001hey I'd like to call this meeting to order could everybody stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right can you just know board members present and administrators [Music] okay board do you have an agenda in front of you if you could take a look at it see if there's any changes or anything that needs to be updated on it because I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented I'll support all in favor say aye aye all opposed Carrie 7-0 next up we have the consent agenda agenda um first up is the approval of the meeting minutes from March 20th 2023 approval of
002accounts payable in the amount of 536 976.41 for the month of March 2023 approval of the treasures report dated March 31st 2023 with a balance of 21 million eight hundred ninety six thousand twelve dollars and forty cents and then next up is the approval of new hires transfers resignations yes so um we have Molly Ray who couldn't be here today but she will be the new Eastern service area director replacing Janine and Janine retires whoops sorry um so we'll we'll get you an opportunity to meet with her later I think she had a board meeting as well tonight um Jenna kahila she is our new Early Childhood for Eastern service area and then we have a couple of folks um actually some students who have gone to work over other Child Care Program so we
003appreciate the fact that they wanted to help because we do struggle with Staffing there and um and then just a couple of resignations and that's all [Music] okay they have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented consent agenda has presented child support roll call vote please quilts yes horsey yes shoot yes Simmons yes everstein yeah overgared yeah yes motion carries seven zero oh next up under reports is community input for agenda items on the lake and I'm just going to go over a couple of things here I know there's probably a few of you that are here to speak on behalf of a book um so I just want to share that um Miss Summers the superintendent will be going over in reports some information regarding that also um oh yes and if
004you haven't signed in and you do want to speak the sign up sheet is right over there um Right Where You Walked In everybody will have three minutes it is time he will come up um just state your name and your purpose of what you're here for um if there's a group of people coming together you can speak as a group whatever is most convenient but just remember in three minutes is your time limit and if there's anybody else that needs to sign up for us got it there thank you and if when I call your name you're for the second one to sign in today just let me know that too first up is Grace sorry I get the name right Dean yes okay thanks thank you foreign sorry good evening can you hear
005me okay my name is gray Skeen I am the director of communications at out front Kalamazoo and lgbtq a plus Resource Center in Kalamazoo Michigan uh I'm speaking regarding the book ban that you have going on as an educator I used to be a elementary teacher an adult education teacher and a college professor and also I am the parent of Three Sons one of who is a trans male Banning books will not ban lgbtqia people Banning books will insert even more censorship into public library space beyond the slippery slope issues involved the bad messaging is that lgbtqia people are wrong and are being ostracized as if there is only one way to be we stand against that thinking there are many ways to be as there are people in this world other people exist reflexively
006Banning other people's existence trying to ban them to ban mentoring them Banning Concepts about them and banning books about them in any public space will not change the fact that lgbtqia people do exist our job as parents and as educated adults is to prepare our students for a world that includes all types of people if you are uncomfortable with the book choose not to read it so many spew the terms freedom and god-given rights but then exert their level of comfortability by using a book they dislike as support for eliminating it for others to read thus eliminating freedom and choice for others what would your reaction be if the shoe were on the other foot if it seems wrong in that case then it should be wrong in this case what is the threat what
007is the harm what is the danger being truthful about your identity is not harmful or dangerous to anybody else and book Banning by pressure group serves as an unelected non-voting way to influence an entire Community against their will and speaks for the whole community is this how the whole Community feels put it on the ballot if you so choose book Banning is a cowardly way to advance your agenda if you dare to put it on the ballot so the whole Community can weigh in then I think you will see where the community's interests are when all voices participate this community should not focus on this community should focus on educating all children all students not just the ones you deem worthy of a narrative that does not include all children thank you foreign I'm loud
008so next up is Jared Kaufman hello I'm Jerry Kaufman I'm also here on behalf of the book uh review denying a voice it's right to be heard is not what a free what free communities do especially when that voice is already denied in silenced on a national state and personal level daily especially when the community in question supposedly Prides itself in acceptance and inclusion especially when the reason that voice is being denied is because of the opinions of a small number of community members everyone should be able to feel heard see and seen But when one or two people can hide and silence a voice that represents many that isn't Freedom or acceptance or inclusion that is showing those many that they matter less than those few that is hate that is fear that is
009oppression a place as a place of Education we need to make sure no voices are denied and everyone is safe and accepted within our walls even if doing so is slightly uncomfortable Banning books shows our students certain voices are to be silenced and denied Banning books shows that we are as a school as a community are afraid of being uncomfortable when it comes to making an exclusive welcoming and safe space for all of our students because we are afraid of the opinions of a few removing pulling hiding or restricting books tells our students who may not feel welcome or safe or heard anywhere else in their lives that they are not welcome safe or heard here either Banning books embolden's hate Banning books encourages ignorance and fear Banning books lets fascism in and banning books
010denies a voice it's right to be heard thank you next up is Eric Curtis um I'm going to speak on behalf of gaea as the president and also as a high school teacher so the first part I'm going to talk about is as Union president okay um I know the superintendent evaluation is on the agenda for tonight I just wanted to follow up again I've asked a couple times this year about uh staff input uh student input Community input um are we having discussion about that if so is there an anticipated date on when we would have that input added to the evaluation for the superintendent um also in looking over some of our documents I believe our superintendent was giving a two-year contract renewal last year and I think her contract says she can
011only get a one year contract extension so I don't know if that's a discrepancy or how that needs to be addressed um also wondering about Zoom option or YouTube option or another option for people to join in um for the board meetings we have a lot of busy teachers that would love to be here but they've got young kids or other things and they would like to tune in if you guys hit a zoom option or YouTube option um just another thought I know we had the recorder here the one time but I haven't seen it since I don't know if it's being recorded somewhere else or what but um High School teacher I'm an English teacher so I take things with books very seriously I'm not going to comment on any of the sides
