001good evening we're going to ask the board members to take your seat you know stay up and take your seat can't hear you nancy yeah thanks jer can you hear me now thank you good evening um let's start with the call to order mike davenport here christopher espinoza here shirelle fuller here jenny hagstrom here terry pavisage here nancy kupka here scholar o'hara here jade toledano here we have a forum that stands for the pledge okay anyone who wishes to speak your form can come up front we're taking going to take people in the order in which they come and mrs nydek she's a little obscured by the screen she's over here again oh okay microphone we're on if you wish to speak and you've completed your form mrs nydek is sitting up here you can
002bring your form up at any time we're going to start with the approval of minutes the first thing i need is the board of education to approve the minutes of the june 21st business meeting the june 21st closed meeting and digital okay we need a move so moved for some reason mine is really loud second i think i have to reread the motion reread them all okay all right we need a motion for the board of education to approve the minutes from the june 21st 2021 business meeting the june 21st 2021 closed meeting and the july 12 2021 closed meeting terry you moved yes and shirelle you seconded it somebody seconded yes yes thank you terry papasich aye charles fuller aye jenny hagstrom aye mike davenport aye christopher espinoza aye and nancy kupka aye the
003minutes are approved before we move into the reception of visitors um on behalf of the board of education i would like to review refinements to the reception of visitors that we have instituted and briefly address the topic of equity and inclusion at district 99 because we anticipated a large number of visitors wishing to speak to the board today we will be bringing visit speakers to the microphone to speak on a first come first serve basis therefore we ask that you complete a speaker slip and submit it to mrs nydek our board secretary if you haven't done so already the reception of visitors occurs in two stages the first at the start of the meeting which will be next actually you are invited to comment on anything the board is voting on tonight tonight there are
004two agenda items the approval of the 2021 2022 district goals and the approval of discipline quote discipline code revisions and changes discipline code revision just keep going nancy nancy just keep going okay okay if people can remain quiet i will speak louder tonight there are two agenda items the approval of the 2021-20 district goals and the approval of the discipline code revisions and changes to the student parent handbook and athletic activities handbook comment is limited to 20 minutes with no more than three minutes per speaker later in the evening there will be an opportunity to address the board on anything concerning district 99 for tonight i will expand public comment during the second reception of visitors to a total of 60 minutes with a limit of 20 minutes per topic and again no more than
005three minutes per speaker if you do not get to speak or you run out of time you can submit your comments in writing to the board it is the expectation that audience members not at the microphone listen respectfully in the event that those speaking or those in the audience fail to comply with these guidelines or there are interruptions to the business of the boards such as shouting during the meeting i will for the safety of all close the second reception of visitors portion of the evening and move into closed session to discuss an employment matter after which no action will be taken tonight by the board as as for equity and inclusion district as we recently shared with students and families for nearly a decade we have been committed to equity work it is not
006new to district 99 regardless of a person's race color national origin sex or ability we are always seeking to understand the unique ideas and perspectives that each person offers before we can teach or encourage any student we first must show that we value who they are this instills a sense of belonging by adopting this mindset we are better able to provide students what they need to learn and grow and become productive members of society we want to foster a more positive and encouraging environment for all of our students inside our schools we do this by in part by teaching accurate history and also giving students the ability to freely discuss current events after all our students must first understand current society in order to work to improve it i also want to emphasize that the
007district has always and will always teach students how to think critically not what to think remember schools are just one source of information for students to consider we hope that our community including every person sitting in this room and those watching remotely will be willing to learn understand and support this work it's pretty simple it's about caring accepting and respecting all of our students and one another the ultimate goal is that every student is able to develop into their greatest potential and that our schools and community were key parts in supporting the accomplishment i also encourage you to visit and read the district website for more information last fall the district posted the hundred page plus equity audit report it details the district's progress and challenges ahead soon the district with the help of the
008community will begin creating a new strategic plan which will greatly influence our future plans related to equity even though we will not be entertaining comments excuse me even though we will not be entertaining comments about critical race theory until the second reception of visitors i want to be very clear about some misinformation that i heard in past perceptions of visitors and that i have read from the letter sent to the board to be clear district 99 does not know nor has it ever taught critical race theory community high school district 99 does not now nor has it ever taught that all white people are systematically racist or that all of our institutions are systematically racist community high school district 99 does not now nor has it ever taught that people are oppressors based on the
009color of their skin chsd 99 does not now nor has it ever pushed a divisive narrative to our students and staff this is misinformation and counter to our missions and goals thank you in advance for being respectful of our process and during our meetings so we are now going to move into the reception of visit the first reception of visitors and again this meeting agenda includes two opportunities for comments from the audience this first reception of visitors is intended for audience members to address the board about any agenda item on which the board will vote and those agenda items are on the screen i've received no comment slips for the first reception of visitors okay is there anybody who wishes to oh we so we have nothing we have nothing we have no okay so
010we will move then on into the recommendations and reports of the superintendent thank you good evening board hello welcome back uh this evening we'll get into the return to uh in-person instruction plan as it has developed as it is as it has developed over the last couple of weeks as the cdc has released its guidelines and as we have communicated with our students family and staff really there's three key goals based on this recent guidance that was released the first is to return safely to in-person instruction for all students second the goal is to return to as close to a normal school year as possible while following all of the cdc idph isb and dupage county health department guidelines that has been our goal since all of this started that has not changed neither of
011those two goals have changed those two have been our goals since this all started three is now that we're able to start limiting some of the mitigations that apply holistically to all students here at school under the new guidelines that's what's changed since those guidelines were released as the cdc has said returning students to in-person learning is a priority that has been a priority of ours since this started that has has not changed we will continue to promote opportunities for everybody to be vaccinated that wishes to and we have run vaccination clinics since it became available we'll continue running those we ran one last week we have another one the first week of august for anybody that wishes to participate in that we're just trying to help contribute to the county's resources of those that
012wish to be vaccinated we'll continue to maintain all of our safety measures including the practices around ventilation hand washing respiratory adequate all of those those things that are in place that when we talk about holistic interventions those are the ones we're talking about and as you'll continue to hear tonight board we're going to probably have to continue to change and respond as conditions change whether that be guidelines that are issued from the health agencies whether that be changes in the rate of the virus spreading within our community or within our own schools there may have to be changes as the school year goes on the other thing that's happening is research is being you know advanced and all of those things could lead to guidelines changing but just as we've done for the past 18
013months we'll continue to follow those guidelines as required the other thing that the board is well aware of is we've brought to you in drips and drabs over the last year is a great deal of additional support both in the form of academic and social emotional support that will be there as we know many students are returning from the traumatic experience of of a pandemic some might be behind in their studies some might have gaps that we need to close so we will have additional supports in place to assist with that the goal is as normal of a school year as possible as normal is in these times where covet is still present in the community this will include what we've seen before the pandemic an eight period day uh with lunch however due to
014our new commons expansion that lunch will be expanded for many students to be a full full period lunch we'll resume the late start monday schedules as we had pre-pandemic we're trying to get back as close to that pre-pandemic state as possible all activities in athletics return in person with spectators and remote learning that we experienced last year will not be continued the goal is everybody's back in person those students that have a medical concern documented medical concern we have students with documented medical concerns every year and we have a process for responding for individual student needs as a result of those as i said we're trying to limit the mitigations that apply holistically to all students things like screening testing that's students screening themselves at home staff screening themselves at home will be in effect
015students that present symptoms here at school we will offer their families the opportunity for them to get a binax now test here at school administered by our nursing staff or provide them the resources in the community where they could go do that on their own we'll continue as i said our increased ventilation throughout the buildings hand washing respiratory adequate etiquette the key piece that you're going to continue to hear from now until school starts and thereafter is the strong encouragement that anybody who is sick who is showing symptoms needs to stay home they must stay home that's we keep covet out of the buildings we keep it from spreading we will contact trace in combination with quarantine and isolation where appropriate and we'll continue the deep cleaning process of our buildings each night other things
016that i haven't covered here is cdc continues to tell us that vaccination is the number one way to prevent kovid from spreading and that we want to try to maintain social distancing as much as possible we will say over and over again throughout the start of this year to keep everybody at arm's length you know maintain that three feet of distance that's about an arm's length and if everybody just kind of keeps that in mind that will help us maintain that protocol of social distancing indoor mask wearing is recommended to those that are not fully vaccinated however those that are fully vaccinated may choose to to wear a mask as continued to if they'd like to they people have the option to do that however the key here is that people follow as many of
