001what i said just a reminder before we get started if everybody can have their masks covering their nose and their mouth it is um part of the mandate and the law we'd really appreciate it thank you furthermore we have one opportunity where we will we appreciate and do think that you'll help us out so we can get through our business and hear anything that you have to say but after uh one opportunity of being asked to bring the mask up by an officer they will ask you to leave our property but i appreciate all of you already complying and we want this evening to be productive and to hear anything that anybody audience has to say so thank you we appreciate it okay before i call this meeting to order i know that um mr
002dickstein just made a statement about the masks yet i see several people where the mask is not covering your nose i'm going to give you this final opportunity to please put your mask on properly and leave it secured properly while in this room that's helpful lighting helps okay can i make more clarification sure i'm sorry i will say just in case you don't know if you need to take a drink of water i don't want to be over overstating if you need to take a drink of water you have one with you feel free to lift up take the drink i just want to make that clear that if you need to do that please do so okay um sir can you please put your mask on or i'll have to ask you to leave
003this is the last time i'm going to make this statement the masks must be worn properly above your nose or you will have to leave the room and keeping your water bottle on your lips the entire meeting is not going to work either excuse me okay i'd like to call this meeting to order the mission of the freehold township schools in partnership with our community is to prepare all students to be responsible citizens and lifelong learners a notice listing the time date and place of this meeting was posted on the public bulletin board of all freehold township schools on the entrance door to the administrative offices of the board of education on the district website at the office of the freehold township clerk and published in the asbury park press on august 25th 2021 sent
004to the news transcript august 27 2021 like to invite anyone who'd like to join us in the pledge of allegiance and to the republic which is one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call mr amarosa mrs costanza here mrs mr holtz here mrs o'sullivan mrs spellman here this is vin vitoli here mrs patton mrs lambert here okay i'd like a motion to approve the minutes from our regular meeting of july 27 2021 all in favor say aye okay i'd like a motion to approve the executive session meeting minutes from july 27 2021 and then okay got that yep okay um do we have any communications we have one communication this evening um is august 28 2021 the airport of education members we have lived in the district for over 20
005years we would like to voice our unequivocal support for the masking of all students and faculty as we fight to contain this pandemic respected submittedly wendy sabin and zach zarero i guess just bring the microphone closer okay dear board of education members we have lived in the district for over 20 years we would like to voice our unequivocal support for the masking of all students and faculty as we fight to contain this pandemic sincere respective submit respectfully submitted wendy sabin and zac zara that's only communication this evening we did actually receive several communications from parents regarding masking of their children and we will not be sharing those communications to respect the privacy rights of those students you cannot shout out during the meeting we need to keep this meeting in order if you have something
006to say that you'd like to address the board you can wait for public participation if you cannot wait for public participation this is the last time i'm going to say it you can i'll ask i'll have you removed we need to keep an orderly meeting we are here with the goal of getting our students back into school safely in a week we have business to conduct at this board of education meeting we will not be heckled we will not be interrupted if you continue to do so i will have you removed with that i'll move on to the administrative report good evening everyone this summer has been very busy we've received uh revised multiple curriculum areas ran two summer programs for students maintain pick up and delivery of free breakfast and lunches to all families
007who registered and prepared for the return of our staff and students approximately 600 students kindergarten through grade 7 participated in our summer programs and i would like to thank the staff who dedicated six weeks of their summer to plan engaging lessons and activities for these children the areas of curriculum that were revised for the upcoming school year to be aligned with the new standards include k-8 science art media steam music digital arts spanish and personal financial literacy in other subject areas new units of study have been designed to further enhance current curriculum objectives another thank you to dottie spect our director of curriculum all of our curriculum supervisors coaches and teachers who participated on committees to achieve these curriculum revisions your work and professionalism is very much appreciated this evening the board will be approving
008the district professional development plan our district goals are currently being designed and will include learning acceleration and trauma-informed schools the goals and detailed action plans will be shared at the next board of education meeting this evening the board is also approving the american rescue plan sr-3 grant included in the grant are instructional resources staff and professional development to address learning acceleration preschool staff to open a new class based upon the demand for enrollment in our early childhood program building substitutes to ensure coverage for staff who are absent and additional teachers to address the increased enrollment for specific grades at specific schools social emotional learning resources and after-school instructional support and just to clarify that american rescue plan grant is over the course of two school years so 21 22 and 22-23 we truly believe the
009allocation of these funds will serve our students well that's all i have you have the bullying investigation i'm sorry and facilities yes i'm sorry i with our summer programs the opportunity for incidents of harassment intimidation and bullying do exist we did have one report in the summer and one confirmed incident the next topic of conversation i'm going to turn over to mr devita we need to make some decisions as a board so we're engaged in discussion discussion on facility use we've been collecting facility use applications however we have not approved any waiting for guidance from the board as how we would like to proceed just give it a perspective so far the only early ones we have for indoor use are from the ptos and from girl scouts everything else that we've collected so far
010is for recreation uh freehold soccer and travel basketball i think travel basketball is going to smith shortly so we've not booked anyone um but we're just sitting on them and as you know i think we left the conversation off back in june that we were going to wait and see how everything progressed before the board made a decision um but shortly we are going to need to start to do something whether we tell people no that's fine or whether we say you start accepting and then reserve the fact to go backwards in case things get worse god forbid but we do need to take some sort of action soon just declare before anybody speaks just so you know you have to pick up the microphone and hold it close these microphones are different than the
011ones at the board office where you're supposed to be away from them when we're away the microphone has to be held like this close to your mouth my personal opinion is that we should open the buildings for facility use our buildings are open to our students i'm sorry that we should open the buildings for facility use the building is open to students full day we are resuming normal operations and i think we should do so across the board that's just my one opinion i welcome everyone else's opinion um how do our you said i don't know if ours is working actually is green light on it is can you hear me hello you said that the first applicants were ptos so i'm just curious how do our principles feel because because our objective here is
012to as michelle said get the buildings open and operational and also i guess the dual goal that you expressed in your letter neil is get things as normal as possible so how do our principals feel about like pto activities etc we haven't had a discussion as an administrative group at the center central office level we have had a discussion we are comfortable reopening our facilities but we need to everybody who uses those facilities to understand that with an executive order in place everything would need to be followed under those executive orders and until until that the specific one of masking is lifted um so you know we would be willing to work like for wreck basketball we'd be uh willing to speak with the rec commission to explain how for our intramurals because we are
013running as i said in my letter the full gamut of extracurricular activities and athletics so we do have for example in basketball our expectation is when you're on the court you're unmasked obviously it's aerobic activity and when you sit on the bench i imagine you'll need to take a few breaths and take a drink of water and then you would need to mask until you're back in the game so we have we would need to explain that to people that the executive order applies when anybody is in is in district premise the way that it's written and then when the executive order expires we would have a conversation from there okay is anybody uncomfortable with opening the facilities i'm not asking this to the public this is to my fellow board members no they're good
014okay all right thank you okay okay i think just to give explanation we are going to hear everybody during public participation but you ask some good questions and i want to i feel like i should respond to them so you understand that um you know the board meeting is a meeting in public and you have the opportunity to come up during public participation participation um as you would like and give some input into that so we're happy to hear you um say that you do want it and we do care about what you say just do it at the right time when you come up for public participation and we can hear everything you have to say yeah there's a difference between a public meeting and a meeting held in public board of education meetings
015are meetings held in the public view which is different than an interactive public meeting before we move on to public participation i just want to express gratitude on behalf of the board to all the central office staff all the administrators all the teachers teacher assistants custodial staff transportation staff that work tirelessly over the summer to keep our students in their summer programs and to get our buildings and our curriculum ready for students to return full time next week it took a lot running the summer programs in addition to getting the schools and the curriculum ready for september and we are truly grateful and we are looking forward to having our students return now would be the first opportunity for public participation this board offers two opportunities for public participation the first is for items that
