August 25, 2021 | Vineland Board of Education Combined Meeting

001that e e e sure e e good evening welcome to the volum Board of Education August 25th combined meeting roll call please miss Larry Mr Casta here Mrs kispa present Mr fiok here Mr Holmes here Mr Rivera here Mr sabran pres Mr Silva here miss Spinelli Miss Spell's not here and she did um Let me let the public know that uh she had business out of town and her Fleet got delayed and um she apologizes thank you Mr English here in compliance with a New Jersey open public meeting law commonly referred to as the Sunshine Law the violent board of education has caused notice and posting of this meeting to be sent to the following announcing time and place thereof agenda Etc The Daily Journal SNJ today the Press of Atlantic City nestra communidad Visto

002Bueno the clerk for the city of violent and the administrative office public bulletin board at this time I ask that everyone please rise for the flag salute at this time I ask that everyone join me in a moment of silence in memory of longtime coach educator and friend John pazi longtime security guard at Duran and Winslow Juan Bernard Senor and Matthew kunri son of former violent Board of Education president and longtime educator in our district Terry kunri thank you our thoughts and prayers go out to the families the parenty family the Bernard family and the kunon family m l do we have a resolution for execu session this evening not at this time at this time do we have any special presentations this evening Mr Yano yes we have two presentations uh I will make

003my way over to the podium thank you so so we have two presentations this evening uh the first presentation uh we will be honoring uh a few of our students so we're going to start with our student presentation first and then we'll go into the road forward so U Mr Holmes will be assisting me up here in the recognition of our students I believe we have our um Middle School principles here as well uh if you'd like you could join us up here uh appreciate that thank you so much thank you for coming this evening and uh supporting your students uh so today this evening we are uh honored to have the opportunity to recognize our middle school students from violent Public Schools who were honored on Saturday August 7th at Landis park at the

004second annual um Unity day and uh we know uh it was a wonderful event our principls sent us information about the students so I would like to uh call each of the students up uh and they will receive a certificate from our Board of Education okay to begin Amie Calderon from Wallace Middle School please come on up and here's the statement that was read for on her behalf perseverance was on display as this young lady overcame injury to continue to pursue her Athletics her teachers comments her teachers comments that she always displays a good attitude and puts forth great effort she is also an outstanding student who maintains Straight A's hang out for a second um who Straight A's through eighth grade while holding perfect attendance that's exceptional she's a great example of kindness and

005friendship to all of her peers she is always there to lend a helping hand to her peers and the staff in her classroom let's all hear from Miss Calderon you got a picture okay so thank you and uh if you don't mind me we just move to the to the side a little bit we're going to want all of our students up there together so hang out with us all right cool next Samuel aimin from Wallace Middle School Samuel has worked hard to achieve Straight A's in the fourth marking period this is from last year and as a ESL student he has put work that hard work in to achieve his goals his teachers always mention that he's Cooperative he always demonstrates a great attitude and effort and it is a pleasure to have in

006class he's also demonstrated outstanding attendance which which is exceptional we love that he's a kind young man respectful and he greets all staff with with a good morning and a smile when he enters the building each morning thank you Samuel and we have another student from Wallace Rachel Gonzalez [Applause] we'll give her a minute to get up here it's kind of a long [Laughter] walk Rachel is an outstanding student who brings a smile to all she encounters Rachel is a member of the National Junior Honor Society and as a member she spearheaded the newly created Rock Garden in memory of Mrs Sheree kokuro school security guard who died of Co earlier this year she donated materials and worked with her peers to decorate the rocks that were placed in the garden Rachel's a dancer a

007cheerleader and a friend to all let here for Rachel excellent okay next let's see for Memorial School I hope I'm saying the pronouncing the name correctly if I'm not you can correct me Kylie Spen Ruther Kylie is in eighth grade Veterans Memorial School student has shown acceptance of others and an energy of love and kindness during her years at VMS she's a silent leader who strives to make the world a better place for everyone Kylie truly cares about her school Community her violin community and people of all backgrounds Kylie brings a lot of joy and positivity to the lives of others on a daily basis and is often there to lend a help in hand Kylie leads by an example by example in being the change one wants to see in this world outstanding good

008job Kylie next we have kimman [Applause] Marie K is a eighth grade VMS student who Embraces the differences of others he has a gentle Calon spirit that allows others to feel welcomed and to feel a part of a family many times Kim can be seen making sure a fellow student is not struggling by offering help in any way he can to that student Kon has always always has a smile on his face and a warm welcomeing demeanor toward everyone he absolutely loves music and he loves to dance his energy is infectious and many find themselves dancing or singing along with him both of these students Kylie and kimman are wonderful examples of the peace the unity and the love and energy needed to make a better world thank you next we have Samuel vdro from

009pill [Applause] School Samuel he displayed academic in Civic Excellence throughout the academic year he excelled by earning Straight A's and showed talent in creating several stop animation infomercials to support our schools the pillar schools community service project congratulations for a job well done let me call one name just to make sure that the student did not arrive late Angela is Angela here no I I don't believe she was able to make it tonight okay just want to make sure uh principles uh wonderful students who've grown so much under your direction thank you for the work that you've done with this fine group of young adults uh I hope that we can have this event again next year and recognize more students for wonderful displays of their you know the work that they do in your

010buildings led by you and your staff Mr Holmes thank you for your support you attended the event and you were able to to honor the students uh at that satday Saturday Unity Unity Day event so let's get a picture with our students here please yes [Applause] thank you again and thank you parents for all your support for bringing your children out tonight means a lot to us thank you okay so next we have our presentation on the road forward with some additional updates so I hope all of our board me members are able to see uh the display up here we're going to Jump Right In okay at our last board meeting I presented with uh the support of our leadership team uh an update on the road forward uh our plan to reopen our

011schools for in-person instruction uh and this evening we're going to provide or I will be providing a shorter version of that presentation which will also go on our website and it will be translated in Spanish uh just to highlight some of the major changes that we've seen in just a few weeks of time but I'd like to emphasize to begin with it again we know that our schools will provide full day full-time inperson instruction for the 2021 2022 school year that is the plan that is what we are working towards we also want to just remind everyone that all schools will operate on a five full day regular bell schedule uh per the governor there will be no virtual or remote option available to parents this year all instruction will be provided in person and

012just an update around free lunches our students will be receiving lunch provided by the Department of Agriculture at no cost to the district and we continue to really focus on providing a strong Academic Program along with our Sports and extracurricular activities which will continue as they have done every year masks are going to be required for all students and individuals enter in any of our school buildings we also have a form that needs to be filled out for all of our students the statement of Assurance for covid-19 which is in Genesis parents should have been prompted already to sign off on that form uh as you begin the school year you only have to do it once but we want to make sure that our parents are screening students daily at home students who are

013sick should not come to school classrooms with Mr farachio and his team have been already set up to allow reasonable social distancing at at a minimum of three foot in every class uh where possible contact tracing again will continue based on the guidelines that we've established with the CD and there's also an update in this presentation around contact tracing and all of our cleaning protocols that we were used to seeing in uh last year will continue with some slight modifications this question has come up multiple times so I added a slide many parents are asking the question what what if I don't want my child to go to school I want virtual as an option there are two areas uh that keep coming up home instruction versus home schooling home instruction there they're different home

014instruction is provided to students enrolled in our school district who are um who need it for a medical reason there is a application process but a doctor coordinates with our school Health Physician uh they fill out a packet that verifies there's a significant medical issue that would cause a child to not be able to come to school and now it's on the district to provide an education whether it's through a tutoring program access to uh to to instruction after school hours we have to come up with a plan home instruction requires a medical reason we also provide home instruction for students who have been disciplined for over for five days or more and they've been removed from their general education program but in this case in the case of covid and virtual instruction home instruction

015must be approved by a medical professional with a diagnosis then there's homeschooling homeschooling is an option that every parent has uh you can decide as a parent to remove your child from the school district all you need to do is just let us know so we can have maintain a record that your child do no longer be in service by violent public schools and that parents will take on the responsibility of providing that instruction that is an option for parents to take homeschooling is a removal from the school district and the parent takes the responsibility to educate the child so that's just a quick definition of home instruction versus homeschooling so a couple updates uh to our road forward plan plan again we know that students benefit from an in-person program we have learned that

016vaccination continues to be the leading Public Health prevention strategy to end covid-19 pandemic we know that masks should be worn indoors based on our CDC guidelines and that we should try to maintain as often as possible 3 feet of physical distance in our classrooms uh here's an example of the road for document it was updated on the 20th just recently with some new uh components that are being highlighted this evening so the key takeaways again for our uh Road forward is on the leth hand side there are many layers of prevention that we're going to put in place in all our schools screening testing ventilation handwashing staying home when you're sick contact tracing and cleaning in this this infection right on the right hand side we also know that we're going to monitor the community

017transmission and vaccination coverage rates screening testing occurrence of outbreaks with the city Department of Health we are going to continue to do that one of the biggest changes you'll see is that we are now looking at vaccinations and surveying all of our staff and students not all students students in the sixth grade through 12th grade on their vaccination status as a school district we need to know or at least receive feedback from families especially on students and their vaccination status if we don't receive information from families we are directed to assume that a child is not V not fully vaccinated this impacts students are in our Athletics programs uh and and the number of days you would be required to quarantine if you were exposed and have symptoms and do not have a or have

018a positive test or a negative test to covid what we do know right now is that all New Jersey school employees must be vaccinated for covid or undergo regular testing we learned uh recently that the New Jersey Department of Health will be funding testing once or twice a week for staff members who do not have a vaccination on record with the school district that proposal has not been submitted to any school district because it's still being developed but the Mandate came out vaccinations are required all staff members who do not take the vaccine or have a vaccine on record will undergo testing that testing will be funded at this point through the Department of Health using federal funds and and uh Esser Monies to get ahead of the process we wanted to survey our staff

019and see where are we right now in terms of vaccination coverage and we have about 1,664 employees give or take uh we've received a great response over 1,030 respondents 87% of those respondents uh responded that they actually have the vaccine already uh with a smaller percentage not having it and we asked them are you planning on getting the vaccine of that little that little blue piece of the chart those who recently said no I don't have the vaccine but I'm going to get it that's about 50 folks 50 of our staff members are are willing to receive the vaccine at this point they may be scheduling through their own medical provider or through the school district we also looked at students our students eligible students around 5,100 students we asked how many kids uh received

020the vaccine we had eight over 1,800 responses this is uh accurate as of maybe 3 hours ago so the number keep keeps Rising uh 59.5% did not receive it 40% did receive a vaccine already so 40% yes of that 1806 but the next question we asked is well if you're are you planning on having your child receive the covid vaccine so all the students who we received the no response 16.6% of that group uh are saying yes you know we will receive the vaccine as long as the school district can help support uh so we are coordinating with the Department of Health to provide opport OPP unities uh through our local Health Providers to get students connected to a vaccine and uh that's also restated here in this um next slide so it's important to

021know that only a little while ago we presented this information to the board of education on the leftand side you see the current uh uh status of New Jersey uh a couple weeks ago everyone was in yellow under moderate now there's a large section of the state that's under a high level of covid activity again on this uh slide here just want to show you that on the right hand side that's what it was a couple weeks ago with at 11.4% uh daily new cases now we're at 21.6 this is in violent and you'll see on this side here we had a 1.25 infection rate which actually dipped now it's at 1.10 so that's a move in the right direction but then on the next slide you'll see that our positive test rate is at

0226.6% uh compared to just a few weeks ago it was at 1.8% so just wanted to give you some look local statistics and how it changed uh pretty incredibly on the uh positive test rate and the daily new cases so uh masks in the road Ford we received an update from the governor there's a mask mandate all students staff members must wear mask within school grounds at these board meetings in any district office uh that is what is being required there are uh possibilities for exemptions I've listed them there for you uh they're all linked to like a health condition um documented medical conditions disabilities uh we are going to take those on a case-by casee basis uh for staff members through our human resources department for our students uh if they have a disability

023through our special education department if they have a 504 again through the special Department who's handling the 504 and our work around masks so we're looking for uh support from our uh staff and our students to continue that what I see in our buildings is that everyone seems to be adhering to uh this mask mandate provided by the governor another big change is contact Trac and the quarantine guidelines there is a exception for schools that's important to note and it's at the bottom of this page uh in the past if two students were if a student was positive and another student was uh a close contact we had to quarantine and isolate both students for an extended period of time the exception now is I'll read it right from the slide in the K12 indoor

024classroom setting the close contact definition excludes students who were within 3 to six feet of an infected student uh if both the infected student and the exposed student correctly and consistently wore a well-fitting mask the entire time uh so it add another layer that we have to adjust we have to talk with our nurses to make sure they're aware of this exception that just because you are exposed to someone if you were wearing a mask and that child had a mask on as well uh you may not have to quarantine in the past you had to quarantine this is changed the next bullet says this exception does not apply to teachers staff or other adults in the indoor classroom set in the expectation is that this will significantly reduce the number of students who have

