001of 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 welcome back we are back from recess and we are moving into should I get up there ready the program review with Mrs lauterbach [Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen on the board thank you for having me my name is Angie latterba I'm the special education coordinator that works with Delano I've met most of you a couple times so I'm just here to do my annual report and we'll go through a couple of updates so I've been with nasiko and Delano since 2019 and 2020. some of you are familiar with their executive director who's also the director of special education for Delano Melissa Hansen um she started in 2021 and
0022022 school year so this is an overview of our child count so the percentage of students in our district that are receiving special education services we want those numbers to be lower because it's meeting shows that we're meeting the needs of many students in the least restrictive environment possible we can see the comparison to some of our seven member districts we are lower which is good but each year we're trending up so our goal is to keep working on providing supports in general education to the greatest extent possible and then when our students do need special education services when they do new special education services making sure we have the support to provide that so right now you can see this year about 16.2 percent of our population receive specialized services this includes their speech
003only students as well and it also includes our first through five students so that inflates the number a little bit if you're looking at just paid 12 or closer to about 14. you go to the next slide please a little closer to the mic I know that's difficult you can pivot the the uh so the other thing to note is whether we're losing students to other districts because that would might be a note to me that we need to improve programming in certain areas so as you can see the number of students that we have who are residents of Delano we're receiving special education services the majority of them come to Delano for services we also have students from surrounding districts that open enroll in Delano and so it's actually about even this year usually
004we're up a few more students than we are we're resident students next slide please so when I came last March and I talked a little bit about our Courtyard project you can see on the left that's the lovely Courtyard before we did any work to it just kind of a pit of rocks and then we had a lot of people through from the community and the school both special education staff and general education staff General and administrators that came together to do this project it was really fun because a lot of our work experience students got to help with laying the drain tile pricing out the materials doing the plans for the courtyard you can see the middle is kind of our finished product and I say finish because we're doing extra phases the picture
005on the right shows a zoomed in version of the sensory ladder we have so it's a bunch of different textures and so some of our students with autism are different sensory needs can sit out in this Courtyard and take a break to help get regulated what you can't see in the pictures we also have a swing off in one corner and we have a station with different sensory music activities on the left and then there's some raised garden beds that hopefully our students will be able to use in some functional gardening activities and then just a space for kids to take breaks um so next slide please we are hoping that this spring we can finish up the second phase of that project which would hopefully allow for some more common space for classes to
006use when the weather permits and all of the supplies were through a grant that we received and so we're trying to utilize students as much as possible and then collaborating with National Honor Society the football team we're big participants Mr avoid helped a lot and we just got a lot of it done in one day so we're not sure this second phase if we're gonna do a work party again but we'll let you all know the date and maybe if people want to come out and do some manual labor to help the school so next phase or next slide another cool thing we did with some of the grant funds is we took some of our high school students this thing called State we did a campus tour and had them meet with disability services
007to learn how they can access college education even though they have a disability so we talked about 504 plans and IEPs and then they were able to attend a beyond the label presentation which is college students with disabilities who are successfully accessing services at schools at college so that was great and then their favorite thing with Garvey which is the launch haul and we had to we had a few kids say there's no more ice cream because you're riding on a bus back with me and I just don't want to deal with that this year we are hoping to do a technical school trip so we did a four-year school trip last year we're hoping to do maybe Hennepin Tech or Anoka this year and then we're also scheduling some interview practice for some of
008our students and then just a couple other highlights the district as a whole is doing a lot with our multi-tiered system of supports I really appreciate the work that's being done between special ed and General Ed because that's what helps our students receive support in general education to the greatest extent possible so I'm part of the district team as are a lot of the special education teachers we also are doing some student support teamwork with our private schools too because we also provide special education services for their students and then we're undergoing a bit of curriculum collaboration with genet2 that is a picture that's okay all right no problem um then we are also looking at doing a sensory path in the community ed building which is a space for our little ones to get
009their energy out on the way to their other activities so we have some stickers and fun things that we're going to be putting down that's a lot less labor intensive so I might be able to get more kids on board for helping me do that than the drain tile and the gravel hauling and then the last thing is just that we're working on our new special education teacher cohort training as we have new staff that come in there's a special ed job is just a huge job and so we're working as a Cooperative to try and make sure they have the support needed any questions any questions on the work I have a question yeah have you had um or what are you seeing in terms of Trends around initial evals pre-k through 12 is
010that on the rise as well there has been a slight uptick in initial evaluations Across The Cooperative a lot of times in some of our younger grades we haven't seen a huge Trend as far as specific disabilities that we've seen more concerns with but there is a little bit of an uptick could be because of the time during covid when things were a little bit delayed and we're hoping it'll kind of even back out I'm also really hopeful that our mtss work will help those referrals come down because hopefully we'll be meeting students where they need to be in tier one and tier two any other questions thank you Angie for your help thank you thank you up next is the consent agenda that covers all the financial affairs the board minutes and all of
011the inner workings of the running of the district do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved motion by Amy do we have a second second by Jim any further discussion okay all those oh we're gonna go to a roll call no no all those in favor say aye aye any opposed motion passes next up is the resolution for the acceptance of gifts whereas Target 22.33 dollars for Delano Elementary blackbaud 12 for Delano Elementary dis Pi 800 for fifth grade BizTown busing 700 for fifth grade Saints busing two hundred fifty dollars for sixth grade Valley Fair and 350 for give back week friends for a cause fifteen hundred dollars for Compass Dorne family eleven hundred dollars for doing scholarships Dairy Queen 338.80 for families in need scholarships and the following for Orange
012Crush robotics team number 3026 250 from Delano light up the night three thousand dollars from the Loretta Lions Club 250 from core Trust Bank one hundred dollars from Steve Rogers thirty five hundred dollars from Delano lions and 250 from Bauer design build have all generously offered to donate to the Delano Public School District okay do I have a motion to accept the resolution for the acceptance of gifts some of motion by Jim second oh second second by Ryan um any further discussion all right uh move to a roll call vote uh council member shaust yep all right councilmember Roser aye council member Johnson aye councilmember black aye council member depa aye councilmember gurkey hi and council member Baker aye promotion passes up next is Personnel matters um it's on the screen I would like to
013take the time to call out the retirements of Jerry shouts who has served this District as a teacher for the past 39 years and Cindy cell child who has served our district as an administrative assistant for the past 22 years the board in the district would like to thank both of them for their many years of service to our students and community and wish them the best in their retirement do I have a motion to accept the Personnel matters so moved motion by sued we have a second I'll second second by Amy any further discussion all right all those in favor signify by saying aye aye aye any opposed motion passes okay next up public comment School Patriots are given the opportunity to address the school board regarding items that are not on the agenda
014all patrons will be asked to State their name and address for the record while the board appreciates feedback from the public in this forum board members will not comment on or discuss topics brought up by the speakers at this time in accordance with Delano schools policy 206 the school board retains a discretion to limit discussion to a reasonable period of time as determined by the school board if a group or organization wishes to address the school board on a topic the school board reserves the right to require the designation of one or more Representatives or Sports spokespersons to speak on behalf of the group or organization at this time we are going to open it up to public comment Mr Shane's going to go first and after that I would suggest that we allow children
015to go first and then move forward Madam chair members of the board my name is Matt Shane I serve as the superintendent I live at 322 2nd Street Southwest here in Delano before we begin the public common portion of tonight's meeting I would like to provide some context regarding a situation School administrators are facing through social media it was brought to our attention that there was a book that was deemed objectionable in our school library upon hearing this information I pulled the book from the Shelf to review the content removing the publication gave the administration and staff time to read the book in its entirety to better understand the concerns and discuss if further action was necessary at that time neither myself or the high school administration had been contacted directly about the concern we
016were learning about these concerns through social media it is important to note that the first step in a process for filing any complaint with the school is to contact the staff person directly involved in the issue or the school principal to discuss the issue we have always been available and willing to discuss any concerns brought directly to our attention through in-person meetings a phone call or email since then the concerns were raised to be an online publication in both the high school principal and I have received emails questioning the validity of the information and people expressing their concerns I believe board members have received some communication as well we have responded to all the inquiries or we are in the process of responding to them the district does not have a process for people to
017challenge the use or existence of resources in our libraries or used in classrooms we hopefully by the end of this evening have that process in place staff has researched policies from other educational institutions consulted with the district's attorney re-read federal and state laws Supreme Court decisions and other judicial decisions regarding the First Amendment to create a procedure and a policy for reconsidering resources and materials is there a way to talk with the um whoever's in the technology room at to see if we have an issue better now can you hear me now okay it sounds like the microphone's working now you want to start over okay okay who was it was that Joe said I had to start over the district does not have as stated as a process we do now the staff has
018research policies from other educational institutions consulted with the district's attorney re-read federal and state laws Supreme Court decisions and other judicial decisions regarding the First Amendment to create a procedure and policy for reconsidering resources and materials during this evening's work session you reviewed the procedures to reconsider resource materials later tonight I'm asking the board to approve those guidelines for reconsideration of resource materials we are confident that the Recon the reconsideration and resources materials policy before before you tonight supports our guiding principles and philosophy is relevant to our educational system and is Equitable for all students the policy supports an environment where students parents or guardians of students currently attending a Delano Public School current employees of the school district or people who live within the school district to file a formal reconsideration of materials request
019if the policy is adopted by the board there will be a committee consisting of parents teachers staff administrators board members and students to review every reconsideration of materials members of the board we have approximately 1200 students in our high school and more than 8 700 resources in our high school library the resources in the high school library are dependent on the goals and objectives of the district we have a wide range of reading abilities individual interests unique life experiences in our district we aim to have books to in our libraries that adequately serve the diverse interests needs reading levels and life experiences of all our students the selection of resources in our library is based on the needs the demand on book reviews recommended by the school library journal the school library Journal is a
020premier publication for school libraries an information Specialists who work with children and teens they evaluate a broad range of resources from books and digital content to databases in about 6 000 Plus reviews are published annually every month the school library Journal publishes lists of resources appropriate for school libraries the resources are cataloged by many different categories grade levels interests themes or reading levels each book on the list has a review and a verdict our media center Specialists review those read the reviews of the books and resources that are relevant to the population they serve based on the review the demand and the relevance to our students the media center specialist determines if the book should be in the library this is a standard practice in many public school libraries a school library is an integral
021component of a student's education public Delano Public School libraries are learning environments that provide access to new knowledge skills and dispositions for students success we remain committed to upholding our tradition of educational excellence and through housing a comprehensive collection of Library resources that serve all students thank you for your time and attention thank you there are some students in the back though that would like that opportunity go ahead clarify okay hi everybody um I'm Clara do you want me to say my address in the microphone okay I live at 109 Clover Lane um I'm here as a student because I think we are the ones who are being affected by this issue the most because this is our library that we're going to and I have I represent a group of students at the high
022school and I am their spokesperson today to talk about this issue as they they're all four of those books they have read but first I'd like to say um I am a very Avid Reader as I'm sure any teacher here could vouch for me when I say that um and in the seventh grade I read the I wanted to read The Exorcist and so I picked it up from the school library and I brought it home and my mom looks at it and she goes nope and I return it to the library I do not read it but I do not stop other kids from reading it and I think that's a very important factor in a public school so now reading the statement from my students that I'm representing I'm a student at Delano
023High School and a spokesperson for the group tonight we are here tonight to oppose the Banning of the books in question and the Banning of books in General within a public school the 1982 Supreme Court case of island tree School District versus Pico states that according to the First Amendment rights including the implication of the right to read cannot be restricted by the federal government in this case a public school this decision states that public schools cannot ban books due to specific groups opinions the books currently in question are being labeled as pornography and we are here to dissuade you of that opinion the students in the group I'm speaking for have read the books in question and while admitting that these books do have sexual content they have a high educational value one student
024in the group stated that all boys aren't blue one of the books in question made them feel recognized in a school district that is often hard to be recognized in another said that the book flamer left them very connected to the characters and experiences the books in question flamer crank all boys aren't blue and push are all books that hold more positive factors than negative and that argument can be made for almost every book in a school library as every different opinion should not lead to a question of banning a book the students of this group will undoubtedly be in supporting keeping these books in the library and continuing to keep books in the library thank you thank you Claire next there you go hi my name is Oliver Berg I live on 6703 County
025Line Road Delano Minnesota and I'm here today to thank this Council for uh funding the History Day uh it helped me a lot because I could learn different books from resources last week I got to do this Regional competition and it was really fun I'm doing a performance with my partner Bobby's life it was very fun we got to 17 of our teams made it to Regionals 13 of them passed um and thank you [Applause] foreign I live on uh 520 Ironwood Drive and uh I'd like to say that the the kind of History Day so the education at Delano has been like very good and I think a big part of that is Reading in that I think if we ban books that's going to limit a lot of the like education we can