016are on the agenda tonight only if anyone wishes to address the board please sign in and state your name and address for the record if anyone is uncomfortable stating your address being that we are being live streamed on youtube please put your address down on the sheet the sign-in sheet provided at the podium this public participation session will last 45 minutes and statements are limited to three minutes per person and should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature so if anyone would like to address the board oh one final thing if you'd like to address the board more than once after addressing the board the first time you have to wait till all your fellow members of the public have their opportunity and then you can readdress the board so whoever would like to
017address the board step up and who's going to monitor the three minutes ali okay please step to the podium please step to the podium i have a question you state your name and you need to sign in and put your address for the record i have a question which you said there's two times to speak and one is uh has to do with the agenda and then what is the other one you didn't the second opportunity is for any item that affects the school district that may not be on the agenda tonight but any any item of concern that affects the school district okay so i can present right now is it regarding an item that's being voted on tonight i'm not sure if it's if it's on the agenda you can check you could
018take a moment to check if it's being voted on tonight you can speak now if not you have to wait for the second opportunity where do you have the agenda um i think they're over there they're over there this friday yeah while you're checking the agenda do you want to give somebody else an opportunity um is there somebody else who would like to address the board and as a reminder the agenda for each and every board meeting is posted on the district website friday of the week prior to the board meeting so you can check the agenda online at that time prior to attending you know the meeting in case you have any questions regarding the agenda so i have another question the uh agenda what part of this is the agenda this entire thing
019the entire document agenda okay and then afterwards it's just general comment is that what it is okay thank you thank you okay would anybody else like to address the board can you hear what i'm saying oh i think cause it's red okay so we'll have to turn the um okay there were questions asked about the agenda and the appropriate can you hear me yeah yeah so so this is the first board of education meeting i've ever been at probably the same for you many of you so i was unsure the way it was explained here is if we're going to all get an opportunity to speak what the young lady recommended to us was that this part is for comment on the agenda and the agenda is here and also online and then we're all
020going to get a chance to speak even if it's not on the agenda towards the towards the end is that is that a correct assessment okay okay did you catch it all or did you get everybody clear is what's happening here okay thank you yourself and then you can sign and speak close to the microphone can you hear me yes hi my name is ayanna doman i was not sure if my topic fell within one of the subjects so i'll just ask and you can tell me if it does not i wanted to ask a question about the content of the sexual education curriculum was that on the agenda it's not on the agenda so you have to wait for the second opportunity hi my name is sami chang robles um i'll sign in in
021a second uh with respect to the question about opening the facilities for ptos and other after-school programs which was covered part of the agenda i do have a question in terms of like the cleaning because the custodial staff does do a lot of cleaning after school but for these after-school activities will there be a second cleaning or will the other groups be responsible for the cleaning how will that be handled the practice during facility use typically is that the custodians will clean other areas of the building until the use has ended and then they would come to that area of the building to conduct the cleaning would anybody else like to address the board on agenda items okay seeing none we will move on to the personnel committee and the chairperson ms costanza can you
022hear me okay the personnel committee met this evening in attendance was dr brethour mrs mr amoroso myself and mrs lambert we discussed items that were on the agenda i would do i make a motion to move the following number three resignations number four the creation of positions number five is new employment we have 47 new hirees so in an effort to save time i would just like to if you're here i would like to congratulate you on your new position and we wish you much success in the upcoming school year number six rescind offers of employment number seven leaves of absence number eight change of assignments as listed number nine change of assignment or salary adjustment as listed number 10 salary adjustment number 11 transportation salaries as listed number 12 district mentors as listed number
02313 district monitors as listed number 14 class coverage as listed number 15 honoraria as listed number 16 pto honoraria as listed number 17 special education services as listed number 18 additional compensation as listed number 19 summer iep meetings as listed number 20 pbs summer committee as listed number 21 esy staff as listed number 23 summer technicians update as listed number 24 new teacher academy as listed number 25 job description title changes as listed number 26 certified substitutes as listed number 27 non-certified substitutes as listed number 28 transfer of assignments as listed number 29 school physician as listed debbie skip 22 i'm sorry you skipped 22 i skipped it you missed it at the bottom 22. summer technician as listed does anybody have any questions michael did you have a question i'm the first to vote
024so i was just getting ready okay um no questions can i have a second and roll call mr ambrozzo i'm a yes on everything i abstain on 26 and seven mrs stanzan uh i am a yes on everything with the exception of twenty five i'm a no mrs casolino i am sorry i am a no on 25 and i am abstaining on 8 and 12. we just got teacher assignments today so i it's i'm doing my best this is o'sullivan mr spellman um yes on everything except for abstaining on five for the same reason was it was that abstain on five yes correct okay all of five or just one line just one line sorry um yeah number 34. thank you sorry this is ben i'm a yes and i don't believe i have any
025abstentions no abstentions amazingly not okay and mrs lambert yes thank you everyone okay motion carries okay um moving on to curriculum and policy ms o'sullivan on friday august 27th the committee met elena can you speak into the microphone very close to you close to you now we're ready okay on uh friday uh august 27th the following people met neil dickstein daddy spec k holtz mary casolino and myself we discussed the reopening plan for the twenty one twenty two school year and dottie spect also gave us an overview of the curriculum updates i would like to move the following items number three professional development plan and the mentoring plan number four course reimbursement as listed number five rescind course request as listed number six instructional materials list as listed number seven the curricular as listed number
026eight field trip list as listed number nine student teacher practicum observation placements as listed number 10 student teacher placement updates as listed number 11 the practicum agreement between kane university number 12 the practical practicum agreement in edinburgh university of pennsylvania number 13 the first reading of policies as listed number 14 the abolishment of policies as listed number fifteen policy zero one three one bylaws policies and regulations has been tabled pending further discussion all other policies and regulations as listed if you look on on the agenda online it has the attachment that has all of our instructional materials so when they say it's listed it's the instead of reading the entire motion it's exactly what's written there and then it'll show if it has an attachment there's a file all of those attachments are available online
027can i answer i know i'm not supposed to if you don't mind if we have a conversation afterwards i can explain it to you it's just that we i would be more than happy to explain anything about the way it works to you after after the meeting oh if that's okay we we we're not we no we don't we're not but i'd be more than happy to spend any time with you or today or you know through email or phone call to to explain everything i'm sorry any other questions or concerns okay anybody have any other questions can we have a second all in favor say aye hi any oppositions or abstentions okay motion carries moving on to finance facilities and transportation ms venditoli i know i'm sure thank you um the finance facilities transportation
028committee did not have a meeting tonight so i'm just going to move the agenda items number three the secretary treasurer's report number four bills and claims in the amount of six million six hundred and fifty five thousand three hundred fifty eight dollars and thirty five cents thank you to mrs coslino for doing the bills oh i'm sorry number two certification number five transfers number six travel and related expenses number seven travel update number eight consultants number nine a donation from staples of 75 school supply boxes to be distributed to students number 10 honoraria at eisenhower number 11 a change order for the precise construction number 12 a withdrawal from capital reserve account number 13 for out-of-district contracts number 14 for competitive contract for our literacy professional development number 15 competitive contracts for our online personalized
029learning platform number 16 to accept and submit the idea arp grant of fiscal year 2022 number 17 the esser one and the esser ii grant salary allocations number 18 idea basic and preschool fiscal year 2022 grant number 19 idea arp basic and preschool fiscal year 2022 grant number 20 esser1 esser2 esser3 arp and title 1a number 21 the 2122 american rescue plan ess er3 grant and that is it from me does anyone have any questions i apologize for the late notice of this bob i i in looking over the attached document to the um to the online personal learning platform it looks like only one person responded to the bill but the document that's up there doesn't say renaissance learning it says teachers college for some reason i think something was misplaced so same file