025to quarantine on any given day because of this exception this is written right from the CDC guidelines no changes on physical distancing again we are encouraged to have a minimum of of 3 foot uh in the cafeteria if we can do better than 3 foot it would be great our numbers that are in our in our lunches will dictate the number of kids who are at a table uh and that will change by building Mr farachio and his team have been going out to schools meeting with principles designing classroom uh classroom layouts and lunch cafeteria layouts setting up our plexiglass Shields and in some cases um add an additional equipment as needed no changes to our hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette uh expectations we want everyone to Keep Clean Hands use soap use PRL as

026you get when you get into a class just to make sure you're practicing good healthy habits meals again no changes from the last time that we presented this we expect that we're going to maintain physical distancing between staff and students to the greatest extent possible each building has a different layout this is exactly what we presented last time but we want to make sure that we are with our food service department we have a meeting coming up soon just to review what will look like in schools but there'll be very minimal self- serve or I don't believe there will be any self- serve options everything will be prepackaged to avoid any cross-contamination and again under transportation with Mr Hall and his team buses will be uh clean daily students and drivers will be in the

027mask at all times I want to focus on again this part has not changed as well if a child is required required to quarantine due to having an exposure uh that and having symptoms we are under the requirement of provide in instruction still and our plan at this time is to have students log in to their classroom via Google a Google meet a zoom so they can receive instruction we're still constructing how that will look as the numbers increase if they increase we might have to make an adjustment so everything that I'm telling you around the instructional side may possibly change as things get better or things get worse so just wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of that under our facility related practices there's no changes to our plans uh we're just

028continuing to do the work in our buildings to make sure everything is ready for the first day of school so at this time I would like to that that ends and concludes the the the update to the presentation for what we are looking at at this moment the two biggest changes masks and vaccination status of staff and students we're going I'm going can you lift that uh yeah we're going to take the screen up and uh we'll turn it over to Mr English and if there's any questions we'll go to that component and I'll ask my team to be ready if there's any additional questions that are specific to their areas I'll ask you to come up and be able to respond as well okay okay okay do I just close this thank you Mr

029yanu for the uh detailed update it is much appreciated by the board and the community as well I'm sure um couple questions that I have and then I'm going to open up to the board as well um as I as I as I was reading through this um it said all all schools will operate on the five full day following the regular or the the regular bell schedule when it comes to the bells schedule and this is just from my knowledge we eliminated Bells at some Bill are we back to bells or bells in every school so we're operating with all Bells no more right we have bells signaling period changes after high school we put the bells back on and middle schools as well we have their Bells as thank you for the thumbs

030up thank you for that and then I guess the giant elephant in the room is is is the mask mandate um everyone that I've spoke to has has valid points I respect everyone that has contacted myself board members maybe I get a clarification from um Mr Danto as well um many people would like to see the violent Board of Education follow suit like other districts have done and go with an appeal process concerning what um the the latest mandates were and um um although it sounds great on paper I I respect it and I totally understand it when they we he was using the words recommendations but now when when they start using the words um mandate and ordinances correct I mean I'm not one bit happy with that because I don't really like to

031be told what to do but um I also understand that we are at the mercy of this Governor's decision here so um just so the public knows the board's under a lot of heat here because people think we can wave this wand and just supersede the governor's decision but when it comes time to do an appeal um can you explain that process Mr Danto to the public and the board first of all we should understand that a Governor's executive order has the power of law um you know we know we have commissioner regulations we have statutes well executive orders are very similar in terms of if they are mandating certain things they need to be honored I understand that a couple of districts or several districts have filed a challenge to the governor's executive orders

032and the basis for that challenge is basically that it's unconstitutional in other words it's beyond his power as Governor to do those decision those appeals that you call them or challenges as I call them um affect every school district if in fact a court determines that the executive order is unconstitutional it's unconstitutional as to all school districts you don't need to be a party to that litigation in order to have the decision apply to you you know obviously there are certain cases in which it's uni it's it's actually unique to that District well that district has to be in that suit but this particular challenge in my judgment does not require any other districts to participate or what we call intervene because the decision is applicable regardless of whether you're a party thank you so

033so realistically um we do do things by the majority of the board here if the majority of the board said to me Mr Engle I I would like us to file that appeal of course um we would make a motion and and we and we would do something like that it's important to know that as board members many board members when you run to be a board member you know your your platform always surrounds student safety staff safety Etc so we have the safety factor and then I also consider us custodians of the taxpayer money so is it fair to say Mr Danto that because other districts have already filed this challenge or appeal as I say once the decision if the decision Falls in favor that it is unconstitutional then a new mandate would

034come down that reverses what's currently there correct no it would just negate negate okay okay but I I you know I just want to make sure that it's understood um in many cases people think there's strength in numbers I'm sorry in many cases people think that there's strength in numbers and somebody would argue well you know if we had 10 or 20 more districts in that litigation that's that's somehow going to impact the Court's decision in my many years of practice I've never seen a court be persuaded by numbers you know they they have to make a decision based upon what's presented to them whether one district 10 districts or 100 districts appeal this is only my recommendation the board is free of course to direct that we intervene in that litigation it's just my

035recommendation that um I don't see the practicality of it or the need to incur that kind of expense okay thank you for that Mr Danto does any board member have any questions concerning that no yes M kispa so I'm just going to clarify that should an appeal win from another school district it would just revert back to prior to the executive order yeah what which would be the governor leaving it in the hands of each School District as opposed to him mandating us to do this yeah I you know I cannot predict what the court would do the court has the authority to Fashion a remedy for those litigants the court may say um we we determine this to be unconstitutional and the governor has given 20 days in which to implement new regulation new

036executive orders I don't know what they're going to do Mrs kispa all I can tell you is that if it's declared unconstitutional whatever those mandates are will be off the table and either new ones will replace them or we will see a reversion to what was in place before they were acted I I can't tell okay okay oh I have a question I'm sorry um these appeals we know there are some that have gone up already idea of a time frame that I mean is there a time frame do are we going to sit forever waiting I mean there's a lot of people kind of yeah I I I have not seen the court papers I only know from what I've read uh on the internet um but I can say to you these kinds

037of of challenges are usually done on an emergent expedited basis because it you know a court process could take two years it would be rather ridiculous that even file a challenge if you're not going to be able to get an answer in a in a relatively brief period of time so you know that that could be 10 days 20 days a month I don't know but I can't imagine it's going to be you know in uh a long period of time thank you anyone else on the mask um con concerning the ribback plan if indeed um a student or employee the district was to show up without a medical reason without a mask on what is the protocol and what will happen well we hope we're not going to be in that situation right so

038so because that'll be very challenging no one wants to get upset about this type of scenario where uh someone feels like their rights are being infringed on but the mask mandate is a mandate there's an expectation that every school district executes that mandate School principles are directed to enforce the Mandate at their school if an employee shows up without a mass to work uh he or she will not be allowed to enter the building especially if there's no medical doation if there's medical documentation on file that isn't approved Mass clearance through our human resources department that building principle be very well aware of who has that exemption without that the staff member would not be able to come into the building we want to avoid avoid any type of scenario that involves something like that

039because that would be disruptive to our students it'll be uh a challenging situation but yes we have to as uh employees of the school district you know who follow the what our governor has told us we have to do we will have to execute that and enforce it thank you thank you for that um concerning um what we've had to do PPE wise Shield wise and everything um um since covid has taken place are we continuing to put the shields in the classroom or is is it staying as is are we temperature checking are we doing in other words all all that initial cost that went out there are we still utilizing the equipment or how are we handling that everything is still in play we continue to uh purchase additional supplies using our Esser

040funding and our district funding uh Mr foro and his team have done an excellent job uh looking at mask uh ordering more masks ordering more Shields as needed ordering whatever equipment we need to make sure our buildings are ready uh for uh you know the new reality uh he's also uh put into a play at our K5 schools outdoor seeding uh for students to get a a mask break and also to have lunch outside of the building that there are more upgrades that that Mr veracha could speak to if he could please come up to the mic thank you thank you yes Mr English to your question there's mitigation efforts there's mitigation efforts in several different areas so we're trying to socially distance excuse me I think I'm going to sneeze there we're we're socially

041distancing where we can we're looking at classrooms keeping distances as far apart as we can I'm meeting with principles and teachers moving things out out of the classroom and so we we we're dealing with those challenges in regards to lunches for example where we can face kids forward and keep distances of 8 feet apart or more we are not selecting Shields and cafeterias where kids have to face one another we are using Shields so no building is you know we don't have cookie cutter buildings everything's unique we have different Square footages in the classrooms so these are different mitigation tactics that I'm working out with the principles they've been super supportive as well as the staff members you know we're trying to when we go in and we look at the classrooms we're trying to

042see uh if if a classroom you know teachers have their manipulatives all of their supplies so there's conversations that have to happen at a certain level we just don't want to pull things out of a classroom where a teacher may need them so we're restructuring classrooms as the teachers are you know a lot of teachers have come back in to do early setups so these are the these are the the tactics as as Mr Yano spoke we have uh ordered some outdoor cafeteria seating which can be utilized for Poss in good weather days classes or an outside lunch perhaps again different different tactics the thermal equipment remains installed and to my knowledge everybody is planning to use every you know principle uh is going to use them we do have some upcoming conversations in regards

043to how things are set up we we set them up based on a hybrid scenario now we've got full inclass everybody's back so I know several principles have vocalized this equipments on Tri pods that have the flexibility of being moved around relocated we're thinking now I may we may want to start permanently mounting some of this stuff because where these things were put on off to the side in a classroom with a low student level there's now a full class in there and it's just going to be a challenge so these are some of the things that I've been trying to work on with in conversation with the principles and things but yes the same mitig same mitigation tactics from last year are being Incorporated in this year it's just it's challenging because we have

044a full building but I I mean we're accomplishing the task we're doing well I think everybody's on board and it's a it's a team effort they're sneezing um we we're I'm reading it right now but as far as the full cafeteria we're back to getting in line getting our trays we're doing that same thing are we not it's not just strictly I had some parents nervous that it was going to be the um Brown Bag lunches and that was it everybody's getting a che sandwich and have a good day no I I I can assure you I don't believe Mr Patel was here earlier uh he explained that we are going to be offering the full range of of meal options it's just it'll be delivered differently there won't be a buffet option everything will

045become prepackaged but it won't be what it looked like in the past he's committed with his team uh to make sure our kids have a great lunches and breakfast yes okay I asked enough question my fellow board members do you have anything what if a student or staff member refuses to wear a mask so that just going back to the earlier question which I was able to um it's unfortunate right if that occurs if a staff member does not have an exception or an exemption I should say then that could lead to a disciplinary process we don't want that uh to to be the case students uh it's an educational process so we have to go through with our students to make sure that they understand that there's a it's a requirement to wear a

046mask in school every day and we will have to enforce those rules what we saw over the summer school our esy program and our summer Academy we had thousands of students I believe uh Mr Fry gave us an update earlier uh and everyone was wearing their mask there weren't any issues staff were wearing their masks as well as well so we expect the same uh I was at the freshman orientation with at the high school and we had hundreds of families come through everyone complied it was uh very positive we know there will be some students who challenge uh what we're trying to do and it's an educational opportunity yes M I also wanted to add that the Q&A that was issued by njaa encouraged their membership to comply with the mask mandate and that's

047helpful when when the state union recommends and and suggests that you would anticipate compliance by staff and other Unions would probably follow Mr Costa what will each school have a supply of masks in the event a child forgets their Mas so as not to prevent them from attending school that day absolutely now if you show up for school we're going to get you a mask if you need one uh uh Mr Pachi and Mr Seno they both uh did the work of ordering uh the equipment and then delivering uh masks to every building uh so our school leaders have a supply I I believe in the front office and also in the nurse's office where they'll uh use if a child doesn't shows up without one great thank you Mr R is there a um

048policy or practice in the schools where students or staff members are able to take a break from wearing a mask cuz I'm right now I'm going crazy I'm just wearing this one and I no I I hear you this is definitely a challengeing it's a learning curve for all of us but our students who came in hybrid last year uh know uh what what it takes to wear a mask although the day will be longer our teachers uh are encouraged to take mask breaks uh students if you if you drove by the schools like in May and June and over the summer kids would go outside they're taking the mask off when they're outside there's no expectation that they need to wear a mask unless they're right on top of each other so our teachers

049will be encouraged to make sure students have the opportunity and for themselves to to take a break from that mask out of respect for the teachers that um really Express themselves verbally sh Shields are not allowed in place of MKS masks are mandated a shield can be an additional layer of protection uh there are specialized types of masks that we use for speech therapy uh and and different programs um that our special Department supplies uh but a face shield is does not take the place of a face mask thank you um realistically you know it keeps coming back to the word mandate which was different than recommendation in in Prior times and I can just tell you in my personal World um being a licensed plumber in my own business I took the mask out

