001any time in accordance with the provisions of the new jersey open public meeting act in 1975 the autobahn board of education transmitted notice of this meeting scheduled 6 30 p.m in ottawa junior senior high school touring to the retrospect newspaper and the vera clerk invite postings on the audubon public school district website and at the main and pine street entrance of the junior senior high school mrs ron cakes roll call please mr blumenthal yes here sorry gilmore here this is davis here mr ryan here mrs petricket here mr miller here no mr crew is absent and thank you there is no need to authorize an executive session at this particular time we'll begin with the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and
002justice [Music] now we'll turn it over to dr davis for a couple presentations regarding student safety data and a recognition for participation in eighth grade dialogue okay uh we do this report uh twice a year typically in january and then summertime we either do it in july and august the semi-annual districts the safety data report this report actually includes the data from the first half of the year and then the second half of the year so the board you've already received that in your packet everybody wants to move so there's just a just a general overview so the department of education launched the new safety data system um it was in replacement of the violence and vandalism report there's just some overview pieces that are that are part of the overall um state documentation of
003issues of violence vandalism hiv intimidation and bullying and information in regards to the bill of rights some of the different offenses have changed and changed when that data was altered there's different things that we have to keep track of through all our schools in regards to you know there's computer trespass which is one of the ones that are added you have hiv alleged so if someone claims an hiv claim we go through and then do an investigation sometimes it's confirmed and sometimes it's confirmed to be really more of an issue of the code of conduct it could be theft is part of that trespass so there's lots of things that we do in districts to keep our students safe whether it has to do with the board of education policies and regulations the code of
004conduct there's trainings that go on whether it be positive behavior supports so the students have clear expectations in regards to what's happening in different locations throughout the school whether it be in the hallway and the bathroom the classroom will be lunch during recess trainings that happen you know yearly in regards to faculty and staff and any new employees that we have that come on board some of you i think there's some potentially some mansion parents here so they know the roar expectations are really part of that the high school we've done challenge days with support through the aea wonderful experiences where both staff and students some of you may have if you haven't the last bullet in there is karasawas we've talked about that a couple times in regards to supports for really our full
005community it's just not faculty staff and students but any of our community members can join in if we have any issues in regards to substance abuse and or mental health issues and we know it's been charming uh trying over the last year and a half right the pandemic has done a lot to us really as a school community and as a side as a whole so sometimes those supports are really necessary our school counselors do a lot in regards to support if you're having any struggles and any challenges with that so there's lots of things that we do in district to make sure our students and faculty and staff are safe so this isn't really a traditional breakdown in regards to what our data looks like so when you look at july 1 through december
006so this is period one in regards to issues of violence vandalism substances weapons hiv alleged and confirmed so if everybody remembers the beginning of the year last year when we were talking we were really talking at this time about opening the schools and then we did a quick pivot to where we went fully remote for the first time and we were fully remote for a good portion of this we came back and had some students in and then had some and then we had you know the pandemic some of the increases in coping so um the fact that we had really had one alleged that was cleaned over that period and then other incidents um there's some things that were happening within this the high school that don't fall within those categories could be a
007minor offense you know having your phone out being in a location that you weren't you know supposed to be so there's different things that happen there and then from january through june junior senior high school so there's a substance case there's a weapons case hiv confirmed and then other incidents that leading to removal only eight if you look at the report from last year and do a comparison different data different numbers different scenario different situation other pieces so there's different trainings that go on so there's trainings for staff and then there's also trainings from students some of this happens through health and pe other things happen through school counselors coming into the classroom sometimes they're full assemblies obviously we didn't have any full assemblies last year so training programs across the district there are 39
008and you'll notice a little bit of star where it talks about an increase there were two district-wide trainings and programs we do this should go over some of the hiv information at the beginning here and sometimes there's follow-through just to make sure faculty and staff are aware of expectations and how to do report when you report timelines and protocols once again you can see the numbers and other incidences it's just a combination of period one and two emergency drills we still did all these drills um and parents i know you got notices from the uh from the building principles about how they changed because they were modified over the course of the 2021 school year because at times we weren't taking all the students out so whether we were in a hybrid model or we
009were full in person half day early dismissal so those fire drills some of them we just reviewed what the protocols and expectations were other times we did both classrooms out in a portion of the classrooms and we staggered them so not the whole school was out at the same time we were all grade level security drills one per month that's some of the things that the lockdowns we talked about what you would do in a lockdown but they didn't not necessarily all huddle in the corner or to pan down it's probably not a good idea school bus evacuations i like just to point this out yearly although we're a walking district every one of our students has to go through the school bus evacuation because we maybe we'll be going on some field trips but