030yeah so i think we could just correct that but i just wanted to i didn't want it to be permanently there okay any other questions okay can i have a second all in favor say aye any abstentions or opposition nope motion carries okay moving on to old business as we know we are looking to have our retreat in september um the possibility of september 20th was put out there and also the possibility of replacing the second board meeting of the month with a retreat and having one board meeting in september i put a survey out to the board members because i got mixed feedback from most of you which you preferred and not everybody has answered so i would like to nail down the retreat day in the next couple of days so for those
031of you that have not answered that email i'm asking you to do that and we will have what and we will have our retreat by the end of september just one comment about that when you're considering we would appreciate if you can do september 20th because we had to make some changes with the delivery to the strategic plan and that can't happen until it can't happen at the september 14th board meeting due to availability if we do go with the 28th um that's the date tentatively that we would deliver the strategic plan if we have to have the uh board retreat that day you'll just have uh without we'll deliver the strategic plan without school boards because we don't want to delay any longer okay or we could do it at the we can't do
032it in the october board meeting it's just delaying the story okay um new business i do want to remind everybody with the start of school there will be several back to school nights they will be virtual um if you would like to attend them virtually please let's get the calendar together and figure out which board members will be sitting in on which back to school nights can we do you have them said or not yet you want we have all the back to school night dates um but typically the way that it works is the links are directly to a teacher and parents are going directly to the teachers usually the video from the principles recorded we haven't picked that up yet yet we haven't met to discuss every different principles plan so it might
033not work i don't know yet so i guess we'll keep you posted on that um at this time is the second opportunity for public participation if you'd like to address the board on any item that affects the school district this opportunity will be limited to 45 minutes if anyone addresses the board please sign in state your name and address for the record or at least write your address on the sign in sheet statements are limited to three minutes should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature my name is dr liam schubel from free old township i want to say that our family loves the dedicated teachers and administrators that make our school system one of the best in the state i also want to suggest to you that the public health policies you're implementing
034now are an imminent threat and danger to our children based on the current data regarding the delta virus last year when scientists told us that the virus was less deadly for children than the current delta viruses now we gave the children a virtual option to err on the side of safety and protect children and adults here is what the scientists are currently telling us the delta variant is at least twice as contagious as the original strain fully vaccinated people can get and spread the virus the number of children hospitalized in new jersey this past week has doubled so all indications would suggest that the delta virus is even more dangerous to our kids than the one last year and what is the policy that you are implementing as a response to this increased level of
035threat to our children packing our kids on buses into classrooms and relying on our children to properly use a flimsy cloth mask to protect themselves and others no virtual option is being offered we are now being asked to co-parent our children with governor murphy and we did not sign up for that i've never visited a school board in my life but what is taking place now in our school is utterly reprehensible and i cannot stay silent while children in this school district are being endangered by these policies and our parental rights are being trampled the argument that we're doing this to protect our kids is disingenuous to the core if that were true a virtual option would be available to us having blind faith in a child's ability to properly use a simple flimsy cloth
036mask is frankly ridiculous the cdc has lost a great deal of credibility over the past two years being wrong on so many topics can you remember cloth masks are ineffective against this virus but then they were how about vaccinated adults cannot spread the virus but then they could and finally the vaccinated don't need to wear a mask but then they did despite all these glaring errors the cdc is still being used as an authoritative source for policies applied to the health and well-being of our children why can't we draw the line in the sand when our children's lives are at stake and implement virtual learning that would keep our children safe rather than indoctrinated into a masked cult this is not democracy my fellow freeholders this is an overreach of the government into our parental
037rights if this virus is as dangerous to our kids as the scientists you consult with say it is then a virtual option is undoubtedly the best way to protect our children not offering that only shows that these policies are not based on science but rather political theater [Applause] thank you mr shubal the only um response that i can give is that unfortunately the governor did take the directive that we cannot count towards our 180-day requirement any virtual option at this point we were given permission and do plan on if and when students are quarantined based upon a close contact and the nurse confirms that we will provide that student synchronous so they can they can receive the instruction from their from their teacher but unfortunately we were we we cannot implement the virtual option because
038it will not count towards the days of school the only time we can do that is if it's a public health emergency is declared then we have three days has to pass so we have to use all three emergency closing days and then we can implement virtual learning and that's that's the law that's what we were given as to what we can do so the there is no local control over the virtual option but i hear i hear your opinion though i do thank you for your response no problem frank brooks 15 buckingham way and to answer your question about the virtual option uh this is the year the new curriculum goes into play space raise your mind um uh classes mr brooks please do this on a virtual option you're going to lose your
039minds so they do not want you hearing what to be taught this year mr brooks what i'm going to have to ask you to leave i asked you twice to raise your mask can you talk um that's what a microphone is i didn't yeah can you talk into the microphone so i can hear you all right so my name is frank burks to give you a background my degrees are in biology specifically statistical analysis and the modeling of biological systems doesn't make me an expert in uh things but it does make me pretty good at understanding and analyzing statistical data and to read studies at this point after 18 months of this nonsense we have over 15 studies in throughout europe some united states that masking of children is ineffective to the point where the
040uk italy iceland scandinavia france netherlands italy nobody is masking kids in their schools anymore just us this virus also is not deadly to children neither was the first round standpoint as you're saying the case is doubled in the state sure there's two million children in the state currently you're talking about 0.025 percent of the children who had to go to the hospital when they talk about hospitalizations they're also talking about someone checking into the hospital and being sent home with medication that still goes down as a hospitalization don't let the stats fool you this is not an epidemic affecting children what we do know with these studies the masks is they do increase carbon dioxide levels decrease oxygen levels the results are dizziness lethargy headaches cognitive reduction pretty much everything you don't want to have
041with a child trying to learn in school and more importantly is the psychological damage you were doing to these children facial recognition is vital to education especially learning to speak younger children especially any of you have kids with ieps speech it's useless you might as well pull your kids now because then you get nothing this year this has been used as a torture device for thousands of years taking your face away for slaves for prisoners of war as a way of keeping them under your thumb as a way of tormenting them and it's exactly doing to our children the only reason why i can see you guys going along with this is either we lack the courage and the moral integrity to oppose the governor in this or you're on board with it either way
042you have no place making decisions on our children's welfare the only way out is you should all step down with the law i've been asked to address one issue the difficulty that the board is faced with is it's being blamed for something that is not of its origin but as each one of these individuals is an elected official performing a state function at a local level they are obliged to comply with the law unless and until it is either no longer the law or a court of competent jurisdiction freeze the board of that obligation several things that have happened under the governor's mandates number one if you give a virtual option that's essentially no school that will not count for your educational year i don't make that rule but i'm advising my client that that
043is what the rule is number two look i've given everybody an opportunity to speak without interrupting you i'd expect the same courtesy if you can't give that courtesy they ask you to come up and speak when you have an opportunity the other is the mass mandate the board does not have an option to do that it has force of law in other words there are sanctions for failure to comply unless and until as i said that law is changed or a court of competent jurisdiction says it does not have force of law this board of education is obliged to comply with it as a duly elected body thank you for your patience it's a it's the equivalent of a disorderly person's offense which includes incarceration and a fine upwards of six months that's one count
044if there are repeated events it can be cumulative the executive order has the force of law under the new jersey constitution you will have an opportunity to speak in an orderly fashion sit down and take your turn nobody again my name is ayanna doman so thank you for everything you're doing appreciate the time to ask the question so i really just wanted to verify what i heard about the sexual education curriculum just to make sure i understand it correctly and i was informed that there would be content in terms of anal oral sex and masturbation introduced from k to eight and i wanted to get a sense of why kind of get understand the goal behind it from an academic standpoint and if we opt out what does that mean because someone told me that
