001shirt off and she had a white bra on with lace I honestly didn't know what to do by this point pretty soon he took her off her bra and started to kiss her breasts and then he put his hand down her pants and she started moaning I think they were very drunk he reached to take off his her pants but she started crying really hard sorry reached for his own he pulled his pants and underwear down to his knees please Dave no but the boy just talked soft to her about how good she looked and things like that and she grabbed his penis with her hands and started moving it I wish I could describe this a little more nicely without using words like penis as seconds and will you please stop thank you thank
002you next up is Trish studiak followed by Renee Smith followed by Jennifer Howard and then Christina is it Quinn okay thank you chairwoman Haynes and board members I would just like to remind the board that the district restricts the graphics distribute or what Graphics can be on clothes the district restricts access to other media devices resources that distributes to students so they cannot access inappropriate contact on these devices library books are just another extension of these devices or resources um it's my experience that a person can't offer an objection if they don't know what's available so I'm reading the selection to make people aware of what is available it's called lullaby it's available at New Smyrna Beach High School and it is by Chuck I'm going to spell the last name p-a-l-a-h-n-u-k embolism if you
003ask me Nash says you can get sorry you can eat a girl out and blow some air inside of her or you can [ __ ] her too hard either way please stop and okay okay thank you Renee Smith followed by Jennifer Howard followed by Christina Quinn and then Barb LeBlanc times good evening my name is Renee and I'm a resident of Brevard County denying kids the right to read doesn't make anyone safer all it does is decrease the quality of social progress and knowledge of an entire generation parents should have the right to consent to what is deemed appropriate for their children by Banning books you are denying thousands of adults and parents across the state the right to parent and oversee the development of their children book Banning is damaging to our school systems and
004will disproportionately affect stories authored by or written about lgbtq or bypoc individuals the agenda of the book banners is simple only teach white heterosexual culture history and Norms deeply rooted in Christian white nationalism make no mistake this conversation today is not about keeping Kids Safe it's about further isolating and marginalizing children who are different different sexual orientation different skin color different gender different religion well different people deserve to read stories that are relatable to them if I would have had access to more books as a child about lgbtq history or gender studies it would have greatly enhanced my mental health and how I can describe myself it would have saved me Decades of feeling lost and confused about who I was That's The Power of reading it lets us be a part of a story
005that's relatable and for a kid struggling with their gender identity whether a sexual orientation or having trauma at home or bullying at school reading that relatable story just may save that kid's life thank you for your time today I hope you'll consider what I've said and how serious this matters at him thank you Jennifer Howard followed by Christina Quinn followed by Barb LeBlanc followed by Merrick bronker welcome how are all of you um I first would like to thank all the problem causers that's what I call them I work in a media center you have made us a well-organized machine we know every book in this County we know every book that is in the classroom you've actually made us more powerful you haven't taken anything away from us you've actually given us more and
006you don't realize it second of all to address you personally the Bible is one of the most erotic books ever written priests use it to counsel marriage couples on what to do in the bedroom and out of the bedroom so maybe you should read it for more comprehension to make things a little bit better in your life finally this is just sad we have policies in place and we have been in Volusia County I am a parent I am an employee I'm in a resident I'm a teacher's child I'm a principal's granddaughter I'm involved in the school system I volunteered at the school I work at now before my son was even born I am in It to Win It I am here for the kids and that's what all of you should be here
007for all the rest of this is irrelevant books are written as a whole not as a passage or a piece if you are not going to stand up here for five hours and read that whole entire book reading that little bit that you considered and deem nasty because you don't like the words that ever used to describe that situation means that you didn't read it as a whole as a comprehension you're not doing what we teach our children to do in English just to read for comprehension and understanding you start pulling books based on the lack of comprehension and understanding what they are as a whole you will epically fail our children books are meant to expand your horizons opened your minds there are books out there to teach you those are technical books but
008the books you're talking about in the library we want to get kids to read there's a lot of technical reading that they do we want them to read for fun who want them to go places they probably will never visit we want them to be best friends with a dog named Clifford who lives in a big red house we want that because they're children don't take that away from them because adults can't agree this has nothing to do with our children and you guys need to reevaluate that this has nothing to do with our children this is a bunch of adults who have had nothing to do over the pandemic except look over what everybody else is doing and get in everybody else's business and now you've come back and you want to be involved
009where were you before the pandemic because I was a volunteer were you thank you Christina Quinn followed by Barb LeBlanc followed by Merrick bruncker followed by Trisha Townsend good evening board members I had a whole thing written for you guys today but boy has this changed things I want to First note that nobody here as you directed said what county they're from thank you Mom for Liberty please let us know I on the other hand was born and raised right here in this County and this is why this is important to me I graduated from Volusia County Schools I had a hard time because I didn't know there were other people suffering but the same things that I was suffering with right but you want to tell me I can't read a book about rape
010and this is personal when I've been raped so I didn't know I didn't know that it was not okay for a 21 year old man to do what he did to me that day why because there was nobody to tell me there was no book to read on it the teachers didn't help so when you sit here and I don't want to tell everybody my business I'm overly upset because I've been on top of on top of on top of my moms for Liberty and Planned Parenthood as I like to call them they have repeatedly talked about child molestation yes it's in a book it's appropriate for certain people if I was a mother I would let my child read that book you want to know why so they know what a pedophile looks like
011they actually know what a Groomer's like right we talk about all the lgbtq people who are groomers real groomers did what exactly they said in that book and I can speak from experience so you guys here which I know some of you already in Planned Parenthood really upset me because you are not even considering the fact that you are hurting children right now you are hurting children that don't know there's anybody else out there who have been through these things maybe they don't have parents at home are they not safe in our schools well actually as a matter of fact I will get to my point now they're not I would like to reiterate what Mr chipwood said sorry sheriff Chitwood says the other day that there has been four knives two guns one simulated
