Committee of the Whole Meeting February 10, 2022

001I call to order the February 10th 2022 Committee of the whole meeting of the Board of Education of male Township High School District 8 fols we are meeting in the Hinsdale South cafeteria and the time is 5:00 p.m. District 86 is holding board and committee meetings in accordance with the state's current Regional covid-19 mitigation plans pleas please call and roll member Walker here member hon here member James here member Hanson here member he here member 11 thought here member Waters I have a motion to adjourn to close session for the discussion of pending litigation second James motion hman second James will you please call the r member Walker I member hurman I member James I member Hanson I member h i m 11 I member Waters we will now adjourn to close session please note

002that the board will action following our close session time is1 p.m. and the board now reconvenes the Open session of the February 10th 2022 Committee of the meeting please stand if you were able and join me in for it stands one nation under indivisible with liy and justice for all our principal will now provide the board with the latest news information and updates from their schools thank you president Walker it is my honor tonight to introduce senior Jenny kanton as our board liaison who will be sharing good news on behalf of Kil sou High School and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about some of the many celebrations at South over this past month while I will not be reviewing all the points in my report I would like to highlight

003a few first off we have had many individual accomplishments this past month students from the speech team are headed to sectionals and the math team is geared up to compete at conference and regionals this month the South chest team is headed to State this weekend after their conference win throughout the month of February we've also celebrated the Fantastic accomplish ments of our senior athletes as they finish off their eventful four years as a hornet athlete a special Rec congratulations to the dance line on their sectional win the second sectional win in Dan hindsville South history the month of February is also black history month this month we have celebrated our student body through celebrated with our student body through educating students on influential positive voices of African-Americans present past and spreading kindness through our self-

004pride lesson as well as fun trivia at lunchtimes I would i' like to take a minute to read a note that I wrote on our snow day Tuesday of last week back to e-learning on February 2nd 2022 students in the entire district and surrounding schools got a taste of the classic snow days we felt as elementary school children but a massive flashback to the horrors of online education we have come to know all too well this past couple of years one I think I speak for every South student and saying we all enjoy the day to sleep in and work on our own time sitting down at my desk plugging in my Chromebook and logging into canvas was a feeling I have not missed in my opinion this snow day showed me the beauties of

005walking into school talking to my friends and learning directly from my teachers this snow day was a reality check I did not know that I needed so thank you mother nature for reminding me how much I enjoy in school education ucation oh oh I have one sorry um looking forward into the end of February and March we are very excited for the results of our all of our regional section and state competitors and wish them the best of luck we also look forward to our staff basketball game Run by students and coached by students as well as our senior candy sales also we'd like to note that we are in our brand new cafeteria so we are thankful for um the construction that has been done here to make this space possible thank you and

006let me know if you have any [Music] questions thank you Janny well done I'm turn over to Christine to give the H social student Le report Christine the floor is good evening I hope everyone's doing well I just wanted to share some highlights and good news from Central Student Activities student council is spreading the love for the month of February they continueed the tradition of writing out the name of every single staff and student on campus and putting the hearts up all over the school we also did all School Bingo on January 28th and winners received these awesome pens that also served as a stylist screen cleaner and said hinsel Central Al them I've never seen students get that excited for a pet before Bingo day theology Club partnered with us again to bring a

007clothes and shoes recycling bin to campus the bin was located in the senior lot on the North side every time the bin is filled a tree gets planted Devil's Advocate is also working on their spring break issue it's coming out the Friday before school lets out one of their Futures will include an interview with the esteemed Central alumni Tomy atami so keep your eye out for that girls gymnastics also placed second in regionals the sectional qualifiers for the Red Devils includes Kelly kovak who got first place in every single event Anette Summers alsoa got third involved and Charlotte fren got fifth on the floor on February 2nd we had an e-learning day students filled out attendance forms by one and completed their work asynch asynchronously I really appreciated this change of pace and got a

008full 8 and 1/2 hours of sleep the night before my driver was covered in snow and I was imagining how late I would have been if I had to shovel and somehow get to school in time seeing as high school is full of newer drivers snow was piled high and roads weren't shoveled I think this was a really good decision I also appreciated the workload I got it was around 3 to 4 hours or so which gave me free time to relax while also feeling like I wasn't missing out on an opportunity to further my learning and lastly the field museum has made a decision that students attending the hinsel Central High School prom will be examed from having their vaccination status verified but all adults including Chon and other Personnel will be required to

009show proof personally I'm Overjoyed that prom will be at the Field Museum and I think it's an incredible and unique opportunity this is a super memorable experience for many and having it as a field museum will only make it even more exciting a huge thank you to Administration and anyone that helped make this happen as always thank you for this opportunity to share some good news and I'm happy to answer any questions more details are in my [Applause] [Music] report thank you both for those reports I'm going to now just move into the president's report and I want to just take a moment to address the order of today's agenda in the spirit of transparency I am going to spend a few minutes covering a few points regarding the district's response to the temporary restraint

010in order next the board will consider consent agenda followed by audience communication thank you in advance for allowing me to speak for a moment sharing a few points that may help fill in the gaps regarding process protocols and communication related to the district's response to the temporary restraining order superintendent Apprentice has been in constant communication with legal Council since the release of the temporary restraining order on Friday February 4th in addition the Illinois Association of school boards provided information to school boards specifically stating and I quote rely upon your board attorney for advice that aligns with your District's circumstances end quote I will share the facts of what happened over the weekend what I will not do do tonight is debate the legal advice we received that the district received on this matter in addition

011to meeting with legal council the superintendent participated in several webinars providing an overview of the trro and recommended next steps after these discussions the superintendent's recommendation was for District 86 to continue the mitigation protocol approved by the board on August 12th 2021 The Guiding principles of those protocols is maximize consistent in-person instruction based on guidance from CDC idph isbe DuPage County Health Department and executive orders on Sunday Fe 6th after conferring with District cabinet leadership the superintendent contacted each board member individually to discuss the recommended approach for holding school on Monday February 7th individual one onone communication by the superintendent with board members does not constitute an open meetings act violation I appreciate that this is a sensitive matter and there are many opinions on the appropriate approach to handle it we will discuss this

012in more detail during agenda item 12.1 as I close I would personally like to thank the district's office building Administration and all staff members for implementing an all handson deck approach to maintain the safety and continuity of the learning environment for our students thank you again for your [Applause] patience thank you we will now move to agenda item uh the uh consent agenda the consent agenda items consist of items minutes business Personnel policies contract renewals and administrative tasks that are routine in nature or that have been discussed with the board and are now presented for approval any item may be pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion and consideration all items on the consent agenda are approved with a single motion unless removed before the roll call vote do any board members wish to

013remove an item from consent for a separate vote May I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented so second held motion hman second held please please call the RO member Walker I member hman I member James I member Hansen I member h i 11th hi M Waters hi motion caries the board will now hear audience comments I'm going to increase the time for audience comments a little bit because we do have a number of speakers so I will call 20 three speakers each speaker will have two minutes to speak following the 23rd speaker the board will begin discussion of an of agenda item 12.1 speakers who do not have the opportunity to address the board during our first public participation agenda item will have the opportunity to offer their

014comments during the second participation uh the second opportunity for audience Communications I just want to share a couple of reminders before we start audience communication our Board of Education protocols state that board meetings are meetings of the board held in public but not open Forum Town Hall meetings the board will not engage with the public during public comment the board will keep this in mind as we conduct our meetings allowing the public to provide input at the time allotted on the agenda to ensure multiple voices in the community informed board deliberations when the board deliberates it will be a time for the Bo to listen and learn from each other taking the public input into consideration not a time to re-engage the public the board will consistently abide by our formal processes relating to this

015issue so that all persons are treated fairly and equally as a final reminder we are aware of impassionate opinions on the subject of the covid-19 mitigations we want to hear all voices but truly ask for civility and decorum please no cheering booing or shouting while other speakers are speaking or and talking or while the board is discussing its business we want to just make sure that the meeting is not disrup disrupted and we continue to be safe and orderly our first speaker is Angie [Applause] Sartor my time to always I'm saing my time to she's Susan Owens H Central parent better this past week has been another one filled with upset angry and divided parents students and community members over the past few weeks we have been reeling from the significant negative publicity that resulted

016from our superintendent's reading of a disparaging and false letter from a disgruntled consultant and now we are in the news again as a result of what I believe is a poorly response to a legal decision that has been expected from mons most of the chaos that we have seen this week could have been avoided with prior planning and appropriate leadership it would have been easy for superintendent Apprentice to ask one of the district's attorneys to put forth an opinion on the two most probable outcomes of the lawsuit and for the district to have created a plan A and A Plan B in response to these most likely outcomes those plans could have and should have been discussed with stakeholders and at the board table and email sent to the district 886 Community informing it of

017what would happen in the schools in each eventuality in time for us all to prepare ourselves and our students accordingly these are not easy decisions and there are many varying points of view regarding masks in schools it is one of the most widely debated and most emotionally charged topics of our time District 86 parents and community members have been voicing their opinions about it for two years it was abundantly clear that which whatever whichever way the judge decided there would be anger hurt disagreement and push back this should have been anticipated and planned for accordingly so as to avoid much of the confusion and anger that we have seen this week as a parent of three high school and college age children and a 20-year resident in District 86 I have seen firsthand the effects

018of core leadership decision making and communication from our superintendent over the past 3 years what has happened this week is just another example in a growing list aiding a and purposely and purposely creating the misconception that we are a largely racist Community by reading aloud the consultant's letter assisting in the composition of the most damaging and inflammatory language speaking to the Press sending a copy of the horrific letter to our students and now we hear that superintendent princess is using leaders of our local churches who are most likely not aware of the history of the past three years and details of the district's Equity efforts to date to create and further these divisive falsehoods it is shameful and unacceptable as a district we have hired a director of instructional Equity created an equity statement and

019formed a culture and Equity leadership team these are not the Hallmarks of a community that doesn't care about Dei none of this upset is normal or expected in a district such as ours while there will always be differing opinions on the topics that surround the education of our children this type of chaos doesn't happen to this degree at well-run school districts improved student outcomes transparency collaboration compromise trust and an environment where all feel valued and heard these are the Hallmarks of a well-run district and we have none of these attributes at this time our District's overarching problem is not about masks racism grading math or science tracks the upset and failure around these issues and initiatives stem from the real problem and that is poor leadership it is time for this district and Community to

020heal and move forward together and we need a trusted and experienced leader to help us do so enough is enough [Applause] our next speaker is Roger Tempa hello I'm Roger Kempa former student at South and District 86's last interim business manager I'm here today to ask this board who why you refuse to communicate talk to the your constituents here your par parents taxpayers the reason why you're here you you do what you're told to do and that is wrong you do what the lawyer tells you to do you've recited a list of offices that you're they tell you what to do you don't think you are a dysfunctional board and should resign do the public a favor and have a special election as a board you were compelled to hire an equity officer for $115,000

021salary plus benefits yet the equity officer is unavailable to the public to the parents at the board meetings you are out of touch with reality with the parents the kids everyone you are a dysfunctional board the what the harm you have done to the children of this community is beyond terrible the harm you have caused for their the future kids that will graduate yeah and the future Generations that's why I'm here for the future Generations my time is gone your MK our next speaker is Melissa Lane this all students should do just take off their mask and what's [Applause] the I'm Melissa Melissa Lane and I have two kids in hensdale Central and I'm Al night we all know someone who has been inacted impacted tragically from but when making in schools and you look

022at the largest amount of data to infer best practices instead of using personal experiences according to the CDC out of 20 million teams to age 14 to 17 in the US 458 teams have died with Co between January 2020 and February 2022 during the same time period 684 teenss have died from pneumonia alone yes more kids have died over the same time period from pneumonia than Co have ever considered masking children for pneumonia no how about the flu in the 2018 2019 flu season there were 156 teen deaths was there talk of masking the kids then no I know we've all been scared of Co but there are actually worse concern for teens in 2020 the first year of Co the largest killer of teens ages 15 to 19 was actually not Co but accidents

