001[Music] do [Music] you [Music] i would like to call this meeting of the eastern township board of education to order pursuant to the open public meetings act adequate public notice has been given by the secretary of the eastern township board of education in the following manner posting written notice on the official bulletin board at the board of education office emailing written notice to the burlington county times and the courier post filing written notice with the municipal clerk of eastern township may i have a roll call please mrs cappello here mrs everhart here mr fizzicaro mr canton here mrs noel here mr lancelotta here miss lee here mr megan here mrs ryan here we have a quorum okay at this time i will ask for a motion to go into executive session and a motion to
002approve items 2.1 through 2.4 whereas in njsa 10-4-12 allows for a public body to go into closed session during public meeting and whereas the board of education of eastern township has deemed it necessary to go into closed session to discuss certain matters which are exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of the board of of the board of education will reconvene following the end of the closed session at approximately 7 pm now therefore be it resolved that the board of education will go into session for the following reasons as outlined in njsa 10-4-12 items 2.2 through 2.4 do i have a motion i'll make the motion miss noel a second mr canthan thank you roll call please mrs cappello yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs noll yes mr lancelata yes miss
003lee yes mr megan yes mrs ryan yes commission carries thank you we'll see you at seven o'clock [Music] so [Music] so [Music] um [Music] so [Music] foreign [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] so [Music] do so do [Music] so [Music] resume the meeting of the eastern township board of education would you all please rise for the pledge of allegiance 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 at this time i'm going to ask board member trish everhart to read the mission statement thank you madam president the mission of the eshim township school district is to promote excellence in an environment that
004engages students in meaningful learning experiences in partnership with students dedicated staff families and community the district provides a strong educational foundation that will empower our students to achieve their unique potential embrace self-directed lifelong learning develop the skills necessary for appropriate risk-taking and responsible decision-making respect themselves and others problem-solve individually and collaboratively and become contributing members of a diverse global society thank you mrs everhart now we're going to go to public comment just in case anyone is not aware we have two public comments sections the first public comment section is for what is on the agenda and the second public comment which happens later in the evening is for anything that you wish to discuss the meeting will now be open to the public referencing agenda items only however if your questions pertain to student or
005personnel items or negotiations we ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public we ask that you you limit your comments to three minutes per person it's also crucial please for you to give us your name and address before you speak up and also limit your comments to one time per public comment section is there anyone who would like to speak on agenda items only please come to the microphone but this doesn't look like it's hello hello my name is kristen sinclair i'm the attorney for the child advocate coalition llc i've checked the website and i couldn't find the agenda my address is 89 christopher mill road medford new jersey but i assume that tonight you'll be discussing the new curriculum standards that have been put
006into place for 2022. no no the curriculum is standards for 2021 2022 is not on the agenda for tonight but you're more than will welcome to come back the second public comment can you speak on it what is the agenda tonight that's not available online it is on it is available online at eve shim.khm.us i'm on the website and it's not there it's under board of education agenda and minutes under the thing would you like to give me one item on the agenda and then i'll talk on sure personnel finance and operation it we personnel it is not our duty to give you something on the agenda it has to be a specific item on the agenda a specific thing that the board is discussing so please sit down and come back for the second
007public comment thank you no personnel i'm here yes please excuse me first amendment i'm here to ask superintendent smith and principal roman man if you can't follow the rules that we're asking if you can't follow the rules everyone else is asked to follow we're going to have to ask you to leave so please sit down and come back and raise your voice to me like well you're not listening we've asked you to come back at the second public comment and we'd be more than happy to hear what you have to say but we're talking about agenda items only and you have nothing specific to say on the agenda these are the rules well there are specific you can come back ma'am there are specific things under personnel if you go back and look on your
008tablet or your phone you'll see the agenda clearly stated on our yfshim township website thank you these are your representatives anyone else like to speak please state your name address hi my name is annette mansell my address is 25 jarrett court marlton new jersey zero eight zero five three okay okay um like i said i'm an aunt mansell i'm here tonight because i am being terminated from by position as attendance clerk and legit aide at marlton middle school this termination is due to the executive order 253 which requires unvaccinated teachers and staff to test for covid on a weekly basis eo253 is still being fully enforced even though all other mandates have been lifted this order was placed on the grounds that the vaccine can prevent individuals from getting and spreading the virus data from
