001workshop which has been scheduled for today for the purpose of discussing school board policy ebba which is disease prevention and face coverings board members are attending either in person or electronically so i will take a quick roll call member gallo good afternoon madam chair good afternoon member lopez what afternoon chair good afternoon member coburn good afternoon chair good afternoon vice chair gould good afternoon afternoon member felder Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Dr. Castrodentil. Good afternoon, Chair. Good afternoon. Member Byrd. Good afternoon, Chair. Good afternoon. All right. Everyone is present, or at least in attendance. All but one are present in the chambers. I want to remind the board members that the public that, I'm sorry, I want to remind the public the board members will not be engaging in electronic communication during our meeting. So if
002anyone is calling in or watching this and you're sending us an email. Don't expect a response back until the end of the meeting. We have committed to giving 100% of our attention during our meetings to the business at hand and to the public that is here and the public that is on the phone. To my fellow board members and district staff, I want to remind everybody, mostly myself, to please make sure that you are speaking directly into the microphone and the microphone is turned on so that YouTube, Orange TV, and our audience here can hear us clearly. Now, if you would like, we are going to stand for a moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance, and I invite you to join us. Pledge of Allegiance. All right, before I call on Dr. Jenkins,
003I just wanted to go over a few of the ground rules for this hearing. This is actually not a time when the board is going to make any decisions. It's called a rule development workshop. Mr. Pomerini, Deputy. County School District Attorney will go over this in a little bit more detail but in these chambers that we call it a chambers because this does resemble what you would find in a court proceeding our protocols during the meeting is that we ask that everyone not boo, cheer, give any audible sounds while anyone is speaking or in between speakers. But we do encourage you to let us know how you feel as different people are speaking. So if you are in favor of comments that are being made, you can show your favor by waving your hand or
004thumbs up. If you are opposed to comments that are being made, please demonstrate that if you are so inclined with a thumbs down. And other than that, we also ask that you adhere to our code of civility. In addition to being respectful of everyone here and no verbal outbursts during our meetings, code of civility also asks that you not refer to any individuals, which I think is unlikely in this meeting. but if you have a concern about a matter that involves an employee of orange county public schools or a student we would ask that you not reference names or positions again i don't think that will be a relevant reminder for today so with that dr jenkins i am going to call on you to introduce the subject Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the
005board, and listening public. Today we are taking the next step required to amend policy EBBA, disease prevention-face coverings. On June 1st, the school board work session provided for a discussion of the policy provision drafted by staff. Included in the discussion were Dr. Pino from Florida Department of Health and the Medical Advisory Committee. This meeting per protocol did not include public input, but was the first opportunity for the board to discuss the proposed revision. Today's Rural Development Workshop is an opportunity for the school board to now hear from public testimony on the proposed policy revisions. No vote will be taken at this meeting as already mentioned. At the conclusion of the Rural Development Workshop, the school board will need to reach some consensus on the current policy revisions proposed or some amended version to move forward
006in the required advertisement before final vote on July 13th. If amendments are agreed upon by the board, we will need actual language to advertise, and so General Counsel and myself are prepared to assist with that. As the Deputy General Counsel Pomerini will review shortly, this is a required process. He will briefly review rulemaking and the draft policy as well as the timeline for the current version or some amended version to move forward. Before he begins, let me just clarify a couple of issues because the pandemic has not gone away. First, I want to assure parents and the general public that the district will continue to closely monitor the health and safety of our students and employees. In partnership with the Florida Department of Health, they remain the authority for contact tracing of any confirmed cases.
007Secondly, our COVID-19 dashboard will remain in place for daily updates regarding any confirmed cases in our schools or in our facilities. Thirdly, hand washing and sanitizing will remain a practice and limited social distancing where feasible, recognizing that our face-to-face numbers will probably be near regular capacity. Number four, facility staff confirmed that upgraded air filters have been installed in all of our schools. And fifthly, we will continue to partner with agencies to make vaccines easily accessible for employees and families who wish to partake. Mr. Pomerini will discuss the required process that we must follow, the revisions currently before you, and the timeline for either the current or some amended version to move forward. Mr. Pomerini. Before we hear from Mr. Pomerini, a couple more comments. I respect your opinion. I know that people in this room
008have strong opinions for and against. It appears from the show of hands at this point, most of you are against masks. And I respect your opinion, but I am a rule-following person. And we live in a country that, thank you, that... is a country that is governed by laws, laws that are adopted by the people that we elect into office. Sometimes those laws are directly adopted by us. I follow those rules. When I don't agree with those rules, I work really hard to change those rules. That's what you all are doing here today, and I respect your right to be here and to advocate for your position. At the same time, at this moment in time, we have a mask policy. Anyone who enters any of our facilities must wear a mask. We are all
009vaccinated. I do not think that it is necessary for me to wear a mask to protect myself, but I wear the mask because this is our current state of law right now in Orange County Public Schools. And until we change it, that's still our state of law. It is here. It is our policy. And if you're on the premise, you must wear it. If you do not have a mask on, I'm going to ask you to leave. So either put the mask on or leave or we'll take a recess until we can remove the people from the audience that are not wearing their mask. No, you may not ask a question until I call on public input, which will take place in just a few minutes. Thank you. We'll definitely look forward to it. All
010right. No masks are going on. We're going to recess. Everybody, let's adjourn. No, I'm serious. We're not going to sit in a chair. Mr. Pomerini finished his comments. Did you have any comments you wanted to make before I open it up to public comment? No, just Mr. Pomerini needs to go through his four slides, I believe. Okay, I wasn't sure if he was finished. Thank you. Mr. Palmer. Oh, no, we didn't get to Mr. Pomerini. Thank you. As soon as we get done with Mr. Pomerini's comments, if it's all right with the board, I'd like to hear from the public first. Is there anybody who disagrees with that? Okay, so the next thing we'll take is public input so we can hear what's on your minds. Mr. Palmer, yes? Yes. Are we going to read
011the new policy prior to the public? Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. But rather than the board talking, we're going to go directly to public comments. Mr. Pomerini. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board, Madam Superintendent. We had an extensive... Work session on this policy on June 1st. So this PowerPoint is from June 1st I'm just going to repeat certain various portions of it and not go fully in depth I want to talk about rulemaking obviously Florida statute 1142 allows the board to adopt policies and rules under the rulemaking provisions of the statute and the only way to change policy EBBA which is has been adopted through rulemaking back uh emergency on an emergency basis last august and uh there were some more emergency revisions and then it was finally adopted i believe it was last
012october was is to go through the rulemaking process in fact 1000 or 120.52 subsection 16 defines a rule it says each agency statement of general applicability that implements interprets or prescribes law or policy rainy i'm so sorry Sir, when we say the mask has to be on, you know what that means. It's over your nose and over your mouth. Let's not do that. Yes, you know I'm talking to you. The gentleman in the front row with the hat and the gentleman on the far right, can you pull your mask up properly? And, sir, on the right, could you please wear your mask over your nose? Thank you. Thank you. We will look into those. If you send me those pictures, I'd very much appreciate it. Thank you. Mr. Pomerini, let's keep going. So a rule
013is an agency statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy or describes the procedure or practice requirements of an agency. And it also includes when you've adopted a rule by rulemaking, the amendment or repeal of the rule has to be done by rulemaking. Um, there are provisions for emergency rulemaking. They're listed in section 120.54. If there's an immediate danger to public health, safety or welfare that requires emergency action, we may adopt a rule in an emergency basis. We did that last August when the pandemic was really, really going strongly. And we then when we after we adopted it by emergency rulemaking, we then went through the regular rulemaking process as well. Um, now As for why we can't repeal this rule immediately without going through rulemaking, this is not an immediate
014danger to public health, safety, or welfare. And if it's not an immediate danger to public health, safety, or welfare, then we can't repeal a rule through an emergency basis. It's only... And quite frankly, the basis for making masks optional is that the public health condition has gotten better since the time which we adopted this rule. However, we can't repeal it through an emergency process. We have to go through the regular rulemaking process. So other districts have gone through the rulemaking process. Some of our neighboring districts, Brevard County did it. Seminole County did it. Um other districts just followed their county ordinances. I think Osceola was one that just followed its county ordinance and didn't adopt it by policy. But other districts have are going through changes to their mask policy going through the regular rulemaking
015process. So the current timeline that we're on right now, um the work session we had on this policy was on june one. We are here today. The rule development workshop june 17th and We have to have a rule development workshop at which public input is taken. That is the purpose for this meeting today so we can get public input on the proposed revision to the policy. We have a 28-day period. We have to advertise in the newspaper under Florida statute within 28 days prior to final adoption of a rule or a rule revision. So we have already advertised for a revision to this policy. We are tentatively set. for july 13th to have the board approve the policy revision and final and the effective date would be no later than august 2nd 2021 august 2nd
016is the first monday in august and the reason why we have it extended no later than august 2nd is we have an mou with our classroom teachers association that has mask wearing in it and it goes through july 31st now if there is a change, a substantive change today. Meaning if you all hear public comment. And then you see you've seen the original version the staff is drafted of the rule and you decide that there's some substantive changes we need to make to the policy more than Scrivener's error more than just correcting you know a comma here or misspelling. Then we would have to go through the process again. So we have an alternative timeline set up in case we have we make substantive revisions today or that we want to see in the policy.
017We would also have to obtain public comment on any substantive change we make today. So if we do that, we have tentatively set a second rule development workshop for June 23rd. That is a week from yesterday, so it's next Wednesday. Again, public comment will be taken. If we are going to adopt a final policy, it would be July 20th if we go through this alternative process and we make substantive revisions today. If we don't make any substantive revisions today, then the final adoption will be July 13th. Again, that will be at a public board meeting, and the public will be able to speak to the policy at that point in time. Again, the effective date is no later than August 2nd, 2021. And for Orange County enrollment, Orange County, let me try that again. for
018the Orange County Virtual School. The enrollment deadline for that school is July 30th, which is why we are trying to adopt this policy. Prior to that, to give parents the choice after seeing what policy is adopted to make whatever choice they deem best for their child. And now I wanted to pull up the actual policy itself, the clean version of it. And let's see if it comes up on the screen. It's up on mine. Give me one second to figure out what the technical difficulty is. Technical help is on its way. Can I ask while we're doing this show of hands, how many of you believe that you have read the draft policy? You've seen it online and you know what's in front of us, okay? I was assuming quite a few of you had,
019but for the benefit of those who hadn't, and it's a suggestion of the Vice Chair, I think it's a good idea just to have that as a starting point for those who are in the room and do not know what the Board currently is scheduled to vote on on July 13th. Pomerini, do you mind if it's possible to enlarge it? Oh, I believe it is. And would you read that for the benefit of our entire audience? Sorry, you can read that aloud in a minute. I can make it a little bit bigger. Give me a second. Thank you, sir. Oh, I got it. is that good yes good thank you and just the policy if you could so again this is the policy that has been drafted by staff but obviously we we had the
020work session and we're here um to have public comment and if any changes come out of the public comment that the board would like to make this is will obviously change if that were to occur but this is the policy that we initially presented on july 1 and uh it goes through the policy basis for it we cite the april 14th uh 2021 commissioner from the uh or letter from the commissioner of education richard corcoran to all district school superintendents asking them to revise their policies to allow for mask or face covering usage to be voluntary for the 2021-2022 school year we have the april 29th public health advisory from the state search in general saying that um do the uh widespread vaccine availability. Fully vaccinated individuals should no longer be advised to wear face
021coverings or avoid social or recreational gatherings except in limited circumstances. And then we have Senate Bill 72, which is boards very familiar with. This was the first bill passed by the legislature in the 2021 session, which gives a liability or immunity for liability for covid related claims. So long as educational units like us follow the guidance of the authoritative or controlling government issued health standards or guidance as long as we make a good faith effort to implement those authoritative or controlling government issued health standards or guidance we will get immunity from liability for covid 19 claims going down to the rule It says each student, employee, visitor, or vendor, or other person may voluntarily wear a face covering at their discretion. Then we list the following acceptable types of face coverings commercially produced and disposable
022masks, cloth face coverings, clear face coverings, and face shields. We have a provision here. Provision B is CDC guidance or guidance from other governmental health entities. In the event the CDC or other governmental entity issues updated guidance which mandates more restrictive face covering requirements, the school board authorizes the superintendent to implement the more restrictive face covering requirements in accordance with that guidance. The intent of this is if we have a spike in COVID-19 and we get guidance from either the CDC or the Florida Department of Health saying we really need to reinstitute mask wearing to prevent the spread of the virus. This would give the superintendent the authority to go ahead and re-implement the wear, the usage of masks in the school in that event of a public health emergency. Again, the effective date of
023this policy will be no later than August 2nd, 2021. And obviously those are all the sections that have been implemented of Florida law. And we have the dates that it was originally adopted August 11th and revised. So with that, I will turn it over to the superintendent. Thank you. All right, Dr. Jenkins, that complete staff presentation. All right. Thank you very much. All right. We have Ms. Emble. Can you tell me how many? In-person speakers we have, and how many on the phone calls? We have four callers on the line, and we handed out 43 cards to be filled out. Four were not returned, and one was a duplicate. So you have 38 in-person speakers, a total of 42 speakers, which at three minutes each puts you at 126 minutes. Okay. Do you know how
024many of the 38 people that wish to speak are in the chambers now? We do not. Okay. All right. So with a little luck, our first five speakers are in the chambers. So Ms. Envall, if you could, I should clarify, Ms. Envall is our general counsel, but for today, she is also going to help us make sure that everyone is allowed to speak in the order in which they arrived. And we will insert our on-the-phone callers as we reach a need to fill up that time as we bring people in. So let's... Number the number of the the card and the person if you could announce the first five I'm gonna announce the verse five speaker number one is Wendy Dormal speaker number two is Jack Hayes Speaker number three is Jared Grant Speaker number
025four is Judy Hayes and speaker number five is dr. Kevin Stillwagon Okay We do have the front seat reserved if they want to come sit there to make it just a little bit more efficient so we don't have a lot of lag time in between. And if all five of those people are not currently in the chambers, they should be able to hear me. If you are in a separate room, raise your hand and we will bring you in as quickly as we can. Ms. Dormel, waiting for your comments. Thank you and welcome. Good morning and good afternoon. Oh, Ms. Dormel, can you pull that mic? Just tilt it down towards you if you would. Perfect. All right. Thank you. Thank you. So I want to first thank you, Chair Jacobs, for enforcing mask policy
026during this meeting. I certainly would not have come if I know so many people would not have masks. And I know there are some compromised people here. So thank you. Masks are intended not only to protect the persons wearing them, but everyone else. They are most effective if everyone wears one. While it's encouraging more adults and teens are getting vaccinated, there is still no vaccine for young children, and there are reports of vaccinated individuals catching the virus. We should always listen to recommendations from medical experts, and we are very lucky we have a medical advisory committee here. So I want to caution everyone. Despite what OCPS repeatedly stated, there was in-school spread last year from COVID-19 infections. And we saw that from teachers and community members who stated they got it from teachers or staff
027at schools who had positive cases. And we also witnessed... dangerous results of the district's premature decisions. In December, the district reduced the length of quarantines from 14 to 10 days. The positive COVID-19 cases surged. Try putting your mask back on and just speak louder, please. The positive COVID-19 cases surged with 1,624 positive cases in January. which was more than the total number of positive cases for the first four and a half months of the school year. We should always err on the side of caution and keep a pulse on what's happening in the community with positive rates and cases. We should also look at the variants such as the Delta variant, which medical experts say is more rapidly spreading. Since there'll be no LaunchEd option this year, it's even more important that decisions be made