017these protocols as the cdc recommends that they do because we need to keep kovit from spreading at school if kovid begins to spread at our school or within our community the health agencies the cdc idph isb dupage county health department any of those organizations that provide guidance to us could adapt that guidance whether it be for the nation the state our community our specific schools and even programs within our schools and could cause changes to happen throughout the year so the more that we can you know that's why it starts with it starts with if you're sick stay home if you want to if you can get vaccinated any of those things that can prevent the spread will make it so that we can be more normal than we were in the past there are
018some key differences in the cdc guidance remember this isn't district 99 rules these aren't hank's rules this is what's presented by the cdc so uh one of the key things as you read that guidance is you'll see last year it was holistic mitigations everybody had to have the same set of mitigations to try to prevent covet from coming in so everybody got the same treatment right this year the cdc has outlined different conditions whether you're vaccinated or unvaccinated we aren't checking people at the door we aren't there's no way for us to enforce these differences these are things where we have to trust our community and our students to take the right and proper actions to protect themselves and to protect this school community so what the cdc outlines is families have some choices as
019to what they would like to do to limit the risks of cova to their children to their families into our community and that first choice at the high school level is vaccination and there's pros and cons with with all of this right if you choose to get vaccinated you're taking on some established risks that come with vaccination but with that trade-off you get a nearly normal return to school and into society mask wearing is optional as outlined by the cdc and there are no quarantine or close contact protocols for someone that is vaccinated on the other hand if you're choosing not to get vaccinated obviously you're avoiding any risks that could come with a vaccine but in exchange for that the cdc then outlines that you're accepting an increased risk that's associated with with getting
020covet but you're also have the recommendation that you wear masks in public and at school and you also have a set of quarantine and close contact rules outlined by the cdc that are different for those that are unvaccinated that then we are required to follow and will follow through our nursing department and through through our administration we're still waiting to hear about what the duration of quarantine definitely is the local health department determines that but they're indicating it will be the 10-day quarantine period but we don't have a definitive answer in writing on that yet that's what we're still one of the pieces we're still waiting for we still have several like fine details like that that we're waiting for but we felt it was important as people are getting ready to register for school
021and everything for us to give them everything that we know at this point so this is the overview slide so some key things we've talked about returning to traditional eight period day with lunch we'll have our new larger common space that allows for a full period lunch but we also have some new additional outdoor eating space for those that aren't comfortable eating indoors could then transition outside and eat there we're also modifying the first day back traditionally we had just ninth graders attend in the afternoon everybody else came to start the day but we know that many of our sophomores weren't even on campus last year our 10th graders and last year was a disruptive year so we have a lot of just resources to explain to kids re-establish them back into how the school's
022going to function there's a whole different layout at both sides of town so we're changing up the schedule a little bit and we'll send that out we're still tweaking it and working on it but we will have grades 11 and 12 come in the morning there'll be a separate presentation for each class to cover those general schools supports and reintroduce them back and welcome them back to school with some some surprises and fun stuff along the way and then they'll go through a shortened bell schedule so they get to it's kind of like meet your teacher get your syllabus get your school supply list all of those kinds of things and then they'll head home for the afternoon and then we'll bring in nine and ten to do a similar uh type day with them
023in the afternoon yeah mike yeah we still have mad dash right for the freshman coming in yeah and then the corresponding uh program at north so and we're also doing separate tours for uh ninth graders and tenth graders so that they can come through both schools before all of this starts and find you know their locker and their classrooms and and all of those things because we you know we know there are several hundred students that were not on campus at all last year uh other things to review stay home when sick staff students everybody stay home when sick uh we'll continue to promote opportunities throughout the community and offer opportunities for those that wish to be vaccinated to be vaccinated mask wearing continues to be recommended for those unvaccinated and optional for all as
024a preventative practice per the cdc though mask wearing is a requirement on all school transportation so that includes all school buses driver's ed vehicles activity athletics anytime that a student is on a bus or a school vehicle mask wearing is required for the cdc uh we're as i said maintain a distance of three feet as much as possible keep that arm's length away from everybody but due to the layered mitigation factors that we have ventilation hand washing a low rate of covet in our community all of these practices that we have in place we will put contact tracing at three feet and that only applies to those that are unvaccinated per the cdc so contact tracing and quarantine as i said we're still waiting to find out the duration of quarantine and then as i
025said at the beginning i'm going to say it now and i'm going to keep saying it we're going to keep doing everything that we've done for the past 18 months which is following the guidelines of the health experts i'm not a health expert i'm an educational expert i need to take the advice and the guidance and the mandates that come and they're kind of all the same thing when we talk about the cdc idphsb and dupage county health department we'll continue to follow that guidance that guidance has shifted greatly this summer in comparison to last summer and we're responding to that however changes in that guidance changes in the rate of illness at school or in the community could cause changes as we move forward and we'll communicate that to the board to the public
026if if and when those things should happen whether it loosens restrictions or increases restrictions or makes any kind of changes in the way we do business we'll we'll continue to communicate that and that kind of just lays in those unknowns right what i just said and key pieces in that are the impact on vaccines in our community we know that 50 percent of 12 to 17 year olds in the in dupage county have been vaccinated about 50 percent there we know that there's variants that are propagating throughout the country in the world that could impact what happens we know that there's research going on that could impact what the guidelines are for us moving forward so that's the plan as of this point we'll keep the we'll update the board again on august 2nd at
027that point if it looks like nothing has changed greatly i may ask the board to take a resolution like they did last year just saying we'll continue to follow the guidelines if it looks like we're still getting some fine details and adjustment we'll put off that chain that resolution until uh august 16th when we know truly what the board is is signing off on for the year but up until that point we'll continue to follow the guidelines as presented as the board has expected us to as the administration since this all started so with that all being said questions from the board or our students all right district goals have been presented to the board oh this is the timeline i just told you all right uh district holes is an action item tonight these
028have come to the board many times before this evening the board has had an opportunity to comment provide feedback offer changes they have adapted and changed they haven't changed since we looked at them at the last board meeting so tonight this is like the second reading right this is the the time where it's up for the board to approve later on tonight at this point are there any questions regarding those goals as presented hearing none handbook revisions are also up for approval tonight a reminder that student handbook becomes board policy once it's approved there's a couple of just small changes that are outlined in your board packet tonight one is something that we've been working on through our common experience for the past several years which is how we'll respond and teach about academic dishonesty
029especially you know as students work through here this is their chance to learn about that if they end up ever in their lifetime in a post-secondary setting academic dishonesty is treated much differently so we want to make sure that students are prepared for whatever comes next whenever that that may come so there's a small change there to respond to those changes and then the next thing is last year we did a large addendum in responding to covid related to all of those safety protocols that the state released last june july august and september we're recommending that all of those be removed now as we're returning to a normal setting so that is an action item later this evening as well scott is here uh to help answer any details regarding those questions if you have
030them yeah let's go i think that's gotta get turned down yeah okay can you hear me better uh we're not we're recommending no changes to the athletic and activities handbook as well we are not making any changes to the athletic or activity handbook typically at this board meeting we would recommend those changes as well are there any other questions asked and answered all right end of the year financial report i'm going to turn this over to mark next slide yeah i'm just going to do a 30 000 foot review of this i gave you the memo on this i hope you had an opportunity to review it from a big picture we started with 2.3 million dollars in our total operating fund fund balances we we started with 2.3 million of fund balance in our
031operating fund balances we projected a 2.4 million dollar loss which was a combination of some property tax re coming in a little bit lower due to the cpi being lower and having some other costs largely related to the pandemic and other things like that some of those will get reimbursed for in the next year we haven't put it all together yet and and we we had no time limit on that right now [Music] um so the big picture there was a less overtime salary there was you know things from the pandemic there was less transportation costs there was no food service in the cafeterias although we had a tremendous support to the entire community on the expenditure side and that we we fed or offered food to every family and every well every child 18
032years or younger and we did this in coordination with district 58 and it really worked out well and 68 that's correct both districts um so our ending reserve we issued 10 million dollars in anticipation of having a loss this year we just knew that was coming and we are projecting a loss for next year um and those two items made us think about issuing work in cash bonds so we would have operating funds to work and go through the district we had no idea what the impact of the pandemic would be for us so we now end up with a 10.2 ending fund balance that means we would have had a 200 000 fund balance if we did not issue the working cash fund bonds on the revenue side property taxes did come in at
033100 percent but it was a lower percentage increase that we budgeted because of the reduction or the lowness of the cpi for that year while a lot of our costs were going up and raising up at a higher cpi we're having that same problem now where um a lot of things are are getting very expensive um we're seeing a shortage of drivers okay i'm sorry i'll try and project we're we're doing the best we can in the space i heard you so i i'll try and do it so um well let's just glide through it i think we have salary and benefits we're right on track purchase services like transportation and food services we're down but overall we came in very close within three tenths of a percent of where we expected to be okay