0234,650 then assaults 2,600 then suicide 202 2 2 next cancer 550 then heart disease 300 bir defects 180 then finally Co 118 it was the sixth largest killer of teens teens are 40 times more likely to die in an accident than from Co the odds of dying from Co is six out of a million or .6% for teens injector review of the number shows that teens are highly unlikely to die from Co but do they spride more to the gener community if they're on mask we can compare this by comparing the death rate of all ages between states requiring mask in schools this year to scho to states that didn't require The Masks the average death rate is the same whether the kids were masked or unmasked the data demonstrates Co rarely kills teens and

024also states without School mask mandates haven't seen an uptick an overall death rate so unmasking teens in schools doesn't negatively affect communities our next speaker is Colleen mooy M president point of order you mentioned fairness why are you not going by the signing list I am I'm p on the order in the I was signed in number four after Roger I [Music] apologize Richard scota hensdale previously I served 16 years on his board I have some empathy for the new members on this board who have groly been told by the school district lawyer veteran board members and the administration what their role is and how to behave sit in the corner and follow our lead we speak with one voice do not communicate with the public do not respond to emails baloney you were elected

025as individual voices and the greatest sin according to the Schoolboard lawyer is for you to micromanage the superintendent his friend a member has lectured if you don't like this is that policy sit down and shut up do not micromanage your only Authority is to hire or fire the superintendent well it's time to stand up and speak superintendent Prentice is guilty of malfeasance nonfeasance and misfeasance she has shown poor professional judgment by recommending two hires with racist posts she has implemented policies which have divided our students parents and communities under her watch students are coming home Fame for the race they've been born into she sullied the reputation of Hinsdale by reading an inflammatory letter calling Hinsdale unsafe and racist she distributed that inflammatory letter to every student without board approval she falsely reported that this

026was a letter from a third party while she herself co-authored it she hired an equity offerer for 115,000 who's missing an action this week she had an opportunity to follow a ruling on priner school board Mass man which the judge called evil and she refused to take the side of kids you have cause for dismissal board your job is to CH serve the children and protect them the language of the Illinois school court is clear the school board shall make all employment decisions pertaining to the superintendent lord it's go time find your voice history is watching and judging our next speaker is Colleen [Music] Moy my my name is Callie Moy I'm a physician and my children are plist in this case two people authored the February 6th return to school plan nowhere in that

027letter did they mention the poor students who are plaintiffs in the case nowhere did the authors a Firm support or even address the legal rights of the four plaintiffs as the mother of two of them I emailed the superintendent asking for a formal letter of support which would underscore her commitment to their safety and fair treatment instead I received a one sentence email promising that quote staff members will be informed to not penalize your students on Monday just one day I thought the Illinois school code states that whoever by threat Menace or intimidation interferes with the child's attendance at school should be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor threat Menace for intimidation all of these things happen this week including a student at another school who was s with a knife for not wearing a

028mask in District 86 students who had objected to the quarantine of a masth without due process were sent into the auditorium and deprived of their education the Cavalier Nature by which little of any thought or acknowledgement was was given to the plaintiff and their right to- do process caused the following with the flood of texts I soon received one from my daughter who had been sent to the Dean's office and then the auditorium when her maskless face was spotted during the passing period the district acted unlawfully and is in contempt of court I immediately sent an email asking that she'd be released from the auditorium I had to leave my job as a healthcare worker in order to have her return to her class class room in her quarantine she received no due process there

029was intimidation of children who refused to be medically quarantined without due process as is their right under the law as a Class A misdemeanor interference with my child's education by threat Menace or intimidation is punishable by jail time and fines I think your job was to protect the due process of the entire student body if you thought you needed only to protect the rights for the four PL that did not occur either the district will be held accountable for it loud your time send it thank you the next speaker is DK [Music] Landis good evening my my wife Mary and I have been uh residents of District P for over 30 years and our two adult children graduate from Central this is a strong community center on outstanding school system we've heard it expressed that

030discussing racially sensitive issues and events will only make our students feel badly about themselves and create a them versus US environment we believe that being able to see things through other people's eyes is essential skill and success throughout life we support diversity equity and inclusion being a part of our children's curriculum and we trust that our parents will have the ability to help their children sort through their feelings to say that we do not want our teachers to be offered the opportunity to engage in racism training is to say that we don't trust their intelligence and discernment we have great confidence in District B6 teachers and support the offering of that training next speaker is anastasha ginski hello my name is Anastasia gosky and I'm a junior at Hinsdale sou my comments tonight are regarding

031curriculum I'm shocked to learn that intro to business and entrepr R preneurial Studies have never been offered with an honors option at UT Central that is a shame integrating honors and regular level students creates a dynamic learning environment for all students you may be interested to learn that many accelerated students will only take aper honors courses as taking non-honors courses can negatively affect their college application process Mr Holland can confirm this fact I was surprised I would no longer be able to enroll in entrepreneurial studies honors because the honors option was eliminated business department chair Mr Madden confirmed the name of entrepreneurial studies has been changed to business management for the next school year but could not answer my question how is replacing honors option entrepreneurial studies with a business management course that eliminates the

032honors option considered acceptable this discouraged is accelerated track students from enrolling the course which is a loss both for them as well as the regular track classmates the earned honors credit option for intro to business will be piloted at both schools keep in mind honors option in the business has run itself for many years my second question is what are we piloting are we piloting the mechanics earned on credit when I asked Mr Marto for details of the piloting process I was surprised to learn Lear that a plan doesn't yet exist and that the metrics will be identified next school year I spoke with my teacher and he and I both thought it would be easy to Pilot earned honors credit for business management particularly since entrepreneurial studies has already existed in honors option format

033itself I volunteered to help pilot the honors work could you please let me finish I'm the only one speaking about curriculum tonight W I volunteered to help pilot the Honor's work I imagine some Central students would likewise be interested in piloting an earn honors credit option for the course my third question is why can't we TI with this thank [Applause] you hi I'm Addison L freshman class president at pil Central on March 1th 2020 we were told we would be out of school just for 2 weeks to Flat in the Cur it has now been almost two years of Co restrictions in our school this is my first year of high school and maass restraints from both the social and learning aspects of school I've always been a sociable friendly person but when I came

034to Central I felt restricted The Mask give off a shield would make it impossible to read people's emotions this made it very hard to make friends and it is already hard enough being in a new school in the classroom I find it difficult to hear my teacher and my classmates behind the maps since starting at Central I've done what I've been asked me to follow the co guidelines I've maxed I've reluctantly gotten vaccinated even though I didn't want to now here we are in the same position 2 years later my question for you is what would it take for you to change these restrictions our vaccination rate here at Central is over 80% and everyone in our building can get vaccinated if they want to do so so what needs to change for you to

035give us back a chance at a normal high school experience are we expected I'm sure this evening you will hear from doctors in our community that think taking off the mask is too risky have these doctors thought about the other things te to that are even riskier than Co at our age like driving do we stop driving because it's to risky I'm not scared of Co and many of my classmates aren't either what I'm scared of is the emotional toll these past 2 years have taken on every teen in this school at some point the adults and doctors in our community need to stop and think and realize it's not our job to protect the adults this is our chance to be a kid and this time is limited this week I decided to channel

036my frustration and making a forced masking um into a petition to make mask optional at this time over a th000 students parents and taxpayers sign it believeing that should be a personal choice I'm asking you give that choice back to us and our [Applause] family to move on our next speaker which is BL [Applause] Edmond hi my name is Blake Edmond and I'm standing up here today because it is time for change as a senior at hinel Central my time is running out and I want to leave it better than it was when I arrived I'm very involved in our school I was a captain of the winningest baseball team in Hensel Central history I love this school and do not want to see it run into the ground I'm extremely passionate about doing what

037is best for our community as a whole since my freshman year of high school I've noticed a dramatic decrease effort between both the teachers and students the change in my academic experience is completely different under the new leadership is not difficult to find shortcuts and few people are held accountable in their work although it makes School easier I do not feel as if I'm being prepared for the next chapter of my life my sister is a sophomore hinel Central and she has never taken a cumulative final this is not how it will be in the real world I hope I'll be prepared for college but if leadership continues d86 down this path there is no way my sister in her class classmates will be ready for college it's time to stop using CO as an

038excuse for the decline and time to have our schools Excel like they once did in the beginning we were told if we get vaccinated wear masks social distance and follow the rules we will return to return we will soon return to normal as a student who has done my best to follow the rules and was once optimistic in returning back to a normal way of life I've come to realize that this isn't going to happen unless us students put our foot on and continue to stand up for what we believe in my fellow classmates have told me stories where teacher told students don't come back tomorrow have your have your parents call you out and you a degenerate all because they were not wearing their masks this is extremely unprofessional as everyone should be entitled

039to their own opinion and Views without retaliation the entire Board of Education please help us get back on track by making a leadership change and allowing MK to be optional it's time for everyone to choose what is best for them and not be punish for their beliefs and one more thing our community needs to come together just because you have different feelings on a top doesn't make one person right and the other person wrong let's do this as a whole thank [Applause] [Music] you on Monday I walked into school no mask in hand I was so excited to be able to see my classmates Smiles in the hallways for the first time in a long time then I find myself and several other students detained in a classroom before the first period even started a

040little after we found ourselves in this classroom Miss apprentice and several other administrators walked into the classroom made eye contact with other students in meet and then left without a word not once did she ask to have a conversation with us not once did she ask how we felt not once did she make us feel senen her her all my fellow students and I wanted that day was to feel heard to feel like we could stand up for ourselves to have a conversation well now I have that opportunity Miss princess this time I hope you will actually hear what I have to say on September 17th of 2021 JB kiter implemented a mass mandate for all schools in Illinois effectively removing the ability for students and teachers and staff to exercise free will we have

041been told for 2 years that if we follow the mass requirements which we have get our vaccines and boosters which we have that life will soon return to normal in my opinion the only thing that mass are doing now is continuing to escalate a problem that has been on the rise for the past 2 years mental health we are suffering more and more of my peers are coming out with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression each week in fact numerous Studies have linked anxiety and mass wearing so please stop putting up posters in the hallway about Mental Health and start looking for the root of the problem recent recent studies clearly indicate that maske wearing is linked to mental health suicide is the second leading cause of death among American Youth and the

042death rates from suicide sore in rates compared to kids who are dying from Co among 46 States reported children's death the rate is between 0 and 2% for Co in the summer of 2020 there was a 50% increase in girls being admitted to the hospital for suspected suicide attempts compared to the year before the US Surgeon General has warned that it would be a tragedy if we beat back one Public Health crisis only to allow another to grow that's what we are doing continuing the mass mandate continues to flight into these statistics we are exhausted from being manipulated and exploited into wearing masks time is up for the government and the school board mandating these masks we are now at the endemic phase in which we should this should be a personal decision time's uport

043the students and end the political gain [Applause] g be [Applause] superent next speaker is Michelle Edmonds hello my name is Kayla tier and I'm a senior at H Central High School next year I'll be attending the United States Military [Applause] Academy even though I do not need to disclose this I am in fact fully vaccinated and similarly 82% of students at hin Central and 58% of the student body at hinel South is vaccin as well among the d86 staff 95% is fully vaccinated according to Mayo Health experts estimate that the cured immunity would require around 90% of the population to have the covid-19 to have covid-19 immunity either through prior infection or vaccination therefore among our community the staff has surpassed those metrics and students are not far behind in the past few days many

