001all right meeting starts at 6 p.m is the live stream on okay hold on yep we're good all right the New Jersey open publics meeting the New Jersey open Public's meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed are acted upon in accordance with in accordance with provisions of the act the east Rutherford board of education has caused the notice of this meeting by having the date time and placed erupt provided to the record and South burgundy newspapers to have published and posted in the vestibular Borough Hall and Public Library copies of the agenda are available 48 hours prior to said meetings in the board of education office and are posted on
002the east Rutherford school website www.erboe.net now if you could please stand to salute the flag of a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you roll call Mr Banker here Ms carus here Mr Drummond here miss Larusso MS shemley MR Vartan Mr Sealy here fire locations audiences right my left our audience is left straight through those doors and then beyond another door interim School business administrator report Mr d'andria the only thing added for this evening's meeting that was not discussed last week was adding one award of extraordinary unspecifiable service for some some Management Solutions any questions on the new added person vendor apologize any questions no that's
003it then okay superintendent report Mr Jane caspro thank you Mr signalini so um other than the report that I gave during the work session we have McKenzie school enrollment 376 South School 224 students Lincoln School 147 total of 747. I'm proud to announce no HIV investigations for the month of June we're finalizing steps with the assistance of Mr uh the Andrea regarding the final steps of construction and renovation punchless items that we're continuing to work on at Faust Lincoln McKenzie and the board Annex I'm currently right now during the summer months the administrative team and I are going to be working on scheduling for the 24 23-24 school year um as well as fine-tuning our goals for the 23-24 school year as well as working alongside all of you the board to come up with
004their board goals as we look towards the next year a couple of other things in in the area of leadership some of the areas that we're looking at to perfect the six areas to drive positive School culture such as purpose trust accountability support growth and Innovation and those are the ones that we're going to be looking at where we hone in on our 23-24 district goals for next year and that really concludes my report I don't have a really large report this time okay any questions for Mr Gene Castro okay correspondence Miss do you prefer maina or uh your ristevsky are you from me now okay I wanted to make sure it just said we had an email from Miss maina uh correspondence to the Boe about the pro the The Pride banners in McKenzie
005school we sent a Boe response Friday a response from the Board of Ed all right any questions if not I'm going to open it up to public comment like I said before I'm gonna open up the public comment on all items and also specifically the superintendent's contract as well uh you you please come up there's a microphone there say your name address if you can um and want to say please just include your email address as well for for a response you have five minutes um and just to limit back and forth it just please just always come up to speak and use your five minutes okay oh and address the board president trust me first before we begin and just posted on YouTube um it is yeah so it's posted on you it's it's
006a live stream through our Board of Ed website um and then so there's a link and it eventually goes to a YouTube right it is a YouTube link but the easiest way to go is to go to erboe.net if you click on the drop down there's um it says live stream it says board live stream or meeting live stream and you click on that and then that'll give you the link to the live stream and if you missed it during the live we post it so that you can view it later on yep so he's there yeah so anyone can view um you always every work session every board meeting is always on there you just have to come to make a comment just say your name address sentence my name is Matthew Roman I
007currently reside at 131 Mozart um I am again resident of East Rutherford I have a young daughter who will soon be entering Pre-K and have serious concerns about what I have seen and heard is being displayed in your Pre-K and Elementary School I am here to ask a basic simple question how is an lgbtq plus Banner going to help our children no matter what their race family structure or religion how can children succeed at the next level if they can't even do basic math covet has left children's significantly behind in their education reading and math scores are at an all-time low you put up a banner supporting sexuality or acceptance depending how you interpret it when you should be focused on educating the children not indoctrinating them to be woke social Warriors or adult causes
008that their young minds can't even digest reasonable people understand that sex education in our schools should be medically accurate and developmentally appropriate when does sexual attraction occur not until late Middle School who wouldn't agree with that many people adamantly oppose today's comprehensive sex education why because we aren't talking about just dual Mom and Dad households the Flag represents a never-ending array of sexualities when will you see that this is more than acceptance what will it be when you have boys going to the girls bathroom or when you have students using a litter box because they identify as cats or will it be when minor attracted persons who identify as part of the lgbtq plus Community are included will you be teaching our children that they can have consensual sex with a 30 40 50 year
009old because they are part of the lgbtq plus Community will it be then that you acknowledge this is grooming where does it stop the education of our children is being held captive to the constant whims of extreme political ideology you our board represent this political indoctrination it is an attack on parents and children alike whatever happened to teaching elementary kids the basics like how to read write and do math again test scores have decreased in all areas forcing your schools forcing your schools to inject activists politics into our schools might turn out some woke social justice Warriors but it's not but it's sure not going to produce the computer analysts Engineers electricians nurses doctors and teachers that so many communities desperately need allow families to be whole it is our job to teach morals religion
010politics we teach acceptance without the flag or that flag prior to Murphy's new curriculum we were doing just fine I did not see a community of hateful racist homophobic bigots last year in June did you no so it proves that this flag is not is not a necessary take it down permanently thank you thank you thank you for coming if anyone else has a comment about the banner the lgbtq curriculum I would like to come up just once again your name address if you want your email address as well five minutes just address the board president working yeah figure it out um my name is Maggie Ibrahim my rosette at five McKenzie Avenue um last meeting uh that I was here a couple of weeks ago I'd ask the board to address uh the uh