045it's really going to be included not just in sexual education courses but in every topic in school i just wanted to understand that thank you very good question so to explain we are the specific questions regarding the topics that you brought up the very specific one is a 2020 revised standard for physical education and health under the subtopic of social and sexual health we are not implementing those standards until the 2022 school year they released standards in every area and expected us to revise them and they gave us two years to do so so in those standards and i i can address it another time through email whatever it would be that standard is an eighth grade standard so in grades sixth seventh or eighth it specifically says addressing three types of sex that is
046in the standards for 2223 from middle school the other standard that exists in that school year again we're still talking 2022 2023 the other standard that exists exists in fifth grade we identify it's by fifth grade so it's grade three four or five when the curriculum is written we'll identify when that happens and that talks about the difference between gender expression and gender identity and then the next standard so there's only three and that will be sexual orientation gender identity and gender expression and that is the 2022-2023 school year the other what you're talking about is the diversity and inclusion law and i'm going to just read a brief statement that i put together to help people understand that that so so that's that is the only specific instruction specific instruction that we will be
047providing under those topics in 2022 2023 that's family life and parents have the ability to opt out of that curriculum and then it would not be taught to your child those particular standards as far as diversity and inclusion is concerned we are we've always infused cultural diversity and inclusion we have online resources print resources where it's developmentally appropriate and in alignment with the standards so for many years we've had materials to support our curriculum to reflect the population of people in our world and community it talks about gender and i know some people have asked questions when you when you do read the 2020 standards and it talks about gender roles it's truly talking about man woman like traditional gender roles there's specific times where it says gender identity and i just want to point
048that out because that's been a point of clarification but for this diversity and inclusion law we've been including materials to support our curriculum to reflect the entire population of people in our world and community we want to promote critical consciousness and social responsibility it's typically refute infused into language arts and social studies and we typically do that through literature and historic historical events this year is no exception uh the diversity inclusion bill took what we already do and incorporated told us the specific subgroups that need to be included in diversity and inclusion so when we talk about the lgbt lgbt subgroup that is mentioned in there our goal is not to teach the lifestyle of any of the subgroups in the bill but to expose students to the diversity represented around them the contributions all
049of the subgroups in the bill have made to society and we're revising our resources to include all subgroups that are mentioned in that bill regarding the history of disabled and lgbtq individuals in the middle schools we have materials from online resources student choice text which includes disabled and lgbt individuals within existing units in ela and social studies of the middle school and that's been prior to this school year we're proud that our materials are representative of our society to which our students feel connected onto a larger scale outside of real township as we continue to revise curriculum next year and beyond we'll continue to incorporate the historical significance of disabled lgbt individuals into our units resources and materials again our goal is not teaching lifestyles of any subgroups in the bill and again you know
050that because from the subgroups prior to them being specified diversity and inclusion it's never been our goal to teach or endorse a specific lifestyle but educate on the different subgroups representative in our community in our world and now they're specifically stated in this bill okay i appreciate that no problem you're more than welcome to contact me if you have any additional questions or need clarification thank you you're welcome would anybody else like to address the board good evening board members um thank you first of all you do want to state your name for the record i'm sorry what can you please state your name for the record oh yeah jim franklin and i am a freehold township president uh my wife and i live in the stonehurst uh section of freehold and our grown daughter
051attended um laura donovan barcelo and freehold high school and she's currently teaching at harkham junior college so she got a good education here in freehold township um so and i i'm a retired english professor from mercer county college and i'm currently doing i'm currently working in the writing center at brookdale and i'm speaking tonight in in support of governor murphy's mandate for masking for our children we know that the excuse me excuse me if please refrain from commenting i'm going to ask you all to please be quiet you have a chance to speak if you would like to speak you can come to the podium until then please maintain order and give people the due respect that they deserve if you don't you will be removed and this is why we pay you the big
052bucks on the on the school board thanks again for being here um so i i'm going to be i'm going to be teaching or i'm going to be working in the writing center at brookdale and as i said i i represent not only my wife and me but 65 people who have signed a petition in support of governor murphy's mandate to protect our children in in our school district so i'm going to distribute this to you before you know as i go to sit down but i just wanted to point out that the mandate for masking i just today got from brookdale their their guideline not guidelines the rules for students coming on campus starting a week from now and let me just read this please our faculty and staff reserve the right to terminate
053any class or service session during which any student fails to comply with the college-wide face mask requirement willful refusal to wear a mask indoors without proof of an approved accommodation shall be considered a violation of brookdale's student conduct code and then the specific uh articles that are being violated if a student willfully refuses to wear a mask so we're talking here about 18 19 20 year olds being required to wear masks all right thank you thank you sir i'm sorry your three minutes are up right most of those are vaccinated this the kids we're talking about are not vaccinated and far more vulnerable thank you would anybody else like to address the board thank you i understand that as per executive order 251 children are mandated to wear a mask in school i also understand
054that this mandate has exceptions one of which this district used the last eight days of school last year you allowed the use of mass to be optional due to excessive heat you said that when governor the governor allowed districts to make you said that the governor allowed districts to make their own decision about whether or not their schools qualified as having extreme heat it left too much of his statement open-minded and confusing but you in turn decided to allow masks to be optional in an email correspondence i had recently with mr dickstein he stated we are lucky all of our schools are air conditioned however that does result in the lack of excessive heat exempting one from wearing a mask but then why were you able to make mass optional at the end of last
055school year because you wanted to because the parents voices voiced their concerns and we were heard but now when the mandate was reinstated for this school year the executive order states a mask is mandatory except when doing so would inhibit the individual's health but according to your email if i send a medical exemption letter from my child's physician it will still need to be reviewed by the principal the school nurse and the district physician the executive order does not state that you need a child's medical exemption reviewed so if you're able to create your own terms for your district why can't you hear us parents voicing our concerns about our children's health like you did last year when it was extremely hot even though the buildings were air conditioning do you know does your district
056physician know my child's medical history does your physician does not get to decide the district physician does not get to decide what my child's medical history is he has never met my child and he does not get to decide what medical intervention will be put on my child's face today a letter was sent out by mr dickstein stating information on proper mass the children can wear one of the ones that are not allowed are neck gators in this email you had a link to the cdc guidelines that we can reference their website for more information regarding mast the information on the cdc stated that gators are allowed and if they're double um double lined but you're saying our children can't wear them so why are you referencing the cdc if you're not going to be
057following their guidelines how come you can add your own guidelines to the mandate but choose to accept a medical exemption without review or a parent letter for children not to wear a mask is not one of them we want to be heard we want to be listened to and we're not asking parents to take masks off their children if they want them we're asking for choice for freedom to choose what our children put on their face for freedom of education is that my time thank you thank you thank you to clarify there's unfortunately there's some misinformation in there the first one is this is executive order 251 executive order 251 is new we went through the summer without masking because there was nothing in place until the very end of our summer programs executive order
058251 specifically says indoor air temperature which is why it's different than it was before executive order 251 did say that there can be medical exemptions and if you're familiar middletown a committee of board members in middletown moved were going to move to the entire border resolution to allow parent exemptions governor murphy heard that and in executive order 253 subsequently said he revises it that it must be from a physician so again these weren't local decisions these were executive orders that were changed and that's that's what we're required to follow as per the law so that's where those things came from as far as our school physician is concerned she consults with other doctors when needed so that consults with the the child's doctor if necessary that's her that we were referring to this oh i
059can't answer until you until you come up hi how is everyone okay my name is i'm sorry before you before you begin the gentleman in the back row please put your mask above your nose yeah just step six feet right you're gonna have to yes ma'am please keep order this is the final time i'm going to say the officers are here to remove people if we can't keep order everyone deserves to be heard in a respectful manner i'm asking you all to give your fellow public that right nicole cherny from 82 derby drive i just have a question that i'm looking for clarification on i see a lot of familiar faces i have been a volunteer staple in the lord donovan school since my son's kindergarten year i have been involved in everything from soup