026get and like um yeah we shouldn't ban books and stuff thank you all right any other kids or anyone else um we can just line up and go through public comment in the order that you guys walk up hi my name is Teresa Jacobs I live at 135 Crestview Lane in Loretto and I am the public Delano Public Library librarian and so my job as a librarian following the American Library Association Bill of Rights is to show up at events like this and say there is a freedom to read based on the First Amendment and as a librarian I support that it does include a PR a person's right to use a library should not be denied or Abridged because of origin age background or views age is included in there so it's something to
027think about as we move forward I love the community I love our schools I'm supportive of the resources we have at our Public Library but my job today is to come forward and remind the board that there is freedom to read and that includes our children so I'd like to pass out the American Library Association freedom to read and then just the top 10 most challenged books of 2021 just so you can read and be aware of what those books might be so let me hand those out [Music] so as a professional librarian this is part of my job to be able to come out and say let's think about what are the rights of our children to read the books they need as a mom in the Delano Community I'm going to take my
028librarian hat off and say that it is perfectly okay for any parent to decide what their child can read but not what my child can read and there is something to be said about the word sexuality let's just think about that word for a minute I did some research and the government website survey Teenagers by ninth grade 20 percent of teenagers have engaged in sexual activity by ninth grade 20 maybe not your child maybe not mine but they are engaging in these behaviors by the time they are seniors in the high school more than two-thirds of children across the United States have had sexual intercourse so I would just bring some of these facts as you're talking about literature talking about what children are exposed to talking about hormones and the whole idea of of
029a sexual being becoming and having the literature that matches what they're going through and that's all I have to say thank you for your time thank you hi I'm Amber Becker I live at 581 14th Street Delano um so I'm just going to read otherwise I'll go off on tangents so I haven't read any of the texts in question and I don't know the full scope although I've heard thank you Mr Shane for kind of summarizing where you're at so far and what has gone on so um like everyone here I love my kid and I want to protect them um and see them Thrive I'm concerned though about the slippery slope that is removing books from our school library just because a book is difficult or offensive to someone or even a whole huge
030group of people does not mean it should not it should be removed for for everyone that's censorship it may be that some of these things should be removed they may be inappropriate or maybe you know there can be a system where it's like 9th through 12th um from what I understand parents can restrict specific books if they so choose for their kids and that seems reasonable to me um I know it doesn't remove their access to them at the school but frankly neither will removing them from the library that's another friend who couldn't attend tonight said um when she hears the Banned Book she goes out and finds that Banned Book and reads it so um and then when I think of some of the band or controversial books I've read over the years and
031I have a ba in English Lit so I've read quite a few they are generally speaking some of the most memorable I mind and heart opening books I've ever read sorry I get okay moving on um Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite books I've ever read and I don't swear a lot and I've never seen a prostitute um To Kill a Mockingbird um I know why the Cage Bird Sings if you haven't read them you should they are life-changing um and as I said at the start I haven't read the books beyond the excerpts shown but I did read some of the reviews push was one of the most difficult excerpts to read um but when I read the reviews that explained that that book is a very raw and frankly horrific
032story about rape and incest that's also about Hope and education reviews of flamer another book in question included phrases like that I wish this book existed when I was young and this book will save lives I personally have never read or sorry I've personally never heard of someone reading a novel and becoming messed up certain propaganda Publications aside but I have heard countless instances that a novel changed someone's life for the better open their eyes change their mind open their heart gave them courage and Hope literature can educate and Reach people in ways that other forms of curriculum simply cannot and it worries me and saddens me that we might be taking any of these possibilities away from our kids we need a variety of texts to broaden people's minds challenge enlighten and this is
033absolutely core to what public education is and I really hope that we are not making decisions based on excerpts and fear thank you take torlock 6003 fenning Ave Southeast I'm going to start out by handing out the complete list so far to the board chair and to the superintendent and then also save the date with the book list on the back of it and to save the date is a we have a subject matter expert as a special presenter one month from today at the same place foreign I thought about which passage I should read today there's countless numbers of absolute horrible passages of reads and I decided I'm going to read from a passage that's from our current la-12 curriculum okay this is every student in La 12 has to read this first he
034put his thing up against my hip and sort of wiggle it around then he grabbed hold my titties then he pushed his thing inside my when that hurt I cry you start to choke me saying you better shut up and get used to it one of the finest combat leaders I've ever known told me two things one courage begins courage and weakness begets weakness as you know my name is Jake I'm a husband I'm a father of six beautiful innocent children and I'm advisor to the concerned community of 879. so far we had reviewed approximately 45 books from our high school library here in this stack is 36 pervasively vulgar books the inappropriate passages have been printed off totaling over 200 pages 200 Pages more than 200 this is not one or two excerpts it's
035more than 200 Pages top to bottom approximately number 10 font these 36 books with pervasively vulgar content contain the following pedophilia incest rape ancestral rape child rape self-harm suicidal ideations sexual nudity sexual acts the murder of children and infants and drug and alcohol abuse one book specifically the passage I read from is required reading for all la-12 students the passage I read depicts a brutal rape of a minor and that's on page one a depiction of a newly born baby being murdered on page two an extremely descriptive sexual acts on page 77s and 78s I understand this book as part of the curriculum in many universities and around the country in those curriculums adults are reading them not kids The Color Purple by Alice Walker sorry I forgot to state that that's the color purple
036by Alice Walker current curriculum in la-12 all students they're not required they have an alternative and I ask you did you ask for consent for all the students that are minors and have read this book it seems like a pretty big deal I'm gonna stop you for a minute and let Matt address what is Factory it's the process of that and it's done very carefully is that with those seniors in that in that course they facilitate a process if anybody has or any student goes home talks to their parents and does not want to read that book an alternative book is offered so it's not required I understand that okay did you get consent from every parent of every child it's not going to answer your question right I'm posing a blanket state or blanket
037question to the board into the administration did you get consent for those children in those classes many may be asking themselves why the media had to get involved if you did it's a great question and the answer is the sunlight of transparency is the best disinfectant ignoring and pushing it aside will not fix the problem it only makes it grow I want to be very clear when I say here at cc879 we are not calling for any book bands it is not our place nor our mission our mission is to restore dental public schools to a respectful neutral and transparent school where academic Excellence is once again in the Forefront of its purpose not activism and in this particular place we applied transparency again the decision of whether our children are exposed to this vulgar
038and pervasive material lies within the people sitting and standing before you the community of District 879 not the activists in the DPS ranks now my simple mind breaks down the leadership of Delano public schools in in terms that I understand Mr Shane you're the company Commander Miss Thompson Miss Schultz your platoon leaders and the teachers and staff are your ranks if any of you four choose to be weak the activism in your ranks gets Bolder and grows stronger when you choose to be strong and stand up for the innocence of our children the activism fails courage begets courage weakness begets weakness it is not by accident or by chance that these books are in our school libraries it's by Design it's because of this activism that are present in our district that activism was allowed
039by way of two possibilities either one Mr Shane you and your Administration [Music] by name anybody in the district okay either one the administration are activists and want this pervasively vulgar material to be exposed to our children or number two the administration are simply lacking the courage and intestinal fortitude to stand up to the activists and are therefore weak courage begets courage weakness begets weakness be morally courageous it's for the innocence of our children the activist teachers in your ranks are cancer and the only thing that will put that cancer out of our schools is courage courage to do the morally right thing and preserve the innocence of our children courage begins courage weakness begets weakness to the board know your purpose know your rights you keep yielding your power and duties to the superintendent
040and his administration this is weakness weakness begets weakness be courageous after all it's for the innocence of our children to the parents here tonight you and you alone are in charge of your households of your families that same great leader told me when in charge take charge you know what's best for your children and your grandchildren take charge be courageous we have allowed our school to get to a point because we chose not to be involved this was weakness weakness begets weakness we must shed our weaknesses however we're here now and we have courage continue to be courageous it is time now to take charge now is the time to stand up and speak your piece of the board of the administration after all it's for the innocence of our children thank you thank you
041now remind those of you speaking that addressing specific members of Staff by name or insulting them will not be tolerated so as we go forward you can refer to Administration or positions but we're not going to refer to individuals um Gina knee 6386 Brighton Avenue Southeast um I just we say that we don't know that books harm anybody or I've never seen that books harm anybody my daughter my daughter came across a book um 13 years old and she told me after she had read it because how would she know before the book did not say on the back what it was about and there was a rape scene the girl was drugged and raped and she didn't know what that was I didn't know what 13 that I was supposed to be talking to
042my innocent child about rape yet I didn't have any idea that these books are in the schools and my daughter was not ready to handle that she was disturbed by it so don't for us to think I mean that's ludicrous to think that these kids can handle this kind of content I saw the movie Precious and I was disturbed because I could get some of the lead scenes out of my mind I'm an adult I'm not saying that these stories don't need some outlet but it's with a counselor it is with God it needs to be healed but it is not for the horrific evil event to come into our minds and our imaginations and to not be able to get it out you don't think that's harming a child I don't even know what
043to say to that It Books Am I Wrong a book stimulates the imagination I am brought into someone's evil and horrific event I have to relive it with them these kids are 12 13 14 15 years old it is related to Suicide how many counselors commit suicide because they're adults and they are they actually I'm trained to handle this stuff but can't because they can't get it out of their minds but we're gonna subject 13 14 15 16 year olds to it come on this is not one of those things like I don't know and he wrote an except should I read an excerpt out of freedom of speech it was horrible I cried when I read it I was trying to tell my mom and I couldn't even say the words out loud because
044if they're horrible and you're wondering why our kids attitudes are because we're not protecting them people we are supposed to protect our children there is age-appropriateness any we as a country used to care about that you couldn't have certain things on you know until it was after midnight until you knew kids went to bed what happened to that seriously their kids they ought to be protected and yeah maybe there are kids that can handle a little bit more mature stuff but we are supposed to protect the least of us we're not supposed to go after the ones and have it out there because there's some that can handle it we're supposed to be protecting the least of us thank you thank you hi my name is Emily crutchmer I live at 134 Lupine Court here
045in Delano I don't have a fancy speech prepared so I'm just gonna go through my age I'm just going to go through my bullet points here so taller than there um I first want to read a direct quote from the Supreme Court case uh that has been referred to a few times here tonight the island tree School District versus Pico in 1982 direct quote from Justice William Brennan states that local schoolbirds may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books I think that is of utmost importance as we think of how our children are learning to view the world and how they're learning to navigate their community we have to teach them critical thinking we have to teach them to think for themselves and by centering
046what they can and cannot read on their own volition we are not doing them any favors when we tell them that they can't read a book or that they can't view certain content my first guess is that they go directly to the internet where they're going to find something worse I would much rather my child learn about a real world experience from a book that someone who is qualified has chosen to put in the school library than to go directly to Google and find who knows what on the internet I don't believe that hiding what makes you uncomfortable makes it go away or invalidates the real world experiences that people are gaining from connecting with these books other people here tonight have stated that they've had peers that are connecting with books and that they
047wished they could read this book when they were a child I think that speaks volumes it's up to us to parent our kids and to monitor what they're reading as someone else stated I understand that there's a system at the library where you can flag a book and your child can't check it out if you are that concerned I think that is a great Avenue that seems very reasonable to me I think you should also be checking in with your kids when they get home checking out what books they've got I do that every day when my kid brings home a book or when my kid goes to the library and asks if we can check out a book I'm always gonna look it over I'm always going to know what they're reading steam can't
048go beside for the internet like my previous points um I also believe that removing books teaches our kids to be scared of the content it teaches them that that's a bad thing that's scary and we don't want to approach that subject and when they get into the real world they're not going to have the knowledge they're not going to have the connection they're not going to have their own thoughts going about how to deal with that until they're an adult I think there's value in learning at a vulnerable age yeah the real world is scary bad things happen and we have to learn how to deal with it I don't think that's doing a disservice or not protecting our children our first amendment rights are not checked at the school room door that has been
049made clear in the past uh and I wonder with this slippery slope of removing content who decides where the line is for inappropriate content or pornography or adultery or rape or murder or all of those things because I can think of a few holy books that depict the same thing and I do believe those should be available in schools I think that's a very important part of America I don't want those removed but if we're going to say that all pornographic or all inappropriate content with murder rape incest Etc is removed I think we need to do a double check there as well library books are not required reading I think again you should be monitoring your own child's reading it's not required um I think that's all I have so thank you so much
050for listening good evening members of the board superintendent uh parents Joel McDonald's from 653 Meadow Rose Court I've had two kids go through school I got a junior that's going through school now and I came to to share with you some thoughts about four years ago at the legislature and during the house committee house debate there was a book that was brought on oh just like in the capital you got to address the speaker I can't look at my fellow members very well the chairwoman as I was saying there was a book that was read on the house floor it was a sexually explicit book it made everybody uncomfortable Republicans Democrats Independents and those who just didn't care it really was raunchy and very sexually explicit and I sat right behind the gentleman that read
051it so it was quite embarrassing I was on camera turning red because it was explicit sexually explicit and everybody was embarrassed uh mostly I would say anyway I thought to myself thank goodness it's not in Delano schools this book particularly was in a couple of schools in Minnesota and other areas around the state of the nation the book was so explicitly sexual in its literature and its drawings its cartoons and it was banned from certain prisons most federal prisons in the United States that's how bad it was and I remember saying boy I don't think Delano will ever have such sexually explicit raunchy vulgar material and pictures and I was thanking the Lord that we didn't well here we are today I've read the material today I've read what's happened in some of these books
