001because you know paperwork cool all right meaning call to order 607 pm the New Jersey open Public's meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of the act the east Rutherford board of education has caused the notice of this meeting by having the date time and place thereof provided to the record in South burgundy newspapers and to published and post it in the vestibule uh Borough Hall in the public library copies of the agenda are available 48 hours to set prior to said meetings in the board of education office and are posted on the ER the east Rutherford school website erboe.net now
002if you could please stand to salute the flag have 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 miss Caruso here Mr Drummond miss loveruso here miss shemley Mr bartan and Mr segolini okay fire exit uh behind me you're right my left or through these doors to your left all right interim School business administrators report Mr d'andria okay um we'll start with uh approval monthly facilities calendar on page 23. any questions from the board okay we'll move to finance items your approval of the bill list uh Mr bank if you have any questions you'll normally email them to me uh we you
003have your approval of the May payroll your financial reports were loaded on today so once you have a chance if you have any questions please give me a call uh including the transfer report you have an out of District tuition contract uh for 23.24 approval of a continuing disclosure and independent registered Municipal advisor service basically it's the requirements for your bonding you have to file certain regulatory requirements on a yearly basis approval of the contract with the YMCA to provide before and after care um number eight and nine are procedural items uh based on when the audit is completed uh if there are excess funds available uh we will uh we will make a transfer to maintenance and capital reserve at the time when we finalize the audit um provide sufficient funds to carry your
004Surplus carry any excess Surplus and then hopefully any additional uh will be discussed uh within with your new ba between the capital and me uh number 10 is the appointment of a trust agreement for your vision plan service for the upcoming school year um agreement with the Brown and Brown to provide consultant services for any health benefit questions you have uh accepted or anticipated vendors for 23.24 uh this is a requirement that we're we're required to make make a report of all the vendors we think we're going to use for next year so what I basically do is take all of our current vendors and say we're going to use them next year not knowing if we will or won't and that does not exclude us from doing new ones it's a requirement that came
005out several years ago I wish I could tell you I knew why it came out um f13 um I spoke to um the administrative assistant in the past you you were proving your professional contracts sporadically so what I've done this year is put all of your professional contracts under one category one approval for the year that that that does not mean you may still get additional ones come out through the year but these are the ones that I brought to the board in April and May we're rolling them forward uh and approving their contracts uh item 14 is um conversation um it's a difficult term extraordinary unspecifiable Services uh but that is the contract language according to statutory requirements there are certain requirements in order to make meet that so those are listed there also
006any questions on all of the finance agenda items yes questioning why my name is well be I what I did is I included a anyone who got paid for the year so there's a chance that next year you may submit for reimbursement that's why you're included you mean when we went to Workshop yeah and it's it's easier to just approve everyone because then if I you have to sort through edit this one out that it's it doesn't go anywhere it sits in the office I was wondering why I didn't get paid that's all yeah um the Food Service UMass Shields we're still waiting on their report sort of made balances and all and then you have two items on the the addendum f-15a is approval Federal School breakfast and lunch pricing I will let you
007know that you will receive a different document um after reviewing it uh they you only have board approval for the free free and reduced meals you should really be approving on the annual basis the pricing of all everything being served through the mass shields uh because that should be determined by the board on an annual basis the pricing of all items not just the the meals all right and the last one was it was brought to our attention that that there is a revision to the staff mileage reimbursement per the OMB guidelines so we've included that so that adjustment gets made and that should be done on an annual day what's that it's an increase but it is not at the IRS um requirement all right any questions on that thank you all right thank
008you Mr d'andria superintendent's report Mr Jean caspro thank you Mr signalini okay so I will have a full report at the board meeting regarding tuition the number of students that we have enrolled as well as HIV and the HIV investigation so underneath um S2 which will be before you will be approving any HIV investigations that were completed uh last month that we do at the next board meeting underneath a curriculum we have the American Rescue plan the ARP safe return every year since coven now we have to revamp it and make sure that we're along with the guidelines that are set by the Department of Education so that'll be before you for approval um trans Transportation requests from the borough of East Rutherford um which is also something that we'll be looking at um as
009well as buses from Secaucus we were able because of the bus situation where we need drivers and buses um we were borrowing their bus um so that's something that you'll be approving uh which is C3 and then we just received the bilingual program waiver so if we don't have enough students that meet the criteria for bilingual program we file for a waiver and we just got that back from the county office so we're good to go for the 22 ending the 22 23 years as we start the 23-24 school year I need Personnel items we have Kelly substitute service which is a monthly um item that we look at each each week each month travel expenditures as well as personal actions so personal actions tonight we have um a couple of resignations that you'll be