034continue mark okay keep going we ended up having a 10.1 million dollars reserve at the end of the year i'm sorry 10.4 million dollars if we didn't issue the working cash bonds that's what we would have had it's just four hundred thousand dollars uh reserve but uh we issued the wish and cash bonds and that's why we have 10.4 million dollars and i think i'll close that now i don't think we need to go through the individual charts okay we can read them yeah all right any questions on the year-end financial report from mark thank you mark yeah all right uh at the beginning of the year we projected it to be actually worse than we turned out you know and a lot of good work by the team here to make sure that we
035tried to keep expenditures under control very during a very difficult time all right a couple of construction updates t99 uh as the board is well aware we're expanding t99 in response to increased enrollment you can see a few of the photos there i'm pleased to report that we are on schedule and ahead of budget and getting all of that done and excellent really excited to to move into these new spaces to start next year master facility plan we're wrapping up that four-year plan i we're in this space most of south high though is under a great deal of construction uh north high is clipping along as well a few great picture or first the financial summary we remain on budget for this you can see as we had planned we discussed last month that we
036wanted a goal of four hundred thousand dollars in reserves available at the end of the summer if possible to work through the summer work we're on target for that between all of the various funds including those contractor allowances that could come back at the end of this as we've reported every month since this started a couple of photos for you here's the north high commons uh it looks very similar to what was promised to us by the architects at the beginning sure it is excuse me if we slide over here to south high you can see once again i think that first shot is very similar to a rendering that the architects provided us at the beginning and was on display in our halls so you can see that's coming along real well um so
037that one's getting there and then the auditorium at south high is getting really close to being done isn't that beautiful it's gorgeous awesome yeah i can't wait till everyone can see it yeah so on schedule on budget as we've reported since this began so what do you think the first of august no the first day students report everything will be ready for them to report yeah all right yeah another two weeks first of august is pretty soon yeah well that's what i mean it is no it'll be ready when students return okay as promised we'll still have a little bit of furniture to move around and you know stuff like that but the it'll be ready for students on the first day of school so are we going to have a grand opening yes uh
038september 11th here and it will be the grand opening ribbon cutting and tours here at south high and the following saturday on uh september 18th we'll be over at north high for the same thing where we'll do a little ceremony to kick off the morning and then just offer the ability for people to walk through and see all of the new spaces are those dates already in our calendar i think that they were in one of the notes that went to the board i don't know if i actually did a calendar invite yet though that's what i was asking yeah we can get one on your calendar this would you please yep absolutely yeah yep that's my birthday all right well sweet we'll make sure there's a cake i'll bring the cake all right foyer
039requests were received and responded to as always they're posted up on our website and that brings us to the consent agenda for this evening thank you dr thiele so now we're looking for a motion for the board of education to approve the consent first of all is there any item that any board member wishes to remove from the consent agenda for further discussion no hearing none we need a motion for the board of education to approve the consent agenda as presented which includes the personnel report appointments classified the personnel report resignations exempt retirements classified resignations classified the personnel report salary and benefits wages the financial pages the treasurer surety bond limits and the closed session minutes and verbatim recordings so moved excuse me oh i'm sorry i also meant to mention that the you received
040an updated personnel report uh if you looked at it after friday morning it was up to date but there was a change between thursday night and friday morning and that was presented to all the boards so you're approving that updated report as presented understood still so moved second mike and jerry thank you mike davenport aye terry pavich aye christopher espinoza aye sherelle fuller aye jenny hagstrom aye nancy kupka aye the consent agenda carries next we'll move on to the action items first we need a motion for the board of education to approve the 2021-2022 district goals as presented so moved second mike and terry thank you mike davenport aye terry pavich aye christopher espinoza aye shirelle fuller aye jenny hagstrom aye nancy kupka aye thank you the motion uh the goals are approved as presented
041next we need a motion for the board of education to approve the discipline code revision and the changes to the student parent handbook and the um well there are no changes to the athletic activities handbook as presented so moved second mike and sherelle thank you mike davenport aye shirelle fuller aye jenny hagstrom aye terry pavich aye christopher espinoza aye nancy kupka aye the motion carries next we will move to the second reception of visitors which is intended for audience members to address the board on any topic pertaining to community high school district 99 comments again are limited to three minutes to provide all visitors an equal opportunity to address the board individuals needing more time or if you don't get to speak tonight please submit your thoughts in writing to mrs nydek the board secretary
042visitors addressing the board need to uh well you've already submitted comment slip if you have not already done so and you'll be invited to the microphone dr thiele will be calling people up in the order in which they've come we'll be tracking the amount of minutes we're talking about each subject and we may be closing certain topics once we reach the 20-minute park prior to addressing the board please state your full name the proceedings are being tape recorded for the purpose of producing accurate meeting minutes and they are being live streamed i reserve the right to modify these protocols i if circumstances warrant audience observations of these protocols is appreciated dr thiele who is first can i nancy can i make a quick comment before we start i just want to say you know i'm
043sure that we have a lot of people here that are going to be passionate about what they have to speak about but no matter what side of things people are on it occurs to me that everybody in here is here because they care about our students and so i think keeping that in mind is a is kind of a great thing i mean look around you i mean i it's been a long time since i've seen this many people out you know with the sole purpose of doing something that they think is in the best interest of students and so whether or not we agree or not let's all agree that that's something we have in common so that's all yep thank you thank you mike and i will do a quick reminder of the
044protocols there will be a timer that i switched to once you begin speaking that will be up on the screen when that goes down to three minutes your time has ended and we respectfully ask you to step away from the microphone and allow me to call the next person up i'm calling based on the names that are handwritten on a slip so if i butcher your name i apologize in advance please correct me when you come up to the microphone i will not be insulted that you did so um and i will also ask that you treat this like a classroom allow everybody to be heard everybody gets their three minutes please don't yell over people don't argue with people just allow them their floor for their three minutes and if you've submitted a slip
045you'll get your three minutes as well that will help the evening move along quicker will allow us to stay here hearing comments instead of closing off the comments all right so pretend you're at school your children are watching we have students here watching so please model the behavior that we would expect our adults in our community to have that's what i ask of you so the first person i'm calling up to the microphone and this is in the order in which the board secretary received them is janet winningham come on down got this microphone right here i think it's on and ready to go but if not just state your name real quick so we can make sure it's on let's get it on and can we make sure that the volume is up on
046that go ahead and say it again janet my name is janet winningham i'm a district 99 resident i am here yeah we're working on it just give us a moment please i am here tonight just for a second janet let us get the sound up on that all right go ahead and say your name again janet winningham okay get close to the mic and district 99 resident thank you all right i'm going to start your timer i'm here tonight to support the board of education you are i tip my hat to you to listen patiently to so many diverse opinions some more strident than others i appreciate the fact that you are seriously considering all the angles all the facets of the decisions that you have to make and i would hope that people would
047educate themselves about the topics that they talk about because not everybody is accurate as you have said before and so i just um again thank you for your service thank you for caring about the children here in this district thank you christine hodgkin maybe if we said who's going to be up next hank next to coming up is jamie wearing and that way that person could come forward thank you very much yeah thank you my name's chris hatchkin i live in the district i want to speak in support of teachers of the board giving teachers the tools and training they need in order to create classrooms and lessons in which every student each and every student feels included and accepted this is what culturally responsive teaching is making sure that teachers have the training and
048the tools they need to ensure that every student no matter the color of their skin the religion their family practices or doesn't the language that's spoken in their home the clothes they wear the food they eat that every student feels included and accepted that every student feels that their family is equally valid and equally american who would not want that who can object to that i regret that this board has had to spend time i know your time is precious on dealing with issues that really are false i support the culturally responsive teaching standards developed by the illinois state board of education and i support this board as you continue to create a school that is inclusive and accepting of all students and their families as equal americans thank you next up is jamie guerin
049followed by mary jo brian wolsky hello my name is jamie garan i have three children who are attending or have attended downers grove north i am here tonight because i saw a flyer encouraging people to attend this board meeting in protest of critical race theory in the classroom i have been a social studies teacher for 16 years the job of u.s social sciences educators is to expose students to historical information and then provide the time and environment for them to think critically about events or policies and their impact on our shared history educators with integrity do not share their interpretation of events or their own political views with students they do not tell students what or how to think but rather give them the tools to reach their own conclusions they provide a safe space
050for students to share differing perspectives and allow them to practice healthy conversation and debate i believe that district 99 is full of educators with integrity to provide a comprehensive view of the us colonial period through post-civil war era for instance my class covers the challenges faced by early colonists rebels revolutionaries the vision of the founding fathers the industrial system the writing of the constitution and westward expansion equally important to understanding this era is the study of the displacement of indigenous peoples the middle passage and the transatlantic slave trade the plantation system economic dependency on slavery reconstruction era black codes and jim co crow south the debate over the presence of some of these topics in a classroom is puzzling to me this is because if you spent time in a history classroom you would see