060to nuts this year as fifth grade coordinator i'm in charge of every decision that is made for the fifth grade every field trip every party every event everything goes through me i was told that frequent volunteers would have to be fully vaccinated in order to be in the school around the children starting october 18th can you please define to me what frequent is yes so that is again in executive order 251 it says covered and covered i think he even says workers but he does include volunteers in there and then specifically says what is not included in a volunteer which is somebody who i i don't have it in front of me but basically i read the order and there's just really no definition as like a time frame as to what frequent would be
061is it once a week is it three times a week is it once every couple of months like where does frequently you're right that it doesn't define volunteers but it says what one is not which is that one time person okay performing a specific function so a regular you know coming in kindergarten lunch or something like you're saying would be okay so at this and that is not until october 18th okay now there are times where i could go months without being in the school so how does that fall under frequent yep this and i will say i know i know it could be frustrating that i'm not answering because this came out as you know very recently and we're not implementing implementing until the date which is october 18th so i can i will
062have additional answers but at this point we're not enforcing it until october 18th so i'd be more than happy to get some answers after we get to that that you know that that that task of of getting there that would be fantastic i understand why i understand your concerns i just need to know clarification because if i'm not going to be able to do my duties as the 5th grade coordinator and give these kids the greatest fifth year fifth grade year ever i need to know what i need to do in order to step down or hand it off or do my job from it would be helpful if you also if you don't mind sending me an email reminding me that you spoke tonight so i can get back to you pretty quickly we'll
063do so okay one other question i'm my time is running short but um if you have the option for teachers to be either fully vaccinated or tested every several weeks why is that option not extended to volunteers it may be we have until october 18th okay to to look at that again very good thank you very much for your time thank you [Applause] i'm salvatore saluccio i live on 17 hampton drive all right so let me take a mask over here now at least your mouth would be kind of if you say you can't breathe with it over your nose fine but you have to put it over your mouth you're using a public microphone that's shared with other people so let me get this straight you're taking a mandate from a governor who has
064more blood on his hands and has more deaths stan that your opportunity for public participation extend to when i'm done talking you can take me wherever you want to take me huh this is called fighting for your freedom buddy okay we're going to take a five-minute recess while the police officer um i'm not done talking i'm not gonna do a five-minute recess believe me everyone on this board i'm watching i got you you're gonna get all voted off this board this is our town it's not your town you don't let me finish talking don't shrug your shoulders at me we're in a recess you can wait five minutes and address the board after five minutes and i didn't get my three minutes right do not come in here it's okay seats okay mr davita can
065we do another roll call to make sure we're all here and present mr amaroso mr stanza mr mazlino i was trying [Music] this is o'sullivan here mrs spellman this is van tully this is lambert here let's return okay we're going to resume our public participation session if anyone would like to address the board please step to the podium again i'll remind you to state your name and address for the record if you're uncomfortable stating your address for the live stream make sure you write it on the sign in sheet your statement is limited to three minutes and should not be abusive obscene or defamatory in nature hi good evening can you guys hear me so thank you um i want to start on positive note i have two kids that go to applegate school it's
066great school great teachers my name is agle yes so but as a parent i've been listening on youtube your meetings and i feel i have to set up stand up and say what i think you are very one-sided you are so pro-masks you like politicians you are any parent that brought something against you you guys didn't care at all i i believe in science i do i believe in masks but my kids don't need a masks and if you are so worried about kids getting culvert you should fit test them do you know that this mask doesn't help as the physician stated fit does all the kids get them n95 masks one of the parents did request a survey to find out how many parents are against the masks and you see no it doesn't
067work yes it does it does work do a survey can you do classes that are kids with masks and classes that doesn't have masks can you do that can you show a passion for kids remember why you're here you are here for the kids i don't see any advocacy from you guys i really really honestly i don't think that you love your job because if you love your job then you would stand up and you look for solutions yes i do get it it's a lot to wear a mask but there's parents that there's politicians and there's schools that fight and i don't see any fight from you so my question would be i don't know i came from former communist country i came for the freedom of speech i think we all parents know
068what they best for the kids i don't see that from you i'm so sorry so only one question would be i don't know how the school system works in the united states i didn't go in school here but i want to know how long you're going to be a superintendent and where i can go to vote out that that's my question thank you where would i start thank you how many more years because thank you i'm not answering thank you thank you thank you i will i will say this much it is the role of the board of education to hire a superintendent work on a superintendent contract negotiate a new contract extend the terms whatever the case may be the superintendent is the employee of the board of education i'm short i'm sorry i
069don't know how to adjust the height of this but my name is adele maestrich um i think that the biggest lesson we can teach our children is to follow the rules and for most of us who drive if it's three o'clock in the morning and you get to a red light at an intersection and there's no course there do you go through it or do you stop at the red light most of us stop at the red light and wait because it's the law i think people are losing sight of the fact that regardless of how long you could go to jail for if you don't follow the rules then we lose all funding because there's not 180 days of school and then there's no program for any of our children so i don't understand
070what the big problem is follow the rules do what you're supposed to do and the kids will get what they need thank you thank you would anyone else like to address the board hi my name is jeanine i live in freehold and i state your first and last name i grew up in freehold i went to the freewill township school systems i thought it was great i got a great education i raised two daughters here i took them out last year because of everything going on and it broke my heart and it broke their heart and i'm really saddened by everything that's been going on that everything that you guys have been allowing to happen i disagree wholeheartedly with what this last woman just said about following the rules teaching our kids to just blindly
071following rules i think we need to teach our kids to you know believe in what this country was built on and you know fight for what's right and that's what i feel like you guys aren't doing uh we did elect you you guys are our advocates i'm patient care i've been in patient care for over 20 years i work with some of the top doctors biologists we are up on the research if i didn't believe in the stuff i wouldn't be here i wouldn't have taken my kids out of the school it is so important for you guys to follow what we need you to do because you are advocates if i understand you want to say oh well this is what this law says it's we're just following it's the mandate it's what more
072he said but you have to fight you have to send him letters you have to like have our backs with this and i think at least i would feel a little differently if i felt like there was some chance if governor murphy got letters from you know 50 superintendents that said this is not just middletown or whoever then maybe you know he would re think this if you listen to what the parents want what the parents need i don't think that kids are at risk at all with this and it is heartbreaking to see them have to wear these masks and follow all these rules just because one governor puts this down and you guys just say it's okay i am asking you just listen to what we're saying superintendent dixon i still follow i
073would like to put my kids back in in public school i still follow all your letters and i'm i was hoping to hear from you like to hear what the parents are saying and saying yes i have your back i'm fighting for this but you didn't you just said i'm not writing a letter and it broke my heart because i just i'm just asking you guys i know your politics don't fall into this i don't really care how you feel about it but i'm listening to everybody back here and and other parents who aren't here today and we all wholeheartedly believe this and we need you to be our advocates because that's what you were elected for and that's really all i just wanted to say because i just can't sit back there and listen
074good vicki andrewski i am here today in absolute disgust and very dissatisfied with how you've handled these last few weeks with response to what is going on with the mass mandate you're going to isolate and segregate our children if they don't comply with your orders this is how you want to run this district well you know what i'm pulling my kids out effective today because i don't need your dictatorship with my children and indoctrinating my children and for the woman who said that we have to have our children follow the rules well i teach my children to stand up for what they believe is right and if that means breaking the rules sometimes then so be it i don't feel anymore that you have the best interests of our children in your mind and what