028that will protect every child and allow every child a safe learning environment. We know last school year there was not enough space to provide adequate social distancing and without masks, students will be at risk. Studies have shown that special needs students, many with pre-existing conditions, are 2.5 times more likely to contract COVID-19, or about 2.7 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital, 5.9 times more likely to die from the infection than the general population. student safety must be a priority and of course every employee must be assured of safe working conditions so i encourage you to act cautiously keep a pulse on what's happening with the cases in our community and make provisions it's outlined in part b thank you thank you i'm wendy dormel 10 20 webster avenue 32804 thank you your
029next speaker is jack hayes Mr. Hayes welcome if you can give your name and address for the record we'll start the timer when you start your remarks thank you for being here sir thank you oh you don't have to give your address I'm sorry are you a student all right yes I'm okay just give your name and then then your comments and thank you again for being here yes my name is Jack Hayes And I am a student at Blinkner. And Jack, I hate to interrupt you. Pull the mic up a little bit and speak a little closer to it, okay? Okay. Is this good? Yeah, and a little louder. Thank you. Okay. My name is Jack Hayes, and I am a student at Blinkner K-8. I'm going into eighth grade next year. And I
030have a brother who's going into fourth grade who has Down syndrome. So he is at more of a risk of getting the COVID-19 virus. and possibly dying from it. And as we were both staying at home last school year, we were both LaunchEd. And I did fairly well at LaunchEd, but my brother didn't because he needs help with some of his classwork because he can't do it at a pace that most students in fourth grade can. So he needs help when he's at face-to-face, but he can't go face-to-face because he has Down syndrome. and I feel that we should keep the mask mandate for elementary students because there is not yet a COVID-19 vaccine out for elementary students which is not like the middle school and high school students where there is a vaccine out
031and the vaccines have been have vaccines are proven to combat a virus effectively So I feel that we should keep the mask mandate for elementary students and not have any for, oh well, and keep the, like have a voluntary mask mandate for middle school, but sort of enforce it for the vaccine. And so me and my friends also got vaccinated the first chance we could get. So we can now meet up. We play like board games together. and we play video games together. But now that we can socialize a bit more, we feel that we are now protected. And even though we still wear masks, we just feel that we are helping our civilization effectively. And then, yeah, that's it. Thank you, Jack. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Good
032luck to your brother. Your next speaker is Jared Grant. Mr. Grant, welcome, sir. Thank you. As the gentleman officer said, I can take my mask off. I'll start my three minutes. The governor does not. I'm sorry, Mr. Grant. I am so sorry. Why did he say that? He said that to everybody in here. Sir, that's not the issue. I have no problem with that. Sir, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm really not. You just need to give me your name and address for the record first. Jared Grant, 7915 Palmdale, 32819. Thank you. All right, the governor does not consent. 2,510 microns per square inch in a mask. The virus is 0.8 to 0.5 microns. My child, seven years old, used to believe in superheroes. They wore masks. Now he believes this. is
033the superhero. Unfortunately, based on your policy, it states that all faculty need to have a vaccine for you to lift it. One teacher, my child's teacher, stated that because of her immune deficiency syndrome, she can't get a vaccine. So is my child going to be mandated to wear a mask because a teacher cannot get vaccine because she'll die? So where do we go with that? Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin would be super proud of us for putting on this mask when the virus is smaller than any micron in a mask. Have a good one. Thank you. Folks, I don't want to take a recess. We've done so good. Just no applause, no boos and hisses. Thank you. I don't want to debate every issue, but some things are factual. We do not have a policy that
034says that we can't lift the mask policy until every teacher is vaccinated. That is not anywhere written. That absolutely is untrue. So that's why we're here today. Some of our teachers and some of our employees are not vaccinated. You are not going to be held up by that. The only thing we're waiting on is the decision out of this board. Let's take our next speaker. Your next person is Judy Hayes. And if you provide your name and address for the record, please. Ms. Hayes, welcome. Hi there. My name is Judy Hayes, and my address, can you hear me? Yes. 561 Copley Lane, Orlando, 32806. Thank you very much for having us here today and inviting public comment. I don't, I'm sure you can hear me. It's never a problem for me to project my voice.
035I am the parent of two children at Blankner K through eight. You had the pleasure of meeting one of them a moment ago. He wanted to come and speak about the mask mandate because this whole year has been an exercise in learning how our society treats the most vulnerable among us. His brother happens to be one of them. Mahatma Gandhi says you can judge a society by how it treats the most vulnerable among it. We are failing the most vulnerable children among us. Children with disabilities who are at an increased risk for complications and death from COVID are without any recourse. If they can't go to school without a mask mandate, they can't go to school. We saw this year the complete failure of education of children with disabilities who require in-person supports. I saw
036it firsthand. It's right in my living room. The problem with getting rid of an elementary mask mandate before there's a vaccine available for those children who are under 12 is that it will run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. It leaves those children with fewer options than their typical peers, and that's not fair to them. They've faced an extinction level event this year. Kids with disabilities are dropping off the face of the. the whole school board existence because they cannot survive they cannot learn in this environment and we have to address their needs you're going to hear a lot of nonsense today you're going to see these people with their thumbs down and their red shirts because they want to make america sick again they're not
037going to take care of the most vulnerable among us it is not your turn it is not your turn sir may i have that time we're going to take a recess if we don't control ourselves All right, let's take a recess, guys. Time left on the clock, so. Let's go ahead and get started. We'll take the rest of your comments. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I apologize on behalf of the entire audience here today for the incivility that you have had to deal with. I understand that you've gotten death threats from these people, and I understand that they have behaved very, very poorly towards you. We appreciate the heroic lengths that you've gone to over the last year to keep our children safe and learning. nobody sees it more than the parents of
038children with special needs who are included in public education we stand here before you we're exposed to ridicule from people who can't even put their masks on properly they're not going to get vaccinated they're not going to voluntarily wear masks so all we're asking for is a reasonably tailored compromise to keep a mask mandate in place for elementary students until a vaccination is widely available for them That's all that we ask for. It's reasonable and it's safe and our children deserve that. Thank you very much for your service. Thank you, Ms. Hayes. Before we take the next speaker, can you read out the next five names just so everybody can be prepared to be in the room with their numbers? Yep. Your next speaker is actually Dr. Kevin Stillwagon, number five. Speaker number six is
039April Plank. Speaker number seven is Leslie Kirsenbaum. Thank you. Speaker number eight is Anna Hannon. Speaker number nine is Allison Stout. And speaker number 10 is Ben Stout. Okay. Doctor. Welcome, sir. My name is Dr. Kevin Stillwagon, 200 St. Andrews Boulevard, Winter Park, Florida. First, I got to tell you about vaccines. The goal of a vaccine is to create antibodies. Antibodies do not protect you against infection. They only react to subsequent infections. The only thing that will protect you from infection is your innate immune system, which has absolutely nothing to do with antibodies. Now on to masks. I learned early in my career that surgical masks do not stop the spread of any disease. Just read the box. If they did stop disease, doctors and nurses would have been wearing them all day long decades
040ago, but we never saw that, did we? Even Fauci at the start said people should not be wearing masks because they do not provide the protection they think it does. Then he changed the narrative to keep you in fear of a virus that has a 99.9%... percent survival rate for children. I studied microbiology, virology and epidemiology and I can tell you with authority there is no reason to fear this virus. It is a coronavirus in the same family as the common cold, less deadly than the flu and the numbers support that. Less people died worldwide in 2020 than in 2019. So clearly There was no deadly pandemic, and there is no deadly pandemic. I have dozens of peer-reviewed research articles to back up what I am about to say. These masks are so loose-fitting and
041leaky that viruses go through and around them all day long. In fact, you will breathe about 100 million viruses every day, whether you wear a mask or not. When we breathe viruses, they get trapped in the sticky mucus of the respiratory tract so that they can be coughed out, sneezed, or spit out into something that can be thrown away. not into a cloth rag strapped to these kids' faces all day. The humidity in that cloth mask will collect all sorts of pathogens. Kids will rebreathe these microbes, making it 13 times more likely that they will develop an upper respiratory infection versus someone not wearing a mask. If you continue to mandate mask wear on children, you are making them 13 times more likely to get sick. Every time kids touch that mask or forcefully exhale
042through it, they are aerosolizing viruses, allowing them to disperse on very small droplets that are almost weightless and can travel hundreds of feet, not six feet, actually enhancing viral transmission. So much for wearing a mask to protect other people. Some masks are made of nano-sized particles that can break off and be inhaled and cause mesothelioma-like conditions in their lungs. Do you want to cause that in a child? Wearing a mask for prolonged periods can cause hypoxia, decrease... blood oxygen, sometimes headaches, and definitely making it hard to concentrate. Who thinks that's a good idea in what's supposed to be a learning environment? Children need to see the faces of others in order to learn how to form their words properly, interpret emotions, and develop normal psychology. Do you want to be responsible for developing abnormal psychology
043in a child? So knowing what you now know, if you continue to muzzle these kids like animals, you are intentionally causing them harm and putting them at risk. I promise you, if you continue this, you'll be on the wrong end of a lawsuit. Thanks, sir. All right. Guys, I'm sorry, folks. I've been in office for 18 years. No more outbursts. Yeah, I know. And guys, no more outbursts, or we're going to take another recess. Let's take our next speaker. Your next speaker is April Plank. Miss Plank, welcome. Hi, my name is April Plank. I live at 941 Colley Lane, Maitland, Florida. I have a master's degree in exercise science and health appraisal, and I've been in the health and fitness industry for over 25 years. My husband could not be here today. He is a
044PhD in molecular and developmental biology and is also a board-certified plastic surgeon MD. Most importantly, we are parents to an upcoming eighth grader at Maitland Middle School. Over the past few months, I've sent several emails to the board on articles showing the ineffectiveness of masks, and I want to thank you for the members who have gotten back to me and responded to my emails. In March 2021, the Annuals of Internal Medicine published a study on the effectiveness of masks. They studied over 3,000 people masked and unmasked and found masks did not reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection. This month, the University of Louisville study showed that mask mandates and use are not associated with lower COVID-2 spread among the U.S. The data on the ineffectiveness of masks is overwhelming. Masks don't work. In fact, if you read
045the side of the box of masks, masks only measure the effectiveness of blocking bacteria. And bacteria are thousands of times larger than virus. One COVID-19 virus is 0.1 microns, and the pore size of a surgical mask is 200. to 1,000 times the size of the virus. It's clear that masks do nothing to stop viruses. Not only are masks ineffective at stopping viruses, they are breeding grounds for germs, bacteria, and all sorts of nasty bugs. A recent group of concerned parents in Gainesville decided to send their children's masks to a lab for analysis, and what came back was astonishing. The results found that masks were contaminated with bacteria, parasites, and fungus. Half of the masks were contaminated with one or more strains of bacteria causing pneumonia, and half were contaminated with one or more strains of
046meningitis. The masks evaluated were new and freshly laundered before wearing and had been worn one day, five to eight hours by children the ages of six to 11. I've read several comments from other parents saying, well, if medical professionals are wearing masks, what's just the right thing to do? This has been completely blown up by the media. Doctors don't wear masks to protect against viruses. My husband is a surgeon. He wears a mask during surgery so he doesn't get blood on his face and in his mouth. But we are in a cancel culture where if anyone speaks up against a mask, they are at risk of getting fired. Our children should not be made to suffer any longer in a mask that does not work and also can cause them harm. Thank you for listening
047to me, and I hope my feedback will help you make the right choice to vote mask optional for the upcoming school year. Thank you, Ms. Plank. All right, let's take our next speaker. Your next speaker is Leslie Kirsenbaum. Yes. Welcome, Ms. Kirsenbaum. Hello. Hi, my name is Leslie Kirshenbaum, address 113 Wisteria Drive, Longwood, Florida, 32779. I'm in an alternate universe coming to Orange County and seeing how different it is from my county, Seminole County. Makes you guys kind of look like California right now. Your rule followers, the irony in that, especially after our governor went and signed an executive order suspending all COVID emergency orders. I'm a mother to a vulnerable child. He's actually autistic. Do you know what I've been through all last year trying to get the therapist to help my child with
048a mask on them and him not understanding their mouth because he doesn't know how to speak? So I'm a mother to a vulnerable child, and my vulnerable child suffered very much because of this. COVID pandemic. I'd like to thank you guys actually for what you've all done. You've ignited a fire in all of us that we didn't even know we had until you started messing with our kids and thinking you're going to get away with it much longer. So much community has been built. more informed parents showing up to these meetings to hear what you guys have on the agenda. Between critical race theory, sexual and explicit books being introduced to our youth, wanting to keep our kids masked because of the evident relationship with you guys and the teachers union, the list is endless
049with problems we face with our school board. I'm here on behalf of so many parents that have been through the ringer with all of you fighting for their kids to breathe freely while in school for eight hours of the day. The fact that you guys are still discussing the idea that that K through five should still be wearing masks, just shows how much politics are still involved. The whole state has been optional, even Disney at this point, but Orange County School Board still wants to play God and feel they have the upper hand here. Make masks optional already. Enough is enough. You want us flooding your emails daily? You want us showing up to workshops, meeting in numbers? We will. I mean, we're going to keep doing this. You're playing with our emotions. Enough is
050enough. Please make masks optional. Thank you. Let's take our next speaker. Your next speaker is Anna Hannon. Ms. Hannon, welcome. My name is Anna Barrera Hannon. I live at 260 Amberwood Court in Ormond Beach, Florida. I'm a co-founder of Moms for Liberty Volusia Chapter. I've worked in large medical centers as a clinical informatics analyst supporting the electronic health record, EHR, for 20 years. I implemented and supported the Florida Shots data exchange between a large medical center in Daytona Beach and the Department of Health in 2011. Today I would like to talk about HB 241, the Parents' Bill of Rights. It was passed in April. Page 11 of the bill says that the medical procedures cannot be issued without a parent's consent. Masks are a medical procedure. HCPCS code A4928. HCPCS, HCPCS stands for Health Care
051Common Procedure Coding System. As a subject matter expert, I assure you that a mask is a procedure and will require parental consent by Florida law beginning July 1st. Your quote in the proposed policy on the 42921 Surgeon General Health Advisory is taken out of context, implying that masks are no longer advised contingent upon being vaccinated. That is not a correct interpretation. The statement fully vaccinated individuals should no longer be advised to wear face coverings was a whereas statement, which is just a justification for the actual advisory that is being released. What is relevant in that advisory is the ending, the now therefore part, where he rescinded previous health advisories. This is a summary directly from the Department of Health website. State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivskies issued a public health advisory rescinding the public health
052advisories issued on March 26, June 22, and July 21, 2020, and January 21, 2021. Those previous advisories had the mask mandate. It was reversed by Surgeon General on April 29th unconditionally. And you never mentioned that in your policy in the now therefore, the main directive of the new health advisory. The Volusia School Board passed a mask optional policy this past Monday effective immediately. The board consists of five members, two of them are medical professionals. All five unanimously agreed to make masks optional based on the requirement to follow the parents' bill of rights. The Volusia Mask Policy 503 reads, pursuant to the authority of the school board under Article 4, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, face coverings may be worn by students, employees, or visitors while in or on school property. All students, employees, or
053visitors are encouraged to substantially comply with authoritative or controlling government-issued health standards while in or on school property. Upon advice, guidance or direction of state officials, the superintendent shall timely notify the school board of any significant escalation or emergency requiring reconsideration. Thank you very much for being here, though. All the way from Volusia. Let's take Allison. And what was Allison? Allison Stout is your next speaker. Welcome, Ms. Stout. My name is Allison Stout. My address is 1517 Spinfisher Drive in Apopka. Ms. Stout, can you move a little closer to the mic? I know it's a little short. Sorry. That's all right. Thank you. I'm the mother of two elementary-aged students at OCPS, and I also have a third child who's entering VPK in the fall. It's my duty to be their voice, and they're unable