010we also know that we did have athletics last year and we'll have athletics this year and right now athletics and i'll talk tomorrow and the new members now that i've been doing a presentation a little bit about what school looks like next year or is proposed or projected to look like but our athletic programs are scheduled um as a free pandemic so their the schedules and the competitions are really set uh the way they were prior to and some of those things had changed where the seasons were shortened and some of those activities weren't obviously we don't know how things may change but hopefully we'll continue to move forward in that positive direction that's just a little bit about the school bus evacuations they get the front door back to where the elementary students have
011assistance when they're funding out high school students are able to help one another there's some new mandates these are new mandates but they're really old in regards to illicit law and some of the things that had to be done in order to have panic systems there's a lot of conversation in regards to silent alarm alarm that um actually is a you know an auditory alarm where you can hear we are in compliance we actually have a system that's exceeds expectations in regards to student safety the american live streams we do have cameras and the police officer if the department actually has access to them they can only access them during an emergency if that's all set up and we have a safety specialist in the district that oversees our home some of the things that
012have been done over time and you know there's conversations about what we're going to do as we move forward in 2122 but potentially 22-23 um being an independent alarm in st law schools we continue to talk about aligning the schools so they're the same key fob systems and getting into the buildings but then also the alarm notices in case staff members are moving from building the building the automatic panic system is already in place you know faculty and staff training happens every year um there's different things that we do with president meyers and volunteers and student teachers um we're talking about doing some things where they're um more digital in nature sometimes you can watch some of those different trainings and they have an understanding sometimes that helps when we have substitutes coming in and
013out our new staff members you know maybe our coaches and we have a lot of unpaid volunteer coaches so it's important that they know all the policies and procedures too hip coordinator training projected we two administrators will be training this year they go through the faa training some very comprehensive training and then we have a musical counselor on board here at the high school and they'll go through the training too just to make sure everybody's aware as far as the specialist training we have a good walk of talkies coming that are going to be district-wide uh it's really for the building principal the nurse and then the maintenance and then all the administrators um there are some walkie-talkies that the elementary schools you use when the kids go out for lunch reset not much recessively
014they're going out for recess they let them in office know so the main office has contact with them and then the nurse has contacted with them as well sometimes you know parents who come from pickup and the kids have you know students outside you're looking for them it's a quick way but then also sometimes you maybe then you might have a skin need or something so you can have an easy you know quick access to that we continue to look at our in-here and exterior cameras across the district to make sure they're upgraded um so they're digital some of them you know they're they're a little older and they go out and you know it's really important for us to have them you know you know see things there's some additional things that we do
015so whenever we talk school safety there's lots of things that we do within ask but we're never gonna i'm not gonna present them to anybody because once you present so some of your school safety is now you know impacted because people know exactly what you're going to do in a scenario so there's lots of things that we continue to do to make sure people are on board and um there's things that we can do better talking about being a phone system too a digital phone system our phone systems there's some issues i know when you try to call them the offices depending on the high school you know there's things that you can't do some of you may go to the website and we want you to do one in september so you won't have
016those issues so greg smith is here helping and then chisholm director technology helped with that but we know there's some things that we can do better so it's really important that we get that impact you know input from parents and community members and so we can address things that we may not um we know about the phone and we also know about the the website these are just some references uh different places where we get information on things you can go back if you want more information about the ssds report and all the things that we need to do in-house to make sure our kids are safe if the board has any questions pretty straightforward all right we do have a student presentation so the second presentation is here and i can't see real well
017from here i don't know miss mary here all right i'll do a little shout out i knew mr miller's in the background but i'll do a little shout out um and um marion brown who was passport president well that really brought the eighth grade dialogue to my attention three years ago where we we had the first person come on board so the camden county uh the school board actually has an eighth grade dialogue and the students but what happens is each school is able to nominate someone to be part of that conversation and it's an open conversation so the administrators uh have a conversation about who they think would be a good representative and then the teachers are part of that conversation and the school counselor probably a little bit more than administrators and the
018counselors um so our first one when we did it we actually um mr miller in highway along with the student and their their family and it was the conversation was at uh cherry hill i think it was peggy middle school it's interesting to hear about the perspective of schools and where they were where they went there's also some older students that participated in the conversation too talking about programs and things that schools can do things that they thought were really good as far as welding them in because many high schools start in eighth grade so you talk about those transitions so i'll read what the camden county soup was sent to me from the kennedy county school boards association in regards to our county and who went and participated this was a digital uh forum
019this year as opposed to an in-person forum but so each year the county school boards association presents an evening of dialogue with eighth grade students who will be transitioning into high school in the upcoming year this program was created to provide district students with an opportunity to share their views and opinions we typically present the nominees with certificates at a dinner held in march so they have that conversation too in march unfortunately due to current public health emergencies the program was cancelled although we can't hold a dinner this year we would still like to recognize your students nomination as a 2021 hampton county school student representative we haven't closed the printed certificate so there's a certificate that goes along here and although she's not with us right here maybe she sees this online or she