052and I know each and every one of you here I've known some for since they were little boys and uh I I know you're all personally I know that each and every one of you would not ever read such a book to your children ever and it is very sexually explicit I am pleased to hear that Mr Shane if I can use his name that immediately removed the book in question knowing that it was really inappropriate because he knows the law so in the state of Minnesota and others areas in our nation we have decency laws thanks be to God because if we didn't have decency laws it just allowed anything to happen that would not be good for our nation so under Minnesota statute 617.291 the law was passed much longer before I got
053there way before I got there and it says express sexually explicit material and exhibition's purpose and policy prohibited and I'll just quickly won't be too long I promise and it says this in the state law it is in the best interest of the Health and Welfare and safety of the citizens of the State Minnesota and especially of minors within the state that commercial dissemination and dissemination without monetary consideration in a place of public accommodation lawyer talk of course of sexually explicit written pornographic printed sound or published materials and a plays dances or other exhibitions presented before an audience that are deemed harmful to minors be restricted to persons over the age of 17 over the age of 17 years or if available to minors under the age of 18 years that the availability of the
054materials are to be restricted to resources within established and recognized schools churches museums medical clinics and Physicians hospitals public libraries and government-sponsored organizations we have in our state of Minnesota decency laws that prohibit sexually explicit material period That's the Law now again I commend the board directors the school board and their superintendent that pulled the books books immediately and I think it's wise that you have a committee that overlooked these books Mr Shane because if we don't then all books like that I think in Hopkins now they're banning the To Kill a Mockingbird or Huckleberry Finn we don't want just one or two Rogue people deciding what is appropriate not appropriate now personally my own personal opinion this kind of sexually explicit pornographic books written and pictures should be only one person's decision I don't
055think you need a committee but if that's the day we live in we want a committee to decide what books are appropriate for our children and what are not appropriate so I I just will give my two cents that these books certainly as I read them and I won't repeat them because it's really I'd have to go to confession for sure right afterwards they are horrible or that gentleman read it and it's it's not it's not good you all know that we should not allow that kind of language that kind of stories to be told in our school books period now we should have books of being tolerant accepting loving compassionate tender to All Peoples no matter what race Creed or color or sexuality we are and I think that the school board has been
056doing that I hopefully you've been concentrating on being tolerant and accepting but there is a point where we just cannot allow this kind of material in our schools whatsoever you all know that in your hearts I'm sure you do so uh Mr Shane or I guess I can't uh Miss depa I hope that the committee that you put forth I'll be happy to volunteer seize this explicitly and I'm going to say it again sexually explicit vulgar immaterial which is prohibited by the state of Minnesota unless it's in schools evidently should not be allowed in our school whatsoever I guess that's all I have to say about that and I know that you all will do the right thing to make sure that this kind of Filth does not belong in our school and is pulled
057out but again I caution you certainly the committee is necessary to make sure that good literature is not taken out even if it's uncomfortable but this kind of literature is more than uncomfortable it's unacceptable and inappropriate [Applause] hi my name is Jonathan Shrine I live at 738 rux Farm Road I support the free exchange of ideas and the written word across all sectors of society and in our schools it is my belief that authors need to be able to tell the stories even those we disagree with the recent Spate of book Banning centered on keeping difficult but necessary topics from school kids is a chilling example of censorship racism anti-Semitism and bigotry the Banning of art spiegelman's Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel Mouse and Tennessee on the eve of international Holocaust Remembrance Day is nothing short
058of Haunting in Texas a parent petition to have a biography of former First Lady Michelle Obama removed not even for objectionable content but because of the misguided notion that promoted Reverse Racism across the country State legislatures have introduced bills that would Grant the ability to ban books for objections over depictions of race sexual orientation and gender identity none of this is good for our society I condemn all attempts at censoring books particularly these attempts to harm and silence marginalized voices and keep their stories out of the hands of those who could help prevent these stories from being repeated in our world these attempts threaten our creative community and our society as Citizens it is our job to speak out to protect the written word and its access to those who need it most writer Judy
059Bloom said I believe that censorship grows out of fear and because fear is contagious many parents parents are easily swayed book Banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children's lives this fear is often disguised as moral outrage they want to believe that if their children don't read about it their children won't know about it and if they don't know about it it won't happen these book Bannings are giving into fear reading about the ills of society won't cause these things to happen quite the opposite only armed with knowledge can we prevent the worst from happening and no one ever learned anything in a library about saving the world without having access to the right book to teach them thank you [Applause] hello my name is Nicole Berg I live at 6703 County
060Line Road Southeast in Delano Minnesota and uh I just wanted to um uh talk for a couple seconds about uh two artifacts that I have here I have an old style telephone and I have a book um this is the way that most of the people who are over 18 got their information and learned and the way that they communicated that's the world that we grew up in that's the world that we lived in that's what we know kids that are talking and the kids that have already talked today they don't exist in the same world that we grew up in it's different just a few weeks ago in fact artificial intelligence all the artificial intelligence chat Bots which for those of you who don't know about them are going to be a completely revolutionary
061new thing for the kids that sit in this room and all of the chick this chairs at the Delano public school system an AI chat bot can take any information that you get and it can write a 10-page paper for you in mere seconds and it can take a dialogue sample from you for four minutes it can decide what your vocabulary level is what your age lover is and the vernacular or the words that you would use in writing and it'll create something in seconds and you'll have amazing paper and you can hand it into your teacher and say it was yours and you know what that teacher isn't going to know whether it came from you or something from the internet from an artificial intelligence chatbot an algorithm they live in a whole different
062world so to say that if we take a book and we we say you know what you can't read this and also I'm going to use my mom eyes from the back of my head in the galley that I can't refer to if you're a parent raise your hand now keep it up if you're a parent that has a kid that always listens to you amazing right so this is their world this is their new thing they have this they have technology they have computers this is what they rely on for their research and the information that they get in fact um if you didn't uh my son was early earlier here and he said thank you for the History Day stuff I think that's fantastic that's amazing stuff that we do in our district
063because through that project he was able to learn how to research the real way because I got to tell you if you tell a kid sometimes to research you know what they're going to do they're going to open up they're going to go to Wikipedia and be like I'm done I did all my research and if you're familiar with the way that the information is from Wikipedia it doesn't really work that well so uh we want kids to be able to decipher critically the information that they get from the internet no knowledge first hand and be able to research the best way they possibly can because they won't exist in this book and old telephone way they exist in internet communication devices on computers and a smartphone that they keep with them 24 7. I
064know that everyone's heart is in the right place and you want to protect that innocence and I really recommend that every parent in here has that dialogue with their kids and talks about all the things that they should and should not read that's our responsibility as parents it's not the responsibility of a school district and if you start burning and banning books the only thing that you're teaching our youth is that you believe that the First Amendment doesn't account thank you um hi my name is Kira and I live on 401 Babcock Boulevard um I was I've always had this saying that strict parents raise sneaky children [Music] so when I was 15 I asked my mom if I could read the handmaid's tale she said no and I asked why because I was raised
065with the belief in policy that if I asked a question I would get an honest answer no matter what the answer might be and if I didn't like it so she explained to me that the book includes rape scenes torture the degradation of women and so on still I asked to read it so she said yes I read it and it scared me I was horrified by the content so I reread it and I started to understand it it preaches the dangers of censorship in one part of the book they burn books that they believe are too sexual for people to read I understand the dangers of denying education and I hope other people understand those dangers too thank you hi my name is Nora Siegel and I live at 5847 96th Street Southeast in
066Delano and I would like to point out like a story that has to do with this book painting So in ninth grade I was 14 years old and my AP Gov teacher told me to write a paper on law something had to do with law and something I'm really passionate about is sexual assault laws all over the nation and so I'm like how am I supposed to find a reliable source for all of this so I asked my teacher and she goes why don't you go check out a book from the library so I go okay and I found an autobiography by a rape victim it was about rape and I wrote an amazing paper just because of that and I'm saying if we don't have access to those materials how are we supposed to
067learn about the experiences how are we supposed to know what to do if we are ever in that experience you can't learn that stuff from a tick tock or an article online you just can't you have to like go into the library get a book to read educate yourself and I think it's inappropriate to block students from that kind of education because it could happen to them it could happen to them thank you [Applause] foreign good evening uh Steve Rogers 196 Raymond Avenue uh first of all I know I can't look there I want to say it was great hearing a lot of the students speak up and took a lot of Courage so I can't say congratulations but it was took a lot out of that so I commend you guys I don't believe
068in the concept of burning books or Banning books freedom of speech everything else however my statement is very simple the age where this was brought up was for battle of the books these were on there these were seven no that's a separate setups that are not on this list okay the the statement I look at right now is the concept of saying right now in my opinion children's of those ages 13 and under should be protected there are certain issues that say I don't want my 14 year old daughter if that was last year to see to read those books I'm a dad I want to protect my child's innocence as long as I can the answer was every parent has their own choices again they might not agree with me they might agree with
069me but I look at every one of you on the board and simply say would you want your 12 year old to read those books now I can't ask that question obviously for it but I'd like to put that in the back your head saying there's that book there now the internet is a wonderful thing we just learned about the chat gbts and everything else but we also know the horrors of it too right we also understand that there's things that kids shouldn't know and see so I'm hoping right now in the concept of your new committee that we'll at least look at some age-based recommendations or things that the current library and things do because in my opinion maybe I'm only here by myself but if a student wants to read things that are
070pornographic at best there's a public library there's a situation here where each and every one of you has a job when my kids leave at 7 30 I'm expecting each and every one of you to protect them I'm looking for your again my tax dollars are going to pay for the school funding that's to help the curriculum somewhere in the system you all broke down or the system broke down I'm asking every one of you up here now to do a better job can't change the past I commend all of you for standing up here and taking beaten on this and Mr Shane appreciate you taking the books off but all I'm asking is right now from both the board the administration the librarian do better work with it work with the parents because again
071I don't again from the concept of finding what's available is not necessarily what's should be done if a child wants to find out about it great if a kid wants to do that great I I commend him the young students who came up and read the books said they made a impact in their life I'm happy for him I don't want to take that away the only statement is is that again it's not for every student it's not for every family it's not for everybody's morals and values and from 7 30 right like that's in school start sorry to three o'clock our trust is in your hands and right now the ability is real simple a lot of people came up and talked last year your second um Financial aspect didn't pass right now there's
072a lot of bad press that's going on about Delano that's going to affect this community so all I'm asking right now is first of all again do better thank you [Applause] hey everyone Leah pitzenberger I live at 4082 Woodhill Drive in Loretto um I don't even know where to begin if I'm being honest I've never been to a school board meeting never had a need to come to a school board meeting I have a fourth grader and a first grader we've lived in this community for 15 years we selected this community because of the quality of the education we stayed because of the quality of the education and this experience tonight has been heartbreaking to watch if I'm being honest um I don't know where Clara is or if she's still here but that girl
073is amazing I don't even if my children yeah if my children grew up to be as strong half as strong half as courageous and half as independent as that young woman I that is going to be a job well done I think that much of who she became came came from her parents and their ability to ensure that she had access to the things that she needed to grow as a human being I also think it came from the teachers in this District and how they helped raise her how they ensured that she had access to education quality education and literature the is the list of issues that the gentleman earlier varied dramatically read off for all of us was appalling I agree unfortunately it's the world that we live in today more than anything
074with the events that happened in Nashville um it's scary we live in a really really scary place these are things though that our high schoolers and unfortunately probably our middle schoolers they're exposed to that regardless of the books that are in our library they're exposed to that because I turn on the news in the morning and I find myself having to turn it off perhaps to protect my child from what they see on the news that is a choice that I have to make as a parent to ensure that my children maybe don't see things that they're not ready to be able to process I don't have any interest in restricting others abilities to parent their children or to ensure that they don't have access to literature that maybe isn't an alignment with what they
075believe it is one of the things that I love about this community is that it is a a melding pot if you will of different beliefs it is something that I value about this community it's part of why we live here I also though expect the same rights I expect to be able to ensure that my child my children have access to the things that I want them to have access to and when you remove books from the library while it might protect their child and it is in alignment with their beliefs it is not in alignment with the beliefs that we hold in our family and when you do that you make a choice for me and that doesn't feel equitable and I believe that that is the job of a public school system
076is to provide an equitable education not fair Equitable that means that you have to protect my child and my child's rights and what I believe for my children just as much as you have to protect the other children that's where we enter the picture that's where we as parents play a role you don't do this alone these teachers don't do it alone we are their partners what is happening here in my opinion is a flexing of power of a very few in our district to push their ideology on those of us whose voices are often quieter but do not mistake me my voice is not quiet because I agree my voice is quiet because I trust the teachers and the Educators in this District that not only educate my children but they help raise them
077and I can tell you I've had conversations in the last week or so with some Educators in this District that are alarming and have brought me to tears because these are people who are part of my family literally part of my family and some of them don't want to be in our district and it's because of things like this that is terrifying to me and it should be terrifying to you today I am disappointed in our community not in the school board in our community this is what you see on TV this rhetoric and this ideology and this kind of puffing and the reading of the list and the flapping of the papers that's what you see on TV on the news that is not that is not Delano that is not Who We Are
078that is not who this district is not at my school not where my kids go to school what I urge you to do is not listen to me not listen to the other people that have come up here but listen to the Educators in the school they're the experts listen to our children listen to the kids that have had the courage I agree courage begets courage sure these kids are some of the most courageous human beings I have seen in a very long time they are way more courageous than any of the individuals that have stood up at this Podium tonight and spoken to you way more courageous because they're the ones being marginalized they're the ones being cast aside pushed aside we pay taxes we understand what rights we have what rights we don't
