SMFCSD Board Meeting 2022-06-28

001I can have roll call please. Nancy Brown. Sort of. Lisa Johnson-Bowers. Here. John Leisler. Here. Pamela Wynn. Here. Jessica Wright. Here. You'll please stand for the pledge. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I will now read the vision statement from our strategic plan. Everything we do is designed to provide a future-ready, student-centered learning experience for every single child. Our strategic plan for 2021 through 2026 will help us accomplish this goal by considering every facet of a student's learning experience. From curriculum to infrastructure to wellness, diversity and inclusion, and everything in between. Do I have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call please. Johnson-Bowers. Aye. Leisler. Aye. Wynn. Aye. Brown. Aye. Wright. Aye. All right. The first

002items on our agenda are... A couple of presentations. I will turn it over to Mr. Bratton for those. Thank you. First thing I wanted to do tonight is... It's been heavy on all of our hearts what happened in Uvalde. And I kind of just wanted to do a recap, a reset of the things that we have done and are doing and what we're looking to do going forward in the District for Safety and Security. And so if you can indulge me for 15 minutes or so, I'd like to go over that. The presentation will be on your... On your screens. I'm sorry, Tom. Can I... Please. Hold just for a second. Are you able to see that out there? They have a screen over there. Yeah, they're on. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. First of all,

003the Safety and Security Committee was formed in 2017 and it was made up of active board members, myself, the Assistant Superintendent, Director of Operations, Maintenance Supervisor, the Chief of Police and Chief of Fire from Monroe Falls, and Stowe, High School Principal, the Director of the School District, and the Director of the School District. And I'm going to go ahead and take a few minutes to introduce our speakers. I'm going to go ahead and take a few minutes to introduce our speakers. I'm going to go ahead and take a few minutes to introduce our speakers. I'm going to go ahead and take a few minutes to introduce our speakers. The Sales Manager was the District University Senior Principal, the Director of HR, and a Security Consultant. The purpose of the group was to work together to

004identify and design solutions for issues of safety and security in the district, work to assess our threat assessment issues at the time, build situational awareness, and define possible vulnerabilities. And so what we did is meet regularly to define those pieces of the security in the district. So what are we currently doing? In regards to our staff, we do ALICE train all of our staff, which is active shooter response training for all staff. This year we did situational awareness training with Dave LeCotte, who's a security specialist, and he trained all of our classified staff. In 17, we also created what are called TAMS teams, which are threat assessment management teams. Yeah, Bob, are you rotating through these? Yep. Sorry. I thought Laura gave these to you, Bob. Quick fix. I apologize. Okay, sent, Bob. You can

005continue on. We can play up on the slides, catch up. So the thing that we did was created TAMS teams that year. It was a new term and a new situation out there that we thought would be advantageous to bring back immediately. In regards to our students, we do obviously active fire drills and tornado drills. We also do ALICE training. We do a master's. We do a master's evacuation drill at the high school. And we have started as recently, as you know, started our hope squads at the different buildings for suicide awareness and suicide help to try to, you know, curb that. Did you get it, Bob? The first thing is that I'd like the board to know is that just recently they passed House Bill 123, which is the Safety and Violence Education Act.

006They call it the Save Students Act. Which now requires Ohio District serving grades 6 to 12 to create a TAMS team made up of administrators, mental health professionals, school resource officers, psychologists, and other necessary personnel. And what you need to understand is they've just passed that this year, but we've had that in place since 17. So we're good there. Now, the one thing that they did change about that is the TAMS teams always have to get trained once every three years. They need a refresher in training. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. We can do that refresher through our public school works. The House Bill does allow that and approves of that training that they give on that program. There is no cost associated with this program. And we have had, again, the TAMS teams

007in every single building, including all of our elementary buildings, since 2017, well before it became law. What else are we currently doing or what have we done? Okay. Okay. Good luck, Bob. Okay. Building access. We addressed building access, if everybody remembers that. We put in security vestibules. We put in swipe card access in all of our main building doors. We also have the Raptor visitor check-in process, which everyone has to give an ID before they enter the building as a visitor and then they receive a badge. All of our volunteers get BCI and FBI backgrounds checked. And we did check this morning just on the numbers of how many volunteers we used last year. Okay. Actually, not last year, but 2018 when it was more of a normal year. And it was definitely between 900

008and 1,000 volunteers in the district. Yeah, which are all volunteers. So that was amazing. We've used window and security, window and door security graphics, updating 24-7 security cameras. We've repaired PA and phone systems and make sure that they are now linked to our police and fire stations. We have school resource officers. We have a lot of them in all of our buildings. As you know, the elementaries, they rotate around the high school and middle school. And 80% of Lakeview, they have a stationary person there because of what they're teaching at Lakeview. And the SRO vehicles are parked outside the main doors as a deterrent to remind people that we do have officers on duty. I thought this would be interesting, and I'm really hoping that Bob can get this up on the screen. Any luck,

009Bob? No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. That's what we're on is who has SROs and how are they funded. That's the slide that we're on. There we go. Next one down. Yep. So just so that the board is aware, right now we pay well over $200,000 a year for our SRO officers each year. And this is paid 100% by the school district. Now this isn't for regular security at football games and basketball games and concerts or board meetings or anything like that this is simply for the officers that are on duty all day long I thought the board would find it interesting

010what they do at different school districts so we kind of did a survey of who does what and how it's paid for and as you can see they're used from anywhere from the city paying for completely for the SROs to splitting it with the cities to a wellness fund some of them are just like we are that use completely the general fund one group Revere has a Revere foundation that's how they pay for it and they raise the funds to do that one district doesn't have any SROs and so it's kind of all over the place but I always get asked that question how are how are school districts other than us doing it and you know who's paying for it so this would be a good slide to reference as well you the other

011things that we're currently doing in our buildings outside of our buildings we work with local drug and law enforcement we have the drug dogs in once a year unannounced at the high school to practice our lockdowns we have to act we have had two active shooter trainings in collaboration with the FBI and surrounding law enforcement one was at the high school and one was at Kempton they are planning another one hopefully before the end of the summer place to be most likely Kempton or Lakeview because the high school pretty much shut down for the year right now we've conducted Alice training conducted by the Stowe Police Department for all of our staff and since going one-to-one with technology we work in tandem with the local officers to help locate students and offer insight with notifications

012we receive in relation to grief harm notifications in other words when we something pops up on our radar and the screens regarding suicide talk or self-harm that notifies the building administrator we are able to then jump in contact the parents and get those students with a counselor we have partnered with David LeCotte who specializes in crime intelligence analysis and Homeland Security and he is really he brought he came in and trained actually all the officers at Stowe and Monroe Falls on threat assessment external threat assessment for the buildings and he's going to be creating a lack of a better term a rubric for each building to be used on where we're vulnerable and where you know what looks good compared to to his research we will be making those corrections as those recommendations come in

013as Pamela knows we also work with the mental health coalition collaboration with the city of Stowe and nonprofit organizations to address the suicide issue and mental health issues that we have because it's not just a school system or city issue it's a both issue it's a person issue so we're trying to tackle that together again the hope squads and a few years back we did a safety forum with the SMF families and local community at Lakeview and we also had the head of security services for Homeland Security Tim DelVecchio there to present as well with our police chiefs our communication piece we try to use our social media our website and school messenger and remind 101 for texting and alerting parents and keeping them up to date it didn't just stop at our school buildings

014though we feel like this was a huge advantage for us being able to put in GPS monitoring and the app via transversa ride 360 to keep our kids safe we made a ton of changes to our protocols in the transportation department we're getting notified sooner out there to the parents cutting down on shuttles and when and we've also cut down on empty buses because we're getting a lot of cooperation from parents back saying yes I qualify for a ride but Johnny is not going to need the ride so we take them off of there and so that we can limit the amount of buses that are going out for empty routes we have given pre-k-7 students all of them have individual identification cards and the goal for next year is to finish up the other

015grades so by the end of next school year all all students will have that identification card families can now because of the app see where their students are alive and made aware of any delays or problems in student life and we'll start the next school year with this process. or changes on bus routes as they happen. And drivers are equipped with that new training program and protocol, and they use that a lot now to hopefully provide real-time updates to what's going on with routes. And so we're trying to get better at that. That still needs to improve, but we're trying to figure out different ways to be able to do that. We have done some grants in the past. A small one for SROs coming to the state for threat assessment training, 500-hour grant. We

016utilized the $27,000 grant to upgrade camera placement, mostly at the high school and at Kempton right now. And we are looking for a huge radio grant that allows all buildings in the district to be in contact on the same channel, as well with the police and fire, that that would be a separate channel to be operating on. Last year, we also had a $36,000 security camera grant for buses. What people probably don't realize is that each one of those cameras, let's say in the high school, to be effective, they're usually between $2,000 and $3,000 per camera. And that does not include all the wiring that needs to go on to the servers that they run on. You might see this in your legislative updates, but there is a $100 million grant coming from the Ohio

017legislatures to be used for capital expenditures only. And what they kept reiterating is, is unfortunately you can't use any of that money for... SROs. It's only for stuff, cameras and servers and whatnot. So that was kind of a letdown to us when we heard that, because a lot of people were trying to figure out how to increase the amount of SROs in the buildings. This one I'm not gonna read to you, but we've spent upwards of $500,000 since 2020 on these different topics, anywhere from SROs to door access software, to door licenses, to the keypad readers, cameras, PA systems, all those type of things, the Raptor systems, et cetera. What is coming in the future? As I mentioned before, additional training for the TAMS teams. Again, we're working with Dave LeCotte on a suspicious awareness

018training for all of our certified teachers. And then we're also, the parents will be seeing a new thing called Parent Square is being rolled out this year, which will replace the parent square, which will replace the parent square, which will replace the parent square, which will replace the parent square, which will replace many of our messaging and communication tools, so that families will have a one-stop shop for all important communications from the district. And we're pretty excited about that one. What else is coming? We had a meeting this morning on fingerprinting because our volunteers all need to be fingerprinted, as you're well aware. We think that there is an area that was being overlooked because of our bus shortage and our transportation shortage. A lot of times parents are having to drive kids to events.