020can play the video later karina meyer was our student representative who participated in the dialogue so we appreciate that um and i know with one of our administrators that was in dialogue too unfortunately i think we may have had a board meeting and there was another conflict for me that night so thank you for that we'll be doing it again this year and maybe it'll be in person all right thank you thank you dr davis moving forward i please have a motion to approve the summer retreat minutes the public from july 13th the public session minutes from july 14 and the executive session minutes from july 14th okay second mrs ron case roll call mrs please yes this is davis yeah mr gilmore yeah mr miller yes mr ryan yeah this is yes thank you
021we recognize the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on the school matters of community interest in order to permit the fair and orderly expression of such comment the board has set aside two portions of this board meeting for public comment on any school or school district issue that a member of the public feels may be of interest to the residents of the school district for this first portion public comments are invited on matters pertaining only to the agenda for tonight's meeting for the second portion which will take place towards the end of the meeting public comments are invited on all matters pertaining to the school district participants should announce their name address and any group that they may represent if applicable the
022board reserves the right to limit public discussion public discussion may be limited to 15 minutes and individual speakers are limited to three no participant may speak more than once on the same topic until all others who wish to speak on that topic have been heard you can reference our bylaws and our policies regarding public comment in our policy manual the board uses the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizens not all issues brought to a board meeting will be resolved at this meeting complaints stated or actions requested by the public may be taken under advisement by the board for investigation discussion actions or disposition at a later date or time the public comment sessions are an opportunity for citizens to share their opinions and remarks with the board it is not a
023question and answer session the board may or may not respond to public comments at the time they are made and is under no obligation to do so the board does not endorse public comments nor will the board be held liable for comments made by members of the public any individuals who may be the subject of public comments including district employees shall retain all rights against defamation and slander according to the laws of new jersey when anyone in the public like to make a comment on agenda items only okay seeing none we will move on to committee reports first is governance we have not met recently at least since the last meeting i think we have a meeting scheduled for the end of august i would imagine there's some policy updates coming forth that i've seen
024through school boards so looking forward to that meeting in the meantime there's nothing else to report out of governance we do have one motion tonight to approve the goals that we set at the last meeting i would like to remind everyone that you know these are just the summary of the main goal and we set action items that we will continue to look at continue to flush out continue to ask the administration to pay attention to so that's a living document that we should all keep in mind and you know be encouraged to to think about when making decisions or having discussions about you know matters in any of these committee reports so with that being said does anybody have any questions for comments for governance dr davis do you have anything to add let
025me know direct conference just to thank the board for the retreat and the time and the conversation that we had in order to make sure we're revised in the most rigorous curriculum and positive learning environment for our faculty staff and students one other thing came to mind amy and i have talked several times about the goals since we sent them and how we can continue to foster them and we came up with a couple ideas about you know being in regular contact with the chairs of the committees to make sure that um whenever there's a meeting coming up that the chair people are you know paying close attention to the action items that we've set so that we can ask each of the committee members but the committee chairs can leave discussion on you know
026where we are with particular action items are there dates that we had set where are we with those so you know that's one thing that amy and i will continue to do and emphasize and keep in communication with the chairs um may i please have a motion to approve uh item one under governance okay mrs ron case roll call please mrs cox yes mrs davis yes mr gilmore yes mr miller yes mr ryan yes this is patricka yeah mr blumenstein yes thank you next i'd like to recognize mrs cox for operations thank you mr blumenstein i was unable to attend the meetings i was out of town i asked mr gilmore if he would stand in my position but he's going to give the report this evening thank you mr cox we've had two operations
027committee meetings since our last board meeting and uh based on the agenda there were a couple agenda items that we talked about in one of our alpha meetings and you'll see motion number 11 which is basically uh [Music] we have a motion to approve the student accident coverage on the agenda the the primary focus of both of our previous ops committee meetings focused on the bond which is getting very very very close topics on the bond issue we're going to basically have a closed meeting after the regular world meeting because there's a number of languages we need to come together and finalize before we're able to do anything uh definitively regarding a bond issue and when it will occur and what might we may have an issue where we will have to come back and
028have a vote if an agreement is reached on certain issues so uh not really able to comment too much more on what the bond issues are until the full board are basically made aware of what they are and then with the final decision great thank you does anybody have any questions for the operations committee regarding don actually helps dr davis you have anything to add yeah i'll just be kind on number nine uh usually the school the safety report and we just did ssds and you'll notice that we did the safety drills happening mansion had a summer bridge and extended uh school year programs for special ed one a big shout out to all the faculty and staff that participated and also our students that were able to participate in those programs uh that was
029wonderful but because we have students in the building during the summer those drills have to occur and you'll notice that they weren't drills in the high school that's because the programs occurred in hamilton and mansion so i want to really want to thank those teachers mr burke and the building principals that their support and the staff to come up the kids really wanted to come in and they wanted to be here and we know that some of them hopefully all of them benefited but also had an almost summer camping experience number 10 just to bring into the board's attention about the independent educational evaluation the rates um this is a new approval for our board it's not uncommon most of the time these evaluations happen in-house but occasionally they'll be a family that would like