012gun and one um I'm sorry kid stabbed in the face you're not talking about that that's Hush Hush right how are you keeping them safe you're full of [ __ ] excuse my language you're not keeping them safe and I didn't mean to swear but my leg is a I would ask the board why are we talking about banning books when Sheriff Chitwood just had a video asking parents to do their part and raising their children and this video describes the fact that in the past 30 days there have been four knives two Firearms one simulated firearm and a student stabbed in the face should we not be more concerned about the children's safety and less about the snowflakes of Planned Parenthood picking apart books that the children probably didn't even know existed before today not to
013mention Monster Liberty has called the con content of these books pornography once again they should probably look up the definition for this word they don't understand Liberty and they don't understand sorry I can't talk I'm done thank you next up is Barb LeBlanc followed by Merrick bruncker followed by Trisha Townsend and then Karen Clark good evening my name is Barb LeBlanc I'm from Ormond Beach and I'm from Volusia County and I just want to thank you for this opportunity tonight to speak and I wish to thank you and all the dedicated teachers in Volusia County who work tirelessly every day to ensure our students get the best education they can I sadly though I must ask why we have allowed these sexually sexually explicit books into our our local schools and why on Earth do
014we think it's okay this is not what we need to be teaching our our young students we certainly do not need to normalize this Behavior nor do we need to let the young minds think that it's okay because it's not we are taught to correct behavior that is inappropriate and this is extremely inappropriate may God bless this process tonight as we move forward together to eradicate this filth from our media center shelves throughout Volusia County Schools and here's a reminder from the greatest book on Earth from Matthew 18 5-6 whoever receives one such child in my name receives me but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a great Millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth
015of the sea if this sounds harsh perhaps it's because we have a disrespect for our God and lack of reading his book perhaps it's time to line ourselves with the truth for our children and on the flip side I have identical the book that's in Atlantic high school right now at the moment on the shelves there by Ellen Hopkins I love you so much my little flower Daddy needs something from my little girl My Sweet Rose will you give it to me I wanted to be his Little Flower would have given my daddy anything what did he want from Kaylee she laid her head on his chest what I want you to see something something that proves how much I love you this is only for you Kaylee girl he lifted her gently sat her
016down on the bed beside him then he opened the snaps on the Fly of his flannel pajamas it stood up stiff as a stalagmite so how much Daddy this is how much Daddy loves you show me you love me too touch it he closed her hand around it that's on page 150. going over to three page 393 and there's other spots throughout Kaylee was used to Daddy's visits but this night she too felt something different in the air I could tell she was afraid this wasn't her daddy this was a demon his evil hard sharp steel blade thank you have a good evening you may have an objection form if you wish next up is Merrick bronker followed by Trisha Townsend followed by Karen Clark followed by I don't have a first name it's just
017the letter K and McCormick welcome all right well thank you for giving me the chance to speak I really appreciate it my name is Merrick bruncker I live in Volusia County in Ormond I'm of the new age as well and I'm very happy to say that uh well no I'm not very happy to say no there's some really disgusting stuff in this book right here no so my summary of concerns right here 19 minutes by an author Jody picolt p-i-c-o-u-l-t is her name and the summary of the book uh the events leading up in the aftermath of a school shooting are uncovered all right so summary of concerns in this book to me and many others would be this book contains sexual activities sexual nudity profanity and derogatory terms violence controversial social and political commentary
018controversial religious commentary alternative sexualities hate abortion and suicide commentary and it is currently available at Spruce Creek High School right now so I'll just dive right into it this is off the page 313 he pinned her hands over her head and ground his hips against her she could feel his erection hot against her stomach it wasn't the way it normally was but Josie had to admit that it was exciting she couldn't remember ever feeling so heavy as if her heart were beating between her legs she clawed at Matt's back to bring him closer yeah he groaned and he pushed her thighs apart and then suddenly Matt was inside her pumping so hard that she scooted backward on the carpet burning the back of her legs wait Josie said trying to roll the way beneath him
019but he clamped his hand over her mouth and drove harder and harder until Josie felt him come see me stick thank you very much I appreciate it Tricia Townsend followed by Karen Clark followed by K McCormick just the letter k sorry um then Lee Dunkel hi I'm a mom and a Volusia County resident and I'm going to read an excerpt from a book but first I want to address some of the attacks on the parents this evening which has been specifically prohibited at the beginning of this meeting that is not going to stand I'm not going to have finger pointing and I'm not going to be called names by other people in this room that's got to stop second in response to those comments I would like everyone to know that there's a cult a
020liberal cult happening inside our school systems here in Volusia County and that's why us parents are here to defend our children against this cult inside these schools so I'm going to read this excerpt it's me and Earl and the dying Girl by Jesse Andrews it's currently in Spruce Creek High School Atlantic high school and New Smyrna Beach High School really page 59 are you going to eat her [ __ ] page 60 yeah Earl I'm gonna eat it please stop that just Karen Clark followed by K McCormick followed by Lee Dunkel followed by Diana ferrity well good evening thank you for all being here and taking all of our opinions in there is there something that when a lady said something about when she was younger somebody molested her everybody feels bad does the school system actually
021have something that a kid can feel free to go to somebody some adult and say hey is this normal or is this is what's happening to me you know I I was just asking about that because it was a viable statement that the woman made but what I'm here for is I'm reading uh the handsome girl and the Beautiful Boy it's a picture of two kids the handsome girl and a beautiful boy it says the book summary is teenage best friends discover their sexualities together summary concerns alternate gender ideologies alternate sexualities explicit and frequent profanity sexual activities nudity alcohol use and controversial social political and commentary this is currently in Atlantic High School oh here we go I on page 25 it starts I swear their relationship is based on those [ __ ] blow jobs after
