalizes sexual activity for children consenting to something doesn't mean it is safe or healthy Behavior giving giving a clean needle to a heroin addict doesn't help them improve their life or provide the safest option our kids deserve the best information for for the best options in regard to healthy decision-making they also deserve accurate information and scientifically correct terminology some who wish to advance comprehensive sex aded have a direct financial interest in sexualizing our children because it is big business for them or fits their political agenda I encourage you to consider the Shaq approved um recommendation of choosing the best thank you for your [Applause] consideration [Applause] Mary Smith followed by Miriam Lambert and James Bower good evening I support choosing the best and I ask

136you to make a formal adoption of this curriculum tonight over 700 people signed a petition against Health Smart recently and this is your opportunity to make a positive change in Fort Worth ISD we cannot and should not continue with Comprehensive sexed type curriculum for our children sexual risk avoidance curriculum emphasizes healthier choices and presents information with a person's best interest as you heard over and over tonight please adopt choosing the best thank you [Applause] Miriam Lambert followed by James Bowser James cing and our final speaker Mark bowler good evening uh thank you so much for listening to so many of us um I'm here kind of for a broader uh issue I came across a quote this past week that that just knocked me off my feet it's by Neil Postman children are the living

137message we send to a time we will not see so everything we're teaching our kids they will in turn in the future when we're long gone and worms are eating us they're going to be making decisions uh so after we are no longer living what will our message be will our graduates know who they are or will they still be confused over the false agenda of choosing one's sex let our students opt out of all sex education will Fort Worth ISD be sending out graduates like Allan Bean the fourth man to walk on the moon who graduated from Pascal high school or will the message from Fort Worth be the creation of fast food Ro robots because our graduates were so busy being indoctrinated that they never learned to make correct change um will our

138graduates be inventors with critical thinking skills or will they be enslaved because our message to them was to embrace popular views out of fear we are already experiencing the results of Decades of dug of dumbing us down all we have to do is look at leadership where the majority is so fearful of standing for truth that they are no longer uh willing to boldly accept the truth thank you James Bower followed by James cing and our final speaker Mark bowler good evening board and attendees my name is James ceiling I pray Grace and peace be with you in Jesus name as well as everyone in in attendance I'm here to speak as a resident of Fort Worth concerning the selection of sex ed curriculum I'm compelled to advocate for a removal of sex education from

139school so that parents can be the parents and not the school choosing the best however would be the best uh in lie of that though it is not perfect it is quite literally the best choice that we have you call uh abstinence-based curriculum hateful shameful and self-righteous the reality is that we are advocating that teenagers be taught respon to be responsible with their body to Value morality and to put the power back in the hands of the parents I'm a peer of all in the room I recently turned 21 I'm a taxpaying adult but I also recently graduated high school so that means I'm a peer of all you and I honor each and every student who came to make their voice heard I I want to com uh to honor your passion though I

140believe in it misplaced we're we're not even talking about the right issue the issue is not unprotected sex the issue is is a rampant emotional and spiritual uh pandemic in America epidemic in the world that we are on a search for love that we cannot find in various sexual partners it's not about shame it's not about calling you bad or less than for for pursuing this love it's a valid Pursuit but you cannot find it outside of the love of Jesus and the outside of the love of Jesus is the reason why is the reason why the abstinence based programs may not have worked because it's not about it's not about following a rule it's about finding a love that you cannot find anywhere else and I would also side as I would believe with

141the late great may he rest in peace M Dr Martin Luther King who is a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and spiritful believer thank you [Applause] all hello my name is Mark um and I'm a Fort Worth resident I would first just like to honor each and every one of you board members for being here and willing to take these seats and to lead within our school board we honor you tonight for your willingness to step in I believe that sexual education should be done within the home and let by parents children are a gift from God and he has entrusted parents with the responsibility to lead and care for them it is not the job of the school board to educate our children on sexual education this is a deeply personal and

142impactful topic for each and every family because of this all sexual education should be done in the home I believe that the board should fully remove sexual education from school curriculums within Fort Worth ISD if the the board happens to choose tonight a curriculum I would ask that they follow the recommendation of the Sha committee by selecting choosing the best I pray that the spirit of Jesus would rest in this room tonight as this decision is made I pray that no Spirit but the holy spirit is welcome here Jesus is the highest Authority in this room John 3:30 says he being Jesus must increase but I we must decrease so I pray Jesus would you increase in the Fort Worth ISD thank you so much [Applause] much thank you for sharing your thoughts this evening