012um I think kids should be able to just read what they want to read if they want to read a book they don't read a book okay um my concern is that we have had zero discussion and information as a high school staff about what's going on you know if you had Parents contact me community members contact me retire teachers contact me in the last week asking me what's going on I have no idea because we've had zero communication from our building in our district about what we're supposed to do I haven't engaged those conversations but it puts your teachers in a very awkward position especially your younger teachers that I don't think we should be put in and then my last concern or question is um who is responsible for selecting the Review Committee
013or who has been reflecting the Review Committee can you give me that answer no answer yeah we can so it's a mystery you're following board policy though 100 filing board policy but you can't give me the answer during public okay I'm sorry okay next up is Ashley Kaufman hi um I'm also here to speak about the book that is being challenged um I feel like there's already been a lot of things said about the idea behind the um Banning of books and the silencing of voices um if you're gonna choose to go off the content of the book itself I would question how many people challenging the book have actually read it and I would like to bring to your attention the Oxford dictionaries definition of pornography which is printed or visual material containing the
014explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings if anyone challenging the book has read the book I would like to point out that that is definitely not the intended use for those images the intended use for those images is entirely to show the aesthetic and the emotional everything that that book contains that book is definitely a voice for people who are struggling with their identities in this area um the fact that it uses pronouns that are very seldom found in other representation is highly important to people who need that resource and I would really like for people to question that as they look at themselves and think yes I want to ban this book based on one image that seems to be circulating without
015context I would really really love for people to actually read the book and reconsider next up is Jesse berlinski hello I have one quote that I want to say that tends to lead to one a small minority tries to overcome the masses it's simply noted decadence and moral corruption yesterday decency and the moral state of the family that was from Joseph goples next up is Jennifer Zimmer hello I am a resident of this district and a mother of a graduate of this high school I'm also a librarian and I actually did my my graduate internship here at this Library and I just found out about this today so I didn't really have time to prepare but some of my concerns are that you know and hopefully they'll be addressed later in the meeting that I
016would want to make sure that the materials reconsideration um policy is being followed properly um and then I would also be curious what the material selection policy says and if there are in fact ways that this book um does not meet that criteria um it is an award-winning book um and it's a very I would also I guess my concern would be does it stop with this book um I think that this is a book that people have latched onto because they can take a drawing that they think is explicit and say that it's about that and that it's not about attacking lgbtq students which unfortunately is happening so much right now um I work daily with LGBT students and um for me as I'm also a former High School teacher and I taught um
017the film Schindler's List that has nudity in it and it just seemed to me that at the time the importance of teaching the history of what happened with the Holocaust and the educational value of that film just outweighed that okay there's some nudity um my basic bottom line what I want for all of our students at GA and what I want for kids all over I I have so many hopes and dreams for them but I want them to live and trans and and uh non-binary students and other gender non-conforming students have an exponentially increased risk of suicide and to me the idea that a cartoon drawing um could be more important than that is uh thank you next up is Christine bath time thank you foreign Babcock and I am a child care provider
018I am here tonight because I believe that all of your students deserve belonging at school at home and in the community belonging Fosters learning responsible citizenship productivity and pride I'm also here because the administration decided to remove a book from Galesburg Augusta's High School library and apparently has the intention of removing any similar books what does that mean Coming of Age books books about families books about adolescence navigating new schools and going to college is that what is what I read in this book what it sounds like to me is that there's a dog whistle for books that include or Center lgbtq people and it is isn't it that's what's happening and because we have been in an intense culture War emotions are high convention convictions are strong and School Board attendance has multiplied like
019the Loaves and the fishes reading books with lgbtq characters Saved My Life as a teenager I'll introduce myself again I'm the daughter of generations of conservative ministers my parents fell in love at bible college and I spent my formative years on the mission field before my family moved to a One-Stop flight town in rural Michigan population 2000. and there were 11 churches when I was 15 I had a crush on a cast mate in our school's drama production the mill turned and my parents found out that I was queer before I was ready for them to know and I started to feel the tethers of my belonging snap School of Choice was new then and ultimately my parents pulled me out of school and enrolled me in a new school my schedule was restricted to
020church youth group and school I missed the rest of marching season I wouldn't be in chamber Acquired and my new school didn't even participate in all-star band I'm a nerd alright I was 15 at a new school experiencing anger frustration shame and feeling incredibly alone and perpetually suicidal this was before marriage was legal and actually right after a huge anti-marriage campaign had taken place in Michigan the culture War around lgbtq people was high then too so lgbtq books saved my life reading stories about people like me saved my life your students deserve to have a chance to feel belonging your students deserve the chance to get excited about books to see themselves in books your queer students and your other students it's tempting to share more of my story but I won't because I don't
021have time what I really want to make clear is that queer people belong here in Michigan and in Galesburg Augusta and I need your students to know that even if their network of belonging falls apart we're right down the road under the rainbow flag with plenty of books flags and people showing up for each other in big and small ways and they need you to know that I will advocate for your students right to be in school just as they are thank you for your time next up is Tracy Hall good evening can you hear me um first I want to say thank you to each one of you for being here I know I've been in your position before this this is not easy and yeah you don't have to respond so I just
022wanted to back you up but you could also get on YouTube ask the county it's really easy to walk you through caller County Ministry anyway as a former public official you have my uh deepest respect I am the executive director of out front Kalamazoo we are the lgbtq uh Community organization and Resource Center not just in Kalamazoo County but in Southwest Michigan and books are incredibly powerful we have our own library at uh the center and the fact that people are trying to ban them just speaks to that through books we can see ourselves and the world around us at least young people today can because when I was growing up I'm a gen xer we didn't have books about me uh not even close um but the straight books did not make me straight