022the fifth time hearing too many details I told them I'd rather shove a pencil through my eye than hear about more of her oral's talents again and right now the last thing I want to do is sit in a restaurant while a boy I love is getting on with his girlfriend out in the parking lot oh yeah real cool [ __ ] me which meant come over and hook up I decided I can call me a kid as long as it becomes your pet name for me that was on channel page 30. 85 since my dab has taken my permanent residence in the den the previous makeout quarters that means that Abigail is upstairs getting naked with his her boyfriend and since I have no desire to listen to all those sex noises I have to sit
023here with my dad and watch sports center age 88 you just wanted me to kiss your penis and when you leave me is that all you love me for he should know that most men just pretend to love you so they can get your sex page went away my only challenge is Brian who is my jerk off friend who likes to jerk me off gets a little detailed here but on page 147 I'm now turned on my penis is excited Z is yelling and yelling stop please stop thank you again thank you for putting up with all of us next up is K McCormick followed by Lee Dunkle followed by Diana Feherty followed by Angela Young my name is Kelty McCormick but that I I wrote okay what is it Kelty McCormick k-e-l-t-i-e okay I'm
024a resident of Port Orange and this is the first time I've been to a school board meeting here and I have to say I've been favorably impressed with the way you handle your business although I'd like to see some of the items you discussed earlier on the board um that before we got to this subject area in any event the reason I came was partially to see how you all operate in the past um I lived in a county where the superintendent of schools was accused and convicted of embezzlement so every once in a while citizens have to come and see what's going on um in any event I don't suspect that here I also came because I heard the moms for Liberty were coming and I admit I was curious and I have to
025say that these kinds of discussions are important in a democracy in a free society and I think the strength is not in either side but in the dialogue that goes between us so I applaud all of you who are here to discuss this I salute the board for having procedures in place because I think the state legislature was cowardly in the crafting of this bill and decided to have everybody on down deal with titillation and all its various aspects and if you have a problem with something that's going on in the schools there is a process the board is adhering to it and if you have a problem with what's in the libraries then monitor your children and your grandchildren um in any event again thank you very much and my title is citizen thank
026you thank you all right Lee Dunkel all right I'll hold that card in the event they've stepped out Diana Faraday followed by Angela Young followed by Christina is it vergar okay is Diana Faraday here all right we'll hold it Angela Young then Christine vergar and Dana is it Gardino welcome hi welcome thank you very much for allowing me to have this time I'm a Volusia County resident I'm a 20-year veteran of the Volusia County School System my kids have all gone through it and I am a 20-year media specialist I'm here to represent Volusia Association of media and education otherwise known as vain media specialists in Volusia County use the guidelines set forth by the district to curate our book lists each school has a media advisory committee that meets to discuss the unique book
027needs and concerns of each individual School as per the district guidelines the committee is made up of teachers parents administrators the media Specialists and if appropriate for the age level students the kitty the committee must approve every book purchase after referencing peer-reviewed sources to ensure that each book is appropriate for the student body we feel it is important to have all stakeholder voices taken into consideration we have a process and we follow that process they would like to express how important it is to have the books at every school in every Media Center support and represent the wide variety of people within our individual School community we ask that the school board please help us by supporting media specialists trusting media specialists we are professionals and we do follow the district policies for book challenges
028and collection development thank you next up is Christine for is it vergar for Gary is she here okay then Dana Gardino and then Greg gembert welcome and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak my name is Christine vergary I am a parent and a Volusia County resident I am a former English teacher a current Latin teacher not in this District of course um I do not support the Banning of books but that is not of course what's being proposed here Banning occurs when a book is unavailable for sale and unavailable in public libraries no one is able to get that book obscene speech however is speech that is not protected speech and this what we're talking about tonight is about age appropriateness and these books destroy the innocence of children for Millennia Educators
029sought to teach what is good true and beautiful the transcendentals and I think we've completely lost sight of that um I am going to read from The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and given that I only have three minutes I won't be reading the entire book this book is available in screws I'm sorry Spruce Creek High School Atlantic High School Mainland High School New Smyrna Beach High School DeLand High School and Pine Ridge High School and it's currently checked out at Spruce Creek so I'm not exactly sure um I think it's Piccola Piccola an 11 year old girl who is about to be raped by her father bacola lost her balance and was about to careen from the floor Charlie raised his other hand to her hips to save her from falling he put his
030head down and nibbled at the back of her leg his mouth trembled at the firm sweetness of the flesh he closed his eyes letting his letting his fingers dig into her waist the rigidness of her shocked body The Silence of her stunned throat was better than Pauline's easy laughter had been the confused mixture of his memories of Pauline and the doing of wild and forbidden things excited him in a bolt of Desire ran down his genitals giving it length and softening the lips of his anus surrounding all of this lust was a border of politeness he wanted to [ __ ] her tenderly okay thank you Dana Gardino did I say it correctly followed by Greg gimbert followed by Jennifer Kelly [Music] hi I'm Dana Gardino I was born and raised in Volusia County in Ormond Beach
031went to Seabreeze high school I appreciate the time this book is all boys are blue it actually it's by George Johnson it went viral on social media when Senator um Kennedy read it it's at Pine Ridge high schools currently he asked me to turn over while I slipped a condom on himself but this was my ass and I was struggling to imagine someone inside me and he was large I had previously talked to someone who clearly enjoyed it but he had been enjoying or anal sex before I had come along it got on top and slowly and inserted himself into me then asked more Lube asked for more lube and try it again point of order please stop thank you next up is um Greg gembert followed by Jennifer Kelly followed by Linda Wasson hey
032good evening my name is Greg gimbert I'm one of them people from out of town with a long-term agenda so you who've been watching the school board meetings know I came here eight years ago Elizabeth Albert finally got a round to mentioning combo classes I brought it up eight years ago thank you for her coming to the table and that tonight this issue too has been a long time coming two years common excuse after excuse delay after delay oh then we got a process and then seven weeks later y'all still ain't done a dank thing so for everybody who besmirched moms for Liberty they've given you two years worth of chances state laws in seven weeks to get it together and you show up and say y'all didn't fill out the paperwork I can't believe