030an outside uh evaluation for any of these uh pieces and it's not uncommon to put a uh somewhat of a cap on them so even the reading the motion out loud those should improve the independent educational evaluation rates for the 2122 school year representing the highest rate which is current reasonable and customary for a comprehensive and personalized evaluation sometimes these evaluations can get very high um make sure that they stay within a reasonable right and these are custom current reasonable and customary reads and then i'll just echo uh third time's a charm for item 11. um there's different things happen round one there's different things that happen around two um but we still can't get back up and we're back in that ring for round three we found out hopefully on september 2nd that we
031are awarded those monies i know uh mayor pennak over in audubon park really wants us back in the building i mean we want those little preschoolers back over there too it's a financial need for the district and we're hoping uh that we're awarded those monies so we shall see come back i just have one question about that so for the preschool is everyone finding out around september 2nd are we different than other districts we're not different than anyone uh the application deadline it was open uh we weren't no one no no districts in the state were aware of whether or not the monies would be available but they reached out to districts that met the initial criteria for this third round and we were one of those districts i want to say it was either
032the end of june or the beginning of july and then they had a training session two weeks after the notice that everybody had to participate in their assembled and uh the application was due august nine no longest time august 9th was when the application was due we are it's projected to find out september 2nd ish and then the program is supposed to be up and running by october 1st so that means you're hiring staff and doing lots of things to get the facilities ready but then you're also soliciting those general ed students we know it's a a big burden but we also know it will be very beneficial for our community and we're looking at we wish for it so if i remember correctly um what you know there were the obstacle that was in
033our way regarding getting that funding uh if we pass the initial phase is it safe to say that that has been ironed out in terms of our relationship with bounty from with autobahn park and how that affects our 20 for free reduce i cannot i cannot say that because i mean just so people understand so round one um we were notified that we should apply um it's based on free and reduced lunch status and the percentage that qualify the our numbers for the district including audubon park mount ephraim and ottawa well exceeded the numbers but when they do the calculation they only calculated audubon bureau and when you only calculate on a bomb barrow our percentages were too low now if you calculated audubon park and autobahn barrow and excluded from our numbers were high
034enough unfortunately that's not how they saw us so i and our team bugged the state department and uh talked about an audubon clause because we were the only collapsed district where audubon park became a non-operating school district it was part of bottom line borough and we let them know if you made an autobahn clause we were the only state and we did all the research for them and presented them with that information we were the only district in the state with a collapse that had our percentages that were excluded in that first attempt at which point they said please apply for the second round so we applied for the second round but in the second round the state decided to only award money to districts that already were receiving preschool aid so we were not
035receiving preschool lead so therefore we did not qualify but then we were notified again that we should apply i would hope that our numbers are right i would hope our application is robust and our plans are and we get approved but i can't promise but as long as it's there and we can attempt to get it we're gonna try all right thank you for answering that okay um may i please have a motion to approve items 1-13 under operations any questions comments on 1-13 okay uh mrs ron case roll call please this is davis yes yes mr miller yes mr ryan yes this is shiva yes this is patricka yes this is cox yes mr bloomin yes thank you next i'd like to recognize mrs shiva for education um the agenda tonight include um through
036some faculty members to attend conferences and workshops uh use of facilities requests motion to approve the safety data system before the second period which have your name is presented to include two students for senior privilege for the 21 major school year a mission to improve community education programs the 21-22 school year school district monitoring plan for the 21-22 school year a mission to approve contract with new jersey commission with a blind and a mission to improve a transportation agreement also a mission to exclude [Music] modification district calendar to change september 7 2021 to an early dismissal day for students um and i know i've commented the last three you know the board meetings uh in regards to us coming back full day in person um you know really looking forward to that there's other activities
037that you see in this agenda as you saw in some of the previous agendas where you know we're bringing back some of some of the programs that we were having after school hours to see the autobot education foundation they do a lot to support the district and the students so they set their meeting dates and they will be back in person here at high school the district calendar um we typically have an early dismissal day on that first day uh sometimes there's there's been history of it even on the second day um that was brought to my attention um and we had some conversation about that so it'll help in the transition uh i know there's at least one parent out there that uh likes to take their you know their child to lunch on
038that first day of school and talk about everything so i know they'll be able to do that but then we'll be able to do some really nice transitioning pieces uh for our for our students so it's not about us learn about all the rules let's get back and know each other and uh and get used to being in person and in a school environment so i appreciate the board's consideration for that yep any questions or comments for nancy regarding non-action items i just have one that's related if we if the audubon education foundation is going to start meeting again we traditionally have always had a board member as a liaison so we'll reach out to them and if they are interested in continuing to host one of us and you're interested please let me know