079these kids have opinions and they have a voice and they have a right they have a right to an education that represents what they believe just like everyone else has a right to ensure that their children don't have access to whatever it is they don't want to have want to have access to but don't take it away from the kids so my request to you is not that you listen to me like I don't really know that much if I'm being honest right I'm just a mom who wants my kid to grow up in a safe place where there are where he has access to literature and to friends and to teachers into an experience that keeps him safe that he can relate to because the world it is a scary freaking place I don't
080want this school to be that too thank you [Applause] is there anyone else for public comment sorry hi my name is Laura I live at 253 Franklin Avenue West here in Delano and I wasn't planning on talking I came with a friend tonight but one of the things I just wanted to share is I work as a drug and alcohol counselor at one of the best treatment centers in the world and I work out of Our Youth and Young Adult facility for age 13 to 25. and so uh you know I think we have ideas sometimes of what addicts and alcoholics look like as children and yet like I go in the cafeteria and it looks just like any other high school there are kids who have two parent household Christian one parent household every
081background because it doesn't discriminate addiction doesn't discriminate and these parents call about getting their kid into treatment and they say well I don't know if I want my 13 year old to come there because he might learn things from the other kids that he's not supposed to know and I'm telling you these kids know more than we know half the time when they come in the 13 year old already knows it all and the parent calls and says my kid just is doing this and you get the kid on the phone or you're doing counseling with the kid and they know so much more than the parents ever know when they're telling us and so I hear people saying our job as parents is to protect our kids innocence I talk to a lot of
082these kids who have experienced the things people are saying that are awful in these books they're actually happening to kids who are getting raped who have sexual assault from family members who have been through awful things that you can't imagine and I think if that's your goal as a parent to protect your child's innocence that's okay but my job as a parent is to protect my kids and to teach them how to live in the world my job isn't to protect them and their innocence to the point that they aren't able to launch when they're 18 or when they're in a situation that I'm not able to censor my job as a parent is to equip them with the knowledge and I think like some people said critical thinking skills so that they can do
083it I have a daughter who's in second grade who's an incredible reader top of everything for reading I go to the library I've talked to the woman who was from the library here what can she read she's eight years old she can read well but what can she read what's appropriate for her because she could read books but it's my job to figure out what books are appropriate for her I'm a big reader I've passed on a love of reading to my kids and I do think it's a really slippery slope if we start talking about taking books away because we think it's inappropriate because there are kids who have that lived experience and that can change their life to be able to read that and see someone else share their lived experience um and
084there's healing in that too so I just one of the things I just want to say is to be cautious about making blanket statements about what our job is as parents because we get to choose what our job is and my job is to equip my children to live in this world that the last woman just mentioned is a scary World um so I just wanted to appeal to you on that that there's a lot of things that kids experience that you don't think they do and these books are a great resource for them to learn how to live in our world foreign my name is Melissa ulberg I live at 5150 Fern Drive Loretto and my Fitbit just beeped at me because my heart is racing so fast I'm like oh did I hit
08510 000. no I'm just nervous um I did not write anything super wonderful prepared um I just have a couple points I'd like to say um because I feel like I have to censoring books undermines one of the primary functions of Education teaching students how to think for themselves shouldn't we trust our children to become independent thinkers and in education representation matters even if it makes you uncomfortable someone pointed this out to me I did not find it myself but I hope it's legit I trust him but a recent report from NBC News found that over 50 percent of books being banned are centered around either an lgbtq character or character characters characters of color is that a coincidence I don't think so and I'm I'm wondering and I haven't read these books I wish
086I was a speed reader I only learned about them last Friday but I'm wondering how many people who want to ban these books have actually read them um I'm also curious how many people who are opposed to these books have children who have access to the internet because I'd like to say I have really good kids and you know but they have a phone and I do check their phone I do have some controls on there but they're 16 now they drive they they're exposed to things in the world that I do not have control over and so I have to believe that I've done my best and they're going to make their choices and um just to the last woman's point I I'm a reader my daughter reads a ton and when she was
087little we struggled really we struggled because she wasn't ready for the the maturity and the books that her brain was ready to read um so as a parent I had to work through that and figure out what books she could read but that was my job as a parent but I just I'd also like to say really quickly that um I think you guys are doing a great job the community I moved to moving here I'm kind of glad my kids only have two and a half years left because this scares me that we have so much fear in this community and I I hate it um but thank you [Applause] good evening board members my name is John worth I live on 101st Street and I think uh the last speaker got it right
088we get up to this Podium your heart is racing a little bit so I'll do my best I'm not as eloquent as some of the other speakers tonight but I think as I was sitting listening to tonight it is a wonderful opportunity that you have tonight to hear such a diverse perspective group of perspectives I think this is the wonderful wonderful thing about Delano about the United States is we can all get up here and we can say what we're feeling and there is no fear of repercussions coming back to us even though I may not agree with everything that's being said it is great it is a wonderful feeling to just hear that other perspective and for that reason I I put all my trust in the school board and the school to make
089those right decisions because it is very important for our students to get diverse perspectives and I fear that when we go down that road of Banning books or censoring materials we lose those diverse perspectives and that is a major concern to me as a parent some of those readings that were highlighted today would I want my child children I have three of them in the district would I want my children reading those no but what a wonderful opportunity to have a conversation with them when they do there are often many things that I don't want to happen to my my children do I ever want them to get hurt no do I want them to experience a traumatic event no but when those things happen it is such a wonderful educational opportunity for me as
090a parent to help them understand what is going on in that event to help them come to terms with it and to also instill my values and morals into that situation and I think we're losing that opportunity as a parent when we say you can't do that but how about let's have that conversation read that book let's talk about it and so I want to Echo some of the sentiments tonight of we need those materials to be in place so that some of those conversations can happen so some of the students who may not have great parents can get some of those life lessons and teachings that their parents may not have given to them and so I want to say again thank you for the opportunity to speak thank you for the opportunity for
091others to speak and I trust in your decisions and in the decisions of our teachers who are there day in day out they are there for [Music] the best reasons and they care so much for those children love them like their own and I want to show my support to them and the materials that they choose to use in their classrooms so thank you thank you hello Brenda DeVries 1337 Fox Street in Delano I just wanted to comment I don't think anybody that has talked today does not care about our kids I think we all care desperately about our kids it's figuring out what the best thing to do is and honestly I know it sounds very um it's very inflammatory or or it's very dramatic to talk about book Banning and book burning and
092I personally don't think that that's what this is about at all this is not about banning books or freedom of speech I believe very much in freedom of speech and that notebook should be banned but making it uh labeling books and having them available very much use the library regularly and I've had conversations with the Librarians there and having them labeled appropriately and having them available to students that are able to digest the information is incredibly important so I don't feel like what you're having to decide here has to do with burning books or putting them in a pile and getting rid of them so that we don't discuss some of the topics that are absolutely happening and important and are affecting all of our children the depression the anxiety is off the charts with
093kids and adults alike I I can't believe that every child having access to those books and reading them for some of them it's going to cause anxiety to go up it's going to cause depression to go up it would be awesome if in every home parents were able to be involved and to help kids make those decisions and hopefully that is what is being created here is a community of Parental involvement I don't believe that the school district should raise my children I don't believe that's your job I believe your job is to do the best you can yes to provide uh improv or information and curriculum so that the kids can learn you can't even give an education a student has to earn an education as a parent I can't give an education I
094can't give my student all the things or my children all the things that I would like to give them they have to accept them but I can present them and I can try to like many people have talked about critical thinking skills it's absolutely what it's all about being able to dialogue through those things and I think parents know best about what their child can handle and what their child cannot handle and I cannot possibly know and have intimate knowledge of 8 700 books that are available in the school I just can't so that's where I do count on you to say hey this maybe some sort of a labeling system some sort of a which which is done there are systems out there in a Common Sense Media Goodreads there are they're very similar
095to movie criteria why is something rated R why is something rated G we do that four movies I don't think doing that for books is um unavailable or unacceptable or not even common so I just believe that the information it's not about having to even to decide for one side or another I think you can very much decide and help the community to see that this is an issue of maintaining parental rights and helping us to do the job that we were given to do which is to raise our children so thank you hello Theresa champo5528 44th Street Southeast I don't have anything prepared um the main thing that I wanted to say when I listened to you guys in your work session I liked that you want when Amy said we need to look
096about ingesting the books what's coming into our into our books a lot of you know that I was in education for 10 years eight of that was in the English classroom and then two of that was as a library media specialist in an okay Hennepin so I do have that as my Master's Degree so I feel like I have a little credibility because I've been there when I was the media specialist I had two books that were censored one was a teacher was trying to ban it it was a book about Columbus and she said that's not how it happened you need to get that book out of here and I was young I think I was 20 or I was 30 32 before I had kids and I thought okay oh my gosh she's
097mad about this I gotta get it out of here and there was no policy about that and I started to pull it and then I thought well this just doesn't feel right then I had a book after I had my oldest and I was on maternity leave and my principal called me and she said you have a book that's been banned and I thought oh God and I remember feeling super anxious and thinking I did my best I contacted you know School library Journal I looked at everything to put what the books that I needed in there and I remember we had got this huge Grant and it was something like a hundred thousand dollars in the year 2006 that's a lot of money to be able to put into your library so I didn't
098so when she told me the book was Heather has two mommies I thought oh I do remember that book because of all those books that I had ordered that year I thought oh this is gonna cause some trouble I think even though it was in Oklahoma it was actually um Evergreen Park Elementary School in Brooklyn Center so we had a huge diversity of students I knew that some of my students did have mothers two mothers and not a mother and a father so I thought my my curriculum needs to what I have in my library has to represent my kids and so I do remember buying that book and I specifically and then um that was challenged and I think that was left to remain in the library I really don't know how that happened
099because I was on maternity leave but my whole point is that this really I think it got out of hand and I understand the outrage oh I didn't realize so many people were here I do realize the outrage um god um I do understand because I was like that I taught Huck Finn I taught The Crucible those were had hard topics and those were to Juniors and I remember going through you know and especially with Huck Finn that was been challenged forever and so I'm very adamant you don't ban books you don't censor books however this situation I don't know if you guys really I can't address but I don't think you realize some of these books that are in question um it's it's not things like The Crucible um some of those books on
100the list I mean you guys I don't even know what's all on there but I know specifically there are there are two and I just I'm gonna die reading this my kids are gonna die if they know I'm saying these words in public but I just need feel like I need to say it because these aren't the books the classics that we're asking to pull out because of themes there's some excerpts um like from flamer and I know some some kids some students were in here and seeing they identified with the book and it really helped them that's wonderful I think that's good but we're here to talk about sexual explicit language and these are things that were if I was a librarian I put this in my library I'd be mortified because it does
101it's vulgar I'm just going to read through it I'm page 131 from flamer and this is a graphic novel which means there's pictures that go along and it's like a comic strip can't believe I'm reading this out loud we're each busting a load into this bottle and the children are sitting around there at camp and they're holding a Mountain Dew bottle and it says we're each busting a load into this bottle if you don't come you have to drink it hahaha and this is child probably 13 years old away at camp that's one of the pictures page 14 hey Navarro suck any good dicks lately hahaha page 14. page 121 haha it's true my dick gets so hard thinking about her sometimes that I think it's gonna rip right through my jeans no really I've
102got a bad she just hasn't realized she wants me yet those books are fine if you want your children to read those but if my 13 year olds you know was reading that I want her to hear that kind of stuff from me and I know that it's inevitable this is the way our society is going but dear Lord we have 12 year olds in the building and I know man I can't adjust but I know that you guys knew this was bad because you pulled it immediately which I appreciate you can't have that book coming back or you just really can't on the second one and this is really bad for me Earl and a dying girl this is on page 60. yeah Earl I'm going to eat her do you even know how
103to eat um not really papa gains never sat you down and said Son someday you're gonna have to eat the no but did he teach me how to eat no but he did teach me how to eat a butthole again 12 year olds in our building 12 year olds isn't classic literature this isn't Huck Finn that we're seeing get rid of this is disgusting and if you want to read it when you're older again even even my junior I mean I know she's you know she's gonna see and she's gonna hear this stuff but but a 12 year old later in the novel it talks about the three um Step message of six duck seduction well fine whatever I guess that's not so bad but the ones that above it were um this is kind
104of what we're talking about these are the books it's not this hundred list of let's throw you know have a big party and throw books into a bonfire it's these kind of books so if you guys could develop something to find those specific books put them in in a section where only the older kids and I don't even know us I'm sure some parents are gonna have a fit that I'm even saying this but have it where it's not easily acceptable to our 12 year old accessible for our 12 year olds to see them that's what we're talking about I'm like I said I have a master's degree in library media I was in English English teacher I love books my whole house is still full of books the classics and it's not about censoring
105those books because if it were I'd be with these people and I would say heck no you don't do that these are the books that we're talking about so if there's a way that you can come in and and I know it's going to be extensive but we shouldn't have 12 year olds being able to read a book that says hey did you suck any good dicks lately that's just horrifying to me so I hope that that I think there's some misunderstanding about what is being looked at as a whole and asked as a whole because for me that's what I would like you guys to look at Delano has a great reputation and I think that that's one thing I want you guys to consider is what do we want to be known for