050of my vehicle because I thought it was over and you know we're moving on but in order to put food on my table I have to Plum and there are customers now that are requiring me to wear the mask again so needless to say um if I want to put food on the table I adhere to what my customer wants am I happy about it no I'm not happy about it as a lot of people aren't but if you go 80 M hour in a 50 Zone what do you get a ticket I mean it is what it is man so I hope you can really figure this out like adults and be good role models for our students because they're only a product of what they see so I don't have any more questions

051I thank you for the update and I'm sure miss ctis body has I'm sorry I take after you tonight Mr English um I just want to thank you for clarifying because I've had Parents um come to me over the past year about um speech and their special needs child um being able to to see so I'm happy to hear that there will be some type of exception or mask that will enable them to be able to see the the face that's important I think because I know a lot of students had problems with that so can I ask one more question yes um with respect to fette um especially at the high school middle school level where kids generally had changed um are they still going to going into the locker rooms getting changed for

052gy yes so full-time regular instruction all of our routines and procedures are back in play but they'll go to fiz class with a mask on and then when it's time to exert themselves they'll take the mask off if they're doing a health lesson they can keep their mask on but anything that requires any heavy type of exercise they will they will have to take the mask off our fette teachers will be encouraged to take the students outside as often as possible with the appropriate weather of course and uh M gusi gave me the thumbs up as far as Kim's uh kpa's question regarding the specialized equipment for students and our and our staff and I do have one other thing um thank you Mr cost as well um I guess I can probably address it

053later but you know I I'll I'll address it I'll address it later on when we discuss I just want to take a second to to thank you for the the the road back plan um it is all it's we need to know and again as board members I I I just want the public to know we aren't the bad guy here and it's not the new superintendent as well it really comes back to what the governor has pretty much laid out there kind of last minute again as usual but it is what it is and we have to digest it and to be honest with you I don't think he's finished before school starts so I IM imagine the hard work the central Administration has been putting in and the entire district from the principles

054to everyone you've been doing a great job but you're at the mercy of some crazy decision making unfortunately so you know I just can only ask that everyone works together as a team and makes violent proud that's that's the key for me so um I appreciate that does anyone have anything else okay um at this time do we have the we don't have any minutes to approve do I not have any on here no approval do I have any committee reports at this time it is our second meeting so we can also do the committee reports in September if you're not prepared but if you have a committee report you can go ahead and um Let it Fly miss aosta the curriculum instruction and Technology committee met on August 16th um and attend were Mr

055Fry Mr English Mr Silva Mr sbrana and myself um we discussed the sample curric we had um sample curriculum ideas and the V High School course selection manual we also discussed uh the elementary and secondary grading guidelines we discussed the instructional model committee agenda we also discussed the ad administrative Academy which I understand just took place and also we discussed the preschool um acceptable use policy for um computers Chromebooks thank you Mr Costa it was a good meeting and as always is very informative uh do we have any other committee uh Mr sabran I see Mr Fones back in the room I did have a parent reach out and want to know um how we were going to handle the deep cleaning that was done uh on Wednesdays when we were on a uh hybrid

056schedule so could we get an update on that please yes uh Mr sbrana in regards to the disinfecting the state is actually saying or encouraging that that you don't over clean they're actually talking about challenges with districts that come in Daily and spray everything they call hyper disinfecting some of the cleaning agents are H have volatility people can have reactions to some of these cleaning things that are EPA certified to kill Co so one of the things that distinctively changed from last year to this year was addressing the common touch points and so these are the the common the door knobs the light switches and things on that nature so our our men have three different real protocols in normal operation during the day they're going to be addressing touch points throughout the day the

057school day bathrooms uh one of the things that we were able to spend sr2 money on we've replaced two fixtures in every bathroom that'd be two toilets two urinals two sinks with hand tou uh touchless sensor faucets throughout the district so we were able to implement that so regardless though there'll be disinfecting of those touch points we also have a allnatural EPA certified chemical product that we use during the daytime it's it's safe the new product is odorless and so we're we're pleased about that venue and it's it's actually food grade rated this new chemical so it can be sprayed right on a table with with food nearby no issues in the evening we go through and we use our electrostatic spraying equipment to disinfect and then obviously we're cleaning as well that's two separate

058things cleaning and then disinfecting during a covid outbreak there will now that's pretty much continuous from last year's uh protocols with the CDC guidance that is shutting shutting an area down if there's a classroom that has to be taken offline or a space and then obviously we focus in on additional cleaning and minimizing other exposure within the within the building and then lastly we run through all of you know we've got the activities now in all of our gymnasiums libraries all the spaces that we're pretty much off line so we're we're setting up and implementing our our protocols to do the same we're addressing touch points during the day and then in the evenings it'll be a complete disinfecting so if I'm hearing you properly that there is a protocol in place ongoing and not

059specific to one day more than any other day no no Wednesdays Wednesdays you know in the beginning the mindset last year and and there was there was definitely disinfecting going on but we were doing other things as well in the building you know and that's what one of the things that the the state keyed in on the CDC guidance people just going in and spraying all kinds of EPA rated chemicals actually can hurt your body in a different way so hyper hyper disinfecting is something that they wanted to to steer clear up but we can accomplish those tasks in the evening every every day okay thank you thank you Paul thank you Mr sabran do I have any other committee reports this evening okay seeing none at this time public com do we have any

060um no nothing by support solicitors evening we heard enough from you tonight no all right buddy appreciate it at this time public comment on agenda items or any other matter do we have anyone this evening yes we do okay uh first person we have Nicole McBride Nicole would like to speak on Co concerns cleanings between classes and Jim medication for Co the school system in three different schools wace violent high school and amza um I just wanted to make one additional comment to I think we have to be very light when when you say that our governor is making crazy decisions what I feel is we need to be more safe than sorry and my children have been home for since Co started all three of my children have been virtual nobody has been sick

061I expect the same thing when my kids come to school no one to be sick so whatever we have to do to make sure that our children come back home the same way that I took them that is what I think is good so it's not a crazy decision for the governor to do he shouldn't have to make a mass mandate I feel that you should automatically do what we need to do there are some people that have health issues children with disabilities totally understandable well we know that people are having parties we know people take going on vacation and my children I want them to come home the same way that I take send them to you not Co free not sick they have not had a cold they have not been sick I

062have a 15 14 and 12 year old so I'm so sorry I'm emotional um I understand the regulations are being followed uh by the CDC regulations but again I feel that we need to go up and Beyond what the governor suggests we say that 3 to 5 ft they will not have to be um quarantined if Longs they're wearing their masks properly but if they're taking them off to eat if they're taking them off for gym which is exertion that means our children would automatically have to quarantine because they've been within the 15-minute time limit the class is more than 15 minutes so we're putting some guidelines in but again throughout the day if that is their time for gym everybody has lunch every day then that will make my children have the quarantine I

063work from home that means my children have the quarantine that means my business has to shut down cuz I do home child care that is how I feed my family and that is not fair to me way I send my kids to school is the way I expect them to come back Co free um the question about cleaning in between the classrooms I heard the um the one that's over the cleaning saying that you know we don't want to hyper clean I understand that but again when we uh if you have classes that are changing in between classrooms that means again there will be uh highly touched areas you're talking about desks they're touch just as much as the door knobs are the desk I mean every child don't touch a door knob every child

064don't touch a light switch but every child does touch a desk and a chair so we're focusing on a light light and we're focusing on um door knobs but again if that door is open all the children aren't touching it so more cleaning I feel needs to be done in between the classrooms in between class times um I heard they say they're giving out a mask at school but how about making sure the kids have mask when they get on to the bus will the bus drivers have masks to ensure when the kids get on the bus that they have their mask on as well again my concerns that I stated is not not just for my children but also other people's children no one wants to have Co into their home if a child

065my understanding if a child has Co in their home that just because that child's not sick that child can come but the other children might be sick with Co but that child could still come to school that child might be asymptomatic therefore again we're having gym they're exerting they can get other children sick so again I feel that we need to go up and above like you say to crazy decisions of the governor we need to do whatever we need to do to keep our children safe um it was understanding uh talking about masks and you know long as the kids are wearing their mask but kids aren't wearing masks at home and they have Co in their home again those children are susceptible to that and again this is just to stop the spread

066of the sickness outside of the home if there's someone in the home the children should not be allowed to school if their children if they have Co in their home not just if they have symptoms um knowing that a child will come to for lunch again come in the gym and again they're allowed to have no mask going I talked about the buses again my again my concern is to ensure to everybody I again not just my children but all children go home the way that they came thank you thank you for your time next next we have Cindy Weber the topic will be back to school good evening my name is Cindy Weber I have one child enrolled in vinand high school tonight I'm here to speak about the district's plan to return to

067school briefly my children and I all have a complex genetic disorder that is paired with a subpar immune system we are the people that get sick we're the people that everyone's asking well what coexisting condition did they have how come they died having this condition makes my oldest a target for bullies for most of the time he's in school since he's been remote no one calls him an alien because of the size of his head no one calls him stupid or tells him he's the spawn of a freak they're talking about me instead he engaged with his classmates online he laughed he enjoyed school and he succeeded each and every class he succeeded his grades went up so much he actually became a straight A student for the first time my son gained confidence he's

068started talking about colleges and careers he sees an ex exciting future for himself in his words he doesn't want to get sick and he wants to do his part to help our family and healthc Care something changed in him during this last school year he found a new love for graphic design and coding and he used his free time to cultivate those passions a few months ago he started an Instagram page showcasing his work it now has well over a thousand followers he regularly shared his artistic Creations as well as engaging fanfiction this from a child who only a few years ago was a SE student in language arts we have some very smart and qualified experts in education up there you have to know that the road forward leaves children like mine behind you

069know that not every child lost learning last year the research exists several School boards have used their platform to tell the governor about children like my son they've passed resolutions at their board asking the governor for flexibility will you do the same will you be the education leaders and ask for flexibility for the families of island with all due respect children are dying all over the country children like my children we have a vaccination rate that is below average you yourselves talked about the merits of masking being optional Community spread is high what will it take I have been at both of my children's bedsides willing them to hang on and keep breathing I have wept and prayed and cursed and questioned just as many other parents with medically complex kids have what do you

070need to see to act do you need children like mine inated and fighting for air in this District if it comes to that I will hold each and every one of you responsible you may be following policy but it doesn't make it right rise above and be a model use your platform for good and give families like mine a voice thank you thank you next we have Leah a topic will be mask and mandates you repeat it name what on her name again good evening so I wasn't even sure I was going to speak tonight um but a few things have been on my mind that I think can you just I'm sorry can you just speak into the mic oh yeah is that better thank you yeah okay so I wasn't even sure if

071I was going to speak tonight but a few things have been on my mind that it's now or never if I I say it so yes I a teacher here in the district um let's talk about the masks first so I have witnessed students crying their eyes out last year because they don't want to wear it because they're forced to wear it they can't see their friends they can't sit near their friends they get yelled at if they highfive or touch their friends and what am I supposed to tell these kids sorry about your luck too bad I don't know what to say to them you know this is this is awful all the way around we all are stressed out we don't know what to do we're all the same boat essentially you know

072and I blame the governor to be quite honest he is the one that has given out all of these ridiculous edicts which I'm sorry you guys can debate mandate law not law it's not a law okay there's nothing on the books there's no statute it did not go through legislative process this is all just done by our free will will you know because we thought we were doing something good in the beginning here we are over a year and a half later now what we spent all summer maskless hanging out with friends family kids are having fun now they have to come back and face the same situation they felt last year you know you have students policing each other pull up your mask what wait a minute that's not appropriate you you don't tell

073somebody else what to do with their body I'm sorry that's just not appropriate you know I have yet to see legit studies peer-reviewed double blind where it has been done over and over and over comparing all the types of masks handmade in a box from the dollar store you name it where are these studies okay I don't want to hear the CDC saying masks work no they don't work n we two we're three I don't know back and forth no wonder why everybody's conf confused and outraged this has to stop it stops when we say it stops because we have constitutional rights we have our Free Will and not to get you know religious or anything but the man upstairs takes care of us I don't want to see these children crying another year telling

074me I don't want to be in school because I don't want to do this I don't know what to say to these kids that's heartbreaking I I didn't become a teacher to to be the mask police we need to stop this nonsense we need to figure out something listen viruses are always going to be part of our life that's life the flu comes and goes that's life okay what we need to be doing is pushing exercise healthy eating things like that that's what strengthens our bodies not wearing a mask 247 if you look back at the pandemic of 1917 1918 do you know how most people died from The Mask bacterial pneumonia and if you don't believe me please go look it up I have done my research hours and hours and hours of research

075because I've had nothing but time this summer to do research I have researched the nberg code I'm not going to stand up here and tell you what it is if you don't know go look it up everything that's being done is in violation of this we are human experiments right now let's talk about the the vaccine the mandates I have a personal situation and this is not about me per se because this is about the children but I'm going to tell you my personal situation I don't believe that my Creator in heaven tells me to put things in my body that I don't even know what they are I don't know what they're doing to me okay I have an autoimmune issue that was potentially caused by a vaccine obviously they don't hold any liability