075you are implementing this this year this coming year you know what everybody you got to stop showing up stop showing up for events stop showing up for sports because once they don't have attendance then you know what the funding goes away and the school goes away pull your kids out of this district [Applause] you told us in may that you were going to have a teacher's i'm sorry a parent's meeting for the curriculum did you not did that parent meeting happen it did not we're still waiting for that to happen yet curriculum changes were implemented this year this curriculum is horrendous and we deserve the right to know what our children are being taught and i think you know that and the fact that you didn't schedule this meeting is really disappointing you know and
076i respect that everybody has their own opinion on mass and whether you believe that you know you should be vaccinated or what not but we are not fighting for no mass we are fighting for an option and the fact that you continue to go along with this dictator of a governor and just go along with whatever he says you all should be standing up with your peers in every district in this state and fighting for these children and your children who i believe go to this district because you all know the science is there these children are not affected and they do not deserve to be sitting in a mask for eight hours a day and i think you should all be ashamed of yourselves and i hope you all vote all these people out
077just one point about the meeting we intended to have it and what what happened is when the curriculum was revised there was a specific purpose behind it and when those revisions happen what we realized is that there is no specific revision to the curriculum you had your time to speak thank you i'm answering your question i'm i'm answering your ques i'm not answering your question then thank you go ahead order please order hi quinn stone i live in prehold my son is at barcelo i i'd be happy to speak up would you please not act like children i just have to say my business that i own and were um run out of the freehold borough is in the entertainment industry i've been hit very hard by all of this and every time you see
078a television show or any show we've had tests three times a week we have to wear double masks and shields we are hit hard i don't know how anybody thinks that wearing a mask is corporal punishment or anywhere near it it is not torture i also do a lot of faux finishes and work with with paint where i have to wear a respirator for eight to twelve hours a day and it's not a problem i ask my employees to do the same thing sir please be quiet this is the final time i'm going to again please don't act like a child this is not an assembly yeah you can address your comments to the board sir if you continue to speak out you i will ask you to leave the meeting i unders i'm disappointed
079that we don't have a virtual option this year as well i cannot work i cannot run my business as it starts to slowly come back if i test positive for kovid regardless which my son can bring home with him this goes for my husband this goes for my immuno compromised father and i thank you for asking kids to wear a mask it is not that hard [Applause] okay what i think i don't know hold on mr brooks oh i have to wait are you coming up i'll let him go nobody else came up i'm going to go first yeah sorry i don't know are are you waiting were you coming okay thank you thank you i apologize for my terrible handwriting hello my name is scott berlin i live at 105 hyacinth lane i'm here
080in support of not fighting something that is illegal to fight against uh i i thank everybody that i based on some of the proceedings tonight seems like this is the first meeting for a lot of people this is as was stated earlier a mandate from the governor that is illegal by definition for the board to go against uh but my big question for and i know this is supposed to be addressed to the board what happened to us as a community i grew up in the 90s here and we did a lot of communal parenting if i was disciplined by my neighbor my parents somebody else that was normal but everybody cared about everybody else all i've seen in this discourse a lot of me me me i was a severe asthmatic on an hour
081a day nebulizer as a child at school nobody would have known that but nowadays if i had brought that home brought cove at home for what people are saying is their freedom i would have died that's what this is about it's not about trying to punish anybody it's about the people that legitimately could die and for the members of the board who are upholding your constitutional duty i just wanted to express my gratitude thank you okay [Music] hi my name is christine baldwin and i have two daughters in the school system one is going into kindergarten from eclc from the public um preschool and the other one is going into second grade um at both at erickson and i just want to draw attention to like the real negative effects of masking that i feel
082like aren't being talked about my daughter was trying to learn to read when she was in kindergarten she got shut out completely of school she was doing virtual i saw right away virtual does not work for kindergartners and going into first grade so i obviously opted for the hybrid because i figured going into school would be much better than trying to go all virtual and things were at a much different time and i can't believe that after seeing the negative effects of this masking my daughter's like learning ability to learn to read was impeded she was having trouble at school concentrating she hasn't like she's a couple like grade level or letters below her reading level although she's like super intelligent and i work with her but she just doesn't like school and the mask
083is a big part of that and the fact that we're in just such a different place now we have a vaccine the fact that this is still happening i just feel like for the kids we really need an option and i know i've written a letter to the board like wondering why like hoping you guys would oppose this mandate and i just want to know what's holding you back from opposing it i understand you have to follow it but i don't understand why you can't fight for a choice for the parents who see and are experiencing these negative effects on their own children like it breaks my heart having to send them to school with a mask and knowing that it's impeding their learning their social they did camp this summer and they grew tremendously
084playing with their friends without a mask and to now put this mask back on them and impede their ability to socialize and learn and grow at this like crucial age it just breaks my heart and i just really hope that you stand up for the kids and give the parents a choice to do what's best for their kids [Applause] hello everyone my name is jennifer nangano i have two children in laura donovan tonight i wanted to come here to speak for myself on behalf of my children i am not an expert in covid i'm not an expert on wearing a mask none of us are if someone was an expert we wouldn't be hearing sitting here tonight having these discussions i love this town freehold township is an awesome town we got the full day
085that we wanted and i want this to stay as a psychologist working with school age children i am an expert in saying that full time in person is valuable and needed for our kids let's focus our love for our kids on their academics and mental health the amount of time we as a district have spent on political views wearing masks not wearing a mask vaccine no vaccine has been tremendous let's focus on why our kids are in school i've served on the pto board for the past two years let's focus on helping the pto having them do events they have so many great things that are outside that they don't have to wear a mask let the parents decide if they want to go let's focus our energy on those activities for our kids that
086they've lost out on for this whole time my son was in kindergarten when this happened think about that a kindergartener that could not go out for recess these kids have not learned how to socialize with kids let's focus on that let's all come together stop fighting and continue with our full day in person let the staff and administration focus on mental health and academics like i said everyone has an opinion i don't want my kids to have masks on all day it's horrible i hate seeing them i hate sending them to school the mask on but if they have if that's what they have to do to do in person that's i know you guys are going to be mad at that but that's what my kids for our family that's what's going to work
087for us let's be respectful and work together so we continue to have an in-person school day we're freehold proud let's continue with that i do have some suggestions recess is so important for kids i work in a school district it's so important to have children outside learning to socialize with no masks on if they're outside i feel that that can happen have reading groups outside why can't kids go outside in small groups and read together with no masks on they need to see facial expressions but if they're in school this is the rule then we have to follow it and i like i said i know a lot of you don't agree with me but we can think outside the box and do these other activities for our kids thank you for your time thank
088you just to share i was going to hold off before but just to share those things are occurring there is uh in a full day where mandated to have recess they're having the kids are having recess in that pre-k to five and when students are outdoors they will not be masked the only time we're asking them to be masked is during arrival and dismissal because it's a heavy concentration of kids coming in and out if they're outside our intent is that they're not masked so we are following that we are thinking creatively about time that instruction occurs outside we did that when we had the four-hour day so we are we are looking at those things this year we interpreted also the physical education component where it talked about aerobic activity when they're in physical
089education class and engaged in that the masks will be off so there are a lot of times during the day based on what that order says that children will not be masked and we're abiding by the law so thank you for that we are we have already looked into those opportunities and planned to avail ourselves of them good evening my name is steve zudo i'm a freehold township resident i have a child at katina i just had a question on the uh the medical exemption for for the masks what would be the outcome if a child is deemed by his doctor and then of course the district that is acceptable he doesn't wear a mask what would be his regular day after finding that out thank you for asking that that's a good question so
090we are i don't know if it was clear because we've had some misunderstandings the barriers that we used last year we are not using them this year except for small group instruction so at this point in our plan it states that if a child has a medical exemption to a mask the only difference is at their desk rather than being masked they'll have that barrier the barrier are you familiar with the barrier okay am i familiar yeah i've been to a couple convenience stores it's not plexiglas it's um it's a different material it's it's not hard like plexiglas it's clear we opted to be as clear as possible you know so that they can see everywhere it's clear yeah okay so that's what they would have on their desk in that place um some people