010approving at the board meeting um as well as a new one that just came out we are just waiting for the confirmation from the staff member um so that will be something that'll be before you and tonight in exact session just briefly on the replacement we were able to put out for these individuals and we were able to secure positions so all I could assure the board that all positions are secure for the 23-24 school year we have gems gems we were able to get for our students in East Rutherford we do go through a lot of very grueling interview process um because we want the best of the best for the students of East Rutherford um and we pride ourselves in that the entire administrative team as we bring on new Educators into the
011east Rutherford school district um approval of the uh public notice uh for the contract my contract will be discussed this evening as well as the evaluation um and then of course next at the next board meeting will be the approval of that also chronic absenteeism report which you have a copy of um we are above the 90 percentile which is great uh we worked really hard I want to say all my building principles did a really nice job I know um at Mr Barrow's building at McKenzie we're slightly below that 90 and so he and his team with the attendance team kudos to all of them they did a really nice job and students have been present so which is a really good thing um and that's all I have in regards to my superintendent's
012report if you have any questions for Mr Gene Castro right so normally we open to public comment on agendas items only but because I I imagine a lot of people are here that want to want to make comment so I'm going to open up to public comment on any item you have three minutes just state your name uh State your address right uh there's a mic there are a couple mics here that should work and you just address uh the board president all right today will be fine yeah that's fine yeah I say yeah I default agree let everyone knows but I'm from town yeah also um while you're writing just so everyone's aware we live stream our meetings out or something we did a few months ago right so uh because it's live stream
013and not uh so we can't make public comment on there but you can view and listen we recommend that anyone come who has a comment come to me like you from today anyone come to a cop no that has a comment come to meeting like you have today but if you want to view our meetings just for transparency sake we've made everything live streamed so you can always see our business it's on the website all right all right uh good evening everyone I originally wrote this as an email to Mr Dean caspro but I felt that my questions were not answered so I'm just going to reiterate my email for you guys um I'd like to first thank the staff at East Rutherford for a wonderful year the teacher is supporting staff and administrators including
014Mr Barrow have been exceptional as mentioned the school year has been nothing short of wonderful for the students including both my two young children that attend McKenzie seeing how smoothly it went mainly hopeful for normalcy after kovid it truly did this is why I was so disheartened to hear about and then see the picture of the lgbtq plus Banner that parents have been circulating that a student at the elementary school took the sign I'm referring to is a large Banner that is displayed in the kindergarten hallway that states east Rutherford proudly celebrates lgbtq plus pride month firstly I want to point out that no flag other than the American flag should be celebrated in public schools schools should not and cannot promote a political agenda if the response that comes to mind is that this
015represents inclusion I ask how did you choose which group you decided to be exclusively inclusive to I do not recall a banner for women's rights month nor Black History Month June is also PTSD Awareness Month gun violence awareness month and immigrant Heritage Month where are the signs celebrating our extremely high percentage of immigrant students and first generation Americans who decided that taxpayer funds should pay for a pride month Banner or that adversity faced in the past by this community takes precedence over the adversity of any other group the location of this sign is also disheartening Elementary age children especially kindergarteners do not know what sexuality is the terms lesbian gay transgender bisexual Etc should be foreign to every five-year-old an adult sexual preference should hold no value at all in an elementary public school when
016my child asks what Pride means now I have to explain to a five-year-old what sexual attraction is similarly this is a sensitive topic that oversteps a family's role religion and values I asked if I asked you to put up a sign promoting religion God or the nuclear family you guys would quickly turn it down this also goes against the board's policy that I researched online under policies and regulations that stated that the any media could not represent one population of the student population over another this clearly does so I'd like to know how this decision was made and funded as inclusivity was not at the Forefront of this decision I also request that we take down this Banner in the elementary school while I recognize the significance as students are older and more mature it
017holds no place in a place where five six seven and eight-year-olds are learning thank you uh thank you Miss meina I we we hear your concerns and we empathize with your concerns I'm going to read the statement uh from our I'm just going to paraphrase a statement from our superintendent and then what I want is everyone on this topic if you can come up say your name publicly comment so it's on the record uh so I'll just read the statement and then please feel free to come up uh again you know five minutes and say your comment so first and foremost I want to empathize emphasize that our internship behind displaying the lgbtq plus pride month retractable banners not to promote a political agenda our focus is on creating an inclusive and supportive environment for
018all students in our efforts to promote inclusivity we recognize that there are various important causes and awareness months throughout the year while it is not possible to highlight every single one of them with the large Chaco Banner we strive to incorporate discussions and educational activities around these topics into our curriculum the decision regarding what retractable Banners are displayed is based on those that are federally recognized since 1999 a presidential Proclamation cited June as Prime month and since then Americans have re recounted and recognized the struggles and achievements of a community striving for equality and inclusion in addition to lgbtq plus pride month we celebrate Native American Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month School violence awareness week Teacher Appreciation Week Red Ribbon Week Veterans Day Columbus Day American Indian Heritage day Martin Luther King Day Black History