054to speak in this capacity. Last fall, my husband and I enrolled our kids in face-to-face learning because we knew and we refused to live in the fear of the unknown. With little known information about masks and other effects of long-term use, we did what we had to do to keep our kids and staff safe. Throughout the course of this last year, much information has led to the ineffectiveness of mask wearing. Even the boxes of those flimsy paper masks that are being handed out at the doors of our schools and other public places simply state that it does not provide any protection against COVID-19 virus. I cannot even count the number of phone calls from our elementary school. asking us and reminding us daily to send our kids in clean masks. This only made me think
055about all of these children who probably live in houses or apartments that don't even offer like a washer and dryer. There's parents that are busting their butts right now that, you know, maybe got laid off from COVID and they're not being able to afford these masks to get them through until the next time they have to do laundry. It's just not fair. Every day, you know, my kids would get off the bus, they're gonna rip their mask off, and you know what? They're damp, their food's stained, snot's stained, and for several kids in the country, blood's stained because of the bloody noses due to hypoxia. It's ridiculous. Why would you want to have that on your face every day? Throughout the last few months, it has become apparent that the school board is wanting to
056mandate masks for the unvaccinated, and it's a gateway to forced COVID vaccinations before they even become FDA approved. The entire state of Florida has been open for a year now. We can freely go to theme parks, stores, restaurants, and sporting events without masks. Many of us, including my own children, have never worn a mask in public. And let me please remind you guys here that it is not your job as a school board member to worry about my children's health and safety. Every single one of us here are doing what we know is best for our children. And that's whether you want to put a mask on them or not. It's our choice. So I'm asking you today to please just listen to everybody and do your job and make next year optional for masks
057with no stipulations. Thank you. Thank you. Your next speaker is Ben Stout. Mr. Stout, welcome, sir. I am so sorry about that, Mike. If you can pull it out. Can you pull it out? You're projecting very well. Thank you. Okay. So and thank you for being here, sir. Yeah. Thank you guys for hearing what we have to say. My name is Ben Stout. I'm the husband of that awesome woman who just spoke. My address is 1517 Spinfisher Drive in Apopka. I am once again here today to speak on behalf of thousands of Orange County parents, teachers, and most importantly, children, urging you to make masks optional in school moving forward without any stipulations whatsoever. To be clear, what I mean by any stipulations whatsoever is that you will state in writing that you will not
058require children to receive the unproven COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend Orange County Public Schools without wearing a mask. When your MSE met here on June 1st to discuss your updated policy, I was taken aback by some of the statements that were made by the committee. With their prepared statements, each of them seemed more like pharmaceutical drug reps than doctors who actually cared about the well-being of our children. That being said, I did appreciate the thoughtful questions that each of you had for the MAC. I just wish they were actually answered. If you'll allow me to say your name. Ms. Jacobs, after a few very scary percentages were thrown out about recent... increases in COVID cases amongst young people, you asked the MAC to provide clarity on the amount of cases that went into that
059percentage. It was a logical question. And since there's a logical question, since more adults are getting the COVID shot, they are being advised to no longer get tested. Therefore, there is a much higher percentage of young people being tested in an ever shrinking pie overall. As far as I could tell, you never got a straight answer on that question. Ms. Gallo. When you asked about statistical data on the effectiveness of wearing masks, you were given anecdotal quips about studies that have gone well. And it was even said that flu season didn't exist this year because of mask wearing. Surely, I hope the smart members of this board would not believe that the flu all of a sudden ceased to exist in 2021 or that any reduction in the flu had anything to do with mask
060wearing for eight hours of day. Reclassifying ducks as eagles during hunting season doesn't mean that you tagged 100 eagles when you came home to brag about it to your buddies. It means you called them something different. I also want to say that it's a shame that the only developmental behavioral pediatrician on your MAC, Dr. Brian Harris, did not appear to be present on June 1st in the working session. It would have been great to get some perspective about psychological effects of mandatory mask wearing has on a developmental child. No one knows what the long-term effects of mask wearing or the COVID shot will have over the course of our children's lives, which is why you need to trust parents to make the best decisions possible for our child's health moving forward. That is why I'm
061here today. I want to thank you for Part A of the newly drafted OCPS mask policy that restores our parental rights and ask you to remove or drastically modify Part B. Part B of your new policy draft tells us parents that masks are optional, but we can make them mandatory again at any time. Mr. Stout, I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Let's do this. We haven't taken any of our on-the-line callers. We only have four, as I understand. Let's take— We're down to three online callers, but I can call the next five so they know they're next. Why don't you call the next five, and then we'll take our first online caller. After our callers, your next in-person speaker would be Jeanette Wise. Number 11, followed by Jennifer Kelly, who's number
06212, followed by Rebecca Sarwee, who's number 13, followed by Liam Griffin, number 14, and Angel Santez, number 15. That's, I'm sorry, that's an, that's, you're not allowed to speak out like that, and that's very unkind and unnecessary. Let's take our first caller, and in the meantime, we have our next five speakers in the house. Let's take our next caller. I know it's rude. Good afternoon, Chair. The first caller is Rebecca Jach. Ms. Jach, if I have your name correctly. Good afternoon. Thank you. Rebecca Jach. Rebecca Jach is my name. My address is 13837 Insula Boulevard, Windermere, Florida. School for minors is a legal requirement. Public school is a taxpayer right. A safe environment is a responsibility of the county. Science states that to not spread the virus requires mask use and social distancing. If you
063make masks optional without the enforcement of proof of vaccination, you can't ensure safety. Given the governor's ruling, the county really must ensure mask use isn't optional unless proof of vaccination can somehow be required. With vaccinations flowing, the potential for the spread of a more deadly and contagious strain is becoming a real potential consideration. Why would this board engage a medical advisory committee if they weren't going to give value to their messaging or advice? This board is empowered by the CDC's advice to continue to leave masks as a requirement. as outlined by the CDC. I strongly encourage you to reopen the phone call lines and allow other people to speak up on the continued use of masks. I have an 11 year old who will be going into seventh grade at Bridgewater Middle School. She'll turn
06412 just prior to the school year. but won't be fully vaccinated until several weeks into the school year. She has challenges that have kept her at home and challenges that would make her benefit from going back to school face-to-face. It's very difficult for me to make the choice to send her face-to-face, knowing that there is the potential that masks would be optional. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Stout. All right, let's take Ms. Wise. Is Ms. Wise in the chamber? Ms. Wise, if you can come forward. And, of course, give your name and address for the record. And thanks for being here. Jeanette Wise, Pine Gate Trail, Orlando, 32824. Sorry, can you pull the mic down a little bit? I know. Mr. Stout was. He's tall. He was tall, but projected very well. um jeanette wise
065pine gate trail orlando 32824 good day school board and superintendent america has fallen into a cycle people literally think there is no care plan or cure for covid due to the information block that has unexplainably taken place one example a well-respected and highly published doctor from texas with peer-reviewed papers and four slides created a recording and put the word out on how to fight covid via youtube it went viral but it was removed due to youtube community standards by the way his wife himself and his uh nursing homebound father all contracted COVID-19 and they're all perfectly fine today because treatment does exist. It has been reported that Texas has already reached 80 percent herd immunity achieved without vaccine. Isn't this level of herd immunity what is supposed to be the goal? Doesn't this make you
066wonder has our state achieved the desired herd immunity level and how many other states have too? You cannot beat natural immunity of COVID recovery. proven to be complete and durable. Cannot vaccinate on top of that and make it better. You cannot find asymptomatic spread. It does not exist. If the focus was on the sick patient, which is usually the case before COVID, it didn't take the path of Fauci, CDC, and the government had led us. Not masks and vaccines and social distancing. The preventable fraction would have been reduced by 85%. Let that sink in. People have placed a false sense of security on masks. People like to be able to see. people doing something sorry but implementing these protocols is simply an action to manage the fear it has nothing to do with the actual
067health of our children nor any representative working or volunteering on our school campuses if it were about health then why not focus on handing out the proper prophylactic care of vitamin d3 and zinc with the same fervor of promoting a vaccine that should never have been for all never mind our children the cdc has been funded over 750 million dollars for an ad campaign to promote this non-fda approved vaccine, which has clearly been effective by some that you've heard here today. Society has been listening to this one-sided representation of information via all the mainstream media outlets. If you were provided that amount of money to promote something, I'm sure you would find it very simple to highlight none of the risks. And what about the $2.3 billion in criminal fines against Pfizer for other drugs
068that were falsely advertised and were paying kickbacks to government health care programs? Each of the vaccine manufacturers have all been sued for their products brought to market that they knew would result in injury and death. Make all the necessary steps to stop any mask mandates. Do not then shift or escalate to any sort of mandatory vaccination. With the 99.97% survival rate, we need to legitimately return to normal. Many are waiting for somebody else to step up and do the right thing. You are who that is in this case. Return to treating us as the healthy people as a whole we generally are. Reground us in common sense and logic. Please stop creating solutions for problems that don't exist. Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and be start being excited about what could go
069right. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Wise. Good job on the clapping. Thank you for containing that. Miss Kelly. Welcome, Miss Kelly. Hello. Hello. My name is Jennifer Kelly. I am the Volusia County chapter chair for Moms for Liberty. I live in Volusia County, but I'm here today to speak for all the children and parents of Florida who want mask choice in school. Let me start with this fact. 23 out of the 67 counties in Florida started the last school year with mask option. That's one-third of Florida counties. There were no devastating effects. Actually, those counties had some of the lowest COVID numbers in the state over the last year. I think we can all agree if the board decided it would be against the rule to wear a mask, that wearing of a mask was
070not allowed at all in school, that this rule would be unfair and discriminatory. If this were so, then why is it not discriminatory when the opposite is happening, forcing someone to wear a mask who does not want to wear one? Having an optional mask policy makes it possible for those who want to wear one to continue to and allows those who don't want to the freedom to breathe freely. This is not stepping on anyone's toes or individual preferences and will keep you out of the violation of the Parental Bill of Rights by placing this decision where it belongs, in the hands of the parents, not the school board. While you consulted these providers on your medical advisory board, it really makes no difference at all. The decision is up to the parents, period. It was
071discouraging to hear the providers talk only of masking and vaccinating and no talk of children who have natural immunity from this virus as if that has zero value. Doctors who really understand the immune system, or at least should. that don't acknowledge the role of robust natural immunity contributing to herd immunity and protection of the community are denying a vital component of overcoming this. There are many assumptions that are discussed with you and you have heard the phrase, we all know what happens if you assume. The assumptions made were that parents must agree and comply with CDC or even a doctor in order to have the right to their child's education. We all know the CDC changed their advisory on opening schools to advise against in-person education. due to pressure from the teachers union. If what
072should be a science-based organization succumbs to coercion by political pressure, then their credibility has been compromised. What else have they been pressured to change the science on? They assume testing is done for COVID is accurate and reliable enough to continue to refer these statistics over and over. They assume COVID vaccine is safe and effective. They assume that when the vaccine is available to younger. ages the parents would want to get it. They assume that they can have authority and control over another person by forcing a vaccine or a mask. And they assume that just because something is advised that it should be translated into a mandate. They also assume masks don't carry risk, which is cavalier assumption, not acknowledging risks and benefits. Unfortunately, the Medical Advisory Committee only serves to more eloquently regurgitate the recommendations
073by the CDC. Thank you, but no thank you. Let's get ahead of this too. As the push from your advisory committee was so strong for an experimental injection that the idea of requiring the injection or otherwise penalizing the children with a mask for not receiving the injection is absolutely out of the question. Refuse to get involved. This is not your wheelhouse. As a school board, please keep your rulemaking to educational decisions and leave the medical decisions to the parents. Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Okay, let's take our next speaker. And I'm so sorry, I did not catch your name. Hello, my name is Rebecca Sarwee, 1121 Harms Way, Volusia County. I'm a mom of two. I'm a registered nurse and I'm a vice chair for our Volusia Moms for Liberty chapter. I'm very excited to talk
074to you today. I listened to the three and a half hours with your medical advisory board. While you had that interesting and informative conversation, now we know, as my friends have stated, the parental Bill of Rights will be signed on July 1st. And if you have a mandatory mask policy, you will be in violation of that parental Bill of Rights. Our parental rights don't end at the classroom door and unfortunately in today's society we need a bill of rights to state such is true. I tell you you will not have to worry about liability against you for COVID related claims. You'll need to worry about the plethora of lawsuits for violating the parental bill of rights if you mandate any testing, masking, or vaccines for our children. I also heard Dr. Pino speak about the
075$32 million used for surveillance, testing, and setting up vaccine clinics. Please keep that far away from our children. If you as a board recommend or encourage this experimental COVID injection as your medical advisory board encouraged this experiment on children in such a cavalier way, and especially if this is offered on Orange County School property, you should be prepared for the liability that will ensue. Pharmaceutical companies are completely absolved from liability on this experiment. Therefore, liability will fall on you, the school board, and the blood of children harmed or killed from this experiment will be on your hands. Don't get yourselves involved. I'm here to say you as a board are elected to represent your county. Madam Chair, I was so disappointed to hear you were not interested in hearing from your constituency on this issue
076and refusing to create a survey or poll as was suggested by Ms. Lopez. But you were elected in your position to make educational decisions, not health decisions. I respectfully ask you to stay in your lane unless you also want the liability of practicing medicine without a license. Board members, you took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Please do not break your oath any longer by continuing with a mandatory mask policy or one that has stipulations. Remember, our constitutional rights are not given by our government, but they are written as a reflection of the rights given to us by our creator. Our children, which are precious children of God, as all of you are, deserve to have adults who stand for them and respect their decision on masks. Mask choice
077takes no one's desire to mask away from them, but a mandatory policy tramples all over the rights of those who don't want to wear one. We don't need a doctor's blessing to make a policy based in choice. My ask for you today is to remember your role is in education, not to control an individual's health management, and to tread lightly on these issues to save yourself from some major liability. Let's get back to mutual respect, ensuring that individual choices to wear a mask or not is respected, and there is no bullying or harassment in either direction. And we stop fearing our brothers and sisters' existence as a threat to our own, as this destructive year has brainwashed us into believing. Let's move forward with mask choice and no conditions attached. Thank you. All right, our
078next speaker, I think it's Ms. Griffin? Liam Griffin. Oh, I'm sorry. Hello. Okay, can somebody help? Thanks, sweetheart. Thank you. Hi. Hi. What's your name? My name is Liam. Okay. And I am going into sixth grade at Bridgewater. I'm asking you to please, please make the mask optional. Wearing the mask causes my throat to hurt. It also makes making new friends hard because I can't see their faces. I also want to see the faces of my teachers. Please make masks optional. Thank you. Thank you, Leo. Oh, I know that's really hard, isn't it? I want to clap too. Great job, Leo. No, we don't need his address. Thank you. He's a student. He's exempt. Thank you. Your next speaker is Angel Sanchez. Ms. Sanchez. Okay. I have to put this up too much. Ms. Sanchez,
079welcome. Hello. Okay, my address is 8714 Green Bank Boulevard, and that's Windermere, Florida. Good afternoon, and thank you for allowing us to speak here today on this pressing matter. Sometimes I look back at the past year, and I cannot believe what has happened. It feels kind of like the Twilight Zone, honestly. But what is most concerning to me is what we have allowed to happen to the youngest in our population. The people least likely to be affected are now being asked to bear the brunt by wearing masks for God knows how much longer, just because now we require children to protect adults or, you know, whatever we're doing. We need to let kids be kids. They sacrificed so much through this year. I mean, kids haven't played. They don't talk to each other at lunch.