023public schools have a duty to find books for the library that reflects the lived experiences of their students whether queer or not all students deserve to see that to see see that no matter who they are there's something incredibly meaningful about seeing yourself on books movies and plays when lgbtq Plus students are denied access to these stories they are denied a sense of belonging for queer students books validate their existence when a community says a book A book being banned from the library because of its lgbtq theme uh it's telling students there's something wrong with you there's something that needs to be legislated challenged and fixed that their identity is Up For Debate there's something about that that suffered debate there's nothing about queer students if that's up to Up For Debate that is very
024harmful to their self-esteem and the way they see themselves in the world somebody already mentioned the high suicide rate within the community it's not because they're queer it's how Community the society reacts to them I may not I may sound hyperbolic when I say this but this is a matter of life and death these hateful rhetoric this hateful rhetoric and the display all the displays were seen across the United States are incredibly damaging to young people it's gross and it's sickening please rise above the this political Fray and put your students first all of your students if you haven't read the book I encourage you to do so I encourage you to look at the book like the Supreme Court is supposed to look at the whole book not just a passage here or a
025passage there also I purchased five books to donate to out front if anybody needs genderqueer you can come down to see us thanks yeah okay um that was the last one so we'll continue on with the agenda can I add in sorry this is unplanned Kevin Community member um I see a lot of people in this room maybe 20 30 of them I've never seen before so I appreciate them coming out with their interest I do have three kids in this school I don't believe anyone that's spoken yet has any kids in the school in this building that use this Library I'm not afraid of this book um I don't think this is about the content or the theme at all in any way maybe it's just about some pictures some graphic content in there
026the truth is if you had one of your students drawing one of these pictures and handing it around class what would you do without the context of the book I also understand that there's one of the first words that came out from your out front person was book ban it's very exciting to have a band look at all the people that come out when you say the word band no one up here has said the word man your Administration hasn't banned anything we're looking for a common sense review of content in a library based on what we want our kids to be exposed to it's not about lgbtq it's what they've made it by bringing in the press and all their friends this is our decision our community our executive leader can remove content pending
027review the same way you would remove a student if you had a drug caught with drugs in school then you you remove the student now you do an expulsion hearing later that is what I understand is happening here you've pulled a book because it's questionable and you're going to review it there will be a council and it'll be administered and I trust this board to do that thank you okay next up under reports is superintendent's Excellence award [Music] s foreign all right this is the fun part of every board meeting we have several students tonight that we are recognizing receiving the superintendent's Excellence award this evening and so we'll start with the first [Music] and it'll be Aubry Terry [Applause] I know every um do you want to try and hold this um to which
028teacher I know you had a couple of teachers who nominated you um Miss Smith I can't quite see there she is all right yeah or the baby it's true oh so uh Board of Education it is my pleasure to share that Mrs Smith the Smith has nominated Aubry Terry for the superintendent's Excellence award Aubry is currently a 12th grade student and has been nominated for the following reasons academics Aubry is one of the most dedicated GA Rams I have ever met despite her struggles during the covet shutdown and having suffered the worst loss imaginable Aubrey persisted Aubry persisted says Miss Smith she woke up every day to report to zoom classes she learned a new way to complete assignments sorry can you see me over there all right um and she submitted her her classwork
029and sadly she lost her beloved Papa Aubry has been a little teacher ever since she was in Hogan Stanley's fifth grade class she led her friends to success and comforted her other friends in times of need I think Miss hook and Stanley is out there Sheila yeah she's out there Aubrey continues to be a leader a teacher a big sister and a friend here is a senior peer mentor and active participant as a ga Ram some of her leadership roles is that of being a p a peer mentor she's dedicated demonstrates perseverance and determination and she is unintimidated by challenge that's what we like in our GA Rams yay she participates in the following peer-to-peer mother to her almost one-year-old her volunteer activities also include helping students with special needs in art and at other
030times outside of her peer mentoring duties and the Smith shares that Aubry also works two jobs please help me in celebrating the achievements of Aubry Terry [Applause] all right see team on three one two three team on three congratulations thank you very much thank you all right next up is Nolan Becker [Applause] okay it is my pleasure I didn't see if Trish Pollard made it tonight yes she is okay it's hard to see come on up Mrs Pollard um did another teacher also not for no one but for the next okay all right I knew there was there was a lot of uh recommendations this month it was awesome so miss Pollard nominated Nolan Becker for the superintendent's Excellence award the student is in 12th grade has been nominated for the following reasons Nolan has
031been on the honor roll every year his current GPA is 3.86 in class Nolan is a hard worker he utilizes his class time and he's willing to help others when needed he is a role model to his peers they look to Nolan when they need additional Assistance or clarification he is also the captain of the varsity baseball team for four years has been a peer mentor in his Junior and Senior year he's been also a football player baseball player soccer player and even a former travel baseball player Nolan volunteers at his grandmother's Church Pantry he also volunteers through his various sports teams for example they picked up wood and transported it for an older gentleman they also helped run the concession stands this pilot would also like you to know simply put Nolan is an
032amazing human being he is a great role model for everyone students and staff he's kind caring humble he does not need and he does not seek attention but he deserves to know how truly amazing he is as a person he's polite and respectful in every way please help me recognize Nolan Becker [Applause] cheese congratulations all right Teddy Swagger are you here [Applause] this could also be Miss Pollard Mrs Pollard and um Mrs O'Donnell they don't miss him no she isn't okay so we'll put his pollen up here all right honey I'd like you to hold that I did and I have we actually have two nominations um two teachers nominated Teddy so I'm gonna I don't know if I can you know balance the two so you might hear some similar things do your best
033that's what it takes right Teddy all right so Teddy is also in 12th grade and he has been nominated for the following quote Teddy is a phenomenal student he has been on the honor roll for four years in high school and currently has a cumulative GPA at 4.1 Teddy strives for excellence in the classroom he continues to enroll in academic classes that are challenging and he never looks to take the easy way out Teddy is a leader among his peers currently he is the manager of the gahs high school student store and he is a peer mentor for English for work Teddy is always willing to help his peers when needed he enjoys learning alongside his peers and helping others after school Teddy works at the roosters call on Gull Road he held a part-time