019And one of the things that we talked about, is, instead of just allowing anybody to drive our kids, and making sure that whoever they're getting into a car with, as opposed to just the signing the waiver, has fingerprints and is okay for the child to be in the car with. And so, I met with the police chiefs this morning, and they believe that things like that, the volunteers at band camp, any time that a student has an opportunity to be alone with a parent, ought to be a BCI FBI. And then we're also, you know, double checking on the Raptor system because we believe that the Raptor system is BCI FBI immediate which means if that is the case then we wouldn't have to fingerprint our classroom volunteers anymore as long as they're that we

020are using the Raptor as they come in so that because that would tell us immediately if there's a red flag we're exploring new keyfab entry locations at a couple of our buildings in conjunction with the police departments they they would like increased access at some of the doors that don't have those key fobs those are expensive each one is of anywhere between ten and twelve thousand dollars that's why it's not just an easy thing of saying hey let's just throw up a bunch of new ones because it gets really pricey very quickly as I mentioned before we are gonna be exploring new radio systems camera upgrades and additional active shooter training and that kind of brings you up to speed as to even our safety and security meeting today and you know we're going to

021be doing a lot of things that we're going to be doing today and we're going to be doing a lot of things that we're going to be doing what we've done and where we are so any questions or comments yeah so mentioned dr. LeCotte quite often yes is he helping us as I mean I know he's doing it because he's a good guy but is he just a partnership with the University of Akron or are we paying him a stipend we are not paying him stipend he is volunteering his time okay yes and for those that don't know dr. LeCotte he is the head of the department of the criminal justice department at the University of Akron and works with Homeland Security as well as the FBI and local police departments and doing training and

022assessments all over the place also a former board member and a former board member correct and a student in my very first earth science class in Ashtabula really no kidding he was he used to be a little that party didn't know yep so that concludes my first presentation is I didn't see dr. Hartman come in the new key new entry points is that something we might be able to use those yes correct yeah that would be considered capital so anything like that camera upgrades the radio systems which are terribly expensive especially those marks radios we would those would all be eligible for that grant any additional questions or comments will it be possible to have that accessible to everyone? yes we will put that on the website great thank you I just wanted to say

023thank you you're welcome you're welcome any other questions on that okay I didn't see dr. Hartman come in I don't believe he did okay he was going to be here Bob do you have the video we had if you know David Lee he is at the high school he he did the other video that we went to that night on the football player on the football player what was it lines broken right he directed that and he agreed to work with our incredible track athletes as they were going to these national tournaments and winning left and right and being the best in the entire country and I believe he put together a short three-minute documentary for us to look at this evening so I'd like to share that this evening as well winning a first-ever

024state championship was amazing I'm going to go ahead and get this done. but they wanted more they trained and worked hard to leave a great legacy behind they wanted to win a national championship final straightaway for Stowman row they're going to take this section how quick in the time being it's unreal yeah definitely like you know at the end of the day like some people's eardrums you know voices go out you know you can hear your family cheering for you and all that you know that's my favorite part and because of their heart and soul the Stowman row falls boys track team won not one but two national championships 星 MLB voila Stowman Row football Stowman Row Stowman Row in the 800 meter Texas Sprint Medley Relay. And the 4x400 meter relay team of Dustin

025Horner, Brian Turner, Bryce Turner, and Xavier Preston won the other national championship on the final day of competition. This, all just days after winning the school's first ever state title in the 4x200 relay in Columbus. Also, Zach Shawala earned All-American honors as a member of the 1600 meter Sprint Medley Relay team. The girls team showcased outstanding performances as well. The 1600 Sprint Medley Relay team of Sydney Shepard, Alexa Balasino, Kendra Cassaday, and Jayla Atkinson finished 10th. And the 4x800 relay team of Cassaday, Sydney Pitkovich, Dina Ingrassia, and Ashley K. Atkinson finished 15th. Meanwhile, the trip to Philadelphia wasn't all business. The Rocky Steps and cheese steaks were two of the things that we had talked about early on. It's things that the kids kept asking about. They're like, oh, I need a cheese steak when

026we're there. So what's the secret to the team's success? Easy, having fun. Especially when it comes to Preston interviewing his teammates about their favorite Chipotle orders. White bread! I'm like, you know, you got pork and white rice, you're done. You're done. All right. White rice. Oh, this interview's over. The bottom line is that these athletes know how to win big. And they know how to have big fun. So those guys just fought hard for it. It was the perfect end to the season. The end that we knew we were capable of, but we just hadn't seen yet. And those guys just dug deep and they found it there for us. So the entire trip was absolutely incredible. So we certainly want to congratulate all the athletes and the coaches. It doesn't get any better. And

027they are the best in the country. And we're really, really proud of them. And they were the best in the state first. So congratulations to all the athletes and the coaches. And thank you to David Lee for doing the video. Thank you for sharing that. Okay. The next item on our agenda is comments from the audience. Citizens have an opportunity. To bring their concerns before the Board of Education. All comments should be directed to the Board. Individuals presenting concerns and or questions to the Board may not receive complete answers this same evening. The Board will study and consider your concern. And we'll either have a Board member or a central office administrator contact you as soon as the information you require is available. Comments must be relevant to an agenda item. Citizens will have the

028opportunity to comment on non-agenda items at the end of the meeting. Comments will be limited to no longer than three minutes. We do have. We do have a few questions. A microphone here at the end of the stage. You're welcome to use. As you come to the microphone with you please give us your name and your address. And I will do my best to give you about a 30 second warning as you get close to your three minutes. Oh is it working? Last I heard it was no longer working. Yeah. No. Hi. My name is Rachel Jamison. 2187 West 95th Street Cleveland, Ohio. I am the Vice President of State. I'm the President of Stowe Collaboration for Change. We're a group of alumni. We received the following statement from a parent of a non-binary pansexual

029elementary school student who wished to remain anonymous to protect their child. Here's their statement. I'm the parent of a non-binary pansexual elementary school student in the district and I am terrified. I support my child. I love my child fiercely. I have witnessed the pure joy in my child's face and how they have bloomed now that they have found the word that describes them and how they feel inside. Thank you. Thank you. And I've been able to embrace their new identity and community. But I am scared. All of this has been happening at home with a couple of trusted friends because already at their young age they know that publicly expressing who they are is not safe for them. Their exact quote was, I'm not telling them because they won't like me anymore. Do you know

030how that feels? Do you know that to lose your friends and face bullying just by outwardly being who you are on the inside? My child's library doesn't have any of that. They don't have any books on LGBTQIA topics or featuring LGBTQIA characters. Other school libraries in the district have wonderful selections of LGBTQIA books but librarians that are prevented from highlighting those books by administration. Students have been subject to bullying based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. And when staff send the perpetrators to the principal, the bullies come right back to class after nothing more than a talk. Or when the students report the bullying themselves, they're told by staff and administrators that I'm sure they didn't really mean it like that. Hello, my name is Aaron Yeager. I'm the secretary of

031Stoke Collaboration for Change and I live at 733 West Market Street in Akron. I'm continuing the previous statement and will resume where Rachel left off. This resolution looks good, referring to the pride resolution on the agenda tonight. It feels good, but I have zero confidence in this district to follow through with it. And to value and protect my child and others like them. Why should I? You've spent the last two years listening to firsthand accounts of racism in the district and no substantial change has taken place. In fact, members of the board have spoken out against any such recognition of or focus on anti-racism efforts. Dozens of current and former students have shared their accounts of sexual harassment and bullying. And I'm sure you've all heard the same thing on Instagram. And no change has

032taken place. In fact, the student that started it is no longer running it because of repercussions they experienced from staff at the high school. These students aren't lying. They're sharing traumatic experiences with you and nothing has changed to make a safe learning environment for them. So I don't at all believe that this resolution will affect the positive change that it's hoping to. It requires follow through. It requires a lot of work. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. It requires a lot of effort. And district leadership has shown time and time again that they

033will knowingly and willingly drop the ball and fall back to the status quo. So tell me, please, what should I as a parent say or do to convince my child and myself that they are safe and valued at their school? We are new to being an LGBTQIA family. My child isn't out. I don't know what the next years are going to look like, but I can tell you that I'm not safe in this community. I don't feel like my child is safe at school or out in our city. And short of moving and ripping all my kids away from their only home, neighbors, friends, and city they've ever known, I don't know what else to do. So here I am, writing to you anonymously, begging you to care enough to protect my kid and all

034the others like them. To make them feel safe at school. 30 seconds. Valued at school and accepted at school. Thank you. My name is Rebecca Alexander, 187 Foxhorn Drive, Monroe Falls, Ohio. And I am gay. And that's not the exact title I would use, but for the purpose of not confusing everybody on the stage, I am gay. When I was in high school, if you were gay, you weren't. This was during the era of don't ask, don't tell. And we learned that being gay made you different. Made you weird. And in high school, it's already hard enough, so why would you add another target onto your back? So when I was in high school, no one was gay. Here we are two decades later and dozens of my peers are married to same-sex partners in

035same-sex relationships and supporting the LGBTQIA community. And I think about how unsafe they must have felt when they were in high school. And I think about how unsafe I felt when I was at Stowe High School. And I think about how unsafe I felt when I was at Stowe High School. And I think about how unsafe I felt when I was at Stowe High School. And I think about how much everyone had to conceal and hide and fear. And I just want to emphasize to all of you, we're not here today to stir the pot or to villainize any of you. We're not here to rabble-rouse or because we enjoy being at the school board meeting. It's not the way I want to spend my time, but we're here because we honest to God, and

036I mean this with every fiber of my being, we want things to be different. We just want things to be different. They want to be different. They want to be different. They want to be different. They want to be different. They were for us, and we've heard from so many students who are still in school today that they aren't, that they just aren't, that they don't feel safe. They don't feel safe being gay. They don't feel safe being a minority student, and we just want things to be different. So I'm just hoping regarding today's resolution, I'm praying, I'm hoping that you all can find common ground, common language, and that you can pass an action-oriented resolution that makes this school a place that accepts and supports the community. So I just want to thank everyone.