011opt-out decision from parents and how this Banner that's being displayed publicly in an elementary school setting is subjugating our kids to very inappropriate uh kind of a language which with lgbtq plus I followed up with an email with the boards responsive not yet to heard a response on our decision to opt out and uh you know the subjugation of material that is inappropriate for an elementary school setting to our children so at what point am I going to hear back a response this is this is a question because you guys have not addressed my my question so I'm asking when are you going to address my question this is my direct comment I will speak on behalf of my wife who can't be here today but I would like you to address my question I
012mean her next comment this this is my comment so my comment has concluded I'd like to address it we'll finish your comments that is my oh what so I know we're gonna no no we're gonna address all public comments at the end of public comments yeah correct okay correct yeah all right um and then on behalf of my wife um who can't oh it's not going to take okay it's not going to take too much longer um all right so Everyone's entitled to their belief whether one wants to hear see or believe it uh it's our right to uh essentially State our public comments this is not an attack on the lgbtq plus Community like some think let's focus on those who are directly being asked on what does the L in lgbtq mean or
013the T in lgbtq plus a seven-year-old kid if they're curious as they are as seven-year-olds um they're going to ask curious questions right and I asked the board how we should be essentially approaching those types of discussions for children who are not age-appropriate um we're asking that the school district and the board stop normalizing sexuality at such a young age it's it's quite scary as a parent there are many ways that this could have been avoided and stated to be more age-appropriate and it was not so whoever the administrative team is that came up with the language we'd like them to be held accountable in question as to whether or not they were capable of realizing on their own merits whether or not this is age appropriate for elements through school-aged children so we'd like
014to understand who was accountable for approving such language in an elementary school setting thank you foreign good evening I'm here tonight on behalf of May Regal Donia 78 78 Madison uh May Regal on 5 McKenzie Ave who has emailed you and informed you that I Donia will be speaking on her behalf she has just given a birth and cannot be here I'm here again as a parent to advocate for all children and parents alike many of you likely heard or saw the controversy that was generated once our parents were actually made aware of the banner that you decided to put up and then again decided to keep up once we were asked once asked to removed it so let's start with the basics what is a celebration and what is lgbtq pride month a celebration
015is to honor or publicly praise an lgbtq pride month is a month dedicated to Celebration and commemoration of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender Pride so the banner you placed in school by definition is publicly praising people for their sexuality on an elementary school ground why now for those of you that are saying it is not the definition of the message rather the idea of love and acceptance for all you have then turned that Banner into an ideology ideologies can be religious political or economic that is a fact now we could eliminate eliminate economic which leaves religious and political neither are allowed in school as it is considered indoctrination these programs ultimately entail an agenda that hurts kids the messages these banners send do not do nothing to combat The Tragically High suicide rates among the
016lgbtq community they instead send subliminal messages to young children that way that they will be praised if they are a part of this community what do children innately love and seek praise data indicates that young kids are actually put at risk when schools encourage them to identify themselves as gay or trans transgender at an early age young trans kids need to know that they were not born that way and that most of their young that most will no longer have a desire to change genders once they grow into adulthood parents need to know that up to 94 of school-aged kids who identify as transgender will grow out of their desire to change genders as an adult if parents in schools stop encouraging them to internalize and public publicize their lgbtq identities the argument that is
017the same as teaching Black History Month is void Black History Month teaches history it educates it educates children on events and people there is no option to opt out why because it is age-appropriate it is not political it is not sexual nor an ideology it is fact-based now would you put up a BLM Banner because that's what we would be that's what would be the equivalent of this Banner if I came up here and I asked you to make sure that Black History Month a black lives matter flag is posted on the banner for the black residents of East Rutherford will it be done will anyone say no will anyone say it's political probably because the black lives matter movement has shook this country and flags us as such are banned in schools because it
018was deemed as political what makes the pride flag any better than the black lives matter flag shouldn't they both hold the same value my family identifies as black Africans so where is my banner so my kids are not as important as the kids who have lgbtq family members so my kids shouldn't be shouldn't feel supported and loved I mean that's what you're ultimately telling us the prior flag does it shows families their love and appreciated so where is my flag for my family Black History Month is celebrated in February on the banner I want to see a BLM flag posted now when a child sees the acronym BLM will they be told that black lives matter has to do with one's sexual identity such as the acronym lgbtq plus no it will explain the suffering
019and the pain black people have gone through worldwide and still go through today so if political views is not allowed in NJ Public Schools then why are we having this conversation yet again lgbtq teaches children ideas of sexuality it is not is it fact-based no the ideas you are promoting are that children can choose their sexuality and their gender those are not facts it is not science basic biology teaches us such that there are only two religions of only two genders all religions teach two genders the reason why I'm asking you to do this is because again the acronym itself lgbtq on an elementary school is problematic some people may think oh kids don't notice these things does anyone here have research to back that up not all kids are oblivious to this there are
020curious kids visible kids kids on the autism spectrum who memorize and embed images sounds in videos into their minds we cannot assume that some of these kids are oblivious to some things while some are while some are not again we are not ready for that conversation about one's sexuality at this age neither are our kids you may be but not me not us and not and we should not be forced to explain it yet the banner was recognized to to not be age-appropriate by the or Board of Education and the verbiage for next year's pride month should be changed sorry your time is up do you are you well on this thing you were supposed to be advocating for the education of our children not the political agendas that fund money I trust that this