044recent many previously scrunched Advocates masking in schools have switched their course one blaring example is Dr Lena W from CNN's medical analysis and she has quoted as saying there was and is a time for and place for a pandemic restrictions but when they were put in place it was always with the understanding that they would be moved as soon as they can she is also quoted as saying I am not saying that no one should ever wear their mask rather the responsibility should be shifted from a government mandate from the state or Local District of the school it should be shifted to an individual responsibility by the family who can who can still decide that their child can wear a mask if needed according to the CDC someone who is less than 6 feet away

045from an infected person from Co can can for a cumulative time of 15 minutes or or more over a 24-hour period without a Mas can contract covid-19 logic does not Prevail as for the same reason it's okay for us to sit at lunch shoulder Tosh shoulder at a table filled with kids so does Co not exist in the cafeteria um what I think everyone is forgetting that if the mass mandate is is lifted you can still choose to wear your mask if you are imun a compromised or protecting somebody who has risk wear a mask please please answer me at what point will we stop making rules for those who are not vaccinated or scared yesterday the governor said that he he is not lifting the mass mandate because he wants to give parents more

046time to vaccinate their children for the majority of the kids in high school they've had 10 months to get vaccinated when is enough time so please look around at all the people around me look look how many students parents and community members took time out of their busy schedules to show up at a meeting in support of Ling the mass mandate at D1 d86 your job is to listen to the community that you representing and let students and staff choose if they want to wear their masks in school at this point it should be a personal decision thank you the superintendent is merely a symptom of an ailment and it's not covid-19 the diagnosis is clear the ailment is a chronic deficiency in transparency accountability and Trust here are a few examples where transparency is

047lacking rfps should be public this is one of the reasons the Saxman and valin Consulting contracts went all right and there isn't a clear understanding of monetary thresholds for board approvals can the superintendent bind the district to multi-billion dollar contracts without board approval and then they're the equity committees selt and beat no one knows their composition how their members were selected the scope of their purpose and powers or what they have accomplished yet they wield immense power over curriculum disciplinary measures and school culture a cability failures occur when a superintendent can issue a personally embellished statement that damages the community and schools without consequences these maladies are the creatures of excess delegation and undue deference blockage of legitimate board agenda items also deals harsh blows to accountability this quashes legitimate discussion and debate and sweeps

048problems under the rug this also breeds poor decision making where helpful data can't surface it kills good ideas and finally trust how can the public trust boards and committees that suppress information discussion and debate and operate in secret if you wonder why there was public unrest look in the mirror and we we are available for consultation during the second closed session if anyone has a question all right our next speaker is cat thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight I'd like to share a personal experience with you many years ago I made a decision that seemed great on paper really almost perfect on paper while that decision was made with the absolute best intentions it did not ultimately work out the main reason was because it negatively impacted my family my friends

049and my business associat really my community so I reversed that decision yeah I I revers the decision am I a better person today because of that yes I am do I regret making that initial decision maybe but I know I would have regret it putting anyone through it any longer I'm sharing this with you because there's no shame no weakness in revisiting the employment of Tammy predus only [Applause] strength I know three of you voted to renew Tammy princess's contract just before the new board was seated that's now in the past it's done end of story there's no shame no weakness in changing course on your unequivocal support of Tammy apprentices d86 employment only strength I repeat only strength as a board there is great great risk and liability and keeping her here to those

050that live in the d86 footprint those those that work for d86 and let me be clear when I say this are beloved beloved teachers admin and staff and most importantly our students our most valuable resource the key to this community's future and I would also argue there is great risk in liability to you as d86 board members Tammy prce does not add value to the 86 she destroys all that has been built over years and years and decades a rich history of Excellence hard work and commitment if you choose and I repeat choose to part ways with tamy Apprentice a lot of much needed healing will ensue and maybe we can finally come together as one District under a new superintendent all right [Applause] hi my name is Reed McCollum I'm a father of two

051feeder school students and I live in Hinsdale I believe that every parent board member and faculty person here wants District 86 to offer all children the best possible education when schools shut down in person education due to the pandemic many parents felt overwhelmed angry and abandoned unfortunately that environment of social isolation and valid frustration allowed outside interest groups who do not believe in taxpayer funded public education to sew misinformation and intentionally divide communities Across the Nation the US versus them mentality over masks and the equity curriculum happening here tonight are happening in school districts from coast to coast and it was no accident that does not mean that parents do not have valid concerns every wedge issue is complicated but it is why harassment and a mob mentality have gotten us to where we're at

052a point where we are failing our students as a community the diversity equity and inclusion objectives The District 86 has for teachers and administrators are similar to training that many professionals receive in corporations across the country especially over the past couple years we all have racial prejudices and are socialized in the society where implied bias is impossible to entirely eliminate the more we learn about how to recognize and minimize that bias the more successful we all can be but it is especially important for teachers and School faculty our children deserve the freedom to learn in a setting where teachers are best equipped to meet them where they are no matter their race gender identity or ability thank you all for serving this community on the school board and thank you tamy Prim for your courage

053as an administrator in our community our next speaker is n NY good evening my name is n Manley and I'm a resident in tax Daran Illinois District 86 and I live in the Hinsdale South attendance area like many people in this room I work in the private sector the private sector is the vast portion of the economy that supports this institution it pays for these facilities and it pays for the lavish salaries and benefits The District administration however the private sector and the public sector operate in two different worlds if I were to collude with a vendor to write a statement that public domains and disparages the organization that pays my salary I can guarantee you that my employment would be terminated and I will be walked to the door immediately unhappily we do not

054have this in the public sector instead we have superintendent was colluded with a politically biased Equity consultant to defame our community in a public form and why because she could you see she has more than enough votes on this board to support her these votes are not based on any sense of loyalty no they support her because they believe in what she said that Hinsdale is a dangerous place and that they feel sorry for students that have to experience this and don't have the privilege to walk away they support this administration's failing woke agenda and bringing down the performance of The District they support heale South's downward spiral with only 1,323 students enrolled and with 171 course offerings Hinsdale centrals 230 you can expect the enrollment to decline next year to below 1300 so where

055does this leave us but we need an independent investigator to be appointed look into the B Consulting email matter we also need transparency on the Kel committee who is making the recommendations of supporting the Ral agenda that is eroding performance in this district and compounding or and compromising course curriculum in other words we need accountability thank you our next speaker is Joe Lauren close I know it look like a scre hi my name is Joe Coran uh I'm a resident of Hinsdale for the last 25 years prior to moving to Hinsdale I lived in Oak Park which I would consider one of the most diverse Andress communities in Illinois at the time I went to Park Forest High School and was introduced to people of all colors greens races and it was the most wonderful

056experience in my life when I moved to Hinsdale I came in in a vibrational marriage and my wife was accepted in this town with no bias she has never had anybody treat her poorly she is loved by her friends we have been loved by biracial children have went through hinzel Central and I have a freshman who is loved by his friends because of his heart and what's inside it what you're trying to do now with this CRT not diversity equity inclusion but CRT bringing these Outsiders to try and pit us against each other by our color by our Race by our gender and try and put people at different levels is shameful look at who you're going to hire we are supposed to be people that love each other for what's inside and it is

057shameful that you bring in people without testing what they want and what they love we are a loving in town we love each other we are at each other's houses we care for each other's children I have coached thousands of hours in football and I never gave a darn about what race they were their religion what their gender thought was and someone wants to bring this here and separate us if you want to do inclusion punish people that hurt kids and are racially biased towards them you see it punish them for their bad Deeds don't try and teach people that you are a different person because what's outside it's what's inside that counts thank [Applause] you our next speaker is uh Greg or Heather blank Greg blank my parents of a senior inale Central parent

058of a Senor at Hinsdale Central and I'm speaking in support of removing the the mass mandate in the uh in d86 it's time to allow the families and young adults who attend the high schools here reach their own conclusions about being mask at school the position of the district isn't supportable there are hundreds of thousands of students across the country who've been attending school mask free all year we follow the misguided mandate and the co results have been no different than those mask free schools so you have to ask yourself what is it that you think you're accomplishing by keeping this mandate in place the district position is not supported by law the judge ruled and it was quite clear that the mass mandate uh is null and void yet your approach was to let

059a lawyer one single lawyer interpret the ruling in the narrowest possible way in order to support the continued Mas masking of kids in doing so you're pitting teachers versus students and students versus students this is crazy and complete complete opposite of what a learning environment should be it's time to follow the law and stop following the illogical demands of teacher students you're choosing a path that's doing irreparable harm to these students you look at the mental health results rates of depression anxiety and suicide among students subject to mandates of Skyrocket and yet you choose to follow the teachers un to keep these ridiculous mandates in place you're teaching them that Force compliance is okay these kids deserve better this is about Choice nobody is asking for a Prohibition on masks let people assess their own

060risk tolerance and make a choice for themselves you've demonstrated that you're not confident enough to be making choices for them finally it's mistifying to me why you would choose this battle the road is long and there are many issues we're going to have to come together on to advance and support our schools your one-sided approach constantly giving efforts to the union is shortsighted and I encourage you not to forget who you serve I encourage you to look around people are getting on with life they're not paralyzed by misguided fear there are people in this country gathering at sporting events and concerts and living to tell about it they're traveling and going to restaurants I'm quite certain that both board members and teachers have been doing these same things themselves yet you insist on masking the

061school masking the students out of fear stop the hypocrisy use some common sense follow the law and let masks be option [Applause] you to people to the people Wilman Courtney [Music] Wilman hi can you hear me can you hear me in the back okay uh a 25e resident of District 86 proud mother of four My Three Sons graduated recently and my youngest is a junior um this week's momentous events at d86 should not distract from what the source of our problems is the superintendent has shown no clear leadership on mass policy there is no guidance and families are confused and hurt as is her habit the superintendent wants to blame the public for her many failings and she's done this before on January 13 she publicly read a statement that she prepared calling the community

062dangerous then when she talked to the Press about it she blamed the community sorry I'm just very okay do you see a pattern here very do you see a pattern here the community is not fooled we know about the superintendent's duplicity and Mastery of deflection she despises our community but the community is not on trial I urge this board not to allow this weeks of events to distract from the real problem who is the superintendent her transgressions cannot be excused or mitigated any leader who has lost moral Authority and respect must step down forget the noise and distractions and do the right thing dismiss this [Applause] superintendent isway Brett Conway our next speaker is Jennifer the Randy Su Marcus come forward so I have several questions for you all and I know you can't answer

063me so I have email each one of you I'm hoping I can get an answer um if not from all of you at least from one point person and if it's someone else just let me know that is it true that District 86 has received 3,188 in Esser allocations this past year if the answer to above is yes please provide a breakdown of how that money is being spent is it true that in order to receive that money you must comply with mask quarantine vaccine SL testing mandates will District 86 get more money in 2022 for the same mandates will District 86 get more money in 2023 for these mandates is it true that Miss Apprentice doctored the original letter from Belin if the answer is yes is there a formal investigation on this matter

064was there full board approval to release the do that document to the public was there full board approval to ignore the trro decision from The District 86 lawsuit is Miss Prentice capable of leading District 86 again if someone can answer me in an email I would really need these answers uh thank you for your time next speaker is Jennifer Zod hi thank you I'm Jennifer zordani I live in claran Hills and um my niece graduated from Hinsdale Central and my nephew is a senior there this year um they've enjoyed their time at Central they enjoyed their time uh you know going to school and these last couple years have been really tough right on all our kids and we are near the end point on the mass be issue we see it coming so I

065um I'm a little perplexed by the vital and the um inability to understand public health concerns I am extremely disappointed to hear our young people associate masking with suicide as if that is a singular issue we know the pandemic we know the pandemic as a whole the pandemic as a whole and social isolation has been a problem masing is a very tiny piece of that and suicide is an extremely extremely tough topic so when you're telling young people that masking alone is the problem that creat suicide risk you're doing them a huge disservice now this to shall pass because we are going to get through this pandemic the difficulty in this district with the US versus them the misinformation the disinformation the lack of awareness that we could use Dei training we could use improvement