019Month President's Day Women's History Month Asian American Pacific Islander American Heritage Month Memorial Day and Juneteenth yeah regarding the location of the retractable banner in the kindergarten hallway we understand your concerns about age-appropriateness we are committed to age-appropriate education and utilizing the New Jersey student learning standards and state statutes as our guide we will ensure that any discussions about topics related to equality and includes are suitable to our Young Learners please note that not all retractable Banners are displayed in the same location in closing we our courage open dialogue and respectful conversations to address any concerns our goal is to create a welcoming environment where all students feel valued and supported we respect and acknowledge the diversity of perspectives within our community and will continue to consider the feedback received and the feedback we'll receive
020today received thank you for taking your time and thank you in advance for everyone here for taking your time to share your concerns and please always feel free to reach out to us either at a board meeting by emailing the superintendent or or the board president um or or please you know comment again make a comment at either our work session we have two we have two meetings a month we have this work session next week we have our full board meeting our calendar is always on the www.eerbod.net we accept all public comments so we welcome that we welcome feedback from the community and representation from the community so if you have any further questions anyone here has any further questions or comments we'd like to hear them again just please state your name and
021your address and you have five minutes for a comment and thank you all again should I start um yes okay my name is May Regal and my address is five McKenzie um so I'm just gonna get right into it so I have two children who attend McKenzie Elementary School my concerns are regarding the pride Banner that we're all here for it's located outside my Pre-K three child classroom that I pay tuition for does the school give us options to opt out of all the other monthly events such as the ones that you had mentioned um gun violence awareness Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day Women's History Month Hispanic Heritage Month Black History Month Columbus Day and so on the answer is no I opted out for my kids so I don't want them exposed to
022certain things that I'm not ready to talk to them about but we do have the opt out option and the new lgbtq plus curriculum and as a parent I can avoid outside settings that have the pride flag hanging and celebrated in the world until my kids are mature enough to understand or even begin to comprehend what the flag displayed means uh most importantly this stands against my religion uh we are Muslim those are against our beliefs and our culture I'm being now forced to explain something to a young child who doesn't even understand what sexuality is and forcing it on parents and students earlier than need be is wrong I have had conversations about guns when we talked about gun violence with my children because they learned about it in school we've talked about Dr
023Martin Luther King Jr also because they learned about him in school none of those conversations had sexuality included in them so I'm being placed in a situation where I have to talk to a four-year-old and a seven-year-old about something that they they really should not even know it um so when I read superintendent June Castro's response to Irina Mena's uh email um I was a little surprised because it was almost downplayed these are real concerns and they were not efficiently addressed so the most important thing right now is to promote inclusivity and we're not doing that what does a child's sexuality or an adult sexuality or a staff member's sexuality have to do with my child they're going to school to learn so when my four-year-old or my seven-year-old asked what is the rainbow flag
024how am I supposed to respond when my child starts asking me about the acronym am I supposed to say well L stands for lesbian and then my child is going to grab his tablet and say hey Siri what does lesbian mean so he does do that and he does grab his tablet and he asks questions real questions because he's learning about them in school this is everyday life he's not doing anything wrong and I can only control so much of what they're doing in school so when we were given the opt out option and it was available how can I opt out of something but then there's something displayed right in front of them they're being exposed to something and now I'm put in a situation where I have to explain something that's inappropriate for
025their age so now this picture that circulated around town was taken by a child so now what if that was my child that took that picture first graders have cell phones second graders have cell phones third graders have cell phones and then for my my three-year-old who just turned four who's asking me what's the rainbow flag and drawing the rainbow flag I don't know how to address that I'm not prepared to address that yet one second okay um so the unfortunate situation now is that we're placed in the situation and the banner is deemed appropriate for elementary age children who have already acted out of the lessons and activities I already knew there was a health lesson that was going on and I was reassured that my child was not part of that lesson so
026now that my child my child did opt out but then they go downstairs they see the banner and then I get asked questions so that's my concern so we really don't need this Banner in elementary school do you want it in middle school or high school go ahead but they're not ready yet my four-year-old my seven-year-old are not ready for that conversation and neither is my family thank you thank you so much for your comment by Mackenzie Avenue yeah can you hear me now maggot Ibrahim five Mackenzie I'm very short and to the point we are not given the option to opt out of the federally observed holidays we were given an option to opt out out of lgbtq educational content and we are subjugating our kids to a pride Banner displayed in an elementary