021will not be an issue moving forward thank you already know me so everyone is elegantly Spoken Here I on the other hand I'm a very simple person so what's happening people at home oh okay so watch it okay gotcha am I okay all right so my name is Teresa matraxia and I'm here tonight because I'm appalled at what young kids are learning today in school I actually you have a flag but I actually brought my flag so that everyone can see and remember what it exactly stands for it stands for the United States of America which means we are all represented under this flag and this flag alone okay any other flag is simply a means to divide us and that's just the truth so I would like to think that teachers got into their
022professions because they actually wanted to educate children I'm sure that that's why they got into their professions they spent four years of college another four years to get their master's degrees I can't imagine I refuse to believe that any teacher who went through all that schooling said I can't wait I can't wait to get my job as a teacher can't wait to go into my first class and teach homosexuality sex or heterosexual sex I can't imagine that I refuse to believe that any teacher thought that that's what they would be teaching you all have to know that I know some of you I know you know that this is not right it's wrong it's immoral and it doesn't belong in the classroom it's really that simple how do you think teachers feel to know that
023they're being used for a political agenda maybe they don't want to teach this stuff they're being forced to teach this stuff because the town got 800 and something thousand dollars for whatever they needed it for so they were bought off they were basically bought off by the state to teach this to our kids to destroy their minds to take away their innocence I know you know that I don't know why we're not fighting for these kids it's sad It's just sad I want you all to stand up for the kids in this community it's not about uh prejudiced it's not about homophobia it's not about any of that it's about the molding of the young minds they don't need to learn this stuff in school we don't have a racist Community a homophobic Community I
024don't think anybody here cares or anybody sleeps with for that matter I'm sure you don't care who I sleep with right why would I care about who somebody else sleeps with it's nobody's business but yet we're bringing it to the attention of young kids and I don't get it there are some older people here too I mean I know you didn't grow up in a time like this aren't you scared aren't you scared for our kids yeah so I'm not here to take this out on you I'm not here to disparage you to make you feel you know any less of who you are because again I know some of you I know you have to not agree with this so I want to know what you're going to do to help parents like this
025help parents who can't who can't do anything about it please I'm asking you tonight to step up speak out for parents who are really upset about this for all kinds of reasons religious reasons you know just it's wrong that's all I have to say it's wrong and it's immoral and our kids don't need to listen to this anymore and I want you to stand up for them and I want you to say it's enough I want you to say we will not be involved with the political agenda because it has no place in our school systems that's somebody else's fight it's not ours to fight thank you sir good evening board pres president and Mr Jean caspro yes my name is Mercedes Molina and I am the mother of a seven-year-old that attends Mackenzie I'm
026here to request that any Pride Banners are permanently removed from the elementary school implying that something is a celebration or a reason to celebrate is coercive indicination the definition of celebrate is honor or praise publicly the definition of pride month is LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation dignity equality and increased visibility of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people as a social group Pride banners by definition are telling pre-k through third graders kids age three to nine that East Rutherford proudly Praises self-affirmed lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people as a social group every parenting book and study tells us that children respond best to praise they crave it they wait all year to celebrate their birthday in the classroom because they want the praise the attention the celebration so here you are placing banners
027proudly celebrating lgbtq plus you are telling our children that if they are lgbtq plus they get celebrated that's the real problem here why because these children do not know sexuality they have not hit puberty yet your your subliminally coercing them to be something that they may not be prom may not be by promising celebration and attention you're planting seeds with promise of Praise only after a child is old enough to make their own decisions about sexuality after puberty should we be teaching acceptance of sexuality I would also like to make everyone aware here uh everyone here aware of the additional funding of up to 225 000 that a school can receive for lgbtq plus students in middle school if you coerce them with celebration in pre-K in elementary school by the time they reach Middle
028School you will be offering them additional services to get additional funding via grants in middle school because that's what this comes down to funding that was the argument made in August last year when we had the board meeting about the new curriculum if we didn't adopt it we wouldn't get funding so I implore each of you to ask yourself ask yourselves what is more important funding or our religious moral and political beliefs funding or funding our or our children's mental health because that's what this course subliminal endocrination does it confuses them thank you okay I know you're going to take your time so Irina Mena 131 Mozart Street good evening I'd like to dress a dress rather a few concerns first and foremost I know a number of emails were sent but we never received
029responses to Friday's email I'd like to reiterate those questions and then again explain my beliefs the first question that we asked was who voted on what as parents we have a right to know who voted with beliefs that align with ours so we can make educated decisions on who to elect the vote that took place during the last meeting should have been held publicly as as it is not one of the nine exemptions under the sunshine law making that vote illegal you are also not allowed to vote on items that are not on your agenda without public notice please refer to the public meeting act again we'd like the executive meeting minutes made public since that vote should have never been taken behind closed doors so the questions that I had asked were that McKenzie