051that historical events are a springboard for adolescents to practice the crucial skills needed to become adults who can respectfully engage in discussion and who also understand the impact of government on the lives of its citizens unfortunately for many of us we did not receive this type of training in high school i wish i had so if a discussion on the impact of u.s laws history and policy on race and racism emerges in a classroom as a result of the safe space an educator has created parents should welcome the opportunity their children have to think critically about the topic they should be grateful for the unique learning opportunity because that opportunity may be the only exposure to a different perspective that child has one free of the derisiveness of social media i am grateful for the
052exposure my children have had to a multilateral view of u.s history one that considers the lens and experience of all americans and allows for them to consider a human experience outside of their own finally i'm grateful for the trust our school board has in its district's teachers and the role you all play the value in allowing students to grapple with issues such as race cannot be overstated and the opportunity to do so in the classroom must be protected thank you [Music] i'm sorry what i heard that one i have you on the bottom of the pile that's why i'm asking yeah this is the order in which they just came straight out there so you should have started with the bottom i apologize i did not flip them oh i should have started with the
053bottom now at the top i apologize i we got our lines crossed here between myself and miss snyder everybody's going to get a chance she went harder yeah all right i apologize for the confusion this is our first time doing it this way so we'll work through it um so miss wolsky please go and then next up will be noelle manley is the next one i have i'm i once again apologize for the error i would like to start out by saying my name is mary jo brian walske and my daughter graduated in 95 from downers grove north and i do live still in the district i'd like to ditto what the person in front of me just said that was a fantastic presentation and basically i am here to support the board and to
054say that i personally believe that the culturally responsive teaching seeks to ensure that all students feel included in their classroom and the lessons taught and i urge you to see that that happens for all of our students thank you thank you thank you noel you're up next once again i apologize for the error and followed by that is jim wool can the folks in the back hear me loud and clear okay um good evening my name is noel manley and i'm from deering illinois and i just have a few matters to raise it's not as easy as it appears mr manley i just have a few matters to raise with the with the board tonight uh first i think it's a good step that you've expanded the public comment to 60 minutes however do you
055think it's fair for all people who've been who are here now and the number of people who want to comment to fit them all within 60 minutes is it fair and will you be willing to do any accommodation for these folks you can email the board at boardmembers csd99.org with any of your comments okay so not tonight then so i was in attendance at the june 21st 2021 district 99 meeting and i've attended many local government meetings whether they were school board city councils liquor commissions zoning commissions and i've never seen a school board meeting where the board so tightly controlled public comment and shut down free speech and then they have the nerve to walk out in addition i've never been referred to as a visitor to any public government meeting to be clear
056you're a unit of government you have rule making authority policy making authority and tax and authority the powers granted to you affect the lives of thousands of students parents and tens of thousands of taxpayers so when we show up to a public board meeting we are not visitors we are citizens we are residents and we are taxpayers we are the people who pay and support this institution and when we come to these meetings some of us are here to speak and petition our government on issues that concern us limiting first amendment speech and walking out is not how government serves the people you may not like it but this is part of the job as elected officials second at the last board meeting several citizens raised concerns about the issue of critical race theory oddly
057there were some semantic pushback regarding the language of critical race theory so again to be clear when citizens come before this body and they use the term critical race theory they are referring to its elements and manifestations in the following culturally responsive teaching illinois board of education section 24 which takes effect october 21st illinois senate bill 814 defund the police microaggressions equity diversity white privilege my name my story the gary r howard institute the 1619 project and any backdoor marxism finally in a recent foyer to d-99 it was discovered that taxpayers footed the bill for 16 copies of how to be an anti-racist by ibrahim kennedy for distribution to faculty you're out of time your time has expired okay thank you thank you after mr wall will be carrie quinn good evening my name is
058jim wool at the june board meeting superintendent dr thiel and board president nancy kupka both of you stated that you were unaware of how critical race theory crt was being implemented in illinois crt is being implemented through the culturally responsive teaching and leading standards that was approved by the illinois general assembly's joint committee on administrative rules better known as jay carr j carr approved the cultural response of teaching and leading standards at their february meeting of 2021 so these standards are now part of the school code they are an administrative rule that has the same effect of law for both of you superintendent and a board president people dedicated to the education of children not to be aware of this major change in the teaching code is troubling to say the least dr thiel in
059a meeting on wednesday june 16th we met in your office to discuss certain educational issues one of these being crt when i asked if crt is being implemented in this district you assured me that it was not moreover you said that you did not want to politicize education in district 99 after our meeting however this community learned that the administrators at downers grove north selected the book how to be an anti-racist by ibrahim x kennedy for their book study for the 2020-21 academic school year mr kennedy is considered to be the guru of crt and his book is considered to be an authoritative book on crt dr thiel you were not honest with me at our meeting you tried to hide the fact that there are administrators who are trying to covertly push crt into
060our schools also we just recently learned that at a department meeting at north high school the following topic was discussed how do we improve our teaching about systematic racism great now certain administrators at north believe the teachers to be racist what an uplifting message to send to our teachers truly i understand why many teachers view administrators and school boards with a great deal of mistrust that you did not support teachers that teachers who disagree with crt better keep quiet dr thiel on the school board if you are enthusiastic supporters of crt then why not come forward and say so after all the book how to be an anti-racist was paid for with taxpayer dollars department meetings are pushing teachers to support crt the profits of crt these false prophets are ravenous wolves and sheep's clothing
061who've come to devour our children with this nefarious and racist theory critical race theory bears bad fruit miss quinn miss quinn is followed by miss spinosa cherry spinoza okay mr quinn oh i think that's all you that's it that's all it'll do so i'm rich brennan a downers grove resident i support the teachers students parents board members and residents who do not approve of political indoctrination in our schools through dei programs infused with the tenets of critical race theory crt is marxist ideology and practice the communist dictatorship we're watching in cuba crush its people is marxist ideology and practice race is the chosen battlefield for war against the united states of america because marxism failed to defeat us economically american capitalism and our judeo-christian foundation provides what marxism steals from the people upward mobility for
062all who will work systemic racism white privilege crt all that stuff's a diversion to answer the failure of the great society welfare state with 20 trillion dollars taken from the taxpayers to solve urban black poverty it won't work only work can lift you out of poverty the welfare state discourages work welfare checks devalued the economic contribution of the black father welfare also undermined his authority in the family the welfare state destroyed the family on a massive scale systemic racism and critical race theory are both weapons of the anti-american left they preach racial animosity they teach donors growth students at the multi-racial friends they grew up with are not their friends crt divides by skin color into oppressors and oppressed black versus white unacceptable teach that we're all god's children do not teach grievance politics and
063[Applause] don't believe me here's my study list for what i've got here starting with these noted black education and expert people justice clarence thomas shelby steele dr thomas soule robert woodson jason whitlock dr walter williams james craig the retired detroit police chief charles barkley dr elvita king and there's a black man in caledonia michigan who said to his school board crt teaches my daughter to hate her white mother and last dorothy tillman the esteemed race the esteemed political activist for the black community in chicago for more than 60 years on wvon radio saturday morning said critical race theory has no solutions for black people thank you next up is sherry spinozza followed by mary o'dowd good evening my name is charisse spinosa i'm a 17-year resident of downers grove and i am the parent of
064two very recent dgn graduates never before have i addressed the board but i can no longer be quiet about how we are being misled with regards to critical race theory in the d99 curriculum equality is an american ideal perhaps our most important one equity which is uh what critical race theory tries to engineer does something else entirely i believe it's time to expose what critical race theory or crt would look like in our high schools and i believe that if our school's board was transparent about this most parents would object crt which goes by other names such as deep equity is couched in vague slogans like social justice and human-centered design thinking on our district's website the program is called seed or seeking educational equity and diversity seed uses phrases such as creating an equitable
065place of learning for students and aims to develop cultural competence and effectiveness this language is designed to be vague to make you question yourself the media would have you believe that you don't really understand it and schools would have you believe that this is the best way to bring about empathy and inclusion but this is not just a thought exercise our school is now attempting to make it part of the curriculum and this is not an inconsequential thing the curriculum here is called my name my story it will thrust upon students that skin color is what we should focus on and we'll teach kids that white privilege defines our nation teachers will be instructed to teach that racism is present everywhere and always it will instill a belief that we all have unconscious bias and
066we are all committing microaggressions it will divide our already distressed kids into two groups oppressors and the oppressed and teach that in order to combat racism we must elevate and emphasize race even more now i ask some questions of the board do you think skin color matters do you want our kids to be taught that the most important things in life are those they cannot control or change and third do you think the seed program will create greater degrees of mutual trust i think there's better ways to establish harmony and true equality than to adopt a curriculum that will drive a wedge between all of us let's teach our children how to think not what to think thank you next up is mario dowd followed by terry newsome good evening my name is mary o'dowd