080They didn't have graduations. There's just so many things. Children are suffering at your hands, and this mask policy is not something that I would be proud of. In the past year, I have met many children. And what I've seen is tragic. I've met children that are scared of crowds. They don't want to be near anybody. They're scared to be near people because they think they have to be six feet away. I've met children that are obsessed with washing their hands and using hand sanitizer so they don't kill their grandma because that is the narrative and that is what they think they're going to do. I have met children that reprimand other children because their mask fell down or they're not wearing it right. It's bullying. I mean, it's bad. I know children with migraines, anxiety,
081nosebleeds, depression, unexplained mouth rashes, coughing fits, eye infections. Kids are angry. They're acting out. They can't focus. And I don't blame them. What you guys have done with forced masking and allowed to continue will have long-term negative societal and unknown health ramifications that you guys seem to just ignore. I look at these children and my heart breaks for them. They're sweet faces covered with a piece of fabric and it's full of bacteria, parasites, fungi, we don't even know. Tons of different stuff. They just came out with a study. I pulled my son from OCPS last summer and elected to homeschool him once I heard the safety protocols that you guys were implementing. I had to make a ton of sacrifices to do so, but I did it. We had a great year of mask-free adventures,
082and I protected his mental, emotional, and physical health at all costs because that's my job. But it's your job to take into consideration the children and not just the union and their demands. Vaccines are widely available to any adult that wants one, and we no longer need to play the charade that masks are the only things that are going to save us. We know a lot more than we did 15 months ago when this started. 15 months ago. Okay, please we are just asking that you make masking optional some parents may feel better with their kid in a mask And that's totally fine. I have no problem with another child wearing a mask I just want to be able to make that choice because where there is risk there must always be choice. Thank you
083Thank You miss Sanchez. All right, let's take a quick break. We're gonna not not a break break We're gonna call the next five names. We're gonna take the caller on the next caller in line, but I also Oscar I want to mention we have some We still have some seats open. If there's anybody that's outside in the lobby, there is room for them to come in. So I just wanted to make that announcement in case anybody out there wants to work their way in. Let's read the next five callers. Yes, ma'am. Or the next five speakers. Next, speaker number 16 is Lauren Miller. Speaker number 17 is Angela Jaspin. Speaker number 18 is Diana Hilmer. Speaker number 19 is Richard Wise. And speaker number 20 is Brittany Jones. Okay. Let's take the next caller on
084the line, and then we'll take our next speaker in the room. Our next caller is Jamie Miller. All right. Jamie, are you there? Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? We sure can. If you can give your name and address for the record, and then start your comments, and thank you for calling. Yes, my name is Jamie Miller, 9109 Shadowbrook Trail, Orlando, Florida, 3285. Thank you for inviting public comment today. For the concerned parent of an elementary age OCPS student, I'm calling to request that OCPS continue to require face coverings for those students who are not vaccinated. This will protect students who are too young to be vaccinated. Masks save lives. By requiring masks, the district will help to protect students, employees, friends, family, and community members from this unprecedented public health threat. COVID-19 is
085still a risk to our community. I hope that the board will continue to follow the science and that the medical advisory and the medical advisory committee and not make decisions based on the inconvenience of mask wearing. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Let's take I didn't catch all the names. Lauren Miller. Lauren Miller. Miss Miller, welcome and thanks for joining us. Hi. Thank you very much. Good job. Thank you. Hello, school board members. I'm here as a mother of two sons. When I practice it, I was never emotional before. It's okay. It's okay. My oldest will be in third grade, and my youngest is going into kindergarten at Stone Lakes Elementary School this year. I feel very confident that you as a school board are going to make the right decision, but I still feel
086it's my duty to be here today. I want you to know that my family, my kids. hundreds of parents that are here today and that weren't able to come because they're working teachers we all want masks to be optional for all students school districts across the state have already lifted the mask mandate and orange county public schools should do the same we are not where we are a year ago that deserves i know we're not allowed to clap but honestly that's i'm so grateful for that we're not where we are a year ago the most vulnerable and at risk have been able to get the vaccine New cases in children have dropped 86%. So as immunity has grown through these vaccines and natural immunity from infection, it's time to allow our children to be comfortable
087and learn in school without dirty masks on their face, fogging up their glasses, giving them skin rashes, and hiding their smiles. My oldest son spent seven hours a day in a mask this year. It's absolutely uncomfortable. He was okay, but he would come home and, you know, like, he looked tired. He just looked really tired. It's unnecessary to put them through this again. How is my kindergartner supposed to learn to read and communicate clearly word sounds with a mask muffling everything he says? I can respect that some parents may want to keep masks on their kids, and I can respect that it's their family's choice. But you are not here to make medical decisions for my child. I know that you all care, but you're overstepping. Make masks optional. Thank you. Thank you. All right,
088let's take our next speaker. Angela Jaspin. Is Ms. Jaspin in the room or making her way in the room? All right, let's one more time. Angela Jaspin, correct? Yes. Okay. While we're waiting to see if Ms. Jaspin joins us, let's take the next. Speaker in the room next speaker would be Diana Helmer. Miss Hilmer. Welcome and thank you. Hello. Thank you Diana Hilmer 1346 Ridgewood Avenue Winter Park, Florida 32789 Thank you for letting me speak today. I'm a parent of two kids that attend OCPS schools. Sorry, I didn't get emotional either when I was practicing. I'm an online ESL teacher, and we all know that students retain information better when their multiple senses are engaged. Seeing and interpreting our facial expressions are part of our natural development to learn, engage, and communicate. Yet all year,
089our children have been taught by teachers who were forced to cover their faces and become masked police. How do you think this affected our ESL children, our learning disabled, our ADHD kids, our ASD spectrum children, among others? Equally important is the negative social impact of kids not seeing their classmates' faces nor being able to engage with them naturally. This is an inversion of how our kids need to learn and socialize in our schools. Children do not readily acquire this virus. The data is in or spread it. So my healthy children are not a high or dangerous risk to society. The infection fatality rate of this virus is less than most influenza viruses, yet our children were forced to wear masks 40 hours a week or more to attend school despite the conflicting data. And here's
090another fact, a true rotten fruit. A recent CDC report came out showing suspected suicide attempts among teenage girls increased 51% from March to April of this year, and their experts agree that the disruption of natural engagement has increased anxiety, social isolation, depression. Now think about all the kids that fall between the cracks, that have social challenges, learning disabilities, sensory issues, et cetera. How do you think the unnatural forced masks affected them in their academic and social growth? Please. Do not confuse their obedience to wear it with them being all okay. This is a piece of art that my daughter created in her OCPS art class. The teacher required them to paint their self-portrait wearing their mask. I was horrified and held back tears when I saw it because this is not a beautiful self-portrait of
091my daughter. I see an anonymous, silenced girl with a very marked sadness in her eyes. This is an inversion of what her self-portrait should look like. I should be able to see all the unique features of her face, but they have been forcefully hidden. Her eyes say it all. This is not okay. Was her social growth affected this year? Yes, it was. I do not consent. Masks should have been and should always remain optional. Our schools must respect our parental rights to reject any health practice that we discern to be harmful to our unique children without penalty, without separating our healthy kids from others who choose to mask or who choose to get experimental shots. The flip-flopping and ambiguous science does not dictate forced masks or vaccines. Experimental. vaccines, I might add. It also really
092only allows for parental choice. You have the authority to reverse this inversion and to never allow this to happen again in our schools. Our children deserve better. Thank you for hearing me. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Helmer. Helmer. Okay. Is it Mr. Wise? Richard Wise. Yes. Mr. Wise. Welcome, sir. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for hearing us. We appreciate that platform. on this very interesting topic to say the least. I'm just going to wing it. I don't have anything prepared, just some notes. But I think a lot of people have already said a lot of what I was going to say as far as data and information and perspective, especially the doctor and other people. I'm going to kind of focus on the psychological. Long-term damage that this potentially is having on our kids.