091asked before and i had to come back you know would they be isolated no the at that point if they have a medical exemption that barrier is their replacement of the mask but it needs to be from a physician okay okay all right thank you i would just like to say i know you're following the governor's orders but we don't need a governor's campaign party here we need people to help listen to the people of freehold there's both sides here we need a voice for us as well and they are our children and we love them very much and to see them every day you know you probably don't even see their faces much but we live with them and we see the frustrations and the pain and the difficulties of them to concentrate and
092learn and just figure out their lives and it's we're having trouble figuring out our lives right now can you imagine being that small and your brain is molding and it's molding in a horrible direction at this point all right thank you [Applause] would anyone else like to address the board good evening everyone can everyone hear me okay i wanted to say first of all i'm joanne downey and what was that i said joanne downey and i live in freehold township i've lived here a lot of my life i went to all the schools here i went to erickson when it used to be elton road school i hate to admit that i went to eisenhower school and then i went to frail township high school i love freehold township so much so that after law
093school and after doing other things and getting married i made sure we came back here to raise our kids and i have two little girls who are in the school system they're in fifth and sixth grade and they love it here too and i want to say thank you to all of you because i know being a board member is not easy and we elected you to represent our kids and help us to be able to do what we can't do each because you can't get all these people to like make decisions we need to have some people make decisions and make the right decisions that are good for the overall everyone for the most part that they can possibly do it's never going to make everybody happy you're never going to make everyone happy
094we know that but i want to thank you for listening and doing what you need to do per the rules and per the absolute the advice of the academy of pediatric um doctors you know the american academy of pediatrics as well as the cdc and why is that important because we know the number of cases are going up and we want to make sure we stay in school because my kids also love being in person they missed their friends so much when they were virtual when they came home after going back to school they were so excited they were like mommy i don't even want to go like i want to stay in school and they don't care if they have to wear their masks because they also know they want to stay protected and
095they know that it's important for other people to keep them protected so they will do what they need to do but they want to be in school so i want to thank you for helping to keep our kids in school and in person and doing the in-person learning because i think it is so important emotionally and if you can do more of the outdoor things when when you can i think that's a wonderful idea to do as much as we can outdoors to help the kids take off the mass because it is hard to keep it on for that long but we know that this is what we need to do to protect them and i appreciate it and i appreciate each and every one of you thank you so much thank you [Applause] hi
096my name is carmilla spieler i live in freehold township um i'm here to say that i think that the students should have a choice and whether you agree with that or not doesn't really matter you can look at 9 11 20 years ago right that is your biggest mask study okay uh those men down there had n95s they had the best mask i know this firsthand my brother is a retired fdny who was down there and survived thank god those men and women all of those first responders coming down with bronchitis and cancer and and all copd and all of these breathing issues and let me tell you something those particles were way bigger than your covered particle okay and to the person who came up here i was watching this at home and i
097got spark to come out here and speak um a person who said that they can wear a face shield and they can wear all these things i actually have medical conditions that it's very difficult for me to wear a mask that's why this is pulled away from my face right now okay um there are real medical reasons people can't wear one okay it is not a law it's an executive order a mandate and there's a clause in there and it says if you can't wear one for medical conditions you should be exempt if it's going to harm your health okay and let me tell you all something else that every school districts cut and pace that same exact policy into their policy yet they turn around and deny it for these kids so every parent
098here i urge you to go to a doctor if you don't find the right one there's a 504 you can apply for and go get yourself and your kid whatever you need for whatever you need and if you love the mask and you feel safe and protected that's wonderful where to then if for the one person who's not wearing it you've got two on i mean i don't know what else to say and let me tell you something else the executive order that came out for teachers to be mandatory vaccinated guess what they're coming for your kids next every kid is going to be mandated they do not know the long-term effects and i'm not anti-vaxxed my kids are fully vaxxed i follow science i have a science background but i it's not long term
099studied it's not studied on children but they are they're coming for your kids next i think that's it thank you thank you would anyone else like to address the board all right first of all uh my name is laura yakuzio brielle township resident since what's your name please excuse me lift your mask please i'm sorry if you could speak into the microphone too though it's a little close lift you know with that being said i'm a terrible public speaker i thought we could have her know lift your mask please you just said to the other guy he can have his nose you're having trouble breathing are you having trouble i am okay obviously there's a little nerves i'm a terrible public speaker i just wanted to start off by saying i was in the medical
100field in 2008 when my now senior at freel township high school was in fourth grade at the eclc and he was four years old in the pre-k program at eclc i rode the subway to and from every day h1n1 the swine flu was dropping children left and right it wasn't a boomer disease like covid seems to be it was all about the children we didn't mask our kids we didn't close the schools nobody was forced into the vaccination when the vaccination did come out and they came out with the flu mist for h1n1 it killed 15 children and they dropped the whole study we're over 14 000 people dead that they can directly attach to the covid vaccine we're not here to discuss vaccine mandates or if you guys are going to force your teachers
101to do something as disgustingly horrible as experiment on themselves this way i do want to say though my i myself was treated terribly through the ecl3 ecl eclc uh rebecca montgomery the principal over there my daughter comes in as a low income scholarship to the eclc and with the pandemic hitting and me i was a volunteer for real township i was willing to set myself on fire on the front lines for my town for my neighbors for my children this is not the way that we need to set ourselves on fire for our children for our neighbors for anybody this is about our children we're setting them on fire we're lighting a match on our children so with that being said i wrote a letter about the treatment that i received from rebecca montgomery to
102mr dixteen the superintendent i sent it certified mail two times first time i didn't get the signed certificate back second time i didn't get the signed certificate back so with that being said i made a comment in october on facebook just so we all know there's a lot of parent trolls in the facebook pages that are screen shotting and sending it to frail township police with that said i asked the legality behind taking our protest to mr dickstein's house everyone knows where he lives i know where he lives i was having a conversation with one of the fd guys who's his neighbor asking you know not to do that because it might obstruct traffic and hinder him in some way which is fine but the question was the legality behind bringing the protest to your
103residence nothing was ever said from it nothing ever happened i didn't go to mr dickstein's address i didn't protest at mr mr dickstein's house instead a comment thank you your time is up instead a comment from october please put yourself in 2023. when to frill township just wanted clear that we're using police resources to act to go to people's house we wouldn't need police resources if people maintain some sense of decorum would anyone else like to address the board what you said good evening everyone my name is nicole bonamasa um i had spoken to you guys the last meeting with regard to the curriculum changes that are coming forward um sorry i ran here from my home just not hearing anybody else talk about the curriculum um i know somebody had mentioned that a parent
104meeting was supposed to be brought up and it did not happen mr dixon i know you were in the middle of trying to answer that why did that meeting not occur i can share with you through email if you'd like the statement so i have to read it again but what wound up happening was what i'm sorry i can't hear i don't know what's happening okay so what what happened is when we went to plan that we had a meeting to plan that and realize that the concerns it's not we have a statement that we can give that explains how it would be how everything is going to be implemented from that bill but we can't sit there and show you here and here because it's ancillary where it fits the other part where their
105specific curriculum objectives to family life are 22 23 school year so i could if if you email me i will respond with this statement and then be uh have make myself available for a follow-up conversation afterwards okay i appreciate that thank you um but i do want to follow up with when are the parents going to be informed as to exactly what our kids are going to be learning because there's a lot of mixed messages as far as what this curriculum is going to be entailing and we still have no idea school starts next week there are a lot of mixed messages and it's i'll share this with you i'm sorry you weren't here for it i'll share it with you and then we can have a follow-up conversation to discuss more specifically any questions
106you have afterwards because this will explain to an extent what i read explains to an extent and if you have any more questions and i fully appreciate that mr 16 but i'm sure everybody here wants to know i did i read it before you came i'm sorry i read it before you come okay yeah sorry all right uh the last meeting i had also asked why weren't we sent to survey to find out what the parents want as far as this curriculum is concerned i know there are a lot of parents for or against but we have no idea what our district wants as far as the parents are concerned and that should play a big role i understand that there are state mandates things are made law and i appreciate that you have to