106we're not going to be throwing books into a big bonfire but we certainly have to have a way to make sure that our youngest students aren't going to be reading this kind of stuff as such young and age thank you thank you [Applause] foreign excuse me uh 6012 fenning Avenue um I don't even know what I'm doing here I have a kindergartner um I taught for 17 years I've been in Elementary classrooms Middle School classrooms High School classrooms I ran summer math programs I worked at summer camps I've worked with kids from kindergarten all the way through College physical mental disabilities all walks of life um I just moved into the district and I see stuff going on like this and I'm like I came to Delano because it was great and so I don't
107feel like the school is inherently bad you can't walk into Delano any of the schools and be like oh this school sucks this school is terrible these people are garbage you can't I don't think that there's anything inherently bad about Delano schools but it's really really hard as a dad of a two-year-old and a kindergartner having the experiences that I have to see these types of things going on whether it's it's not book Manning we just want I don't want my I don't want kids that I've taught I don't want and I as a teacher the kids that are in my classroom are my responsibility while I'm while they're there somebody brought up that what's going on on school shootings yeah be a teacher in a classroom and have stuck to the sixth graders and
108say your parents dropped you off at school today you're my response go huddle in the corner while we wonder what's going to happen that's a terrible thing as a teacher but as a parent I know that when I drop my kid off I hope those teachers feel the same way I did about the kids that I had in my class I'm not guaranteed that but I hope and I will be part of whatever needs to be put to make sure that kids get to read no problem with that we have a public library love the public library we have a school library at all levels fantastic let's figure out what needs to happen to make sure that everybody feels comfortable with what's going on anything I've heard tonight does not sound like we want to
109burn books it doesn't sound like we want to ban books it sounds like we want to figure out if books are okay for certain age level kids and being in school districts all over the United States there are things that are acceptable in one place and not in another at one age and not another age we have to figure it out and we have to have the community involved you the board is a huge part of a school district the administration is a huge part the teachers the the peras all of the staff all the way down to the building engineers but you're all here for the community every person in the community every single person in the community not one person that's loud not one person that's quiet everybody there is no time to
110be bickering back and forth thinking that there is some sort of political thing involving this schools have no place for politics it has to be what is best for the kids and what is best for the community at Large sorry I don't know thank you [Applause] good evening my name is Sean uh 331 Franklin Avenue West Delano [Music] um I don't have any prepared remarks I'm just a dad I got four kids in the district um I don't envy you folks on the board you have a very difficult job um I know several of you I know your heart's in the right place you're doing a great job and I think for the most part the community supports you so thank you for what you do it's not easy to run a district so thank
111you to the administration um like I said I don't need prepared remarks I don't think there's anything that qualifies me to talk I like to read I like books um I think I read I keep track 65 books last year they're just looking 61 books a year before 40 books the year before kovid was it's been good for my reading but again that doesn't qualify me um I've got very close friends on both sides of this if you want to get into that but I don't come from an ideological perspective I'm not left or right or whatever like I said I'm just a dad um I'm familiar with a few of these books I've done a little bit of research read a few excerpts um if you're a teacher and you need to provide my
112child pornographic patently offensive vulgar nudity literature about rape murder incest in order to teach English or you're a bad teacher okay you're a terrible teacher if you need that to teach my child and I think a lot of the community feels that way I love books there's over a thousand years in the Corpus of English literature that you have to choose from I Love contemporary literature modern literature it's all great but you don't need pornography to teach kids if you're a school board and you're afraid or sorry if your motivation is to come up with a compromise because you want to help everybody you know not offend anybody and bring us all together I admire you know that quality and you can't come up with a policy that keeps pornography away from my children shame
113on you that's on you um if you're a parent or you know something I appreciate about Delano is all the perspectives and diversity um we we love Delano I've lived in big cities little cities Countryside Farms I've lived in Europe um I appreciate so many things about Delano um but I'm sorry trying to find my words here if you think that in order to protect marginalized voices you need to promote this explicit patently offensive vulgar borderline obscene material that's not true there's plenty of literature you can draw from to teach promote encourage Inspire students without going into that garbage and we've only read a tiny tiny fraction of the garbage that's in our library right now many of you probably know the online the library catalog is digital it's online anybody can go most of
114these books are checked out right now um I want to applaud the students who have come forward great job courageous you guys are awesome we might disagree about things but keep it up free thinking I love it but there are many many many other places to go get contents books magazines media besides the Delano High School Public Library Delano Intermediate School Library Delano Elementary School library there's County Libraries if you're writing a paper about a law case you go to a law library or a University Library you go online many people have talked about well they're going to find it online anyway maybe like I'm I'm not stupid I have kids I have teenagers a couple of them I know what's out there um but the fact that it exists doesn't give you license to
115say well fend for yourself shame on you if that's your default position that's terrible and I think that's I don't want to speak for the room but I feel like there's a lot of sentiment in the community that that feels that way like I said I have very close friends and family on both sides of this um so again we trust you you guys have a very difficult job um I don't envy what you do but if you can't craft a policy to at least protect our kids safety is like in your mission statement something's not right if you're an Administration and you can't craft a policy that protects our kids shame on you um I I applaud the fact that a book came into being or you know its presence the library became known
116several people brought it to attention it was dealt with by the administration now we're going there's going to be this Committee in this process this protocol and these arguments and blah blah blah I mean call me old-fashioned but I want to think when I was in school that the the administration like the the they would just say no it's out and the buck would not be passed like it would just be decided and sure there'd be opportunity for the Democratic process and so forth but um yeah sorry I think that's all I have to say thank you for your time thank you my name is Troy lafromboys853 Goldenrod Court um I just had a few thoughts to share on this topic I remember when my kids were in uh grade school middle school seeing the
117themes of some of the books they read seemed a little dark to me at the time for such young kids but I never really thought much of it but to see some of the content that we're pointing out and drawing attention to with this debate I just blew my socks off if anybody here and I want to address the crowd but if anybody here in this room is not aware of exactly what we're talking about talk to myself Jake any number of people in here and we can point you and and show you exactly it's something we can't even we're nervous sharing with uh younger people outside of the school because we didn't have the same exemptions that the school and Library have to protect us from legal action that's how that's how extreme this
118stuff is um I don't think anybody here advocating doing something or putting a policy together to protect our children is talking about banning or burning books but there does need to be something in place to allow parents to exercise and the right to protect their children from what they deem to be a bad influence I don't know how else to say it um I think that's all I have to say I don't enter you guys your job it's going to be tough but I think there's plenty of people on both sides of this fence who would be willing to help out if you put this committee together I myself would volunteer I know there are many many of my friends that would do as well so thank you my name is Elle sheffers I live
119at 3590 Independence Road Maple Plain I think I'm the oldest speaker here tonight and that I hope I don't embarrass the old people tonight uh I think I'm going to speak to a lot of people here that would like to get up but aren't here tonight I think there's a lot of people that are after these if they had a chance to see what some of the episodes was of some of the books in the library would not be very pleased with what the school point out now I have four children I'd graduate through Delano here and they're all doing very well and I I think they're going to continue doing well at least as I see it at this point none of them are in jail yet so I so some of the education
120did have some value I have never been at a school board before and I always was at the impression that the school board was looking at the best interest of my children and I I guess I shouldn't have been assumed that I should have probably did like some of the people like Jake out here has taken the time to extensively look and read and see what is out there and it's it's not high quality literature that you guys are promoting you know these books are are what we used to refer to as crotch novels they're not War and Peace you guys should be having books that stimulate the children are in raising their standards they're going to find out these things at some point that's fine but I don't think I would like our school
121to have a signed reading that would include these books and then expect the parents to find out about it somehow if it gets back to them you guys should be setting some standards and I think that it sounds like there's going to be some review of what you have in the library and that's good and I don't think we should be banning bird books and I know there are some schools that won't allow Huck Finn to be shown anymore because it's a racist book supposedly uh I hope we're not doing any of that in this school district taking other books out where you're you're Banning books and then talking up free speech to the point where you think it's the parents are against free speech I think parents out here there's a lot of aren't
122speaking to it tonight they would just hold you to a standard of let's put a quality of Education out there for the students that would be in their best interest thank you so much okay is there anyone else that would like to address the board my name is Stephanie Larson I live on 72nd Street Southeast in Montrose and I'm in the Delano School District I really appreciate all of your patient listening here tonight you haven't interrupted it takes a lot of endurance to listen to all these viewpoints I appreciate that we have so many different viewpoints it's really what makes up a community I am an Avid Reader I am in the publishing industry so I was here for the earlier part of the meeting and what struck me as a bit um surprising was
123and I'll refer to What's called the ingestion process and that is when schools choose to what books to include in their resource what materials they have in their library and so forth the phrase I think I heard of correct me if I'm wrong was every book is innocent until proven guilty that puts the onus of responsibility on the parents to choose which books their child should not View and we do have a responsibility as parents to make that decision but that would require the parents to read through I think it was 8 700 books in the library and a lot of this content is buried between the pages of these books the media specialist and I'm very I very much appreciate the media specialist that spoke earlier that responsibility is on one person and they
124pull from One Source now it's lauded as the gold standard it's a school library Journal who's making those decisions so yes there is a process it's called discernment not censorship not Banning because really that is a false representation of what's Happening Here this is not about banning this is about discernment and about trust we parents trust you all of you to make wise choices to raise the standards of our kids to have good learning material so I would suggest to you to review your ingestion process so we do not waste District resources which The Proposal that I heard tonight was for the review process is one title at a time that needs to be submitted via a long application it has to go through 30 days in which every board member reads the entire book
125cover to cover there's another couple of weeks of review after that that's 45 days per title right now we've got 20 books that are in question those are just 20. that would take you the entire year and I think I heard about three thousand dollars that would review process per title would cost so that seems to me such a waste of District resources wouldn't it be better to have a process in place that had far better discernment at the onset of books coming into the library perhaps even parent input Community input again I love literature I'm an Avid Reader I do not ever want to be in a dystopian Universe where we start burning books Banning books censoring books in our country but there has to be discernment and I thank you very much for
126listening good evening school board members Mr Shane Mike torment 588 Prairie Creek Drive um it was really nice to hear from a lot of different perspectives tonight on this specific issue I've spoke before around concerns not just with books I had just to start this piece off I had two daughters a fifth and sixth grader in the Battle of the books program and both Avid readers anybody who knows my Olivia she's got her nose in a book 24 7 and I just loves reading very and very competitive just go to the candy bar sales to find that out um but we we had to pull her and and my daughter Lily from that because there were books in there that were uh in my opinion pervasive vulgar and some of those were addressed and and
127uh I think a lot of other families were were pulled from that program and that's unfortunate that we have content at that age so we're talking 11 and 20 20 12 year olds that are that are pretty edgy uh in my opinion for that age and I respect that we need to have diversity of thought with these books um and I certainly wouldn't want to um I'm a I'm a Navy vet I'm a freedom loving American the last thing I would ever want to see in this country was would be a pile of books being burned but that's not what's at stake here and that's not the issue that I think at least for me that that that caused I think the the kind of the Uproar um it's a very few number of books
128that I think um in my opinion it just seemed common sense in fact I didn't think there would be a debate uh you know things like uh it's uh that our local library was very proactive in uh in this issue as was our governor um in making it available through the paper announcing books that have been banned by some local schools that were freely available um and and the first one that was highlighted and recommended read was genderqueer which in my quick review has a naked mailman having gay sex illustrations of masturbation things like that I just can't imagine uh age-appropriate content like that that we would have accessible to kids most the time those would be behind the counter and be be an opt-in kind of thing not opt out and so the opt-out
129strategy concerns me Mr Shane because that does allow them to expose content I don't buy into the idea that just because they can get content on the Internet or on their phone that should be okay in the school the school is a really sacred place in my opinion it's a it's a place that our kids absolutely look up to every one of you guys especially their teachers they worship their teachers especially in the elementary and Intermediate School um and so I I've heard for example we have we had an elementary teacher that was teaching that Thanksgiving was a damn morning and and that to me is really unfortunate that we have that kind of things and so my perspective as you know I may be more of an alarmist I don't think you know as
130I speak to some administrators and school board members that my my passion with this topic is much broader than just books that I see a an erosion of what I consider traditional American values and it scares me and I want our school as we've talked about to be a very safe place and I think safety in my opinion is the school board's number one policy way above learning learning is important but are all of our kids and I'm talking about all of them whether you're struggling in school you're fat you have gender issues whatever your thing is in life that kids can pick on we have to protect them and that's what we talked about a zero tolerance bullying policy I absolutely support that and um so I think for me this is just part
131of a bigger picture that we want to have a place that is that is very safe very neutral some of these topics tend to be very polarizing in our community and I'm glad we can speak openly about it I love that about America I love that about Delano not all schools allow people to come speak freely and and and I really do appreciate that we have this opportunity to share our input um what I do hope happens is that you take this seriously that some of this content isn't about banning kids ability to access material that can help them in their lives it's really about identifying what I consider pervasively vulgar that it to me is over the top for the age group and most of the kids in the school are minors and and
132that that material has already been stated many times this they can go to the public library they'd be excited to share that content with them we don't need to have that here our kids look up to you guys and they need to trust that what they're getting is is the right stuff and um I just I just pray for our kids because in this they're they're surrounded all around um I didn't I've been thinking about our kids exposure to life whether it's on their phones on TV at movies and other other parts they are exposed to things but that doesn't mean we have to ramp it up here too we can prepare prepare our kids in other ways so I hope you take it seriously I hope you look at the content and I hope