009the cdc and the biden administration shows this is simply not true based on the data it seems everyone who walks through the doors of the schools should be tested after bringing this attention after bringing this to the attention of the principal and the superintendent i was told that quote testing everyone would be a tremendous challenge and managing that testing would increase burdens on staff who were stretched then already this proves that this is not about a health crisis anymore but simply about funding and to further prove that point when funding wasn't available for testing the week of march 28 the district lifted this requirement of testing on march 14 and the 21st i submitted negative results from the fda emergency use authorized test sent out by the emergence by the biden administration these tests were
010sent with the intent for keeping staff and students in schools they also fall within the guidelines of the e0253 paragraph three of the order states that we are required to submit proof of a test either antigen or molecular with eua by the food and drug administration these results on these dates were accepted with no questions asked but but i have since been told that they will no longer be permitted my question to you tonight is why i was told this district has quote no remorse for following this order these tests fall in line with the eo so why not accept them and who exactly are making is making these decisions why can't the same person or persons who allowed the week off from testing agree that these tests will be accepted instead you are choosing
011to lose good reliable staff that these kids rely on we understand the choice we made and have complied since october when this order was placed we have no other choice but to comply we have taken personal time to drive to test sites wait in long lines we have used the vault testing site through zoom we have even tested twice in a week when the lab didn't return our results at this point why not make things a little easier for the staff members i'm here tonight for two reasons one to be a voice for those staff members who can't afford to lose their jobs over the ceo and two regardless of how i personally feel about this executive order i have complied since day one i want it to be clear and on the record that
012i am not abandoning my position nor am i resigning i am being fired not for not testing but because you are refusing to accept the test results i'm submitting to you thank you is there anyone that else wishes to speak come on up to the microphone state your name and address please hello my name is eric simkin i'm a resident of voorhees township i'd like to speak about agenda item 9.5 under 20 usc 1232h protection of pupil rights amendment from 1976 gives parents and members of the community the rights to review every piece of curriculum including lesson plans uh lessons uh teacher training materials and i'd ask that 9.5 be stayed until parents of this community have had a chance to thank you all i'm sorry to interrupt but i just wanted to let you
013know that 9.5 is the resolution to approve 9.1 9.2 9.3 and 9.4 and your item it doesn't fall under those three those three categories so um i would really love to hear what you have to say but could you wait till the end of the publicly you just heard it and then policy zero one six three under the public comments there's no requirement for a person to give their home address just the name the town that they live in and whether or not they're representing any groups so thank you very much and i'll talk to you again soon thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to speak okay seeing none we are going to close this portion of the meeting there will be another public comment section at the end so at this point we're going
014to move forward with item six annual appointments and approvals items six point one through six point one three can i please have a motion miss knowle a second miss capela any questions or comments from the board okay seeing none roll call please mrs cappello yes yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs noll yes mr lancelata yes miss lee yes mr megan yes mrs ryan yes motion carries at this point we're going to move forward with the approval of minutes i need a motion to approve item 7.1 and 7.2 do i have a motion miss everhart thank you a second mr canthan any questions or comments from the board okay roll call please mr agency mrs capalo yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs noll abstain mr lanzalotta yes miss lee yes mr megan
015abstain this is ryan yes mission carries thank you at this point we're going to move to item 8 superintendent's report and administrative items do i have a motion to approve items 8.1 through 8.7 miss noel thank you ms capela thank you um before we get into questions and comments i'm going to give dr smith the floor thank you thank you mrs ryan schools are reflections of communities this truth was on spectacular display in this very room the dimension cafeteria this past monday at the dimacey multicultural night celebration finding common ground in the differences that enrich us celebrating and supporting each other for those differences respecting each other for who we are makes a great community makes great schools i thank all the families and staff who are involved in organizing and showcasing the songs dances