033somebody all tried that tonight there's 89 books that were challenged long-standing when they come combined all the books challenged across the state I lost count at 225 but I did found out that we have not 89 but 147 of those challenge books in the school today I guess that's 145 after we've had only two removed so to say there's no challenge books is [ __ ] on its face now two minutes I want to give everything up to the first five people who spoke to the timer for just a minute and and you're okay whoever's talking in the audience I was very clear at the beginning of this meeting we need to be able to hear whoever is speaking here and if I can't hear them because you're talking then I'm going to ask you to leave
034because if you have a conversation that is more important than allowing us to hear each person speak there's the door all right um you may restart thank you so as I was saying I'd like to concede every Point made by the five first speakers tonight who got here very early to make sure they could get on the record NAACP legal Women Voters other very important doctor titles I give it everything all of it so let's see lynchings bad agreed Hitler's bad agreed Family Choice is good agreed values differ for different homes religion's different from different homes and that choice should be protected my God I was cheering in my truck as I'm watching it on the iPad on the way over but you know what their actions betray all of that they want to protect
035choice they want to protect values everything these people have done is exactly taken away Choice from the uniforms they started with to the covage closures to the mass mandate so the vax mandates and now you have to suffer the same indignities they did we have heard for some very victimized people tonight some people who've had some very challenging lives and I appreciate what they go through and talking about them help some be validated and get past it but we do not have to victimize every damn kid in school to make these people feel validated that has no place here and the wait is over tonight y'all need to get this done the people who speak after me when you challenge one book you need to let them start reading the next one so we can
036get over this two years has been too long we need to finish it tonight you guys know public schools are rock bottom right now we've got not only laws that can challenge books we've got laws for school choice portable money and I lay it all at your feet every decision they've asked you to make from uniforms to closures y'all have gone with and every one of them has eroded public confidence every decision you made was bad tonight we'll start making some good ones moms for Liberty force the issue I encourage you to lay down for it thank you next up Jennifer Kelly followed by Linda Wasson followed by what okay so I apologize I would I was looking down reading the cards board members he did okay he did I mean it's obvious he did
037recess yeah we're gonna take a short recess for just a moment we will Dr Hazel at this time I'd like to ask everyone if you're staying please take a seat if you're exiting please exit out the back door all right um Miss Jennifer Kelly you're up next I apologize that I asked you to wait followed by Miss Linda Wasson followed by Riley Kellogg and then Heidi Kellogg and then we still have a few more but we will start with Miss Jennifer Kelly then Miss Linda Watson welcome good evening board members chair Haines and superintendent balgubin I had a speech prepared but after hearing comments tonight and things that have happened and transpired I'm just going to talk to you guys um I'll start with when I walked in the room tonight and I sat down
038the person sitting next to me got up and said I'm not going to be sitting next to a fascist and I looked at her strangely and she said yeah [ __ ] so that's what um that's what we get often and I heard a lot of talk about we want to ban books on black history we want to ban books on the OB gtq Community that's not true that's not anything you heard tonight for many of us we have shared with you the sexually explicit content that is in these books that is in libraries for a school for children for minors that the parents do not know that or the books are there they do not know the content in these books so I heard a lot of you know moms for Liberty shouldn't tell me what
039my child could read I have parental rights too I guess so do I I don't know what's in the library I heard someone say I could go in and read every single book in the library I think that's absurd suggestion um even the descriptions in the card catalog aren't accurate we have adult fiction books in there that say oh this is a Coming of Age it hasn't it does not say anything about the graphic pornography and sexual content in these books another thing that I heard tonight was you guys were misinformed by your uh attorneys I have the law HP 1069 right in front of me and it says parents shall have the right to read passages from the material that is subject to an objection not has already been objected to there is a
040difference this material is subject to an objection and just to cover myself before public comments started tonight I sent an email to the superintendent the deputy superintendent Dr rabinski and all of you that I objected to these book titles so there's your official objection I'm going to read tonight from the book sold by Patricia McCormick it's found at Sea Breeze Deltona High School Spruce Creek High School University High School Atlantic High School DeLand High School Pine Ridge High School and was removed from Ormond Beach Middle last year in between men came and crushed my bones with their weight they split me open then they disappeared I can't tell which things they did to me or real and which are nightmares he fumbles with his pants forces my legs apart I can feel him pushing in
041himself in between my thighs Linda Watson Riley Kellogg Heidi Kellogg Damien Kelly and Elizabeth Albert I'll repeat them as we go along Linda Wasson welcome thank you for letting me speak tonight I am as a mother grandmother and a great grandmother I strongly oppose the child abuse drug abuse and all the other garbage violence and all this other stuff that's involved in these books but I have a book here that's the name is smoke written by Helen Hopkins and it's in Atlantic High School sorry I'm nervous okay on page 32. next thing I knew I was on the floor with my arms pinned over my head and hand jammed between my legs please Caleb stop don't do this oh come on he said pretend that you don't um yeah but you know you want this
042more than I do all girls do then I felt it hard between his genes no but it came out a hard whisper I was petrified my dad would hear maybe even more scared than that of what was happening to me one Wicked thrust and Caleb drove himself inside me something ripped something Pride I thought he would tear me apart but I didn't dare scream and he pretended that it made it okay you like it he I know you would all I could do was go limp tears streaming down and soaking my blouse until he shuddered at his finish punctuated with a disgusting grunt and on and his amen Jesus look at all that blood please stop thank you Riley Kellogg followed by Heidi Kellogg followed by Damien Kelly is Riley here hi Riley welcome good
043evening my name is Riley Kellogg I am an IB Junior and a member of the leadership team for DeLand High School Battle of the books I am also an Avid Reader this is not something I would like to have anyone attempt to take from me I have learned a lot more about the world around me through books than I have through my own eyes by removing books that a small group of people take issue with I may not have been able to do that I would like to quote part of of Lori Holz Anderson's passage a comment about censorship literature is the safe and traditional vehicle through which we learn about the world and pass on values from one generation to the next books save lives contemporary young adult literature surprises some people because it