037Thank you. Hi, my name's Pat Dembo. I'm at 1850 Algonquin Place in Kent, Ohio. I am reading on behalf of Carrie Sue Hadlnick, the parent. First, I want to thank Dr. Wind for initiating this pride resolution. As a parent of a queer student in the district, I have first-hand experience with what they are up against, and it's not pretty. I'm thankful for the idea of honoring the month, but let me be clear. A resolution is not a good thing. A resolution in name only without any meaningful action is simply not enough to protect the LGBTQIA students and staff of the district. Dr. Wind has provided the data. Please don't look the other way at the statistics. Show your students that you stand by all of them. Take action. Thank you. Hi, I'm Mary Momper, 4242

038Heil Road Stowe. Children are a gift of the Lord. The first public schools were created to teach children the ability to read the Bible, create godly morals, kindness, learn mathematics, spelling, writing, history, etc. Our public schools should be teaching our children many of the goals of the first public schools, preparing children, students with a successful vocation and moral integrity. Shouldn't you be concerned with evaluating how the Stowe students performed on their proficiency test? The U.S. World Economies reported this year the United States education is ranked the highest in the United States. The U.S. World Economies reported this year the United States education is ranked the highest in the United States. The U.S. World Economies reported this year the United States education is ranked the highest in the United States. The or What does celebrating Pride

039Week have to do with educating and preparing our children to be productive citizens? Nothing. I frankly don't understand why everybody has to know what people's sexual preferences are. The homosexual activist groups are seeking to normalize behavior that has led to physical and emotional harm for students. The Ohio Revised Code 2919.22 and Ohio Revised Code 2919.24 prohibits endangering children and also prohibits encouraging a child in a manner as to injure others or himself. I personally am aware of Stowe students 11 years old of who are now confused about their gender. When has that ever happened before? The LGBTQ agenda is indoctrinating. It is indoctrinating our children into a certain lifestyle that can have dire consequences. I personally feel the Stowe-Monroe Falls School System the board is violating the Ohio Revised Code and is endangering our children

040and I hope that you'll take time to read that code. Thank you. My name is Jerry Bedio. I live at 41550 Sage Street in Stowe. I'm here because I missed the last board meeting and just recently watched it online. I'm confused about every time we want to make a change we start passing resolutions such as proposed seems like a lot of verbiage and to what end. Maybe a worthless piece of paper to make you think you're doing some good. It seems that the public school system here in Stowe and other communities have lost sight of proper education. What I mean by that is it seems that we are more concerned with the world indoctrination and political views rather than that of education. What is wrong with teaching our children the basics of reading, writing, math,

041science, and especially how the government works so that they can be knowledgeable, productive students? It also should be that discipline as to how they behave in respect of others in the school system, which we have a numerous amount of policies, not that of the propaganda of the outside world, and to be politically correct in jumping off on a bandwagon. You know, we've had organizations like the BLM Mothers that were here not too long ago. We all know that. We all know that. You know, when they got their way, you don't see them. They don't do anything. Now we have this group, and we have the same circumstances. We have policies which should be implemented, not overruled by students as we have had in the past years that I have seen because of social issues. It

042seems that we are going backwards instead of forwards in the advancement of social issues. Many of us, who are in my age category or have studied history, many years ago, persons of color had to use separate bathrooms, sit at the back of the bus, and could not vote. Here we are again. I thought we are better than that today. It is the same indoctrination for political reasons that this has become such a bitter issue. Thirty seconds. Thank you. Thank you. You have 30 seconds if you want to. You have 30 seconds if you want to continue. Well, I only have one last statement. No one can choose their genetic structure when they were born, although cosmetically it can be allowed. I've seen it starting with the little ones by social propaganda as to programs they

043watch on the TV, in their comic books, in their stories, and in the cartoons that they read. I have heard the saying somewhere before. I don't know where. Be careful what you wish for, for it may come back to haunt you. Thank you. Hi. My name is Doron Chadsey, and I live at 4863 Bayside Lake Boulevard in Stowe. I didn't even have any idea what this agenda was tonight, and I was going to speak on a different topic, but I think I can tie it in quite nicely in the beginning. First of all, I vehemently disagree with the last couple of speakers. I will tell you that all of my kids went to Stowe High School. They learned a lot. They're all. They're all very prolific in their careers. The reason I'm here tonight is

044because I want to thank the board for a wonderful school year. Again, my kids have been out of school since 2013, but I have two exchange students that lived here last year with me, and the school did a wonderful, phenomenal job for those kids. Their parents wrote to me just yesterday when I told them I was coming to the board tonight and said the best year of their life. They've met many diverse people in our school. They saw what America is. One's from Korea and one's from Spain. And they saw the diversity, and they acknowledged that diversity and felt very good about it. The reason I'm here, again, I didn't have any idea. I never heard of your group. I know Ms. Bedio. I don't know about the other folks, but I think I needed

045to speak up and spend most of my three minutes to talk about the disagreement that I have. Part of life is to really learn about each other and the cultural differences that we might have and the social differences that we might have. And to me, I think that's what I'm here for. I think that's what I'm here for. I think that's what I'm here for. I think that's what I'm here for. And I think it's really important that our school districts show the vision that we should have as a district to include all of our kids, regardless of their differences. Someone spoke a minute ago about the back of the bus. Well, the reality is probably many of these kids today that are part of this group that you talked about feel like they're at

046the back of the bus. Perhaps they're not even on the bus. And I think we need to take ourselves out of our own little box and ask ourselves, when's the last time I talked to maybe a non-binary person, probably don't know anybody like that? And so, again, I apologize for not spending the time. I'm going to hurry up because I want to get these other good comments about the wonderful job that our district did this year with my two exchange students. And I'd like to call out a couple of great, great teachers from administrators, counselors, the athletic department who got these kids involved with things. They came two days before. School started. They got them enrolled. They quickly got them involved in sports. 30 seconds. Okay. One got a letter in soccer, and one got

047a letter in bowling. And if it wasn't for the great staff and students and teachers and the education that they got, they left America thinking what a great country we are because of the inclusiveness and diversity that I think all of our students and our teachers and our administrators showed. So thank you for the good job that you did. I wish I had more time, but I felt this was important to talk about the other issue first. So thanks very much. Thank you. Do we have any other comments this evening? Okay. Thank you all for your comments today. So the next item on our agenda is an executive session for the purpose of considering the employment of a public employee. Do I have a motion to move into executive session? So moved. Second. Any discussion?

048Roll call, please. Leisler. Aye. Nguyen. Aye. Brown. Aye. Johnson-Bowers. Aye. Wright. Aye. We're in executive session at 6.45. We will continue the rest of our agenda following that executive session. We are back from executive session. It's my understanding the track team was given the or there was a miscommunication with regard to the time for the beginning of our meeting this evening. So at this point, I would entertain a motion to amend tonight's agenda to include a second presentation with regard to our track team. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Quickly. Who was the first? The first and the second. John was the second. Pamela was the first. Okay. Johnson-Bowers. Aye. Leisler. Aye. Nguyen. Aye. Brown. Wright. Aye. Mr. Bratton, over to you. Okay. At this time, I would like to bring up Dr.

049Hartman to introduce our program. Come on up, folks. So we have members of the girls and boys team here. Come on down. Yeah. Come on up, folks. So we have members of the girls and boys team here. Come on down. Yeah. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Come on up, folks. Yeah. Are we doing the video again or no? Yes, no. Don't have to. Have the students seen it? They have not seen it. Well, then, in that case, let's roll. All right. So pay attention to the big screens. You

050want to introduce us? Can you turn me so I can see it? Yes. You're good? Winning a first ever state championship was amazing, but they wanted more. They trained and worked hard. to leave a great legacy behind. They wanted to win a national championship. Final straightaway for Stowe Monroe. They're going to take this section. How quick can the time be? It's unreal. Yeah, definitely. Like, you know, at the end of the day, like some people's eardrums, you know, start ringing. People's voices go out. You know, you can hear your family cheering for you and all that. You know, that's my favorite part. And because of their heart and soul, the Stowe Monroe Falls boys track team won not one, but two national championships. Hurricane spot, if not the win. This is weird. It's going to

051surprise a lot of people, but I think the most fun of it out of running is the four by four. I don't like the four by four. I've always hated it, but, you know, I got put in and I was, the coach was like, deal with it. Oh, the best thing ever. That's right. He worked so hard for us. We grinded. This is actually, this is our second time running this event. We ran it previously. It was a storm. It was not that great of a time. I was glad. Weather was good. We got out here just to show. We really could do it. But really, when I mean blood, sweat, and tears went into this, it really did. Competing in the prestigious New Balance Nationals Outdoor Championship at the University of Pennsylvania's famous Franklin

052Field in Philadelphia. Stowe's team of Brian Turner, Vance Shepard, Xavier Preston, and Dustin Horner won the national championship in the 800 meter Texas Sprint Medley Relay. And the four by four, 400 meter relay team of Dustin Horner, Brian Turner, Bryce Turner, and Xavier Preston won the other national championship on the final day of competition. This all just days after winning the school's first ever state title in the four by 200 relay in Columbus. Also, Zach Shawala earned all American honors as a member of the 1600 meter Sprint Medley Relay team. The girls team showcased outstanding, awaiting their summer performances as well. The 1600 sprint medley, relay team of Sydney Shepard, Alexa Balocino, Kendra Cassiday, and Jayla Atkinson finished 10th and the four by 800 relay team of Cassiday, Sydney Pitt-covitch, Dena Ingrassia, and Atkinson finished

05315th. Meanwhile, the trip to Philadelphia wasn't all business. The Rocky steps and cheese steaks,assex.com. talked about early on as things that the kids kept asking about. They're like, oh, I need a cheesesteak when we're there. So what's the secret to the team's success? Easy, having fun, especially when it comes to Preston interviewing his teammates about their favorite Chipotle orders. White rice. You got pork and white rice. You're done. You're done. All right. The bottom line is that these athletes know how to win big and they know how to have big fun. So those guys just fought hard for it. It was the perfect end to the season, the end that we knew we were capable of, but we just hadn't seen yet. And those guys just dug deep and they found it there for us.