066from the majority of the group here I really don't think reflects the majority of the community we all work we all work in companies that have as they described [Music] [Applause] programs our final speaker for this period of audience communication is Iman [Applause] Zahir good evening my name is Iman here and I'm a junior at hzo Central High School to start off I would like to make it clear that I'm not here to represent the side on the mask mandate but rather the outcomes of this past week and specifically to take a deeper look at the events of Monday let me be clear I take pride in this community and this school we are priv we are privileged to be students and parents who are able to express how we feel when we choose to

067but the lack of regard for other people in this district is frankly appalling I have grown up with many of these students and we've always been taught to speak our minds I believe we were taught to do so respectfully I've seen people being called out on social media I've heard derogatory comments made to one another I've seen plenty of students walking past a teacher or administrator and proceeding to completely ignore their instruction but the most shocking and worst of all is the death threats is this really what we have come to who is this a reflection of I truly hope you all understand how terrifying this is no one should have to hear the horrified words of go kill yourself and no one in any situation is the right to say it cuz it's not

068something that should be taken lightly and it's simply sickening it's not only been a lack of respect but lack for empathy I personally have taken time to reflect on the acts I had taken this week and the words I have said I take responsibility and foret regret some of these comments I have left online it's not okay my my message simply tonight is this to everyone in this room I encourage each of you to take some time and reflect finally a specific ads to our board I want to urge to create a survey for families and students across the district about what happened this week I also think it is important for a school webinar to take place the school needs to directly events directly sorry can you please let me finish thank you um

069the school needs to directly address the events from Monday and it would provide more clarity again I would like to reiterate that this is not a message about Mass but about the disheartening Behavior exhibited by students and parents and All Views I hope each of us can take some time to reflect on the role we we individually played this past week thank you for your time excuse me I'm number 24 and I'm a student and I'd like to speak as number 17 did not come speaker for this time period thank you for letting me speak I am shman Patel a student in good standing and a student body Senator at hinel Central and I'm representing the majority of students at my school regarding the Dei consultant issue I was appalled by the statement given by

070the consultant which has been proven to be scripted by Miss Tammy prentis I'm AB will be astonished by the statement that Hinsdale is a dangerous place to live and minorities are not privileged in my school for our superintendent she seems to have many negative feelings towards the district and community and these provocative compliments have portrayed us negatively in the media I speak on behalf of the entire student body when I say Miss Tammy Apprentice is disconnected from the students and our voices are not heard I just for H Central students I posted it under 24 hours ago and I have gotten several responses with an overwhelming majority of 95% surveyed disagreeing with Miss Prince's statement as I walk through the halls of my once esteemed High School I hear lots of disagreement but agreement on

071one thing Tammy Apprentice is causing confusion and there is General disapproval of her recent actions and herself furthermore at the end of 2021 Miss Tammy Apprentice spoke with student counsil but she was not the only one Speaking In fact she didn't do a lot of the speaking and both of the people there including Miss Tammy Prentice had shut down student recommendations almost instantly if the sources are right it is our understanding that Miss Tammy Prentice does not have a PhD and that should be a minimum requirement to become superintendent especially at the 2 School of the nation in the 10th in the state if we continue on this path we may not stay in these top rankings now I will directly address Miss Apprentice with all due respect I ask what solid data and evidence

072LED you to say that our community is a dangerous one yeah in short short we require a change in leadership for I have never seen such a close-nit community like that in Hinsdale divided and our student body believes that the superintendent does not listen to the request of the people this country the United States of America is based on a government that works for the people the superintendent has ignored the people thank you for listening thank you and again we will come back to audience communication at a later time in the meeting our next agenda item is agenda item 12.1 covid-19 mitigation protocol is there a proposed action for this board to consider for this agenda item I would to Antion item to discuss revisiting our back school I would like to propose an action

073item to revisit our back to school uh strategies we as second it would need to be praised as I make a motion to is it I mean I don't know what you're exactly asking to do am am I would like to make a motion to read visit our back to school mitigations and make masks [Applause] optional board member James you stole the words right out of my mouth I would second that [Applause] motion so motion James second Waters is there any discussion by the [Music] board think uh specifically specific to that you're asking about allow me to start the discussion so long story short there's been many school districts that have traveled different paths since Friday release of the judge's maintenance out of sagamon County which maintain among other things that the Lynch pin that

074supported the mitigation that we've experienced on behalf of our students in this District in itself was unlawful additionally she maintains that moving forward relative to each District's ability to gather as a board to make this decision which is something president Walker you mentioned earlier and I was confused what you said when you mentioned the board Cabinetry or some term I've never heard to be clear I was never engaged in a discussion this weekend nor nor was my multiple requests acknowledged or confirmed by a majority of the board to call an emergency meeting to discuss exactly that so with that said I just want to paraphrase open it up to the board for discussion because in the end without getting into the law clearly multiple schools have traveled both class both courses the most optional the

075most optimal path that should have been traveled relative to the decision made unilaterally by unilaterally by the superintendent if that was your goal all you achieved by your actions on Monday was chaos yeah to that end it doesn't mean we have to be mask optional and it doesn't mean we have to revert it simply means there should have otherwise been engagement from this community who trusts and chose to elect these board members regardless of our opinions on masking or reverting to Pro to previous post pre so to say the least I will open it up to my fellow board I am certainly in favor of thief James who stole the words out of my mouth thank you Peggy and I would like to maintain to this board this is a discussion that should make play

076out in public this is a discussion that has play out in public in other school districts they have chosen different paths the worst path that we could have chose was the one that you did superintendent apprentice and in that choice included in that choice parents correct me if I'm wrong no communication was sent out on Sunday night indicating to community members the extent of circumstances their students would suffer if they chose not to come to school with the mask had they made that communication which was not made and to reiterate said communication could have been discussed if the board fully convened a full board meeting at the request of I know at least this board member on several occasions for an emergency meeting you parents may not have sent your children to school because you

077would have known they would have been openly violating and dealing with certain circumstances including going remote but when they didn't get a chance to go remote and make the to exercise the option to stay at home instead perhaps they generated a failure to be educated because they were stuck in an auditorium for several hours that had that communication went out on Sunday many families would have chosen to obey the instructions that would have been given on Sunday that wouldn't result in this board member's serious consideration that we perhaps have here a failure to educate so with that I will open it up to the FL discuss the full board for discussion it goes without saying I'm in full support of being mask [Applause] optional but I do want to Echo some of the comments made

078earlier I'm not right I'm just one board member with an opinion who's been stifled to give it and for that this community is entitled to this discussion we should have it tonight and if we don't how are we true leaders thank you discussion we are here to have the discussion number one number two only a minority of board members thought this was an emergency and asked of the judges T refer to notice under the open meetings Act and the standard notice is 48 Hours we had a meeting scheduled for tonight and we are having the discussion right now hey folks folks can we please follow proper deor we want to get through this meeting and I know everybody's passionate about this but but in all seriousness can we let the board have the discussion we

079can't have people shouting from the back row similar to what our students said earlier let's all listen to each other let's hear each other out please proper [Applause] decorum so on this topic of mask optional I would love if if we and everyone here in the room and all of the kids that came to school tomorrow and for the rest of the school year if they wished leave their masks at home um I love for that to happen now part of what I'm thinking about here and we're having a discussion and I'm not giving a defined opinion is we've had the the conversation of trro we've read a lot of our our community members comments uh on those saying by not allowing for mask optional it's opening up litigation liability for the district that's a

080violation of due process uh which has been a part of the conversation I'm sure that many people have read that conversation now there is a reverse argument to that which I'm not saying one way or the other it carries any greater risk or not but something that's less considered we've talked about at the board uh last summer at multiple different meetings and has to do with when we go against prevailing Public Health guidance which people may not agree with I'm not saying I'm not a doctor I'm not weighing on that aspect right now but when we go against prevailing Public Health guidance we do leave ourselves open to losing what is called Tor immunity in the case of a lawsuit filed against us which is a very large liability now whether we make a decision

081to go Mass optional or not there's a risk on both sides there's a risk of litigation on both sides uh I don't know if it's how practical or actionable that litigation is but it is a consideration that this board has to take as has been mentioned many times um we are fuar of this District we have to make sure that we are responsible um for the liability that we could incur on the actions that we take here the actions that we take tonight and it's something that we had again conversation in Insurance in committee means last year committee means of the board as a whole and reason why we did not flout the executive orders last year and go mask optional uh was because of in part the the sacrifice and of T liability or

082t immunity that we would leave ourselves open to an additional consideration that we have to to consider and again the stay may be denied by the court right hasn't happened yet and we certainly know that uh Governor pritzer you know didn't wait until you know 5 minutes ago to issue it's it's been there and there's a set time limit for it to come back from the appeals court at the same time if that stay is granted if the trro is thrown out there's a different risk that I'll remind everybody of at the beginning of the school year we did not face it here as a district it wasn't something that we had but we s with one of our neighbor schools a private school where they decided to again go against the public health guidance

083and they found their recognition from isby revoked immediately that recognition basically mean that your kids diplomas would not count as a valid high school diploma from the state of Illinois now again these are the risks that we have to consider when we're making the decision I know people might not think there is a risk but risks exist on both sides one way or the other to to give the community to give excuse me to give the community a little to give the community a little color by contrast District 86 has insurance that Mr hell referenced we are in what's called Co-op which several different districts join together obviously in an attempt to by cooling numbers to drive down their premiums of course they're exposed to each other's risk Etc long story short we're in a

084co-op called e there's another school I believe it's in I'm not going to say the name because I keep forgetting the name but there's another school in our same Co-op that has gone mask optional and as I referenced earlier and as I've heard 250 350 schools in the state have chosen to go mask option I'm assuming that those particular districts aren't taking egregious risks either and we can go Mas [Applause] option so I'll jump in um I just wanted to say that I hear you our students those students who have been here talking and saying what the experiences are like at the school and the division that we've been hearing and the need and the call for respect and respectful dialogue and I truly believe that we can respect each other's individual decisions um one

085of the students quoted CNN and said her immunity begins around to 90% with vaccines and or experiencing Co there was a time and a place for these restrictions and I believe that time is now to remove them n may not be the link to Suicide but it does increase isolation it does increase the impacts that we have seen in our children's social and emotional wellbeing uh Hinsdale Central is 82% vaccinated South is 59 in the transition Center is 68% um vaccinated staff is 95% at 86 that means all of our of all of our students they are 74% vaccinated you add that with the numbers of students that have actually experienced Co and we are likely already at that 80 to 90% completion also according to the CDC 75.9% of DuPage County population greater than

0865 years old is fully vaccinated those are Remar remarkably High vaccination rates for us as a community as of Friday we had I believe 13 students and staff that were positive for Co so these mitigations that we've had in place for a while are seeing the exact same results that we're seeing in other states without these masking mandates our students are shoulding much of the co B burden one of the many factors impacting their mental health are we as a district standing up for our students and that's my question how can we stand up for our students and that is to give them a choice Mr how you mentioned the risk of litigation as as a concern to me more important is the risk of the impact on our students I'll just comment that that

087while we have and and I I hear everything that everyone has has said thus far um I I will mention that we have received emails from community members who support continued Mass mitigation those are individuals who have personal circumstances at home where they have concerns about um so I think that we have to keep that into consideration as well when making that decision those people aren't on the board this is a decision this is a decision this is a decision I believe we were trusted with people's ability to vote and cast a ballot for those they trusted all due respect for president Walker you're one of them and I'm one of them and so are all seven of us let's V portion that has hasn't been entered into this conversation is the transmission rate that's