143we are now up to comments by the board members and the superintendent are there any comments from trustees trustee Dar thank you president Rodriguez um I'd like to take a minute to say thank you to the Southwest effect show choir for hosting the well attended highly competitive cow toown classic show choir competition earlier this February they did not compete in the competition because they were hosting the event but they did perform and their performance was truly inspiring it electrified the auditorium it was fantastic so thank you to the Southwest High School effect uh show choir I'd also like to say thank you to mlan Middle School mlan sixth grade Center and Westcliff Elementary School students for welcoming me welcoming me to your campuses and visiting with me on Tuesday February 20th I love spending time

144with students discussing what's great about their schools and every student group immediately and without hesitation said they're teachers and what would make their Great Schools even better our students have something to say and we need to be be listening and I look forward to doing the same thing in other District Six schools later this spring I want to wish everyone a happy and safe and restful spring break and I would also like to respectfully request updates on the Eastern Hills basketball playoff game please while we're in this meeting thank you trusty Phillips thank you president Rodriguez um just uh briefly wanted to say um you know just give some congratulations to the way that we were represented in um Texas basketball playoffs uh and the girls and boys bracket is very proud of our students

145in the way uh that they were able to conduct themselves the sportsmanship they showed and then just absolute beautiful athleticism and so um definitely want to give a shout out to the dumbar wild cats for everything that they did on the girls and the boys bracket they did such a phenomenal job uh very proud of the effort they put put in and then of course um definitely proud of the east side with Easter Hills still in the bracket doing what they do so hopefully EAS Hills can bring home their state championship for us we're very proud of all of our students and the way they represented trusty Martinez I want to congratulate um for or i d Mariachi groups that participated in the U State Maria Festival um last weekend um and but a special

146shout out to Carter riversides uh miai for who um uh earned a division one at the UIL State miai festival for the first time in school history so congratulations to [Applause] them and also would like to give a um a special shout out to uh the middle school students or middle school theater students who um participated in the one act play competition and a big shout out to daget monor um for their first first [Applause] place trusty bridges yeah I want to give a shout out to um Miss Ashley Mitchell she is an elementary school teacher at Hazel Harvey peace once upon a time she was a student at um Bethlehem United community centers when Mrs peace used to actually come and read to the students and to be to walk in that school and

147see her and I hadn't seen this young lady in almost 20 years since to see her now a teacher with forward ISD it really really blessed my heart because I I know Miss peace is smiling down from heaven to see one of the students who who's there as an educator now and I also want to give a shout out to all the students that have been participating with the hash read with Leon um that we are calculating as far as the amount of uh time and the actual pictures that they post on Facebook and the whole idea is to get parents excited about reading and reading with their kids and the response has been amazing we look forward to for the next three months we're going to shout out the uh the students who's got

148the most posts and likes and shares just to kind of get some excitement about reading one our kids thank you Dr Ramsey um just a few things the first is I want to say thank you to our city council our mayor and their staff for hosting our Dunbar students today at the city council so that they could get a in-person real time civics lesson to see how a city council meeting runs so I want to thank them for that and for their partnership um I also want to just thank the PTA Council for coming and presenting tonight and challenging the board members uh there are different levels of joining the PTA you can join by service network uh you can join by school and you can join by all all Fort Worth ISD ptas uh

149proud to say that I have joined all Fort Worth ISD ptas and I hope that my board and the cabinet will join me in that and lastly Eastern Hills leads Anna 15 to13 at the end of the first period all right thank you just want to mention that I was honored to be invited to reach to the second graders at rafino Mendoza Elementary School the students are so enthusiastic and happy and attentive I was I was joyed for the rest of the day to go there so and I think we're leading up to the readers for leaders challenge trusty Bridges and trusty Martinez I think we have a we're going to have a three three person race all right so the time is is 7:54 the date is Tuesday February 27th 2024 we will now