034position for almost two years obtaining flexibility as a cook dishwasher Expo and a host Teddy is the first person to volunteer to help others whenever needed he's willing to help his peers in class whenever they have questions or need assistance Teddy also received the K Risa outstanding senior award he manages the school store trained special needs students um got that one and he advocates for his peers of special populations he works part-time manages those extracurriculars and just goes above and beyond with both school extracurriculars and also job not always what everybody can really keep up with and are not always willing to do Miss O'Donnell says if I could clone Teddy I would he is the student that every teacher loves to have in their classroom he turns his assignments on time and with exemplary
035content he has challenged himself in the academic career with honor classes the school store working outside of school and holding himself to a very high standard Teddy is deserving of all the world has to offer please help me congratulate Teddy [Applause] congratulations [Applause] um next up under reports is the above and beyond award for awards yes we have two above and beyond Awards this evening as well so how exciting we have a lot of people who go above and beyond that GA and um there is no doubt that both of these individuals tonight are deserving so first up oops Olivia Fox Mrs Fox are you here [Applause] and I'm going to start out with a story I hope that's okay [Laughter] um so this past Tuesday I think it was last Tuesday we were having
036our district leadership team and I said to uh Frank our facilities be honest like Frank can you please figure out how to get that little building out by the tennis courts painted it looks awful and he says it's already done like what and this is part of the reason why Miss Fox is standing before you not only is she a very very dedicated teacher putting in lots of hours and I'll share a little bit more she has started a tennis coach as a tennis coach for our Middle School young people and I've watched her practice right there's a lot of work to be done at the middle school level which is great we want to we want to grow those tennis players she took it upon herself to ask Frank right our facilities Mr couch
037the facilities manager for paint I understand and her tennis team went out and really the paint was just peeling it looked awful every time I drove to school and we knew we needed to get out there right we've got this other Great Big Beautiful facility happening so sure enough I was told that the middle schoolers did the best job they could they reached as high as they could right and there was a lot of paint on the grass but that's okay and Olivia just to go above and beyond and do that for a D.A just speak volumes about who you are so thank you for that um and the other things I want to share because some of um of the board may not notice also is that um Olivia has a Spanish degree and
038she is our El coordinator so English Learners right every district has to have one and she has taken on this role as well as her classroom classroom teaching role it's a new thing to learn for all of us lots of big districts have had these folks for a long time GA is just trying to get on board we don't have a lot of second language learners but we certainly have some and so between her and Sean and Teresa they've been working hard to create a system to make sure that our second language Learners get that support and then and that's on top of being a first grade teacher and also part of our district leadership team so and also coaching volleyball right she did that as well so she's just an amazing third year teacher
039at GA and we want to thank you this is an above and beyond pin and your very special GA pen thank you everybody thanks board [Applause] thank you so much we also have another above and beyond and that would be Chuck Hadley coach Hadley are you here I think there are a lot of faces here coach that are here to support you this evening what do you think no they can't get recognizing of course the first words out of coach's mouth when I say can you please come Monday night he says I have no idea what I've done deserve this why because it's that humble of a gentleman right he gives all the credit to his coaches and his team I'm going to say a few words and then I think there's another person who
040wants to say something also so this is Chuck Hadley he joined us two years ago taking over our football program and uh since then he's been able to increase the number of players and also done a lot of other phenomenal things not just showing up at football games but showing up throughout the whole school year and the summer um this is actually from one of our board members Chuck and his family are a great addition to our schooling Community he comes to school often to greet the kids in the morning he works countless hours for our students every July coach Hadley hosts several area school school annual lineman challenge you can go out here in the back and there will probably be 20 25 buses of different districts that come for this great event and
041he paints all the bricks himself I actually got one myself it's in my office not that I did anything to win it but the lineman um what's that I hired you that's what I did that's right there you go then the following week they host the annual oh sorry in the following week they host the annual football golf outing and that's been a very great event that brings in monies for the program brings alumni back into the community and GA has worked really hard in the last couple of years of building pride in their district and among our staff and that's exactly what coach Hadley stands for he is cheering on our kids every chance he gets not just for those on the football team he has seen your breakfast preseasons talk with the boys
042and get ideas for the upcoming season and he has or he is famous team barbecue Q with a huge slip and a pre with a slide a slip and slide and at the same time the team barbecue I expected invitation next year coach the boys just have so much fun often they go to his house to swim in his pond and you never know that the hat that the Hadleys just became part of our community just two years ago every time you turn around they are there doing something great for our kids I'm we are truly blessed that they have come to GA and um I know that many now call you good friends and that's what going above being a coach is all about isn't it um so just a couple rundowns he coaches
043football runs the season lifting program off season lifting program four days a week you will find him here about 6 30 a.m Andy has a real job too outside of this he takes players to Camp attends multiple sporting events in support of our student athletes last year after his first football season you could see him and many of his players at basketball games supporting the others in the building and he hosts the annual football golf outing Greek kids every morning he is like another staff person he's here greeting kids every morning and also started a power lifting program or have I missed anything did you want to say anything more I know Mr Overgaard also has a lot of Praises yeah I mean uh coach Hadley such a blessing to our community not only for
044uh our athletes but for our students I mean whether it's high school um he's at the middle school concert he's at the elementary building he's extremely invested in our students and our community and it's very evident so thank you for all you do he brought his wife which is also wonderful she's also great there she is safe limited there you go she's hiding down there so coach we want you to wear this above and beyond pin and you get your own personal GA Rams pen yes do you want to get a picture with us yes all right we know he doesn't do this by himself everything he does that's right it's a team no doubt about it and I know there's lots of players out there right on the count of three everybody say go