030includes Pre-K can you provide us with the state standards for inclusion for pre-k we have researched them but could not find any your policy states that all media must represent every student population a banner is Media does it represent the New Jersey state standards for pre-k does it represent students who opted out does it represent populations of your student body that are learning Traditional Values at home is this a violation of your own policy inclusion in New Jersey state standards applies to classroom lessons we can opt out of Health in a classroom inclusion is taught as the history of an lgbtq plus movement or reading about an influential person in the community where does a hallway fall into these standards it is not a classroom it is not a lesson have you considered the legality
031of it as it violates a family's opt-out to sexual education and health pursuant to state law as you are exposing the children to content their families have opted out from schools cannot promote religion or Politics the federal government established that ruling this is very political and your own board member confirmed it is political on recording how do you plan to address the legality of that as a Christian I teach my children our family beliefs that Jesus is our savior and that all man men were created in His image he assigned your gender and was not confused when he did so a man and a woman should marry those are basic Christian principles Jesus also teaches love and acceptance for all no judgment bestowed on others I do not need an lgbtq plus flag to teach
032acceptance it is instilled in our children by our family values morals and religions not through a banner with sexual and political propaganda as many of you here know my best friend in town is May Regal and her children and mine are best friends as she stated publicly in the last meeting she and her family are Muslim do I respect her family yes I actually love them like they are my own is she treated differently no absolutely not why because her family beliefs are hers to have in mine are mine but do I proudly celebrate her religion no I respect it I accept it but I do not celebrate it similarly I accept lgbtq plus but I do not proudly celebrate it nor will my children when it goes against our religious values and it simply
033is not age-appropriate for their young impressional binds those are my family's god-given rights by this amazing country rights that you are trying to strip away in my house we celebrate proudly only three things family God and America the only flag that should be celebrated in public schools is the American flag my beliefs do not include exposing children to sexuality that indoctrinates them with liberal agendas and proud celebration of sexuality the official explanation for pride is lgbtq plus pride month is a month dedicated to Celebration and commemoration of lesbian gay bisexual and transgender Pride does my nuclear family not deserve a celebration your banner implies that East Rutherford proudly celebrates lgbtq plus families and only them since you never place a nuclear family Banner what message are you sending to my young impressionable children if you
034argue that nuclear families are the norm you are again mistaken 51 of American marriages end in divorce children spend more hours in a day at school than they do awake at home your subliminal indoctrination of liberal beliefs through banners flags and whatever else you have planned in the name of inclusion is not acceptable yes it is political yes your board confirmed that and yes as a result that Banner is illegally placed if I ask you for a banner celebrating my religion it would be turned down why because it is illegal to indoctrinate children with beliefs that may not align with their families and I respect that I would never Force anyone to go against their family beliefs and values so why are you that is the definition of indoctrination celebrating Pride by definition is the
035celebration of sexuality my young children do not need to know the terms lesbian gay or straight it's definitely not an elementary school's place to teach them we entrusted you all with the right to educate our children to teach them their ABCs and their one two threes what we didn't expect you to do is coerce them into sexuality with the promise of Celebration thank you making us better anyone else good afternoon I am an Israeli for Resident my daughter is going to be in seventh grade uh my name is Diana Chan warowski I live on 334 Hoboken Road East Rutherford uh when we first moved to this town to this beautiful country we came for a better life for our kids I always dream that this is the best country for my daughter to learn for
036my daughter to grow to be free and we at home we taught her how to love how to respect others how to be kind to everybody here as a mom I just came today just to listen but then I received text messages what my daughter is learning at school when I learned that this school is several policy for bullying I told my daughter this is the place for you to be but now as a child she's being bullied by the own school by the own District bullying the child bullying her pureness during her all those children all those children that they need protection that they need to be defended they deserve better they being attacked they taking away their childhood with trash that they don't need in their hearts neither on their minds our kids
037deserve better and care as a parent because all of you are parents we have to protect our children we have to stop them from being bullied from all different situations that they are exposed at school I was like I just saw what my daughter is learning at school I want my daughter she's an honor roll student but she is suffering with all these trash that is being implemented in her teachings every day and I am not throwing this down to anybody but we are here to protect our kids to raise our voice for our kids and whatever I am willing to do with other parents to protect our kids I'm here for them not just for my daughter for all the children of this beautiful town thank you so much public comment foreign okay I
038literally my name is Dorian Kirchoff I'm at 13 Grand Street I literally had no intention on speaking but this is affecting me personally as a parent emotionally mentally this is unacceptable I've been a resident for over 20 years of East Rutherford I've had two older children go through this entire district and there's been never a concern until now it is this curriculum you are stealing their innocence life is crazy enough you're stealing it from them for the very short amount of time that they have left before they've realized the reality of the world and how crazy it is and how to navigate it my child is seven years old he doesn't need to know anything anything about any type of sexuality period end of story there is a time there is a place elementary school
039is not it at home we raise him for understanding and compassion yet here we are in front of a board of adults and you can't compromise and understand where we're coming from my child is raised to choose a friend based upon their character it has nothing to do with any sexuality because he doesn't know and he doesn't need to know right now he is seven sorry it is not according to race it is not according to religion it is based upon character do you respect this person do they respect you be friends with them they don't respect you they're bullies to you step away from them it is that simple for these children at this age I do not have a speech like all these wonderful parents had I have got deep anger emotion and