133you take Fair action that protects all kids and and that for me would be to not allow this checkout option I'm not sure I I'm excited about I think that just means they can go with their buddies in the corner and start looking at these naked pictures so I I don't like that um but I hope the board will take Serious action that they have representation from all parties kids parents from all different spectrums of life and that we can come up with a plan that that's amenable to everybody thank you thank you is there anybody else that would like to address the board [Applause] good evening my name is Les Hamilton at 57 65. 45th Street Southeast of Illinois we've been talking about a particular subject all night here and that's really secondary to
134a more important question that each of us want to or should ask ourselves once in a while so in due respect to the board I want to ask a question but I don't want you to answer it tonight I want you to go home and ponder it you see one week from this coming Sunday the special day for several people in this room if they're known as and believe themselves born-again believers so my question to you tonight no answer required but to each board member here in all due respect what would Christ Jesus do and say about this entire situation thank you it's okay okay I'll be quick sorry I know everyone wants to leave I'm Wendy dohmeyer 642 Ridgewood Lane um I really don't know what I'm gonna say and I promised my husband
135I wouldn't speak because so this is gonna be one of those viral moments but my kids are all in the elementary school one going to be and I honestly feel like I'm living a nightmare living in this town I moved here for this school I moved here for this community and now we spent every week talking about should we leave my I was a victim of many of the things in those books I want to be able to tell my six-year-old daughter about those things and not have it read in a book where I'm not aware of that I want to consent to where they find it out and maybe I won't be able to but I never in my life thought it would be the public schools that would teach him that my kids
136have had incidents where things have happened with bullying where my daughter has water pants for the first time since she's a year old the the school districts test scores continue to decline the United States IQ just declined for the first time in history because this is our Focus explicit content left versus right School climate that spent how much money on this what are we teaching our kids what do we care about every day I worry about school shootings and what they're going to find out in school I cannot police everything they read my son reads 40 chapters a night I wish I could be ahead of him but I can't I am very fortunate that my children have had amazing teachers that I trust with everything I have but that's not always going to be
137the case and I just don't know how this is our Focus these are our resources when programs and teachers are being taken away for these types of funding and all all the fighting about book Banning and censorship I just want to protect them if other people want their kids to read this that's fine but I do not want to find it an opt-out situation I want to consent they are minors they are young children I don't really know what else I want to say but I really don't know how we got here and I hope someday we do get back to protecting them and caring about academic excellence and the bickering stops okay that's all I wanted to say [Applause] Carrie quasnica 5774 45th Street Southeast Delano I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone
138I've heard some members of the board refer to some of these books as young adult literature I don't think there's anyone here tonight that listened to some of the excerpts from these books that Teresa read or that Jake read and would classify it as young adult literature how is that education I don't have the courage to read some of the passages but I did read them on my own and I actually shared them uh with some men that I work with from corporate Executives down to field Crews every single person was horrified horrified as am I and as the last speaker just said we are all busy most of us are working full-time more than 40 hours a week we don't have time to stay ahead of our kids and books it is impossible and
139we don't know what we don't know never in my wildest dreams would I have suspected that there are at least what I consider pornographic books to be in our public school system I don't care what age it is I I'm just curious you know how old do you have to be to buy a Hustler magazine or a Playboy or some of the stuff I heard tonight I'm assumed would be read in these magazines it's just shocking to me and I understand we probably all have a different blush level but I certainly hope that that isn't going to be what we base the decision off of whether some of these books are going to be allowed to stay or to go and I don't think anyone is is here to talk about burning books I've heard
140a lot of that tonight uh but we we as parents my job is to raise my my kids not the school not a teacher that is my job with your help you educate them I I again nothing of what I've heard tonight these experts from these books I would consider to be educational we talk about wanting to stimulate our children when I read some of those experts we certainly are stimulating them but in all the wrong ways garbage in garbage out I also have been the victim of many of those situations we've heard tonight and there's there wasn't a book that would have saved me I wasn't naive when I went out into this world someone else's experience talking about to your kids about how to protect themselves so they aren't naive when we send
141them off when we launch them into the world but there's an age there is a an Age of Reason right there's a time and a place when we talk to our kids about sensitive material but and and that that that really needs to be heard here tonight every single person in this room every parent that has gotten up and spoken clearly we all love our kids we all want to protect them uh and but we also need to make sure that what they're being provided at school unbeknownst to us is appropriate as well the woman that brought up the corded phone um I grew up in Delano we had a big house my mom is here tonight and I am so glad we had that corded phone because it protected me when I needed to
142be protected and then when I turned 18 I went off to college and I had what I needed to make decisions that I needed to make and so thank you Mom for having a corded phone so that we couldn't have some of those maybe inappropriate or um you know conversations that we shouldn't have been having or plans that we wanted to make on the weekend that probably would have put us In Harm's Way I I understand some parents also uh you know we talk about giving our kids um phones and computers we as parents have the right to put parental controls on those we as parents decide what age our children get those and for all of my kids it was at a different age I've raised two pretty amazing adults as far as I'm
143concerned and I still have a junior here at Delano um and so we we decide what what those little eyes see and read not a teacher not a school and I I personally consider it to be porn I I don't know how else you interpret some of those passages we read and so my question to the board is much like Les Hamilton proposed just a question for you how is that education thank you is there anyone else who would like to address the board see none on behalf of the board I want to thank you all for coming sharing your thoughts with the board and your personal stories all of this takes courage to stand up in front of a large crowd and share your thoughts on these subjects for both our adults and our
144students that doesn't go unnoticed by the board I also want to thank you for showing respect to the administration our staff and our board members throughout tonight we appreciate you taking the time to be here with us for the last couple hours I'm going to give you the opportunity to sneak out before we continue with the rest of the board meeting thank you I'm taking a break yeah I can call for a recess whenever you want I'll take a motion to go into recess for five minutes second Corey second even Corey the board is in recess okay thanks 9 25. time it is 9 26. [Music] moving on to administrative reports for Stuff superintendent game thank you ladies and gentlemen on the board I'll be very brief with my administrative report just some updates some
145major highlights from the state the universal free lunch for all students has been signed into law by the governor I want to clarify with uh with all of our constituents that that goes into law in action next school year not today not next week not any time through the rest of the school year it's a law that goes into act so people that it's not a free lunch today or or this school year that goes into effect next school year the house and the Senate the governor have agreed to Joint budget targets which allocate how much each budget committees can appropriate for their budget areas the budget targets for K-12 education are set at 2.5 billion so there's a lot of discussion though on where that goes but that is their guidelines the parameters uh
146in the targets it's approximately 2.5 billion dollars so that's it'll be interesting to see how that gets allocated in what way in what shape and form and more details to follow I just wanted to share and you can I'll be sharing this presentation with you as well I updated the board last month on the actual flowchart structure of our change in our leadership structure in the district I now attached attached an organizational document that actually what I said to you verbally last month is actually in written form of a document of each of the leadership teams and what their purpose is the roles and the responsibilities and the memberships on each of those teams for your reference only and that's all I have for this evening do you have any questions of me any questions
1472.5 billion compared to like years past like I realized we don't know how it's allocated but is that like yeah double triple like um I'd have to go back but I don't recall for example last session when it was in between the biennium and no decisions were made it was about 9 billion total of a uh of a of a fund balance for the state budget this would be close to in my view in my at least in my time period I've never seen this kind of money in that area but I don't remember ever seeing the 17.5 billion dollars right right fund balance as well any other questions all right so moving on to our principles Miss Thompson good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board I'll be presenting to you this evening on
148behalf of the Delano intermediate school and I will be brief um just an update in terms of what our building site-based team has been focusing on and preparing for our number one Focus right now is I'm getting ready for the MCAS so we're heading into spring break next week and then we have a couple of weeks on before we dive into it all grades in our building do math and reading fifth grade also does science so we're just taking a lot of time to focus on getting ready for managing small groups and schedules and all of those things so that's kind of our Focus right now and really the whole focus of April is just making sure that we have a testing environment set up for students so they can be successful in terms of
149professional development last month we did have our last session with Carrie volrath she's been working with our staff on student driven learning we've really enjoyed having her come to work with our staff moving forward for the remainder of the year we'll be focusing on kind of rolling out our multi-tiered systems of support and starting to look at how that will be implemented next year at the intermediate school so that will be the focus of our two hour Elite start in April and then I just will end with a highlight of our of our month at the Intermediate School um last week we participated in give back week for the second year in a row um it's just a campaign organized by some teachers who raise funds for a good cause get kids kind of excited
150about empathy which is our theme for the month so we raise money for the leukemian Lymphoma Society and the Ronald McDonald House highlight of the week was the dunk tank that we did in the cafeteria on Friday Matt came he threw some balls it was exciting teachers got dunked I missed terribly I've got terrible aim um but we raised over two thousand dollars for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society kids brought in pop tabs and also non-perishable food items for the Ronald McDonald House so um and then just I wanted to highlight we had a few students who during this event the news came out about the Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis being broken into and these girls came up to me the next morning and said Miss Thompson did you hear the Ronald McDonald house and
151they kind of launched their own campaign that night we sent out some emails to parents and they actually raised over 700 just in one night just saying like hey this happened to these kids we want to raise money specifically for um things were taken from their rec room so extra for the Xbox is what they called it so just to highlight some of the really wonderful things that our our kids and our staff are doing um Andy Brown Katie colviner Rebecca olmstein take the lead on that so comments or questions any questions thank you thank you up next high school principal Mr White [Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen on the board it's a pleasure to speak on behalf of the high school this evening I know that um back at the very beginning of
152the Personnel agenda item you recognized Mr Jerry shouts who's retiring at the end of the year I wanted to call that out again he has been a very effective and successful math teacher as well as math team coach and this number is just mind-blowing to me so I want to reiterate that Jerry has been teaching at Delano High School since 1984. blows my mind so it's just obviously super appreciative of Mr shouts and all the work that he's done on the service to our community a couple more Awards our history day participants in eighth grade for which there are many and too many to just identify by name but every 8th grade history day participant that recently attended a regional competition has moved on to the state competition which will take place on April 22nd
153and also congratulations to our boys basketball team who was awarded the state championship for academics by the Minnesota basketball coaches association so congratulations to them um a couple of updates from our site-based leadership team we do have a meeting tomorrow and at that meeting we'll be talking about our student handbook revisions we've also been having conversations about our conference plan for next year as well as opportunities to to adjust our Flex learning plan so we've been having those ongoing conversations and primarily our focus in site base of course is our site Improvement plan and a big component of that plan is obviously to assess the quality of the culture and climate within the high school we're focusing this year on inclusion and respect as you know and last year we learned a lot from our
154school climate survey that was conducted in fact we actually partnered with Mr Brown and his CIS psychology students to revamp our survey to make it a little bit more uh well a lot more free of bias and a little simpler in its scope and so I had a wonderful meeting with that group and we are looking forward to implementing that survey in the month of May so thanks to Mr Brown and his CIS psych students so with that I'll just stand for any questions that anyone might have about Delano High School any questions for Mr White I'm not sure if it's a question for you or Mr Shane the the community event the outside company that came in is that an update or something you will provide Barry or you Matt yeah we're just in
155the process of reviewing the report okay and I'll be presenting that to the board next month gotcha okay thank you any other questions Mr White moving on to Elementary principal Miss Schultz good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board a pleasure to speak with you on behalf of the elementary school quick site-based update we are also kind of going through our mid-year review so teams take a look at our goals and kind of give feedback on the progress we're specifically looking right now in our PD and curriculum areas as those impact our student achievement goals the most and kind of where we are in our progress with our PD and mtss we are also continuing on our vision and Mission work and now the next phase is to kind of add our guiding principles of
156what we want those kind of buzz words to mean a lot of vision and mission statements can be very broad so we want to have some tangible items of like this is how you will see respect this is how you will see a welcoming community so teams are kind of going through those things providing different experiences for families that they would visibly be able to see we are also going through our handbook revisions as well and then our last um late start we had some time for some vertical team conversations which was really good and our site-based team was able to kind of review those conversations it was K1 and 2-3 for this round and then in May we'll have another opportunity for our Pre-K and then one and two and then three and four
157so always good to have those checks of system-wide things gaps and strengths to review um an mtss update kind of as Miss Thompson shared we will have Ethan schwer coming in April and then our buildings will break out as kind of a more specific look at what we can expect to work on within our buildings as we all are in slightly different phases of our mtss rollout so we'll do that on site and then we met with Nicole mckevitt mcavey I'm not sure how to pronounce that exactly but she was recommended from our mtss cohort through mde as one of our presenters potentially for Workshop week so we are excited to hopefully partner with her to kick off Workshop week with our mtss and then possibly continue on with some late starts throughout the year
158so it'll be nice to kind of have some alignment and consistency with the same goals that we're all working on and to kind of close out with some events that we had and some that we are looking forward to we had our family reading night last month no it was it's still march yeah at the beginning of this month February was busy and then March came and it's like oh my goodness yes so at the beginning of March we had family reading night we had about 150 families turn out for that which was wonderful our second great music concerts Miss Coots and Miss Healy our new music teacher did phenomenal jobs very well received Kindergarten Roundup was last week Monday Tuesday Cindy's kind of going through all of the information that she received new registrations
159things like that to kind of give a new prediction of numbers for enrollment and we also had our tiger fun fair our pie group did a phenomenal job organizing that I know misteppa had a big hand in organizing that as well thank you lots of community involvement there was wonderful and we are looking forward to an art fair that we are having uh on Thursday April 20th where kids are going to submit work and then that will be displayed for people to come and visit and tour the tiger Dash is Saturday April 29th and we are currently preparing for MCAS that will be April 18th 20th 25th and 27th and last I would like to also formally congratulate Cindy Selco she is one of a kind and will be missed greatly at DES she was