076so I can't prove that but that is one of the side effects of what I have I'm being told by someone high up my religious exemption is null and void what I feel what my Creator tells me doesn't matter what I believe in the Bible doesn't matter just inject yourself be a laborat don't don't don't worry about it we'll figure it out later are you all going to be liable for something that happens to me again because that's what I'm going to do I'm going to hold everyone liable are you liable for all these children that are going to be forced to get the vaccine that may be getting sick afterwards it's not approved no matter what you want to think the FDA tells you it's not approved I have done the research go look

077it up I'm not here to look up things for everyone I'm just here to State the facts we have free will we have a constitution that tells us we have First Amendment rights we have religious freedoms if you don't believe injecting yourself with something is what your creator tells you to do you have the freedom to not do that you don't have the freedom to for somebody higher up to tell you religious views don't matter do what I say what country are we living in ladies and gentlemen my father was in Vietnam okay he fought for this country he witnessed things that probably most people will never witness in their lives and if anyone was in the services thank you for your service because you know exactly what I'm talking about so I stand up

078here right now for the children to stop this nonsense let them get back to their lives let them have their childhood and I stand up here for our religious freedoms our constitutional freedoms and I stand up here for the men and women who are fighting for our freedoms who have fought for our freedoms and gave up their lives we are not we are not a communist Nation we have the rule of law which is the Constitution and we have free will and that is what we should be allowed to have if you want to wear a mask wear it that is your free will you want to take a vaccine take it that is your free will excuse me we have a five in a time limit and you're running close I'm I apologize but

079um please wrap up thank you okay so all I'm saying is respect my free will their Free Will everyone's free will we have choices that's what your creator says you have choices make your choice that you think is fit for you but you don't get the right to tell someone else no that's not your choice that's not how it works thank you thank you [Applause] do we have anyone else yes we do next we have Amber egaro she would like her topic would be mask and vaccinations good afternoon um I am a teacher in the district and I am here today to support the parents and teachers who are speaking out today um for mask choice I appreciate all of your clarification and your um consideration with this thus far um as a teacher in

080the classroom I can tell you that I watch the students touch their masks when we take it off for drinks or snacks it's put on the desk they touch it again and this is after harboring all the bacteria and all of the exhaust in the mask while it grows and gets worse and then they go on with their day of course we encourage handwashing and Common Sense hygiene um however I'm also watching adults here wearing masks do the same thing with all due respect touching it taking it off touching it it really just shows how masks aren't effective um there have been plenty of scientific studies showing that mass do not stop viral particles from escaping because the holes in a fabric or a store-bought mask are larger than a viral particle um so this

081seems to be a just a safety net that makes people feel good but it's not really doing the job that we're told it's being done um I'm supporting the parents who feel with every fiber of their being that covering their child's Airways is against all things rational of good health and of [Applause] life um as a teacher I literally suffocate while I'm trying to read to my students or teach them and I watch you as you go to speak and take it off so that you can be heard articulately and because it's uncomfortable to speak for lengthy periods of time with a mask on if our students are to learn they need to hear us they need to be able to communicate with us and they too need to be able to speak when my

082students came in this past year from remote learning I saw students who had low self-esteem who were looking at the floor when they entered the room these are same students that I had from the year before because I went up a grade level and ended up ended up looping with some of my students so I know them very well I could see that they were not the same child they were before with their mask on I had a former student write an essay about me this past year and she wrote in that essay that my smile had made her day every morning and I wonder will our children now be able to make those same connections with the great teachers in our district without being able to see emotion without being able to see Smiles

083how would they know how we feel how do I know how they feel my own son who was in preschool last year came home every day with his masks soiled and wet even Brown inside and I wash it daily which all of them are not being was wash daily in our classroom and he would get sick not with covid because I was forced to test him in order for him to return to school which I highly regret um but with other respiratory infections because he's inhaling his own exhaust every day and he has asthma he needs to breathe fresh air in this past year's summer program where my children attend school they did not wear masks at any point in time they did not have social dist and they did not distancing and they did

084not have outbreaks none and now they have to return to covering their airways um the second topic I'm here for tonight is to speak for my friends and my colleagues who over this past weekend weren't sure if they were going to have a job anymore this Monday last year I was Teacher of the Year this year I thought I would lose my job because I'm choosing fresh air Sunshine real food and exercise over Pharmaceuticals I'm being told to put something in my body and it's not mandatory not yet because last year when this started started we watched it every step of the way they'll never do this they'll never do that there'll never be a vaccine passport we'll never have to show our credentials but here we are here I am and I'm going to

085have this test done to my body multiple times a week likely to make sure it's safe for me to be in a classroom with children who were sent to school healthy excuse me excuse me Amber I apologize I apologize but um we have that 5 minute time so I need you to wrap up please thank you absolutely also those who are vaccinated and this is proven can get infected with covid can get sick can pass it and why am I going to be tested and everyone else is not let's use common sense let's stop listening to the media and let's start thinking for ourselves thank [Applause] you next we have Connie gazi the topic will be optional Mass good evening everyone I have uh been a dedicated special education teacher in the district for 18

086years and as well I'm a very concerned parent and grandparent throughout my personal training my schooling and my time as a teacher in the district I've always remembered two points that I've taken with me uh from my supervisors and from my professors and being in the special education curriculum they always taught number one not every child is the same every child is an individual and we were taught to treat every child as an individual and the second that always stuck with me is to advocate for students your own the kids that come into the classroom they are like my children every single year and I here tonight to ask you all as some of my fellow colleagues have already brought up is that we all have the option to choose for our own selves for

087our medical freedoms and I too would like to speak to you from an Educator's point of view as I have seen how masks have greatly affected my students I work in the self-contained classroom at the high school and our setting is much more personal as uh we have fewer students for the majority of the school day and the same students for multiple years in a row our program's goal is to educate our students to integrate into the community with a greater understanding and implementation of job related social and daily living skills what I've noticed since returning to in-person learning while wearing a mask has been extremely disheartening there has been an increase in the frequency of my students using asthma pumps students have difficulty breathing my outgoing and bubbly personalities have become quiet and dis

088withdrawn their eye contact while engaging in conversation is much less and age appropriate social interaction with peers and staff has diminished greatly other areas of concern with which have become problematic our students attention spans have shortened their inability to focus during lessons has increased and there's difficulty with them following along many of the complaints that I've heard from my students of being dizzy having headaches and they have trouble breathing students have expressed their disdain for wearing masks because of the way it makes them feel and personally I agree with them this was our experience last year when we only had modified schedules what's going to be like in September when we go back to eight full hours seven full seven hours a day I myself as a teacher I find it difficult to talk and

089to deliver a lesson to a group of students in a classroom that is much smaller than a typical classroom they have a a hard time hearing my instructions and they appear lost and they easily become more anxious and worried that they're lagging behind and not completing the work correctly they rely heavily on our facial expressions but the masks impede their ability to see the non-verbal cues and the lip movement that would indicate to them an appropriate or inappropriate behavior or response to both learning and social settings it troubles me that I cannot see them smiling when they have a proud moment and they've accomplished something that they've been working on since the beginning of the year or when they're upset and they're about to have a meltdown I it takes a longer response time for

090me to be able to see them so that I can help them before it gets to that point as a healthy adult I find it difficult to navigate throughout the day my throat is sore from talking through the fabric covering my mouth I have headaches I feel foggy my breathing is labor just from walking from one Hall to another I feel anxious when wearing masks and I am taking and that's with taking frequent breaks and it does not help me I've noticed that I am compelled to be less engaging with my my fellow with my cooworker and my fellow staff and all honestly I know a lot of people have presented a lot of studies but I don't need those studies to tell me the effect that it's having on our students psychologically it's terrible

091and it's harmful and it's not just the students it's the staff as well adults and I've experienced these results in the classroom personally and I strongly urge each of you to consider an optional m mascot for students as well as some other recommendation or some other man some other way for people to all be able to go back to inperson learning before covid thank you for hearing me thank [Applause] you next we have Michael and Katie snof the topic will be school mask for good evening board board of ed members and superintendent I was here three weeks ago I was very nervous I said something very short and sweet about masking and how I wanted it to be optional when I thought we actually had the chance to do that I gave you several Links

092of studies showing that masks were ineffective at stopping viruses and actually do more harm than good I appreciate those of you who actually reached out and showed interest in learning the other side of this that's the side you don't see on on mainstream media two days later Murphy announced that mass would be mandated again I'm sure most of you were actually relieved because now you didn't have to make a decision on this topic although I did notice in the text yesterday from the school that the administration was planning on making masking optional and I do appreciate that I don't know if you've ever heard the term mama bear or papa bear before but there's a lot of us out here and there's a lot of us watching we will not stop fighting for medical Freedom

093religious freedom and the safety of our children even though we may feel defeated at times like right now we know that now is not the time to be silent I want my children and all the other children out there who have had a hard time breathing and learning with their faces covered to know that we did not stay silent the reality is that since March 2020 due to the unprecedented circumstances our country and state administered a rapid response to the universal imple implementation of face mask without any differenti differentiation between adults adolescence and children it was apparent that the moral reason to obtain free and voluntary informed consent prior to administrating administering a medical intervention was outweighed most of us and myself included complied without sufficient understanding so that our children could receive in-person education

094however things are different now we do have sufficient understanding there is existing data to establish masking children is unnecessary and harmful this there's plenty of evidence of the negative effects on the imun immunological and psychological level of forcing Children and adolescents to wear a face mask which outweighs the potential gains even though I'm just a quacky chiropractor and not a real doctor which people remind us all the time every day I know that these masks have not been proven safe in fact the wh States quote the widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence and there are potential harms to consider they also said quote masks worn imperfectly are dangerous Dr Jim Mian an MD stated that we are killing brain cells

095when we are wearing masks cloth masks do not stop viral particles they're too small just like vaccination does not automatically equal immunization it never did hence all the Breakthrough infections and the CDC director actually stating that this shot does not cover these new variants this leads me to my next Point why not count those who've had the virus and recovered and actually have natural immunity is there any way we can do that show the antibodies rather than testing every week several times a week that's ridiculous natural infection equal usually equals lifelong immunity it's very rare to get the same or similar viruses twice God our creator gave us an amazing immune system so when challenged we make antibodies and t- cells and B cells I believe this mask is basically the dangling carrot which will

096then will lead to mandatory vaccines Andor discrimination and segregation to those who choose not to our children have a chance of surviving this virus and every teacher has had a chance to get the vaccine if they want it but if they don't want it that's their choice my body my choice right if vaccinated people can still contract as Amber said and spread covid then why are we mandating it does that make any sense what are we doing I know someone mentioned the nberg co code that means if you coers or bully someone into doing something or getting a medical procedure in order to get an education or go to work or go to a restaurant or function in any normal society you're breaking that code another thing my last point is that I know I

097see you all wearing masks now but an hour ago half of you weren't you were taking them off to speak you're putting them back on and you're not expecting the same for the children it's a double standard you had to take yours off so that we could hear you and understand you what about kids in school thank you thank you I I don't need the whole five minutes but usually you come up as one um Mr danan are they okay absolutely thank you a little taller can you hear me I'm here to support my wife I'm here to support children my father went to this school with the dmos the Marco chellis when we had an undefeated vinin team I know most of the people in this room either his friends patients or peers in

098the community I appreciate you all being here I don't think anybody 18 months ago knew that you were going to be in this position but we kind of did my favorite President is right over my left shoulder and I have a feeling if that was a live figure of Lincoln he'd be shaking his head medical Freedom does not mean anti-mask or antix I'm the current president second term of the Jewish Federation of Cumberland Salem glosser County we know all too well how the government deceived people to make the Jews seem like they had a disease and they drew pictures of them and they got the community to hate them therefore they were allowed to do the atrocious things they did we have a norenberg code that will not allow that to happen again as my

099wife just mentioned coercion is number one lottery tickets concert tickets have your job or not oh you could take a test but the test is $139 why we give them free vaccinations away but not free testing makes it very hard to comply for people who don't have the ability to get that covered it's Goron and it's inhumane you don't have to be antivaxx to be for medical Freedom the [Music] [Applause] term the number one study on CDC and masks anybody in this room read it raise your hand if you did you don't have to quote it it's about two hairdressers two hairdressers who had a number of clients and because they wore masks they didn't contract covid it's a very small study number one on the list I posted on Facebook just a few days

100ago yet a Danish study who said that masks were irrelevant with 3,300 members was considered by the CDC too small I started this talk by saying I'm amongst what I believe is friends and level-headed people you're in a bad position the governor's put you in a worse position but we as a community after the public leaves our board could write a letter pleading is there a way you know to do this without being so concrete it's heart-wrenching to hear that woman's story who's fearing for her kids I'm a humanitarian but should we lock down healthy kids this is the first time ever we've quarantined healthy people we're going Beyond public health and into a very slippery slope The Masks are going to be replaced by vaccines for everyone no matter if you've had covid no