054So the entire trip was absolutely incredible. So congratulations to everybody. Dustin and... Brian, if you can come up. Our state senator, Christina Rogner, has sent these to you from Columbus. If you want to come up and grab them. And then we have ones for Xavier. So well done, everybody. Coaches, do you have anything that you want to say? Any shout outs? You don't have to. It's okay. Yes, you do. Hi, everybody. I am Coach Herbert. I am the assistant coach on the boys' side. Also the sprint coach, primarily with the boys. But Coach Morris and myself work with both our boys' and our girls' sprint squads with Coach JK handling the distance side of things. I just want to say how proud we are of these athletes and the ones that weren't able to attend

055tonight as well. Xavier has a... He has... I'm blanking on the word. College visit. Thank you. He has a college visit at Southern Illinois University today. So I know he wanted to be here for this, but we're really excited for him to have that opportunity. And then Bryce and Zee weren't able to make it either. So we also have folders from Christina Rogner recognition for Bryce and Xavier, who are part of that state championship four by two team with Brian and Dustin. But this was an incredible group. They did really, really well this year. That four by four capping off that national team. Throughout the year, we broke the school record for the first time during Coach LeSeur and my time here at Stowe. So this year in that four by four and the record

056was at three minutes and 22 seconds. And if you saw the times that were up there at the end of the video, we ended at three minutes, 15.78 seconds. So oftentimes in this sport, we measure success on the 10th or even 100th of a second. And so to see an improvement that was over six seconds in an event is absolutely incredible. It just goes to show the hard work that all of these athletes, both these girls and the boys, have put in. So we're just incredibly proud of them. And we thank you guys for recognizing them here tonight. So a special thanks to JK LeSeur, Aaron Morris and Doug Herbert, who are on staff with us at the high school, who are also coaches for these tremendous folks. The voice that you heard, did you

057get into video journalism at all, Mr. Bratton? I just talked about David Lee Morgan. That was his video. If you want to say something, please. Sure. So David Lee Morgan is one of our new staff members that we hired at the beginning of last year. David Lee has a significant background in journalism and he's agreed to take over our video journalism class. And so the other day I walked in and I saw Mr. Bird, Doug and David Lee in his classroom and they were using Final Cut Pro. They were narrating. They were doing all the things that our kids are going to do in this video journalism class coming up, including the interviews that you're going to see, some of the conversation we had at the last board meeting about community. And so they're all

058going to be kind of funneled through the video journalism class and they have a great mentor. They have a great platform. A lot of good collaboration. And we appreciate the support for the board and for Mr. Braddon to make that all happen so our kids can do some really cutting-edge stuff. So thank you. Thank you, Dr. Hartman. At this time, can I have the ladies and gentlemen and the coaches come up on stage so that we can get you on video and congratulate you. Congratulations. okay the next item on our agenda is the consent agenda mr. Branton you have any preliminary comments hey if I could say one thing absolutely I had written down on my notes about honoring the athletes but you know they you guys who went to the state and to the

059nationals it's amazing but but what I didn't notice on that video where were the coaches and so I know this is all about the kids and you did an amazing thing but I want you guys to acknowledge the fact that there is a person there every single practice pushing you there is a person who stayed up at night thinking about how they could do and get you to move to a different level and you know it's not easy to do that and I know they're you know proudest punches you but but I really want to take the time to thank the coaches for doing what you do every day and this is of course you know you know it's a great thing to do and I think it's a great thing to do and I

060think it's important to welcome you to campus to celebrate the fruits of your labor so thank you thank you all for being here tonight too and giving us the opportunity to recognize you all right at this time I would like to recommend the Board of Education proof consent you're welcome to go if you'd like or you can just a consent agenda items B through P also at this time I would like to read the name and information of the donations listed in the consent agenda donations from Susan bulk donated $1,000 to the gridiron club at the high school Kasten LLC also known as handles ice cream donated $86 towards student rewards to Fish Creek Elementary Dairy Queen and Stowe donated 48 boxes of dilly bars to Echo Hills Elementary Don Ebert donated one Purell hand

061sanitizer to Highland Elementary School and Sarah Gibson donated one exercise ball to Lakeville Lakeview Intermediate School just wanted to mention the retirements as well in the agenda tonight we have one that I would like to mention and that is Kendra Joe's who's not leaving until after this coming school year but she did put in her notice and she's retiring as language arch teacher effective June 5th 2023 with 35 years of service and Stowe Kendra was hired in 1988 as an intervention specialist at Lakeview Intermediate School and she was hired as a language arts teacher at Lakeview Intermediate School and she then transferred to Kempton for three years went back to Lakeview for two years and then in 1995 she went back to Kempton and remained there to complete her 35 years of service as a

062language arts teacher Kendra is an exemplary employee and she will be greatly missed and we certainly wish her the best of luck in her retirement and we will also be bringing her in for the retiree things that we do throughout the year so thank you mr. Joseph any additional comments mr. Bratton no ma'am do I have a motion to approve this consent agenda so moved second any discussion okay roll call please wind aye Brown Johnson Bowers aye Leisler aye right aye the next item on our agenda is the treasurer's consent agenda mr. Gummery do you have any preliminary comments once I have a first and second I'll give a few short comments do I have a motion to approve the treasurer's consent agenda so moved second all right discussion the funds that we're creating are

063a funds that the booster group are taking their operation and kind of peeling back some of their operation they're going to be donating their current balances to these to the what's called the 300 account at the district which means that basically we'll have to be operating under the district's format of POS Rex and those other items based for coaches it may be a change for coaches but mr. mr. Gummery that's under a new business shoot sorry that's a new business that's a new business that's a new business it's okay never mind now I'll do the variance report it's perfect yeah when I look at the variance report one of the main things I like to look at is the variance of above or below two percent and as currently right now in this month our

064expenditures are off or that estimate is off by point one percent which is point zero zero one I find that I find that for myself pretty good we're also difference on revenue of at this point one point five three percent which given the states's changes this year and their inability to correctly pay us for six months and then go through the I guess recount as they would say quite pleased with that one good one good note financially which is always fun to discuss is currently as of today I talked with Scott Campbell regarding the cafeteria and they are going to bring in in total roughly 3.4 million with expenses only being about 2.2 million that sounds like a wonderful number but problem is we were coming in with 392 thousand of negative cash so we're

065really with that good amount we're gonna have about 785 thousand in cash and surplus in the cafeteria which would be the first time in a number of years I do want to say that was mainly due to the COVID funding for breakfast and lunch so but also a change in the cafeteria structure and food doesn't hurt and I commend them for going on the right direction that's all I have you any questions or comments for mr. Gummery hey roll call please Brown Johnson Bowers I Leisler I win I right moving on to treasurer's new business do I have a motion to approve the creation of new funds so moved second all right you can continue with your discussion I think I well in the process of the boosters kind of changing what they're doing they

066were asked like well what funds do you have to make sure we can have that to donate to those that you guys operate in the area and I think that's a good point so you're just making a decision to do a conscious application on how you make sure it operates we're just creating funds to hold those the I think the ice hockey right now is a club designation they should know but Tracy Tracy right sake is on the booster group and she's very in tune to how the district works in regards to POS Rex and things of that nature so so will these funds strictly be used for booster donations or will they also be used for general nope their these monies to their 300 accounts so the monies are going to be going into

067these actual sports listed names so like the tennis boys are listed on the one fund it's only gonna be for the tennis boys and it's gonna be managed through the athletic office so these are booster club accounts nope nope boosters are taking their entire booster group manage funds and they are donating them to the district to the sports of which they currently hold a balance on okay so they're redoing their yes any other questions or comments roll call please Johnson Bowers hi Weisler all right wind hi Brown right I have a motion to approve the agreement I need a first and second so moved second discussion I think it's self-explanatory this is for the to be used just generally in the district or specifically for yes when I looked at it it's just the they

068have D o T testing breath alcohol testing there's a fear mobile I know when a bus drivers in an accident or a district person that's driving whether it be a van or bus it's mandatory that they take this test because they want to make sure if they're under the influence of anything that it's done that so any questions or comments roll call please Weisler aye wind Brown Johnson Bowers right hi next item do I have a motion to approve the resolution 119-22 of necessity of emergency levy so moved second Mr. Gummery hold on in discussion with the board when we were really modeling the the levy we came up with a millage along with that was into a dollar figure of eight million dollars and then millage backed into about 6.93 now since that modeling

069has happened we've had a fair number of challenges to our property values both residential and commercial and because of the change in the state law those were although we typically don't fight residential i don't think we've had it here at once we've lost some serious ones in commercial because of covid and how they're able to claim that and property values really kind of be be deemed valued and again the best we can do is challenges but not to our success so now as we sit today when you send in and we pass the eight million it was discovered that that was going to be a higher millage and we talked about it and on the board's input and their knowledge within the community that it was decided 6.93 mils and back into the dollar amount

070would be the better idea for the new money levy and that's what this urgent necessity is we'll have to have a meeting in july to approve ballot language and so we'll have to discuss that later on any questions or comments roll call please win aye brown aye johnson bowers aye leisler aye wright aye next item fiscal year 23 temporary appropriations do i have a motion to approve so moved second mr comrie every year we're mandated to do temporary appropriations at the end of june to cover august or july august and september which permanents are for that year are determined to be must be done by september 30th this is a setting up for the first quarter so we're legally allowed to spend money any discussion yeah roll call please brown johnson bowers aye leisler aye

071wind aye right aye thank you next item on our agenda is superintendent's recommendation mr breton i know you like to give preliminary comments the first item is building is for elections right um the summit county board of elections needs to use the same rules as the president used echo hills woodland and kempton at no cost for a pre-election meeting on august 1st uh 2022 and for public voting on august 2nd obviously we will not be in session we will not have staff nor students in the building so this is asking for that permission do i have a motion to approve so moved second any further discussion roll call please johnson bowers aye leisler aye wind aye brown right aye Thank you. The second item is a little bit different. And I'm sure you've been reading

072in your legislative updates about the dyslexia handbook and the changes that have come from the legislature on how we need to educate our students. So we did not have the proper materials to be able to comply with their mandate. And so I'm asking the Board of Education to approve this adoption without a second reading due to the limited time frame of ordering the textbooks. In other words, we need to order them now in order to get them in so that we can start on day one with them here. This rush is because of new legislation on dyslexia and the newly legislative approved dyslexia handbook. So we did have a first reading on this. This would be without going to third reading? Correct. Do I have a motion to approve the phonics textbook adoption? So moved.