039and uh if there's a few of us that's great if but at least one person yeah okay man please have a motion to approve items one through twelve under education mrs ron case roll call please mr miller mr gilmore yes mr miller yes mr ryan yes this is chicago yes this is yes this is cox yes mrs davis yes yes thank you next i'd like to recognize mrs davis for human resources thank you mr blumenstein the human resources committee met this evening as is our practice prior to board meetings the first thing i would like to call your attention to is the addendum items there are four of them number 32 there is a correction it should be step nine and also it should be struck where it says pending the negotiations for a new
040collective bargaining agreement that it should say for the 2021-2022 school year in accordance with the negotiated 2021-2024 contract between the audubon board of education and the audubon education association and then for number 33 same thing there's a step adjustment should be step 14 and m a thank you and you should strike pending the negotiations for new collective bargaining agreement and it should reflect that the negotiated agreement for the 2021-2024 years between the report of it and the aea just wanted to let the board know that we are still meeting with the audubon administrators association we have a next negotiation meeting scheduled for august 23rd we're looking forward to continuing our discussion with them um on the agenda we have a retirement we would like to recognize mr books who will be retiring in october after
041many years of service from the district we do thank him for that um we also have two resignations one of our vice principals vice principal for student services mrs bobo and also one of our teachers at the houston avenue school mrs bowers so we certainly do wish them well and we also have a resignation you'll see in the special ed teacher and special education aid there are various appointments on the agenda special education aids occupational therapist school psychologist school social worker and homeless liaison will be mr rogers there are two teachers at manchin avenue school who are filling positions because of other teachers moving into other positions there's a revision for the contract for um mrs ledger our principal at haveland and then there are several motions for extracurricular contracts coaching positions some media center
042assistants academic coach the school improvement panel substitute teachers nurses secretaries and custodians keys coordinator and staff there's a mentoring assignment and hours for some summer scheduling work and also the creation of a computer technician position and an appointment for that position i just wanted to note though that the monies for that are being covered by savings that we have um we have seen and realized through mr chisholm's efforts in the technology department um also on the agenda number 13 right dr davis there's a date correction on number 13 that resignation should be as of august 31st and i think that's it dr davis do you have anything you'd like to add um i mean i would like to just make a comment in regards to mr books been here for a long time but i
043can't hear you but thank you thank you i decided comment from mr books just the uh for his years of service and his dedication to the the students here at the high school um and also mrs pogo um she was only with us for a year and is going to a different position um i know that i got lots of comments from both students and staff uh and parents in regards to her service some of the resignations there are people that are moving on to full-time positions so we always and you'll notice on this agenda there's several staff members that we're able to get full-time positions uh within the district but sometimes there's other openings and opportunities for them so we wish them all well and their future endeavors and mrs davis did a nice
044job on the all the updates and any things that need to be updated and fixed so i'll keep it short and sweet all right thank you any questions for uh human resources regarding non-action items okay man please have a motion to approve items one through twelve i'm sorry one through sixteen under human resources exactly roll call please mrs round case mr miller yes mr ryan yes yes mrs cox yes this is davis yes mr gilmore yes mr cleveland yes motion to approve items 16 through 34. any questions or comments on 16 to 34. roll call police mr ryan yes mrs yes mrs bucherka yes yes this is davis yes mr gilmore yes mr miller yes mr clinton yes thank you next we'll turn it over to dr davis for the hit district report which is
045short brief and the superintendent's report so there are no hints for this time period so there's really no no items to report there and as far as superintendents report i think i made enough comments throughout the subcommittee so so thank everybody for their participation you will be addressing uh the public tomorrow night could you oh yeah you know what and then i was i was thinking the same thing mr bloom sign as i said i said you know i actually remind everybody uh tomorrow at 7 we assume we will be presenting uh some of the main things uh that we know that families have questions about for our return to school uh we'll be reviewing them uh that will be recorded and then posted on the website as well and it will be once again
046through zoom at seven o'clock so if you can't participate also i will send out the fact document and will be posted online but when i send that out i'll include the survey again because i would say 80 of our questions on the survey really related to face mask and then the other 20 percent fill in the other items that are there but lots of good questions both from faculty staff and parents and then some students actually joined in in that survey so tomorrow seven o'clock via zoom and for board members i'd just like to remind everyone that these meetings are opportunity for us to meet in public and as we state in a public comment section you know it's not necessarily a back and forth or a question and answer which is why we parse
047that out for tomorrow so by having a separate presentation it allows dr davis to enter into a dialogue with the public that doesn't really happen here we you can surely definitely attend you can log in but if we all log in that constitutes a forum so we really shouldn't participate so we should just be observers so please keep that in mind uh the minute we start to interact it could call into question our you know the whole forum business of us getting together and not you know advertising that as a meeting so uh encouraging you to attend but please just observe and follow up with dr davis afterwards if you have any questions for him any questions about that he won't be playing live on youtube mr smith helps us out on the board meeting
048nights and by doing it on zoom zoom has a record capability and uh it'll be a little clearer and you'll be able to hear and see so it's easier just to go zoom and then it'll get posted it'll be up the following day so if you're not able to participate tomorrow you can join in and watch that video and then i encourage not only board members but the full community to uh include other questions if you have so we can provide some more clarity in regards to the school plan and what it's going to look like coming back in september great thank you um i do not have anything to report for ed services mrs davis do you have anything to report for school boards okay next is board member comments are there any comments