027school setting and that I think is a breach of our opt-out decision that we've made for our children so I'd like the board to address how you give us an option to opt out but it is subjugated and displayed and it enables our children to ask curious questions at such a young age that goes against our decision and our morals and our religious values to request the opt out and I'd like you guys to address that yeah thank you for coming if it yeah is anyone else if yeah yeah of course yeah of course yeah um hello can you hear me okay my name is Flavia Gomez um I have also two twins that go to McKenzie school um my son today came home he brought it up with me about the rainbow flag I
028have a neighbor upstairs uh he came to meet mommy and daddy told me mommy how come this person has two Mommy and you know and then he brought it up with me about the flag so I asked him about the you know I had to explain my son about the flag and I told them um I'm kind of stuck in the middle so I tell my husband to explain to my butterfly I feel like you know I don't agree with that if why not send us a letter home saying that it's going to be posting a flag there you know because I don't agree with that and I a long time ago it was like a couple months ago me and my sister um were talking about Pride flags and showed them about teaching them
029a second you know second grade teach them about pride and I said I don't agree with this because that's not they're not they're not even know how to play you know they play sports that's what they should learn about playing sports playing Barbies my daughter and I feel like it's just just not right for them to learn I mean that flag should be taken away from there I don't feel like it's just there for them to learn what is the proportion to learn about that is that stage that you guys are you know it's okay for them to be learning about that right now as this age thank you how much for a comment alrighty good evening my name is Donia five McKenzie Ave and I have two daughters who attend McKenzie Elementary School the
030superintendent responded to an email that circulated the town of East Rutherford recently uh that was initiated by Irene Mina while waiting on the response we all anticipated that inclusion would be your scapegoat we were unable to find the answers to her questions the questions that all parents here have again who made the decision to incorporate this retractable banner with the lgbtq flag and slogan stating East Rutherford proudly celebrates lgbtq plus month how was that paid for I'd like to reiterate again that this was not necessary nor is it appropriate for an elementary school this is a school teach my kid math teach my kid how to play sports kindness all of that stuff but this is not a place for you to incorporate something that is happening in the political sphere for my kids there
031are several federally recognized States and not all of them are celebrated by East Rutherford Public Schools why this one why the new standards to incorporate inclusion of lgbtq know where does it mandate how it this how it is displayed or taught so again my question is who made the decision and why knowing that this is such a sensitive topic you give families the option again to opt out of having their children learn about it yeah here it is being proudly celebrated despite it going against multiple religious and cultural values it also is simply not age-appropriate regardless of a family's values or personal beliefs children should not be celebrating the sexuality of grown adults who know how to think and speak for themselves I'm having a difficult time understanding how exposing five-year-olds to the terms lesbian
032gay transgender Etc is acceptable or how it defaults to inclusion you all mentioned that this is not political the public school is supposed to be neutral about religion but nothing about this is neutral you are indoctrinating children with liberal political beliefs in teaching or testing children on how to practice them in the name of inclusion I'm here to ask you to consider why this Banner is placed inside our elementary school in the kindergarten hallway why much needed taxpayer funds paid for it why parents were not informed until until a confused student took a photo and informed their parents and most importantly we all requested it being taken down thank you for comment okay seeing no more comment I'm going to close uh motion to close public I'm not okay close I can close not used
033to a lot of public comments so yeah so we'll take in the public comments we it's really just about public comment we'll we have a discussion about it and and then we you know if it's addressed if it's not addressed like that's all I could say right you I I always recommend coming back to board meetings I I we're we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna discuss further we're gonna have a discussion I hear you I hear you board yeah and the way you guys you guys gave your you guys gave your comments trust me they're they're taken under advisement and you know people have personal views on the on the board as well but they also have to be guided by you know the county superintendent yeah you know the the statutes the laws the
034policies all those kinds of things so you know let me let me can I can I finish can I finish okay so the board's got to get advice to this in an executive session they have to consider your comments your comments just don't get considered by a board and answered right away they may have to have discussions among two of them tomorrow or something like that that's the way this works so those have answers right now after the board meets an executive session if you know we'll we'll discuss that and then and then we'll uh we'll respond why don't we do this why don't we reopen the public discussion if you guys want to make additional comments let's do that but it's not this isn't the way it works guys okay so let's reopen it
035if people want to make additional comments let's do that what's here so if you guys take the time so tune in Friday so we're not going to do anything until next June that makes absolutely no sense so the most important thing right now is I just call today by principal Barrow because she know that I was coming today because I emailed Mr Gene caspro and I emailed um his secretary as well Karen I believe yeah so um I called again because I didn't know where the board did she let me know the information and then a few minutes later Instagram called me asking hey what's going on is there something I didn't address so he knows I thank you I don't know if it is working okay um so so he asked me is it