067thank you for allowing me to speak this is an american flag it honors my uncle who served in world war ii i have another one at home that honors my dad my uncle was also a teacher in the public school system not in a nice place like this he chose instead to serve the inner city schools in chicago he did not make a lot of money there nonetheless for years he personally bought school supplies books art supplies and even musical instruments for his students because he was dedicated to them and wanted them to get the best education possible my uncle did not teach his students what to think he taught his students how to think my uncle would be appalled by the radical leftist agenda known as critical race theory or crt that is being
068foisted on our students today through systemic indoctrination at schools such as this one you can call it culturally responsive teaching equity diversity and inclusion or any other politically correct euphemism you like maybe some people are fooled by that some old dead white guy once said if you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed that guy also said let me control the textbooks and i will control the state that guy's name was adolf hitler another guy said education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in their hands and at whom it is aimed that guy's name was joseph stalin we the people reject crt in our schools we the people reject those who voiced this lie upon us and our children we the people believe that
069two plus two will never equal five and we the people respectfully remind the members of this board that you work for us and that we the people vote may god bless may god bless the united states of america and all who serve her thank you [Applause] give me one second please we have four minutes left for the topic of the equity inclusion or critical race theory can i just i think since we got people out of border we actually had four speakers who were [Music] okay we'll continue going yep yep uh terry terry newsom and then i believe rich brennan went correct yes i think it was carrie quinn i believe kerry quinn rich went in carrie's place so carrie you'll follow terry all right go ahead jerry thank you i don't know i'm going
070to top that one it's great my name is terry newsom i have twins that just graduated eisenhower i was originally going to talk about the mass but based on what you said today i don't think they're going to be required it's going to be optional correct based on the science and how it may or may not change based on the cdc guidelines or the cdc guidelines scientists doctors whatever if you remember they've been wrong in pretty much everything since this whole mess started and i think if dr seuss was still alive he could write a book on dr fosse no mask one mask two masks um so anyway i'm gonna just adhoc since uh i'm not gonna talk anymore on mass critical race theory um i think you you folks call it equity um it's
071it's really a way to mask critical race theory my my son just graduated eisenhower and he came home uh probably the last month of school and he told me that he learned from his english teacher they were having a conversation with the class and she said that there's no american dream and i had him sit down i said are you sure she said that he goes yes and then the kids were talking one of the other kids made a statement and she said that it's exaggerated and it's not there for every child so i made sure his statement was accurate i left the message for the principal i said i hope my son heard incorrectly and i'd like to hear from you so he did call me back and spoke with the teacher and said
072my son did hear correctly but it wasn't teaching they were having a conversation so i think it's really basically a spin on her views or opinion came out on a school that supposedly doesn't teach critical race theory since i was prepared to talk about masks i have i have nothing else to say right now we're good and uh thanks to my son anthony i'm proud that he's here i'm proud of you boy carrie quinn followed by kylie spahn thank you hi everyone i'm carrie quirin i'm a downers grove lifer i went to hillcrest o'neil and south i'll have a second kid come through dgs this fall in terms of crt although i appreciate quotes and pictures of martin luther king that we've been seeing a lot of lately it would make a lot more impact
073if you in my opinion invited a black neighbor co-worker over in 2021 and ask them how are things going how are your struggles what are their concerns it's easy to put forth symbols and words we all find familiar but it's a lot harder to have a conversation face to face with black friends neighbors and coworkers with uncomfortable conversations that all being said in my opinion and in my niece's opinion who's a teacher downstate crt is a no for these reasons crt needs to be taught so carefully and thoughtfully that's that it needs a skilled teacher to do so and a lot of the skilled teachers are leaving the profession in droves the black friends that i've talked to in the race talks that i hold in my backyard monthly feel this is being rushed and
074it's very important that it's taught to not pit one race against another again that's their opinion if my kid was told you have white privilege they would know i know i don't have any barriers i never had to go through anything to get where i need to be in my life they also know that although i love them more than anyone else they are not more important than the kids sitting next to them so that would be offensive to my kid teachers could also face backlash in retaliation as we can clearly see our teachers have been through enough in the last year and to put this on them now in terms of the sex bill rumors were going around that some of the topics were inappropriate inappropriately explicit which i would have had a problem
075with i read the bill not all of it but some of it and some of the topics anatomy and physiology puberty and adolescent sexual development gender identity and expression social uh sorry sexual orientation and identity sexual health i don't see anything wrong with these topics especially consent and healthy relationships although again that is something that needs to be dealt deeper into but initially we need to read the bill and make sure we're working off facts masks last month the speaker said we support police of course we do the cdc is the police in a pandemic i don't want to wear masks either but if we have to we have to show our kids the content of our character you're out of time thank you kylie spahn followed by leslie sadowsky fugit good evening can everyone
076hear me at the back my name is kylie spahn i am a i am a district 99 parent firstly i would like to thank the board the administration and the teachers for all your hard work in navigating covert and in educating our children i support your efforts there has been a lot of confusion and misinformation at our school board meetings regarding crt crt can apply to two subjects the first is critical race theory which is an academic theory about the historical impacts of systemic racism on our laws and in our education system this theory is taught at the graduate collegiate level so i'm not going to discuss that right here the second subject referring to cit is called culturally responsive teaching let me stipulate that culturally responsive teaching is not the same as critical race
077theory they are not interchangeable we are all aware of the common core standards for k-12 public school students think of culturally responsive teaching standards as the common core standards for teachers culturally responsive standards were adopted by the state of illinois in february of this year the standards will take effect in october you can find the standards on isbee's website so what is culturally responsive teaching in a nutshell culturally responsive teaching is a method of teaching that promotes the recognition and understanding of cultures of students in a diversified classroom a teacher builds stronger stronger relationships with their students when adopting a culture inclusive approach to teaching having a culture inclusive classroom fosters the development of critical thinking empathy tolerance peer relationships and education outcomes these standards allow school districts and teachers to select a broad range
078of materials that integrates different cultures and cultural experiences into their lessons i teach at a christian based preschool one of the best ways to bring culturally responsive practices into our classroom is by reading to our students we start the school year reading a book called all are welcome here a beautiful book about welcoming all students to the classroom regardless regardless of race religion or disability at thanksgiving we dedicate a whole week to native american indian culture by reading whale in the sky at christmas we share many stories of baby jesus other books that highlight people of color and cultures include snowy day one love i am love in the garden on the last day of school i read one of my favorite books called tootaloo ruby blue which is a story about two friends one
079is asian and one is biracial and there are imagined adventures while on a play date by diversifying the literature the children are exposed to we are showing every kid in our classroom that all are welcome here i would like to leave you with a culturally responsive teaching moment that happened several years ago during our second circle a student and her father taught the class how to count to ten in arabic this not only exposed responding or out of time thank you very much after miss sadowsky fought is eileen breiner hello my name is leslie sadowsky fugit i do live in d 99 borders my daughter is just entering kindergarten this fall so we have a few years before she heads to downers grove south but as an advocate for equity and someone who cares deeply
080about education in this country i felt i must come forward the weaponization of critical race theory in district 99 is not a local problem conservative media is using crt as the next boogeyman the objectors ignore the fact that they are prioritizing white discomfort over something that does no harm and doesn't even exist in the k-12 classroom over the actual documented pain and discrimination of systemically marginalized marginalized groups in america in 2020 when everything was virtual due to coven-19 a seattle employee leaked footage of an anti-bias training session and sent the footage to a journalist named christopher ruffo he decided to capitalize on this moment likely for his own fame and set out on a quest to link anything related to diversity equity and inclusion to crt he became a darling thank goodness we haven't had
081any legislation here in illinois but this mobilization against crt reflects not a problem with our education system but rather the fear among white americans that we will lose our centuries-long stranglehold on this country by focusing on our public public education system they aim to cut off an honest depiction of american history at its source don't let them fool you this was never about accurately representing american history it is and has always been about maintaining the status quo keeping power consolidated in the wealthy connected white population and continuing to deny black citizens a voice in our history and our democracy shifting gears with regard to sex ed the new changes are needed and welcome children should learn consent before they enter kindergarten i've already worked with my incoming kindergartner to understand consent the representation of the
082lgbtq community is also long overdue i know that one community member stated at a previous board meeting that there are two genders two sexes and to someone with a master's degree in a biology field who has published peer-reviewed literature and who currently works in healthcare i need to correct that there is now an ample amount of peer-reviewed literature that supports the idea that both gender and sex exist along spectra the reason why this is such an up-and-coming research area is a direct result of bias and i'm grateful that these studies are finally being funded so we're basing our curriculum decisions on solid evidence and data and not on political talking points so i want to wrap up by thanking district 99 for your level-headedness your work on being inclusive and welcoming and for providing an