101matter if you've had the antibodies no matter if you have a good medical reason because no doctor is going to sign that we're both doctors in the state we know the board will come down on you you better have a obvious reason like someone died of the first shot in your family maybe or someone had a reaction to the first shot they can't get the second doesn't matter can't get your job back this is a slippery slope in closing I just want to say that I really do appreciate your time and your position and if anything I'll say this Sheriff barufi once told me snof look both ways when you cross the street if you do it once it was worth me telling you if my wife and I being here and these other people

102being here have made you think at least a little bit how we can get to some sort of normaly without mandating everyone this one way or the highway no treatments why isn't there a White House panel of treatment options why censoring scientists who have them why is PolitiFact the first thing you see when you Google ior mechon a political website debunking it when proven studies show that it works and studies all over the world I pray for us all I hope we all no matter how scared we are get through this virus the right way thank you for your time thank you much Michael and Katie you have anyone else to evening next we have joy Marian the topic will be vaccines mandate and testing good evening my name is Joy Maran and I have

103been a special education teacher for 18 years I'm here today to speak about mandated vaccines and weekly testing requirements there are numerous things I'd like to talk about tonight like critical race Theory and how our educational system is failing our students but for time purposes I will keep it to the covid flu vaccine mandate the co flu vaccine is not the traditional vaccine that we all took as children this is new technology that has not gone through full clinical trials we have no idea the implications it will cause in the future the covid flu vaccine like the flu shot only protects us from a few strains of the virus and we and will still require additional booster shots if the covid vaccine is not meant to cure the virus but only potentially protect you from

104it then why is it treated any different than a traditional flu vaccine it is widely known that people who have gotten the vaccine have still gotten covid a mandate is an order not a law if we as Citizens teachers parents allow the government and our state leaders to impose mandates as law when it comes to our health and our personal choices then we have lost our [Applause] freedom this is the time we must put politics aside and stand up for our children and ourselves the required testing that is trying to be implemented for non-vaccinated people is an infringement on our personal health rights I've seen reports regarding the swabs that indicate they are made in China and contain carcinogens I'm a relatively healthy person if I get the virus there's over a 99% chance that

105I will recover from it even even with the Delta variant I am not willing to expose myself or my children to BU weekly testing every person in this room listening to this should be outraged and fearful of what could be next if we allow fear and misinformation to take the place of Common Sense and facts we're hand we are handing over our future and our children's future freedom I I personally will not be getting the covid flu vaccine in addition I will not be tested for a disease that I do not have if I am [Applause] sick if I am sick I will go to my doctor I hope my words made an impact on you and gave you something to think about don't be afraid to question what you've been told we have the

106ability to say no to our government remember they work for us we the people thank you thank you [Applause] Joy next we have Natalia Balman the topic will be virtual remote learning and how it should be optional so good evening everyone here and thank you for your time you are definitely in a very tough position here uh and thank you for taking the time to listen to all of our concerns there are a lot can you please speak in the mic there are a lot of concerns here that are people are asking as far as if we don't feel safe sending our kids back to school in masks or being required to follow certain procedures and protocols that we're not comfortable with my question is why was the virtual learning removed as an option um

107under Robert's Rules we do not exchange and dialogue we as a board can listen and digest good so well I was hoping to find my answer here when coming to the board meeting and there was I'm not seeing a good reason of why it was removed if we don't feel safe sending people there so the stores they removed their Shields and the cashiers a lot of shields have been removed everywhere yet we're still implementing them more and more uh the cleaning agents I don't feel safe for my kids to be breathing them in the school even if they are low volatile I don't want them breathing them I should have the option of not sending my kids to school and not having them have to go through this so masks we also know are only

108effective for 30 minutes which is not the case at school they're not changing them they're not washing them they're not bringing 10 masks to school to switch them out including the buses as far as covering up your face with a mask you are inoculating your lungs with the bacteria you do not have free air exchange there's more carbon dioxide inside of your lungs and we are already seeing respiratory diseases On The Rise and they will continue Rising because you're not cleaning out your lugs you're not exhaling everything that your body is supposed to Exhale thank you for your time thank you Natalia have anyone else this evening Mr L no we do not thank you for everyone from the public for speaking this evening at this time we have our motions and resolutions from our

109superintendent uh Mr Lano okay discussion regarding Personnel items 1.1 1.2 and 1.3 1.1 specific to retirements resignations uh students substitutes extracurricular activities and extracurricular summer activities 1.2 uh references adjustments to pay rates for substitute clerical employees substitute Building Maintenance workers 1.3 is to request an approval uh for all certificated full-time District staff members to be eligible as potential home instruction uh tutors and assignments and to keep those names on file with the board secretary do I have any questions or comments seeing none do I have a motion so moved do I have a second second roll call please miss lry Mr Casta yes Mrs karpati yes Mr foki yes Mr Holmes yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr English yes to all and abstain from extracurricular summer Duran clerical next yes

110discussion regarding procedures and operations 2.1 through 2.7 2.1 approval of trips and District travel 2.2 second reading of the noted policies 1-9 2.3 approval for the abolishment of certain policies there are five of those policies that are referenced on the agenda 2.4 four is a requested approval regarding the wave of time requirements for the review according to policy 0131 bylaws of policies and that is referenc in policy 1648 point11 the road forward covid-19 health and safety which is a new policy 2.5 is seeking approval for M us for the purpose of ensuring a level two evacuation site for each district public school as listed on our agenda 2.6 is requesting approval authorizing uh the approval of our district social emotional learning curriculum for grade six 7 and 8 and 2.7 is requesting approval authorizing the

111district to enter into a dual credit agreement with Atlantic Cape Community College do I have any questions or comments uh Mr Yano I have one question concerning um 2.6 of the agenda approval authorizing the board secretary to approve the district seal curriculum for grades 6th 7th and 8th um I know we we had discussion at this um through committee and it made it out of committee and that's why it is on the agenda but for the um the public and the board members that don't sit in that committee um can you give me a brief synopsis on how we get to this um approval please absolutely so so one of the areas that the district has committed to this started last year uh is a focus on improving the district's social emotional learning curriculum uh

112our guidance supervisor Dina Rodolfo uh worked with District guidance counselors on developing a social emotional learning program for grade seven six seven and 8 which was also reviewed through the curriculum office in Mr Fry and building principles and other additional staff uh should there be additional background needed Mr Fry is ready to uh provide additional context should you request that okay does anyone any questions or comments from the board okay thank you thank you thank you do I have a motion so moved second can I have a roll call please miss Larry Mr Casta yes Mrs kispa I have a comment um I CL did a clarification with u Mr Dano so that I could give the comment now as I voted um after reading and going through 2.6 for grades 6 through eight I

113do understand the subject matter and it is curriculum related and oriented however there are some um of what I read with all three grades that deal with matters that I believe should be taught in the home and not in the schools this is my personal belief um and at the OR at the very least it should be taught at home first or given the opportunity so I am not comfortable with voting for yes and therefore I am voting no to 2.6 I will vote Yes to 2.1 to 2.5 and [Applause] 2.7 congratulations Mr foki yes Mr Holmes yes Mr Rivera I too would like to sentiment the comments of Mrs kispa um I'm all about choice and being that there isn't a opt out clause for such curriculum for parents who would like to opt

114out and have their children opted out of these classes I vote 2.1 to 2.5 yes 2.6 no 2.7 yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva um I also um want to Echo uh Miss kispa and also Mr Rivera um I vote Yes to everything except for 2.6 um I also feel that you know my religious beliefs I feel like I I should had the option of doing this on my own at home first and so for that reason I'm voting no for 2.6 thank you Mr English yes was that count 43 yes no no no five five five apologies not here so it's thank you we do not have any items under buildings and grounds let's see so discussion regarding Finance items 4.1 through 4.5 4.1 specific to a grant as provided and on file with

115the secretary of the board New Jersey Youth Corps in the amount of $376,500 an approval of a resolution for a contract to the child care providers and paid by ECA ecpa funded in accordance with the list on file with the board secretary for the 2122 school year and in accordance with a form of contract approved by the department of Ed 4.4 approval regarding professional development workshop for Veterans Memorial School to be held on September 3rd in the amount of $1,500 4.5 approval regarding the following Cumberland County Regional Cooperative Transportation initiatives uh number one 2021 2022 bid number three award number two 2021 2022 joint share any questions or comments seeing none so moved second roll call please Mr Casta yes Mrs kispa yes Mr foke yes Mr Holmes yes Mr Rivera yes Mr saana yes

116Mr Silva yes Mr English yes okay that concludes uh superintendent recommendations uh thank you Mr Yano at this time we have um our 10B section where we have proposed items for review or discussion or adoption by board members um under number one we have a discussion right now concerning the regarding the superintendent goals um as you know board members um under contract we have 30 days that or sorry 60 days we need to um set the goals for um our new superintendent we went through our Retreat um we had discussion on that in front of us we have um our superintendent go AB C and D um at this time I can open the floor if anyone would like to add anything or um delete anything um I can start to my right Mr foke

117no recommendations I'm fine how it's written in the agenda thank you Mr Holmes all good Miss Acosta they're accept to me Miss kispa they're good good Mr AA I'm okay with them yes for Mr sabran uh one item my point want to suggest adding to um B would be under Communications to uh reconstitute a committee to um develop the calendar for the school year include all stakeholders Administration staff and perhaps parents and community members that is duly noted um we're having discussion on this now um Mr Yano that pretty much is a it's it is a broad statement B um but what Mr sabran is saying that's something that um I I would definitely like to consider as well because it'll kind of bring us into to our 10B number two item um in years

118past that has been the way some things have been it's I think it's more of a more of an informational thing where when a group gets together who really picked that group and who made that decision and then next thing you know a decision gets made and something does get missed along the way um I don't have any issues with that is do any board members that's a good suggestion it falls under the the and and of course remember these are the goals that you will be evaluating the superintendent on if you're a non-conflicted board member so um you know you guys will handle that accordingly of course uh Mr Silva looks good to me looks good to you um Mr Yan do you have any comments on that no the only comment I would

119add is that uh the work around developing a calendar could be one of the items that falls under b as part of the action plan to develop and improve those Communications right so I see that as a absolutely appropriate connection absolutely um in in conjunction with the superintendent goals usually we have our board set of goals and with it being co last year um with uh our New Jersey Schoolboard reps we got kind of derailed from board goals and talking with our rep um she respectfully um suggested a couple things and I just just want to throw it at each of you so you understand um we hired a new superintendent um recently and she had suggested that the number one goal of the board should be to make sure that we provide the superintendent

120with the tools necessary to move forward and Achieve his superintendent goals she also um said that we could possibly get together before the end of the year currently she retires Tuesday and we are yet to have a rep to replace her so it's a little slippery slope there usually they facilitate that type of event for so we don't get off task but um if board members would like to um set some goals other than the one that was recommended that I agree with her on we can do something like that um which is open for discussion but the main concern tonight was to um discuss the um the four superintendent goals because they were time sensitive our goals can mesh in September or October um accordingly so um any problems with that we an agreement

121with that fine okay so at this time Mr Danto what is the proper um way to make a motion or yeah because the goals are part of the superintendent's contractual process I suggest a formal uh motion to approve the goals uh as stated in item 10 B1 a through d as the basis for the as part of the basis for the superintendent evaluation as Bo president can I make that no no in fact I suggest because you and Mr Silva should be out of all involvement with the superintendent evaluation that the two of if you abstain regrettably and the other non-conflicted members can vote who makes the motion I'm Sor so whoever like to make the motion and then it would need a second of course uh I'll make that motion okay as to what

122Bob just said it's duly noted we have a second um and then you can ask for a roll call roll call please yeah you can participate Mr Casta yes yes Mrs kispa yes Mr fii yes Mr holes yes oh I'm sorry Mr Rivera is Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes no she didn't take Mr Silva I'm voting yes in my mind but I had to abstain yes thank you I apologize Mr s Mr English I abstain as well thank you thank you okay so the motion does carry and uh you have your goals in front of you and best of luck achieving them and then we have um let's see under 10B number two discussion regarding the opening of school and the request for delay presented to the district by the Jewish community of vinand

123just a brief synopsis um we've been contacted by um several members of the Jewish Community concerning um rashash Shana this year happens to fall um on the same day that we are opening School in years past it's been different dates um that the I had before I had went away on vacation I had brief discussion with our superintendent and you know just generic question was is this something that we can accommodate being as it is the first day of school and through um quick conversation he said absolutely um something like this could be accommodated he wanted to make sure logistically um things could be done um recently um one of the board members asked that it be put on the agenda for discussion again from each board member um things like this in years past