036okay if you tell me what's going on and I said yeah but it has nothing to do with you it doesn't say McKenzie school proudly celebrates it says the district so I'm addressing the district so he already knows and he asked me is it okay if I share with everyone so he told me that he was sharing with either Mr Gene Casper what was going on or with the board members so you guys were aware of what was happening today and that's why you were prepared to read the email that Mr Jim caspro had sent to Irena Mena so that we're not blindsiding anyone you guys knew about this prior to and we're not going to wait until next May or June to bring this back up so we just want answers that's all yeah
037uh just if I may the reason why I I opened the public comment early right normally we go through our matters of business we go through many of you have been here before we go through everything and then there's a public comment the reason why I opened it up early because number one your time is valuable right I'm not going to make you sit here if you don't want to and waste your time number two is because we have to act as a board every decision is as a board right individuals and and it has to be acted through a fashion whether or not and and I believe that Mr Gene caspro if you send an email Mr Cat to Mr gatro he will address it and likewise if there's follow-up action right it'll be
038addressed the second thing I do want to state right is that and Mr G Casper alerted me to this you can always go if if a decision remake does not see with product of a better word satisfy you or right there you can always go through the Bergen County uh superintendent of schools as well right and that's really a level above us you can always go there uh Lou delizio yes Lou delizio right so there are and we've also made him aware of this as well so we're the reason why I took public comment early is because it's a work session so normally we don't take action now anyway but you know during our when do you think we would have an answer but we were told that it's almost up in the air like
039we may have an answer we may not so we want to know when you guys discuss it and have a conversation when will we the parents and the residents of East Rutherford when will we have an answer one of the other reasons we take information down is because we normally it would be about maybe multiple different topics this is about one topic this allows us to communicate to you what a decision this way you're not waiting until uh you know Grace smoke goes up in the air to say it's it's one way the other this way we can we can always communicate with you that's that and I'm missing if I'm not gonna put your spot but you've come with other concerns and it's addressed also through an email to you because like you had
040said you should not have to come back to the August meeting September meeting we should be able to communicate with you what whatever decision is made I mean let me ask you a straightforward question is The Pride Banner still displayed in the school is the pride Banner still currently as far as I know yes yes and so would you agree that that's a breach of the parents decision to opt out of lgbtq I I I'm not going to express I can't stress none of us give personal beliefs yeah you're asking for a legal opinion on an interpretation of a statute so yeah you know what the answer is I don't think it is okay with me already about anything the board has to consider your comments that's great you could consider and determine the determine
041whether it's going to stay the course does more damage than it does when it is one person you have the mic so if she I think that was addressed in the letter that there's a there's like a you know a course of conduct here that is to display a banner for each of those many things listed in there that's what is done that's the course of conduct that's been followed okay so that addresses your question okay okay these things things happen sometime without somebody going oh bam we're going to do this right now we're following a process which is putting a banner up for each of those things the superintendent addressed your your concern we can all sit here and disagree and if I sat in the public I might be saying something different too
042but but that it was addressed okay well we can agree and disagree email were who decided to put up the banner right because you need approval for that and then secondly how are those banners funded those were my two questions and neither of them were Ward's not going to address this until we go into executive session I can give them guide and Science and that's just factual no it's not no it's not just put up the banners it's not factual it may have to do with a process a policy all those things okay the board has a chance to discuss this okay okay I'm sure everything was done in compliance with the open public with the open public contracts law okay listen we're gonna why don't we do this if you want if you want
043to have open discussion again we can reopen it okay then come up speak your five minutes and then we'll go through it again okay so just to reiterate this guys this was all very quickly happens right we got the picture yesterday I sent the email immediately to Mr Jim caspro this is just banter amongst parents this wasn't posted on Facebook it wasn't posted on Instagram because if we had we would have caused a big stink here this evening we decided to come here to address you directly with our concerns we're not saying remove lgbtq plus we're saying in an elementary setting it is highly inappropriate to teach children sexuality it doesn't say the pride Banner it says east Rutherford celebrates lgbtq plus lesbian gay transgender bisexual plus so you tell me in what realm those
044terms are appropriate for a five-year-old right and aside from that the questions that were asked that I understand that you're saying you need an executive session for the concerns here this evening are that those are just questions of actions that have already been taken I emailed Mr James Casper which is why I'm here because I felt my questions were not addressed the board based on what knew that we were attending today so the questions are who made the decision to put up the banner and how were those banners funded so they argument made by the board attorney was that there is a process and that all the federally recognized holidays get banners they do not not every single event had a banner so the problem is why this one last year at the beginning of