083excellent education to all students please continue the work that you're doing and i'm thrilled that my daughter is one day going to get to come here and attend donors grove south thank you i would just like to remind the audience that we've asked you not to speak over the speakers continuing to do so will result in the lessening of the time that we're going to take public comment so please respect those at the at the microphone whether you agree with them or not thank you give me one moment please we've passed 20 minutes on the topic of critical race theory combined with equity and inclusion which is the amount of those four that included the four extra people at the beginning okay so we're we're approaching 30 minutes on that topic so this will be
084our last um comments comments i have several different comments okay so that's fine but this will be our appreciate that thank you very much excuse me excuse me i'm sorry i don't mean to interrupt you but i don't want to interrupt joints you start going so this will be our last comment related to crt you're free to comment with whatever during your three minutes after this we'll bring up people who have how many how many more we have quite a few but people can choose to come up or to to skip their turn if that was the single topic that they wish to speak about okay so we'll ask you to after you're done we'll ask you to self-monitor just come forward if you have something other than crt and i would just remind you
085that you can send a letter to the board uh outlining your concerns if you were not able to finish tonight or you did not speak tonight thank you sorry for delaying no no problem without thank you very much my name is eileen breiner and i've written out my presentation so i don't go over three minutes i don't want to get gaveled that would be so embarrassing i've had a huge revelation in studying critical race theory ah thank you so much i've checked with my doctor and psychologist and both have confirmed that indeed i do need to be the person that i feel that i am therefore tonight i am coming to you not as a white female but as a black female please explain so much to me i understand now why everything has been
086so hard for me i don't have any black privilege treatments will begin shortly to darken my skin but no worries i'll accept all your apologies for your oppression i've learned about the proposed sex education program which mentions anal sex 29 times in the freshman program when i was a kid that was a derogatory term imagine what this is going to do in a teenager's head it will truly transform america also i've learned about the scoring here at district 99 the lowest score you can get for anything is a 40 a test an assignment even an assignment not turned in you get a 40. you're preparing students for the real world well i'm going to try this out in the real world i'm going to go to my employer and tell them that i'm going to
087work monday through thursday at eighty percent efficiency and not show up on friday and i expect to be paid for five days that comes that comes out to 72 percent that plays out to 72 for the week so you know i hope you're right i want to get paid for five days so i'm just gonna go back to my seat now and try to figure out how to pay my property taxes which pay for this awesome education that you're giving our students thank you nicole johnson is next followed by janice sleeter nicole johnson followed by janice leader again just to reiterate if you are here to speak about crt that time has expired so we ask did you give it to the next person change the subject hi yes i have nicole centro johnson i
088have a senior at north we are second generation downers grove north family i got a text to talk about this on my way in so i'm i'm winging it um thank you for having us um i think our kids are excited for the first time in a year and a half to go back to school you know i'm watching the football team you guys we're going in the right direction so thank you um dr thiel you used the word choice we need to use that word more often thank you for using it you need to know there's a lot of us parents that are just not choosing to vaccinate our kids i know many of us disagree guys but i'm not doing it to send him to a concert to travel and i'm not doing
089it for school as of today theirs everyone knows bears we can all get it 11 000 people have died from the vaccine that doesn't include the injuries okay so the benefit does not outweigh the risk for the age of our children i understand choice if you want to get it get it but no this could be an issue for a couple years guys and what we have dealt with is the quarantine we don't know yet i know you said we're waiting we think it's going to be 10 days but does everyone know this year when our kids have to quarantine which will be 10 days no remote learning did you know that they're just going home can you imagine a senior five courses teaching yourself you know it was bad enough when they were in
090their rooms last year for all those hours but now they have to teach themselves we need a plan we need a plan many of these kids will be healthy they they can't test and come back to school they just have to stay home they may be healthy kids our kids are already behind in illinois we all have cousins friends who have kids in other states our kids are behind we never went back full time we can't even say that for the rest of the state our kids are behind we have to have a plan if you're going to force these healthy kids to go home how are we going to teach them i'm assuming education is still the most important thing here right it should be educating these kids we got to get our kids
091to college and they are not at the same level as these other states we have to have a plan in our district for what we're going to do and i really i look to you to make that a good plan i don't want to send my healthy kid home in his bedroom for 10 days but if i do please tell me you can either remote educate him or the teachers are going to spend a couple hours you know getting with these kids so they have a plan and they don't fall anymore behind that's it thank you [Applause] i'm sorry i'm having a hard time reading this uh rithia bodley i'm sorry if i have that wrong followed by stephanie trussell oh i'm sorry yes i did janice you are next then rathaya badly followed by
092stephanie trussell thank you thank you i know there's a lot there my name is janice leader and i hope everybody can hear me in the back i am a long time resident of downers grove my great great grandfather homesteaded here in 1853 back in the day when the abolitionists were having downers grove as a stop on the underground railroad now i am one of 15 members of my family going from my father through my kids that have been in district 99 high schools i know this is a different a difficult situation and i'm trying to come up with some alternative information and positive ways to go forward everyone has to respect everybody else martin luther king and many of the original say 1950s and 60s civil rights leaders said no one should be judged by
093the color of their skin they should be judged by the content of their character so the color of anyone's skin should not be determining who gets preference over whom or anti-semitism uh you know there's a lot of this that's talking about black versus white well there's also hispanic native american um asian native you know lgbt everybody should have the right to free speech to give their opinion now on this i've done i've had a lot of personal experience through the 50s 60s 70s and whatever i'm 73 years old and i've seen a lot of progress there's a lot of way way to go yet but critical race theory as i have read it and the way it's been portrayed is preference based on skin color devices based on skin color there is a record number
094of rich minorities middle class minorities and a record number of mixed marriages i do not want my friends grandkids and my grandkids who are mixed race to have a conflict that they're half oppressed or half oppressor this makes no sense to me now some positive information and i'm passing on robert woodson with the project 1776. i'm passing on the president's commission report which gives treat racism and the problems we've had but how do we go forward in a positive way to improve things for everybody also the book red white and black which is essays of over 20 black civil rights leaders historians academics and pastors please use this as part of your information set on your decision thank you once again the time has expired for conversations on critical race theory diversity equity inclusion we
095invite people to come up for any other topics to address the board this is under board policy as to how much time we allocated each board meeting to allow people to talk on a variety of topics if that is the topic in which you wish to address the board we invite you to email the board at boardmembers at csd99.org please pass on your turn if that is your topic that you wish to discuss this evening thank you ruth ruth isla thank you if it's okay with you i'm just going to use my teacher voice because i think a lot of you can hear me in the background my teacher voice right but you couldn't hear anybody when they were just standing up here talking like i'm really sorry when you were mumbling quietly about the
096stuff that you never expect for anyone to pay attention to right but those of you that can hear me now right and you don't probably want to hear another word i'm going to say because i'm going to tell you that that is equity is about and hank you were going to tell me that i can't have any more time you are correct appreciate and respect that which is not what i've seen next up is stephanie tressel followed by annette mcneely stephanie trussell followed by annette mcneely stephanie trussell dupage county resident since 1994. we want to talk about systemic racism well i fled systemic racism when i chose to move to dupage county so my children could be educated like everyone is i didn't we're not covering the topic of equity i can't talk about it
097oh no we're out of time for that topic if you would like to address the board on another topic i can reset your timer and you can start over i don't want to break any rules thank you okay thank you next up is annette mcneely okay i want the group to quiet down so we can hear what speakers have to say and if you cannot for the safety of those in this room we will move into closed session and i will close the second reception of visitors so take a moment take a moment ma'am are you here to speak about crt no thank you i'm actually going to say that um when you bring up people of color you're referring that white people don't have color so we come in vanilla ma'am i'm working that
098is i can say that it's not we're not here to talk about equity but i really would like to talk about something i'm going on i will reset your timers okay so there is a career that is scientifically and physician based and it is called an ecological consultant they are fit testers and what we do what they do is they go around to hospitals teach doctors nurses transporters police stations rangers on how to wear a mask properly and what mask to wear i will tell you that i have never ever told anyone the way to stop a communicable disease is by putting a surgeon's mask or a piece of cloth over your face so if you want to prevent the communicable disease it's an n95 mask meant to wear for a short period of time
099thrown out wash your face and hands don't be lulled into a false sense of security and also i did want to touch on i know critical race has beaten a dead horse but it is a historical thing it was um thought up at harvard we're no longer taking students from your time do not let asians into harvard anymore ma'am we're not taking that topic any longer thank you jeffrey mack followed by robin bollinger jeffrey mack followed by robin ballinger [Music] my name is jeffrey mack i'm a district 99 alumni as are my three sons and i'm here to talk about senate bill 818 which will mandate national sex education standards in illinois public schools which some believe are based on pornographic and age inappropriate national education standards what is wrong with the any the n-s-e-s
100or the national standards k-12 are k-2 would have to define gender gender identity and gender role stereotypes three through five would have to learn the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity six through eight would know all about vaginal oral and anal sex and methods of contraception 9 through 12 would see videos depicting vaginal oral and anal sex and study reproductive justice why would anybody push that kind of a education program in our children [Applause] on june 18th on june 18th wakeup99 asked you to stand up for illinois the the community by asking governor pritzker to veto senate bill 818 and uh superintendent thiel you mentioned that you're not opposing the bill not opposing the bill basically is a passive support of the bill in our estimation and we strongly urge you to oppose this