016displays cuisines and much more and i thank the board members who came as well that is who we are as a district community at our best another example of our community at its best is the upcoming all-in disabilities awareness night on may 9th from 5 30 to 7 30 pm at the marlin field house on main street this district event is a collaboration with our ebesham township police department i'd like to thank our special services department in particular for their work to put this event together our goal is to promote awareness and foster an inclusive environment supporting all individuals to meet their potential as valued members of our community and as this is the third time we've tried to pull this off and the first time indoors i think there's extra excitement then shortly following
017that on friday may 13th is our district movie night at savage field showing encanto this movie night is co-sponsored by the eve sham education foundation and all our ptas and pto and it's really exciting to see that collaboration between those amazing volunteer organizations that work to support all our kids gates open at 6 30 pm the movie starts at dusk food and beverages will be available at the field for purchase all proceeds will go directly to our ptas so it's a win for everybody and again this is who we are as a district community at our best and one more promo because it's that we're that we got that much going on is our district is also glad to be supporting the ukrainian relief drive going on right now through may 21st which was organized
018by an etsd family the lukanovich's whose multiple generations of that family have taught in our district everyone is encouraged to drop off supplies at our schools up through friday may 20th each school has a collection bin in the main office area the supplies will go to the ukrainian american relief committee and be transported to ukraine the supplies needed include medical supplies hygiene items baby formula linens and more the drive will culminate on saturday may 21st when these items can be dropped at the martin middle school parking lot from 9am to 11 30 a.m and the goal is to fill a truck my update tomorrow will include more info about that so if you could please spread the word about all these great happenings and lastly as there is some misinformation on social media wrong on
019so many levels i'd like to share a few important reminders our schools are safe we follow our protocols in coordination with eve sham police as appropriate chief miller and i maintain close communication and the board does not discuss any individual student matters in public thank you mrs ryan you're out of order you are out of order ma'am man you are out of order [Music] the board will now take a recess [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're going to take a recess until you all can behave like adults [Music] the meeting of the board of education are there any questions from the board referring to the superintendent's report seeing none roll call please service shinty mrs cappello yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs noll yes mr lancelata yes miss late
020yes mr meagan yes mr mrs ryan yes mission carries thank you moving to item nine curriculum and instruction i would like a motion to approve items 9.1 through 9.4 do i have a motion miss everhart thank you second miss noel thank you any questions or comments regarding curriculum and instruction from the board a question for the curriculum committee or mrs mcgulick and and anish last year you talked about the summer learning academy and that was through the esser funding so i'm glad that we're going to continue that this summer and also there is the summer book club that is new can anyone talk to me about that um yes i'd be happy to so uh with esser funds we wanted to make sure as we did last year that we have now any returning back
021to incoming kindergarten and then all the way up through incoming eighth graders will have some type of support we also looked at um adding the additional program using our library media specialists so that we could have kids we're still working through like the details in terms of depending on interest there probably will be like a primary grade and then like an upper elementary where kids can sign up to come read a book come in work with the library media specials get other books and just have access to the library over the summer in addition to just trying to promote a love of reading so would that be at every school what are you thinking so right now we have two library media media specials who are going to facilitate that okay so again depending on
022interest we'll kind of modify and tailor what we're able to offer okay great thank you yup you're welcome any more board questions regarding curriculum and instruction okay seeing none i'm going to ask for a roll call please mr cynthia mrs cappello yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs knoll yes yes miss lee yes mr megan yes mrs ryan yes mission carries moving to item 10 finance and operations i need a motion to approve items 10.1 through 10.12 can i have a motion mr canthan second by mr lanzalata any questions or comments pertaining to finance and operations from the board seeing none roll call please mr shinty mr cappello yes mrs everhart yes mr catherine yes mrs knoll yes mr lancelata yes miss lee yes mr megan yes mrs ryan yes motion carries moving to
023item 11 personnel i need a motion to approve items 11.1 through 11.10 do i have a motion ms cappello second sec miss noel thank you any questions or comments uh pertaining to personnel from the board okay miss knowle and then mr lancelot and miss everhart okay i ju and i believe it's in here i want to congratulate mrs frye hello welcome i'm so happy that you'll be with us and thank you to all the rice parents and the right staff who gave input and helped to search for the best candidate and best of luck and we'll see you in september thank you a question for either dr smith or mr ashanti or possible finance committee the there are the names that were listed under the sort of uh sort of certificated uh reappointments um and