044is an accurate reflection of to the way today's teenagers talk think and behave but these books must be honest in order to connect to the teen reader America's teens are desperate and for responsible trustworthy adults to create situations in which they can discuss the issues that are of the highest concern for them reading and discussing books is one of the most effective ways to get Deans to think through and learn about the challenges of adolescents most of the censorship I see is fear-driven I respect that the world is a scary place it is a terrifying place in which to raise children and in particular teenagers it is human nature nurture and protect children as they grow into adulthood but censoring books that with difficult adolescent issues does not protect everybody quite the opposite end quote
045I would also like to quote an unknown speaker quote censoring books in the darkness or sorry censoring books that deal with difficult adolescent issues does not protect anybody quite the opposite it leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them end quote thank you next up Heidi Kellogg followed by Damien Kelly followed by Elizabeth Albert and then Christine Serie A welcome I'm a Volusia County resident and I am a parent of two Volusia County School students I came here tonight to support my child and her passion for books I did not intend to say anything I am not a fan of being up here speaking I was part of the
046school-based committee last year that reviewed YouTube then it was challenged I finished that book and I told both of my children it should be required reading for all teenagers U2 is a heart-wrenching touching sad and inspiring story all at the same time it is a compilation of young adult short stories that speak to the truth of the paths that some children are walking there are stories about cults pedophilia grooming incest and abuse they are messy beautiful stories about survivors of living through something terrible and coming out the other side to be okay children who walk these paths need to know they are not walking alone children who have never walked these roads can learn to be better friends and people and citizens by reading this book this is the exact reason that books must be
047considered in their entirety and against the Miller test what you didn't hear about that book you two was that the young girl told somebody and how being an abuse Survivor impacted her life yes you are here to educate students but you do so much more for some students and a school library sometimes is the only place for kids to see themselves to know that they can be okay and that they aren't alone please support your students all of them thank you next up is Damien Kelly followed by Elizabeth Albert and then Christine Serie A good evening I'm a Volusia County resident I have uh two children graduated and uh one currently in high school um first I I just want to say like I don't want to ban any I don't want to ban books
048um I just want them geographically relocated out of the school um you know I I've heard a lot of things here tonight and really what what you've been trying to get across is that you know the new law went into effect July 2023 that was before the challenge process and it clearly says pornography or the previous regulation so I I didn't hear anybody say anything about LBGTQ or race or anything like that the only people that brought that up was um where where other people bring up Huck Finn and no one's ever said they wanted to ban Huck Finn or anything else like that so the book I have uh is called The Kite Runner it's listed in the VCS catalog as adult I've heard a lot of people say that these are you know
049books that are found in high school this book is actually at Galaxy Middle School also Taylor Middle High so I think that means they have middle school kids it's also at Sea Breeze Atlantic DeLand Deltona Mainland Spruce Creek New Smyrna Beach Pine Ridge High School University High School and um it's actually also uh this is a graphic novel um here's a pic this is basically some cartoons of them holding their friend down and and raping them there's pictures of uh and unzipping and taking out his genitalia before they rate them and then it's graphically described if you'd like to hear that I'll read that part too um Hassan lay with his chest pinned to the ground Kamal and Wally each script in arm twisted and bent at the elbow so Hassan's hands were pressed to
050his back Asaf was standing over them the heel of his snow boots crossing the back of Hassan's back um find SF snap All I Want You weakling to do is hold them down can you manage that while Ian Kamal nodded they looked relieved Assan knelt behind Hassan put his hands on his hips and lifted his bare buttocks he kept one hand on it please stop Mr Kelly because I I don't want to hear any more about a rape scene thank you I've already sent in a challenge on this so do you want do you want me to fill out the form too please if you don't mind okay I said it electronically Elizabeth Albert still here oh oh okay okay yeah well hers just got turned in that but it's fine that's why or I
051would have had a okay welcome Miss Serie A welcome welcome thank you I don't want to start too early on the time good evening board uh chairwoman superintendent um I want to say thank you for asking for book titles thank you for asking if the speaker is a Volusia County School parent um unfortunately several people who came up and read did not state if they were a Volusia County School parent I suspect that they may not be but you know I could be wrong hopefully on their form they filled it out um sorry I thought I heard someone talking um thank you for clarifying what the law said about pornography thank you it's very clear about pornography um and a couple other things that I noticed normally have something really prepared I was not going
052to read today um it was said that if a book is objected to at a school that all schools will be notified and that book will be pulled from the schools that's what I understood so removing them from all schools is not required by law and Volusia County school policy starts with the school and a conversation with the principal so I'm hoping that that policy will be followed and that the conversations will start at the school um Miss Thompson thank you for referring to the list of books from the state that had gone out you know bazillion books on there and how they were all removed and we only had you know a couple that removed on that list I want to say good job to us um several people have said that no one
053wants to ban lgbtq or critical race um and that list of books is a lot more than just sexual content there are books on that um Julian is a mermaid families families families the 57 bus Rainbow Boys Marvin red post is he a girl Marvin redpost we've all read Marvin redpost stamped racism anti-racism and you those books are on that list from the state I don't think we want to go pulling those books so we can't just go buy a book um finally I'm really not sure why some of our speakers can use profanity and we're not stopped um following policy is so important and I know that it's important to you as well it was bothersome that some were not stopped um I do not want to tell you or anybody of these parents
054what is best for students no one is making students read any of these books none of these books tonight a student was forced to read so I just ask you please follow the law please follow your policy thank you um salbert would you mind if Dr balcon said something for just a moment no it's fine I totally that I inadverted oh okay she's go ahead Miss Albert you're up next laughs like Monty Python and now for something this card says vam yes ma'am okay all right finally so uh good evening again Madam chair members of the board superintendent Dr bagelman I'm speaking to you now um about damn scores as you know you have teachers in our schools that work extremely hard every single day for the children who come to us give all they