045the year when we did the inclusion meeting for the new curriculum it was almost insinuated that we would be doing the bare minimum because there were so many people that did not feel strongly about this new curriculum yeah here we are today fastball reading where we're taking this banner and shoving it in parents faces this is not doing the bare minimum this is not saying hey Susie has two moms and that's okay because that is appropriate for a five-year-old right we recognize that everybody is different everybody's family Dynamic is different and that is okay that is what should be torn in elementary school promoting and celebrating anything other than the American flag especially something that is so controversial and goals against a multitude of religions here today is a violation of family rights these are
046not children that are able to make decisions on their own everything from 16 up is consensual tattoos even sex let's say you can get we think it's appropriate to teach children about lesbian gay at this age kids aren't even talking about boyfriends or girlfriends because it's not appropriate how is the school given the authority to talk about family matters that do not even their brains cannot comprehend them and I hate to use the terminology that's being used today where we're saying it's indoctrination but that's what it feels like you're doing to our children you are indoctrinating them with beliefs that are not appropriate for their age and they go against our family values that is the problem I am not saying hey don't display it in high school because in a high school children are
047able to make their own decisions children already have hit puberty and are you know experiencing all kinds of things and there it is appropriate for a five six seven-year-old even Pre-K three rolled and it's not age appropriate and Mr Gene Casper had said time and time again we teach everything age-appropriate so you tell me Ben where is the term lesbian gay transgender bisexual plus appropriate for a three-year-old a four-year-old or a five-year-old that is not the same as what we were promised in September when everything would be age-appropriate and Susie has two moms would be taught because this is a very different scenario and I want you guys all to take that into consideration furthermore what I want you to take into consideration is your policy that has clearly stated on your board website about
048um media which a banner falls under that states one person's you know you cannot favor I believe the terminology was one student population over the other this is violating that because at this moment as you can see you have a variety of cultures and a variety of religions that this is violating so yes you are preferencing one student population over another because ultimately guys the percentage of families that have to explain this to their children at this age are very minimal in this community and anything that goes with that furthermore is my responsibility as a parent schools cannot take that away and it seems like that is what is happening more and more that is our problem as parents um and if we you know if we don't get the proper response all we're saying
049is the elementary school I don't think we're asking for a lot if I have to continue to come back here I will and if I have to continue to post I did not but if I have to post this on Facebook if I have to post this on all social media platforms inform all the parents of this town I will because I know that you guys don't even have two or three people coming to these meetings normally with all due respect um but if I have to Rally parents to make you guys recognize that our community is not comfortable with you indoctrinating our children then I will do that but I do not want it to come to that thank you I just want to make it clear I would like someone to address how
050this is not a breach of our request to opt out of lgbtq Plus if you can write your name yeah I think what parents are really more concerned about now is the accountability so I think what it boils down to is there's a lack of understanding of what the operation is so what is the operation of decision making train that gets to where we get where we have a banner that is inappropriate for children and then where is the train of communication that allows us to have a real impact on what those decisions are um I'm definitely an ally to the lgbtq Plus um Community um but I would be mortified if my children came home asking about sexuality I'd be mortified as a parent if my kids walked in on me being intimate with
051my husband and I think that everybody would be there now you're asking us to explain to children who we would be mortified to talk about straight sex with about the alternative sex so right now most of us don't want we don't want to fight I don't think that any of us here wants wants to fight with anyone here this isn't like an US versus you we value your responsibilities and your positions because without you we couldn't run our districts but we want the accountability and we want to know what we can do to impact the accountability and what we should be expecting so if you're going to tell us that this is just the way it is and we're not going to change anything I'd rather the honesty versus the vagueness thank you for a
052comment I will address accountability the buck stops with me right no matter what I I am accountable I am accountable to decisions that this board makes super outstanding by the superintendent the buck will always stop with me all right so if you want to hold someone accountable you can always hold me accountable for any decision we make right it's what I signed up for when I when I when I put my hand up and I said it so if you're looking for accountability I I always well I've always said this my biggest thing or our biggest thing as a board is transparency right is doing doing things like this but being in terms of accountability like you had said it's me all right that's part of being the president of the school board you don't
053have to say all right um so you you just you know you said it's on okay um so you're explaining that you know accountability and we get that so were you aware of the banner and how it was purchased and who made the plans and who chose all that were all the boy you don't have to answer this but just reflect on it did all the board members here know that this Banner was sitting in the Mackenzie school and if you did were you okay with it or not that's really all I want you to ask and reflect yourself reflect on later after this uh because if we are going to hold you accountable then we would like to know right you're saying to hold you accountable so how can I hold someone accountable if