073Second. Any additional comments, questions, concerns? It's exciting to watch the pendulum swing back. Right. That's what I'm saying. Right. It's about time. What is old is new. For those of us who do. Roll call, please. Leisler. Aye. Wind. Aye. Brown. Aye. Johnson-Bowers. Aye. Wright. Aye. Thank you. Item C is the MOU between the Stoneman-Royal Falls Board of Education and the Stowe Teachers Association regarding the RIF and suspension of contracts. This addresses the reduction in force and suspension of contracts in certain situations. So I believe you all have a copy of that MOU that you reviewed and you understand the situation that we're in that caused us to create it. And by creating this, we ended up having one less RIFT position because of our flexibility of doing this. And basically, they had missed the deadline

074when this came out. I agreed with them to extend that deadline so that we could continue to do that. So I'm happy to see you all. Thank you. And also, we'll get that atmosphere back in the building so that we could not lose one of our jobs. Was that comment with regard to the RIFT and suspension rather than for the job share, or both? Both, actually. Okay. Both. All right. Do we have a motion to approve the MOU between the Board and the Teachers Association regarding RIFT and suspension of contracts? So moved. Second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Wind. Aye. Brown. Johnson-Bowers. Aye. Leisler. Aye. Hartman. Lewis. Aye. right thank you and the last item I have the MOUs were on there as separate items yeah the last item is basically the almost a

075carbon copy of the first one another MOU to create the same situation of one less rift position do I have a motion to approve the MOU with regard to the job share team so moved second any additional discussion I just want to say I appreciate the creativity here thank you roll call please Brown Johnson Bowers Leisler wind right thank you you're not done nope new business every year the legislators require us to review annually the district open enrollment policy okay thank you we have three choices in the state of Ohio which is open and no open enrollment whatsoever open enrollment with only districts that touch hours or open enrollment with any district in the state of Ohio not just those that touch ours we currently have and have long before I got here have open

076enrollment with any district they do not necessarily need to touch our district and what happens is this is no no action is required unless the board wants to do something at a different date is just be made aware and make the public aware of the open enrollment policy that we currently have so that's what I'm doing this evening any questions or comments from the board with regard to that okay next item on under new business I will turn over to dr. win with regard to a resolution and recognition of Pride Month thank you I just wanted to say as an introduction to this I wanted to said at our previous meeting when we were talking about it that for our LGBTQ I a plus students whether they feel that their community and their school system

077is supportive of them or not drastically affects their ability to survive the the latest Trevor project study that I read indicated that 21% of these youth had attempted suicide in the previous year to the study collecting data if they felt that their community was not supportive of them for those young folks teens young adults who felt that their community was supportive that suicide attempt rate dropped to 8% nearly a third so whether these students find support or not is huge in terms of its impact and I really appreciated some of the comments tonight from parents about their experiences as well as from our alums about some of their experiences about how important it is for a student to feel safe and accepted within our schools that ability to feel safe and at home in school

078will affect that students as I said survival it will affect their ability to learn in that classroom environment and it will affect their overall outcomes and I firmly believe that in providing an education to our students we are educating a whole person and our goal is to create a community member who can work with diverse co-workers and supervisors and supervisees and diverse members of the public our goal is to provide an education that allows the student to leave the system feeling whole and accepted as well as knowledgeable so that is a little bit of where this resolution came from and the other thing I wanted to say real quick is how much I have appreciated each and every discussion that I've had about this resolution I've spoken to a couple of parents about it but

079I've had discussions with every member of the board with Mr Bratton with Ms prow and each and every one of those discussions improved this draft and this resolution so I wanted to say thank you to everybody for that the the biggest concern when we talked at our work meeting I think that I heard from everyone was making sure that this went through our legal counsel just to make sure that we're doing our due diligence and I I also want to reassure everyone that that has happened those discussions have happened with counsel and some things got rewritten due to that again I think it makes the resolution a stronger resolution as a result so I've appreciated all of that teamwork in in bringing this about so this is listed as a discussion point so anybody like

080to add anything or just I just want to thank Dr Wynn for doing this and I know she put a lot of time and effort and a lot of research into it it's not based on just anecdotal evidence it's based on scientific fact and she has a lot of her own professional background on which to draw but but she she did seek a lot of input to get this and to make it something that wasn't just hey we recognize Pride Month but to go a little further and build some action into it that I know she's looking forward to working on and I'm looking forward to working on with her that I do believe helping our students all of our students but in this case we are talking specifically about our LGBTQIA students that we

081can something to help save their lives potentially to keep them from going down that that vortex of despair and at least offer that school and our community should be a safe place where they feel valued and welcome so thank you for all your work on this so some of the the conversation with legal counsel really for me kind of revolved around best practices for resolutions and part of that conversation was the difference between kind of espousing um support for something principles of how the district is going to run versus kind of venturing into the administration taking those principles and putting forward how we're going to address those principles and from legal perspective the best practices to kind of stay away from the administration aspect there's quite a bit of um directives or for lack of

082a better word um in this and so I was kind of hoping you could maybe about maybe why this goes that direction as opposed to being more of a traditional resolution okay I really part of part of my justification behind that I think we've we heard from some of our public comment that a lot of folks have experienced harassment bullying based on their either their identity identity as LGBTQIA or perceived identity that way and for me that really stuck out this spring when our Bulldogs taking action group was engaging in some positive pride activities at the high school and the flag that they had put up the Ally flag that they had put up in the comments was ripped down there are some very public instances that have happened of this kind of discrimination and

083harassment that have happened to people in our community that are being harassed and that to me really highlighted the need to make sure that we're taking action that we're working toward making sure that we're welcoming and safe to all of our diverse students sure this group hopefully all groups but that for me was a part of I would like our community to see us working in that direction thank you thank you of the line that I've drawn for instance one of the action items is making sure that staff are receiving professional development in avoiding recognizing and responding to anti LGBTQIA harassment I'm not saying what that professional development plan has to look like the resolution doesn't say when that needs to happen just that I'd like to hear that plan we would like to hear

084that plan from mr. Bratton for how we're going to do that similarly it calls for policy review and it doesn't necessarily prescribe what those policies will look like it says we need a plan to review and change if we need to if that's part of the decision that policy so that that's kind of where where I was seeing that that line drawn does that answer your question it does and I'd like to kind of explain that to you and then I'll let you go ahead and answer your question and then I'll let you go ahead and answer your question to the rest of the board to kind of comment on that I know there was a good amount of discussion about that at our work session about drafting a resolution with with or without action

085items and I know there was a bit of so if I could this is really frustrating to me because it's all words it looks big and bad on paper I want you to know that in 90 days it looks like like a you know a directive but they're all words because we already have these policies we already have these policies in place they've been in place for years that's not a new thing so to have this written here and I said this last meeting it takes away from the actual flavor of what you're doing because we we have these we I'm sure already trained our teachers some of them but that doesn't mean at all but that doesn't mean the follow-up and I think that's what you're referring to you could write as many words

086in this paper as you want but what we really want to do is develop a culture we want to develop the culture from day one when they step into the Stoneman Road Falls City Schools that every single one of the kids is a student and they're not a student they're not a student they're not a one-on-one meeting there is their traffic at Stoneman Road Falls City Schools there's a high deterrent so it's it's incredible that this is something that doesn't have a кв we don't want to have to write down every couple years a resolution that That is really funny. So when I look at this overall, and I told you this on the phone, I see two things. Of course it's wonderful as we do our policy, which is to review the policies, it's

087wonderful if we can review the policy and have the administration say, okay, this is a policy. This, on our end as administration, is how we uphold the policy, and these are the pieces that we have in place so that we all know that big picture. You know, our job as a board is governance, not the administration. So their job is to take the policy and say this is how we uphold it. I think that's really important. But the front part is, hey, we support these kids. This is what the resolution is. Not just the month of June. We do it every single month of the year, but the month of June is when we can say it a lot. But that's what the resolution is. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

088Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Separate to that is we would want the administration to say how the policy is implemented. But I don't believe it's effective to put that in a resolution. I think we as a board can do that separately and say this is what I want you to do. But I think that it loses the flavor and I've talked to you too much. So I do think, kind of jumping off where you're going there, there is a, are you limiting, you know, yourself with putting a, this is what we're doing as opposed to, you know, a greater idea. So that's certainly a concern. I think there's some good ideas in here. And I know talking to some of the administrators, they really, really liked those ideas. And so it's not that looking at this, any

089of this is not good for the district or good for our students. I do have some concern with maybe starting a precedent where we're creating resolutions with maybe some policy and maybe getting an administration. So I do have some concern there. Mm-hmm. I'll be honest. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I think, you know, to be kind of blunt about it, we heard from a parent tonight who does not believe in our ability to follow through on these pretty statements. And I don't want to limit the resolution to pretty statements. I would like us to follow through. And that's where a lot of the action items and the request that the superintendent, the board, and the board members share what the plan is on several of these items is coming from is to allow our community to see

090follow through on these issues. Sure. I mean, whether the action items are within the resolution or not, that's still true, right? So I agree with you on that, on that point. Action speaks louder than a resolution. For me, it's a lot shorter. It's gotten a lot better. I think it's half as long. Oh, yeah. It's definitely less than half as long. But for me, personally, the first part of it is great as a resolution. But where I kind of struggle with it is, you know, a lot of what you're bringing up is basically saying there's a failure policy because a lot of it is redundant. But it's also very specific to one group where if it's failing for this specific group, it's probably failing for others in other areas, especially for bowling and things like

091that. It doesn't need to be specific, you know, because basically going, and I'm not going to get into what Lisa here said. It's a culture. It's a culture issue. And if it's happening for this group that probably has one parent put out, back of the bus, it's probably these other students are probably feeling like they're on the back of the bus or they're not on the bus. And we probably don't need to be, you know, in a very specific way, calling it as a policy change per se today on some of this stuff. But what we really need is how do we change the culture? What do we? You know, Mr. Bratton needs to bring forward is what does he need from us to help him make that culture change? And then how do we

092make that happen? But it's broad spectrum. It's not very, you know, I get where the focus is, Pride Month and, you know, this is a very sensitive group. But it's also other groups as well that are being affected by this and other students across the spectrum. So if I could be specific and I'm saying this specifically because. I think some of this was cut and pasted. So I don't want to, you know, just detect the verbiage. But in the second whereas, and you can tell me if you think I'm, you know, crazy. It says the district recognizes that our diverse employees and educators are of the highest caliber. That was like so incredibly insulting to me. Because it was a sentence that said in my mind, by the way, we recognize that they're minorities. And

093you know what? They're good. You know. So that's, you know, that's. That's just a different perspective. But and I know it wasn't meant that way. But I was insulted when I read that. And they're all valued members of the community. So I did not read it that way. But I can. I understand where you're. Where that reading could come from. When you start reading it like that, then you know you've read it too many times. You know. Like that. But like I said last week, I appreciate the sentiment behind it. It's. It's a culture. It's, you know, this, all that stuff from whatever, it's a culture that we need to create. And not a culture with five or six people. It's a culture throughout the entire district, which has a zero tolerance. It's a culture.