150recess and reconvene for executive session as authorized by chapter 551 of the Texas government code under sections 551.071 072 074 and [Music] e [Music] e [Music] is [Music] yeah [Music] e [Music] n [Music] n [Music] no [Music] for [Music] w [Music] yeah [Music] e [Music] a [Music] w [Music] Fort Worth ISD gold seal programs and schools of choice offer families and students The Power of Choice now more than ever to go beyond the basic and Beyond the traditional to find the pathway that's a match to a student we've got a high school experience to match Fort Worth ISD gold seal programs of choice are built for dreamers like you the problem solvers the curious minds the creators of Art and ideas gold seal programs deliver expert guidance Hands-On learning certifications college credits and Community Partners

151to support your learning A great example are Collegiate acmy offered at several neighborhood high school campuses students earn enough college credits for an associate degree tuition free and at ptech Collegiate Academy students visit job sites build relationships and develop workplace skills and knowledge our community partner enrich every gold Seal program to open doors to careers and to put you ahead of the herd there's a gold seal Pathway to fit your interest whether it's making machines run better and fly higher or improving health and housing whether it's serving on the front lines or protecting Citizens online bring your biggest dreams and determination here where you belong in a Fort Worth ISD program of choice your choice [Music] the atmosphere is electric at Fort Worth ISD gold seal schools of choice these smaller while focused learning communities

152prepare students for college and careers in the most innovative ways this combines art and math early college high schools merge high school college and careers students go to school on tarant County College campuses and can earn an associates degree tuition free Lear green Creek Collegiate High School focuses on high academic achievement and skills for Success the Texas Academy of biomed Sciences is a hub of health science studies with Hands-On laboratory learning supported by medical industry Partners TCC South Fort Worth ISD Collegiate High takes industry Partnerships to a new level Partners such as Encore and the Fort Worth Water Department help students build skills that Industries want every school day hums with activity and empowerment at Young Men's Leadership Academy and young women's Leadership Academy Future Leaders are at work here gaining knowledge experiences and character

153while developing lifelong strategies for success move toward your dreams at the IM Terell Academy for stem and vpa on the stem side students design and problem solve in a high-tech maker space in vpa students train in state-of-the-art student Studios and perform in a magnificent Hall and Humanities classes at IM Terell Elevate the study of literature history art and philosophy Imagine Learning multiple languages exploring Global cultures and taking academic courses in English and Spanish the world languages Institute is perfect for students from Spanish Immersion and dual language programs and anyone eager to learn Spanish Immersion style schools of Choice are not just for older kids collectively four applied learning academies serve kindergarten through 8th grade students apply their knowledge to solve real life issues as they investigate the bigger World our monor program guides kindergarten through

154eighth grade students in multi-age classrooms that are safe and respectful students work through lessons interact with others cultivate self-discipline and take early ownership of their education a great start to lifetime of [Music] learning learn more at fwi isd.org choices and pick your pathway to college career and lifelong achievement [Music] we want want to take the time to say you are worth being thought of as being a hero in our city General Michael E Langley he was named the first africanamerican the highest ranking person who received four stars with the Marine cores it is amazing that the family is going to get to this to see this sign but I love that all these high school students as they graduate through here are going to see this and they're going to ask the questions and they're

155going to Google and they're going to be taught about this this was one of their alumni that's received such high honors and that's got to be inspirational for Generations on behalf of the city of Benbrook we hereby give this street the honorary name of General Michael E langle way I never dreamt anything like this what would you know would happen but I'm so glad that he's been honored this is a Day of Victory when we can stand back and look up and see a person who walked perhaps a couple of doors from here up this street to this corner and made a right turn and ended up in West Hills High School that person who didn't stop there he ended up going through the hallways and the byways of whichever ways that allowed him to

156say I'm a graduate of Western Hills High School he's going to be known for Generations uh because of the history that he's made in his life he's the most humble young man that I know he's not arrogant or he's just I love [Music] him we would to cheerleaders and we had these white boots with the tosel on them you know we thought we were off the chain what's it like for you to see what im am T has become it's fabulous I'm known as the grandmother of juneth uh but hey I'm everybody's Grandma I'm wanting the young people to know that to make themselves a comedian one I just feel like like there's so much more that has to be done we know people who aren on the same page we are on and so