049that any board member would wish to share at this particular time um so for full disclosure uh there are three seats open for this upcoming cycle um myself and mrs cox and mr gilmore or all of our seats were open as of the deadline which was the last monday in july myself and mrs cox put our names in and our will our names will be on the ballot um there is a third seat that is open so for us and for anybody in the public uh whoever gets the most write-in votes we'll take that third seat so just to give everybody an update on that situation okay next we will move on to our second public participation session everything that i said in the beginning of the meeting stands uh just a reminder that public
050discussion can be limited to 15 minutes of a particular topic and individual speakers will be limited to three i'll keep a time and when you have about 30 seconds left i will just let you know and and please keep that in mind so with that being said uh we do have some emails to mrs ron case i don't know if you necessarily will start with them but we do try to keep the comments that are of a particular topic together of the emails there are two that are certainly related the other two are not necessarily related um if you wouldn't mind mrs ron case would you read miss kulin's email statement into the record and then read [Music] mr mcandrew's statement into the record then we will open up to the floor um uh and
051then go from there sure i just want to make sure that neither one of them are present they could say that they might be able to attend so the first one is from mrs cooland hello my name is sarah cullen from chestnut street i have a a comment i would like to read into the record i apologize for not being able to attend tonight's meeting to make this statement in person i would like to thank mrs whalen for bringing up the topic of critical race theory and lgbtq focused initiatives at the last meeting as this is a valuable discussion to have first i would imagine that issues related to racial equity and more deliberate focus on history through the eyes of people of color indigenous perspectives and information related to sexual identity expression would not
052necessarily be courses in themselves but rather content that would be included in other classes such as history and civics as such they would not be electives nor should they be i know that some of the criticisms of the 1619 project crt etc is that it indoctrinates students into certain belief systems but my take is that they expand empathy and de-centering whiteness and amplifying perspectives that have not traditionally been emphasized in school curriculums i believe there needs to be a concerted effort to teach our kids about empathy different perspectives ableism equity anti-racism etc and ongoing basis from the books that are chosen to be read aloud in classes for the younger kids to writing prompts and discussion questions to the curriculum surrounding thanksgiving columbus day etc there are so many opportunities for personally include this content
053students can then decide for themselves what they believe in a classroom environment that allows for a difference of opinion with respectful discourse yes parents can do some of this at home but i think it is appropriate and necessary for the school district to reinforce some of these concepts as well in part because teaching history accurately should matter helping students of various minorities feel as though their perspectives culture and even personhood is respected and valued should matter and this is only likely to happen if the district makes this a priority trained staff and purchases some resources ideally from the communities that the content relates to if a committee of stakeholders is formed to discuss these issues i would happy to volunteer to the extent i am able thank you for the opportunity to express my views
054before the board and the community okay thank you mr school does anyone from the public that is present wish to make a comment on that particular topic okay mrs ron case if you could please read mr mc andrews comment into the record okay audubon board of education members my name is joe mcandrew and i reside at the lloyd avenue in audubon i'd like to take a moment tonight to thank the board of education for volunteering their time to make our schools the best they can be i know each of you has the best interest of our students at the forefront of our of your mind and that you have dedicated countless hours to your efforts in addition to being thankful for your dedication and time to our students i am writing to address a significant
055issue that i think has not received enough attention that issue is the lack of health benefits for part-time staff this is a long-standing issue in our district and many others that have that has become magnified by the kobit 19 pandemic that we have collectively been navigating since march of 2020. last school year we asked all members of our school staff to jeopardize their health and the health of their families so that our students could be provided with the best possible education as we head into another school year my thoughts have frequently been with those who are again being put at risk and not being offered health benefits for themselves and their families since this is an issue that can have a significant and immediate impact on our staff i implore you to address this matter
056as soon as possible again thank you for all that you do and for allowing me to share my concerns thank you is there anyone in the public that is attending the meeting that would like to issue a comment on that particular topic okay at this point i would like to open up the floor to the members of the public that are currently present on whatever other topic that they see necessary you may approach the microphone if there's something that you would wish to say i am here to discuss the masks being optional i do want to thank the board for being respectful of the parents of the community i've been to a couple of other board meetings and viewed a few online and they're um horrific to say these so i appreciate you guys at
057least giving us the respect of opening the doors and let us speak in our minds um like i said i'm here for mask options um try to not get emotional and talk to you guys about this stuff but it is about my kids so um i i get emotional the words i can't breathe three words that were heard around the world except when our kids were saying that i guess it doesn't matter that our kids can't breathe if it doesn't make mainstream media those are the words my son used in school regularly he was told by teachers i don't want to hear it pull up your mask i can't breathe i can't breathe uh it was literally just below his nose because he would show me when he came home he was afraid to say