045coach Hadley go coach [Applause] awesome and next on the reports is another celebration it is the high school celebration yeah [Music] thank you hello nope you don't need that all right so I am recognized I'm standing in for Scotty Walker um who wanted me to celebrate our solo Ensemble that was on February 4th we had a handful of students recognized so if I can get Corbin Karina and Sophie up here is anybody else is it you can get it okay um so we've got our trombone quartet who was in the trombone quartet and Gabe's not here today and you guys got a division let me see it division one rating give it up for us and then Sophie over here Sophie plays the trumpet and you did a solo and you do you also earned
046a division one rating number one everybody put number one up here we go [Applause] all right Mike what are the high school athletic director I have the pleasure of introducing a couple teams and a few individual athletes uh first uh coach clip did you make it here coach Cliff come on up here volleyball coach play ball coach and then uh coach Duncan assistant coach and then the girls varsity volleyball team so come on out here [Applause] so back in the fall so their season been over a little while but uh they've won the Central Division in our league the southwestern Athletic Conference known as the sac so Central Division Champions and first League uh recognition I think since like 15 years or so so good job all right any pictures real quick to me you
047have to squeeze it a little bit hey there muscles muscles muscles [Applause] next up uh this past winter uh Varsity Boys Basketball team so I'll call it coach Brian golf up first and then the team up here uh right after him so coach golf thank you man we have a bunch of them I don't know if everybody was able to make it but guys come on kind of up here with your coach [Applause] so these guys uh went undefeated in their division so they won the Central Division the 10 and all in the division uh but they also set the school record for wins at 17 this year so good job okay yes please I could Scoot a little a little bit together yeah yeah maybe maybe a couple hours [Applause] all right so I
048saw a coach Champion did Coach Ranch make it I don't think he's here so coach champion [Music] [Applause] on half of our high school wrestling uh coaching uh we had a couple uh individuals uh this year first time in Michigan High School Athletic Association started their own uh division for female wrestlers and so we had two that uh did well at regionals that qualified them for the state finals so we have Shay Simons foreign state qualifiers and uh Shea was able to finish in the top eight that made her All-State wrestler for this year and here's the best part they're only freshmen [Music] I got three more years you got something yes there were 450 female wrestlers at the state competition this year only 50 of them were freshmen and only a handful got a
049medal [Music] [Applause] S one two three go wrestling [Applause] coach Handley back up so it was mentioned that coach Hadley also runs our off-season weightlifting program but they actually have a club uh program that's not a state recognized sport yet but it's recognized at the club level and uh he he oversaw that and we had several uh athletes that participated in uh Regional I guess competitions and then a couple of them qualified at the state level uh one I don't think he ever made it did he no so one that I'll talk about last uh and I'll fill you on that one uh we'll get to him but Jaden clip back up here [Applause] JV division so congratulations to Jayden and the other one I'll take responsibility miscommunication but Caden Smeltzer was fully informed he
050was home napping and so sorry about miscommunication so Kaden I actually qualified at the varsity level uh so I didn't say your place right he finished seventh at the JB level and you were six right so sixth place at the varsity level in seventh place at the JB level so congratulations thank you guys thank you thank you okay um done with the celebrations just amazing students amazing staff it's great to see all of the amazing things that are happening at GA so thank you um next up under reports is the band update foreign some of it in my bond update to you this weekend we just opened the bids for the multi-purpose Edition last Thursday we had a good turnout lots of contractors showed up for the opening and at that time we knew we
051were right close to the thumbnail that was actually budgeted so we knew we were a little nervous we are starting to go through those we've had post bid interviews yesterday and today it's looking like we're getting a little closer so that part is good remember that next Monday is our special board meeting where we will make a recommendation for the board for the contractors their work will actually get started in August the first thing that we'll have to do is create those exits that you know because the indoors will be cut off they will be blocked off for the construction so that would be one of the first things we do lots of work and I think we've got some good contractors that are known to use quality works pretty exciting and uh just also
052the reminder that um we're gonna do a walk through so a special board meeting to walk through the primary school edition and then the athletic stadium and that's going to be June 5 before our committee on the whole you'll have to wear a hard hat you're not allowed to go anywhere without a hard hat um and if you already have gone out there you've probably seen driven by you've seen a lot of work so I can't wait to see where the Thunder calendar okay we'll start at the primary school okay and next up under reports is review of the educational material for the high school library okay so I know that I've shared um several of these things already with you and board updates given that there's also questions from the community I'll kind of
053start a little bit farther back um as you know we receive several parent complaints about a book that had some graphics in them in it that they were concerned about right um at the time I think several of you sent me conserved emails I asked Lindsay the high school principal to share it with me let's say what it looks like I was not familiar with the book um and we did check it out and I have read it Diana who read it and yes if you would like to borrow copy you may also read it I very much want to assure the public and I know I've had this conversation with our high school media clerk as well that you are not a board that is interested in Banning books in fact if there is
054a high school around where lgbtq kids come because of how inclusive it is and that goes out to the staff right and the other students in this building it is this District so I I think it's very very important that people realize that this is not what's happening in Texas this is not what's happening in Florida this is a concern and when we have concerns there is board policy that we need to look at it and so um yep the policy is pretty old right so we're going to need to update it it was written I think in 2012 or 16 and today's a different day part of the reason is that because there are so many more books out there written for young adolescents it's been a huge huge increase which we value so
055much because those books do speak to young people and it is about inclusivity and the majority of the parents that I've talked to I want to assure the board as well Mr put words to it as well and I have shared this also with the high school that this is not about exclusion okay this is this is and I use the word simply even though I know folks in here won't like that word it really is about when we put a book on the shelf right does it in all ways and in this case the graphic because it's a graphic novel this is a new genre right that we haven't had a I don't know not really a lot of um experience with some a lot of us because we didn't grow up with graphic