124it hasn't um been a day off in the district but because it fell on the first day of school um it was a respectful request and beings the superintendent had no issue with that which I just the history on it is uh Mr Jano started on July 1 the calendar is set a year in advance by the previous superintendent and then voted on the board I did speak with Dr guio and Dr guio said it was something when they were doing it that she totally had missed and if she would have saw that she would have recommended starting um a day later as well um as board president I am confident because it is not affecting anything um with the start of the school I do understand that that means we add an an additional

125day to this the school year but um out of respect for the Jewish Community I am only one vote but I do not have an issue with starting school a day later and I can start again to my right with Mr fiok and um see what your feeling I agree problem shifting to start one day okay forward Mr Mr Holmes what are other school districts doing um right now milville and Briton are starting the 7th and CCT Tech is starting the 13th so um again this is one of them things where the the Jewish Community has understood in the past that falls like on the second or third week it and you know this was in a situation where if it could be accommodated they respectfully asked and um I just wanted to get it

126to the Forefront because I did receive quite a few phone calls um and usually when I get a dozen or more it does bring the attention that um it deserves board discussion so um that's why it got to this level once it was requested by a second board member any thoughts Mr Holmes no this wouldn't be the vote it's just this isn't the vote Su just that they would like to have any input Miss aosta um I would be in agreement and I would go as far as I mean I understand it starts um Monday evening school starts the 2nd M so the 7th right school's on the 7th so we would we be starting on the 8th we would be starting on the 8th of September correct right so rashash Shana actually is observed

127this year on the seventh and the eth I would I would suest just beginning September 99th that way there's you know those students that um would not be coming in because of rashash Shana they wouldn't have to miss school and everyone would be starting on Thursday the 9th okay duly noted Mrs cispa I agree with Mr Costa okay Mr Rivera I am I'm in agreement with potentially starting it on the 7th however my initial concern just out of transparency was that if we Grant this request um what other groups or individuals within our community would like similar accommodations in the future um so that's that's my my concern I'm I'm all for at this point um postponing it one day um but that would be my concern for the future I have a question yes

128um because it falls on the first day this year and usually it does fall later this would be only for this year correct correct and again everyone and I believe Mr Yano don't let me speak for you but we did speak on Case by case because we know this can start some type of a possible path practice but this was something because it was the actual first day of school not the third Wednesday in September and and Thursday so that's yes so realistically um it we're just voting for this year correct talking about correct and what this does is I I would hope that it draws more attention to what the county the community does because if it is a group of 12 people that happen to not be Jewish or Catholic or whatever it

129was um it would have never really you don't know that I mean I can guarantee if I decide to say December 25th we're going to school we would be here till midnight you understand what I'm saying so it's just it was a simple request I had several people MH Mr yes I I just wanted to mention something for the board's consideration um this would require ire a formal motion to amend the school calendar but this will also affect the back end of your school calendar so in your discussion perhaps you can consider if there's a start September 9 when is what is your completion date because that gets impacted by this so I just wanted to throw that into the discussion right absolutely may I may I jump in right so every any change that

130we make at the beginning of the year impacts the end date there's also uh by moving our end date back one day our district is required to observe uh juneth on the 17th of June so we would have to push the day back to the following Tuesday I believe so the only thing I'd like to point out is yes it's easy to change dates because we we can do that you know we'll just go longer you know we'll have more days off at the beginning of the school year after the first after the second and the third uh report dates it's this year that we're addressing it but once you put dates into a calendar next year's conversation there might be consideration requested again of the district it's difficult as Mr Rivera said other organizations

131might be requesting how to add their holy days to the calendar we we we are a very diverse Community we have many different groups here who celebrate a variety of dates that are approved on our um New Jersey Department of Education list of approved holidays where where folks can take personal days or or or or uh an excused absence just so we know that it does open up a lot of uh area for additional conversation and many school districts have moved away from uh celebrating religious holidays within their calendar because of that reason because it becomes very a slippery slope of who do you include and who do you exclude uh in that process so what I'm saying is that if we're moving two days to the 9th and then there's the holiday that means

132that the end date which we should state in the motion is now going to be June X so that we have September 9th and June X so let me ask Dr sneeden uh because she has her calendar and she's been going through looking at the if we closed and that would mean the district is closed because we're observing a holiday rashasana the district would be closed on the 7th and the 8th 8th all staff would be closed right no one will be reporting first day with students would be the 9th so we have to add two days to the end of the school year and that's pending no snow days correct correct um what would be the date did she say I'm done I heard from Mr Riv did I hear from Mr sabran Mr

133sabran well I support changing the calendar this year also for that reason I also wanted to recommend that we have this committee for future consideration these calendars and it it is a slippery soap although R Shan is a pretty important holiday in the Jewish calendar and I don't I don't know who's how to weigh the importance of other faiths and and other religions um events but it's something that would be considered also this is the conversation that should have been in April and not in August and I wanted to try to avoid that for the board next year and and years moving forward that's kind of when when you when you use the word stakeholders as a blanket term but really stakeholders mean everyone and it's hard to get a lot of accomplish with 200

134people in the room but realistically um we approve it the in front of us and to be honest with you I don't think anyone El us looked for Russia sh on the calendar it was brought to our attention from the Jewish Community again as somebody would bring up Christmas or Easter to me as a board many of times we've we've considered we're one of the few counties that do Good Friday Easter Monday and then the rest of the week but then everybody complains we go into too far in June well it's real simple you can cut four days out let the other districts and go to school after Eastern Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday for years we were told we don't have a decision in that but I've been told recently that we do so

135that being said that might be a discussion for the board again you know um it's for example next year it's uh begins on Sunday September 25th so the school year will be begun and it's different conversation about different Case by cases and stealing I agree with everyone but now are we considering possibly excusing the staff members or students that take that religious holiday that day so we can continue as business as usual with the start of school because I remember in school back in the day we had to fill out a form of of that holidays that we actually observe and it was an excuse absent so I don't know if we can possibly think of excusing these students or staff members that observe that holiday so we can continue with the start of school

136being the 7th I don't know how it works as far as what staff does or what students does I don't know how it used to be I don't know how it currently is so if you want to Enlighten the board on that um for students it's fairly straightforward it's a it would be an excused absence it is an absence from school but it's excused uh because it's a religious observance we have a list of of of observances that fit that criteria and students would be allowed to miss a day without penalty uh for staff there there's uh tenants in their in multiple contracts that allow for staff members to take time that's been afforded to them in this case it would be a personal day where you could take and observe a holiday at no

137penalty it's a it's it's one of your days that you have built into your contract uh so that is how many districts observe those type of um uh religious holidays it just happens that it's a very important date and it's on the first day of school with kids so the so the the Outreach that we've received was that teachers would not be present for instruction on that day on the first day of school yet we're also impacting almost 10,000 students by changing the first day of school back one day back two days Arrangements have to be made so whatever we decide we need to communicate that as soon as possible because there will be Child Care coverage issues for families who are working uh that we need to also take into mind or keep in

138mind and then see what passes and then one day if you have someone who wants to make a motion in a second on one of those options then you see how that vote goes yes okay does anyone have any questions or comments before we go to a [Music] vote seeing none okay then we need to the first motion would be to it would it would be a motion to amend the school calendar to set September 9 2021 as the start date and June 2022 as the end date is that correct um Bob what I think we have here um this Jun teth just came in as a sidebar so juneth was not on our did you is that added into the motion as well or is that just considered let me just confirm with Dr

139sneen because we got to make sure we got the end date correct just want to make sure that they have 180 days of school that's right that's right yes see they didn't have it before with the old calendar it didn't so the old calendar didn't have it because it was after schoolid which is a legal holiday which means no one would be going to school so if the last day happened to be the on Friday this year it wouldn't matter because this holiday has trumped um the initial calendar that was approved gotcha so so that's listen that I think let's focus on this right now you can amend the calendar and then we could do a second motion for juneth no no Scott what I'm unless I misunderstood under the current calendar that holiday isn't

140factored in because it occurs after the end of school no no no well they're saying yes and you're saying no on the current calendar the last day for students was the is the 16th the 17th if we were in session we would have to be closed because that's the that's the observance of June that's why you have to extend so three days none of the kids no one will come into school if we extend a day two days we wouldn't come in session on the 17th because we have to legally observe juneth so we're adding the two days the 20th and the 21st so the last day for students June 21st the last day of Staff June 22nd okay okay have a question all right so it would be starting the 9th and ending June

14121st starting the 9th it uh if the board Wills two days starting the 9th and then the 21st for students the 22nd for staff I believe Mr Silva has a question okay so we're voting on either one day or two days two days right now because if you're if you're observe the holiday then it has to be the complete holiday not just part of it so yeah can't can't split the holiday do that's the more important I was under the understanding the holiday was Monday and Tuesday I was told now that it's Tuesday and Wednesday correct we were starting school on Tuesday so now we will be starting school on Thursday in observance of the two holiday the two day home yes and it it happens to work out that way because it was the

142start of the school year it might be a move Point next year right well it would be because Sor it would be because it's Sunday right and the motion the motion I just read to amend the school calendar to set September 1 2020 one as the start date and June 21st as the end date with staff coming in on the 22nd Mr Yan and of course it goes without saying because of those dates that this is only for the 2122 school year yes you have to make clear that our record shows that this is not precedent that this is solely for this particular school year whatever I have a question September right is is it a logistical nightmare or can it be done that's pretty much it's a yes or no it's good good it's

143a it's it's a logistical challenge for parents who have to figure out what to do on the seventh and eth we we we can make the adjustment tonight we have to just make a decision and and then communicate that out as quickly as possible uh so staff would start on the second and third for their professional development activities we will be closed on the 6th already we're closed on the 7th and 8th first day for students would be the 9th the last day for students would be the 21st the last day for staff would be the 22nd this is baring zero emergency days for weather or other items that may close us yes I understand Mr River it was my understanding that rashash Shana begins as Sundown on the 6th and until sundown the 7th

144so it doesn't begin on the 7th me it's that Sundown on the 6th Sundown on the sixth is when begins and it's observed on the sth and the eth ends on the eth at sundown and return to work you know the it concludes on the on the ninth okay is that correct Dr sneen as far as the correct okay that's right right okay so we have a motion on the floor is there any fur of discussion I I want everyone to understand it because again you're going to get questioned in the public as the board members so there there's a large Indian population in our city are we considering all of those days that they're cuz we won't be in school if we are I I would definitely this is me speaking Mr um e

145well we're we're kind of we're in the ninth hour yes I don't feel comfortable changing the calendar now okay with and we're starting school next week right or teachers are reporting next week well they're still going to report next week my point I say G sureid is there so if I was yeah you know what come to the mic so so I correct so let's use Good Friday and Easter Monday they're Catholic holidays okay it's a it's a historically judeo-christian calendar and as things evolved I think as Mr Holmes is saying the answer to that way back I'm I'm 35 years in Personnel P personal days were intended to be used for this purpose the other h i I don't want to disparage holidays that were not judeo-christian were considered personal days and that's where

146it's remained the world's changing rapidly but that's where it remained so if if policy and Personnel wants to discuss what we're doing with personal days I think is a great topic for discussion because as I'm learning tonight there's a lot of Law and things that just because it's law and mandates that things are subject to change private employers those who are working more and more from home have gone to what's called PTO and not defined leave days they've called them PTO time off that you choose could be Christmas could be New Year's could be rashash Shana it's your choice that's working from home Private Industry we we care as you all know for students so that's the difference maybe with school districts okay Dr Rossy a question for you do nothing in their the ba

147contract that states that they cannot use personal days the first 10 days of school or no there is language about consecutive there is language about notice those would not be problems in this case as I said I believe the origin of these days is for the purpose that you're discussing thank you right okay by board I task you with this um challenge of a yes or a no vote so do we have a question we have anything Bob okay Bob the motion's on the floor for um amending the school calendar to set the start date at September 9th and the end date I'm sorry the the motion is for the 2122 school year to amend the school calendar to set September 9 2021 as the start date and June 21 2022 as the end date

148for classes okay so move what Bob said do I have a second second roll call please okay Mr Casta yes Mrs kispa yes Mr fiok yes Mr Holmes no Mr Rivera no Mrs sabran yes Mr Silva no Mr English yes five yes three no what do we have five three five yes mhm okay the motion carries and again this many people worry about the past practices and that's part of the challenge as board members that you take when you um take the oath to become a board member you have to make the tough decision and this is one where a a a huge popula a huge part of the population contacted me directly and it was again it's it's how we do things guys it's it's 5-3 votes so we're moving on to the next

149agenda item and thank you for the discussion and this and the a lot of discussion centered upon it being the start of school as the distinguishing Factor correct and it also piggybacks on what Mr sabran said you know we've all been board members a long time and we use that word stakeholders a lot and when when we when the future boards continue to pick these committees it's it's time to really make them as diverse as possible because you that's the only way you get the knowledge so I I know that um you heard it loud and clear as part of the um superintendent goals so you're you're inhering in that at this time do we have the approval of bills we don't have any bills that's a good month hey hey that's a thing of