101bill or district 99 to oppose this bill that is an abuse and an assault on our children [Applause] you have a duty to prevent the inappropriate national standards material from being shown in 9th through 12th grades this is not about keeping you safe and healthy and promotes the early excuse me it's about grooming innocent and precious children in early age to have sex forcing them to agree there are more than two genders and that there are no boundaries or norms when it comes to sexual behavior this will destroy the traditional family trample on religious beliefs corrupt the culture and harm vulnerable children who are struggling through the normal and difficult years of puberty the job of the school is to teach basic fundamental subjects such as the science math literature social studies that's the core
102mission when we go off into teaching these inappropriate subjects how are children going to learn when all they can think about after being in sex ed is to go home and have sex kids have a hard enough time concentrating without them having these things forced on them we asked district 99 to actively oppose senate bill 818 and if it becomes law not to teach such a sex education at all and declare district 99 to be a sanctuary for innocent children thank you thank you next up is robin bollinger followed by janet's i think it says nortney i'm sorry robin hi my name is robin bollinger and i wanted to say thank you to the board for listening to all of the various opinions and for clearing up the misinformation when the board meeting started my
103topic was on equity and i'll take a pass out of the respect of your request thank you thank you [Applause] next is janet i think it says nortney followed by gerald stapleton i'm sorry all right me again i'm not a public speaker where should i be looking at all you guys it's the board the board okay sorry guys so this is the second okay i'm sorry my name is janet novotny i've had three children come through the school this is my last one i'm trying to get through and i am very concerned as a parent that i just hope that you guys can listen to us as parents that we just want the kids to be taught the normal stuff math science social studies and let us be deciding of what we want to do
104for them whether it be medically as far as like the vaccinations it's a choice and i feel like everyone has a reason why they're going to get it there's a reason why they can't and there's people who don't want it there's so many reasons and everyone should have the right to have that power to do what's right with their body instead of being forced and pushed and i respect the fact that you guys are trying to give so much information but i think we're kind of sometimes beating a dead horse whoever wants to get it is probably gotten it and who hasn't probably is not or can't there's so many reasons why and that's a whole other story so i feel very pressured right now for the kids to have to get vaccinated or the
105parents or there's like we're bad because we do or we don't and and that really has to be kind of i feel left out of the school we have a parents should have the right to do what's right medically with our children and with the doctors and with our children so it really shouldn't be pushed upon the school and same with the mask you know if you want to wear a mask great and if you don't whatever i i feel like the cdc and the who and all these other three-letter thing organizations are guidelines it's not the law i mean and like people have done their research have have their opinions and i think again parents should have the right to decide what we feel is right for the child and my daughter didn't get
106to go to school at all last week last year and she did um she got basically bad grades and so she went to math and she got straight a but she came home with the headaches and she couldn't breathe and she had the worst acne like poor thing and that's really bad for a 15 year old she's gained a lot of weight from not going to school there's a lot of psychological and like emotional things that are happening and i want her to go back to school but with the conditions that i don't know what's going on i don't know i feel like you guys really hopefully can listen to the parents that's all i ask is just please listen to the parents and then back to the guidelines as the child is not vaccinated
107my child or whoever child who's not vaccinated should have the right to have education if they have to be quarantined because quote unquote they're going to give someone a disease that they don't even have let them have some education and not be stuck at home twiddling their thumbs for 10 days playing with the cat or with computers or whatever like let them teach they need to or learn let them learn and let them you know still be allowed to have education when they're not allowed to come back to school because they weren't vaccinated so i hope all that made sense i have a bad headache and thank you for listening thank you [Applause] gerald stapleton followed by russ novotny good evening my name is gerald stapleton i have been a resident of district 99 for
108over 40 years i have two children and three grandchildren who have had the privilege of attending downers growth south i've also been a teacher a principal and a college instructor and i wanted to speak up in support of the education of education that promotes our ideals as a nation is culture culturally responsive and recognizes both our successes and our shortcomings in out of respect for the board's decision i will yield my time thank you thank you russ novotny followed by marcella boy my eyes are getting worse as the night goes on uh chore trey thank you so russ is up next hey can everybody hear me yeah okay um hi my name is ross novotny i've been a resident of woodridge for 23 years my daughter sofia spent her entire freshman year taking classes at
109south via online learning she was deeply affected by this as my wife had just mentioned she was the second to the last speaker um about weight gain and um you know really feeling isolated and depressed and just wanting things to go back to normal um and you know i do appreciate the board's push to make as many things as possible go back to normal um just because of the fact that i see exactly the way that it affected my daughter and i don't want to see her go through that again so i was encouraged when i read the proposal released last thursday for the return of the school the fact that mask wearing would be optional for all students whether they're vaccinated or not i sent all the board members an email about that and
110i thank you all for the proposal dr thiele you and i had a couple of exchanges through email and i appreciate your responses as well what i quite didn't understand and i know this isn't a forum to ask questions but why does it take so long to vote on i guess i was under the impression at first that this was a proposal that was all put together and then it was going to be voted on tonight i don't know if anybody else was under that impression but um i just i guess kind of rhetorically want to know kind of ask the question of what happens between now and the next board meeting in order to decide whether or not to vote on this or to a vote in favor of it i don't know if
111any of you can answer that or give me a short answer or what but it's just kind of something that i would like to know typically we don't but this is a very simple answer is that the guidance just came out we're expecting new updates from illinois state board of education illinois department of public health plus before the board takes action as the superintendent i always try to provide them time to digest the information i've given them before they have to vote on it as you saw with the board goals tonight they came at multiple meetings before action was taken so right that's our our practice okay i mean but i guess is it the view of the entire board that you guys all want to have the kids go back to school and be
112able to choose whether or not they want to wear a mask and choose whether or not they want to be able to be vaccinated or anything else i mean there's got to be some general consensus already right i presented what the administration is going to recommend this evening and then at the future board meeting the board will have the opportunity to take action okay well i appreciate you in answering my questions so um thanks for your time thanks everybody [Applause] marcella uh linda uh bodum will follow good evening my name is martella durdik cheray and i've been a resident of downers grove for the past 25 years both my children graduated from downer south i'm a member of awake illinois and a member of the illinois chapter of children's health defense i'm a first generation
113american daughter of european immigrants my father fled a communist regime at the age of 17. as a child during world war ii ma'am i'm sorry to interrupt you but is this about crt no it's not world okay ii my father-in-law spent time in a concentration camp he eventually made his way to the u.s attended the united states naval academy and proudly served in the military for 27 years i'm a private person but i share these things because you need to understand that i do not take our freedoms particularly our medical freedoms for granted i'm here tonight because i have watched educational institutions over the past 16 months implement ill-conceived policies with egregious overreach and a total disregard for law and constitutional rights under the guise of public health when questioning these policies i'm always met
114with the same rote response we are following cdc guidelines law supersedes guidance and mandates are not law the cdc is not the fourth branch of government this never-ending parody is insulting dismissive and a complete deflection of responsibility in my opinion i've spent over 20 years personally researching psychopharmaceutical threats to children and by extension vaccine injury it has always been my personal belief that the subject of health should remain outside the realm of education parents should be the ones making health decisions for their children the vaccine the mass the testing are under eua only any product with this designation must be voluntary under us code 21 section 360 bbb3 there must be informed consent the individual has the ultimate right to accept or refuse administration of any eua product that is the law these mandates being
115imposed represent a loss of god-given freedom over our own children and their bodies this is beyond unacceptable they violate the us constitution the nuremberg code and the helsinki declaration and schools implementing these protocols as a condition of enrollment are complicit in atrocities toward our children regardless of where you stand relative to the mainstream narrative that is this pandemic and regardless of where you stand on the vaccine debate one thing is perfectly clear there is no legal justification for these mandates it bears repeating there must be informed consent and the individual has the ultimate right to accept or refuse vaccination testing and maxing choices for all students in district 99 must be optional parental rights over our children will be restored thank you for your time thank you let me end it up i think we're
116past going back to 30 and now are we in total time yeah when do we start we're passing now um let me check um no we still have time okay thank you um i will invite up lindell mines followed by eric windishman and we have eight minutes oh i'm sorry i did it again i did it again linda you're up next then lynn followed by eric and we have eight minutes remaining in the reception of visitors hi my name is linda bodum i've written to dr thiele in the board numerous times and that now i figured it was time for to put for you to put a face to my letters i'm here to because i have asked some questions and although dr thiele wrote me back he didn't actually answer my questions i followed
117up with another email requesting the information but again it went unanswered i wonder if the board even reads the email sent by stakeholders in this community i will make sure to keep my comments to three minutes to avoid the board calling a recess and walking out and ending public comment like last month i've requested the specific directives given to teachers in this district regarding personal political opinions given in class where does the district stand on this issue are the teachers allowed to give their political views i've also requested a link to curriculum resources used in language arts classes i would like to know what the approved curriculum topics are and approve resources to be used this is a public school so we have taxpayers have the right to see what's being taught to our children