024there are certain names that are not on there um due to budgetary uh reasons uh do you see in the foreseeable future future possible ways of um getting those few members that were not on the appointee list appointed due to um you know influx of some kind of financial backing um thank you mr lanzelada so any any staff member who was we had to let go for reasons of economy basically you know a budgetary reduction in the number of positions um not for performance we you know that that's that's not something we do willingly at all you know we we would like to keep those folks but as we have talked about for so long the millions and millions of dollars in state aid loss that we've gone through as a district has put us
025in such a position where those reductions are necessary for now but to your question we would love to find ways to be able to um bring those people back either as you know through some other means or through be able to restore the position at some point we know we have a long road ahead this is year four of seven straight years of stadium reduction so you know you're five six seven still ahead so i wish i could say it would be soon but it would be difficult anything else mr lane's ladder okay miss everyone thank you very much i just wanted to also congratulate mrs fry welcome to the uh to the community bryce was my daughter's home school it's a great community as all of the schools are but you know welcome and
026uh good luck we'll see you in september okay well that seems like a perfect dr smith to say a little something about our new hire i would thank you mrs ryan so it's very exciting to be able to share a few a few words about mrs amanda frye who's sitting here and her husband sean is here as well and um so we and it was a very competitive very competitive um field of applicants and we are so excited about this outcome of the process to be able to have someone who um not just through the interview process but through the the breadth and depth of her experience and accomplishments both as a teacher and as an administrator in multiple districts is bringing like a tri-focal lens of ways to look at solutions and supports for
027kids and her most recent experience is in edgewater park as the current principal of magawan elementary school which is a pre-k to grade five school very similar in size to rice so um you know it will there's a familiarity there that she'll be able to bring and um you know the rice community we're thankful to all their input along the way through the we used a parent survey we used a staff survey and our interview committee had stakeholders from both the parent and staff communities of rice on it and i could go on and on but but miss fry i just would you like to say a few words because i don't people would rather hear from you hello oh there we go all right good evening everyone as dr smith mentioned my name is
028amanda frye and i am so excited and appreciative for this opportunity i first want to thank the board of education and all of the search committee who was a part of the process and their support along the way being a community member and being a parent in the district i know what amazing schools we have what great students and families and staff members that we have and i'm really excited to join the process mrs kam and i had the opportunity already we have a date on the calendar we're going to get together and begin that transition process i've also exchanged email with our pta president we're going to look at meet and greet opportunities and a chance to be able to jump right in meet the students meet our families and really get the year
029ready to kick off a one in a wonderful way in september so i just wanted to thank you again for the opportunity and just tell you how excited i am to join the eve sham township school district thank you okay moving to item 12 policy i would like a motion to approve items 12.1 and 12.2 no i'm sorry my bad it's okay any questions or comments regarding personnel sorry okay seeing none roll call please mr vicinity mrs cappella yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs noel yes mr lancelata yes miss lee yes mr megan yes mrs ryan yes mission carries okay all right let's try this again moving to item 12 policy i need to i need a motion to approve items 12.1 and 12.2 can i have a motion please mr lanzalata second
030miss cappella thank you any questions or comments regarding policy seeing none roll call please mrs cappello yes mrs everhart yes mr canton yes mrs null yes mr lancelata yes miss lee yes mr megan yes mrs ryan yes motion carries thank you okay committee reports does any committee chair have a report they would like to share mr lanzalata chairman of policy i mean outreach sorry so a lot a lot going on a lot going on a lot going on in our in our community these days first of all just like to acknowledge and congratulate uh the mrc hall of fame inductees uh they're honored they are honored last month for years of service community service to our to our children uh congratulations to christine chrysler jan yoakam who's also a teacher in our district barry fitzgerald
031for town council there's again congratulations to our new police chief walt miller and there's also a new eastern connect app so you can receive up-to-date information and notifications on what's going on in eastern township you can download it on any android or apple device they asked to make sure that we you know tell everyone about that some things have already been said tonight by dr smith autism awareness color run at rice elementary the disabilities awareness night at the field house on may 14th there's also the mayor's wellness expo it's going to be held at eavesboro downs from 11 to 2. there's a casino night and the memorial day celebration at the municipal building at 10 a.m on memorial day also the eastern education foundation just so everyone i'm going to say this every month i