088actually on our website and right as of February 9th it's at uh 7.37% um the last time we were at that level uh was December 20th of 2021 and then the entire year prior the entire epidemic year prior to that our transmission rate uh in our d86 community was much lower so we are curently at a transmission rate that you know when we're considering the impact of removing masks and exp possibly exposing people who have members of their family that need to take into consideration they're unable to be vaccinated they able to be vaccinated that is also our responsibility that's also something that we need to take into consideration I would also add statistics on that is when we look at the vaccination rates and we look at the over 65 age group and they're

089at 94.7% and so we are looking at a very high vaccination rate that again is Dage County I'm speaking about the people who are unable and there are people who are unable with members in their family and household that aren be vacinated that's that's so I went to high school in the 80s and we were mask optional then we can be mask optional about if students want to wear a mask they always [Applause] can excuse me excuse me I was elected on this board of education 7 years ago to serve this in entire community and I am not going to be cowed bys president and superintendent I would recomend that maybe wej a meeting at this point right now people want to vote we're the people you for the people to finish my comment and

090I am not going to get into a debate over the legal significance of the court order nor am I going to get into debate over metrics or statistics none of that is my responsibility my responsibility is to represent the entire Community including the community members who have written to us regarding their concerns in including the entire community and so I take great issue with your statement Mr Waters that you're only representing the people that are here the community is here excuse me so I would Echo the request to call the vote because I think we're ready to call the vote instead of choosing to respond to exactly what you said for member hman let me say two things first regarding what you said about people that send in emails again as several board members here

091have mentioned myself not being one of them we can't pay attention to emails because that doesn't represent the full District does any board member recall that narrative being driven here on the board that we can't take emails because we can't take the community because there's 880,000 people so the bottom line is this is a decision that we have to make and board member hman I will ask you to abstain from voting because during the referendum on two different occasions you chose not to oine because you had no children in the district so this evening i' ask you I don't know how you can ask a sitting board member to abstain from a vote I'm reminding her of her board service when it came to excuse me I'm speaking I'm responding to board member Hansen simply

092maintaining that in the past when it came to student focused decisions you maintain two different times during the referendum that you abstained from voting because you don't and never did have students in the district I would ask you to exercise that again this evening I am not even going to com I find that so offensive I find that so offensive my family circumstances are of no moment to my service on this board for the last seven years and I am not going to let the noise in this community deter me from doing what I think is right for the majority of the people who live in this community and I can the call vote one more piece to add on the community and the majority of the community um that I think bears bears some

093measure of attention so we have we are district a six we have our two high schools in the transition Center and you know we saw what happened on Monday we also have seven theater districts you know with many schools involved in the elementary to middle schools and they all went to school well six of the seven of them went to school on Monday as well and six of our seven feeder districts uh in this community chose to maintain their current strategies and their kids wear masks but the biggest one is not wearing M we are not what we do in this district is not dictated by what one feeder school does or Rel in all but is a consideration to take in the vote what is the majority of the community doing by voting with

094their students the majority of the community voted by letting their kids or telling their kids probably in most cases cuz they're kids to wear their masks to school there were some that didn't there were some students that made that choice themselves some that framed it as a protest and it's great that they are exercising um their right to protest I have no issue with that at the same time if we're taking a look at what we can draw out ajor majority of our community is feeling right now or wanting at this point in time we can look to see the high percentage of students in either d86 or in the Greater d86 7the Community the overwhelming majority of those parents after the trro is issued sent their kids to school with masks they did not

095hold them [Music] home say that they had no choice how are we then as a yeah we don't we don't want to shut down the meeting all right there's there's no need for any of us to adjourn there's no need for us to leave the table there's no need for you guys to leave the seats just try and have a a measure of decorum just a slight measure of decorum as we continue here we do not cat call while the community is up there at the podium you know it might seem like we don't always listen to every single uh Voice or that we don't represent your voice I understand the frustration in that certainly part of the reason why I ran for the board was because I didn't see the representation of voice within

096my Feer district and that's something that I'm keenly aware of at the same time not every voice that's here is representative in the audience of every voice in the community we do hear a a much larger amount of communication than just at the podium in email phone calls I received text I'm sure that this is the same case with everybody here so it's not just that what we hear isolation tonight is going to make our decision it's what we've been hearing for the week for the month for since March of 2020 and we called that special meeting to deal with a an emerging Public Health crisis this has certainly been on our minds since that point in time again three little kids I understand the burden that we're all facing here the frustrations have seen

097these kids go there of my little one in kindergarten how is she supposed to um understand what her teacher wants her to do with phonics when she was in Pre when she was in in preschool with a mask I feel the frustration that we have right now I also see though and the reason why I'm wearing a mask and not making a protest and wearing it off and not throwing it on the ground why I sent my kids to school with a mask after the trro when I could have extrapolated the very same thing that many people in this room or some people chose to do on Monday keep their mask off is because I'm taking a personally broader Community Health perspective this mask does not protect me this little piece of cloth is not

098protect in me however there is a it's a part of a mitigation strategy that may protect one of you maybe you don't agree with that but it does exist the idea that when we had our Clos meeting here a short time ago I had a big old sneeze right now if I'm a CO person what happens if I'm sneezing all over with or a whatam call it asymptomatic carrier aside from the sneeze that's something The Mask has a measure of work it is not itself the mask is not s a 100% guaranteed mitigation strategy we've talked about vaccines I can tell you a year ago in February when I got my first shot and then in March when I got my second I'm like this is the road to the end of this and I

099was pretty happy over the summer when I could take this D off and I got my booster here recently and let me tell you I have pretty terrible reactions to these shots with my type 1 diabetes I'm not very happy with all that at the same time I'm trying to be as cousant as I can of the Health Care in the community of people I don't know about I know we also are on a road right now to mask removal in general we know at the end of the month we'll be seeing we'll be able to go to our theaters we'll be able to go to games and restaurants do the vast majority we want without masks but not our high we know that we have a forced we have a forced environment within schools

100within retirement communities on the train going into work that still does have mitigation I don't see protests at the train station in the morning saying I don't want to wear a mask on the train now it's still Clos quarters and it's a mandated to for Clos quarters we have a matter of potentially weeks left right now with the state's mandate again the board did not create the executive order I understand that we are subject to the executive order by being a public school district in Illinois it's frustrating as I mentioned before we do face risks if we flout the executive order if the state is issued if the trro is simply just a flash in the pan all of those districts will revert now that may only be reverting for another 3 or 4 weeks

101because again the direction that we're seeing from yesterday from the state from the government is that it's recognized that we can't have these on forever because not just every school board meeting but every meeting of public officers in the state every time that you know the governor goes on the sidewalk not I don't know how often he mingles but we'll be faced with the same sort of of impassion um uh conversation we'll say from the community to take masks off but it doesn't mean that we're not we're not almost there doesn't mean that we are again Acres away miles away from this actually taking place and I would like to just add one correction I had incorrectly stated that we had 13 students and staff uh districtwide last Friday it appears that it was actually

102six so we we have two exent positive three at South and one staff member so these mitigations the question is can we allow for our students we have an opportunity to stand up for our students and allow them the option of wearing a mask if they would prefer to or not wearing a mask if they would prefer part of the argument over the last several years as frustrating as it is to to even make it is we see how low our numbers are because of the layered mitigation strategies that we have now we also other states that are saying well we don't have these issues as well well we also have a very high tust rate here in our state in our in our community so we're actually looking to see do people have the

103virus whereas other states are putting their head in the sand so when you over test when you over test you're going to get those results when you don't test and you ignore it there's not going to be the numbers they're just simply not going to exist unless people are practive and go out there and based on how other states um have have had a lack of testing just it doesn't mean that our L mitigation is worthless just because we only have two if anything we should be considering ourselves a success the fact that we've kept kids in class all year that we haven't had any issues that we haven't had any Community or any outbreaks within the schools now there have been certainly numbers in the community but in the schools the schools have been

104somewhat sacran here we have not had school based outbreaks we have not had the issues where we had to shut down where idph or or the D County Health Department had come in here and said you have an outbreak you need to shut down you guys need to go home that's we want to avoid at all costs the reversion to remote learning we heard that tonight from our from our student liaison the snow day um that they had was a reminder of how painful e-learning is and having gone through it again with kids uh fifth first in preschool it is something I would rather never in my life if at all possible repeat is having a return to remote learning if we can keep the the the strategies in place for the moment while the

105state is mandating them there's no problem I don't see a functional or fundamental issue with doing that at this stage of the game I don't see it as punitive to the children so we have yet to we have yet to St I think one of the biggest concerns that community members have is this board and I've directed The Board in two different occasions to have a conversation about what we all don't understand where exactly the exit ramp is and this great district has offered through Jewel and a few other places and unless you struggle with memory loss you can't not possibly recall how many vaccination clinics District 86 has put on both for the residents and the students Etc we have made vaccinations readily available we have made boosters readily available the same goes for

106masks for teachers faculty and staff the staff I believe and I could be wrong here superintendent parents correct me if I am I believe our our staff is vaccinated north of 95% there has been no exit ramp I just plead with this for I plead with you tonight to understand we do Drive policy which we can reverse but I have a feeling if we choose to go Max optional adverse consequences cases tests contagion spread will will not occur because there's seven states that have been mask mandated in this country we're one of them and those 42 other states have figure out a way to do better David Schuler David Schuler is a superintendent who's a Hinsdale resident and he works up in district 214 this would be Mount Prospect Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights there's

107seven high schools in that district and he has been working hard with his faculty and staff to provide some of those mitigation efforts I mentioned and has driven a narrative to figure out a way to get our students back to normaly as soon as possible I'm paraphrasing from what I read in the article and what I've heard from my girlfriend now fiance who lives in Arlington Heights thank you um she voted yes so what I'm maintaining and pleading with the board is as policy makers give it the students a chance the same students who spoke tonight are represented probably by several behind them the students who do need to mask still can and as policy makers guys we can always reverse this decision but the success that's been enjoyed in the 42 other states that

108never traveled this path that we are on and still on without an exit rant I just plead with you tonight to help Grace for the students and give them a chance by going mask optional so I want to just touch on something M Waters had said in a few things that the community um said I want to thank the students for coming out and speaking thank everybody for sending emails this is clearly a very hot topic um and people are very passionate and they're advocating for their children um regardless of how this goes it is time to start talking about the exit ramp which I think you know getting off the exit ramp which I think it's been coined in the media and how we do that and what those metrics are for going back

109and forth if heaven forbid we have to go back so I am in favor um of pursuing that conversation sooner rather than later so that the community understands how we're going to go forward and that our teachers staff students family members can feel that their safety and well-being is Paramount to this board um I also think there have been some comments especially from a student here we do have to talk to each other um and you know member Waters is somebody that I typically agree with don't agree with on everything but we can have a conversation and I'm just using you as an example because there are definitely other board members that I feel the same way but you're sitting next to me and he's engaged we all know but um I think that hearing

110all sides of this and being respectful in our discourse um is something that we as a board have to model and hopefully um can bring this community together on many many issues will you please call can you please State the motion again the motion is to revisit the back to school mitigations and make massing optional remember hman no remember James I remember Hansen no h no 11 no member Waters I member Walker [Music] no [Music] J [Music] 96 p.m and the board now reconvenes the Open session of the February 10 2022 Committee of the whole meeting we have set it time on our agenda for board comments this section of the agenda is not for board deliberation it may be used by board members to offer their comments for the record each board member may

111offer comments for up to 10 minutes per Robert rules or a total of 30 minutes for all comments are there board members who wish to offer comments I have a quick question we is the live stream back on let me just confirm yep back you goodone oh sorry my speaker wasn't on my apologies may I speak absolutely thank you so just real briefly just to give a few comments um you know I do encourage this to all community members in the seven towns that feed both high schools here in District 86 uh both Hinsdale South and Hinsdale Central do not be distracted by the issue of masking and please don't think this board is not committed to the importance of De and I work I encourage you to watch prior board meetings don't only focus