054you're not giving me a response so again you addressed it in the second part afterwards where you guys are going to meet you're going to communicate and then we're going to be waiting for a response okay yeah I think like I said that was the biggest point of writing your name thank you I just also want to address that you know you brought up the fact a couple of times about how we knew your yes we got the email we got Mr Jean caspro's response but unfortunately as a group we could not meet and discuss otherwise that would be considered a board meeting and all of you would be invited to my house while I sat on the phone with these lovely people so yes we now have so just to clarify that's why we
055can't give some clear answers to some of your questions is because yes we knew you were coming you know we were prepared for you to come individually we have responses in our heads but now as a group we have to communicate and then as a group a decision as to how we're going to communicate that back is going to be made we also we also can't make a decision really out of a board meeting we this is technically important normally under normal circumstances we actually don't make decisions until our later board meeting but in sensitive items items that need urgent yeah so no yeah and and Mr Mr Russo brought up a great point we if we have Quorum if we have four or more members it is a meeting no matter what if it's
056a phone call if it's a discussion anytime and then it's right we then we we can't have a meeting every time we have a phone call so it's the first time we've all been together we can like we said like Mr Coleman said meeting executive session discuss this topic and move forward and no matter what even if you you're welcome to stay right afterwards we always also but if not if you we everyone who has put their name down right we will reach out to all right yes [Laughter] you want to sit down there Rich you want to sit down there and do it or you want to sit as a board member and do it I believe it intrinsically believe all right but I am one of the board members it takes four votes
057not one four of them you want a boy okay now I'm guarantee there's people on this board who believe exactly what you said and there's some that don't is it political I'm personally believe it's very important but it's not coming from here it's coming from upstairs you know what upstairs is your parties that you're going to vote for we wanted that extra you want that liberal the types of government essential that way and keep them outside if you want conservative and you have a right to be conservative then you vote another way but that's not here it's not dismantle it's not this fastball and I can explain it again here 50 years in education 35 years on the score I think I know a little bit I think a lot of you came here hoping
058to get the answer right away it just does not work that way I I understand that but I'm saying I I only saw this like today right but we can't give you an answer he he like yeah and that will do that but this is so I'm gonna I know I'm gonna technically we're really not supposed to have this back and forth that being said I I I you please just and then no no uh although after can you wait till after and then come to the mic and then if you if anyone has any other comments I what I really wanted to do was log them as part of the record as part of the address also get people's names down so that when a response does happen we can cut we can contact
059you if anyone else who has not spoken but technically this is against policy speaking right so please and then Arena if you are Miss Mano if you want to come up and then is everyone okay with that we're gonna end it after that all right sorry um so just real quick because uh the last comment I made I think wasn't heard everyone was speaking above each other but um so basically what I was saying is this board meeting right here there's probably more people here than you've seen all year because it is a sensitive topic so it took me back to um the idea with like student loans I'm pretty sure all of us pay student loans some way somehow and there's whole thing this whole thing about stopping them or not stopping them and
060so what action did the government take it paused for you to pay each month because there's a debate going on so there was an action immediately taken the action here should be take down the banner because there are discussion being made and as it is again a very sensitive topic it's not talking about Halloween Thanksgiving all these could be at a certain level something to a family like very very uh what's the word uh significant okay but those are conversations parents are ready to have in their homes this is not it is very sensitive it's too much for a child together is there any way that in the future can you come up yeah okay listen we want to get all the comments we want to get into executive sessions as much as possible doesn't
061work the way you guys want it you gotta remember they just don't know how to it's the system so is there any way that in the future you know we could be notified as parents um so in the future is there any way that we can be notified as parents you know what you guys are going to be displaying you know I know that you guys reach out to you know sending out emails that you know it's this day or that day or you know we're supporting this I feel like we're kind of Blindsided in this sense you know where you know we you know we could have you know addressed this prior to uh you know this potential Avalanche you know what I mean um so I I think that may be in the
062future maybe we could be notified as parents hey maybe take a simple poll you know guys what do you guys think it could be something that's completely Anonymous you know I I don't know if that's even possible but um you know us as parents we want to know you know we have a lot of faith in you guys I mean you haven't seen us you know in quite a bit no news is good news right you know when when people aren't around people are happy you know there's nothing to complain about you know by no means do we not trust in you guys you know I I see you know a lot of the parents here all the time and I see you out you know I I mean you guys are doing a superb
063job and I understand that there's you know government and all this nonsense or whatever you know and uh right now it's just weird times but um you know with the situation like this I I think that we should be notified as parents you know put yourself in our shoes you know please I know not all of you live in town you know but please you know think about us in a sense of you know yeah well I don't know people paid he's talking about it yeah [Laughter] oh cheese no it's okay it's okay so I just want to clarify um my request because I think it got kind of like muddied up um so I just my request is basically like what is this the process the decision making process um where at what point