150beauty she's doing a great job do we do we have any old or new business SK emergent items I how could I could oh excuse me at this time we do we had an emergent item um it was New Jersey governor executive order 251 and 253 regarding indoor mask and proof of vaccination slid testing um before we have discussion on this um Mr Danto can can you um give us a synopsis again how we got to this point the um the popular executive orders uh require that school districts adopt policies implementing those executive orders um it's my understanding that labor Council has worked with Dr Rossi and Dr sneen uh to propose a couple of policies one for the masks and one for the vaccination um my personal opinion is that the board does not

151have to act on the vaccination policy tonight that those requirements go into effect October 18th and as Mr English alluded to a lot can happen in the next week let alone in that period of time uh there could be changes the court the court matter may you know may affect things there could be guidance from doe so it would be my suggestion that you consider the proposed policy for the executive order regarding Mass only uh because that took effect um August 7th I believe the date of the executive order so you know it's it's it's I'm sorry August 9th August 9th yeah so you know that needs to be done before school starts so I would suggest if there's a discussion it should be regarding the policy involving masks so um routinely this stuff like

152this goes to our policy Personnel committee which policy and Personnel did not meet this evening they this is the second meeting of the month which this meeting right technically is about a half hour meeting but there was a lot on the agenda usually it's just Personnel make a long story short policy and Personnel will be meeting but school will right and and there will be no board meeting then because school's officially closed now so we will be having Bo we will have a board meeting the following time so this is a policy that um needs to be discussed now concerning the mass mandates I know that we've listened to um the public speak at the podium this evening and the Public's the people that put us in the seats but I know hey I I

153listen everybody I understand both sides of it I might have used the wrong terminology tonight and M McBride pointed it out several times to me when when I discussed the um the governor's decisions they're more of a roller coaster decision we're all about the safety here but what happens it is very unfair to a school board it is very unfair to Central Administration is very unfair to the community the parents the students when you're still changing with two weeks to go to school so now we're if we could have had a nice clear-cut Plan before it would have made it a lot easier for all so I do apologize if I gave you the wrong idea with my statement and thank you for pointing that out um what what we have to do here as

154a board is this this mask mandate is is a is a serious discussion um I I I I'm curious to how the board feels I mean it it's I know how I know how we felt six months ago a year ago six days ago if the board would like go ahead yeah excuse me I have to interrupt you Scott the the executive order requires the board to adopt a policy every board MH it isn't a vote on whether you think Mass are required it isn't a vote on whether you think Mass are a good idea that's that's not the issue here the issue is whether or not this board of education is going to for now honor the directive of the executive order and adopt a policy to implement that executive order it it it

155it you know it's a situation where you know you you have two sides to the story you have a number of people that were here tonight on one side okay but the point is is that the the Mandate and the requirement for uh a policy is a directive does this board of education set the example to the to the community and to the kids that we honor the Mandate as much as we might disagree with it do we honor the the direction of the executive order all right and that's what it is it it isn't whether or not you agree or disagree with the mass mandate whether or not individual rights should Trump the the the directive that you know that's that's not the issue before you tonight so it's not even a discussion it's

156just point yeah so so it's Ave just like just like if you know if you if you accept the fact that executive order ERS unless they are abolished by a court executive orders have the weight of Law and and I'm sorry if people might disagree with that but that's what it's all about that's why the other districts have to go to court to plead their constitutional challenge to it otherwise we'd be a vigilante State and we just simply say well we're going to ignore the governor's directive and and then it becomes rather problematic in in a lawful Society I mean we you know so you're right this is a matter of your discretion is what is in the or what's in the policy I don't know if the board has been given copies of it

157because I don't know have they been provided copies on their packet it's it's on the agenda has has the board had a chance to review it everyone yeah okay so okay I have Dr Rossy at the Pod excuse me board there's one key issue that is relevant to your current comments and I would defer to Bob there is a timing issue uh to correspond with the executive order the fully vaccinated person must be so by October 18th that means the second dose must be administered by October 4th I would think that if we're cooperating legally with the legal mandate the policy would have to include that so people understand the board has a policy about fully vaccination fully vaccinated by October 18th which means second dose by October 4th yeah all I was suggesting Joe

158was that this this is not an emergent item perhaps for tonight it could be reviewed by the policy committee and presented at September 8th or 9th meeting would you would you think that would be sufficient time understood I I just want to say one more thing and I'll sit down the people who came up here tonight we're looking for the board to perhaps interpret or say something that either correspond or disagrees with the governor so I think the policy is going to do that you know that we're going to adhere as Bob said to what's mandated because obviously the the ladies and gentlemen that spoke tonight feel you have some sort of decision to make I heard exactly what um the people said this evening at the podium and what I as board president am

159understanding is there is still a possibility that um I can draft a letter up with the superintendent and we we can send a simple request to him that doesn't hurt anything it lets him know how the violent Board of Education feels um that would be a discussion I would have with my fellow board members and if that's something we want to do I don't believe that hurts anything um as far as what's in front of us yeah that's it's I hate to use the word mute point but that's exactly what it is and I we have a policy personnel committee that is designed to meet discuss a policy create it interpret it read it once read it a second time and we vote I understand that this is time sensitive and that's what goes back

160to the roller coaster type decision making that continues to be made in New Jersey and it's it's just mindboggling because now we're to a a back against the- wall time frame and it's not it's not realistic when I got vaccinated I and get it for another month so is there a penalty for October 18th if you're not vaccinated by the October 18th what what can they if you're making the attempt you just have to get tested if you're not vaccinated you get to get tested so I mean it's it's pretty much in writing what has to be done we just have to agree with a policy that is subject to change by his decision tomorrow for God's sakes um Mr English yes legally speaking um violating an executive order is subject to punishment and is

161deemed to be a wful violation is deemed a disorderly person's offense which could be chargeable by uh six months in jail and up to $1,000 fine so I'm just saying this is unfortunately you know and I respect everyone has a different opinion um but we're dealing here with an executive order and to violate an executive order has consequences and I just want you know it to be known thank thank you for sharing Mr Y and it's important for us uh to reflect on both of these items because we have a district to run yes that's orderly and safe for all staff and students we can't have a situation where we're going to be in schools having conflicts around mask wearing or vaccination status if you don't choose to be vaccinated there's an option for you

162get tested but there is no option to refuse to wear a mask in school correct so what we need to do is in my opinion is is to address this tonight because AS school leaders and District leaders we need to message out that we expect our schools to open in orderly fashion we don't want to be in a newspaper for conflicts happen that you see happening in other states people being assaulted uh different types of challenges we don't need that it be it won't look good for all of us we need to be able to move forward in a in a very peaceful and Community Driven way so that's why it goes back to 10B we we gave you goals and our our board goal is to make sure that we give you the tools

163to be able to succeed and perform okay Miss kispa what do you have for me so basically the governor's telling us what we have to do but taking it back to make it so it's the board doing it which is really not the board doing it it's the governor doing making us do it he's making us do this he's making however right however so if we have to put this through so let's say one of us decides to not agree with the policy as it is and vote no so that does that mean we're going to go to jail because we're you know I mean it it's our right to to have an opinion to vote the way we want to vote I understand I mean I know there's a lot of boards that have

164are now appealing um so however if we were to do this we could still write a letter and send them our thoughts I have no problem with the letter the the appeal or the challenge to me is a moot point because that's taxpayers it's already been filed the public watch the meeting and spend five minutes they know where we stand on this I mean it's it's no secret here the the point that I I guess that needs to be made here is we are a board that's governed by our policies I we learned in Governor 101 hug the policy book and you'll never go wrong the minute you violate the policy you get in trouble because the policy is there to interpret how you act and that's it it's it is real simple so Mr

165English yes the answer Miss kisa's question uh when board members take the oath of office they they are swearing that they will uphold the law of the state and the education laws of New Jersey and um there's no reason why even if someone voted yes for the policy that vote can be under protest indicating that I don't feel and I don't agree with it so this way it makes it very clear how how your feelings are but on the other hand it allows you to discharge your duty uh to uphold the law as a board member um with respect to the letter Mr English uh that would require a vote because you know if you were to send a letter you you must make sure that you have five members that support that letter so

166whether or not you do that tonight or some other meeting or send it committee first that's going to be up to you but I wouldn't send a letter unless you have clear authorization from the board just for clarity this is about as fresh as it can be in our mind for discussion um do somebody want to make a motion on that then I I mean is that what you want want me to put it to the vote well I think you should deal with I I'll withdraw my suggestion about I think you can you can look at both policies tonight rather than fragmenting this thing to allow the superintendent consistency of the timing and I I think I agree now with Dr rossy's statement each board member do you understand what's taking place here I

167don't have to go into a dissertation about what what we got to do here um so realistically then um you making a motion to appr the Govern no we're a motion to approve the policy policy it is strictly the policy because there's many policies don't agree with do we have policy numbers assigned Dr sneen yes there is yeah these are these are the executive order numbers I haven't seeny because the motion would be to uh wave the time requirements of first and second reading and adopt policy number X why I don't know what they are I thought she said she do we have a policy for this number corresponds we don't have one yet I thought I thought in the court we don't have a that's the governor's executive orders that's noty oh oh it

168wasn't attached because I thought Nicole sent to Dr sneen the policies the form of policy the policy okay the the question the question that I need to know is do we currently have a policy that we as a board can approve if we do not have a policy as a board to approve then I'm going to be upset so I mean I it's very hard to conduct my meetings when I don't have it in front of me I mean these are these last minute decisions but you can't expect me to have a board support something when I we don't have it in front of us that's not fair to each one of these people here then they read it two days from now and say oh that's not what I thought it was uhuh that's

169not on my watch I'll take a recess right now if you would take a recess and if you want to have a discussion on what to do that's fine but um I'm sorry I can't hear can't hear you Daniel can you go to the microphone so we can I was under the impression that Nicole sent to Dr St two policy forms which it is very hard to do that when the mandates just come at you like so this one this one came quickly we got this today back from the attorney with the wording we made some modifications to it uh it is attached to your agendas what what we're asking be approved it's just not on that policy document so I don't have the number the next Ser the next series and the numbers that

170it would get okay at this time can I make a motion for a re five minute recess so we can review the policy no we can do that take a motion motion for recess do we come get a recess yes all in favor all in favor all all right listen e e e before we get back session has every had a chance to read we're good we're good good all right let me correct that okay thank you and welcome back this time um we will continue our discussion on New Jersey governor executive order 251 and 253 regarding indoor mask and proof of vaccination slco testing Mr Danto I believe yes Mr English yes um the board board has been handed a two-page policy entitled violent Board of Education policy concerning face masks um I suggest

171that and I spoke to Dr Sean this should have policy number 64812 Mr Yano tonight introduced policy 1648 point11 the road to return to school okay so this would follow the next the next number 1648 point2 the second policy is violent Board of Education policy concerning covid-19 vaccinations stash testing that would be 16 4813 okay so under emerging items if the if the chair would entertain a motion for the adoption of 1648 .12 and 16 4813 you will address the emerging item do I have any questions or comments before we go any further board okay thank you for your time and I apologize um for the miscommunication thece um at this time um do we have a motion motion to accept um policy 16 4812 and policy 16 14813 so move second roll call please

172Mr Casta yes Mrs kispa I'm voting yes under protest Mr foki yes Mr Holmes yes Mr Rivera yes on the protest I'm sorry yes on the protest Mrs sabran yes Mr Silva yes under protest yes Mr English yes under protest thank you okay that rather confusing session um for all you future board presidents out there run away from emerging items whenever you can uh 13 and 14 old SL new business do we have any old SL new business this evening um I just have some new business real quick and I and um I know it's been a long night just something just to update the board on and the public on and I'm not sure if it was in the roadback plan concerning Clash trips and things like that um do we have any plan

173for that will you be executing something like that I know that we we've had in years past some um Sports programs that have left States um is that something that we're what are we going to do travel wise so as of this point there are no restrictions on class trips we intend to honor all of our curriculum based class trips we're also looking at our Athletics trips on a Case by case scenario uh anything any trip that goes out of state we're looking at carefully because there are some times uh challenges with receiving funding back if a parent pays for their airline ticket and and uh let's say hotel reservations some of these companies are not allowing you they're non-refundable so before we commit we're making sure we explore every possible Avenue uh and making

174sure that we're not making any mistakes so there are a couple athletics events that are on hold at the moment and we're working with the athletic director to make sure that before we approve it we have a clear way of making sure that we're protecting our parents and students you know from outlaying money that they can't return or can't receive back no problem and what just one thing it's important to understand and this is this is coming for me I'm speaking on for myself not for the board I'm really only concerned what vinin Public School District's doing moving forward with this okay I am not the president of any other school district Mr yanana is not the superintendent of any other school district we can only FOC focus on if we're going to get lost