118especially when it comes to controversial topics such as police brutality race and sexuality i believe the curriculum needs to be transparent sending me a generic link to a course description is not sufficient the superintendent has a responsibility to know what is going on in the schools as well as be aware of the controversial topics being proposed in the state when people spoke last month he was unaware of everything which was very surprising to me i'm also here as i've been watching the meetings month after month and i see that the board states to visitors that they do not answer questions i would like to call your attention to your own district 99 board protocols protocol does not allow the board to discuss their debate topics raised however if there is a simple answer to the
119question and may be provided during the meeting and complex questions will be answered in writing from the superintendent if contact information is provided or sent after the meeting it appears that you can answer simple questions in a meeting yet i haven't seen it done i did see it once tonight and i sure hope that the superintendent is following up as answers as i will be leaving my email for answers to my questions the best way to get parents and community members to be supportive is to be transparent and provide answers when questions are raised thank you dr kupko we have six slips remaining i recommend that we just invite all six before we end the reception visitors i'm fine with that does anybody object fine all right again we're going to go ask that if
120you're here to speak about critical race since we've theory since we've spent a good portion of time on that tonight that you allow that time eric windishman is next followed by susan we're still restricting the the topic of critical race theory diversity equity inclusion as we've expanded our time on that uh eric windishman is up next followed by susan hi thank you for having me i'm eric windishman uh members of school board and attendees i'm not going to talk about what is happiest i'm going to talk about liberty a little bit but member school board i would like to express my appreciation to the dedicated staff and teachers of our school community for the work they do my children attended downers grove south and it helped prepare them for the future pursuits however as a
121citizen and tax paper payer taxpayer i just had some issues and and one of the main things now that we're not talking about that other thing is this is this is a community school district community donors grove right it's not the district of illinois school district it's not the district of the united states of america even though we're all americans we're men we're we're citizens of the state of illinois but it's the community and and we're all here sharing uh what we believe to be important issues in this community so given that i think we return to the core principles of our nation's founding once understood to be self-evident that all humans are created equal says men but we mean humans are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights among
122these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the truth that there is only one race the human race made in the image and likeness of god and the truth that we were created to love god with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves this is not political but moral and spiritual but the positive socio-political outcomes of returning to our creator and living out this truth i hope is evident to all and as citizens i believe we all should should take a step back and think about where where our responsibilities lie both with our children my children came to the school they're doing all right and and where our obligations to our community lie we are all here together to to speak about what we believe is the right thing to do
123in our community and as you see a lot of people are really concerned about some stuff going on so god bless you all and thank you for letting me babble thank you thank you [Applause] uh susan carroll is followed by rich benema susan carroll all right i don't see susan but i'll hold her space if she does come forward i know we're getting later in the evening rich come on up rich benema dgs alumni and parent i came ready with statistics and research to support the in-person plan but i'll take your lack of discussion as as agreement and acceptance of that plan so i just want to take some time to thank dr thiele i know you and i have gone back and forth for a long time over this last year and although we
124never agree i do understand your commitment to student safety that that you were willing to shut down the schools in order to protect any student from long-term side effects and so i thank you tonight for your consistency and understanding the potential for long-term side effects from vaccination i think that that i what was good last year is good for this year so i just want to thank you for doing that um really quickly to say i know not a forum but to save me from sending you an email one thing in the morning one thing i saw in the presentation was talking about with the commons that there might be a full lunch period am i understand that there will be students that will actually be eating for 50 minutes instead of having a half
125lunch and half resource correct that was always the plan when we introduced the master facility plan to the community to extend the amount of time that students would have in that new common space is that assigned to them or is it a choice on whether they want a resource or a full lunch period i don't understand how that works we'll be con we'll communicate that all out from the principal soon yeah anyway i just i know it's uh last year and the year before was a total mess and so i just here's to a successful 22 may we make it all the way through thank you um next up is carolyn oh no i'm sorry next up is anthony chang followed by carolyn googly ammo i tried i told you'd be bad hello my name
126is anthony chang i'm uh obviously a president of downers grove um i want to thank you for the time at the microphone here um i want to echo a comment earlier about sample 818 i think the responsibility of sexual education gender identity all that education belongs firmly with the parents and should not be taught by the schools uh i think the the family unit is the best source of information for that and that it's the responsibility um i also want to say thank you for giving the opportunity for full lunches i cannot tell you how often i've been hearing complaints with my kids when they were like i don't even have enough time to eat my food i have to shove it in the garbage or just walk down the hallway and eat it so
127um i don't well i don't have any kids now at this point but i just want to say thank you for future students that will be coming through they will greatly appreciate it um and my kids are going to limit that they didn't get that opportunity um i also do want to say that uh i am a little concerned about something that was taught to my daughter um in freshman english she was told to check her white privilege i mean obviously i'm you know i don't know but to be fair my wife my wife is jewish so she is half nap so there is that split and it causes a lot of consternation and i think that this obviously is a very divisive and very sensitive issue and i want to be i'm i appreciate
128the fact that you made the opening statement that critical race theory is not going to be taught here and i i really hope that we can follow through and you know like i said during a freshman english class in a 2016-2017 year being told to check your white privilege you may say that critical race theory is not being taught but if your teachers are saying that we know otherwise so i just want to thank you for your time and thank you for your service thank you thank you carolyn [Applause] you can help me with your last name now the g silent so it's guillermo who yelled i've had that name my whole life imagine all the teachers who messed it up we're good at messing up names yeah we try our best to get them
129right so my name is caroline golialmo i'm a nationally recognized safety and health practitioner for workplace safety my mother was instructional aide in fairfax county public schools outside of washington d.c i had my education there my father was an assistant principal at the science and tech school in fairfax county so i'm very well aware of how school systems and the government works i'm a former lobbyist that represented three major industries to congress and military and federal and state agencies on safety and health and i have worked for the cdc investigating firefighter fatality i have developed videos for the construction industry on respiratory protection i have worked with agency heads on protecting workers and people for 25 years guidelines which i know and i know the cdc very well there's a reason i don't work there
130okay i know the government very well and i know the press very well and when you push paper masks there is no science on paper masks i am an expert i have 20 publications that were peer reviewed and published by the cdc prior to 2019 the cdc in the national chemical society published studies on hand sanitizer which lessens the immune system they did studies on doctors and you can find this online and health care professionals what the government did to this nation is despicable what they did to the school systems is despicable they told everybody to spray lysol and all these cleaning chemicals that cause cancer that cause all kinds of adverse health effects in the workplace in a lysol manufacturing facility or clorox workers are fit tested under the occupational safety and health respiratory
131protection standard which far outweighs cdc guidelines and in fact i fought the government at osha during the clinton administration who try to push guidelines on the construction industry they are not peer-reviewed they are made up by a bunch of government bureaucrats a lot of people who work in the cdc are academics and have never practiced medicine this is one of the reasons i left now these poor children you're out of time okay thank you [Applause] all right the last slip i have is for susan carroll is susan still in the house all right this concludes the reception of visitors thank you all and thank you again for pretty much sticking with the plan i very much appreciate it we let us get through all the speakers tonight moving on to community that will conclude our
132reception of visitors second reception visitors report on legislative education dupage jenny anything we haven't had a meeting since okay no and they they've really worked behind the scenes to try to get illinois to work quickly to release release the guidance once cdc released theirs so it was a very pleasant surprise to have a quick decision from idph this time if i could just ask the audience we are still meeting and need to hear each other so if you could just keep it down as you exit i appreciate it thank you i'm sorry i didn't mean your approval it's all right uh sas uh joanna's not here for a report on sassid did you have anything on the 99 uh foundation okay uh my uh iasb chris is there anything this year so far yeah okay
133we have two upcoming board meetings we will have on august 2 excuse me we are still meeting so i'd appreciate it if you keep it down on august 2nd we're going to have a workshop meeting at 6 30 a place to be determined and august 16th a regular business meeting at 6 30. now we need a motion to go in a closed session for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park recreational or educational setting or specific volunteers of the district or legal counsel for the district including hearing testimony of a complaint lodged against an employee a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park recreation or educational setting or a volunteer of the district or against legal counsel
134for the district to determine its validity so moved second terry and mike thank you terry pavich aye mike davenport aye christopher espinoza aye shirelle fuller aye jenny hagstrom aye nancy kupko aye we are moving into closed session we will be returning into open to adjourn but no action will be taken so for our students thank you you're free to leave thank you thank you thank you scarlett we're going to have a very very fast yes closed session you know how to get out without you guys board members were back in the you're back in the same room you were in the last time i looked like our videographer was trying to get your attention thank you no we're not going to take any action we're just going to adjourn and open you are relieved for
135the evening thank you so much you