055have and then a little bit more in order to meet the needs the diverse needs of the students in our classroom no classroom is the same and uh right now in this moment it feels like more than anyone else we need to lift them up so uh I know that you're familiar to a certain extent with a situation with the value-added model the vam scores that are a component of the summative score for teachers I know this because I've been copied on some of the emails I know you're being contacted as well I just want to bring to your attention a few things we've had a preliminary meeting with District leadership already to determine what has occurred and how to move forward the members of the vam committee no one I can tell you no
056one anticipated an outcome such as this and just like you the members of the vam committee would have never greenlighted a process that would result in a negative impact to teachers so we know that everyone is committed to determining what has happened and how we can move it forward I want to just remind you that there have been significant negative impacts to some instructional staff and and I've learned that some admin as well have received a negative impact we are working collaboratively with District leaders and we are committed to review the facts there's a deep sense of urgency to make Corrections and and recognize again the hard work of our dedicated instructional Personnel we can't allow this situation to diminish The Good Will that's been created with the result of negotiations I mean we're riding
057such a high right and so we've got to fix this we've got to fix this because if we don't it will pull the wind right out of the sails and our folks will feel defeated I know that we can when we convene our committee and we look at what's happened and we work collaboratively to make it better so again thank you for all you do have one tonight but we made it through I think I want to read the three names of the cards that we skipped because they did not come forward just in the event that they are still here is Nancy linsmeyer here Lee Dunkel Diana Faraday all right any more cards okay then at this time we are moving on to item 19.01 items from board members superintendent or board attorney for
058discussion announced or announcement okay Dr Balkan would you like to speak at this time chair I just want to make sure that if anyone has their forms completed please give it to Dr Hazel before you leave and we will make sure that you receive communication exported to that school okay thank you all right any other board members have anything to discuss this evening oh okay okay you weren't there a minute ago Mrs brunette again I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight to express their opinions um about the books and other topics that we all heard about this evening and I think we all agree that as parents Educators leaders we all want what's best for our students and our kids again that's what we all have in common and and I know
059that when my son was in third grade he didn't particularly like to read the third grade um both Reading Counts books and so his teacher helped him go find a book that he liked and he read and it was on the Revolutionary War and she asked if it was okay and of course we said yes so I know that there's a lot of hard-working people out there and they want to find the balance but there is laws too and we are obligated to follow the law and I think everybody needs to remember that that we have a law that we have to follow in order to keep our kids safe so thank you all Mr persis uh thank you um I want to talk about the the vam scores and all of that conduct can
060you shed any light on that or can someone else I can shed a little bit of a light um and Dr Hazel you may come up as well so there is a committee that reviews and makes the determination the individuals that it's on that committee I think Dr Hazel has it readily available who they are uh the way it works value-added model means that it's a growth model right so it means that you're looking you're going to look at the base year that's being looked at compared to this year to determine what's the growth that you have seen with with those students for example if it's a teacher right and I know that the base year that we were looking at for comparison Is 2020 sorry it was actually progress monitoring one to progress monitoring
061okay progress monitor run to progress monitoring two so last year of last school correct so that's looking at the students how they're performed on The Fast for pm1 and then pm2 and making that determination in terms of the growth that the students have experienced based on fast um with the committee as they've convened there's like I three methodology that's reviewed and based on the three methodology it's presented and the impact of each methodologies evaluated I truly believe from my meeting and meeting with uh Miss Albert in our team and reviewing what has taken place that the committee was really looking in terms of what would be the best outcome for the majority of our teachers unfortunately this is not where you can pick one methodology and it's going to possibly positively affect every teacher it's
062impossible but with that said I know that Dr Tehran now is reviewing some of the questions that the committee has asked for him to go and research and have those answers and I know that they're meeting next week and they're going to be reviewing this again but vam it is part of the summative score yeah however vam specifically its student growth and in this case from pm1 to pm2 would would it be fair to say last year was the first year no no Van's been around a long time I know that yes p.m p.m 1 to p.m two so last year was the first year we implemented the fast testing where there were three tests so the progress marketing one to progress marketing is actually three progress monitoring one to progress monitoring three and that
063that is the score and that is how the state so it went from one to three not one to two sorry yeah the difference there's the student growth between the first test one and the last test I apologize yes person laughs okay that makes more however I I just want to say there's a lot of confusion about what it is that we're looking at and and you're correct vam has been around since 2012. I found a memo from Dr Smith about van yeah um it has been around since 2012. it looks at a growth model so it takes the students in your class or the students that are rostered to you and this is where a lot of the confusion is coming in because it takes the students that are rostered to you and looks
064at their growth from previously year to year this particular one was within the school year but you're also there's there's a couple of ratings there's the instructional practice score which is your evaluation when the administrator comes in they do an observation you get an evaluation score and then there is the student achievements or the vamp in this case vam however what the state statute says is that you must use some student growth measure for a third of the final summative score so those two scores are together and they come to one final summative score what we base effective highly effective ratings on is that final summative score not the vam score alone it's coupled with the instructional practice score the van score is typically calculated by the state but the statute says You must use
065a student growth measure and now I was not in the vset steering committee meetings that occurred but my understanding is that through the research rea um was a part of that we have teachers on that committee we have District staff on that committee um we have a view representation on that committee as well and they all they meet and again I don't think any members of that committee are new to the committee they've I mean there may have been a couple of new faces but it's been a pretty consistent committee year after year well I I was just wanting to drill down a little bit I didn't know whether the methodology had changed seems like a little bit since it's the first year with the PA it has the other thing that has caused some