160an integral part of my transition and as principal so I owe a lot to her for showing me the ropes and we will miss her but we are so excited for her as she retires any questions or comments any questions thank you thank you up next business manager merry reader just things in April the district will be advertising for quotes for student transportation services and per Minnesota State Statute the district's Transportation negotiations committee will be utilizing the direct negotiation process with the provider that is selected so that'll happen and it'll probably be approved at either the May or June board meeting hopefully and then as Mr Shane stated earlier the governor did sign a bill for the priest breakfast and lunches for students for next year we don't have any specific information yet mde is
161still trying to work all that out but families can expect to get information before the start of school next fall Larry will we still need families to fill out that free and reduced launch form going forward for other funding but that not for funding on that side of it necessarily but they will if they want it still helps with the compensatory but that we don't get that many people that fill that form out but where that comes into play if you don't qualify directly provide for free or reduced lunch if you need assistance for community and programs or athletic fees that's where that form will come into play more extensively okay can we order really fancy food and they'll still pay for it do you think merciness that for free lunches so which is currently
162probably higher than what we're charging it's higher than what we charge so it will seem fancy it could be fancy twice a week but if they want more is it going to be similar to how yeah yep there's all those Hungry Boys one breakfast and one lunch per day yeah and if they order anything extra or get a second lunch there still will be extra cost for that as well learned that the hard way yeah me too any other questions from this reader um uh Eric was at a meeting that he could not get out of and had to attend so he gave me the report to give uh and there's four major areas that he wanted me to update you on the TK summer programming challenges regarding Staffing our student program have taken a
163far more positive turn since last month we have hired a number of new staff for this coming summer that we are very excited about the long wait list continues to decline in the program coordinator's goal is to get every child in for this summer this would be our put our numbers at just shy of 300 kids in tkc for the summer this would be our largest number of kids in our history they're also coming up with unique ideas in regarding in regards to Staffing Tim lingen was worked in the summer for us for many years will be designated as our Fayette summer teacher this summer we will have groups go to Mr Lincoln for organized Fayed this summer we are also adding other Specialists that will break up the day and make that this summer
164to a summer to remember for our kids in summer brochure coordinators are wrapping up their program planning for summer and brochure will be sent out to print within the next couple of weeks the brochure will should be in the mailboxes by the end of April or early May the digital version of the brochure will also be distributed and available online for screening consensus our screening numbers show a decline from 2122 we screened 190 plus students through the end of June of 2022 we are currently looking at screening an estimated 170 students or 170 plus students for the year although we have not directly correlated screening numbers to kindergarten enrollment I believe the reduced number of students to that go through screening is noteworthy and last but not least recreation in Richmond after three year Hiatus
165the Gale Woods Farm Camp will be offered again this summer The Summer fundamental tennis clinic and private tennis lessons are making a return after a one-year break we are planning for a robust variety of activities between youth recreation and enrichment programs this summer 95 sections includes the report to the community thank you next up is our student board reps all right everyone I'm going to start out with the elementary today it's just me Willie is in Europe walking him um so me and Mrs Schultz kind of just talked about some of the things that she shared with you about Kindergarten Roundup the second grade concert and all of the very fun and exciting things that kids had going on the month of March I know that when we talked to kids they were very very
166energetic and excited this month very chatty I know they talked about how they celebrated the 100th day of school and how they're really enjoying things that they're learning I know that me and Mrs Schultz also talked about how they have a service dog that comes in for some kids and I thought that was just incredible I think mental health in schools is so important especially for younger kids moving on to the intermediate Miss Thompson shared with me about students excitement for spring break as soon as participation and give back week as she discussed and then also how students are getting prepared for MCAS I'm just touching on those three students who started their own fundraiser I had actually talked to some teachers about that when I met with some teachers and I think everyone just
167thinks it's amazing and kudos to those teachers and administration for fostering such empathetic and amazing kids who really take things into their own hands I talked to some kids this month and they were excited about learning about figurative language in their language arts classes and then as always at the intermediate school math is such a favorite kids just love math they want to talk about math all the time which is great could it be me but all right and then I met with Mr voy and we kind of talked about planning going on for next year so we talked about how homecoming we're going to have some changes in the high school next year I won't be there for it but it'll be interesting to see how that plays out and then all of the
168really exciting things coming up in the next coming of months in April we've got prom and then they're also planning a job fair for high school students which I think will be great for kids who are looking for summer employment options and just career ideas and then also about graduation and Senior Awards which is crazy that creeping up and then also just making sure that kids are on track to graduate figuring out schedules is another priority at the high school right now um kids were talking about at the high school they had their concerts as well not as exciting as the second graders but yeah it's kind of it for this month it's crazy busy but any questions for our student board rep all right thank you thank you board reports first up is masico
169yeah I attended matsiqua I'll be incredibly brief it was a lot of policy work that we did last month as well as we uh approved a position a nurse position that we were previously Contracting through Howard Lake uh through their Howard lakelands in Waverly I can't remember which one of those goes first I know you got to say right or um and so we approved to have our own full-time equivalent for serving the co-op so that's going to work well and then we had some long-term retirements as well and because of that uh Melissa put forth just a restructuring to better serve kind of some of those ancillary alternative site programs and then we challenged her a little bit to say is that ideally the right structure and she went back to talked to the
170soups there was not as much appetite in terms of funding to actually do I think what the long-term Vision should be around how they organize themselves but we'll revisit again in the future so she's doing a fantastic job I can't say that enough was that any questions for Amy all right moving on next up right Tech Center uh I'm on the buildings and ground Committee of right Tech so this list created for their ltfm is certainly needed so Delano out of the eight schools we represent about 10 percent of the funding and it's in my opinion it's an excellent option for our trade students so I do believe it's a it's money well spent otherwise the the minutes are posted in the in the document sounds good any questions for Jim I have a question
171Jim is the long-term facilities would you view that as like just maintenance is there any growth yeah a lot of Band-Aids yeah not so not so much expansion of right well they and they did add a heavy equipment class recently and this is based on some grants from some unions and whatnot and they're they're always trying to add to the automotive and Welding it's really whichever classes get the most uh registration they attempt to grow and then they get surprised when a program was you know 100 students and it drops to 40 for some reason so then they're scrambling moving around but now it is it's really maintaining over growth yeah is to clarify ltfm can only be used to maintain AKA okay any other questions all right moving on next up on the agenda's
172old business and we have none of that so moving on to new business first up is to approve first read of policy 631 selection of media center materials policy we were going to dialogue that in work session I don't think we actually got to it and so you guys received it um this is the first read so it's not approving the policy permanently going forward there's still a chance to make changes and so forth and motion to approve that policy so I think some of the things that I struggled I'm struggling with is more I just I think I would uh I don't know I can't I can't even attempt to articulate words anymore but having it more be around our process of how we select materials so that's what I'm struggling with it feels
173like this policy is trying to do two things which is how do we select materials and then how do we reconsider materials and I'm just questioning whether we should have them separate I think is my initial response I think when we researched with sorry to interrupt no that's okay we researched districts this is pretty common um language Bobby would you concur that they usually have it in one policy the step the selection of materials and the reconsideration materials that's why I'm asking tonight if we could at least have a process in place that's an addendum to the original policy 606 because I agree I realized that this is going to require a bit of dialogue so not just to clarify the procedure is included in policy 631 but we can approve the procedure and still
174be drafting the policy yeah because if by the time we get to a reconsideration of materials we might be closing in on the policy being approved if not we'll have to the the procedures can be amended so we can we can change the procedures it's an addendum to a policy it doesn't have to go through a policy revision process it's a procedure that can be amended I'd bring it back to the board if there was substantial or substantive changes to the procedure but if we can tweak it we have that flexibility to do so I'm going to ask where if we were to move down the path of figuring out a better opt-in or opt-out policy and I'm not sure which way we would go um after all the discussion tonight would that be put
175in this policy or would that be a separate policy or would that be we we could uh if there if we do some work on that it could be anything from an administrative procedure that could be implemented guidelines it could be managerial how to put that into place and inform the board that way we could amend a current policy in place that we have potentially 631 so there's some leeway and some flexibility there any other questions for Mr Shane all right go ahead I have one more question kind of related to Rachel's so we heard a lot tonight about um maybe working through the practice of identifying books or um separating books for 9 through 12 or 7 and 8. if we were to think about that practice or process or procedure would that be
176something that would be part of this policy too I think we could I think this could give us the opportunity to reflect on our current practices of accessibility because I don't think we had a real purposeful conversation when we transitioned into the 712 secondary building with one media center in reconstructed in the center of the building basically from a media Center's perspective we took the fifth and sixth grade books that were basically fifth and sixth grade and they went up to the new Intermediate School and took a little bit of what came out of fourth that was in that genre put it in the Intermediate School but we really haven't had a purposeful conversation of is a book that was originally in 912. now seventh and eighth grade books remained and again I'm not on
177purpose being vague but I don't know exactly what is the seventh and 8th grade book based on reading level based on content content whatever the case may be but those that were considered in at least in that category remained but they were combined with nine nine twelve and that might give us an opportunity to reflect on now that we're no longer a 912 building but we have seven eight there too do we structure organize you know you got to remember though that's moving around over 8 700 volumes so I don't know how quick it would be but it gives us an opportunity because this issue should we should reflect on our practices so it doesn't necessarily have to be represented in the policy yeah I mean realistically like we're going to get to the end
178of the school year probably before anything's like fully Rock Solid implemented anyway right so probably between now and September some of that work can be done right whether it be to separate books by age group or to do an opt-in opt out figure out what administratively can be administered right I think we have whether it has to go into this or doesn't I guess is a good question but I don't think we can not address that topic so that's my I guess my question is if we're quote-unquote approving tonight what are we approving because I don't think as it stands right now some of us would approve like there's got to be adjustments to it with some of this other language so in the in policy 631 well yeah I think like policy 631 may
179work if steps one two and three that are maybe not part of this policy at the moment are taken right and if they're not taken then I I don't know that I would approve this so I have to figure out like what am I approving today if I do it so steps one and two you're talking about what we talked about at work session about opt-in opt out procedure yeah ways ways to mitigate the short-term you know concerns and or possibly even the long-term concerns I guess if the intent is to not remove books or as few as possible what then are we I don't know that just free reign is going to be tolerated by some so it's it's a matter of figuring out what the solutions can be so that this is effective
180what you're opting into tonight is the first read so it doesn't make a policy at this point okay it'll be a second read if it is approved in the second read then it becomes policy unless we require a third read um well if they're tonight we're just acknowledging we're not actually doing anything we're acknowledging that there is a proposed policy there's actually a lot of districts that don't even motion it like don't vote acknowledgment we've out like it always serves me off at maseko because when we do that and I always try to do a vote and there is no vote because you're just technically acknowledging it I think you're right but on what are you talking about on the procedure it's just we're acknowledging there's a first read of a policy gotcha we're not
181that's what I wanted to make sure because like in that instance I would probably agree to move it along knowing that between now and second reader now and third read whatever it may be we have some things to iron out before I think that's right I'm in agreement yep so if the so just just to be clear before you should vote you should know everything if there's substantive changes between tonight's first read and next month's second read it becomes a second read requiring another to read so you basically repeat you start over which I think we're all okay with yeah I mean I guess this makes tonight's vote yep just because we're acknowledged it's just an acknowledgment yeah we can table it right now you can but then that's then you'd still have to have
182a first and second read right yeah and and technically by us tabling it is directing our Administration not to work on it and we'll really work on it before you bring it back to us yeah but I mean in theory we're saying we don't we're tabling it we don't think you know anything well it's just signs you're not taking action to approve first read yeah and and tabling means that it doesn't leave the agenda it just is tabled and it needs to come it'll be back on the agenda the next time you meet as it is or with potential revision as it is yeah okay okay I might actually have way too many like opinions about it so do you would it be better for me to almost like or like add my thoughts I
183don't know I don't want I guess that's a question I was going to ask that as well as what is your preferences we're all sitting here kind of trying to digest and figure this out and nobody's 10 o'clock right would you rather us it is 10 o'clock and some of us have families would you rather uh send you our thoughts and concerns individually and then um if we end up having substantial changes or substantive changes we do have another meeting although not all of us are there so that would be a bad time to bring it up actually I don't want to do that well you could highlight right or you could summarize the feedback you got from us in a Thursday meeting or a Thursday email I could correct and then that brings important
184that brings it back to everybody I just I can sit here and go line by line because I'm being super picky about this sure but I will say the one thing I feel like is missing is if there is reconsideration or this process of evaluating and then it's final should there be language about how a book would re-enter into our or are we like is this final and then that book will never be in our school district again or what is it just seems like a little bit of a closed loop there or not it's just it's the same question sorry one it's hard depending on which way it is right like if it gets left does that mean nobody can ever challenge it again how many times are you gonna let the same book
185be challenged right and conversely if you remove it yeah so um the standard for the length of the book If it's not removed it's a three to five year period where you cannot challenge again no one can no it's it's a book that's gone through its process it's been vetted whatever the outcome is it can't be challenged again for three to five year period And I guess the way I when we were listening to parents and we're listening to our students come up and talk and we talked about not limiting their access to books if we're saying nope this book doesn't belong in our general Library population we've already own the book right so why can we not instead of saying the book is out making an opt-in all right the kid wants to check