032think just because it's just a an unbelievable group of men and women they the eastern education foundation is a non-profit organization that was formed to benefit our students educational experiences they hold a number of fundraiser events every year and a hundred percent of the proceeds go to our district they're partnering up with our pta and they're holding a movie night at savage field which was talked about tonight already on may 13th at 6 30 and then they're also holding their annual larry cole memorial golf outing on june 6th at the little mill country club they're expecting it to be the biggest golf event that they've had in 15 years they're really excited about it there's going to be golfing food drinks prizes contests everything if you would like to be to attend that golf outing
033or be a sponsor or donate or even volunteer to help because they're always looking for help please contact them at www.easterneducationfoundation.com thank you or dot org i apologize thank you thank you mr lanzalata any other committee chair well i would just like to say on behalf of all the ptas and ptos they're doing a wonderful job organizing events it's nice to see they're getting back to the way things were before kovid took all the events from our students so kudos to all them science days are being reinstated socials are being reinstated recent resource runner book fairs ice skating events and i would just like to say a big thank you to our staff because staff appreciation is coming up next week and also we have our district art show coming up second week in may
034so i just wanted to pass that along thank you to all of our volunteers in the district it wouldn't be possible without you and as far as the eastern education foundation just touching on what jeff said scott zielinski who's the president has been working very closely with our pto and pta presidents and they are organizing a movie night free of charge for the entire community to see the movie in kanto and that's going to be on the 13th of may it starts at dusk and there will be some food trucks some things to purchase but basically just a fun free event for our whole town so thank you to all the volunteers making that possible okay the meeting will now be open to the public referencing any items of interest however if your questions or
035comments pertain to litigation student or personnel items or negotiations we ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since we do not discuss these matters in public we ask that you limit your comments to three minutes per person and also that this section is meant for one comment per person anyone wish to speak please state your name good evening kelly cam uh 50 crown borough parkway marlton just a little bit louder yep thank you kelly cam bryce elementary 50 crown rural parkway uh on behalf of the evesham township administrators association i'd like to take this opportunity to publicly publicly welcome our new colleague amanda frye amanda we are so happy you are joining us and know you will find a great home at rice and with us here at eve sham your principal and
036supervisor team is here to support you collaborate with you and problem solve alongside you always please do not hesitate to reach out to any one of us just as you transition into your new position but any time welcome and congratulations i know that edgewater's park will be argued thank you anyone else wish to speak please just come up to the microphone state your name address good evening my name is ian smith i live 429 third street listening to your opening statement and i know that none of you will answer but do you think that your curriculum and your actions reflect your opening statement and i'm sure you'll probably nod yes but i don't think that any of these parents behind me will agree i'm appalled by the way that these meetings are run you are
037nasty to the public who has a very very valid reason to be upset and it is your job to maintain your composure to not roll your eyes and to not certainly walk out at the end of the day no matter how much you may not agree with the public you work for the public and it is your duty to listen to them without interruption without having your lawyer tell them to sit down because that is your job to serve all of these people right behind you you mentioned ukrainian aid which is a noble cause but how many of these parents behind me are interested in ukrainian aid and how many are interested in the over sexualized curriculum coming next year [Applause] [Music] you guys really need to reevaluate how you're doing things because if you
038think that treating parents in the way that you do is going to get you anywhere it won't it will continue to fill these rooms with people who are unhappy you are failing our children and not only are you failing our children you are grooming our children and we will not have that schools are here for one excuse me two reasons one of those is to teach academics it is not the school it's not the job of the school of the board to teach culture or to teach sex or to teach race relations from a loaded curriculum to children that is the parents place you mentioned that you are keeping kids safe that is your second job do you really believe that there's a 12 year old girl who doesn't feel safe in this school do