040I hesitated coming up here because my child is from a family that has been involved in this town for more years than most of you I have a child that protects the children of this town and I feared coming up here because what would happen to them and that's shameful because you know what me as a mother I need to stand up here and I need to support my kids no matter what they choose and what we believe is correct this is incorrect there is a time in the school where this should be addressed no matter what the sexuality or anything is the Flag represents sexuality it does not in it does not represent Unity as Teresa said earlier the American flag does that leave sexuality out of our kids you do not have my
041permission to have my child comfortable to speak to anybody outside of his household about sexuality you do not have my permission to Rob him of his very very few years of Innocence he needs to worry about how he is at home his behavior in school and that is it leave my child alone we do not give you permission to do this to our children you guys were voted in I was at the meeting in August so I'm aware who voted what and I will be paying close attention on who I will be voting for again because we've been lied to you're all here to represent our children do your job thank you anyone any other public comment okay seeing none hearing none close public comment you're you are asking for a response so I'm going
042to start in multiple steps addressing there were some comments from last week too a lot about policy a lot about right about where we stand about I I I want to also address I I believe it was you that asked about identity in um on the survey too I'm gonna read policies they you can reference I'm also going to start with the New Jersey curriculum standards I want to make a statement right we are beholden to the New Jersey state curriculum standards if you are not satisfied with our responses I welcome and I I one of the reasons why I asked for email addresses too is because we we're going to provide you with contact information for the county superintendent's office right like like we always ask to go to say a teacher then a
043principal then a superintendent then the board follow the chain of command sorry also above us is the county superintendent and the New Jersey doe and the New Jersey doe is where a lot of these curriculum standards that while we vote it is somewhat of a arbitrary you know they are we are required to follow the New Jersey state curriculum standards I we will provide that info that information to you too right with the contact or we'll provide a link to You for their meetings I don't know when they have them off the top of my head so I'm gonna I'm gonna read I'm going to read off the curriculum standards I'm going to address we close public comment I'm going to just try to address again not just this week's emails last week we're trying
044to be as transparent as possible give the information when we can okay first I'm going to start with c18a 35-4.36 this is the New Jersey curriculum to include instruction on diversity and inclusion beginning in the 2021-2020 school year each School District shall incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion in appropriate place in the curriculum of students in grades kindergarten through 12 as part of the district's implementation of the New Jersey student learning standards the instructions shall highlight and promote diversity including economic diversity Equity inclusion tolerance and belonging in the con connection with gender and sexual orientation race and ethnicity disabilities and religious tolerance examine the impact that unconscious bias and economic disparities have at both the individual level and honest society as a whole and encourage safe welcoming and inclusive environments for all students regardless of
045race or ethnicity sexual and gender identities mental physical disabilities and religious beliefs the commissioner of Education shall provide school districts with sample learning activities and resources designed to promote diversity inclusion this act shall take effect immediately right in an effort to meet this mandate this mandate as we mentioned right it it directly specifies gender and sexual orientation in the New Jersey state mandate right we displayed a banner for lgbtq pride month right now after the first response after right we said we would change the banner to just I I forgot what the language was just say pride month I believe right remove the letters because we that was a concern about um to paraphrase I don't want to just attempt to restate that power kids were coming home to parents and asking what the what
046the letters meant right so to avoid that but still follow these standards the New Jersey state standards by the njdoe right that was a way to find a balance I I can't it can't it can't it that's just based on the the way the the please I welcome again send an email called call the district um okay the other thing I want to talk about I'm sorry just so they I'm gonna go over just a few policies again that are based off of New Jersey state standards they are in our policy menu I'm going to list the number right so that you can find them on the policy manual and reference them as well all right we will put this in if you have your email address here and I'm sure if you don't have
047your email address here someone who has an email address can send it to you all right so the the question there was there was about opt out of curriculum right I believe that is two four two two and just I'm going to read a section of it in accordance with the provision of njsa 35-4 point 4.7 njsa 18a 35-4.7 the curriculum for inclusion was NJ a 35 4.36a just right NJ 18a 35 4.7 any student whose parent present to the principal assigned statement that any part of the attraction Health Family Life Education or sex education is in conflict with his or her conscious or conscience conscience or sincerely held moral or religious belief shall be excused from that portion of the course where such instruction is being given and no penalties as to credit our
048graduation shall result the opt-out is for the health parents have the option under the New Jersey state standards to opt out of the can we get health family life or sex education but they do not have the the ability to opt out of the curriculum defined by the the curriculum instruction on diversity and inclusion the one I read before right those two things and because of that right we are we then go into policy 24 28.1 the school district shall Implement a CO here in currico for all pupils including English language Learners gifted and talented pupils and pupils with disabilities that is content rich and aligned to the New Jersey Core Curriculum content standards the curriculum shot guide every guide instruction to ensure every pupil matches the njccs I combined those two and the other
049curriculum standard because we are your parents are allowed to opt their children out of Health Family Life Education or sex education but they are not allowed as per the state guidelines to opt themselves out of instruction on diversity and inclusion and because they're not allowed to then it falls under 24 28.1 which is that we have to educate all as per stake Islands we have to educate all children on curriculum that we're required to teach that is and that's I read these policies because I'm trying to be very specific right and trying to give you the exact policies so that you can reference them you can you can read them right I'm including sections of them but I'm try I'm not miscarriage I am not in my attempt trying to mischaracterize the policies I'm just