157we need to change their mind not going to happen in a day we're going to have to work at it but if people have been taught to hate they could be taught to love Robert star was my principal what kind of principal was he very good he was very knowledgeable Stern but he had Miss Hazel pieace as his vice principal MH you've heard of EF Hutton yes ma'am when Miss P spoke you thought it was EF huton Miss op being able to learn and where we are now and what it's going to be like in the future I tell you I'm going to use the word is exhilerating [Music] this program was called Bradway Noir every year I kind of search for a program that we can do that's more inspiring and uplifting this was

158all dedicated to celebrate African-American artists on [Music] Broadway I think my favorite part throughout the show or like the singing [Music] part I always for this show kind of bring back people bring in people to help me out with it and like I said even the two students who were in The Smoke jacket those two young men just graduated so they're [Music] alumni a lot of kids don't know about Broadway at all especially black Broadway so being able to look at their peers and also hear and learn about new things of black Broadway opening their Horizon I didn't really realize how influential theater was to the africanamerican kids when they're when they're artistic they're happier when they're happier they want to learn other aspects of their lives I knew Proud Mary was going to be

159a showstopper and that's what I explained to my dancers I said there's two moves we have to do that in the rolling on the river cuz everybody knows [Music] that this is a journey taking you on a ride through Broadway from the 30s to [Music] today [Music] m [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] I [Music] n [Music] yeah [Music] m [Music] m [Music] m [Music] e [Music] all [Music] n [Music] he [Music] n [Music] n [Music] e [Music] for [Music] for [Music] for [Music] for [Music] e [Music] for [Music] e [Music] a [Music] he [Music] for [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] e [Music] for [Music] a [Music] a [Music] da [Music] n [Music] for [Music] e [Music] in accordance with the open meetings law the board opened the meeting at 5:30 p.m. with the

160quum president recessed and reconvened Open Session adjourned regular session convened executive session adjourned executive session and now reconvene open session at 10:48 p.m. with the Quorum present we're up to consent agenda items as board president I'm making the following statement in accordance with board policy bbfa local this is a reminder to all board members of legal conflict of interest requirements and disclosure requirements you may have for matters under consideration on the agenda for this meeting if required by law board members shall recuse themselves from all discussion and shall abstain from voting on any matter per pertaining to such a disclosure trustees we have been provided an opportunity prior to tonight meeting to submit questions and receive responses concerning the consent agenda and action agenda items are there additional questions or comments at this time specific

161to consent agenda items all right being as there are none do I have a motion accepting consent agenda trusty Dar do I have a second trusty leanos any discussion please move the voting motion passes unanimously let's move to action items do I have a motion for the Personnel recommendation discussed in executive session trusty Ryan do I have a second truste Martinez any discussion please move to voting motion carries unanimously Dr Ramsey would you like to introduce a new Personnel thank you we just want to welcome Daryl prior to Fort Worth isds coming from not very far away and so we're we're hoping that he can start uh relatively quickly so congratulations to Sir prior and we'll see you soon is he here Dr Ramsey before we move forward with this item would you like to

162provide us with a brief overview Dr Ramsey oh you did that we can go ahead and move to the item itself okay we're to item 11 d1a discussion and action to approve school health advisory Council recommendation human sexuality human sexuality education curriculum and related purchase this item requires a record vote so please say your vote when I call your name do I have a motion I oh go ahead you ready okay I move to approve the school health advisory council's recommended human sexuality education curriculum and the related purchase do I have a second trusty Dar any discussion is there a presentation TR trusty Ryan discuss oh I'm sorry thank you madam president I regarding this item I appreciate every person's thoughts regarding the choice of the Shaq committee not only for those who spoke here

163this evening but for the more than 170 emails I have received and I appreciate the committee's work to move through this recommendation process more than a year ago I was able to point out the committee was not operating within legal requirements of the state and I appreciate Dr Ramsey placing the recommendation process on hold until we could continue in a legal thoughtful manner more than a year of dialogue with parents grandparents uh students and numerous healthc Care Professionals I can state that nearly everyone agrees that abstinence does prevent pregnancies and it's a law we have to follow but also most people agree that there is no way to ensure abstinence unfortunately it is the it is apparent that many parents are not fulfilling their responsib possibilities to their children having those difficult discussions at an