056novels my son did I got to read all the ones that were written in Japanese because that's what he loved they are a great genre and a lot of kids get interested in them it I think is what has caused the concern however because of the drawings um while you might call them cartoons I think that it is a a book um I think graphic novels are more than cartoons okay they really are meant in this case it's a memoir I have read the book and it will speak to students right and children who may be having these struggles no doubt about it and we're not taking issue with that there may be some other parents who are but that is not those who have come to me so we are we actually have two
057board policies that we're working through um and we have one that's called controversial issues as I've shared with you and the other is when there's a complaint about instructional materials um so we do have a committee um it is I guess in some ways you'd call it ad hoc so that we can address this issue um over the summer we'll work on updating our policies we'll work with attorneys to make sure that we're you know um up to date right uh with the laws and also making sure we're being inclusive in that process but for now um we I talked with our administrative team our leadership team and to create what we feel is a balanced group we have included all of our library clerks who work in the district and recognize too that um
058I I love the fact that librarian uh is it Jesse no oh look it up no Jennifer Jennifer is a librarian all I can think about is I wish we still graduated Library Librarians from the Department of Education because they they cut those out a long time ago so we have Library clerks I know there's been a question about how those decisions are made I'm going to save that for a different day because this is a different topic we have a couple of parents from our reproductive health committee we have one parent who has made a complaint and again we have the three Library clerks and administrators so um we're gonna do we're gonna do a thorough review we're going to ask critical questions and ultimately this committee will make a recommendation based on the
059majority to you okay this this recommendation will come to you we'll make sure that it's thorough so in that way I want to thank everybody here because I think it has given you a good sense of um how uh books like this because they're they're representing kids that may be in our district right are probably in our district and at the same time concerns right so you've heard an expansive opinion and that's what having a board meeting in the public is about so we're going to take all of that into consideration as we work tomorrow and if we need more time we'll take more time we're not going to rush it but we're going to get started tomorrow let me see if there's anything else that was asked that um oh the other thing I
060wanted to mention and I've had this this is one of my early on conversations um with our high high school media Clerk and I think I shared this with you I asked as we check out this book so that we can review it are there other folks on our shelves uh that that other any lgbtq student in our building can go to can review so that they're it or read so if there are books still supporting them I wanted to make sure that there were others there for kids and he assured me that there was so I feel good about that I know he's worked really hard too we have worked hard as a district even bringing in other types of books you can talk to our live our media clerk at the primary school
061he's doing the same I know at the middle school because that is who we are at GA that is absolutely who we are so I will give you an update after tomorrow and my hope is that we can bring you a recommendation in May unless we feel like we need more time have any questions for me statement was made the alternate statement was made that there was other books being looked at the potential that is not accurate thank you for bringing that up um I have received so this is the only book under review I guess I'll put it that way um so when someone said we're out to be in books that's not happening okay we've had this question right here um if there are other complaints about any other books um our goal
062is to have a um I guess a very reasoned research-based process that we will then take those in the future but with this now it's just one book and again it's not the contents as much as it is because it's a graphene model okay that was a great question Chrissy anything else that I might have missed um okay that's my update [Music] okay next up under reports is the Middle School principal selection of course very excited that we have several individuals we interviewed five it was a small team of our administrators just a screen sometimes we can look good on paper we want to make sure that before we send them to the middle school for their thorough vetting that we have some good quality candidates and we do I'm working through some phone calls
063just to you know get some background on these three individuals and next Thursday is when we're planning to do our second round so I sent an email off to the Middle School staff who would like to participate I think we have a neat idea plan we are going to bring in the candidates before school is over and each of them will be meeting with a group of students I did this once with a assistant principal I was hiring and it's just like here they are go and they act you know they ought to be able to do that right if they want to be a middle school principal so we're kind of excited about that we know our kids they'll be very respectful and then there will be a group of parents staff and then
064Administration that they will do around through those three groups as well The Hope certainly would be at the end of next week we'll have a recommendation um and yeah we're very excited about it even though we know it's going to be hard to fill shayna's shoes right we all know that we're all nervous right I think well I think GA will have a good person to join us so any questions Thursday the 27th that's when the interviews are two weeks next up under reports says strategic planning session for June 19th you mostly just want to make sure that those of you who can attend can I um and we've had a lot of interests staff that I've spoken to already we do have invites already ready so I'd like to make sure you get one
065of those administrators I would like you to get one we will be at Eaton Corp for probably nine to four even though it says you think so get us out of there at four we'll be revisiting our mission vision statement and then establishing our next you know one to three year goals lots of data I sent you all all the data reports that are verbatim from the survey and they should be out on the website Nicole had a chance to do that so very excited I've asked uh so there'll be a couple of Eaton pork uh individuals there from our partnership with Eaton Cummins I've also asked two individuals who are helping develop the programming for the Career Tech Center to make sure that we don't miss that element of the future for our kids
066so and then we will be sending out the rest of our invites over the over this week if you have someone you think from the community that would be a good fit let us know I know not everybody we ask is going to be able to be there but hopefully we'll have you know a good number 30 80 40. um and their voices at the table just a video sure there we go oh Helen don't see my agenda now okay nope you're good um next up on the reports is the superintendent evaluation committee report so um Ben Diana Wendy and myself to go over her goals um Wendy shared a copy of her goals with us we discussed a calendar that will follow us um to do a modification of the evaluation process in May
067um and then a full evaluation in November so we're trying to switch the evaluation process to December so that the board is here for a full year before they evaluate her um that's kind of the new process and that's when we'll have all of our pieces of data um that was my next line on here all right so we're gonna do um kind of a mini mini evaluation on May 1st and then the full one on November 6th one second okay so basically I just handed each of you um the evaluation tool that we use which comes from masb Michigan Association of school board and then we also have the superintendent's goals and how they are linked to each part of the evaluation tool um and then yeah so in May we are going to