094And once we start to create that culture, we'll stop having to have resolutions. I think we all agree that we're not quite there yet though. So what do we do today? And. And. I'm sorry. Give me just one second, Nance. I'm sorry, Ms. Ms. Brown. The. You can fix that sentence just if you take out the word diverse. And then it reads a little different. And you can take out that potential misreading. So. Go ahead. Yeah. I just. I. To Ms. Johnson-Bauer's point, I think the resolution is a way to start toward that culture. I mean, I agree it is a cultural issue. But it's got to start. And we can't all wait for someone else to start it. My concern is that it stops at the resolution. Just like we've seen previously. And that's

095not. That's not a Stoneman Road Falls thing. That's a. Just the way it happens in every district. You know, we. We have the resolutions. We're really, you know, fired up about them. And then they go away. Because, you know. And that's. Let's not let that happen. And that's. And that's. And that's. Because our focus is not creating the culture. Our focus is on passing this and feeling good about it. And, you know. Again, that's on us to change, not on anybody else. And to be honest, that's exactly where a lot of these action items and asking the superintendent to kind of report back to us in September about what plans have been developed. That's where that comes in. Is to make sure. That we are following through. And working to create that culture. But that's

096actually what I appreciated most about the resolution was it didn't start, stop at something where we can say we passed this and feel good about ourselves. It's that we did this. But here's what we need to do to continue to show that we actually need this. And she. There's some specific ways to do that. So I like that. It's. Too often. We come up. With something that we want to make this better. And we have no idea what's the next step. And this laid out a couple good next steps. I'm just. I think for me. I just keep going back to. Legal counsel's original recommendation with regard to best practices with resolutions. And. I agree. I keep on reading the opinion. And I agree with you. I. I don't want this to end up being

097a. Let's throw this resolution. On here because it's June and never deal with. The concerns in our district again. I don't want that to be what happens and I don't think anyone here on the board wants that either. But for me, I think just given my background, I have difficulty moving past. The specific advice that came from legal counsel that deals with school boards on a. A very expert level. That's not my. That's not my. My my legal expertise. But. So I I suppose I'm still struggling with how to find that balance. I I wish you could have been in on that phone call that I had with Council. Because we went through we went through the provisions pretty thoroughly. And I made the changes that that Council recommended. And I don't doubt that. I

098don't mean to suggest. That that you didn't or that it wasn't a this isn't based on recommendations as well. It's you know when you have different. You know you have best practices. The term that Council use and then if you're going to go forward with something outside of what they would normally recommend. What's the best way to do that? So that's what that is. I don't I don't doubt that this went through legal counsel and and I know it went through legal counsel. Let me rephrase that. I know it did. I know. These recommendations. Are here. This isn't something that's going to get us into some kind of big situation where we're getting some kind of extra liability above and beyond what is normally expected or anticipated by what we do. So I I do

099believe that that's the case. I'm just kind of expressing where I'm still struggling with it as a resolution and maybe setting a precedent of moving beyond governance into the administration aspect and not that. Let's be honest. As a board. We we do have quite a bit of say in how that that is done. Um I don't have any particular objections to the ideas. I don't know if there are other ideas that have been considered. I know the liaison idea was an idea that you brought forward and was really well received. I'd like to do that. You know it's it's not it's not that I have any specific objections. It's just the process. Does that make sense? Um so that's where I'm struggling. I'd like to have it stick with the resolution if we refer to

100the the last four you know the action items do that separately. Uh request an overall you know look into the policies have the administration tell us how they're how they take those policies and put them to life. When I when I look at the policies the policies are punitive. The policies are all designed. On what happens when they do something bad. Not how to prevent it and create the culture. So you know our argument is always somebody did something bad. How come something wasn't done about it? Like that's after the fact. You know if we could put our energy into the preventative part then the policies would be a lot easier. And that's the difference between creating a you know we have yes we have anti harassment anti bullying anti discrimination policies. They are passive.

101Is I think the point that you're making. So if we're going to go through the process of creating a policy that's more offensive. I don't know what the um then then there we have a process a procedure for that. I don't have a problem with saying let's let's look at it. Um it's going to take longer than 90 days. But it would be a great project for the year. It would be a great project. And and I was referring to the policies being punitive. Meaning they're all designed on what happens to a student. Uh-huh. When they are bullying when they do this. You know what I mean? There's nothing preventative about them. Our policies just say you shouldn't do this. And then the administration would say this is a policy you broke. This is you

102know what happened. How they implement it. Yeah it's. And to me that's that's what some of the other um provisions are aiming at. Is more of that culture. Um making sure that our students have a culture. Making sure that our students have those resources. Making sure that our school libraries have books with characters of many diverse backgrounds. Um those are those uh actions are not simply for our LGBTQIA students. Those are for all of our students. Because again we want all of our students to have that exposure um in terms of diversity. And to work with anybody. Um and that is toward that cultural change that we're talking about. So can we table this and. To what end? Well I don't know. It's it's seems like we're not getting anywhere uh tonight. I was hoping

103for a vote tonight. I would vote no. And and not because I'm against the resolution obviously. But because I'm against the wording. As it as it is. And it's not on our agenda as a vote. That's amazing to me. It's it. We spoke about the wording and much of it has changed. A motion can be made at any time. That's that's um we've already um covered that with legal counsel in previous meetings. Um but if there's specific language that we can talk about specific language. If there's tonight. If you so I will get down to the the liaison idea. I did speak with um Christy pro about and that was an idea that was very well received and something that the district is interested in. The administration is interested in and would be cost neutral

104if that was a consideration. Um these people are already there are already a number of people in the buildings that can address things. Um counselors principles that that type of of things. So um. Yeah I'm okay with the liaison. I will say that um there are some things in in this uh resolution that are this is let's be honest this is a ever evolving body of law in our state and federally. Um title nine has I I think they're eventually going to have new rules. Like keep telling us that they are. Um so I what that means with regard to some of this stuff. Um did you have those those conversations with how to address. That I I think in terms of my discussion with legal counsel the um the biggest concern was looking at

105um making sure that uh the language around school curriculum that's in here was appropriate. Uh so that that got changed. Um and then also the um the provision that's uh addresses support. Of using requested names and pronouns and allowing students to access uh facilities um and activities that align with gender expression. That whole section as well um got a significant rewrite based on my discussion with legal counsel. Um in order to make sure that it's clear that these things would be implemented in accordance. With the law. Um as for dress code I mean it it should already be general neutral so maybe it's more of um enforcement an issue there. Right and and that's why I use the language of reaffirms for a couple of these. Okay. Um because there are a couple of items

106that have been in progress that also apply here. As I know we had looked at elementary level dress code a couple of times. Um dress code a couple months back um as well as our staff dress code but that is something that I think is a continuing effort as dress codes always evolve. You said you spoke to legal counsel about the curriculum. Right making sure that curriculum and educational materials um incorporate diverse perspectives. That whole section was reviewed by legal counsel um and I know Mr. Bratton had had some uh questions about that. And I know Mr. Bratton had had some questions about the way that was originally worded as well and then um those were addressed by the rewrite correct? Does any of that change anyone's mind thoughts on moving forward with the resolution

107as it's currently written or suggested different language or. For this to be approved tonight. I think that's the what we're getting at. Or that was kind of generally what the. Your. Yeah I know legal counsel had concern over this section because of OSHA. Yeah and we we removed um the mention of athletics from that because of OSHA and the fact that state law when it comes to athletics um has been changing and may continue to change. Um so that part was removed and that where that was where that language changed as well. Through legal counsel. The final four paragraphs the three prior to the final one all have ninety days within ninety days of this resolution. Um what are your thoughts on changing that to continually? And understanding that that I mean that doesn't change

108the September your your suggestion about having a report back. Um and the idea being that understanding that this isn't a end all. It's and recognizing that. We do have policy that says we're gonna continually review our policies to assure that they're addressing the things that that are happening in our district and that it's serving our students and our families. I like that change. I think it also recognizes that this isn't ninety days is kind of a short amount of time really um and. And I think that that ended up that deadline in some ways ended up being addressed. Um. By the by the last portion which I think was Miss Johnson Bowers um suggestion to specify at what meeting our superintendent will report back to us. Um so I'm I'm fine with changing. Yeah. That

109piece of the language. I'm fine with those last four paragraphs. I mean there are redundancies of policies but it's just repeating them out basically. Um-hum. And just continually. Is there some. I'm just trying to think them through. Okay. The rest of the thing I'm fine with. It's just those two paragraphs. Yeah. So in in keeping those last four things we are going to bypass the council's opinion. Well. You know our council's opinion was talking about we're you know venturing into the areas of administration rather than governance. Um. So. I I think it's within. Sorry. No it's. I think it's within governance to ask our administration to come to us with a plan. That that's kind of where. Yeah. Where I draw that line. And and. Yeah. You know. If any of this is governance it's

110those four paragraphs. Uh we're telling them to do the we're telling the administration to look at this. These are we already have our policies in place that say we're going to continually look at our policies. Right. So it's it's I I know that sounds very circular. But um. If anything in here is sticking with the idea of what legal counsel is saying as far as best practices it's those four paragraphs is. We're directing you to do this. Um. You make the decision on what's wrong what needs help. Um. What the plan is. Um. So yeah. If if anything yeah I think those are the four that make the most sense for me to stay. Um. I I am still struggling with the paragraph on curriculum simply because we get our curriculum from the state. And

111so I guess I'm kind of. While certainly. The resources we use the textbooks we use can be different. There's still a specific set of. I I had that whole paragraph X'd out for that reason. It it just leads into a rabbit hole. Intentions that we don't want. It's too vague. I'm in the same place there. Yeah it's too vague. And and like Mrs. Wright said our curriculum comes from the state. I'd like to continue that discussion another time. Not to say we're tabling it. Showing it down. What uh if we take out the part of that provision that involves the curricula. So um the incorporating diverse perspectives through school curricula. If we take out that section. And focus the effort of that paragraph on um. Including issues that affect the LGBTQIA community and communities of

112color in district library materials and resources. And focus instead on the non-curricular piece of that. I I like that idea. I would also take out the part about without limitation simply because age appropriateness. I think is is a limit that would affect. What's going into certain. Right it's. It's be age appropriate and board approved. Age appropriate is in that first. Board piece. Okay. Okay. Um. Yeah. Yeah. Board approved. Without limitation because we we've already put one in. Okay. Okay. I think for the time being we need to have board approved for now. Board approved where and for what? Press the review. It's very similar to when we buy textbooks. Right. Well I mean we're not going to review every. If we review every library book. Yeah. That comes into the district. We're going to be.