050trying to read the relevant facts I I want you guys to get the relevant facts not just be kind of throwing a bunch of words here and word salad in order to attempt to obfuscate right I'm here to just um standards as well correct okay so I can we can write that down and then take care of it yep and then the last thing um and this is going back I mentioned this I I'm sorry if it was it wasn't you but I I'll just generate there was a question on identity in a survey right we're required to by the and this is standard five seven five six call us our policy sorry five seven five six we're we're a school district shall accept the students assign gender identity orthos could send is now required
051a student may not need to meet any threshold diagnosis or treatment requirements have his or her gender identity recognizable and respected by the school district in addition a legal or Corridor name change is now required there's no affirmative Duty for any school district or staff member to notify a parent there may be instances where a parent of a minor disagrees with the student right what yeah I am saying all of this I I and I am directing you I am I know that's why I'm here with the facts that's why I am just here with the facts and I am being very specific to my language about this being New Jersey standards and I'm being very specific about telling you the policies because I my goal is always so so we very sad we can't
052have a back and forth we have to have the public comment close the public comment address the public comment right I am directing you to the Bergen County superintendent's office I am directing you to the njdoe right we are a public school district governed by the njdoe we are we are right as much as as much as much as as much as right but as much as to be honest as much as we we talk about approving curriculum approving right we are bound by New Jersey state standards teachers are bound by New Jersey state standards I I you know this to me sounded like words out I tried to be a very very like this is exactly what it says right the curriculum Center so we so and and and and and in the beginning
053of the year right we had said we're we are going to treat the standards what I don't know how to say this in a in a in a manner but we had spoken about treating the standards in a way that was you know respecting the standard right while not going swinging the other way and being too much right I don't know what the proper the proper term is about age well yeah but but also but not just age appropriate but also like but but yeah yeah yeah and yeah trying to not trying to not stay and and and and our our the the decision for a banner right was a way of educating without right that was without being what it was like verbose or down someone's throats or um explicit right that being said
054after the comments that's why we right and and the the the corresponding corresponds it's back right was about modifying the banner right was about addressing it for next year and addressing it for next year and addressing it for for next year for the next school year guys I I said we are reevaluating for future year it's in the initial correspondence and taking into account foreign rather than addressing that concern immediately so if we're expressing Our concern that it is intentionally going against our religious value but we're still trying to teach our young kids they're so impressionable why would the board decide so that's why we want those executive means and if that's why I'm telling you that all right so and it's fine it's fine it's fine I'll let me and then if you yeah
055no I I I I I I I I know I I am I am trying to just so there because the public comments closed right like like no but but let me let me just make a statement right um right with regards to Executive minutes and with regards to finding people's names and our you you had phrased it right executive minute minutes are privilege and for a reason right discussions had there are privilege for recent that being said if you feel like it did not fall under um one of the nine qualities please right uh there are Avenues you can go I don't off the top of my head know them but feel free yeah I'm sure you do if you knew the policies um that being said right it's I I always said I
056am not here I I do not buy into cancel culture about canceling people and and and you know saying people that do not align with my values right everything here is and everyone here is working extremely hard right extremely hard to and we are imperfect people right that are trying to do our best for the school district everyone no one here gets paid well no one here gets paid right everyone here is trying to do the best for students and we say all students right meaning your students someone else's students we're all trying to to do what's best I said before and I will stand by it it I the buck stops with me it always stops with me I am the board President right I I signed that letter to you so if you're
057look you know that's that's that's how this this all goes I chose to be this right so if you believe in accountability if whatever you believe your accountability to be here all right but but but that's you know eliminating public comment right that's it we again I I our push as a board was for transparency these right you I I even if you did record we wanted to view to not have to record on your phones right to have them up right was for having multiple multiple meetings in Prior years just to make a statement we did not have multiple public meetings for public comment right that was a change that this board made to allow for as much input as humanly possible we don't have we don't have committees or committee meetings anymore right
058we have them all in public right because the thought is that if we can have feedback no matter what even if you disagree with our decisions right you can know that we are trying to address your feedback always that has always been right this is a constant Loop and in East Rutherford I can say when you're born and raised a little bit longer than you knew but not much like 31 years I've been here right it's always been the community right feeds the board and and people try to represent the community right and people try to listen to community it's what I value in this town it's what I've always valued in this town right but again we're humans trying to make decisions and trying to right address your comments respect your comments that you
059you guys sent you guys came to a board meeting you had sent the letter you came to a board meeting that response came out in 12 hours 14 16 hours right whether we're we're being transparent right and I know you may not just you may disagree with our decisions but don't think that we're not hearing you don't think that we're not you know taking in your comments I you know it may look like I was typing I was typing on my you to take notes right to address to we asked for the emails to be transparent because we want to if we when we give you the information above us right people that can strike me down my our decisions down as a board right we're not we're being completely transparent go above us go