186out this book they need permission right we already bought the book we could make like a taboo book section Well gorgeous that's hard though because you're like isolating when people want to go get like yeah email um I think collecting our feedback yeah yeah it feels like step one lying on the burden of a school administrator feels very heavy so it's like the initial thing is talk with a initial meeting with school administrator if that doesn't adequately address the needs then formal requests for a reconsideration may be made it feels like a heavy burden for one administrator to have that step one just my thought I'm not saying it's right since we don't have a licensed media specialist in the 7 through 12 building to act as a resource I would agree that that's a
187heavy load for the building admin or you that that our teacher that could involve another staff member as well to explain you know so we could pull in a media center Specialist or a former specialist with the administrator the administrator has the right to bring in somebody else that can help clarify and all they're not deciding anything in this process they're just trying to clarify maybe meet the needs of the particular parent in the complaintant whatever the case may be and that's what principals do every day you know they meet with parents and who have complaints about things that's part of their job that's right start at the beginning it does seem like a lot of work especially with when I've got sitting here Mr Voight might be very busy for a little while but
188he's got a lot of free time anyway he's got no free time with graduation coming up soon and then I don't think it I don't think it lives in the policy but maybe in the process I I would like to see the criteria of age-appropriateness from the building so like if you're going through them we're talking about a challenge that's been made on The Color Purple um as part of the reconsideration efforts some reference to either this is appropriate not for elementary you know or not appropriate for elementary not appropriate for an immediate appropriate for this great like something that because again if you if you hearken back to the actual Supreme Court the only gray area is around age-appropriateness everything else is censorship in my opinion I think that's kind of what we heard
189today too was age-appropriate from all of our parents so um with that I can tell you this just one last interjection I know it's late um no new policy is perfect ever there isn't that's why you can revisit this policy after a few reconsiderations or whatever process and Logistics that we work on through the media center you can you can review the policy anytime you want based on maybe some action research or how we've done it we can bring it back to the table and make sure that's the process we do we want to make sure we MAP practice with policy or policy to practice in this case so just so you know that Rachel can I ask one question yep is this only Media Center content I know there's a ton of books floating
190around schools and teacher libraries and stuff like that are we kind of ignoring that for now we would use the same procedure the the thing that's different is if there's a class assigned book like in language arts or whichever there's an immediate step right away of providing an alternative book yep for sure so but if it gets to a point where this person says well all right fine that that works for me if I can do my son or dog and use another book great it's not mandated but if there is a person that says I don't think this should be required in any class even with an alternative we would utilize the same procedure that we would do here thank you any other questions hi and again I'm going to ask for a motion
191to approve the first read of policy 631 selection of media center materials all emotion acknowledgment of first reading of policy we have a motion by Amy do we have a second second by Sue any further discussion on this I think it's acknowledged that we're all going to provide feedback to the existing policy I hear so I really encourage you guys to provide the feedback as soon as you can so that Matt has an opportunity to work on it and that we can continue to move forward in this area it's obviously important to our community Jim and I might need 45 days we're very slow readers I wasn't going to say it out loud but since you did you win and I what I will try to commit to it was there was a team that
192worked on this policy I would like to bring your feedback back to the team and that's protocol that we always okay sponsored case all those in favor signify by saying I any opposed motion passes next up approve guidelines for reconsidering resource materials we did discuss this at LinkedIn work session this would give Matt a procedure to start reconsidering materials pretty much right away do I have a motion to approve the steps for reconsidering media resources and materials just to clarify this can also be changed this is approvement but right this this is a potentially an evergreen document if we if so the procedure is different than the policy right if we have substantive changes to the procedure I can inform the board of this I can at the board's pleasure bring it back for discussion
193and Adoption of the new changes okay definitely can do that I apologize this seems to be a system failure failure Network so I don't know if I got timed out from the city's I apologize okay you're not on the internet I'm not on the I'll look at that we remember that's okay they turn it off at a certain point okay we have a motion by Jim do we have a second oh second all right we have a second by Ryan any further discussion I still am struggling with this not I know there's been a ton of work that's been done um but I can't say it enough I am against censorship in all forms and this just still feels like censorship and feels like it's gonna be ripe with unintended consequences so by implementing this
194procedure I think people will be surprised at what happens including challenges of the Bible and color purple and other books um so anyway that's just my opinion but I go with the board activeness of it I go with the majority of the board but that is my opinion right now well I assume as part of the 30-day kind of review that we're less than that 14 day 10 day five day whatever review the rest of the procedure we would probably propose changes to this as well if we landed on something correct like we would have to then bring it back and go through the two or the two month process again so this once we approve this becomes the way that Matt operates but he just said a second ago we could change that at
195the next meeting if we wanted to and adopt that right without a two period thing like that would go so so I think it's I mean it's a 30 to 45 day process as it sits right now like realistically we better have answers before a 30 or 45 day process goes all the way through maybe not I guess but Rachel do you feel like we need a special meeting to discuss this more honestly I do but um I feel that there's a lot of subjectiveness in this process that's going to make it hard for whoever we put on this thing I think that it's and this is my opinion right I'm one voice on this board there's a lot in here and no matter what we do we're not going to make everybody happy and
196so our goal is has to be what is best interest for our students and we received this I believe on Thursday we've had about four days to kind of look at it and digest it and then tonight we sat and listen to 30 some parents come up and say fourth parents and students even you know this is really what we're looking for and I don't know that this addresses what we heard tonight which didn't sound like a lot of parents saying I want to censor books and take books out sounded like parents coming to us saying I just want the ability to parent and let everybody else parent their kids and I disagree I heard a lot of I'm not talking about banning books burning books unless they're dirty that's really what you heard there
197was a lot of people that said like if it's profane if it's not age appropriate so I don't think we can say that I think that this procedure as it exists isn't going to solve that I would like I would rather see us not spend three thousand dollars of District money to implement this and exhaust a lot of already taxed resources on this if we can focus on the front end of the funnel and the ingestion process and make sure that the books that we're ingesting into our media centers are age appropriate and meet the needs of our students I think that is better time spent than a reconsideration process I think that the reconsideration process should live within the policy and be a part of the pedagogy of the media center professionals and the
198Educators as processed as part of their jobs how does that work then the books that are in stay in well I think I like where Matt was going actually right about we would both the EU centers together is there an opportunity to see how do we label right like how are the seven yeah separate them books tied to the kids in the 7th of 8th grade right like that's where my lens is like value-added to say it could be right 8 700 whatever books in the library need to be checked right a lens there that I would hope we would have which books were with which age group when we merged the media centers that it wouldn't be so the books that are in stata we wouldn't we wouldn't tackle that is that kind of
199what you're telling saying honestly Corey I'm separating my personal opinion with what I think is the right thing for the board and I would say I would ask our media center professionals just like Teresa's the the one media center professional said she would get a challenge and she would review and figure out if the book was age-appropriate or not like I feel like our professionals that's what we pay them to do yeah listen I'm not setting you up for something I'm just trying to understand what you're saying is all and Ryan brought up the point in work session if we can figure out a way to kind of like reset here I'm in complete agreement that we work the front end process and make sure we know what's going in I kind of feel like
200you know in the confusion of the last three years maybe we kind of got a little off track here and it's it's nobody's fault no one's to blame it is that that sort of thing but like be it via labeling um whatever it is if we could like reset this whole thing so that we kind of all know what's in there and it's properly labeled for us to manage as parents yeah I'm all in 100 I'm on it um I'm all for age-appropriate availability of books if a book if a publisher of a book says this book is appropriate for students that are 17 years old I would like 17 and up to have access to that book yep unless parents say no and then we implement the process Ryan correct yeah the one where
201they can opt their kid out I love that right not a right opt-in like some were saying I mean otherwise you're back to censorship like of materials so first age stratify then give people the option to opt out opt out yeah but I don't see that in this process I agree I have a problem it's a good starting point I agree it needs a little a little tweaking I think even our discussion right now tells us we haven't had enough time to process this together and I also don't want to forget yes we heard a lot of commentary about concerns and we also heard a lot of commentary from students and other parents saying availability is key for them and how to find the right process and policy and procedure in practice for that we
202only live in one part of that which is policy and process practice we have to invite the professionals who do that into this conversation I don't I don't want to get in the business of dictating practice in a school necessarily um but I think we need more time to process as a board together both to give like legitimacy to the things that we heard tonight we need to give that its proper time too in discussion and debrief what we've heard from our community tonight you'd like us to maybe move this to a special meeting and table it for right now it's my suggestion is there consensus among the board I actually agree with Sarah we made a motion and seconded it and we have to vote we're in discussion so yep we have to vote
203on the first motion right and then no do we do the amended motion first we're in the discussion so now I have to remember the board has made a motion somebody has seconded you've had discussion now you have basically one choice you can amend the first emotion to to continue on you can vote to just not approve that and with the understanding that we would come forward with something else so that's basically you got three options you can amend your first motion with whatever Amendment you want to give direction to the superintendent to change the policy tweak the policy go back and look at this you can table it but you I believe if you I don't think you can tape it I don't think you can table it if you've made a motion in
204a second you have to vote this either in favor or down right right so yes or no on this and if that then if we were to vote no on this then we could move forward come back ask for a special meeting or yeah so far okay now mind you I I am required by policy 606 to give you a procedure of complaints so I just want you to keep that in mind that I'm trying to follow that policy and it's charging the superintendent to come forward with the procedure for your approval so we just got to make sure we do that if somebody challenges uh or or asks for a reconsideration of a book we don't have the ability to do anything now see what I mean so in practice so to Ryan's Point
205I've had it though for years yeah I mean clearly you have the ability to walk in there and grab a book it there's precedent I did that in the in the absence of a procedure yeah we're still absent of a receipt procedure right I mean we we again I think I what I'm seeing from the board is that we want to get this right and it's not quite right and if if giving leadership the ability to just kind of pause a a potentially inflammatory situation I don't think anybody's going to be opposed to that or call any further discussion I don't know I don't we heard 30 people tonight I don't know how they'll respond to a pause I don't know right I think and we're trying to take into consideration serious consideration what we
206heard the practices of our administrators our processes when we think about policy and how we want policy to guide what Matt does that is just like we started our work session that's a lot to think about and it's a lot to do so I'm with Corey I think a pause um is never a bad idea pausing to consider thoughtful action that takes into account what we think what we've heard and what our professionals know um I don't see a problem personally with pausing to really get amen you can't the board is I mean the pause like for Matt for administration puts a burden on them right now in this yeah ambiguous the procedure itself will put a burden on that and administration either way absence of or a procedure we'll put a level of ambiguity
207right now well know that the procedure has been put together by a team of our professionals so we're comfortable with implementing it otherwise I wouldn't bring it to you right and I think what I'm saying and what I'm hearing is that we heard feedback tonight that it might need a little bit of tweaking this is one where I think we want to get it right we want to show that even aside from all the comments that we heard that what we're doing is in the best interest of our students and their education I would hate to go down a path where we start saying this book that might be valuable to a kid who's in a really bad situation gets bad because seven or ten people there thought it was bad based on they're very
208subjective things that we've seen and I know you have more to it but we haven't seen it and so making that decision without knowing what are those laws that we're looking at what is all those guidelines that you're going to bring forth is hard right I want to make sure we get this right I want to make sure that the kids who who need those books that I consider hard to read I still have access to them in some way but that the parents who say no my kid can't read this also have that that ability and I don't know that this procedure is there yet but we do have a motion we do have discussion we're ready to move forward with what we can do that or we can keep discussing one thing I
209will say though I mean I think part of this is this reconsidering process right to me is a solid process I think the work Factor related to how we organize the media center is not in this and the ingestion part is not in this procedure that's not this procedure this procedure is about a challenge to a book it has nothing to do with how we bring books in that can be a whole different procedure not this procedure well that's I think the issue is that we're going to leave Matt hanging to dry when parents come and challenge a book next week well the short term is they can opt out of a book correct that is the short term they they can't opting out they I don't know if that's the correct terminology we can
210put it in the system that when they attempt to check that out it pings now you got to remember in the high school media center it's a self-checkout process oh so it's very dative invasive because everybody will know around them if they're around somebody that they can check that book out now we can look at how we can change that but that's going to take some time it's real simple with the other two because they're they got to bring it in to the media center person okay any further discussion all right moving it to about all those in favor signify by saying aye aye all those opposed hey hold on hold on maybe I'm too late I'm not sure what you were asking are you approving this procedure yeah which has written as presented this
211evening are you approving this procedure no so the voters one two do you need a hand do you hand yeah all right those in favor of approving the procedure aye chest gym okay those opposed name sorry Brian are you abstaining I'm so I seconded so I guess I would be in favor of it you've still got a port two right I mean again I suppose you don't have to you can second it and not a yes but I do need you to vote yeah before Bobby hits me you have to vote you either yay nay or abstain all abstain okay so let the same outcome happens right you guys got this yeah this the vote is yep five against one four one abstention okay motion does not pass I'm gonna do this because my laptop
212died up next football trip um sounds good sixth grade extended trip to Eagle Bluff environmental learnings football extended trip uh do we have a motion to approve the football extended second motion recorder any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye aye anybody opposed motion passes then up next is the sixth grade extended trip to Eagle Bluff environmental Learning Center we've also talked about that at work session we have motion to approve the extended trip to some of the block second who made the motion motion by Gym second by Sue any further discussion all the favor say aye aye any opposed motion passes we are adjourned thank you everybody