058anything even to me when he came home because i always said don't go to school respect your teachers respect your elders school is about respect and respecting one another especially your elders imagine being ten being afraid to tell people that your parents told you to trust you can't breathe he was trying to hide his nosebleeds on a regular basis because he was afraid to say a word he wasn't able to properly blow his which means he was sucking it all back in that's not healthy that's very toxic things that i dealt with with both of my children headaches fatigue rashes on their faces ability to concentrate anxiety depression i could go on and on it's a real thing all things i had to deal with both of my kids i've sent some scientific medical emails
059um i don't know if you've read them all i know it's a lot of information i know there's a lot of conflicting information i just don't want to feel like if it doesn't come from cnn or dr fauci that it doesn't make a difference there are plenty of doctors out there that are discussing these things who are being ostracized and shut down everywhere so now they are afraid to speak on our behalf there is existing data to establish masking children is unnecessary and harmful this is plenty of evidence of the negative effects on immunological immunological and psychological level forcing children and adult adolescents to wear a face mask which outweighs the potential gains and there are experiences there are no studies between adults adolescents minors whatever um as far as mascara and toxicity all this
060information can be found online new jersey has reached the highest vaccination rate for the governor we reached her community weeks before expected kids 2-14 do not have the risk of catching coven near zero percent risk of getting it pediatric rates have not surged in new jersey there is not a pcr test to differentiate whether it's delta or cold and flu as of july 31st the cdc said children 5 to 17 are 0.5 for 100 that are hospitalized with delta and that's in the delta the only science is about the only science this is about anymore is political science if you don't believe that i would appreciate you taking off your rose rose-colored glasses and stand up and do the right thing make it optional i respect anybody that wears the mask never have had an
061issue with it but i don't want anybody telling my kid i don't want to hear it if you can't breathe we have medical issues i'm sick and tired of listening and watching my friends and people on the internet facebook warriors out there saying that we're selfish but taking care of our children your time is of us as well thank you thank you thank you for your comments you also received your email and your previous emails and i can assure you that your comments are being factored into discussions that all the stakeholders are having you're welcome would anyone else like to make a comment on that particular topic okay we have a couple emails on this particular topic as well mrs ronkey so would you mind reading those into the records starting with my name and
062will be is eighth grade i'm here to speak about masses of great masses to be optional there are a few reasons i personally feel they should be an option of suffering when the anxiety goes to my [Music] when they are just heard about their kids all parents worry about other kids and all for all different reasons some kids with disabilities are obvious so we're not these are the things i had issues with this year because of the masks i had a very hard time breathing especially during allergy season my allergy medicine wasn't even helping i felt dizzy and often had headaches i was afraid to tell everyone because they would just think i could i couldn't really blow my nose when i was running when it was running so i was wiping my nose with
063my mask it tried it was hard not being able to see my friend's faces and see who's mad plastic class was also something else i had problems with i had a lot of playing glasses to stop the headaches which i had every day i always felt like i was going to grow which was not fun i love school now and we need to be in the place options thank you [Applause] okay this is rockies could you please read mr wilson's comment into the record okay good evening my name is stephen wilson and i live on ward avenue i have two kids in the district one entering the fifth grade and one entering the second grade i want to start by thanking each of you for your service to the community especially so in these unprecedented
064and polarized times i know that each of you cares deeply for the children of the district and what what is best for them and that i don't envy the position that you find yourselves in let me say that no one likes wearing masks they're not fun they're uncomfortable and they're annoying that said outside of vaccinations they are the best line of defense that we have against the spread of this deadly pandemic that has gripped our community these past these last 18 months because kids under 12 including both of my children are are unable to receive a vaccine that has proven to be safe and effective we applaud the decision made by the state and supported by the school district to take the advice of public health officials epidemiologists virologists and generally speaking people in organizations
065that are much more educated on these matters than i am although i am not overly concerned about my own health i am specifically concerned about the health of my of two people in my immediate bubble one elderly and one immune compromise as well as our other high-risk community members who would be at much greater risk that we sent our kids to school in close quarters on mass the american academy of pediatric recommends universal mask wearing in schools this fall the centers for disease control recommends the same both organizations also focus on getting kids back into school versus virtual schooling and i quote the aap in saying given what we know about low rates in school transmission when proper prevention measures are used together with the availability of effective vaccines for those 12 years and up
066the benefits of in-person school at weigh the risk in almost all circumstances because of this it is my belief that in-person schooling when combined with mandatory mass wearing by students teachers and staff as well as other recommended safety protocols such as being vaccinated is the best way forward to ensure the safety of our entire community thank you for your service in audubon in these challenging times i look forward to my children starting the school year in a safe inclusive way next month okay thank you mr wilson for sharing your comments and next mrs ron case could you please read uh the comment from the alexanders i believe it was from both karen and scott alexander okay we currently have two children enrolled in the 21-22 school year they will be entering the 5th and 8th
067grades governor marcy murphy's executive order 251 declared on friday august 6 was a great offense to every public school board in new jersey he completely took away the power of the local elected school board members to determine what was best in their schools it seems he is setting a president presidents to eliminate local school boards and superintendents if every mandate comes down from above why do we need local boards to represent us think of all the money that would be saved if new jersey had a centralized education system i hope you truly see the continuation of this kind of leadership is damaging to the local community and its locally elected officials not every new jersey school board education is just accepting these top-down orders for example toms river school district board of education chose to