060two steps above us to the NJ doe go ahead please right but know that these are this curriculum we're not here we have great people that work hard on curriculum or work on instruction they they have to respond to this too they get this like parents get this and they get told figure it out right and they get told if you don't figure out the right way right figure it out we're not going to give you much guidance but if you don't figure it out the right way you're going to be in trouble all right and and we are we are yeah I know I know not that there is not that there is public back and forth not that I I yeah but so they are I I would say they they air more
061towards they're less of loose skylines these days and more towards like statutes right that are much more and maybe a teacher in that having to be the audience can talk about this outside of the meeting right but they are much more rigid than right in in the past I was talking to another board member in the past right yes curriculum was defined on a board level it was right and NOC right yeah it's Gotta file the standards which are online with doe I mean a lot you listen your comments are well received here okay it's it's really rigid on how it has to happen I I don't know if all you were there when Peter velardi explained how these things were going to be implemented because the language in the statute is kind of alarming
062and if you hear how things are implemented it's very different and I sat there as a parent listening to Peter and felt a lot more comforted and I think a lot of your comments are well received by the New Jersey State Legislature okay these guys on this board have to follow the statutes and it's clear that you know having a banner up like this doesn't violate anybody's opt-out that we have to make people and we can characterize it however you want political it's sexual you have to make people feel included and diversity has to be included so that's in a statute okay so we have to follow that stuff and as far as the the open public meetings act goes the way it works is we can go into executive session for advice of counsel
063which is what occurred okay that stays privileged because it's an attorney-client communication okay if the board was going to take an action it would vote in public no vote was occurred in executive session the flag stayed up for the remainder of the uh of the school year there was no vote to take it down okay what happens is based on the discussion the administration is gonna is gonna reconfigure or change course a little bit with the flag which the board I think is satisfied is is some sort of a good middle ground on this thing by taking the uh the acronym off okay so there's no violation of the open public meetings act because there's no vote in executive session okay there would need to be a vote to override the administration okay that's not
064what happened okay so there's no violation of the open public meetings act okay they don't want it so how can they do guys I think we've we've hashed this out that that's where we're at right now okay next year there's the acronym's not going to be on there I I it is our interpretation of the state curriculum mandate that was all right I I hear listen we hear we again I I I I I I we hear you we hear you we hear you I I I yeah we hear you I I hear you I I don't think that I don't think the Department of Education would ever say that that violates the opt-out because there's pre-K in the building there's no way there's no way the department bring it to the Department of Education
065as a violation there's no way that they would find that as a violation no way again I we will send you the information it's different to that let me know but there's no way that this Department of Education would find that as a violation the opt-out we will send you the information sorry we will send you the information that contacted Richard the county superintendent of schools Lou delizio we'll send you the information at the njdoe um I I don't offhand know when they have meetings I don't I apologize for not knowing that um but I'm if you look it up I'm sure they have they have to have regular public meetings with public comment I imagine so all right again executive session is privilege there's no yeah there's no vote yeah we'll vote in executive
066session you vote on tenure charges and executive session that's it there was no vote okay there was no decision okay there was a discussion then there was in order for there to be a vote someone have to come out and Executives out of executive session okay someone would have to move to take the flag down immediately there'd have to be a second and then there'd have to be a vote okay the flag stayed up there was no formal action by the board okay based on the discussion yeah not necessarily yeah yeah all right again it all I if you're looking for someone me okay if you're looking for someone me I I that's it thank you thank you that's I I raised my hand I raised my hand to become president of the board I
067raised my hand in January I said If you're looking for if you're looking for someone it's me and I want to say one last thing right we had talked about curriculum at the beginning of the year right there were compliments about how the schoolyard run right I again may we make every decision that you agree with of course not that we're a town of I think now like nine ninety five hundred people or something like that now I don't know what the last set this data was right there's always gonna be people that disagree with you but right we are making decisions with the children of mine with the parents about with the talent in mind all right that's always and we in Jan in August we had a discussion about curriculum right no one
068came back about curriculus we we tried to explain it we tried to right explain our rationale explain our decision making process and go through and it led to you know that email started with the problem with the school year and we put a parent Academy together you're right your decision Casper trying to always educate always try to do the right thing all right that's all but seriously if if what you're looking for is blood or to cancel someone I don't believe in cancer culture I don't believe in it I don't buy into it I don't believe in in you know persecution of people right that's that's that's not what I'm here for so if you want someone go ahead my name's right there that's probably that one I can't see it all right I don't
069know the process to um kick someone off the board publicly but if you want to recall me there you go all right I thank you all I thank you all for coming seriously I even if you don't get it matters having public input public comment right Community involvement it mattered in August it matters it mattered now matters now all right we're gonna anyone who put an email down we're going to give you the information about the county superintendent we're gonna be missionary njdoe okay if you want to stay um also if you want to stay please you can go through the rest of the board if you don't I'll take a pause and if anyone wants to leave I totally we take no offense to people leaving about the rest of the Boardman there's going