112on the minutes trust me please watch board meetings to understand what I just said and do not be distracted instead understand what indeed is lacking which is enabling these narratives to come not just to light but to a luminous beaming one instead and that is leadership this past Friday regarding the tr's issuance from sagamon County's judge brisha full board meeting was never convened despite multiple requests that I made to gather for an emergency meeting I am not indicating the direction the board would have given but greatly troubled at the inability to gather as a full board to drive a decision together as one Sunday night there was no communication sent to the district families to inform parents on what ramifications may play out on Monday if students came to school without a mask this is

113what I'm referencing and I'll leave it at that with respect to leadership in our district it needs to be better leaders lead and we need to do better thank [Applause] you is there any other M that would like to offer com I I just have a few comments um first you know as Mr W said regarding Equity um as I have said at many meetings previously um and Mr J if you could add some of the board comments to the board briefs um they seem to be missing and the community doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that board members have been commenting about Dei issues and concerns for a while now it's very clear nobody wants children to feel unsafe or unwelcome in their school nobody that said this de this board member

114would expect that any initiative that continues to be brought forward would be inclusive of students and address all areas impacting Dei race economic religious disability sexual orientation Etc I've requested that this be an agenda item to go into u a board meeting to provide some clear and future direction for our self committee and I know there have been several requests for community members to join the committee um you know I I feel personally that there's a little bit of a Communications issue regarding the work that the committe does and we as a community would benefit from having some insight into that and how they do that work and what that focus is and I think that most people are more aligned than apart and so in the interest of inclusion and in the interest of

115working together that is a big piece of our uh should be a big piece of the work is to communicate exactly what initiatives are being worked on how we're looking to get there what we're looking to solve communicate we need to communicate amongst each other um on another topic uh was there ever a question concerning procedure for future agenda items in the past um why exactly are we are we invoking Robert's Rules of Order requiring Bo board members to approve agenda items I think that also causes a little bit of division um and it appears to add to the dysfunction that we have that you know as I believe we can do better I for one will go on record saying that I will approve any board members request for a future agenda item I

116believe that we as a collective Collective group have the duty to listen to each other if any of you feel that it's worth discussing the subject that's good enough for me I also wish that I had the time to see a lot of the extracurricular activities that are going on at our high schools and actually be able to engage with with our students and see some of the work they're doing unfortunately we've spent a lot of time and energy these past few months on for curriculum on the different curriculum changes on Equity consultants and on enforcing Mass uh requirements um we really do have some unique wonderful children in this school and it would be really nice to celebrate them a little bit more often than' been able to do so that's all I have

117for now thank you [Applause] I just like to say a few words thanking our ability leadership teams for handling a very difficult situation this week um your principles and your teams did an outstanding job against uh what in some circumstances were very put in very difficult spots and you know I think the I think it's been said tonight it'll be said again it's been said we've seen in emails um how much respect the Greater Community the greater district has for your leadership and for what you do um and for you know how you navigated not just this but other other things that we've had in the past um whether they are you know pluses or difficulties that the district has faced so you know to you folks thank you um for what for what you

118continue to do um and you know know that you know just a few a few few negative voices that you may have been faced with are not represented of this whole district and this whole District does hold you folks and your teams in very high regard um and though I speak as one board member I am certain that the others would echo my thoughts uh on that very front uh I also want to thank as we're kind of reflecting on on leadership through all this and we talked about the pandemic and we talked about where we are and hopefully the fact that at some point in time we'll have an offer an off ramp from this um you know it was brought up that we've been able to be as a district um when it

119comes to say our vaccine clinics uh an example for other districts and that's something we should all be very proud of um of course you know that does fall back to the leadership that we have which would be superintendent fenis who was involved with uh masterminding those those clamps for the community for the students um for the teachers for our seven featers for those at risk people here uh that these clinics uh were seen and we can ask other members of that are uh with Administration employed by the district that what we did was taken notice of by again you know our peer districts other Illinois districts uh school districts here and how to actually run a proper vaccine clinic how to uh how to serve the community in times that are very difficult to

120know sometimes what you can do because it's it's pretty hard to you know fight uh a virus um you know from a board table you know or from behind a desk or anything trying to find the ways that we can reach out to the community the ways that we can um Foster some sort of benefit I'm very proud of what the district has done and again the organization for that does fall um to superintendent brenis as being the one that led us through that as being the one who has been recognized by other of her peers as being a leader throughout the pandemic it's been a difficult time to be part of administration to be a part of the board to be a part of building leadership to be teachers to be students to be

121parents and um I see the performance that we've had as a district between our schools and the transition Center the amount of of hours that our kids have actually been able to be in school where we are prepped as a community uh when it comes to vaccine rates if that's for some reason becomes a trigger for something that comes out of of Springfield and being able to take off masks or open things up more we are at the Forefront of that we have always been and it's not necessarily just because of what the seven of us do or voices from the community but it does come from an administrative office there on 55th and Grant and between Tammy and her team uh I believe the district does owe them all and her even um thanks

122for helping to move us through this time so I would just like to Echo that uh Eric and in the interest of time and the lat of the night I'm not going to I wholeheartedly Endor everything that you said and I I I want to recognize the superintendent perer excellent leadership through the pandemic from the beginning to the end the development of our open our school plan through the organization of the vaccines to being a leader amongst her peers inage Colony our school district being the only Public School District in county that was able to keep the stores open the entire year last year and credit goes to our superintendent and the leadership team and I I just whole hearted end your comment there thank you I don't have anything scripted but I I didn't

123want to Pig you back on um a few things my other board members have said um regarding member held's comments I to extend gratitude to our building leadership teams um for na gating what has been somewhat of a chaotic we but I want to also extend that to our teachers I um having trained to be a teacher I can tell you that nobody prepares you you know you don't take a class on how to navigate a day like Monday um and so I also want to thank them for creating a safe environment for our students um that said though I was also in favor of meeting as board um under emergency circumstances ahead of Monday but more importantly on Monday after the chaos that ensued in our buildings so as a board I as a

124board member I take the safety and while being of our faculty and staff very seriously and we had a chaotic situation that I think represented a valid reason for this board to meet and to provide clear direction to our building Administration and our staff and we weren't able to do that and for that I at least would like to apologize because I think that would have helped to support our buildings our students our staff our teachers [Applause] Etc so the board will now resume audience comments toal of 30 minutes each speaker will have two minutes to speak our next speaker is Linda bur first I would I would like to say that supposedly the adult brain can handle complexity now I sometimes think my oops thank hi um they say the adult brain can handle

125complexity I think my brain is coming out on the other side but you start I can still I can handle a bit of complexity here that I sometimes on certain issues fiercely disagree with superintend apprentice and some board members and I will be back in The Fray but Co and especially this evening um you guys faced what Dr King called the moment to decide and you took a stand and that was not easy I would especially like to thank Bo member hell be for having the incredible courage both emotional and physical having being in compromise himself to look out on a scene of faces of people who just don't care one unmasking person actually said but he could just stay home and no one around that person disagreed or offered any objection to that now

126about masking under the trro each district had a right to set its own policy the CDC still requires masking that's why you have to mask on the train by the way that's um under Federal control The District 86 had every every right to um lean cautious on Co even and students who wanted to defy a legitimate rule which doesn't begin to meet Dr King's definition of an unjust law could follow also follow Dr King and graciously and respectfully accept the consequences of their rule braving my 5-year-old granddaughter understands why she wears a mask and why it's not all about me me me she herself didn't get very sick with Co we hope there she won't have any lasting effects but she understands there are medically Fragile Kids in her school and teachers and teachers family

127members who might be medically fragile so um I hope that be will hear from some of our kids in both buildings who also understand Man by MK thank you our next speaker is Alan Burke I'm Alan Burke I lived in Hinsdale since 1983 and my wife and I are grateful for the quality education our children's receed in the Hinsdale Public School System I'm also a physician who practice neurology at the University of Chicago and then at Northwestern for 34 years where I remain a clinical professor amerit and still practice part-time I'm here to discuss the continual continued masking of students from a medical scientific and evidence-based appro the recent CDC uh recommendations dated this week indicated that masks will reduce the spread of the disease and because ocon variant is less lethal but more contagious

128U than the prior forms of Co that children who are unmas are more likely to be able to bring the disease home while their asymptomatic and give it to someone who is elderly or immunosuppressed Evon Hospital recently had to stop all elective procedures because of an increase in admissions of patients with the hom variant uh for these reasons I would strongly support a delay in the lifting of the mandatory mask requirements which I think are quite helpful I would also people believe masks do nothing or only n95 M I would like to see the individual who would allow a surgeon to operate on him or member of his family without wearing a Mas thank [Applause] our next speaker is last Friday I was surprised when my father called me from his Rotary meeting and you

129remember to can hear you I was surprised when a Community member spoke to the Rotary Club supporting Tammy um with incorrect or incomplete information I met with that Community member this week and found out that Tammy has been meeting with the religious leaders in our community and sharing the same stor but that story misses F she claims this community is not for Dei and that anyone basically who comes up here and speaks is against that's i' heard said it just it kills me that Tammy is basically going to the people who we turn to for support to get support you basically betraying us um I've heard now that we have church leaders that are spreading a letter because our community is dangerous we're terrible people according to M pris and and it's not fair you

130should be able to go to your church and feel at home and feel that you're hurt and feel that what you value matters and I mean I just can't see how anybody could weaponize our churches and I think it's unconscionable to give only one side and if you wanted to have that audience with them you should have taken the time to get other people there people who could have shared maybe the other side because we're B with people although you think we are and it's really really sad the things you say about us to the news and those things that you added to the letter from those aren't her words they're not her tone they're words and it doesn't matter if you have witnesses that say that she asked for it you added the [Applause]

131words our next speaker is good evening in my opinion a superintendent's job is there to be a leader and Champion for our children our superintendent is basically the chief executive of our school district and in this role this Apprentice must Inspire confidence and Trust in our students and in their families but why would students and families be loyal to a superintendent that sends out public statements saying that our community is dangerous thereby questioning the character of both our students and our community members and then to go on to say that she's sorry that they can't walk away from this walk away from this a lack of transparency on this board was a key factor in turning over four positions last spring so how is it that our superintendent is running committees like selt that have

132come up to question all night tonight and while this committee has a very positive Mission it operates without being accountable to anyone we don't know what they do we don't get a report on the activities we don't get a report on the decisions that are made by the committee how is that objective how is that transparent we deserve transparency and then first of all academically things like the physics first and the dra tracking two examples that contribute to the decline of the academic standards at both of these schools and done in the name of equity both children from that have special needs to very high achieving students suffer equally under this plan because when you lower the ceiling to raise the floor the space in between is very uncomfortable for all our test scores are

133plunging and in 2021 reach their lowest level so what does a future hold for a district that is encouraging decline of mediocrity this board is allowed this to happen by refusing to question our superintendent's practices and the motives even a past board president went on the record in 2020 with concerns about Miss prentice's ability to lead calling her the problem with the district there's absolute deference to her own agenda that's led us to this place of Def defen and enough is enough next speaker is Lisa hmer thank you I would like to um touch on a few things first um just reminding you all of what Noel Manley said in his speech um that if I think the big issue kind of two weeks ago was um Tammy and her um lack of leadership and

134betrayal of trust of the whole community and and um what she did if she were to do that in any other company to go against that company she would have been fired like you said and walked out the door and instead you continue to spread the lies you bring it to the press and you hit people against each other and as a board you have a responsibility to make sure that she's leading correctly and that is not correct leadership the other thing I wanted to say is um Debbie thank you for your apology for not um having an emergency meeting the question really is is do you really even need to apologize did you ask for an emergency meeting if the if your request was there the same way that Mr uh water said that