093I can speak for for mine only the three daughters I don't have any big degrees I'm a dad who loves her kids and I see what They've gone through all of us essentially gone through but the more deeper psychological thing that they've gone through as far as the masks and what it's created in my humble opinion They're afraid to take them off They're afraid that they're gonna do something wrong They cower. They're not the confident young women that I know they are, that they need to be in this world. We need more strong women to continue to be prosperous and to do the things that they need to do to be successful. We teach our children to not rely on anybody but themselves. And so that's the key. And as parents, we're trying to teach
094them. This is not helping. I respect for those who want masks. We live in America. We have choice. But give us those choices and allow our kids to grow into beautiful people who God's created and given us as a gift. Speaking of the gift, let's also be thankful that this wretched disease. has not been as impactful to our children as far as deaths and whatnot. So let's thank goodness for that. And then lastly, I'm just going to say the part of that scares me is the potential word of segregation. We, the people, are supposed to come together, not separate. And we talk about vaccinations and masks and all that other good stuff. And what does that do? It puts a huge divot in between people. God put us here to be together and to congregate
095and to listen to one another and be a part of things, not to put an anvil between us. And that's what's happening nowadays, and it's scary. And we, as people, should think about that and put a stop to it, whatever we can do. And that includes the vaccinations and the masks. God bless if you want them. That's what your choice is. But please consider everybody and not just. a chosen whoever that put pressure or say, hey, I'm going to do this or that. Just consider that. Thank you all very much for your time. Mr. Wise, could you give your address for the record? I'm sorry. I missed that part. 3790 Pine Gate Trail, Orlando, 32824. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wise. Mr. Wise, you may not be a doctor, but your daughters are very fortunate
096to have you as their dad. All right, let's take our next speaker. Your next speaker is Brittany Jones. Ms. Jones, I can say that about every person in this room. Your kids are very lucky to have such champions for them, whether we agree or not. On every single component, your children are very fortunate. I agree with that. My name is Brittany Jones, 220 Cocos Drive, 32807. First off, I want to thank you guys for having spoken with many of us actually over the last several weeks to help us understand the thinking behind the mask mandates. We're aware that you've been put between basically a rock and a hard place by. teachers unions and the CDC giving their guidance and We can appreciate that you would like to take that into consideration But we also appreciate
097that you're hearing our voices today We teach our children in my house not to be bullied and I would hope that you know Just like many of us here today who are speaking even if our voices are shaking that Our boldness would then embolden you to go to these organizations like the teachers unions and the CDC with the data and the information that you've been given today and over the course of the last several weeks and months to be able to stand on your decision. Obviously, many of us are here in order to promote the idea of masks being optional next year. One of the things I wanted to share with you today was actually a an email written by Dr. Fauci himself that says, and I quote, masks are really for infected people to
098prevent them from spreading infection to people who are not infected, rather than protecting uninfected people from acquiring infections. The typical mask you buy in the drugstore is really not effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material. It might, however, supply some slight benefit in keeping out gross droplets, and he goes on from there. So, you know, if this man is the expert, I would like to listen to him in that regard. Not so much of some of the other things that he's been back and forth on. So what's most concerning to many of us in regards to masks in the policy that you've put forth as part B? Not only would we like to see masks become optional next year, but we would like part B of the policy
099removed completely. Many of us have, quote unquote, done the right thing this past year and complied. But I'll speak for myself and for many of my friends who are here. If masks are not made optional next year, I know many of us will pull our children from OCPS schools. We're not going to comply and we're not going to consent. We're definitely not going to give experimental vaccinations to our children. My child personally is a vaccine injured child on the autism spectrum who was asked to wear a mask all year long. As a kindergartner, that made it very challenging for him to. He has speech therapy and things like that. So it definitely made things very challenging. So I just want you to know kind of as a heads up. we will pull our children and
100we will not be doing masks or vaccinations now or ever again thank you thank you okay let's let's read the next five names and we'll take the next caller while the next five people queue up i'm gonna read the next five names for anybody who's paying attention card number 21 was not returned so the next five names starts with uh speaker number 22 liz villa villamel Speaker number 25, Sandra Montano. Speaker number 26, Giovanni Montano. Speaker number 27 is Justin Harvey. And speaker number 28 is Danielle, who did not provide a last name. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm a little confused. Speaker number 21 was not here. Speaker number, yeah, we didn't get the card back from speaker number 21. Okay. Speaker number 22. Liz Villareal, Villamil. Number 23. Sandra Montano. Uh-huh. Well, I'm sorry. Let
101me go back. Speaker number 23 did not turn in a card. Okay. And speaker number 24 did not turn in a card. Okay. That's why. That's why. Sorry. So 25? 25 is Sandra Montano. 26 is Giovanni Montano. 27 is Justin Harvey. And 28 is Danielle. Thank you. Okay. Let's take, I think it's the last color on the line. It is. Okay. Our last caller on the line is Megan Boyle. Ms. Boyle? Hi, this is Megan Boyle. Thank you. My name is Megan Boyle. I live at 227 East Crystal Lake Street, Orlando. Can I just go? Yes, you sure can. Go ahead. You have three minutes to make comments. Thank you for calling. Okay. All right. So thank you for letting me talk to you today. I'm the mother of a nine-year-old boy with autism who
102attends Blankner K-8. And I'm here to support continuing wearing masks in school, particularly for children in the elementary school grades and in K-8 schools. I believe children under age 12 should be required to wear a mask until everyone has had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated. To start with, I want to thank you guys for serving as school board members throughout this pandemic. I have not always agreed with your decisions. In fact, I've been here before disagreeing with quite a few of them. But I've always felt it was an honest disagreement. I never saw you as some sort of evil conspiracy to deprive me or my child of liberty. You haven't been messing with our kids or playing God. You've been doing the best you can for our kids because it is the school board's
103job to take care of our children's health and safety at school. And I sincerely thank you for doing your job. But these past few months, I've seen some truly disturbing posts on social media by people that equate wearing masks with tyranny. And that is utter nonsense. Wearing masks is just a safety measure, like wearing seatbelts. And if you don't like it, then you can take your children somewhere else. And that's where you have liberty. That is your choice. Because this is public education, not mandatory education. But parents of children with disabilities, we don't have the same choice. The costs for education and therapies that our children need are prohibitive. So unless you're extremely wealthy, if your child has a disability, public school is your only hope. And as I said, my son has autism. He
104has sensory issues. So even though I want him to wear a mask, I can't force him to do so. I literally can't. Autism doesn't work that way. So I don't have a choice. I have to rely on his classmates to wear a mask to protect him. And there's been some concern that children with autism may have a higher risk when it comes to COVID. The medical community doesn't know yet if that's because of comorbidities or if it is the autism. But either way, I don't want to risk my son's health. So I kept him home from school for a year, and he's suffered. He hasn't been able to socialize with other children, and he has measurably regressed. But this isn't just about my child. I'm also concerned about other children with disabilities, such as those
105with Down syndrome. They, like all children with disabilities, have a legal right to a free, appropriate public education. And the medical community has clearly concluded that people with Down syndrome who contract COVID are four times more likely to be hospitalized and 10 times more likely to die from it. The only safe way for a child with Down syndrome under age 12 to attend a public school is for masks to be mandatory. It's the only way to give these children the public education and support therapies they desperately need and are legally entitled to. So please continue to make masks mandatory for elementary school children for the sake of everyone, the sake for children with disabilities. And you all take the night off after this because you're going through hell today, and I wish you luck. Thank
106you. Let's take our next speaker, number 22, Liz, and I think we were struggling with your last name. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. Good afternoon. So Liz Villamil, 9328 7th Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32824. I'm very glad to hear many people that already stated facts and statistics, which is very important. So I'm just going to talk then from my personal experience this year. As the loving and responsible parent that I am, I make sure I take good care of my children by always ensuring that I am taking the best decisions and living the best lifestyle so that my kids are physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy. That is my responsibility and duty as a mother and only mine. One of those decisions and a very hard one was keeping my daughter at home during lunch through 2020
107and 2021 school year because I know the harm that would do to her wearing a mask, breathing the toxins her body is trying to get rid of for seven hours every day, five days a week. Add to that the bacterias a mask used on those conditions carrying. It was a hard year for her, alone at home every day until the afternoon when I make it home after work. So she was also definitely deprived from social interaction that has a psychological impact, and she struggled academically. I feel I had two bad options in front of me. So I just made the best decisions I thought, you know, based on my judgment. After we learned about all the lies told to us by the experts, and I'm referring to Dr. Fauci's emails, we shouldn't even have to
108be here pleading for the mask mandate to be canceled. That should have happened immediately. We're not arguing. I feel my and my child's human rights are being violated, and I feel my parental rights are as well. I urge you to really look at the science and statistics to make your policies accordingly. At this point, it appears to be more of a political thing, a power struggle, and a control issue rather than based on our children's best interests. So I just ask you, please do the right thing. Thank you. Thank you, and thank you for being here. Let's take, I believe it's Sandra Montavo. Correct me if I have the name wrong, and I apologize. My name is Sandra Montano and I am at 6900 Travis Stoke Lakes Boulevard, Orlando. And I'm grateful for the previous
109speakers who have pointed out all the science, the real science, like speaker number five, Dr. Stillwater, I believe he was, and also Ben. and everybody who has pointed out all the scientific facts about the ineffectiveness of masks. And more than anything, because they've said so much, I'm here as a mom of two girls who had a really tough year. My 14-year-old, we drew her from school, from public school early in the school year because she was out of school for two days. When she went back, she was sat alone in the dining room because of the social distancing policies. She was sat alone in a table for like two weeks, and she was getting sick every single day. I'm not sure if it was psychological. I believe it was. Right before school, I would get
110a call from her. And when I went to pick her up... I was welcomed by a school official saying that she had to be quarantined for 14 days because she had reported a headache and a bellyache. I knew it was just a psychosomatic thing for her that she didn't want to sit alone in the dining room. And at that point, we decided to withdraw her from school because the social pressure for her was way too much. It may not be like that for every child. It was for her. So she went to a private school last year in Seminole County. So I had to wear a mask, unfortunately. And another thing I'm seeing is that the children are they have so much peer pressure because they hear that basically they don't wear this mask. They're
111killing everybody. And so they, what do they do? How do they face their friends, their classmates when that's how they feel, even if they don't want to wear the mask? And that's what I've experienced with my teenage daughter. My eight-year-old, a couple weeks, like a couple weeks before school ended, she had an accident playing in the pool. She scratched her face. I brought her to school and she was refused access into school. I asked if she could wear a face shield. That was not an option either. So she had to skip three days of school under special circumstances. She was not a threat to anybody. She wasn't sick. She just had a scratch face. Where do we draw the line between being humans and having, for Christ's sakes, I mean, seeing people as humans is
112not like just, and I get it, you know, we follow rules. We respect it. I wasn't going against it. I asked, can she wear a face shield? No, no, no, no. It's just a rule. So, I mean. This has just gone too far. We have the science. We know the masks don't work. In fact, they're a breeding thing for bacteria. We have the studies on the masks. They make them more sick than healthy. Is this about health, really? Thank you. Thank you. Okay, let's take our next speaker. Your next speaker is Giovanni Montano. Welcome, sir. Yes, thank you so much. Well, Giovanni Montano, 6900 Tabistock Boulevard, Lakes in Orlando, 32827. Well, following what my wife has been said, I was surprised when it came to your building when still wearing this mask seems like the
113only part of the city. that we're using it, I don't know why. And I understand why our schools under that train as well. Something is happening, something is not working in the way that it should be, on my point of view. Something has to be changed because it seems like the directions have been set for someone or a group of people and it's what it is and that's it. So I'm glad that I come over here to talk about what I feel. how our kids are being all this process from the school as well. I'm agree with a lot of people have been said regarding them or researches, the mask, the COVID, but furthermore. I guess this COVID has been up in my eyes in order to be more aware of what's going to happen
114with the kids because before it was like, you know, the kids go to the school, spend most of their time over there, but we don't know what's going on. As a parent, I don't pay too much attention, to be honest with you. But now, looking at all these issues, I'm taking a little more consideration of what's going on. participation, a lot of parents, you know, as myself, we don't know anything about the rules of what's going to happen, but certainly I am looking at that has to be changed. All these rules has to be changed because it seems like whatever other people believes has to be, you know, following we know another point of view. Also, Based on what I heard about other parents, it is that there is a lot of kids with special
115needs. Something has to be done with them, obviously. I don't know. I haven't heard that there is another option to them being a different... a school if they have enough issues but the point is as a society you have to take care of you know other people but I don't believe that using using a mask is going to be a proper procedure also I don't know what is going to happen with the vaccine are approved if this is a mask I don't want to believe what's going to happen with the vaccination when it happening so that is why I'm taking part of this and give my opinion about the mask that it should be banned for always yeah thank you thank you thank you for your testimony sir okay do we um are there any
116more speakers that you already called i i believe i called justin harvey and danielle who did not provide the last welcome ah that's what you look like without your mask that's what i look like Well, my name is Danielle, and I live on Alabaster, Orlando, 32833. Danielle, I didn't catch your last name. I'm so sorry. I'm choosing not to share my last name. Thank you so much. So I'm a certified pediatric nurse of 16 years and a mom of two and an advocate for children and families. So today, so people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Okay, we've heard that before. So today I'm sharing with you my knowledge in hopes that it makes a difference for our children. I see so many children wearing masks that more resemble more of a dirty underwear than
117a, and it's under the guise of safety. I've seen them taking off their masks at the office where I work, at the hospital where I work. What's inside of that? It's disgusting. And I've seen cleaner underwear, honestly. Okay? And it's not safe. This is under the Guides of Safety, but it's not safe and it's completely unhygienic. I've seen a child's mask fall on the hospital floor and that child or a parent will go and pick it up and try to put it back on their face and I have to stop them. Why are they doing that? It's for fear. They cower in fear. Adults are cowering in fear when they step into our hospital for care, and they're willing to put a dirty face mask back on their child to obey the rules. Okay? There's
118a serious lack of knowledge regarding proper use of PPE, or personal protective equipment. So recently we've heard of that group of parents, of concerned parents like myself, that sent their children's masks into a lab, and the results should shock you. Multiple microorganisms, including staph, strep, tuberculosis, and E. coli. Do you all know where E. coli comes from? The other end of the body, right? Okay, so it shouldn't be near our children's face. These are masks that are being worn and inhaled for eight hours a day by our children. Personal protective equipment is not meant to be worn all day. It's not effective and it's not safe. I'm witnessing developmental delays in children ranging from as young as six months old. They're not making eye contact. They're not smiling at their parents or other people who
119are talking to them. All the way up to 17 years old. I mean, they're just shrinking. Our future is shrinking right before my eyes. And it's very concerning. Our children and families are being forced to comply with mandates and policies that have no scientific basis. And any attempt they make to speak up for these needs and the needs of their children are squashed by a real threat of not being able to receive the educational or medical services that they need. This is a civil rights issue, first and foremost. Ultimately, the choice of what goes on or in our children's bodies is up to the parents. I believe I speak for hundreds, if not thousands of parents when I say remove the mask mandates, do not push experimental injections on our children, and it is our
120sovereign right and responsibility as parents to choose. Thank you. All right. Let's read the next. Is it four or five speakers? I can do next five. I was looking for Justin. Oh, I'm sorry. There you are. No, no, no. Please come on up. I'm sorry. I think we jumped over you. I didn't realize you were in the chambers. Welcome and thanks for being with us today. Thank you. So I'm my name is Justin Harvey. I live at 103 South Osceola, Orlando, 32801. I'm obviously, as I'm sure you know, here to speak against the masks. It has to be left up to the parents. That's the crux of it. It's a shame hearing some of these stories here today. I fortunately don't have children in school yet because he's too young. But my experiences in the
121grocery store, you know, as a child that's not around masks and when he does see someone. And what do you do when you see a child? You make a face. And that clerk is standing there behind the counter making the faces at my son. And he's just like, what is that like? It's. dehumanizing psychological trauma. And I know it's not directly your fault and I'm not here to blame you. You may be sitting up there and agreeing with us, but There comes a point where you kind of have to take a stand and I know we have to pick our battles I'm wearing a mask in order to record some of these moments that people want to remember Wearing a mask to make my voice heard but we also have to take a stand and
122that's what we're doing here I think we're doing both and I would ask you all to please take a stand and whether you say you know Our hands are tied got to do the procedural thing July 13th. I get it but Saying something publicly here saying something to the news media. It would go a long way and it would show that you were standing up for for the parents and for us. And it really hurts to hear someone say, I'm just a rule follower, I must say. I mean, like I said, pick and choose your battles, but the Holocaust was legal. Slavery was legal. I don't think the officers that took Rosa Parks to jail should have just followed the rules. They probably should have stood up right then. I don't think the officers that
123shot the student protesters at Kent State dead did the right thing, but they were just following their orders. And I know that's not really fair to compare it to, but it's a slippery slope, and I ask that when you do feel that there's something wrong there, just go against the grain of hair. It really does help, especially in your positions. I hear my girlfriend's younger sister said at one point, maybe I'll just keep wearing it when this is over. We were like, why would you say that? She said, I don't know, I just feel safer and more comfortable behind this thing. And not from the virus, from peers and from society and from people looking at her. And we've made people cower and hide instead of interact. And it's just very sad to see. We
124instilled so much fear for 15 months into people and looked at healthy people as death vectors. It's going to take a long time to undo. The lockdown, the masks, it's the collateral damage from the homelessness and the depression and the suicides and the drug use and the divorce and the homeschooling and the everything that's going to shift is going to go on much longer than coronavirus, which... We all know we poured through some of the Orange County numbers here ourselves personally, and upwards of 90% of those people died with COVID, not from COVID. So it's just very unfortunate to see that we've put the children through this and drug our feet this long as one of the last counties to do it. So I just ask you to please make the right decision. Thank you.