107abide by that but the state law also says explicitly this information is supposed to be delivered where appropriate a lot of us feel that this information is not appropriate at all so where do we stand as far as that's concerned so i'm glad you at least recognize that this again came from a bill and the core curriculum are equal required to follow i'm going to push the core curriculum because that's 2223 and there's specific standards that i shared before that would be coming then by grade five and grade eight with diversity and inclusion where appropriate means when not how we feel appropriate meaning is our own opinions but where it appropriate falls in the curriculum so again i think i do think that this will will will explain a little bit better and then any
108questions that you have okay you know but doesn't the law also say that it is only mandated for the uh physical education the the health aspect no that's that's the core curriculum for 22-23 okay so what is the core curriculum for now then because again there is a lot of mixed messages here i think what's i explained it before but i can again i'll email it to you if you just send me an email and then i will read it and then we'll follow up with a phone conversation okay all right because you're right there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about there is and i i'm just honestly very curious especially with the inclusion law we're talking about sex and sexuality what that has to do with yeah okay your time is up
109but we can continue you and i can continue the conversation over the phone and i can that'll get you your best answers because of the curriculum myself as well as i'm sure a lot of parents are pulling our kids out to keep our parents our kids safe no problem would anyone else like to address the board kate valet freehold township 25 years or so my kids went through this school they loved it and i also did a lot of work in the schools and i loved it mr dixon was my principal he's been a great principal and a great superintendent but today when i looked at my tv it said the cases of covid in new jersey are spiking higher than they were before and now is this before school has even started and there's
110not one solution it's not like get the vaccine or get a mask you have to get the vaccine wear a mask wash your hands and socially distance that's just the way it is for now if you don't want your children to be sick or intubated or worse then you should definitely follow those four steps until they can be vaccinated thank you would anyone else like to address the board what he's being my name is haven franklin i'm not really sure about people have to comment about my coming up but some people feel they had to i don't really like that um the reason why i'm concerned about what's happening here regardless of the fact that i don't have a child in this school right now is because i'm a resident in freehold township and part
111of what happens with covet is once you get a hit in a certain group of people there's a couple things that can happen according to dr fauci uh is if order which evidently please be respectful some people seem not to believe that he has any kind of credentials but that's their problem i happen to believe what he's telling us i don't the m i believe in this mass mandate and i believe there's a reason for it and the reason for it is so we don't have a large spread of coven which then in among the unvaccinated which suddenly now becomes something that mutates and when something mutates now which is how we got delta now what happens is it goes into the please be quiet then what happens is it goes into the community i'm
112part of that community and all these kids are part of the community as their parents are i don't if they don't want their kids wearing that that's their business but they can't not wear a mask that might potentially harm other people so being safe all right sir i'm going to ask you to leave the meeting now i'm sorry i've you've interrupted several speakers several times you're being numerous times and respectfully to please be quiet and let your fellow public speak i don't think anybody on the board is a disgrace i think everybody's trying to do the best they can this is the first pandemic we've all experienced nobody has the precise answer so i think um i think it's perfectly fine to be struggling through this all i'm saying is that just because some people
113feel it's their right doesn't mean it is i think the cdc has something to say about it and the mask mandate if it's who who is the expert on the masks definitely not a lot of people here i feel i feel that there's a there are there's science behind the mask doesn't mean it's a perfect solution but it's one that we have to follow right now i feel bad for the kids definitely but i feel a lot worse if you suddenly have an outbreak at the school because nobody's wearing masks and now you have another mutation in the community and now plus because of the delta previously with the regular covet it couldn't break through through the vaccines but now it can so i think there's reasons why there's a struggle here please thank you
114for listening to me good luck thank you sean granny risen a freehold more than 20 years not a big public speaker but what happens is someone kind of rudely yelled out a question and there's an actually a great answer when does it all end it all ends when we stop the transmission and stopping the transmission is basically getting vaccinated and wearing a damn mask i mean it's not you know too tricky to figure out the other thing the anti-mass people seem to be missing is that the mask isn't a choice to protect me this doesn't protect me this protects you so there's no way i can protect myself from you unless you wear that mask it's a very simple concept but people don't seem to be able to understand it therefore the mandate i'm a
115big fan of personal freedoms but when other people don't seem to understand what they need to do to protect their other citizens a mandate is an order and i support it and i appreciate you guys enforcing it i don't think so hi i'm glenny serafino 16 buckingham way for you guys that are saying the mask and everything else and you have your kids that are already out when you have your child telling you she's going to commit suicide because of the things that are happening then you can come talk to me ma'am please direct your comments just be quiet that way you guys could talk to us the parents that already had kids years ago are not going through two kids crying because they don't understand the curriculum you don't know what it is when
116you try to contact the school system to help you and no one answers you back okay you don't know before anything happening i will not bury my child just because you want to cover yourself i understand everything but when you have your kids crying to you and you don't know if you could go to work or not because you can provide for your child that's when you guys could really talk to us ma'am i'm gonna ask you one more time and at the same time i totally understand again the sympathy the last time i was here there's no sympathy for us as parents none whatsoever still haven't heard anything and these people coming here telling us that we're wrong it's really bad because it's hard to see a 11 year old writing to you tell
117you she wants to commit suicide because of the things that are happening okay that is not right and we're fighting because our kids are crying to us not because we want to be here and that's the point you all need to understand we understand mr brooks i think yeah yep we're at the 40. yep i guess i'll close this out um for those of you coming in it's actually really nice to hear both sides of his argument here but when it comes down to it you and you alone are responsible for your own personal health and well-being my child's responsibility is not keeping you safe that is up to you you can have your vaccine you can wear your mask to bed that's your responsibility not the responsibility of my child going to school these
118same children who cannot see their teachers faces or hug their friends in school as soon as that bell rings are playing soccer together playing baseball together they're at six flags they're at the beach they're wrestling apparently the only truly toxic place in this town is inside these schools and it's not just a curriculum so my question for you on the board you are listening to the dictates of a man who has the blood in his hands of over 15 000 elderly that will order back to nursing homes and killed to drive up numbers you're listening to a man who through strictly party lines was given unprecedented power to make his own decisions where do you draw the line if he decides tomorrow through executive order we're going to install crippled punishment in our students are
119we going to be beating our children in schools is there a point where you're not going to cross this line and stand up and say no we're not doing this anymore i know it's a philosophical question but again as the woman back here so we have to follow our rules well you know history is cyclical and we see the same cycles over and over again and we've seen the past when law abiding good citizens are simply following the rules a lot of people end up dead when you listen to the dictates of an insane man who's going to just go ahead and the man you follow that the last time this happened millions are dead this is the beginning don't think it's not that will conclude the portion of public participation for those of you
120here and heard the arguments on both sides understand that there are nine members of this school board each who have individual views which may or may not align with any of yours but our job sitting on this board is not to impress our personal views or political beliefs on any of you or in the school a sport of education is a non-political board our job is to go ma'am if you speak out one more time i'm going to have to ask you to leave as well you have an opportunity for public participation i'm trying to keep order in a meeting i am letting you know let her go i'm sorry i can't i it's i have to be honest i'm living in freehold township for 30 years on this board over 10. and one thing
121that has always struck a chord with me in freehold township is how we have always come together as a community despite our differences or differences in belief and some of the behavior that i've seen at this board meeting has saddened me to the core because we can have differing opinions you have the right to respect you have the right to question authority but you don't have the right to disrespect it i'm asking in this meeting and future meetings that you maintained a sense of decorum and respect for your fellow citizens this board represents the students and all the taxpayers of freehold township we represent all the constituent interests and our goal is to keep the students in school full-time for the entire year that is our one common goal amongst us that is the most
122important goal it's about the students and that's what we will strive to do with that i'd like a motion to adjourn all in favor aye and the meeting is adjourned you