070to be no more discussion about this topic in the rest of the board but the agendas are here if you want to see okay thank you all for your time I know all right um oh no we did corresponds adoption of Prior board meeting minutes can I get a emotion some moved uh roll call Mr Bank yes yes the drummers yeah you know superintendent resolution can I get a motion for S1 through S4 okay I get a roll call yes Mr Martin yes Mr Sugarman yes curriculum committee Miss shemley any discussion can I get a roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Mr Drummond yes Miss shemley 410 yes thank you Ms shumley Personnel committee Miss Caruso thank you Mr President upon the recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions P1 through
071P5 P1 approved the Kelly education substitute list P2 approval of travel expenditures P3 Personnel actions P4 acceptance of resignation of John I'm sorry with regret and P5 acceptance of resignation for Monica cacciola let's regret can I get a second any questions comments on the curriculum Cooney thing not roll call Mr Banker yes Mr Caruso yes Drummond yeah Christopher James Mr Speaker yes and that ends my report Mr President thank you Miss Caruso physical facilities committee Mr Vartan can I get a second uh any questions comments yes are we going to have one knee oh do we want to yeah um at the very least do we is there what business is there it's not the I would say though if any anything July it's not that if anything would be August made you may not
072do but yeah I would I wouldn't I would wait until August until we know um well well hold on um are we gonna have negotiation items for July we well there's a proposed meeting for the twins for the next week oh wait you don't need two meetings but we don't need I know but if if there's stuff going on and we need like comment from the board or if there's a no okay this am is is anyone opposed to just your life just like is anyone opposed to to and I'm actually I'm not going to be there soon enough yeah that's fine all right 27 Drew's gonna have to cover that okay uh I moved to the third week well well what's the third week I may I may not be here I may be
073in the hospital with the baby um all right so can we do it on the do it the earlier one day that's what he was saying yeah yeah I'm seeing to what you're rejecting like for July so yeah we can do that we can always do a sunshine notice about yeah yep okay all right good decisions all right so we'll make well I you'll let me know about the agenda allies need a send-offs I'll let everyone know about yeah then I have a send-offs that's a good point that's a good point the banker what was that for about the uh facilities okay yes Mr Caruso Mr Russo Mr drummer miss shemley Mr segaline yes uh community relations with Mr Russo out uh Miss Caruso can you take that Mr President upon the recommendation of the
074superintendent the board hereby approves cr1 approval of public notice for public hearing on superintendent of schools contract can I get a second is there any comment questions seeing none Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes Drummond yes Emily Mr Vartan Mr segolini yes we have 10 minutes thank you Miss Caruso finance committee Mr Banker on recommendation of the superintendent the board hereby approves motions one through six F-16 as before you are there any oh can I get a second second are there any questions Tom you addressed any bills list questions with Mr danger or yes okay perfect Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso Mr Drummond yes but I I believe I have to recuse myself from F12 my name is listed oh yeah I think I do I need to as well yeah yeah all the programmers
075are gonna have to recuse themselves from 12. well not everyone no oh wait we may not have what's this for reimbursement yeah just a vendor list you don't have to recuse yourself oh yeah that wasn't for payment yeah okay you don't have to recuse you it's just the listening of your name I was gonna say uh can we work we could each recuse ourselves from our individual item on F12 yeah and then yeah okay I'm sorry I ask a question of course on F-16 approval of revised mileage reimbursement for staff travel did something change is that why we the registered I'm sorry the regulations the regulations about traveling uh with a personal use or okay and increase the mileage right it increased the rate per mile okay thank you it never decreases the rate per
076mileage yes um can I do we need to split out any of these addendum items uh I don't believe so we need to split up p6a we don't the approval superintendents contract do we want to do it anyway we don't need to split up the superintendent contract approval uh uh no okay I still want to get ding from the county and have to do this all over again uh tomorrow we'll have an answer oh it looks good but it says on their pen subject yeah it says it can we can we just split out p68 yeah please that's fine yeah all right can I get a motion for p6a approval a contract for superintendent schools I'm sorry who's the first I got a second I get a roll call Mr Banker yes Miss Caruso yes
077Mr Drummond yes Miss shemley yes Mr Barton yes Mr segaline yes I want to pause and say thank you for all you do for the district set it for three more years yeah that was you just did oh okay so you should be separated it he did oh I said put it out first the second one thank you very much thank you I'm sorry yeah he's too busy doing stuff for the schools yeah no I voted for it first I voted for it first because if the computer goes down because if the computer goes down I wanted that flow to be part of it yeah all right can I get yeah can I get a motion for addendum item c5a p2a p3a p7a and f14a second any questions or comments about these addendum items Mr
078Banker yes Mr Russo yes Drummond yes Michelle yes okay any old business yes uh I just want to go on record is I think we should take the banners down I don't think it should go back up and I don't think we need to follow in order to follow curriculum's standard I don't believe we need banners thank you thank you say that again no I'm just saying in order to follow the curriculum standard I don't believe that we need to have banners up and I'll have to agree with Mr Bank on that one yep no that's yeah definitely definitely exceptions only that Banner okay no but I think the Banners are a great idea you just have to be careful of making sure that you know what's on there because I think I I'm not
079often believed that banners segregate people I think that's people who want to to do that that does that but I think the banners actually are a good idea you know a lot of people don't feel represented and they make them feel represented so yeah sure you believe now people are starting to realize that diversity for most separation thank you Mr Martin any other new business our old old business any new business okay I'm going to uh there's we open to the public comment and there's no public uh but I'll open up to the hearing of public citizens and seeing that and I will close to hearing of public citizens we are going to adjourn to Executive session it'll be the superintendent evaluation any hips no nothing no hips first no so personality yeah yeah just
080looking for a new policy but I think we need to do we do need to vote on acceptance of the uh you know the final final performance all right so we're gonna say 45 minutes oh most likely less but 45 minutes because it always runs long so 805 and we will return with action right right thank you motion and emotion second all in favor aye that gives me