125Thank you, sir. All right. Next speakers, you want to read out the list? I will read the next list. Speaker number 29 is Timothy Wall. Speaker number 30 is Alex, who is a student. The person who took card number 31 did not turn it back in. So speaker number 32 is Tanira Baker. Speaker number 33 is Nicole Hamler. And speaker number 34 is Alicia Ferrant. Welcome. Hello. Go ahead. Are you Alex? No, ma'am. Are you Timothy? Yes. Welcome, Timothy. Hello. My name is Timothy Wall. I will be going to Timber Creek High School in August. Wearing a mask makes it hard to hear because it acts as a filter. Last week I was volunteering at a camp and I could not hear the leaders giving information. I missed key information and we ended up with
126about 30 kids bunched up in the halls not knowing what to do. Some people might say it's good it acts as a filter because it shows that masks is working. In an Environmental Protection Agency study, researchers looked to determine whether alternatives to the highly efficient N95 masks reserved for healthcare workers could offer protection for hospital personnel in the event of shortages. They tested the filtration ability of the expired N95 masks, N95 masks that have been sterilized for reuse, and dozens of other face mask alternatives. These results show that both expired N95 masks and sterilized N95 masks provided the same level of protection as new N95 masks with greater than 95% filtration. Other alternatives provided less protection. For example, surgical masks with ties provided 71.5% filtration, while surgical masks with... with ear loops that I have
127in my hand and the most widely used only provide 38.1% filtration. The government or any place forcing people to wear masks is illegal. Article 1, Section 23 of the Florida Constitution states, every natural person has the right to be let alone and free from government intrusion into the private life. This means that nobody can say you need to wear a mask because it is part of a person's private life. You as a school board might say it is for your own protection. I have previously stated in the study that it only provides 38.1% filtration. Your own Dr. Fauci co-authored a 2008 study, a 1918 Spanish flu, in which they wore masks, and his results were, I quote, the majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919 were not caused by the influenza
128virus acting alone. Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia caused by masks. following the influenza virus infection. Everyone here has a choice given to them by their constitutional rights, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If you are forcing my fellow students and me to go to school and wear a mask, you are obstructing those rights. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. How about Alex? Is Alex here? Alex, welcome. Thank you. Go ahead. Okay. It's okay. You're okay. Relax. We're fine. All I got to say, this is a free country, and please drop the max mandates because the moms are coming and the kids as well. Thank you. Thank you. I hope your wrist gets better soon. Thank you. Is that your mom? Are you with your mom? Yes. All right.
129All right. Let's take our next. Let me check one thing. I think we took all of our callers. We did. We don't have any more callers on the line. I think I'm number 33. Next speaker would be Tanira Baker, number 32. Hang on. You were telling me there's a card there? No, no. I just thought that you were going on to the next person. Oh, no, no. Okay. Ms. Baker? Oh, I know, right? Are you Ms. Baker? Yes. All right. We just have to stop for a minute and applaud your wonderful kids. Oh, thank you. They have been awesome, haven't they? Thank you. For anybody who's been looking at us and not looking at them, they've been with us the whole time. Yes. And they have just. been so very good proud of you mom
130and your wonderful children oh thank you anyway go ahead if you can give your name to just for the record okay my name is Tanera Baker my address is 620 Monica Rose Drive apartment 1523 Apopka Florida 32703 I'm here today representing my children as you see. To me it is unfair and unconstitutional for the government to mandate my children to wear a filthy mask seven hours a day, five days a week on their face. It is unfair forcing them to breathe in their own poisonous gas waste and limiting their oxygen intake. I don't need a medical degree to figure that out. This COVID mortality rate for children is close to zero. The medical advice seems partisan and biased. My daughter has come home with headaches that she never had before. I believe we are the
131first as parents, the first data analysts of this mass thing. My daughter comes home with headaches. She comes home with stomach aches. She has a call that I have. The doctor has no idea where it comes from. And I believe it has to do with wearing a mask seven days a week. five days a week, seven hours a day. She never had these symptoms before. So please make masks optional for our children. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here, Ms. Baker. And thank you, kids. Okay. Our next speaker? Next speaker is Nicole Hamler, followed by Alicia Ferrant. Ms. Hamler, welcome. Hello. I don't know if I can follow that. I don't blame you. My name is Nicole Hamler, 463 Bonifay Avenue, Orlando, 32825. I am a mom of three young boys. Two of them
132are in elementary school at an OCPS school. My seven-year-old has had a very rough year in first grade this year. He cried every day on the way to and from school. It broke my heart to see him hating school so much at such a young age. He said school was too hard and all he did was get in trouble for his mask falling off his little nose. In April, he was diagnosed with ADHD and two weeks ago, I got a report from the school psychologist that he has a reading disability as well. He struggled all year at below grade level. Plus, he's facing the challenges of having a reading disability and ADHD. Mandating that teachers and students wear masks is not helping kids like mine. Masks are making it difficult for them to learn and
133they are falling further behind. How are these young kids that are behind in reading supposed to catch up when they cannot see their teachers mouths form the words and make the sounds? Everything is muffled to them. And how are teachers supposed to see the expressions on their students' faces when they are covered? They can't see that their students are struggling. He struggled every day to understand the directions on his assignments, but his teacher couldn't tell because she couldn't see his face. Masks should be a parent choice, not mandated. And parents need to know sooner than the end of July what the decision is going to be. If masks are mandated again next year, my children will not be attending an OCPS school. The last day to enroll in Florida virtual school is July 16th. Many
134of the private schools we are looking at have similar enrollment deadlines. Dragging this on and making on this decision of masks is making it difficult for parents on both sides to make a decision. We need to know sooner than the end of July what the decision is going to be so we can change schools if needed and move forward with our lives. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Hamler. And our next speaker? Alicia Ferrantz. Hi, I am Alicia Ferrant, 2830 South Brown Avenue, Orlando 32806. Before I begin, I would like to just comment that having us state our address is a little creepy because anybody watching live. can google our address and find us if they don't like us and there's some whack people out there that would do that kind of stuff so just my
135two cents on that i understand if ferrant we have this has been a practice of governments all across the state of florida for probably 40 years oh really yeah it's not just i've tuned into other counties and they don't ever do that but maybe i just missed it i think orange county seminole i think anyway but i i do appreciate your concern in this day and age yes i appreciate that can i get three because i think absolutely i took away your time put it back on i like definitely so i got to get all my minutes in okay so again um good afternoon school board i am coming today as i have on several other occasions urging you to remove the mass mandates in our schools it is now the summer of 2021 we
136know way more about this virus than we did last summer when the mandate went into place we know now that children are not a threat and are not super spreaders. We know that per the CDC, children have a 99.998% chance of beating this with no issues. That is huge. I'm a mom of five and I'm also an RN. I've had to take care of patients with airborne diseases like tuberculosis. Every time I went into the patient's room, I had to put on a special zip-up suit, gloves, and an oxygen mask that looked like a space helmet. When I came out of the room, I had to remove everything a certain way and put it all in a biohazard bin. TB is spread the same way that COVID is, through droplets from a cough or a
137sneeze. If COVID is as deadly as they say, these little homemade masks that we're all wearing, they aren't going to do anything. And they should be thrown away in a biohazard bin instead of tossed in a backpack to reuse the next day. By continuing to force a mask on these precious children, you are putting them at risk of developing other issues like headaches, anxiety, facial sores, social delays, and so much more. I know for my children, they struggled greatly with the headaches, anxiety, and even just concentrating in class. And I have five. We even had a group of parents in Gainesville, which many have talked about, send their children's masks to a lab and found they all had strange strains of E. coli, strep and pneumonia, masks that they wear daily for six hours. Where
138there is risk, there must always be choice. School board, I urge you to stand up for our children. Stand up against the teachers union that has bullied you into forcing masks on our kids and kept parents out of schools all year. They stood here last summer fear-mongering you and making you feel like you would be killing children and teachers if you were to reopen schools. I thank you for at least providing that face-to-face learning this past year, but I pray you never fall for their fear tactics again. Part B of the proposed policy must be removed or reworded to say that masks will never be mandated again and masks will always be a decision the parents and their doctors make, not the school board. Your job as a school board is to ensure our children
139are learning quality material. learning to read, write, and learn math. Your job is not to force health issues on our children. If masks continue to be mandated, I will need to pull all five of my children from OCPS. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Do we have any other speakers? We do. We have speaker number 35 is Jason Rosenthal. Speaker 36 is Allison Painter. Speaker number 37 is Isabelle Sam. Speaker number 38 is Ashley Rosenthal. And speaker card number 39 was not used because it's a duplicate. So speaker 40 is Bonnie Jackson. And then you have three more after that. All right. Thank you. Welcome, sir. Good afternoon. Jason Rosenthal, 1277 Fern Avenue, Orlando, 32814. I am the father of three children. I have an eight-year-old at Baldwin Park Elementary, a 12-year-old at Glen
140Ridge Middle, and a 16-year-old at Winter Park High. So I've got a child in each one of these groups that we've been talking about. I'm also the proud husband of Ashley Rosenthal, who many of you know. I think I know why we're here, and I appreciate why we're here. I think this board wants to change this policy to make it voluntary. Otherwise, I don't believe the board would have drafted this policy. I think you're just following the procedures. At least that's my hope, that we're following the procedures. We are crossing our T's and dotting our I's to make sure that we will not have mandatory masks come the fall. And I trust that, and I don't think we need a lot more rhetoric. I think that's where we're going. Just a couple of other, as
141for Part B though, I understand the procedure. I don't want any amendments to that B so that we would have to re-advertise and go through the process. We need the process now to make these masks optional. But we will need to address Subsection B because it gives far too much authority to one person to put masks back on. And I'm sure we can have a working session on that at a later time. If there are those... Who are on the bubble at all about this on this board? Just a couple of things. I think it's common sense If you require our kids to wear masks any of them whether they be the elementary middle school or high school They're gonna be the only people in this county who will be required to wear a mask
142anywhere and that's completely It's insane given that they are the least vulnerable to this disease. So it makes absolutely no sense the other thing to consider is You know, these kids are not living in a bubble, at least most of them. and haven't been since July. They're in school wearing their masks, but what are they doing after school? Well, I could tell you what my kids are doing. I've got two boys who have been playing ice hockey since July, traveling the entire state. No issues, no problems. They played every game. If this was a big problem, these games, these seasons would be canceled, but they're not. My little girl's been doing gymnastics since July when they opened. No masks. Again, hockey, it's... high contact sport. They're in crowded locker rooms indoors. They're in crowded benches
143indoors and they're hitting each other. It's no problem. Our great varsity athletes in Orange County, same situation. We're very proud. Our Winter Park lacrosse team made it to state championship. No problem. These kids are killing each other with sticks, okay? They're not wearing masks and they're doing fine. Last thing, as I'm sure you know and your attorneys probably spoke to you, the first DCA just said we have a constitutional right of privacy that's impacted by the masks. You're going to have to show a compelling state interest to keep the masks on, and then you're going to have to have a remedy that provides the least invasive measures, and you can't have that with masks. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Rosenthal. Your next speaker is Allison Painter. Welcome Miss Painter. My name is Allison Painter. It's 393
144North Lakeview Avenue, Winter Garden, Florida 34787. I do not have children in OCPS now. I did have a daughter in. I just want to say a couple of things. We the people. We the people is from the Constitution. The Constitution that I'm hoping that all of you have a copy of, at least, or have at least read it. In the Constitution is the oath of office. And it says, I do solemnly swear. or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. To me, this is a domestic enemy. And as board members, you need to stand up and do what's right for these kids and unmask them. It will kill them in the end. Also, as I took American Sign Language in college, I used
145that as my foreign language. This man right here who is doing American Sign Language, you need to unmask him because the people that he is talking to cannot really truly understand him without his face mask because he needs... his face in order to communicate. We don't need that. We have a voice. They don't have a voice. Also, this all, this whole pandemic, this whole, everything that has gone on since last January is basically the deep state, and I know that you guys think it's funny, but it really isn't. It's from the deep state. It is from the elite that are trying to bring down this country. And as a patriot, I will never stand for that, ever. I am not afraid. I am not afraid to call out anybody that I feel is doing my
146country wrong. The last thing is quit brainwashing our children. They are our future. And as I'm hearing here, they're already indoctrinated. And it will take years to bring back what they have already learned. Thank you very much. Who's our next speaker? Isabel Sam is your next speaker, followed by Ashley Rosenthal. Ms. Sam, welcome. Isabel Sam 4818 Native Dancer Lane, Orlando, Florida 32826 I have three school-age children, and I am the daughter of an award-winning AP Spanish language and literature teacher who taught in the public schools of this country from the 1970s until her retirement, which was about five years ago. I went to public and private schools growing up and have seen all three sides of this weird thing that is public education from a teacher's point of view, a student's point of view, and
147now as a parent. two older children were toddlers my mother told me that my husband and i needed to either send our children to a good private school or homeschool them the toll of no child left behind and common common core emerging had left her with no other conclusion than that the public schools of this country were beyond repair this was 10 years ago I also used to work as a research scientist in nanotechnology. I have worked in clean rooms, which are much cleaner than an operating theater, and I have been trained with PPE. I can guarantee you that these cloth masks will not stop a virus from getting through, as viruses are also measured in nanometers, and the waves and the weaves in fabric are much larger than a virus. And 95 masks are
148specifically made to be fitted for each individual face it is placed on, and it is very apparent that this is not occurring. I teach my children that theft is never moral, even if someone thinks that it is for a good cause. The federal government forcibly takes money from each of us in this room and sends it to this county's schools. The local government also forcibly takes money from us through property and sales taxation to fund these schools. Those schools are incentivized via forced taxation to have more children in seats instead of participating in the free market where parents decide what's best for their children based on what a school can offer their children. This uniformity of subpar learning that is provided by our government is a perfect example of why taxation is theft. I do
149not wish to have my children exposed to this group of immoral people, nor do I want these schools to be funded on the backs of my children who will suffer under them. Therefore, my three children who are worth a minimum of $30,000 to this school's system will not be in your seats helping support your subpar education. They will, however, be attending the voluntary school. And my children will be afforded an amazing education at a quarter of the cost that it takes for you all to run these schools, which are beyond repair. May the free market reign. May all parents take back their power over their own family. And may we, the people, realize that we don't need the government. Thank you. Next speaker. Your next speaker is Ashley Rosenthal. Ms. Rosenthal, welcome back. Thank you.