066confusion is has a little bit of a different scenario and there's two things I want to make sure everyone also understands if we have a tenured teacher so one who who was employed before the 10 before the 10-year law went away they're grandfathered in so that score doesn't I mean they get a score but it doesn't impact as far as the contract or the financial impact of that they're grandfathered in the teachers who um aren't tenured and aren't on that grandfathered schedule they're the ones that we're looking at but they also we you really have to almost go Case by case because some teachers depending on what they teach their score could be calculated differently or they could be default to the overall School score depending on what their roster is well uh you know
067um I'm concerned if if if a teacher comes in and says my my student my student achievement level my growth score was was this much and yet I didn't qualify or I didn't earn the extra money you know I just I just hope there's a committee looking at that that concerns us as well we have asked under Dr balgaman's Direction the committee has been asked to reconvene and to look at what what is under the um their purview as far as the legalities of it and what is and what would be a better solution and you know I we've sent out a couple of emails to teachers trying to be pretty transparent that we're looking at the issue we we got the plan as it was recommended by the committee and adopted by the approved
068by the board and then sent to doe and approved by the Department of Education because that's the process it gets a recommended by the committee approved by the board and then it goes to doe for approval and that occurred so if we're making changes to that plan we have the same sense of urgency that Ms Albert spoke about we certainly want um we want to honor the work that our teachers have done however we have to make sure that we do that process correctly and that's what we've put in place Dr belgaman has directed that the committee meet we've arranged for that to happen on October 4th and so that meeting will occur and then we will update teachers after that I appreciate that I appreciate the board indulging me with this one I I
069would just hope maybe a month from now you'll be able to to report back and let us know if there's anything as of next week as soon as they convene next week we will have a communication ready that to share with you and to go out determine where we will be able to explain to our staff what the next steps would be also more of a long-term solution I've shared with the team also something that we will be looking at an idea to explore where we're giving and this is just an idea I've shared in terms of what I've seen some other districts have done in the past which is to provide the three options to the teacher so that the teacher can choose the option that best reflective of their work yeah so that's
070something that we're looking at and you know and we will present it to the committee and see if it's a viable option for the future yeah I I you know again I'm just the teachers work hard when they do well and and their students perform I don't want them to lose any money that they could have received and perhaps should have re received so let me share this again with you Mr purses there will not be one methodology selected that will serve the interests of every teacher in our district that is impossible statistically it's impossible because of the variations of the type students that that forms these classes right you've got we've heard tonight about ese students we've heard tonight about if you've got a class of gifted students it's impossible so that is why
071I've asked the team to really review and look at the the methodology and options and provide it to the teachers so that I remember when I was a teacher for example in Orange County three options were provided I could choose a group of students that I was working with and I say I want this class to be the this the class that will be selected for growth growth or I can say B I want to choose my school grade whatever grade is given to my school that will be the one that I would select or see I wouldn't want to choose what the district receives as overall so it's just again something that we're looking at but it gives that our teachers the opportunity to choose the option that's most reflective of the work that
072they do but that's for future the future right thank you thank you thank you if you don't mind I don't mind so here is the question though so even on the document that I've looked at from the Department of Education it said that it was not a required piece this year so that's where I'm very confused okay because when we moved into progress monitoring for last year it's brand new and anytime we have previously because I've taught and we've moved into a new type of test there has it that's the Baseline here so this past year was the Baseline year and I'm sure you've all seen the same document that I have and it said that there would not be a vam score you know released by the state this year so my question is
073did the state give some other guidance than what they listed there or did or did we make a decision because could we be that last year was the Baseline year and we do what we've been doing because they took vam away for a while during covid and could we just go with the other two parts which is their evaluation and then the professional learning piece that they have to do because Mike I'm just trying to understand how the state says there was not going to be a VM score this year and I appreciate the committee okay and and I'm sorry that the committee has to reconvene but where we're at right now it's not pretty I I think they're fine with reconvening and I will I will do my best to answer because I have
074the same question quite frankly when when I this was brought to my attention last week at the same question like that because there were two terms thrown around one was hold harmless and the other was not calculated so I have asked those questions because I've seen two different documents hold harmless from the state and that and that is one of the things that we've heard and when they say hold harmless that didn't mean they weren't calculating scores or district grades what they meant by hold harmless was if you are a school that falls into a d or F status those sanctions would not apply because that's the whole harmless piece of it now now the calculation of vam scores I'm not as familiar with what we actually received from the state but I do know
075this and this was the answer that I was given when I asked the Rea Department the the committee met and determined that they would use model the calculations after vam that those what were the measures in which they would use because regardless of whether you use them or you use some other student growth measure a student growth measure had to be used as a part of that calculation the committee chose to model it after bam am I articulating that correctly that was information I was provided you come to the mic please I'm just asking so that everybody can have the benefit of what she's got to say that's okay I think I think once the committee convenes and we get everybody back together we pull minutes we look at what was addressed and we figure