113Oh. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. If we don't. We're going to be Hudson. We don't. We don't do it now. I know. We certainly review textbooks but we're not. We don't review every single book. The board doesn't. I certainly someone in the district does. But do we want another situation with Hudson? Well no. But maybe not board approved but district or administratively approved might be the way to go. Because the board's not going to look at every single book in every single library. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. But certainly someone from the administration can. I would imagine most principals have

114seen the library I hope. Library. Who librarians. Library. Okay. There are folks in the district who keep an eye on what materials are coming in to. District approved. That's it. Me too. I think we should get rid of that paragraph. I'm sorry this is not at this time. Representation matters. Yes. Yes. See no歌 Yes. presentation matters. It matters a lot. And for me when we talk about materials in the library resources, we're not just talking about LUTQI kids. We're talking about their friends. We're talking about kids who have queer family members. You know, just having that available. It's not forced on them. It's not in the classroom. Right. How is that going to change? Well, I know we heard from one parent earlier tonight who said their elementary school library does not have the books

115their child is looking for. So how is the wording going to change on this? Oh. We are taking out the phrase about curriculum and we're taking out the without limitations. Tell me the phrase. After the word programming? So. Okay. Then we're going to get it to the end. Yeah. John, Lisa, and Nancy. What about if where that without limitation term was, if that comes out and is replaced with materials representative of those issues that affect. Taking words without limitation? Is that? No, no. Taking that language, those words out. The without limitation language out. And in where that was, adding materials representative of and then continuing on. I think that helps clarify with that other phrase being stricken. Yeah. And I think taking some of the other things out. Right. At this point. I'm fine with

116that. I'm okay with that. Okay. And a lot of the rest of this honestly is already required by law and so. Okay. Just reaffirming that we're going to follow it, I suppose. Right. Dr. Krisco. In favor of supporting . Oh. That was what I was looking at. Already required of us. Already required of us. To a point. So that's kind of redundant. Some concerns with. Okay. So this went to legal discuss with regard to First Amendment stuff. And our staff and our teachers. Yeah. And this is the language she came back with. Well, the one that she had the First Amendment concerns with was at the end. And that got stricken entirely. Okay. Yeah. Her First Amendment concerns with staff was the last provision of the. And this wasn't. Because of her concerns. Wasn't a

117concern. Right. This is why I was really pleased to be able to talk with counsel about it. Yeah. Who's allowed to just change their name and pronoun? Based on this. A student can request to be referred to differently. A 14 year old can just. I can say please call me by my middle name instead of my first name. Yeah. At any point in time. I think. I think where the concern comes in is what happens if there's a disconnect between the student and the family. And how do we address that? And. My understanding from counsel was that using the language of staff is a little bit more difficult. Yeah. I mean. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's.

118I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's. I think that's really what this ук Mm-hmm. the way I read this this is like a legal recognizing. That's kind of how I would too. And I think for ... I know for a lot of places, when I was working over at wean that was a lot easier. when someone asks to be referred to by a different name, for example, there are still legal documents that have a legal name on them. I know in my line of work, for example, someone may request that I use a different name, but obviously their medical insurance is in their legal name. So certain documents will require a legal name. This doesn't prevent us from doing that. And

119it's not, it doesn't require, there's not a requirement here. It's a, we support it. Right. And that was specifically what legal counsel was talking about. Right. In general, the whole paragraph, the program facilities. We technically provide them in general needs for that. I'm sorry, can, we can't hear. I'm sure Nancy can't either. I can't hear a lot. I can hear mumblings and stuff and picking up the gist of it, so. Sorry, Nancy, wish you were here with us in person. It's really okay. It is what it is. I just think that this last paragraph here, I'm surprised that the counsel said it's okay because I think it could lead us into trouble. Just because if you take every single one of these words literally, if you take everything, you know, you're going to get a

120lot of trouble. If you take everything just as a light resolution, that's fine, but people don't do that. If you take every single one of these words literally, then we've got a legal issue. And that's not my cup of tea, but I keep going back to Susan's opinion when she says the general best practice would be for the board to affirm its support for the principle of equality and then, you know, leave the actual details of the implementation to the administration. I think she said that for a reason. Because she's an expert. And I feel like we're kind of going against what our legal counsel has recommended. And again, she edited for us quite a bit. In that paragraph that you're referring to, what if it just ended after diagnosis? Would that change anything? Sure.

121Changes everything. What if we. Period. Just get rid of the next four lines. What if we left in the last clause though? Or I mean. Oh, yeah. What if we took out the second clause? Again, I think this is a, we already do that. Title IX requires us to, frankly. Yeah. So it's kind of, you know, redundant. I said that for Mrs. Brown. Right. We provide a general neutral bathroom, which is a clinical bathroom in every building. Yeah. It's just, it's redundant. It's not anything brand new or shaking. Right. In which case, I don't see a problem with kind of reaffirming. That that's our, that's our intent. Yeah. You know, depending on, and I, that the second clause, certainly with the direction that's depending on where, oh gosh, I'm forgetting the number of that law

122at this point. I've got. If that goes into effect, then we do have a problem there. So. So maybe that second clause might be. So remove that second clause from providing to expression. Yeah. And continue to provide at. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At least. Sure. Sure. Instead of providing, continue to provide. I like that. I would like to keep the final clause there. If we're keeping the rest of it. Yeah. Frankly. So the . The second clause and then . Does that help? Yeah. OK. If we're editing in the very first paragraph. It does. The very first time it says the district. I. Can that be? How falls the school district. And then district. That way. Yeah. Thanks. So when. That makes it reason clear. If we go

123back to the very first one, can we rewrite that so the district welcomes and supports all students as first? It kind of looks like an afterthought. And now we're getting really picky. OK. so whereas the smfcsd district welcomes and supports all students and then go into the it is the right yeah okay that kind of feels stronger yeah i yeah and then the second one can we do something so i'm not offended we take that diverse diverse word out and it really changes the reading so the district recognizes that our employees and educators are the highest caliber and that all employees is that the correct way yes are valued members okay yeah yeah we could even take out the highest caliber because you know but um we could but i kind of like it i

124mean i like to brag i like to yeah i like to brag on how the order the district recognizes that our employees and educators are diverse and of and of the highest caliber and we're going to be able to do that and we're going to be able to do that and we're going to be able to do that and we're going to be able to do that and we're going to be able to do that i mean i think what dr wind was getting at is that we have a diverse not as diverse as we'd like it to be but that we have diversity among our staff and our our students so dr win correct me if i'm wrong but i think that's what you're trying to get at no i i think you've got

125that right that reading works as well it also takes out that that second um potential reading the negative one thanks so when i look at hang on i've got something written here huh so when you go to the um five six seven whereas the district supports education that celebrates our different identities integrity in how we treat others encourage to do what's right by listening to learning from and respecting viewpoints whose opinion of what right what's right are we using because right now in our world what's right to have to point out of all the information we get about howризon but that gives access to the right struggles people is different than what's right to the other half. I think it's by listening to, learning from, and respecting diverse viewpoints. It goes right into that. Right.

126Hang on. Say that one more time. What's right by, listening to, learning from, and respecting diverse viewpoints. It doesn't say agree with. But it's the courage to do what's right. By listening. But still, what's right? Right. By listening, learning, and respect. It's suggesting that what's right is to listen to, to learn from, and to respect diverse viewpoints. Are you suggesting that you want to take out what's right? Because it could read, it could read, encourage to listen, learn. So when I read that, I read that integrity and how we treat others, encourage to do what's right, I was like, what do you mean what's right? By listening to, learning from, and respecting diverse. Again, you're talking about somebody's opinion. And I've listened to- It's not expecting you to accept it. Just to- Yeah. What are

127your- I've listened to, learned from, and respected people my whole life, and they have not been right. So how about the district supports education that celebrates our different identities, integrity in how we treat others, and- Courage to- The courage to listen to, learn from, and respect diverse viewpoints. Right. The courage to- The courage- To listen to, learn from, and respect diverse viewpoints. Yes. You know, it does read oddly because it starts with the district supports education that celebrates our different identities, and then it just says integrity in how we treat others. Are we- promotes integrity? Supports education that promotes integrity- So it supports education that celebrates our different identities? I don't know. It's not necessarily consistent. Promotes integrity. Yeah, you're just missing a word there. Promotes integrity in how we treat others. And values the

128courage to listen, learn, and respect. I just want to say you're adding words after I was told I was wordy. Okay. It supports education that celebrates our different identity. How about builds integrity in how we treat others? I think that makes sense because we are an institution of education, so building integrity would make sense. I think that's a good word choice. Okay. Thanks for the support. I've never been accused of being verbose before. How about where it says be, like third from the bottom, be it further resolved that the board declares the district to be a welcoming space for its students, college, or a place for students to learn, to thrive, and to seek assistance, information, and support, and just remove meaning that the district. Okay. I'm fine with it. I think it will read

129more. A little smoother. So is there a word we could use instead of supports here? It originally was a different word. Supports was the language suggested by our legal counsel. Well, let's go back to what she said. Just saying. Yeah. I know. I'm trying to think of. Allows? Are you looking for something less? Yeah. Less. Permits? Right. We started with allows. Okay. And counsel suggested changing it to supports. Oh, well, in that case, no. I'm always going to tend towards. Yeah. She said supports. We'll go with supports. Okay. Yeah. There's certainly. There can be legal. Certain words have certain legal repercussions. And that's certainly not my big quack. Any further language changes? No. Okay. We're good. So I move that we consider adopting the resolution as a non-agreement. Okay. resolution as revised. We first amended