068come back at the cow the superintendent evaluation tool you'll want to go through there and do your own evaluation then in May what we do is we come back and we all need as a group and we come up with one evaluation score so we all work together to come up with that um oh yes I like paper but it is sent to you in your email also so if you want to do it electronically it is available that way and we all were we all did our superintendent evaluation training through nasb did you guys get awesome cool yeah we should be good yeah yeah and everybody has to be trained all board members to be able to do the evaluation and everybody has an entry so yep we are good any other questions okay
069and then next up under seven business items for discussion is a the monthly budget discussion yeah um so you have a report through March 31st which represents 75 percent of our fiscal year um nothing really to highlight the two notes there are carryovers from prior months so we're working on the final budget for this year and also the projector budget for next year we'll have that the finance committee meeting in May that should be on your list right okay budget is difficult it's one of the most difficult things about educational change board members so we are sorry so we are going to I think it's this it's this bizarre meeting with Philip to kind of go over what a local School District's budget is do I have that right sometimes it takes a big picture
070and then hopefully as we get into the details in our journey and you have a whole it's going to make more sense so we appreciate Philip taking the time to do that for us okay the other thing is as Philip said we're going to be we're working on this budget and then projecting for next years we've been working as a principal team to look at what we're doing things that we're purchasing can we go without those do we have to do we need to do something else I think I've shared with you that it's been a couple of years since we've looked at some of our curriculum so there's definitely curriculum needs that we have to look at and then as far as next year I have not yet heard anything about a budget so
071all we have so far is the governor's budget um did hear I think that there's a supplemental Bill to this past this school year that may be coming through but it's unfortunate because we're getting close closer to the end of school and we have to begin making projections about next year next year hopefully we'll have something before we have to get to that point s yeah so next up under business items for discussion is the hey Risa by an by Emil election well that was hard to say um basically each school board has to send a representative to hey Risa to vote on their board so we have to come up with a representative who's going to go and then an alternative to go and vote I've done it a lot of times it's like
072you're there 10 minutes it's pretty quick and from my understanding the same number of people are running that there are positions so um it's not a complicated process um yep and yeah this part is just to nominate um the person to go and then the alternate um do you know what day that is okay June 5th yes that's what I was just thinking no if it's at a certain time um okay okay yeah is there anybody that would really like to do it just for the fun of it if not I can go I've done it a bunch of times and nowhere to go do you know what time that is reporting today was at five interviews yeah I'm trying to remember I yeah if it is a board meeting but it's either five or
073six there's no accomplishing things I would love if you would represent us I won't miss it but we do have to list an alternative thank you Jessica you guys are cool yeah we appreciate it it really is very exciting okay um so next up under Communications is public participation Um this can be on anything once again still have the three minute time limit um holding it um has anybody else signed up over there I do have one thank you and Teresa you can come on out okay sorry hello I'm Theresa Shepard some of you know me some of you don't I'm a special ed teacher here at the high school um I'm here as a teacher to represent some of my fellow colleagues who couldn't make it tonight had a couple things that they wanted
074me to mention um first and foremost I'd like to say is one of the first things that so people ask you all the time in this career like why do you teach there why do you stay there why right like whatever just in general doesn't matter Goods bedroom different one of like the top three things I always say is like sweeter such a small school and it blows me away how inclusive we are right I teach special ed right so it's inclusive is super important to me I talk about all the time diversity all those types of things right I I say that all the time so I'm really happy I'm always promoting those wonderful things about us um in relation to some of the things that my colleagues would like to say is you
075hire us to be professionals in our domain the library has increased student involvement student checks out and Library exposure that can be a coincidence that when our books that represent inclusion start showing up library performance increases I've worked here for nine years we've never had this many clubs or like people want to hang out in the library or like get launch Library passes it's like the cool thing to do which was like I mean it's not that cool but it's really cool around here hang out in the library um which can't just be because of Jared right books are supposed to be the window to the world that we've never known in order to help us learn about those other worlds right we look at all types of things if we think about National Geographic
076the pictures and National Geographic sometimes I'm like whoa we're showing those in schools I mean we have National Geographic um the true way to grow as a person is to challenge ourselves the term the term cognitive dissonance means that in order to grow as people we need to face things that are uncomfortable what does this show our students if the adults when we Face a challenge we back down we lose all credibility so we stand up to make sure that we're here for our students and for um to make sure that we're inclusive um we have several books in our library that are pretty explicit um around all topics including sex race gender and drugs um it gets a little sticky if we start with one because we might need to read all of them
077um and then the last question I have as part of the teachers is are any teachers on this committee or will any teachers be on the committee specifically maybe English teachers um that would remember my last thank you very much okay uh is it shuffling juice hi um I'm here because my grandkids go to school here and I think I'd like to thank you for keeping things in a proper perspective about uh What uh the graphic novels are not just cartoons and it is a different genre but uh that being said uh I think there's I've read the book too and I think there's more I don't know in my opinion it's pornographic um I didn't know that this meeting was tonight I found out just today and uh I didn't have time to prepare
078but I'm glad you have a committee to look at these things I think you should look at all ah books like uh would you say National Geographic I know it's but I just mean if it meets the criteria to be uh to not belong here and it doesn't belong here you know and it's that simple um it's you know I I don't know I think in my opinion it's not uh our kids should learn about life from from their parents and their grandparents I think the schools are failing because they're not teaching kids how to read how to do arithmetic you know writing you know I think we can do that I think there are zillions of books that don't involve all critical race Theory or uh transsexual books of that nature anything to do