164early age while those discussions are hard they're necessary and follow up on them is even more important and even more difficult as many people stated in our meetings that education of their child is not a privilege but is the parents first right and first responsibility so I encourage every parent to be that responsible person who cares enough about their children to have those discussions and we have spent way too much money that would have been saved had the previous administration followed the law and established in the establishment of sha committee uh at that time I will support the committee's choice of choosing the best and would like to offer one final thought for those who sit on the outside of the arena and if you don't understand that go look at what Teddy Roosevelt said

165about being in the arena and offer complaints those people offer complaints without Solutions since even before I was elected I've been willing to sit down with anyone over a cup of coffee and listen and some have met with me and done that while we might not always agree on the end of some cases at least I was able to better understand someone's else's concerns and weigh those concerns when the board was required to take action so to the person that was talking to me about this earlier and called me a bastard I'll have to say this in 1950 a young lady in Slayton Texas had a relationship with a young gentleman and nine months later I was born in Fort Worth Texas because the family said either you go get an abortion in Mexico or

166you leave so she left uh I was forunate uh between Volunteers of America and the M the Masons uh I won the adoption lottery I had a great family and absolutely loved it it was wonderful and they were great to be with and so all I can say to that gentleman I'll use that term loosely in my case it was an accident of birth which your s made I give my time back thank you ma'am trusty Bridges this was a very heated discussion in in many ways and and and I'm glad that many of us came out to speak out against uh in favor or against it but I'm going to speak just from a personal standpoint I I'll start off with that I've always made it a point when it come to my children

167having a very intense convers ation with them about their bodies about good touches bad touches are just conversating with them period I think it's so often so many of us are not having those conversations my house has always been was the house where everybody just kind of hung out with and I found that many of the young people that my kids grew up with just were clueless to what was going on and and and many parents who just were not having those real honest conversation and making this [Music] decision is it for me it was difficult because I I there are pieces that me can go in each one of those boxes but and and making the choice tonight I'm encouraging every parent because the energy that was brought into this room I encourage every

168parent to leave with that same kind of energy sometimes it's not comfortable but having those conversations because I on a personal level I want that conversation to come from me that's me on a personal but I'm realistic enough to know there are so many young people out there who don't have that who don't have someone to pour in them so it concerns me but I'm glad that um I'm glad we were able to sit down and have a conversation cuz I sit down with many people people who who we were so far apart but at the same time and sit down and have a conversation and listen and I hope this is an opportunity that we as a community even though nobody is going to get what they want at the end of the day

169but this can be the beginning of us having a conversation thank you trusty Dar thank you president R grees I started my career in education as a middle school teacher one day a student I knew approached me she was noticeably upset and as we talked I discovered she thought she was pregnant she thought this because she had been been told by her parent that she would get pregnant if she kissed a boy while wearing a swimming suit the state of Texas is outlined in statute a very specific detailed process for a district to select a sex education curriculum in January of 2023 this board became aware that Fort Worth ISD staff had not followed this lengthy legally required process with the Health Smart curriculum therefore the board immediately requested a reset in Dr Ramsey responded

170accordingly because it was not vetted according to the law Health Smart was not and still is not a viable option for sex education curriculum in for Worth ISD my sincere apologies to the students who were in a Fort Worth ISD health education class during the 2023 I'm sorry 2022 2023 school year who did not have access to a sex educ sex education curriculum you deserve better thank you to Dr Ramsey and staff for ensuring that Texas law was carefully and completely followed throughout this process of selecting a curriculum and a huge thank you to the school health advisory committee also known as The Shack for countless hours of meeting reviewing curriculum responding to the community and focusing on what is best for students students you are amazing I applaud you for showing up up and

171for sharing your thoughts you are articulate thoughtful poised well spoken and clearly well educated keep showing up and keep sharing your opinions because they are valued parents I have stated this from the deas that the parent is the child's first and best teacher and I stand by that comment if as a parent you do not want your child to participate in the district offered sex education curriculum simply do not opt in that's it do not opt in you have the power to choose if your child will participate is choosing the best curriculum perfect no there is no such thing as a perfect curriculum in any subject are there concepts related to sex education not addressed in the choosing the best curriculum that I want my children to be aware of yes and as their parent