076out what has actually happened then we'll know more what we can do and I will tell you unequivocally when the committee met last spring to do the work of trying to figure out a new methodology Dr balgavin is on point there were three models provided to us growth effect size and summative initially summative went right out the door and then the conversation was really about choosing a growth model or an effect size model and through the course of conversations and running of confidence analysis of what the predictions of the results would be based on prior year scores the committee was very confident that there was at least a 95.6 I'm trying to remember what was on the slide 95.6 level of confidence that scores would remain at least the same or improve I don't think
077you get a whole lot better than that one so I Something's Happened and we didn't know at the time that there would be no vam calculation from the state what I suspect is what we talked about there's two components there's the vam calculation from the state but then there's a growth measure required in the evaluation which is statutory as well so I don't know that districts have been given relief from that growth measure and their evaluations according to the statute you just said the same thing I know right but the point is we're working together all right and we're going to figure it out they need to figure it out we do so yeah okay thank you um all right so Mr cologne it's your turn finally no um where I want to be careful
078and correct me if I'm wrong I may be wrong I've been wrong before wasn't there an increase in folks who are a higher designation than they were before with this calculation so are there people who because I want to make sure that if we adjust something at this point it's not going to go back and harm anybody who's benefited at this point um the numbers that I got from from the Rea on last Friday were that the percentage of teachers who were effective and highly effective did not change with this model however there was movement with the percentage of Highly Effective versus effective which was close to a thousand I was told about about a thousand people yes about a thousand went from effective to highly effective or highly effective to effective within those two
079range right so some things really jacked up and now what I hear is we came up with a formula in the future these you know we changed the testing model whatever all of this now came together the formula we came up with a year ago just really doesn't fit the unknown which is what we ended up with so I just want to make sure we don't harm anyone who we've already said you know you your first place and turn around and now come up with a formula that's going to say well no you're really second place I want to make sure that we don't do that and and that's hard because you're you ah man not really the state has really helped us here I'm just saying it's hard because how do you put something
080that's uniform that may hurt somebody later that's hard so I have full confidence in this committee to do what is right and bring forth the recommendation that's going to be it's favorable I also I just received some numbers today in terms of the number of teachers that perhaps were affected and not a positive way and we're looking at approximately fifty fifty fifty five zero of how many well if you really really look at it we have what 4 700 but anyway this is all data so I know when the committee meets next week yeah they will be reviewing this thoroughly and the committee once again is made up of pictures the committee is I don't even know the names okay I could just probably recite them to you right now the committee is made up
081of teachers view representation actually miss Albert's on the committee and District staff including people from HR the the research Rea Department um teaching and learning principle two I thought um two principles yes okay so when the committee met last spring not knowing like none of us really knew what was going to happen they came to an agreement but we now realize that there was some negative consequences based on it and it is really hard I mean because we do we have teachers teaching self-contained ESC classes we have teachers teaching your core classes your non-core classes which are totally different A Gifted class and it is really hard to say there's one size fits all that you know this formula we put in tells us how the the AG teacher is doing at the same time
082it tells us how the third grade gift it is or the you know multi-vee class I think there's some negative impact now I I do want to say because I've spent many a lot of time the last couple of days answering emails and looking up individual teachers and there is some confusion between a vam score that is lower than they anticipated and what their final summative rating is and what I mean by that is their their instructional practice score might have been a three they got a two as a vam they're still overall a three and so they weren't that's not a negative impact so there's several people that although I mean the two it might it's it's not nice to see but it is what but it didn't negatively impact them so if they
083still so if they had a three a two and the overall was still a three then it's not negative not a negative impacting their salary correct correct that is correct okay so I I do all right and I've talked to several people who are in that situation now I have talked to other people who the vam score did impact and that those are typically the ones where it's a lot there's a bigger difference between like maybe the van was a one and their um instructional practice score was a three so then that or a one and a four correct okay and those are the ones that I have to wonder how did we get from a one to a one and a four those are the things that I think need to be looked at
084okay all right um any other discussion anything else anyone wants to share this evening yes Mr person we go on record of never having a day where we start at 9 00 a.m and end at 10 15. can you promise I got a second I got a second from Mr cologne they don't realize that we've been here since 9 A.M this morning or actually prior to 9 00 a.m right um one final thing I would just like to say to all of you um one of the public inputs earlier this evening was the city manager from the berry from DeBary and I did attend the elected official Roundtable last Monday where this was one of the hot topics about the live local piece and I think around the entire room none of us realized what
085that new piece of legislation is going to do because he talked about there would be no property taxes there will also be no school taxes so we could ideally have 759 new homes built that would they would not collect any property taxes off nor would we collect any school taxes but we will generate students in those homes that we then have to have seats for in schools somebody thought that was a good idea huh yeah so I think that it's that whole tax abatement piece yes and what he was trying to say because he was trying to get condensed that he had a little bit more time at the um elected round elected officials Roundtable is so deberry's average income is eighty thousand dollars per home and so that's why there's the range of it's
086a it's considered affordable if you're charging sixteen hundred to twenty four hundred dollars now we don't look at that and see that as affordable all right but basically let's look at the people that are moving in especially from some of the states that's cheap to them and so they get to move in there and in the meantime there's no property taxes and there's no school taxes so that's what we're up against I think he's asking for us to join their legislative effort to tweak that so that if somebody didn't think the whole thing through well you know normally you incentivize developers to do something like that and you will say you won't pay property taxes for five years or 30 years but that's 30 years I mean years it's crazy so for 30 years we
087won't have any property taxes or school taxes but we will have to have seats to service all the children that move into these homes that's the issue okay well if there's nothing else it is