079with sex you know I think I think it's our responsibility to teach our children about uh sex you know and um I don't know I appreciate you guys time uh to look into this matter and I think I think I would be happy if issues like this were on the ballot because I think uh a whole bunch of people came in here to uh stand up for what they believe in and if I'd known I didn't sign up earlier because I expected more people that may feel as I do to stand up here and speak and I just wanted it uh I don't know I feel I think if you look at the if it was on a ballot and you look at the whole Community the whole community I'd be happy to support the
080decision they come up with um and how they vote on it so thank you for your time next up Corey hinka excuse me um hi everyone good evening I just want to do um just speak on part of the the book as well um having two children in the district and um in a few more years we'll have all three of our children in the district um I work in education in a different District we live in a Third District and my wife and I choose to bring our children here to Galesburg um at school of choice and this is where we chosen our kids to go um our problem with the book I'm speaking for my family is not anything to do with inclusion or exclusion is not anything to do um with the
081fact that it involves a a different demographic than what Society might or what might be being pushed here an agenda are it's strictly the fact that it is sexual content sexually graphic material in the book um new drawings ones displaying lewd sex acts um including masturbation oral sex sex toys kissing and implied sex positions erections um a fantasy image of a man holding um a young boy genitals those are all just things that that don't belong in school regardless of the sexual orientation of the book so strictly um I think a large part of this is being um push towards the fact that it does involve the lgbtq community um and honestly that has no bearing on my feeling towards the book I have reviewed the book as well um I have no problem with
08295 or more percent of the the book it's strictly those few images and again um I would just ask that that you guys when you do review it um please take a look at at all parts of it um and I thank you for doing so okay next up is Heather casting and Heather I'm sorry I don't know if it's casting or casting yes okay yes yes and I should know it right this is my sidekick Aaron he's coming up here too so I just want to start off with the book I think is pornographic just down to it is the number one Banned Book in the United States in all the schools number one band Book having set that aside the fact that us a faculty member went to social media who does not
083have kids in this District doesn't have anything other than a job that hurts me and our school does not need that plus but excuse me publicity whatsoever it's just it's sad I grew up here my mom did my grandma we don't need it as a small school it was horrible and then and to another one I'm a parent of a sixth and seventh grader I work at the school we have some bad kids in our school we have kids that are constantly vaping in school we have kids that are kick getting kicked out they don't come to school our officer our truancy officer has to go to their house we have one child that has been suspended he came to school today he rode the bus to school he got off the bus he entered
084our building he walked until our principal caught him and he said nothing bro profanity to her he threatened staff members he threatened my child his child and another child the man in the back right there threatened that when he comes back to school he's going to take care of him same with the staff member something needs to be done with these kids they can't keep getting kicked out of school because it doesn't work their parents don't care we personally have a harassment police report on one of the kids and I'm going to be adding the other kids to it because it went around town this weekend that when my kid comes to school they were going to jump him two kids hid out until he walked through and the third kid jumped out they said
085here go that was this morning that was this morning with one of the children the middle school is doing great about it but we need to go above them and get these kids out here I work with these kids every single day and you know it started on the internet is harassment towards my daughter my son stepped in because her twins said stop making fun of my sister it come to my wife I don't know how these kids are getting kids messaging my wife you know my kids shouldn't be scared to cup of school beer we had a lot of kids scared this morning you know my daughter is a wreck right now because this kid showed up to school oh we gotta we gotta suspend him his dad don't care the cops went there
086his dad just sat there like I don't care you can't keep letting this happen because we got kids that don't want to come to school and there was a I found out after school that my son was not in school today because his allergies are horrible but a child had threatened that he's gonna hit him when he shows up at school tomorrow and they threatened my kid not with specific weapons but I'm gonna bring my eight friends and we're gonna bring things that's not right for Middle School and a cup yeah yeah yes thank you [Applause] Ashley Kaufman so I came up here once to talk about the book um I don't believe I mentioned I've been a member of this community for about 10 years um I'm working in this community and through that
087I have spoken to various members of this community who I would just like to understand or it to be understood I suppose that I've seen a lot of different perspectives and I do know how important it is that some people are represented and with that um you mentioned that it was going to be based entirely upon the contents of the book and I would like to remind you again you said that it was because it was a graphic novel that the issue comes up the point of a graphic novel is that these things are represented represented by the images um and that you also mentioned that you went through the other books that represented lgbtq plus side um I'm sorry um were there any other books that use these particular pronouns um you said you
088read it what are those pronouns are you allowed to answer at the moment or no okay well they are em air not he she not they are there any other books on the shelves that use those particular pronouns because part of the story that is so important is this particular person's struggle finding something that they felt comfortable with in their identity these pronouns um do you plan if you pull the book to replace that book with something that includes that representation um also you said that the intention is not to ban a list of books but I would like to ask where is your line I can list at least four titles that I've seen since I've been in here that have very explicit sex scenes I can think of at least probably three that
089are in this yeah uh I can think of one in particular that I know is here that has a very explicit rape scene it's very straight rape scene is that something that you guys are going to consider when you consider this one image um again the purpose of a graphic novel is to represent things through the images used and also the idea that this community can choose what other people are reading and thinking and doing makes me not feel very comfortable in this community and I know that it's not just this community that has this issue but if you don't feel comfortable letting your children read something that is something that you need to communicate with your children that's your responsibility if there's another child whose family is not involved in what they are doing
090and they need to know something and they need to feel like their voice is also being represented this might be a safe place for this this might be their only safe place um and I would like not only for the board and the people voting on this to consider that but the community behind me okay and next up um is nine close session for purpose of negotiations so we'll be going into closed session um then coming out after that so if you wanted to stay for the end of the board meeting you would just have to wait outside and then we'll open the doors back up after the closed session um thank you