039you know her name you ignored the problem until it grew and it's going to continue to grow it is unacceptable the way that you handled the matter and as a superintendent it is your job to step up and take responsibility for those failures and i bet my three minutes is up that is yes okay sorry well i will tell you this you do not have the right to teach our children about sex you do not have the right to mask our children and you do not have the right to order people to be vaccinated or to be tested and make them lose their job as a result of these okay that's your three minutes i'm very aware it was my three minutes and i don't think any parent behind me will be upset if i
040finish thank you sir we have rules and regulations and systems that we need to follow okay i have three minutes that was yielded to me no no we don't do that they can come up to the microphone devious sexualization of children [Music] per person our system of operations that is not okay sir you are out of order i'm so sorry but you are teaching sex start your three minutes please have a seat thank you [Applause] hi my name is eileen and i live in new jersey and i'm here just to play off of what mr smith just said um i know you have a pos a policy of harassment and intimidation and bullying which if any student acted the way you just did they would have a hip violation it's just totally outrageous you should
041hold yourself to the same standard that you expect these children to be held to um it's better if you would just listen to people everyone wants to hear what people have to say except for maybe you i um this curriculum that they're implementing i watched i read a um one of the lesson plans this is a lesson plan as i'm reading the lesson plan to my sister on the phone here we go here's the board there's a penis there's a man and there's a woman these are third graders the lesson plan says hey jamal go up to the board and point to the penis hey um annie can you go over and point to the vagina can you point to the clitoris this is third grade level of what you want i'm telling my sister
042on the phone and my 18 year old daughter is like you are disgusting what are you talking about and i want to tell you if that curriculum was talked about in my workplace people would be filing her sexual harassment charges on the person having that conversation this is grooming what you're doing is trying to get children comfortable about talking about body parts in front of adults this is grooming this needs to stop you do not get to take away parental rights that's a given number one no one takes away the parental right your job is to teach education and that's it and the appropriate level for a third grade sex should be hi you guys have private body parts if anyone touches your body part you should tell somebody you should never feel uncomfortable this
043is the level that you should be talking about sex so children feel safe not so you can groom them that is disgusting i wouldn't even stand up to a board in whatever grade and what is the purpose of this honestly what is the purpose of this yes i'm almost on my couple minutes here and i know you're busy looking at your phone but i would say it is best for all of you to take note because you are not going to have these positions much longer because everyone here is going to step up and they're going to run against you and they're going to stick up for parental thank you [Applause] anyone else wish to speak during public comment please state your name address kristen sinclair attorney for the child advocate coalition llc 89 christopher
044mill road medford new jersey i'm holding a mascot that i want you to look at this is a child's toy in a middle school who has been a victim of a sexual assault i want you to think about what a child would go through after this who still has a stuffed animal to comfort her you need to look at your own procedures i know you don't want me to talk about all the things that happened and i know them all and you know that i tried to help and i tried to mediate but you didn't want me involved so now everybody's here now it's going to be a news story get an investigation in here an independent investigation you obviously can't police yourselves you can barely police us either have the people who are responsible
045step down or get the doj office of civil rights get a private law firm not cooper levinson none of them you need to investigate what happened you cannot have 50 children changing their names to a different gender in just one wing and tell me that things are okay here and that everybody's safe children of the same gender threatening to rape other students in bathrooms and bragging about it and going on tick-tock and saying i'll be right back in school it's not okay your mission statement's off have a great night thank you anyone else wish to speak thank you name and address please i'm jen foley of 67 5 crown royal in marlton as i'm sure we're all aware by now something awful happened in our schools and i can't say that it's the first time
046i'm not sure if the board is aware that a group of fifth grade boys in another elementary school were planning in class to rape a fifth grade student what was their punishment they had a talk with the guidance counselor no suspension and the young girl is still in class with these same boys every single day in fifth grade i have a fifth grader and if that was my daughter i wouldn't be happy with the way that that was handled or not handled at all you publicly condemn anti-semitism written on a bathroom stall and rightfully so but when a sexual assault occurs in the very same place you don't think parents need to know about students trying to rape each other in the buildings where you're responsible for them you don't think that this type of