130gender. Right. K through 12 education. Whereas the district recognizes that our employees and educators are of the highest caliber and are diverse and that all employees are valued members of the school community regardless of their gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Whereas, the district recognizes that the families in our community come in many different and the district values all our families and students caregivers regardless of gender identity gender expression or sexual orientation whereas LGBTQIA plus youth are significantly vulnerable to harassment bullying dropout suicide attempts and other significant safety and mental health challenges whereas no one should ever be the target of bullying harassment or violence and whereas the district is committed to maintaining a safe healthy and welcoming learning environment for all members of our community including the LGBTQIA plus community or those who

131may be perceived as such and that creating a welcoming and safe school environment for LGBTQIA plus students staff families and caregivers makes our school community more welcoming and safe to all whereas the district supports education that celebrates our different identities builds integrity and how we treat others and values the courage to listen to learn from and respect diverse viewpoints now therefore be it resolved that the district shall designate June as LGBTQIA plus Pride Month and October as LGBTQIA plus History Month be it further resolved that the district reaffirms its prohibition of discrimination bullying and harassment and harassment and discrimination and bullying and harassment against all persons in all district programming and activities on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation gender identity or gender expression or the actual or perceived sexual orientation gender identity

132or gender expression of their associates be it further resolved that the board declares the district to be a welcoming space for its students a place for students to learn to thrive and to seek assistance and information and support free from discrimination and bullying be it further resolved that every school within the district shall continue to take steps to create a safe climate for LGBTQIA plus students including designating an LGBTQIA plus liaison in each building providing support for any LGBTQIA plus student groups including gay straight alliances or gender and sexuality alliances GSA's and gender-neutral bathrooms in each building wherever possible respecting the privacy of all staff and students who are in transition to provide a welcoming space for students to discuss any concerns a student may have be it further resolved the district supports using requested

133names and pronouns without requiring a legal name change or medical diagnosis and continue to provide at least one gender-neutral bathroom in each building wherever possible respecting the privacy of all staff and students who are in transition be it rather resolved that the district reaffirms its commitment to insuring that any dress code for district employees or students should be gender neutral be it further resolved that the district and schools shall on an age appropriate basis and within the parameters of Ohio and federal law relating to school curriculum and educational materials and programming include materials representative of those issues in accordance with community norms that affect the LGBTQIA plus community and including communities of color and in each district library materials and resources that portray diversity and LGBTQIA plus figures in a positive light be it further

134resolved that the district shall continually review existing procedures to address anti LGBTQIA plus bullying and harassment and develop a plan to make any needed modifications to promote and implement these principles and ensure procedures for how students may report bullying and harassment prohibition of retaliation against any student for reporting bullying and harassment that title 9 coordinators receive appropriate training on LGBTQIA plus issues and that schools track and report data on incidents of anti LGBTQIA plus bullying and harassment be it further resolved that the district shall continually review its anti-discrimination policies and propose any needed modifications to ensure that those policies explicitly prohibit LGBTQIA plus discrimination be it further resolved that the district shall continually develop a plan for professional development related to anti-LGBTQIA plus bullying and harassment so that all district employees are trained to avoid

135recognize and respond to any activeworklevel divisions or may areas of sector testing or receiving academic professional appointment and actions to relate to shorter periods time. anti-lgbtqia plus bullying and harassment be it further resolved the super-intern superintendent shall report back on compliance with this resolution to the board at its September work meeting and at any such future meetings as the board shall request any further discussion all that's left is roll call okay so so so here's the thing as you are reading it I don't have any disagreements with wording but the word how kept on coming to my mind you know whereas the district supports education that celebrates our different identities blah blah blah how does the district support that be it further resolved that the district reaffirms its prohibition you know all of that stuff

136so I would like for pieces of this the whereas the be it further whatever to become part of the strategic plan to actually because you know the back part is the policies we revised the policy and all that stuff but but the front part of is the culture that I keep referring to we're supporting an education that celebrates our different identities how do we do that just writing on a piece of paper does not do it so I think that we should take these pieces and make them part of our strategic plan so that we make something happen from it okay I'm done I think that's a good and there there's certainly room for yeah lots of room in those goals that's what mr. Bratton gets to deal with yes any additional discussion all right

137roll call please Leisler aye wind aye Brown Johnson Bowers aye right aye last item on our agenda administrative contracts do I have a motion to approve the renewal of mr. Trevor R. Gumry as treasurer for the Stone Mineral Falls City School District as presented in exhibit 22 so moved second discussion nope roll call please Johnson Bowers aye Leisler aye wind aye Brown right aye thank you aye thank you okay comments from the audience citizens have an opportunity to bring their concerns before the Board of Education all comments should be directed to the board individuals presenting concerns and or questions to the board may not receive complete answers the same evening the board will study and consider your concern and will either have a board member or a central office administrator contact you as soon as

138the information you require is available comments will be limited to no longer than three minutes do you give your name and address again please Mary Mumford 4240 High Road I came here tonight because Miss Wind said on Facebook she wanted to hear comments from everyone and the public I don't think you really wanted to hear anybody disagreed with you I'm sorry if you please direct your comments to the board right all right well that's why I'm here because I felt I was invited to come and give my input in your resolution if I heard correctly you said dress should be gender neutral and Does that mean that people cannot dress the way they want? It said should be gender neutral. Does that mean that if a girl wants to wear a pretty dress, she can't

139do that? Is that mandating how people are going to dress? And I felt this was very disorganized. I think you should have had this worked out in advance before you invited people to come and hear this resolution. I thought it was unprofessional. I felt you were not courteous to the public who has elected you. And I feel that you should consider it a great honor to be here representing our children. And also I felt that there should be a person who have said, you know, let's table this. And let's talk about this later and come back with the full resolution. I'm very disappointed in what I saw tonight. My name is Lisa Serafian. I reside in Stowe. I came tonight to discuss test scores. I don't know if anybody. Has had the chance to look

140at the new ODE dashboard. Where you can pull up the test scores all the way back from 2016 to 17. And I would. And it doesn't have this last school year but the previous school year. So 20 to 21 is on there. And they've made it pretty easy to use. And you can look at all the demographics of the test scores. You can see the trends of the test scores. So if you have. Not looked at that. I would appreciate it if you would. And then I would like to know when you will present your findings. And how we can improve our test scores. Thank you. Hi. I'm Tammy Linewan. And I live in Stowe. And just to voice my concern with we have a lot of people here tonight taking time out of their

141schedules. And this was very, very unprofessional, disorganized. I've been to many school board meetings. And I've never encountered this before. And so I'm wondering legally how you just randomly changed up the resolution. Whether that's even a concern with how that would stand up with legalities for our school system and future lawsuits. And then my other question is who deems what is age appropriate? So you're wanting to bring in all these books to the different ages. Who is going to say what's appropriate for a 7-year-old or a 12-year-old? And where are the parents who are able to speak to this as these are our children, our grandchildren? And what you may deem as right or age appropriate may be totally not okay with me. So that is a huge concern for me. That's all I have.

142Jessica. Hi. It's me again. Rachel Jameson, 2187 West 95th Street, Cleveland, Ohio. I just wanted to kindly disagree with the opinion of some of the folks before me. I really appreciated seeing the collaboration between all of the members of the board. I've been watching the board meetings pretty religiously for a couple years now. And, you know, like you said, this is the first time that I feel like I've seen something like this at a board meeting. And I personally really appreciate it. And I appreciate seeing the process and seeing you guys work together and come to, you know, a common mutual understanding. That's all. Thank you. Hi. Also me again. Aaron Yeager, 733 West Market Street in Akron. Just want to echo what Rachel said and commend Dr. Nguyen and the rest of the board

143for passing the resolution. As a gay man who went to Stillman Falls High School and as a freshman only knew of two out. And I'm going to ask Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Nguyen to come up on stage. I just want to say thank you. I'm a 17-year-old male. I'm one of the highest rated gay students in the school out of 2,000 students. Feeling completely alone, I just want to say that what you're doing matters. So, thank you. How many gays are there? I mean you guys are making all this stuff. What are there six, seven, 50? Sir, could you give us your name and address? My name is Donald Limewand. I live at 2045 Maplewood Road, Ohio. I mean this is a. and this and that for a handful of people I don't see it

144there's more of us that don't want this than there are that does and that's what you guys aren't looking at you look at the handful of people and statistics and that's statistics is that the statistics for our school or what statistic that's because you got somebody up there that says it's this is the way it's supposed to be that doesn't mean that's what way it's supposed to be so I I did have a request from Miss Johnson Bowers to kind of explain that with regard to sunshine laws it is a requirement that these types of conversations happen with the public seeing them so that's why the conversation looked the way it did so that's a requirement of sunshine loss did you want to add anything no but I know it probably looked kind of chaotic

145but this is actually a business meeting and we are it's illegal for us to go behind the scenes and do these edits we can't do it we have to do it in public so I appreciate your patience you probably looked crazy but it was you know it's what we have to do hi my name is Laura Fonsolino 126 Hibbert Drive Stowe Ohio thank you guys for all the work that you've done on this I appreciate it I know it's not easy I just had one I don't know how the work this is my first actually school board meeting I've been to so I don't really know how all of it works but the fact I would have liked to have seen sort of the proposal I know it wasn't a final draft but coming in

146here I really didn't know what was all involved in it and so some of the general sentiment I agree with but there are some points of it that I might like to speak to but not knowing what those points were you know would have been if I had known it would have been helpful to make comments before you made your final decision it seems like now you know you've already decided to pass the proposal and now we're making comments but at what at this point what effect does that have on on the proposal it would have been nice if we could have maybe made some suggestions previous to it being voted on thank you thank you for your comments the last item on our agenda is an executive session for the purpose of considering the

147employment of a public employee do I have a motion to move into executive session any discussion roll call please Lysa aye Winn aye Brown Johnson Bowers aye right aye we're in executive session at 9 14 p.m. there will be no action for following the executive session you