150Good to see you again. I'm Ashley Rosenthal. Address is 1277 Fern Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32814. You all have heard from me before. You know where I stand. I don't have to reiterate all of the wonderful points that everyone here has made today. I could stand up here and tell you that you're violating every single person sitting here, all of our right to privacy under the Florida Constitution as determined by the first DCA. I could talk to you about that. I could talk to you about how terrible it is that even if you changed your policy and it was effective July 13th, you have a union that is going to hold your, bind you through the end of July, which has nothing to do with science. It has to do with control. And that is really
151sad because it's not in the best interest of the students. But instead, I waited until the end to talk because I wanted to kind of hear what was said. Ms. Jacobs, you made a really good point. You didn't even know it. Someone walked up and she said and you said, oh, that's what you look like without your mask. What do five year olds going into kindergarten for their very first year? How do they feel? And I have provided information, studies about how children need to see the lower portion of a person's face. There's even studies where children under the age of six, which would be kindergartners, don't recognize their teacher after 15 minutes. And there are studies about that. And that has not been addressed. That's what was so disappointing about the MAC meeting on
152June 1st. Dr. Harris wasn't present. Even when one of your board members asked about the dangers of masks and they said they've been said it's nonsense. There's no study to say that masks are dangerous. Not a single discussion about the long term impacts of mask wearing psychologically, developmentally, mentally, emotionally, anxiety ridden. So a very important quote that a speaker said today is do not confuse the children's obedience with them being OK. My children are. very responsible. They follow the rules. This is still not okay. And I want you to hear from my eight-year-old who was not as brave as Liam and the other kids that were here. And she wrote this and I asked her if she wanted to stand next to me and she still was too intimidated and I'm not going to force
153her to be here. But this is what she had to say. Hi, my name is Nikki. I'm sending you this letter because I don't want to wear a mask anymore because I can't breathe. I can't hear my teacher. I can't see and hear my friends. And it's just hard for me. Whenever my family tells me I have to wear a mask, I get sad because I'm so over masks. If I found out I had to wear a mask next year, I would break down in tears and I would have to move schools. And you don't know how it feels to be a kid and wear a mask six hours every day of your life. Thank you for reading this. And please don't make all of us kids wear a mask anymore. Thank you. Thanks. Miss
154Rosenthal. Who's our next speaker? Your next speaker is Bonnie Jackson. Okay, and after Bonnie Jackson by Jody McIlroy then Leslie Jones and Susan Davenport Hi, welcome. Hi. Thank you. My name is Bonnie Jackson 3009 Temple Trail Winter Park, Florida 32789 I am a 26 year attorney So I believe in the rules. I believe in the rule of law I believe teaching young people to respect authority. I believe in our Constitution. I believe in all those things. But people have to know and understand the law and the rules in order to follow them, and they have to make sense. And I come in here having to put a mask on when I don't have to wear a mask anywhere else that I go. That's ridiculous. I'm looking around at these silly things that my tax dollars
155paid for where it says seat available. I get on a Southwest Airlines flight, and I'm sitting right next to somebody. They put me in the middle seat, but I still have to wear a mask. It's ridiculous. We're not stupid. You're listening to people here. And they are, I mean, I'm blown away how intelligent these folks are. I am just loving my fellow citizens, listening to everything that they say, making little notes. And I'm probably all over the place, even though I'm a litigator and I'm usually very well-spoken, but not today because I'm pissed. I had to take off from my job to come down here to school you on your job. These folks are thanking you for being here and thanking you for listening to them. It's your job. You ran for that job. You
156get paid for that job. So I'm not going to thank you for doing your job because I'm not getting paid to stand here and tell you how ridiculous this is. It's a shame. And maybe you don't agree with what's going on, but you wanted this job so it's on you. You get to wear it, and now you get to fix it. And this Part B BS about workshops and all this garbage, you're just wasting time. Use your emergency power. We know that these masks cause psychological and physical harm. So you have the emergency power to do away with it yesterday and not put it in the hands with some bureaucrat who decides she's going to listen to the CDC. We have been lied to, lied to by our government. How dare they? And how dare
157you waste my time? But thank you for running for office and listening to me yell at you. I wish you all the best and God bless. Please do what's right. All right, next speaker. Judy or Jody McElroy? Judy? Judy McElroy. Ms. Embel, who's after Ms. McElroy? Leslie Jones, Susan Davenport, and then maybe one more call for Angela Jaspin, who was speaker number 17 and who never came to the podium. Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? We can hear you. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? Yeah. All right. This is a little nerve-wracking. I haven't done too much of this since maybe like public speaking in college and drama when I was a kid. Anyway, but speaking of being a kid, it just, the main thing I want to get to, aside from all these
158notes I've written, is like, what about yourselves? I mean, you were kids, right? We've all been kids. We all have a story. You know, you wanted to be a teacher. Why? I mean, we all had people that inspired us. to move forward and to be who we are. It doesn't involve what's going on now. Like one of my biggest inspirations in high school, Anna Maria Myers, she works, probably she's retired, but she's quite a star at Auburndale High School. Everyone loves her. She's a French teacher and she's from Cuba. Her family left. It's her dream to go back, but will she ever be able to go back? No, because they turned that corner and that's where we're at. And I mean, I'm not trying to be dramatic because I know there's this thing about shaming
159people, about comparing it to Nazis and that sort of thing. But no, this is where we're at. It is exactly that. It's what happened in Iran when they were wearing the burqa and they were all shamed. They were super liberal in the 70s. They were like us. It's true. It's true. If you want to hear it, it's true. Now, I'll try to get back to the notes of where I'm at. And basically. I don't know how much time I have left, but I just want to think about the idea of the fact that you're stewards, right? You're stewards of our children. I mean, they're our most precious resource, like your children are our most, and they're the future. Right. And so, I mean, look at what is going on with all this mask vaccine stuff.
160The vaccines are going to harm the kids. They're going to harm you all. I'm sorry, but they are. So when all this is done and you have to deal with these consequences, knowing these masks have never helped you, they're not going to help you. They're going on shaming minorities saying, oh, Tuskegee, Muskegee, who cares about that? Right. Getting them. Oh, it's it's a pride. It's a great thing to be proud. You're helping your neighbor. No, you're not These things they're not stopping anything. They're not stopping any spread. They're encouraging it. They're encouraging variants Basically, thank you for the job that you do that you got in here to help the kids and I hope that at the end of this you'll be on those Right side of our future. Thank you Your next speaker is
161Leslie Jones and then Susan Davenport Hello, Leslie Jones, 4042 Luan Drive, Orlando, Florida, 32808. I'm a father of four in school, and my children, they didn't want to go on class, and they have anxiety from it. All of this could be cleared up simply by parents just being parents. You're your child's first educator. You should be teaching them. Your children should already know how to read and stuff at school because that's something that you should be teaching them. Masks should be cleaned every day. If you have a cloth mask, it takes, what, two minutes to wash it out? You don't even have to have a washing machine to wash it. I wash my children's masks out by hand. Why am I going to start a load just for some masks that are wet? five inches.
162So what, 20 inches altogether? I'm going to take up a whole washing machine for that. No, I wash them out by hand, hang them up and let them dry. They have a clean mask every day to wear. Simple. Make sure that they know how to put them on. That's something that we should all know how to do. You've got to protect yourselves. I'm an at-risk parent and I have children with disabilities. So yes, my children have to go to school. They have to be susceptible to this. Should they have to go and not be around, not be able to concentrate on their teacher because all the children around them don't have on masks? No. They should be able to be able to be comfortable in their environment and learn. The teacher should be able to
163feel comfortable to be able to teach. You got to take into consideration when they do go home. Yeah, they're taking this virus with them. The virus does exist. They're taking it home with them and they're spreading it around. The bus drivers that are taking these kids to school are mostly elder. We don't have 25 year olds out here driving the school buses. Most of them are in their 60s, like my mother. Who has to worry about that every day that she comes home? Who's coming home to an elderly husband? That compromises him. So it's not just our lives, the children's lives that are at risk. When you're saying, yeah, these are children that statistics show that they're not as susceptible to it, but they're going around people that are. And we all have a responsibility
164to that. The children with disabilities that are more susceptible to it and can't get the vaccines, yeah, we have an obligation as humans to be considerate of them. We have to make choices that don't only benefit us as parents, but that benefit society as a whole. Do your job. Wear a mask. Wash it. Teach your kids. Don't just depend on the system to raise your children and educate them. Do your part. That's all I got to say about it. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Miss Davenport. Hi. Hi. Welcome. Hi. Susan Davenport, 14957 Yorkshire Run Drive, Orlando, Florida, 32828. All right. So I'm here because I want my kids to breathe. You know that. I've said it before here, and it looks like that's what we're here to do. Every child in this country has
165the right to an equal education, regardless of religion, sex, economic background, family background, disability, an equal... education. Well, for some, wearing masks doesn't give them an equal education. For some, it's incredibly distracting. They can't be educated because by the time they're distracted, they can't even master the skill. It's inefficient. The younger grades can't see the enunciation. They can't hear the proper pronunciation. It's hindering their education and that's what they're there for. That's what they're going to school for. The masks are intimidating. It's shaming and it's psychologically damaging. My girlfriend, I was trying not to be emotional, has a fourth grade daughter who last year not only lost her grandfather, but her fourth grade best friend to suicide because of everything that's going on. And these are babies that aren't telling us how bad they're hurting
166because they can't see their friends or their friends are scared of them. And that is terrifying as a parent to know that it's not only happening to people that I know, but it could be happening to my child. And maybe they can't tell me because they're afraid to because they've been intimidated or psychologically put in that position where they're just trying to do what they've been told to do and supposed to do. It's time to take the masks off. My children have IEPs. People talk here about their kids with disabilities. There's a range of disabilities and there's a range of needs for each kid. And give them the choice to choose which of those ranges fits them and their education best. And that is what I hope we're all here for. One thing that concerns
167me is the possibility that a vaccine would be tied to being able to wear a mask or not. If you want to participate in the vaccine experiment, please do. If you want to wear a mask, please do. There's risks along with that. I've seen risks with that. If you've ever held your child convulsing because of a shot you gave them, you know there's a risk and you don't want to do it again and you don't want to muzzle them because of that. And it's important and it's terrifying to a parent to be given the possibility that that's going to be the choice. Now, the Part B makes it really easy if somebody comes out and says, oh, yeah, we need to muzzle these kids. We need to put those masks back on, even though all
168of the studies that the virus can get right through it. It allows you to make it stronger, but it makes it very difficult to bring it back. And that's scary. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other speakers? We just had Angela Jaspin that didn't come before, so I don't know if we want to make one more call for her. Ms. Jackson? Okay. That concludes your speakers. Thank you. I do want to, one clarification I do want to make. I've heard several people talk about whether there was going to be a requirement if this policy. This draft was approved a requirement that those students who do not have a vaccine would have to wear a mask and no that is not something that is in this policy. It is not something that any member
169of this board to my knowledge has ever proposed. It's not something anyone in the administration has ever raised. It's the first time I've heard it is from y'all. So I just wanted to put your mind at ease that it's not on, it's just not on the table for consideration. Okay, I will open it up now to comments from board members that may wish to make comments. Member Gould. Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our speakers who came today. First and foremost, I want to say I'm in support of the policy the way that it is. And the reason that I don't mind the Part B is because we as a body already have the ability to call a meeting within 48 hours. I apologize for interrupting, but when you said the policy as it
170is. Just for clarification. I think you're talking about the draft the dry not the policy The draft that we're discussing today. Thank you for the clarification. So I want to say that first secondly, I'm ever the optimist I always see the lemonade for the lemons and I that may be because I have the rare opportunity to be the daughter of the greatest generation parents. My dad was born in 1915. My mom and he lived through, well, she didn't do World War I, he did. World War II, the stock market, the Cold War, the Korean War. My brother went to Vietnam. I tell you all this because I learned from them resilience, and I think we as citizens of this country have proved over and over and over again that we are very resilient. And that
171when we come across strife and we band together and listen to one another, to hear both sides. That we often find the right solutions not perfect solutions. There's no perfect solution in anything and I appreciate those of you who acknowledged Listening to one another and listening to the rights of all parents I love the I love the sign that says parents rights that that was was put up because we all Have to do what we think is in the best interest of our children without casting aspersions either way on that. My entire family is vaccinated. I believe in that. I believe in the vaccination. I believe in the statistics from the worldwide. And it's okay if we disagree about that. Because that is my influence on my children as you have the right to influence
172your children. So I wanted to give a little bit of that background and say, let's make the lemonade out of this lemon that we've gotten from COVID. Let's use it as a moment. to not only talk about our differences, but the rights of our democracy to talk about our differences and then come to the best conclusions and bring our children into that conversation about all of these issues, as I'm sure that you have, because I hear you and they're learning great things about democracy from you. But I wanted to share that background because I think we're building actually... a group of very resilient citizens that will be able to tackle anything in their future. I certainly saw that in our graduations this year. I've seen it with rising 7th to 8th graders and 8th graders
173to 9th graders. It's been amazing what we have seen. There's been difficulties. There's been, you know... Very difficult situations for many, many, many families. But we have many wonderful stories, too. And let's start sharing some of those as well. So, again, I am in favor of the draft that is before us. And thank you for listening. Thank you, Member Gould. Let's hear from Member Gallow. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Member Gould. That was... I couldn't have said that better. It's been a really rough year, and our children are very resilient. And when we listen to one another and we come together, we can truly make change. With that said, I do support the current draft policy that's in place. I do think that it's time to unmask our children. I do
174want to point out for those who are concerned and who are worried that our youngest aren't able to be vaccinated and, you know, we're headed back to school. When we did meet with the MAC earlier on June 1st, they said a couple of things that really was a turning point for me. Number one, when I asked the questions, how effective is a mask for the person wearing it? I know that we had testimony today that is like 38.1%. Their numbers were a little bit higher. It was like at 50 to 70%. And that gave me comfort to know that those who choose, that optionally choose to wear a mask, it does provide some protection for them if they are an at-risk student. And that is up for the parents to decide what to do with
175their child. The second thing that the Mac said was when I said, what's that sweet spot? Is it 3% positivity rate? What is it? And they said, well, it's really anything under 5%. We're currently in Orange County at 3.7%. That also gives me comfort that our most at-risk children, again, their parents' decision can decide what's best for them, but the county as a whole is just not at risk. There's no reason for us to mask our kids anymore. And as people pointed out, Nowhere you go in Orange County is is there a mask requirement is optional for those who've been vaccinated So I just I just kind of want to point that out and I want to lay out my reasonings for why I support this policy for those parents who are concerned That there
176won't be that mask might be optional in the upcoming year I heard The folks talk about 1B and I understand your issue with that and and I think that our our attorney Mr. Palmieri made it made it clear the intent of that language that was just in the event of emergency for COVID-19 I understand that some of the language is a little ambiguous And that it's not worth holding up this policy at this time. I wouldn't be adverse to revisiting in the future Just so that we could add clarity and make the intent of what the school board Wanted is in place so that it's transparent for all when they do read this policy because as the school board We're not always going to be up here To look over this policy others others will
177be in charge of that and I just wanted to say that That We get it with the one B. We that's it. Okay. Thank you. I'm Thanks. Thanks. Absolutely. Thank everybody for coming today. We appreciate we appreciate hearing from you. Thanks. Okay. Member Bird. I'm Member Bird. Yes. Am I next? Yes. Okay. Thank you, Chair. And thank you to everyone that came out today. It is certainly always helpful to hear what are what the public thinks. And, you know, this is one of those issues that. It's not an easy decision to make because there's no answer that's going to make everybody happy. But with all that said, you know, I have my own personal opinions about the masks and about the vaccines. But what I always do when I try to make decisions on this
178board is what is what I believe is best for kids and I believed that schools needed to be open in August Because I believed that that was best for kids and I think that we've seen from other Other places in the country that did not open that that was a good decision to get kids in school I felt that we could keep our kids relatively safe because we were implementing some good safety protocols. I think we did a good job this year. I've commended the superintendent several times about her staff's leadership on the ability to keep those outbreaks out of schools. I think we did well. I also do think that this is probably not even going to be a decision that any school district is going to have to make because I have a
179feeling that the Commissioner of Education is probably going to make this decision for all school districts here shortly. But regardless, where we are now is that I think that as member member Gallo said we are at a 3.7% positivity in Orange County. That was something that we were that was our goal back when we were talking about opening schools. We were talking about 4% lower than 4%. Johns Hopkins University talking about that. That's the goal. That's where we want to be. That's where we are. So right now I'm in support of our amended our draft that we have before us because of that, because of where we are right now. Also, because this virus changes, as we've seen before, and, you know, there's still news articles just about an hour ago, I saw a news
180article come out about the variant, and they're concerned about that. So this virus could change, and because of that, I'm also in favor of keeping the... the clause in there for the superintendent to be able to make quick changes if she if she needs to based on changes in our condition in this area if if the state suddenly had to shut down again and if the county had to put up mask mandates then you know well we probably wouldn't be in school but if we were in school we would have to Do what we had to do to keep everyone safe. So and we certainly don't want to have to go through this whole process every time we want to make a change to the mask mandate. So I am in favor of the mask
181policy revisions and the draft that we have been presented by the staff. Thank you. Thank you, Member Bird. Member Felder. Thank you, Chairperson. First of all, as the newest member of this board, can you all hear me with my math? Okay. Having taught for 40 years in Orange County, having a very lucid... experience with working with children not only on the high school level but with my background in theater working with children in pre-k elementary middle school i've had a very background with the school system here in orange county and also uh remember ghoul i am a daughter of a parent a mother that was born in 1915 that actually did fight in war war war ii well they didn't allow black um people to fight, but she was at least able to be in
182charge of the lab. And that was a new thing. She worked side by side with Colonel Kennedy. But what I want to say, and being a product of the 60s and the segregation movement. I can appreciate the passion that was here in this room, the fight, the fact that we had a group of parents or constituents who really was determined to have your voice heard and to fight. Let me tell you something. You need to do that. I want to say to you, I am... in favor of the policy of optional because I know what you're talking about. I've seen it, but I'm also aware of the fact that if something else happens, especially with this new variant. And we need to make some adjustments. We need to be open to deal with those adjustments.