135was for him then you did your part I don't think that the rest of the board or the leadership or the president or whoever is supposed to call that emergency meeting didn't do their part so again thanks for your apology it's it's not really necessary if you did your part to request it so thank you um and then lastly uh as I said standing up at the end um Mr held you said that you would support the students right to protest and so I do hope that each student will protest peacefully who Contin to um know that their rights are being trampled the laws not being followed they should remove their masks if they wish to and I would hope that the security also supports the students right to protest as Mr H had said

136thank you speaker is Mary Odell [Music] I'm good evening Mario Dow Darien resident and taxpayer thank you for allowing me to speak at the January 27 board meeting speaker Kimberly monteel gave a presentation that opened my eyes to a sad situation here at d86 she demonstrated some of the differences between the lunches offered to paying students and those offered to students in the free lunch program who are mostly minorities bottom line the lack of nutritional equity for students in the free lunch program is shocking and inexcusable now d86 officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of pursuing equity for the sake of quote meeting students where they are well for some students where they are is hungry and possibly dehydrated especially when wearing a mask all day without proper nutrition adequate food and water proper education

137for these deserving children cannot begin to take place they are at a severe disadvantage compared to students who have greater resources I concur with Miss montiel's suggestion that the board hold those hired to ensure equity in d86 accountable as to the lack of nutritional equity for marginalized students in the free lunch program maybe these highly paid experts could join these deserving marginalized students by eating lunch alongside them in the cafeteria I bet that free lunch menu will be upgraded in a New York minute thank you for your service and thank you for allowing me to our next speaker is Ryan steel ran Ste are you here no okay our next speaker isala Mishra uh our next speaker is Michael neon is Michael NE here uh next I have Dan Leal my name is uh Dan

138lethal I'm a parent of four children 3 in 86 and one in1 um I wanted to applaud the board for uh having a public discussion of a volatile and uncomfortable topic and letting the public know where all of you stand and I'm deeply appreciative of your efforts and your votes um whether or not I agree with them or I also here more importantly to speak to you as a um physician who uh takes Co very seriously so by trade I'm an anesthesiologist uh been sort of up to my eyeballs in uh Co for the last two and a half years as a leader of the medical staff as well as my department I've been intimately involved in the the pandemic if you want to call it that um both excuse me uh both uh administratively

139strategically logistically um clinically very definitely and although grammatically incorrect very humanly uh throughout that time in addition to having Co at the front end myself before Co was actually known to be co uh I have dealt with intractable numbers of patients who have just barely survived the the disease and lived to discharge and more sadly I have uh witnessed an unfathomable uh number of people died from the disease process so for me Co is very very sensitive and uh president I would just ask you for one more minute I'm sorry um the reason I wanted to talk to you is whether the vote is for masks or for not masks I would be saying the same thing to you which is I think it is my impression that the anger and Vell has been thrown

140around quite vigorously lately um related to The Mask no mask debate is that uh Co and The Masks um have been reduced to a uh a very uh polarized topic the problem is that the pathology and the disease process is not on off it's not go no go it's not live well actually sometimes it is live or die but it's the problem is and I think the reason that your constituency is so angered as well as divider 50/50 is to lack of predictability and a lack of transparency as to how this District was going to approach it so if we we uh the district had spelled out what our expectations were um what our action points were going to be uh I think it would have gone a lot toward diffusing the lack of trust

141and anger by the consti constituency in the leadership of of 86 which is both the administration included um therefore it would be my suggestion especially after conferring with Dr is far smarter than myself that so you voted to maintain the mandatory mask and that was one of your two choices and that's the one you chose and I gu said I would be saying the same thing regardless but I think the board or the administration should with all possible haste especially given where the the pandemic is and the metrics are currently headed is come up with a a predictable and agreed upon set of G metrics which will then result in a massed optional um choice for the students within 86 when the you know positiv are Falls below a certain percentage when the hospitalizations fall

142below a certain um uh penetrat uh when the uh ICU admissions are low in the Pediatric population and we're almost there as member held said we are close to that point anyway so I think that those numbers should be rapidly decided upon and put into place by this board so the constituency can look at those metrics and say we are x amount of percentage away from taking the mask off if we so choose or we are x amount of percentage away from keeping it on because we're not doing a good job in the in the percentages are going up you have to be flexible you have to be reasonable and you have to meet your constituency where it's at just like you should be doing with your students thank you very much hi um I

143just wanted to add something that I didn't share earlier that I think you should know at 6 o' just before you conven open session I was standing in the corner there I received a call the call was from the Imam from the me Center and I need you to know board members that our superintendent has enlisted or asked them to write letters in of her not Equity not anything else of her please don't make face caming please don't don't do it and there are other congregations that have been asked to go around and carry with without petition um because it was communicated to our religious leaders our spiritual leaders our churches our you know um the place that we're supposed to be feel the say thing we're supposed to be always welcome it was communicated

144to them that we are terrible we are very racist we are dangerous I am a member of self I am very aware that we are not a perfect Community but how dare our superintendent go and en list the our spiritual leaders priest how dare she go and ask them to write letters and speak up in favor of her in support of her and actually they were asked to come to this board meeting and speak notice how they didn't come because they told us their congregates their members they told us they told us so we responded appropriately how would you feel how would you feel if you were if your priest your spiritual leader was told that your part of the terrible Community how would you feel that shameful Behavior shameful and completely unacceptable and they're

145they are reconvening with a group of us just so you're aware and we will not present anything that has not been P yet we will not present anything that has not been printed in the newspaper they were shocked when we shared all that information with them because that is not what was shared thank you is Marson my name is Maran H Wilson I'm a resident of the range and I attend the unit Church of pinale where I chair the racial Equity team as our minister Reverend Cam man mentioned at the last board meeting our congregation has been learning about racism and white privilege social jce part of our covenant along with learning together with compassion curiosity and an open mind I'm here to support the District 86 Equity statement and to encourage the board superintendent

146and staff to keep working to implement the equity statement and strategic plan so that all students can pry I noticed that in the area of student growth and achievement the Strategic plan calls for culturally responsive curriculum that interrupts racism and other systems of Oppression removes barriers in systems of practices that lendit opportunities for our students these are lofty aims and I believe that teachers and staff training and support from all of us in order to operationalize these goals and strategy if you're interested in joining the conversation about race and racism with an open mind I invite you to the unit here in church of kale for three Sunday afternoon beginning on February 27th we'll be screening the Acclaim documentary The ution beginning at 12:30 p.m. we look forward to listening and learning together and I

147have a fewers if anyone thank you thank you that concludes our second can I go for Ryan time sure can I's few com ape didn't sign up for have sign I'm sure this is on everyone's mind but uh you know lot of stuff tonight lot of what's your name my name yeah my name is Donald F mer you're wel to the m uh well I got to talk to everybody so just I think you can hear me hang hold uh these are test scores who supports this trend this trend doesn't look like our friend you guys support these test SC do you sir you guys anybody here like these is this the direction we should be going I don't know do if you support these and of course I'm asking Bo reply but I mean

148if this is the direction I have to ask what has changed why why do we have a 10% decline in 4 years 10 pic four years was four years years engage yeah it's not the pandemic because the last 2 years actually the trend tapered up or uh tapered off a little a little bit the trend started actually four years ago and it goes down so the pandemic I don't care if they keep the Mas on or not I mean I'm against them because uh unfortunately the doctor forgot to distinguish between bacteria and viral and and also you know being a safety engineer who designs masks breathing apparatus Etc and applies them not just applies them like a doctor um knows that the type of masks everybody's wearing we might as well be wearing a baseball

149catcher mask cu adiz all you want size of the co particle compared to the space in the threads no comparison it's like a meteor among stars but my point is I want to ask what has changed what has changed why are we in a downward Trend this is the job of everybody and whether you want masks or not I don't think you want this this is heading bad Direction folks so you need to ask yourself what's happened is this the symptom of the leadership I think it is I think it is this is where it hits the road but thanks a lot hi again um I'm speaking off notes taking off my phone from the past few um hour that y'all had your break and these are kind of messages that I've received from close

150to 15 students so one of the biggest things we try to encourag in our students's accountability given the fact that you are dodging accountability for the decision made on Sunday and you laid it on the attorneys I think we all question the quality of attorneys you saw given that our tax dollars are paying for them this especially given that over 200 schools in Illinois have made the decision of going mask optional one of the board members mentioned that you are worried illo will revoke our diplomas however as a high school senior I can confirm that I not worried in fact I believe that the 300 schools that went mask optional in Illinois aren't worried either I'd like to remind you all that you are a school board not a community board you must look at

151the students and teachers first if we are concerned about community members by High School school students going massless what about elementary schools and middle schools are high schoolers the only ones capable of spreading covid-19 not to mention is students and community members want to wear a masks by all means they can quadruple mask however it is proven that that standard masks and cloth masks do not work only fited at95 so as the board if you are so concerned about student health do you plan on fitting close to 6,000 students with n95 masks let's be honest about who you are taking your orders from teachers unions and politicians enough is enough thank you have a good night we have anyone else that would like to offer comment uh thank you just just a few things uh

152thank you to all the students who spoke it it really means a lot because um wow I just can't believe how well spoken these students are um as far as the mask mandate um you know during this meeting District 58 in Downers gr K through 8 just passed Mas optional d181 our largest feeder into d86 uh was M Mas optional as of this Tuesday Morning uh they have less vaccinated stud than we do here in our school yet they they chose this this path because they wanted order and reason they used common sense as well as their legal advice we have taken the legal advice and have literally used zero Common Sense there is the chos that is going on in the school Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday tomorrow next month Monday next Tuesday next Wednesday

153next Thursday next Friday will continue it is not going to stop and I know D lethal is a doctor and he mentioned the 50/50 it's not 50/50 this room was 9010 tonight and this room is not made up of a mob this room is made up of community members who are very concerned like we were for the referendum we all came out because we are concerned these are two major issues in our district we are not the Mob We Are community members and we have an issue with the leadership here and I understand that she did vaccination clinics through juel ASCO and the reason she did those is because we had a contact with juel Osco and they we were able to facilitate those vaccine clinics for many many people in our community many of

154whom I helped to get appointments and who I sat at the table and greeted when they came in okay she did a great job at that if she wants to run vaccination clinics she can do that but if she wants to run our district she can't she is not proven to be able to do that so the people here were not a mob 90% were mask optional please do not say that the rest of the people in this area the the other 85,000 aren't 9010 this was a representation of who cares about these schools I I just can't accept that that this is a mob a mob mentality and I I need you to go back and maybe call another emergency meeting to think about putting common sense and what is going on right now

155in our schools is not safe for the students and I it's not a game this is not a game it is not safe for for these students I have I have one student in 181 she is fine she's calm it's not chaotic for her and I have another one who's in this school and it is chaotic it's confusing and they're going to sit when they're older and say what went on that week in school it can't go on any longer it just can't so something has to be done there has to be another emergency meeting bring the legals in have them opine and have them conect consider what has just happened in all of these districts around us that the the the statistics are not different at District 58 the statistics are not different at

156181 it's right next to me okay but I'm not taking these statistics anymore in terms of Co statistics we don't even know if the co statistics are correct we can't be looking at that anymore we have to look at how this affects the kids and I'm sorry if you can't here these kids who came up and talked they spent probably all day doing their speeches if you can't hear them and see how they're suffering and rip those stupid Mas masks off and give them the option this is not take masks off or on it's you can wear a mask please call another emergency meeting do something for the community this is it's unacceptable two individuals in the back that mention they wanted to hi uh my name is Isaiah Robinson and I graduated from Gale