068choose to not follow [Music] i apologize choose to not follow mandated masks on students you you can take action also if you won't you are basically just giving up your role as a needed part of the local education control governor murphy and the njea have not provided credible justification or response to declare e0251 they are forcing our children to comply with medical interventions using unapproved medical devices with an unapproved unclear use without informed consent there has been no differentiation between adults adolescents and children in the use of unapproved medical devices in our return to school plan for 2021 most of the audubon community including myself complied to these medical devices without sufficient understanding so that our children could receive an in-person education however that is not the case for 2122 school year and moving forward
069without proof of these mitigation methods do not cause negative effects of the immunological and psychological levels our children's rights are being stripped away unless we stand up for them some might say what is the big deal why all the opposition my child is fine the big deal is that our choices regarding health are a civil right grounded by autonomy dignity and privacy of the individual the civil right of bodily autonomy with respect to a particular act if it is carried out must be with intention understanding and without controlling influence that determined action the social stigma enforced by teachers principals and other school workers has caused a lot of controlling influences for refusing to use unapproved medical devices my children will not stand up for the their rights in the school setting for fear of retaliation
070from peers teachers administration and staff they just won't go to school and will do what you tell them to do even if it means giving up their rights that is why it is my place to stand up for my children mrs ron case i'm going to stop you there that's been more than three minutes and there's still quite a bit to read i would like to remind people that if they send their comments to mrs ron case through email which uh doesn't happen very often but if it does please make sure that they can be read uh at the pace that mrs ron case did which i think was clear and fair uh within three minutes so to the alexanders what was not read if you would like to submit that for the next meeting
071by all means certainly please do so are there any other public comments on that particular topic hello there ladies and gentlemen first thing first things first i want to thank each one of you for allowing us to call it to come here and give our thoughts on the issues that we that we as a collective have uh going into the new school year uh before i begin my name is blake schmeszewski i'm 25 years old not from audubon i am from belmark new jersey and i represent not only the young republicans but my own group known as the silver assembly uh i just want to say real quick that um right now you're in a very weird situation i understand that and for many people it seems like a very blackened situation i know for
072each and every one of you guys behind the table for you it's a very very situation because deep down as i actually do believe that you guys know what the right decision is when it comes to the mask mandates in particular but i also know from the top what's going on and people bring it down you're breathing down your necks as far as that goes i just want to make something very clear if you make the right decision which is making these masks optional which are hurting these children i want you to know not just me and not just these guys here but millions of other parents around the world will step we'll stand up for you guys on the decision that you make if that is the case and we won't let the state
073if they come down on you try to pull you into reverse that decision i just want that to be very clear that's all i really wanted to say thanks for allowing me to come up here ladies and gentlemen i appreciate it you're welcome thank you [Applause] any other comments from the public on that topic my name is heather farrell i also am not from auburn um i just wanted to say i just want to make sure everybody we're following cdc guidelines but cdc guidelines actually state for the masks to even be effective they need to be removed as soon as they become damp or if they become touched by the hand it's on the cdc website literally says that that's not what's happening with our children they're wearing dirty masks i've literally spoke to moms
074who have told me they haven't washed their kid's masks in two weeks no it doesn't i mean that's happening that's happening infections have gone up no displease i mean there's just so much information we don't mind the masks we just want them optional it's unconstitutional to force anyone to wear a mask it's unconstitutional it's against constitution every single one of you took another one to uphold the constitution so that's it thank you so much thank you okay any other public comment [Music] i'm sorry could you restate your name again my name is cindy irvin i'm from audubon i graduated ottoman um i just wonder if anyone here realizes that the children have been playing together all summer long um they're going to continue to play together this week they're going to continue to play together
075until school starts and they're not in masks no one is sick they're all enjoying their lives in the summer and to make them come back and put on masks is absolutely absurd they're not sick the masks are toxic the ones that you offer us they're toxic you can read all the materials that the children are putting on their faces toxic thank you thank you okay are there any other public comments or any other topics okay seeing none may i please have a motion to close the public comment section all those in favor any opposed okay on behalf of the board i would like to thank all of those that stood up and made a comment tonight um especially some of the younger members of our audience it's a it's a brave thing to do and
076uh for those that sent their emails to uh mrs ron case to be read into the um right into the record as we stated you know we um we may not be in a position to respond to um people's comments at this particular time but i will assure you that your comments are taken under advisement for the discussions that we have in our committees and any conversations that we have with the administration so at this point that's what i will say on behalf of the board okay we do have calls to go into an executive session um at this point um the front of the agenda you can see a list of reasons why the board mayor may go into an executive session and exclude the public those have been checked off beyond that can't
077say anything else about that like mr gilmore said earlier action may be taken when we come back out i would say that our executive session could be at least 60 minutes perhaps longer so may i please have a motion to move into executive session all those in favor any opposed okay we will be moved going to a separate location members of the public are certainly willing or uh allowed to wait until we come back um and that's shop right laughs you