172it is my responsibility to have those conversations with them and I have done just that but I also recognize that not every parent does do that I want to be very clear I do not favor an abstinence only curriculum as it does not provide adequate information for kids outside of the school setting our children are bombarded with sexual content daily through TV shows streaming services social media cell phones video games and printed materials to name only a a few ways to think that children are not exposed to this information is naive at best and negligent at worst what students learn from a sex education curriculum may be their only source of accurate information I do prefer a comprehensive curriculum however that isn't the curriculum selected by the Sha but I also take comfort in the

173fact that in addition to the Shack's recommendation a group of 42 Fort Worth ISD Health teachers also collectively ranked choosing the best as their number one curriculum Choice therefore I will vote to approve the choosing the best curriculum for the following reasons because it is the only curriculum legally available for use in Fort Worth ISD the only one I do not want another year of students to go without access to a sex education curriculum because the shack was presented with six sex education curriculums from which to choose the choosing the best curriculum was selected by and recommended by a majority of the Sha and 42 health education teachers this is how the process is designed by law to work because the board must govern within the confines of the existing laws when and if those

174laws change this board will act accordingly because sex education in our schools is desperately needed in tant county in 2022 there were 1,394 reported babies born of mothers between the ages of 10 and 19 years old in addition there were 5,576 reported cases of chyia 2,98 reported cases of goria and 263 reported cases of syphilis all infected Youth and Young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 because I believe that sex education is critically important a person's understanding of his or her body and the me mechanics of the potential results of and lifechanging outcomes of being sexually active can drastically change the trajectory of a person's life in both positive and negative ways and I will Vote for This curriculum because one student thinking she will get pregnant if she kisses a boy while

175wearing a swimming suit is one student too many thank you trusty Martinez well thank you trusty Dar you stole some of my words right out of my mouth um I do have a question for staff what percentage of forward ISD or based on historical data what percentage of for parents opt out of sex education for their children last year 97% of parents opted in for to to receive sex head thank you um I uh recently had and like trusty Dar I also talked to my own children um about this topic and here recently I talked to my own seventh grader who did not have sex sex education last year we were talking about um some of the topics that we had seen on television recently and so we were having discussions around sex education and

176something that my child said to me was um despite you know whether or not that we actually had the course you know for you to think that we we're not exposed to these topics and to these things um outside of of the classroom and outside and with other mediums um it's it's pretty naive it's pretty crazy so luckily again as a parent that does talk to my child about um these topics um I know that not all parents do not all students have access to that kind of information I want to thank everyone in that has been involved and engaged in this process um also wanted dto trusty Darren thanking the Sha members who put hours um into the process and to the hundreds who gave feedback here today via email and reaching out to

177your board members students I want Echo again um you know stay engaged stay involved especially in the things the curriculums that affect you and impact you and um even look Beyond this school board to you know state legislator and um others so just want to thank you for being engaged and involved in the process trusty Phillips thank you president Rodriguez um thank you trusty D thank you trusty Martinez for those words y'all did a beautiful job I likeo those sentiment so I really only push the button because I'm having an opportunity to look at these students in right in front of me I just wanted to look you in your ey and tell you thank you um I was going to do it after because not trying to do these things for show but you

178deserve to be publicly publicly acknowledged for what you've done tonight uh the way you've carried yourself the way you represent this district and your school I could not be more proud of you all thank you and believe me you are heard thank you all right colleagues well said uh let's move to voting in attorney rinkor will you do the roll call please no problem okay um starting on the far left uh trusty Lynch um I vote Yes trusty Bridges yes trusty Lanos yes trustee Dar yes trustee Dr Rodriguez yes truste Martinez yes trustee Phillips yes trustee Dr Ryan yes we have a unanimous vote let's move to the next item 11 e1a discussion and action to approve authorization to negotiate with the construction manager at risk for a GP GMP Amendment for construction services for

179Rosemont Middle School Renovations in conjunction with the 2021 Capital Improvement program do I have a motion trusty Lanos do I have a second trustee bridges any discussion please move the voting motion carries unanimously next item 11 e1b discussion and action to approve increase to previously approved architectural services Engineering Services and Professional Services amount for WC stripping Middle School in conjunct with the 2021 Capital Improvement program do I have a motion truste Dar do I have a second trustee Lynch any discussion please move to voting motion carries unanimously the time is 11:09 p.m and this meeting is adjourned I