047victim deserves to be heard i'm not an administrator but i'm a well-connected parent to children and families in this community i'm a room parent in three classrooms i coach three soccer teams and i'm the leader of two girl scout troops if any one of my hundreds of community children that i've served over the past few years that parents were entrusting to my care came to me with such a serious allegation i wouldn't miss a beat and i wouldn't make excuses it would be a top priority for me to get to the bottom of what happened to bring a child peace how do you sleep at night knowing a child is suffering yet you've abandoned your responsibilities and stay silent eve sham's so busy being politically correct and appeasing an agenda that once again the safety
048of our children is being overlooked and i know i've stood here before you and explained several other situations where my own three children don't feel safe at school to the point that we're looking at moving different schools i'm shelling out a third of my paycheck to possibly send my kids to private school because my fifth grader watched a kid get knocked out on the lunch playground the other day a couple weeks ago what was done about it the kid was suspended for a day and then they moved him to my daughter's gifted and talented class where she has to sit next to this kid that she watched knock another boy out anyone aware of these situations and guilty of inaction i encourage you to look in the mirror what would you want done if any
049of this happened to your child all guilty parties need to resign from our district immediately and possibly consider an entry-level job [Applause] i want you to take a good look at your administrators and our board and hold them accountable for what did and didn't happen for keeping our children safe and listening to our children if god forbid another one of ours is assaulted in our district thank you thank you [Music] anyone else wish to speak during public comment hi please state your name and address good evening courtney bracken 161 sussex ave so um i understand that there was a sexual assault that occurred in school a few weeks ago i also understand from the family of the victim that there has been zero support offered from anyone in the district and that the district has
050completely failed to protect her after the incident was reported as a member of the child advocate coalition i call upon the superintendent and principal romanelli to either step down or invite an independent organization to conduct an investigation into the district's handling of this incident and any further incidents clearly there has been an immense failure and many citizens no longer feel safe sending their children here everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves we seriously need to address and look into the sexual nature of the curriculum i truly believe that this is leading many that this is leading to many more disturbing incidents we want to know and believe that our children are safe when we send them to schools and cared for sadly many parents no longer feel this way with this district and that's truly
051upsetting every district needs to be completely transparent with parents email all curriculum give all parents an opt-out option and be transparent that's what we're asking for with every incident every parent in here should have been well aware of what has taken place here and i don't think many know that and it's very upsetting to many and we just hope that things change soon thank you thank you anyone else okay come on onto the microphone name and address please hi spring williams five sudden court um i do have a couple of questions do you guys answer questions no this is just public comment we don't have a question answer section but if you have specific questions you can see the superintendent after okay well i wanted to express my questions for everybody and you can express
052your questions you might not necessarily get an answer just so you know and i was going to say and um dr smith if you can just email me i know you have my email address okay okay all right so my questions are regarding the new curriculum for grade five and grade eight for grade 5 the standard states that puberty is a time of physical social and emotional changes and the performance expectation states explain common human sexual development and the role of hormones for example romantic and sexual feelings masturbation mood swings timing of pubertal onset and then for the grades eight hold on a second okay here we are there are factors that contribute to making healthy decisions about sex the performance expectation states define vaginal oral and anal sex so my question is based on
053the state memo how is eve sham going to interpret this because i do know that there is flexibility so what is the plan for esham school district for grades five and grade eight relating to these standards was that the end of your comment or do you have more that's my question okay that's it okay i'll follow up we'll talk okay thank you thank you [Applause] hi please state your name and address good evening val gallagher 651 main street so i too am going to touch on the topic of the sexualization and the curriculum in the schools and i know this part isn't on you guys governor murphy along with the njea and the new jersey department of education decided to pass all of this in 2020 while we were all locked down barely hold ourselves
054together however sexual harassment can be defined in many ways i'm going to talk about that in the united states sexual harassment is a form of discrimination which violates the title 7 of the civil rights act of 1964 as it relates in the workplace if what happened in the girls bathroom took place in an employment situation that would have been recipe for disaster why is it okay to protect adults and yet you all bury your head in the sand and chose not to protect a child a child who you do know mr smith does not want to come back into school she is afraid to come back into school i hear teacher after teacher after teacher in the njea talk about how school has to be a safe place for these transgender kids to feel like