064in time can parents get involved in that decision-making process including artwork messaging um like more detailed messaging within the artwork because I think that no one would be here if it said families mean love and all like I don't think anyone would be here if that that was the case even a rainbow flag I can explain to my kids you know how whatever I believe in God God sends a rainbow after it rains to give us hope is love I can explain that to my kids I just can't explain the other parts um so just want to know what that process is where we can get involved um where can we also be accountable like if we missed the meeting that's on us if we could have helped to make that decision totally get it
065but if we don't know and we don't know where to go and what to do and it just shows up in our schools it's it's hard and it's jarring and it's it's not it's not necessarily traumatizing but it like it does it sends a little ping in your heart where you feel like really kind of like oh God what do I do now um I mean my daughter she's in the seventh grade she got a um she had to do like a diversity survey she was asked how she identifies she's 12. I mean I I don't even know what I would have identified as a 12 year old and then to talk about that in a survey and have them submit an answer that and they already have to think that everything they submit is
066correct it's that's another situation where kids don't really understand what's going on and how to respond and whether or not they're going to get in trouble for it or whether or not it matters kids in her grade were saying hey um you know I'm African-American but I'm gonna put down that I identify as Asian because it's funny and it's not appropriate because there's people who really believe or understand themselves as transsexual bisexual whatever it is but if you're talking about a mockery that's what that is so I just think that in the right place in the right time the right messaging um if we could get involved to help to be able to mold that in a more you know as we want it to be age-appropriate way we'd be all happier and more willing
067to participate why do you remember came up and running to through one bringing charms up you just handed him over and what happened um I again as you guys make this decision as you guys make this decision today I know that standards were mentioned nowhere in the New Jersey state standards does it say how inclusion has to be incorporated we already said at the beginning of the year it's Incorporated in the books I think it was Susie has two moms or whatever it was or Julian is a mermaid um for kindergarten let's say there is no mandate that says you have to have this flag in the schools there is no mandate that says LGBT East Rutherford you know has to say East Rutherford celebrates or proudly celebrates lgbtq it is not a requirement it
068is not a state mandate that decision was made somewhere in this border by the superintendent or whoever makes the decisions on the banners that we after this meeting don't it's a launcher but I want you guys to take that into consideration it does not have to be there the decision was made to place it there and nowhere is there a requirement that it has to be celebrated in an elementary school so I want you guys to take that into account when you make that decision today for the elementary school it is not even for any of the schools but specifically today we're here for the elementary school is not a mandate it is not a requirement it is not required by New Jersey state standards by any means not every district is doing this because
069I know that's going to be the argument is made it is definitely not I can assure you that there are many local districts that don't have that either so please just take all this into account as you're making that decision because as uh Mr Vartan said here it only requires four votes to take down that poster so please you know I know many of you may not have kids that are still in the elementary level but think of our kids that are three four five years old as you make this decision thank you last comment uh so my children are not 12 years old uh similar to Renee's children but if in fact the survey did go out to children that are 12 years old asking how they identify I would ask the board to
070reevaluate that because if I told you that I identify as a turtle you'd look at me like I'm crazy so I don't think it's an appropriate question I'm all about inclusivity but that is not appropriate for children that don't know what's left from right at that age yeah sorry sorry I just want to make sure okay sorry for me no no it's fine it's fine I I the point is to hear the your comments so I want to give every opportunity for public comment I don't want to exhaust you guys talking a bunch but okay seeing none like close public comment don't do that don't do that yeah I I my hair is already going it's yeah yeah okay uh yeah with it closed like I said anyone who's here would it will get we
071will communicate I I we have I believe we have all your email addresses if we don't we'll communicate with people whose email address we have and they can all right if you guys want to leave while we discuss it's going to be the normal business that's fine too all right thank you thank you all and you got and please by the way you're commented you can come for good stuff you're always welcome to come and get public comment on good things too all right or just come or just come in and hang out we were doing really okay uh well because we we addressed the right so motion to move to Executive just real quick I'm gonna in Personnel an executive session I just may ask the board to make action take action tonight for
072hiring of three staff members so we don't lose them in the process of hiring so uh the void will be taken will be taken depending on your reaction in executive sessions all right so um we have Personnel we have legal we have negotiations think that's it yeah that's advice account and then oh yeah part World Personnel yeah yeah no no um about what are we think an hour and a half so two hours return at nine nine fifteen nine fifteen looks like um may have a motion wait wait I think we gotta you are permitted to come out earlier correct I know that's why it's done okay you're into executive session don't move second all in favor