183And I do understand I was on launch ad from March 2020 until the time I was elected. So I didn't have an opportunity to be face-to-face with my students after the last week before spring break in March 2020. I had to tell them on launch ad again. that I was running and that if I win you won't see me and of course that's a whole other story they they didn't want me to go but I had to go nevertheless so I want you to understand that as a board I think we're doing the best that we can and we hear you in terms of um making decisions it's very hard some decisions are very hard and we were elected You trusted us and elected us to make these decisions. However, we also vowed and said
184that we would be your voice. So it's a thin line. It's a line that we have to walk gingerly. I'm very much aware of that. And when we have this continual feedback, you write us and you come to the board members and... make sure that we are abreast of your feelings, but I also would like for you to also trust some of our decisions because whether we like it or not, and this is the democracy in which you and I live, there are rules that sometimes we don't agree with, but because we are people of intelligence, we know that we can agree to disagree and not be rude and disrespectful. So that's very important to me because just like we teach children in kindergarten, look both ways before you cross the street. Make sure you
185keep a straight line and you respect those that are with you. So I just want to end in closing as I think someone mentioned about they did a comparative analysis about the civil rights. comparison of what people went through with slavery. This is no comparison to that at all, ever. However, because America is the country that it is, we were built on struggle, we were built on fight, and we were built on pressing through, regardless of race, creed, color. We were built on that. issue. We were built on that. And so again, I do as a school board member welcome this engagement, this discussion, and it is my hope and prayer that we can come to an agreement, but at the same time, I want you to continue to respect our position and the fact
186that you elected us to speak and be your voice. I think that's your time. Thank you. Okay. Member Cobert. Good afternoon, Chair. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you well. Thank you. Thank you. So I'd like to start by opening with the fact that there is no policy that we could write or approve that is going to work for 100% of our students. We know that. And I think we need to work very, very hard for our students with exceptionalities to support and accommodate them as best we can. I think we need to be very creative and innovative with how we might support those students in particular. This is an ever-changing situation. What we have now is not what we had six months ago or a year ago. We have to remember this
187began as an emergency, as a crisis across our country, and we knew very little. We also have to remember that when the policy was put into place, there was a countywide mandate for face covering, and we are required to follow all state, federal, and local mandates. I've also been working very hard on doing my own research. In addition to listening to all of the speakers whom I appreciate today, reading the information that we've been sent, and observing what other counties across the state and the country are doing. And most of those counties, if not all, are making face covering optional at this point. If we continue with the mandate, All means that those students would be the only citizens in our county that are required to wear face covering at this time. For those reasons,
188I am comfortable at this time with individual choice and making the wearing of face coverings optional. So I support the draft policy as it's written. And finally, we'd just like to remind our parents who are here today and our citizens that it is our jobs as the adults to role model behavior for our children. And that means to treat others, other children, with kindness and respect for the choices that each family will need to make for themselves. I thank you, Chair. Thank you, Member Colbert. Member Lopez. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the parents for being engaged. This is very important to us because if you are engaged in the school system, our students will be successful and we have the voice of our community in the school board meetings. I wish we can
189see more parents in every school board meeting. So thank you so much for being here. As a mother, I obviously understand. the frustrations of the parents. My daughter has also a rash because of the mask, of course. And the psychological impact of the mask is also a challenge for my daughter. So she struggled a lot. And I really understand. She's 16 years old. But I also understand that it's very controversial. I'm in support of the draft as it is, but I just want to also make a comment based on the speeches that I heard today. So, you know, I feel very related with the conversation about vaccination. It's very controversial as well. I believe in the vaccination, but I also respect the people that they don't want to be vaccinated. So I also respect that.
190that opinion and also about um respecting choices we live in a free country so everybody deserves to have a choice and i am here just to represent as well my community um i i am very thankful also um because you know at least um the the positive cases on kobe 19 decrease so i always say god thanks lord that we have less than five percent um COVID in Orange County. But I also very concerned and even when I am in agreement with the draft, I am very concerned of the vulnerable students. So I have a question about what are we going to do to protect the vulnerable students and staff? you know, if this policy passed. So I would love to know if we're going to educate our parents, our community, because I know that
191the parents, even if they agree with... the mask being optional, they also agree in helping the most vulnerable because they know are the peers of their children. So we have to find a way to help those kids that are going to wear the mask. And, you know, we have to work on bullying. We have to work together to make everybody feel included and have the opportunity to learn face to face and feel safe. the same way the other students are not going to use the face masks so i would love to know what can we do to help the most vulnerable students thank you member lopez did you want to respond to that at this time or you want to wait till i ask that question then it'll be three of us no go ahead
192please it's a very brief answer remember lopez we are absolutely committed to making sure we communicate with our parents so they understand We're not hearing you very well. Pull a little closer. My red light is on. Yeah, that's much better. We are absolutely committed to making sure we communicate with our parents and with our students regarding those who voluntarily decide to wear a face mask should the board pass that revised policy. We will make sure that there's an understanding of our bullying. Our code of conduct is still in place. No matter what the issue is that the bullying is based upon, it will be dealt with swiftly. But we'll have a communication plan for our schools so that we make that very clear at the beginning of the school year and for our parents as
193well. Thank you for... And the follow up with the social and emotional impact about that. I'm sorry, say again. And also about the impact of the social and emotional. reaction that they might have absolutely so social emotional learning is one of the board's top objectives one of our six objectives in our strategic plan and so we are helping both our students and our teachers grasp concepts around social emotional learning it's not a subject that's just taught during a period of the day but it ought to be foundational in all of our classrooms so that children feel safe and feel respected and regarded and that they have a place to go if they need help or they have concerns that they want to share with someone so we've upped our social workers, as well as counselors
194in our schools so that we're prepared to help our young people deal with that. We understand so many of our children will need that extra support as well. Thank you for bringing that up. Thank you. Thank you. Member Castrodentil. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the public responses that have been shared with the board, both in person and in email. I understand the passionate responses when we advocate for our own kids. I know we have all been through a lot this year and we share in this challenging moment in history. Please know that we will all get through this as member Gould mentioned and we will be on the next pressing issue in a few months. I wanna make a few points before I share my thoughts on the policy before us. I
195hear the concerns regarding masks. when we stated that the district would continue to make our school community safer by making vaccines available and accessible half the folks in here though showed a thumbs down so i don't understand that we are we are not mandating vaccines but we sure don't want to create barriers to those who want them and i don't understand why so many want to prevent others from getting them okay Because of the vaccine, our grandparents are safer. Our parents are safer. Our employees and students 12 and older are safer and our community is safer. I mean, you can look at the COVID cases that are going down as our vaccination rates go up. I also want to make a point of clarification. OCPS is not attempting to mandate masks unless people are vaccinated.
196I heard that mentioned over and over. There is no mandate to vaccinate to attend our public schools. There is no vaccine mandate for teachers or employees. I appreciate the parents that parents look out for their own children. School boards, however, have to look out for all the kids in the schools. And the question that I grapple with today is how do we extend our support to the most vulnerable in our schools? How do we protect the rights of those who are the most susceptible to COVID to receive their public education? And I don't see a plan really to address them without using masks. As some of the speakers mentioned, they would like to see a reasonable mask policy. And I do too. I agree with the revised policy language. regarding masks being optional or voluntary
197for high schools, middle schools, teachers and adults, as well as voluntary for all when outdoors, at recess, at band, PE or in sports. But I still support the use of masks for elementary students until they have a vaccine available for those who want or need it. which I believe is going to be here in the fall. But with that said, I also recognize that some of the concerns mentioned today, which I believe we could still address, I want to recommend more frequent outdoor breaks for our elementary students so they can play and see each other's faces more often. We have an exemption process for the students who have sensory issues or have medical conditions preventing them from wearing masks. hundreds have been granted that this school year and i would want to see if we
198can expand the exemptions for those who are receiving speech and language services those with breathing difficulties and those exhibiting unmanageable anxiety regardless of which way the decision goes with the board i want to recommend that when our children return to school in the fall for their teachers to spend even more time dedicated to rebuilding relationships and friendships and community in their classrooms so that we can address some of the difficulties kids face during the pandemic. So seeing that I'm the only one right now who has expressed any hesitation with all optional going forward. I will defer to the board as a whole and I would support part B allowing our superintendent to use her judgment informed judgment when she speaks with Dr. Pino when they look at the rates of virus spread. And I just,
199I don't see how people could be opposed to that, but I would defer to the board. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Dr. Castrodentil. All right, let me close out this meeting with just a few comments. First of all, let me thank everyone who is still here with us today. As I said at the outset of this, I know that this is an issue that you feel passionately strong about. And while I am a rule follower, I am also a huge advocate for changing rules when they don't fit. made my political career on changing policies that I didn't believe fit against a lot of obstacles. So I respect enormously your passion and the reason that you're here. And I do think that everyone that is here is here because they are passionately interested in their
200children and all children's success and their best. I have no question of what your motivation is. I hope that maybe when all is said and done, you will believe that about, if not all of us, most of us here. I think that the only thing that I struggle with in this, I definitely think it's time for masks to be optional. I agree that parents should be able to make that choice to wear them and that they should be able to make that choice not to. I do have concerns. primarily for our children with disabilities who are potentially at the greatest risk. I don't know that there's going to be I'm trying to remember which board member said, I think most of you said that there's no solution that 100% fits everybody. But Dr. Jenkins, if
201there's a way that we can continue to look for opportunities to provide the highest level of safety in those classrooms that have disabled children who statistically do have a higher risk of of having greater challenges if they come in contact, that would be my strong desire that we put in place the least invasive measures to safeguard those students while we provide the rest of our students more flexibility. I believe strongly that mental health and emotional well-being is extremely important. In fact, I think as many of you have said, I think that that has taken a far greater toll. on our children across the nation this year than the impact of COVID. We've lost very few children to COVID. We've lost too many children to suicide. I may not feel as strongly as you do about
202masks being as detrimental to social communication, but I made the comment about Which was it was the nurse that was here about seeing her face I made it intentionally because I know it makes a difference to see somebody smile I have learned to read eyes as most of us have but nothing replaces a smile or a frown or what you can read from body language is extremely important I miss hugs okay that has nothing to do with math but I this has taken a toll on all of us but and I know our children are resilient and I believe in them but I also know that they're vulnerable at the same time and this has been a traumatic year for them so My hope is that we have turned the corner. My prayer is that
203we do not have some strain that finds itself resistant not only to the vaccines but also to the antibodies we've all built up. And that we never have to go through in our lifetimes or our children's lifetimes that we ever have to go through this again. So with that said, and I do want to comment that the superintendent communicates very well with this board before she makes decisions. I think probably the only decision I do not recall knowing about it in advance was locking in the face mask policy. until the end of July with the teachers union because that did not come to the board. That was done through a different process, and I'm not sure that I remember that, but with that one exception, I will say that the superintendent, while this policy gives
204her the authority to make a decision, the superintendent... takes her responsibility extremely seriously. And she also reports to the whole board. And so I feel much more comfortable than you probably do that she is not going to go out and slap the mask policy back on without having the support of this board. And we do not take this lightly. And we can all look in the rearview mirror and see coulda, shoulda, what might have been better. We are where we are today. And we're going to move forward. Most of you have been incredibly respectful in spite of your disappointment with us. And I greatly appreciate that. And my time is now up. And I better be respectful of that. So God bless you all. Thank you for being here. Peace be with you. and i'm
205not done because member gallo has a closing comment go ahead member gallo thank you thank you i don't have a closing comment i was just hoping that our general counsel could kind of explain the next steps and the legal process to which it goes through in case any anybody's worried that it will change between now and the 13th legally it can't and voting on it's basically a formality if she could just speak to that a little bit that's exactly right uh we are required to follow the chapter 120 florida statutes uh processes set forth regarding rulemaking so that That's why we had discussed at the very beginning of this that if you were to make any changes that were substantive to this particular policy, we'd have to re-advertise because you have not made any substantive
206changes to this policy. This is the policy. It will go forward. This is it. You will go forward with this. To be clear, this will be what comes back to us. This is it on July 13th. That is correct. But it still needs a final vote of approval on July 13th. With no other changes. Okay. All right. Very good. With that, Dr. Jenkins, any final comments or can we close? This meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.