055they can be called their proper pronouns if they do not feel safe in their own home for point six percent of the population we're going to turn a deaf ear in a blind eye to a twelve-year-old child little girl and not protect her anyone sitting in this room whether it's anybody here anybody who's watching on youtube anybody that's back here if any of y'all think that this is okay i seriously would expect your resignation because this turnout you see today will only grow we are not giving up because it's our god duty right to fight for our kids and i and these folks don't co-parent with the government thank you anyone else like to participate in public comment at this time any more comments thank you come on up to the microphone you state your
056name and address please sharon 43 bonaire um i'm a little sad to hear what i'm hearing here i've never heard this before this is all new i know that i have sent you an email mr smith about my experience from this school how we went to vanzan how wonderful the principal is of anzac absolutely wonderful my experience when i was here was not so good with the principle that currently is here and to hear this knowing what i experienced which was nowhere near what this is going on it's a very appalling as a taxpayer to hear this as a parent to hear this this is sad and then you have these other parents that are here because we wanted to talk about the sexualization that's going on with the curriculum that's coming up it's very
057sad that this is what we have turned into and it's even sadder to see what's going to happen and i know you can't answer the question of what the current curriculum is going to be because i know that maybe you guys haven't discussed it and you will but will you send out an email to every parent letting them know what will be discussed what won't be discussed in the classes and that's it i just i think that every parent should know what's going on because this is disgusting and it's sad for everyone for all parties to be very honest that's it thank you [Applause] name and address please my name is annalynne smith i'm a burlington county resident so my concern is is not concern my my thought i'm thinking i'm sitting back here i'm
058listening to all these parents to talk if a child were to come to school and express that they are being sexually assaulted at home you would call child protective services right you would call the police right you would assist that child right but when our children come to school and they're being sexually assaulted in school we do nothing we don't even notify the parent make no sense to me you're not i'm sorry please don't speak so let me say this as a 35 year old woman who myself was sexually assaulted as a child and i can't even sleep in the dark without my husband being in the home with me this child will be affected for the rest of her life and no one stood up for her and you can be mad you can
059cross your arms you can roll your eyes but this child will be affected for the rest of her life and no one did nothing thank you [Applause] name address please my name is eric simkin i'm from voorhees i did mention already that my address is really none of your business um i'd like to talk about policy 9140 i'm not sure if anyone has read any of the policies but that's about citizen advisory committees this isn't a question and answer form i think that the citizens here need a question and answer forum they're looking for answers a three-minute one-way speech whatever you want to call it a comment is not a conversation it's not communicating it's a one-way communication every relationship requires good communication to be successful and this communication process is a failure i'm also
060suggesting the public become involved with the board and the schools by the schools in adopting according to policy 9140 citizen advisory committees for curriculum development for policy review and enforcement and vendor vetting those three things seem to be causing a whole lot of problems and the consequences are things that we're going to see as a community very similar to the assault that occurred that assault is the direct result of policy and curriculum and it needs to change and the parents and the community need to be heard thank you thank you [Applause] hi name and address please hello i'm brandon bouchard 243 foxwood lane my comment is directed at justin wanted you to be able to put a face to the name i also after hearing the other assaults and sexual assaults and what's happened to
061my own children and talking to every other parent that expresses lots lots of concerns about assaults that you do absolutely nothing about i just wanted to publicly call for your resignation as you are a spineless coward thank you thank you anyone else wish to comment public comment [Applause] any more comments from the public anyone okay at this time i will ask for a motion to adjourn can i have a motion motion from the board to adjourn mr lanzalata i'm sure you have a question okay no i just want to have a quick comment i just wanted to reiterate on something you said earlier it's staff appreciation next week and this staff is wonderful teachers here are awesome doing a fantastic job i just wanted to thank everybody for all you guys do every single day
062for our students can i say something um if you are a parent of a student in marlton please stand up i take offense i take offense how many okay how many of you actually live in this town i've got two little kids at home okay okay okay miss knowle that was out of order okay we don't engage with comments with the public that was out of order okay at this point are there any questions or comments from the board member any other questions or comments seeing none motion to adjourn all in favor aye aye thank you [Music] [Applause]