157Central class 2014 so I'm here because uh amidst of all the other important topics um focuses I'd like to make sure that we're still being we're still focused on providing a solid plan Equity work um and making sure that we hire the correct person correct person to make sure that this happens um as a former black student at Central I can speak on how there definitely is an opportunity for the district to make the learning environment a safer and comfortable space um this begins with more floro learning tools of racism um outside of those same normal topics through um black history model um grow comes from uncomfortable um objective conversations um that helps students and people in general just learn and to help B themselves and learn learn from previous mistakes um so please take

158Equity work serious and provide students and teachers the opportunity to learn about different cultures and be open um in order for H Central and specifically the district to be better and to be an excellent environment for all which I know can be um it needs to make sure especially minorities uh feel embraced and heard um and racism in general is um is the conspiracy especially in the [Applause] district hello my name is Lauren son I am an Alum of Hinsdale Central I graduated in 2014 um I'm also here as a reminder that students teachers community members care about Equity work pushing forward um I'm frustrated that the hiring of an equity consultant fell through for the second time and I want to know when the board can commit to finally hiring one um what really

159bothered me about some of the comments from the previous board meeting were people were questioning the validity of the equity consultant's claims that she was mistreated and people were questioning how she could possibly know what the district is like when she was only here for a day but as somebody that's lived here for over 20 years I know that we have issues and that this community can be toxic sometimes and that's not defaming where I come from but it's just stating that we have a lot of opportunities for growth and to do better and I know this to be true from people that I've heard come to these board meetings and talk about issues that they have had instances where theyve been made to feel uncomfortable instances of racism these things have happened and they

160continue to happen and I also want to say that it wasn't until after my time at kinville Central that I realized that my education at school was lacking because we never talked about race we never talked about Equity we never talked about these social issues and I think that by doing that the schools did us a disservice and I think hiring an equity consultant is the first step in making positive change thank [Applause] you Mark be brief Mr held said it earlier the admin staff were put in an awkward difficult position on Monday a person spoke earlier about the leadership and planning trro was in process for weeks why was there not a plan devised for the outcome either way whatever it was it would have lessened the challenges and confusion on Ming again no

161leadership the V letter was inappropriately edited read and circulated by the superintendent the superintendent support of the detracting and elimination of curriculum options for d86 leadership other than a few glowing comments tonight about by some board members regarding the covid plans and the vaccination clinics which I agree with it was good the community needed it it was helpful I've heard the word leadership brought up repeated repeatedly as lacking by superintendent and I again said this I think the last time Board of Education please please do the right thing we need leadership here in D6 I have some more questions sorry uh Miss Hansen do you agree that Miss Apprentice should have co-author the excuse me what's your name please sorry your name please Susie Marcus so again miss Hansen do you agree that Miss Apprentice

162should have co-authored the VIN letter Miss James do you agree that Miss Apprentice should have read the vbr letter publicly at the January 13th meeting Miss Herman do you agree that Miss Apprentice should have emailed the vbr letter to each d86 student Miss Walker do you think Miss Apprentice should should have received Bo approval before doing any of these things Mr held why has the administration failed to investigate the allegations made in the Belin letter Miss lenthal do you think Miss apprentice and Miss Walker should have unilaterally decided the mask issue instead should the entire board should have made this important decision Mr Waters do you think the decision should not follow the trro put the district at risk for legal action just questions I can email these to as well [Applause] thanks good evening

163my name is Shannon fry I lived in hinel for 12 years and I have three children from d181 through 86 of which last week I reminded you that I pulled all three children out of the district but I'd like to bring them back as soon as this District can get them get all of issues handle I want to I want to after listing this is my third board meeting in my entire life after listening to the last few board meetings I want to know why the community hasn't had a no confidence vote on Tammy prce her lack of leadership in in the education portion of testing and classes as well as the science track the math the science the English grades everything everything is in a downward Trend as pointed out by this gentleman over

164here I also want to address the disastrous masking issue that happened this week where there was no discussion and I saw a letter from Tammy Apprentice as well as Miss Walker you know saying what the plan was and that they were continuing masking yet I hear tonight from Mr Waters and Miss Lal and someone else that they didn't have meeting so how is it that this letter got produced by Walker and apprentice and sent to the community yet nothing no no meeting was had isn't that a violation of open meetings act and also a violation of the trro that has happened this District's primary responsibility is to take care of the students and the community and the and the people who who want to send their children here who moved here for the schools and

165and would like to continue with what they moved here for which was an excellent academic experience from what I've seen I'm a kindergartener I can't imagine sending him back to this a second grader I can't imagine sending her back to this and a sophomore in high school which I was planning on sending him back and now I'm like you know what I'm going to keep you where you're at I also want to talk about the Esser money that the school received I believe it's $3,188 th000 received in the last zone of Esser money there also is requirements that come along with that Esra money which is to to keep the kids masked to keep to contact Trace to quarantine to run vaccination clinics which it seems like you're all so proud of that you run

166these vaccination clinics when you should be running academic clinics and it's through 2024 and you have to report every 6 months what you are doing in order to receive and keep this money I think the community should have a breakdown of where the money's going what you're doing with it and how it's spent I have a full document of every single School in Illinois and how much money they are getting and surprise surprise the schools that have the most money are the ones that are still m d181 got 1.8 million d86 got 3.8 million Neighborville schools got 204 million I believe it was and 180 million I'm speaking from memory what are you doing with the money is it lining your own pockets is it lining the teacher Pockets because it's certainly not helping the

167children I'm a frustrated and upset parent taxpayer who now has three children that I moved to Hinsdale for to go to school here at these beautiful schools that are highly ranked Blue Ribbon Schools and now I'm paying three private school tuition three on top of my taxes that total $74,000 just for my property taxes my high school student wants to go now to a private boarding school at the tune of $68,000 of which we cannot afford my little ones I have to send a private school because the option otherwise is wear a mask social distance quarantine you've been in contact and if you're not vaccinated or you are vaccinated there's no rules I I'm sorry I'm off tone as far as my my speaking it's off the C but I'm upset and this is this

168is important follow the money is what I want to know where is the money going who's spending it who's in charge of it and and as the superintendent I've never even heard you speak about anything except for a vrin letter where you you doctored it and added your own sentences into the letter I saw the Foy of email how is it that you have the right to to read a letter at a board meeting of a consultant that was not hired and then you invite her to a zoom meeting to listen into the board meeting wow I am I'm unbelievably shocked at the entire board's behavior and a no confidence vote to fire Tammy Prince and alongside Miss Walker should resign and Miss hurman if doesn't have any children in the community should opine from

169future decisions and Mr Waters should be the new superintendent thank you Fred Bart got three graduates from the district and two currently uh in 181 and d86 pick up my su's questions uh when we look at the four board members that have voted in lock step with the superintendent over the last several years uh I think we all have to make the Assumption unless you tell us otherwise that you agree that Miss prus should have co-authored the valum letter we have to assume that you all agree that Miss prenis should have read the Val letter publicly at that January 13th meeting we all need to assume that you all agree that Miss prus should have emailed the avum letter to each student right before finals it was really smart we also need to all assume

170that you think that Miss prenis didn't need board approval before doing any of those things and doing so much damage to our district our students our teachers our reputation I want to ask you all and if we don't get answers there's going to be problems legal problems why has the administration failed to investigate the allegations made in the Val letter makes no sense what remember Hansen consider Omron being so much less severe than the past variants trying to compare case rates from the past to today's case rates make makes absolutely no sense board member held I can 100% guarantee you that our district this board and some members personally have far more legal liability from not having an investigation into the The Valor matter and from not fing the judges ruling then from going Mass

171optional I can 100% guarantee it everyone's losing their patience can guarantee we're not going away and many are ready to act so when it happens please don't act surprised of [Applause] course goad okay can you just clarify something I'm onell and president Walker you are too and we saw we actually saw I'm sorry K am I doing something yes you are we don't engage during audience communication okay I apologize I apologize I am not the only one in this room that was at this help presentation um and let me be clear Miss vbr is intelligent she is articulate and she is energetic but also let me be clear that the bulk of the 50 to 60 C members the bulk of them are employees at the 86 and I take personal offense that Miss Bel

172was able to to um describe unsubstantiated claims against one of our employees i i i Che twice during her presentation and it was shared it was shared to the press it was shared to the district and it was actually shared to our spiritual leaders and our the heads of our congregation I take personal offense at that because there is every single employe here including Miss prenis including Miss prenis is entitled to protection by the district by the board unsubstantiated claims shared by an employee of our district with the Press what have we done to protect that employee I I don't understand who is to my understanding a a retired first responder and was acting a security guard for our our Red Devils at Central that that is shameful Behavior and the board the board she

173I thought that not miss princess cuz she already put the information out there the board should said if in fact there was an investigation if in fact it was dist determined with say it was a misunderstanding I sent it to you I told you it could have been misunderstanding exactly what Miss valin described is exactly protocol that our security guards engages to keep our children safe if in fact it was a misunderstanding then it is your obligation to that employee to share that with the community with the press and with the congregate or spiritual leaders that where the information has the incorrect information has been distributed that's it I'll be brief my name is Reed Mall Froman I just want to reiterate the gist of the comment that I that I made earlier in the

174night that disinformation personal attacks conspiratorial thinking are are toxic the vast majority of people in this room and in our community truly and deeply care about our Public Schools um we're not making good progress by making unfounded accusations really really hurtful personal attacks conspiratorial thinking and there is a huge amount of disinformation that is being weaponized in this community against the public schools that we all deeply and earnestly care about in our community that would be phenomenal if if we can all sort of really focus on how we deescalate the hurt and the valid frustrations in a time of upheaval in our society the pandemic has not been good on anybody nobody loves masks we need to heal our community we need to somehow find a way put the jeans back in the bottle and

175prioritize our schools cuz I cannot imagine how the seven people that are up here that care about schools would recommend anybody to run for school board in an environment where they're treated this way by the community and I am terrified for kids in d181 that that are in my house in in a school board that will be replaced by whoever happens to run in an environment where the are are dis rude to people that are volunteering because they care about school children whether or not they have children in our community it is it's frankly disgusting to me which is why I'm here tonight um every single one of you on the board I appreciate you running because I know that all of you care about public schools we have to focus on the importance of

176what's best for our schools more important thank you thank you this is our last this is the last comment cuz we've gone way over our time M 30-year hensdale resident tonight's headline is right-wing mob interrupts school board meeting over masks and there is only one person in this room who is happy about that headline and that is the superintendent because it completely diverts attention away from her misconduct I'm not here to talk about masks I'm here to talk about governance I talked about it earlier and there is failed governance in this board we are not a Lynch Mob a Lynch Mob falsely accuses denies due process and meets out cruel and unusual punishment we have made credible accusations against the superintendent we have continuously advocated for due process and investigation she has a right to

177retain councel she has a right to representation we have not denied due process and in terms of the punishment that may result from a finding from that investigation it's not cruel and unusual we are not a Lynch model and nobody should be taking joy in those headlines that are going to be coming this evening now I want to talk about the governance you're all petting each other on the back about how you handled a tough issue tonight but I got to tell you I heard two board members say that they're they're going to respond to the majority of residents in Hinsdale with no scientific data of exactly what it is that comprises the majority held said well you know most most of the kids are just showing up with masks on so they must approve

178of it no most people in this District want their kids to get educated and they don't want trouble it doesn't mean that they approve of masks your thinking is just so flawed and then hurman talks about a mob accuses a mob now she can be forgiven because it was difficult moment for her her momentary intemperance but hman you know what she said also oh I only respond to the majority of people not the mob well how do you know that and where are the Elder Statesmen where is the amance gree where are they this isn't statesmanship you're elected representatives you should be representing this district and doing the right thing and yes you should not be responding to mobs and we are not a Lynch Mob I have demonstrated that but I I think this

179is this is just shameful the level of dysfunction of this board and our mission is to cure it thank you audience communication do I have a [Music] motion I [Music] walk