175in what other districts are doing from travel to anything we're just going to continue to spin our wheels and the students are the ones that suffer so um the other thing I have for you concerning new business would be um you answered my question about the The Clash trips we have the rental facilities who polies that the people that are renting our facilities are following these so-called mandates and things I mean I have no problem renting my facilities out but if you're not here and he's not here and I'm not here how do I know that they're in compliance that's a great question which I don't have the answer that's fine that's just for the record I wanted to get right into the record and again you can just get back to me via it's

176just two things that I have we have some organizations that rent out all I can use the VB for example outstanding program it puts 2500 kids in a community where they can utilize playing basketball but are we going to have these mandates that make it almost impossible to have that and I think they need to know before before the season starts so it's something that I think we need to jump in there and if we do open the so-called door to one organization then we'll pretty much have to open it to all of them so I don't know if that's communication with the recreation or how we normally do it or who's currently doing it in the district but some type of an answer and I guess that can go through um our facilities meeting

177next but I just wanted to put that under the radar for just some of the um housekeeping for the start of the school year um does anyone else have any older new business okay seeing none at this time board member remarks I will start to my left with Mr Rivera good evening everyone I'd like to thank um every single person that took time from their day to express themselves to us um just know that your comments your concerns your worries do not fall on deaf ears up here we we care about this community we care about our children we care about the staff of this this school district I have two young children in this school district district and my concern as a parent is them like I said in the last meeting it's hard

178to please everyone and whether you say yes to mass no to masks yes to vaccinations no to vaccinations there's going to be a group of people who are going to be upset at you regardless of what you decide or what you say I personally am off of choice I believe in choice I be I believe that once you remove choice you you you can't live in in a society an American society that's no longer America I would like nothing more than for all of this to just go away and we could just go back to normal but we as board members adhere to an oath and we have to abide by that oath as much as we hate it I would like to wish every single student teacher staff member a wonderful and successful school

179year because at the end of the day when we all succeed if all one of us succeeds we all succeed and I want nothing more than for this school district and I've said it time and time again for this school district to be the number one school district in this state thank you have a good night thank you Mr Rivera Mr sabran I agree with a lot of what Mr Rivera said I also appreciate the comments of everyone who spoke tonight with with great passion and conviction for what they believe in uh I also believe in in choice and I also believe in personal responsibility unfortunately that's that's something that not everyone has done and I don't mean the people that were here talking tonight I was also reminded of something that I was told

180the day after I got elected the first time be prepared to find out how little you can actually do sitting up there because we're giving mandates like that that we don't agree with that we don't we wouldn't do if we had if we had an option and we don't uh it's very very frustrating and 20 years working here in the last six sitting up here this is the this is the time that I couldn't even begin to imagine that we would ever be in this situation not just the pandemic but the the way that this is played out and the dramatic differences in how people feel on both sides of the issue and how we get put in the whipsaw and every single day and and almost to the point where you're afraid to go

181out because you know that people are going to are going to say things to you that are very upsetting because you don't have any control over it we can't wish it away we can't will it away and we can't make it go away on our own we're doing the best that we can I know that's not going to make too many people happier tonight but that's not what we signed up for um on a completely different subject I I saw a wonderful picture today of the 70 some people that we have are new hires for this year I wish them uh the best and for everyone parents students staff um families a safe and a successful school year thank you thank you Mr sabran Mr Silva I also uh feel the same as Mr sabran

182and uh Mr a um I'm also a firm believer of choice too um you know we certain things that we have no control over we have mandates we have executive orders that we have to follow if you don't follow you get penalized for it so it is a very tough job you can't make everybody happy I do have two sons that go to pillar and I want nothing but their safety and everyone else that's in there to be safe as they go to school and on a lighter note um I had the privilege of attending uh Sergeant Dominic pillow's sixth grade orientation it was a wonderful experience uh principal Bermudez did an excellent job answering the question of the parents um we had an opportunity to go to class um to kind of mimic what

183the students would do and the teachers were able to answer all of our questions and overall it was a great experience so I just want to wish everyone a safe um and uh great school year thank you thank you Mr Silva Mr foki nothing at this time Mr Holmes nothing at this time Mr Acosta I just want to thank everyone who appeared tonight um again I echo my fellow board members sentiments um these are very difficult times as a community as a school District um as a country I think we've been dealt with some really uh difficult times and just when you think we were close to the light at the end of the tunnel um you know we get socked with you know it going a different direction however I am extremely thankful uh

184to our new superintendent to all of central Administration to our wonderful staff our teachers because I am so excited that our kids are finally going to be able to go back to school um I think children have been under a lot of stress um and anxiety um about what the new school year is going to look like but I think that they're going to find that they are so much more resilient and we're going to find that they are so much more resilient um than we even know um I wish each and every one of um our students the very best for a wonderful productive and happy um school year and uh I just want to reassure the community that we are doing the best that we can do under some very difficult circumstances there

185is no right or wrong answer here um however we do have to follow the mandates that are dictated to us uh by the governor and so um that's it thank you thank you Masta Miss kispa uh first off I'd like to um to the families of Coach pazi Juan Bernard and Matthew kunri my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families and your friends for the passing of your family members I would like to Echo uh what my fellow board members stated earlier Mr Rivera Mr sabran Mr Silver and now miss Casta um I too am airm a believer in choice and we are doing the best thing that we possibly can to make sure that our students and staff stay as safe as they possibly can to those who spoke tonight miss McBride

186Miss Weber Leah and Amber I apologize I didn't get your last names Connie gazi Joy Maran uh Natalia Bowman and doctors Katie and Michael sof thank you for coming out I appreciate all of your heartfelt thoughts it takes a lot to speak your mind especially when what you're speaking about may or may not be controversial sitting up here with things that we say not everybody's going to agree with but that's what we're here for but we're here to listen to you and we take everything that you guys say to heart and we do discuss things um congratulations to those students who were honored tonight for their contributions um to their school and Community for the annual Unity day to superintendent Yano and his leadership team thank you for the presentation and all the hard work

187that you guys are doing and will continue to do over the past couple months to our assistant superintendent um sneen uh Mr Fry Dr rossie um our supervisors our principals I know I see a principal out there de um uh qun is out there um we have everybody down here thank you to our support staff our teachers everybody you guys are working non-stop and we don't see what you're doing every day so thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that you do day in and day out um especially now because you never know what's going to happen you see things change like at a moment's drop of the Hat School is right around the corner I'd like to welcome everyone back I also want to wish everyone a successful and a productive

188school year I'm hoping and praying that one day soon we'll be turning the corner and we can get back to preco have a great rest of your summer and God bless you all thank you Miss kispa superintendent Yana when I came to viand I was was told how passionate the community is about the education of their students and and inclusive we want to hear the voices of those who may be on the margins at times so it's it was challenging this evening but it was also enlightening to see the variety of viewpoints and the fact that this board is willing to listen and and adjust when needed sometimes like we just did we adjusted our calendar uh we're also looking at some different practices so I understand understand that I appreciate that I want to

189say thank you for the opportunity to be here and I also want to say a special thank you to uh Mr Fry and the curriculum supervisors they put on three days of amazing professional development to prepare for the school year we they covered the curriculum they covered uh observations of teachers they covered how to use data the selections and the options were varied and and and exciting and it was wonderful to see our supervisors taking the lead and our director of special education as well along with her department on presenting a quality program for all of our administrators Dr sneen uh 70 plus new teachers today what a wonderful event amazing group of Educators they are can you imagine the experience that that they are going to have you know they're coming in at the

190most incredible moment right you know we didn't start most of us who are Educators We Didn't Start in this fashion they're starting in a very troubling time uh but they're ready to rise to the the challenge which is exciting 70 plus new uh employees to our school district also just a great thank you to our school leaders for the orientations that they're holding at pill at our middle schools at the high school it was so wonderful to see uh all of the students and their families coming out and supporting uh their students as they begin their you know their new challenge their next event and uh to of our support staff uh who are working out there in The Daily Grind uh Paul and his team and Mike and our hey if you know a

191bus driver can you please send my call an email CU we're looking for drivers still we need some folks who have that CDL and are ready to work with our our our kids and U Mr PR welcome back we're looking forward to continuing our work around security uh because we know that we're going to have some challenges in the school year and uh looking forward to looking at the plan that we're going to put together so thank you again uh to the administrators to our teachers looking forward to seeing kids in classrooms and uh looking forward to a much shorter board meeting the next time we come together hopefully maybe not but we'll see thank you thank you thank you superintendent Yano um Miss kispa wants to take from my 10-minute time here so let

192me I forgot to thank um our ba too because she does so much work behind the scenes and we have a new super and a new uh ba so I appreciate you and to the board members we might not all agree but I appreciate every one of you because if it one for you guys you know we make a team and we ultimately taking my phone he listen up guys I I hate to hit you one more piece of board business but while it's freshening my mind I will make a motion right now that um M that superintendent and board president get get together and sit down and put a letter together to send to the governor to just let him know how the violent Public School District feels with the way things have taken

193place during this covid thing and as they continue to evolve with this covid what I'm asking that I have the support of the board to sit down and do that I would ask each of you to also send me some of your thoughts on how everything has rolled out the last year and a half so with that being said do I have a motion so moved second second roll call please C can you clarify what you're asking we are going to um both the superintendent and myself will will get together and we're going to write a letter to not an appeal not an appeal we're not going to waste the taxpayers money people have done that they're going to get an answer this is a letter that comes from the board president I represent each

194one of you and the superintendent who represents the entire District um just letting the governor know how we do feel down here because we do have a voice and it might help it might not help but it let at least it lets the public know that put us in these seats that we are taking the time to go that extra step um and each one of you I'd like you to you know take a couple days just to um put some thoughts into it and send them to me so we can um make sure that everyone was heard from the Board of Education so that is what the goal is um did I get a second on that motion and I ask for a roll call correct yes thank you you're welcome Mrs aasta yes

195Mrs kispa yes Mr foki yes Mr Holmes have ADD it yes Mr Rivera yes Mr sabran yes Mr Silva yes Mr English absolutely thank you okay thank you very much and thanks for the support board because again you know you you're hearing the same stuff I'm hearing too so it's it's a joint effort here um just a couple um quick things um we are starting a new school year and it is unlike any other school year they say every year it's a different year well this is going to present some more challenges and how we choose to embrace that challenge is how successful it will become it's it's real simple to say I'm not going to do it or I refuse to do it but I think that kind of mentality is what hurts a

196school district if we're either we're all in or we're not I mean if if we're going to only get 90% participation for this type of thing it's just not good enough um I I I listen to each one spoke tonight and hey we I I pride myself on the passion and I love when people come to the podium because you are the voice of the people we we get a lot of people that can't make the meeting and they email us but to get that next step and come to the podium it it does take a lot of courage and it really takes courage for the employee that works in the district because you know in years past let's face it you always worry about that retaliation I can tell you that doesn't happen what

197I can tell you is it's your honesty that makes us think as board members we're not perfect nor are you but if we can just get down and some type of consensus and maybe get on the same page maybe it's something as simple as a letter it's a start it might not be the Home Run you were looking for but baseball is not all about home runs it's really about who wins in the end and to me the kids have to win the kids need to win and I understand the tough things that you teachers are going through but don't you think that it doesn't start at the bus level the maintenance level they're doing things they've never done before it's hard enough to drive a bus fool of kids but to make sure they

198all got their mask on and keep your eye on the road maintenance it's tough enough to keep a building clean but to make sure it's extra clean I mean everyone has done a remarkable job when you think about how bad it could have been it could have been a lot worse so let's maybe hone in on the positives that everyone has been doing with that being said I need to thank everyone it I I go on forever I mean from I start at the bottom and I worked my way to the top because it is a true team effort by everyone to make something like this happen I can use the thought of 73 74 75 new teachers it's funny how the joke is nobody wants to come to vinyl well apparently somebody does so

199we must be doing something right there's a new vision here and with the new vision comes change how you choose to embrace the change is what makes you a winner and that's what I'm here for That's it man it's really pretty simple I've said it many times in my line of work as a plumber we get paid to fix things if I don't fix it I don't get paid so let's treat this next challenge as that plumbing job that needs fixing I don't want a cold shower i' like to have a hot shower so God Dar let's do it but it can't be what we're doing wrong or what I would have done no what am I going to do to make it work to make it work as board members we gave a superintendent

200goals tonight maybe some people think they're generic but it's a start for a new beginning and we hold that super intendent accountable I'm sure everybody thinks it's easy to sit in that chair that chair this chair none of these chairs are easy as I know it's not sitting in the chairs that you guys are sitting in but one thing I can tell you the work ethic that this group put puts in is what I continue to hope and know that our people are doing with that being said I wish everyone a successful and a healthy and safe start of the 2122 school year and it is not going to be easy but it's what we choose as employees students parents board members administrators to do with it is how successful it truly would be to

201to say oh it's not going to work well you already gave up that's not the people I want on my team I want the people that came to this damn Podium tonight with passion because I believe that yes what you said I I I get it and it's not you probably didn't get the answer you wanted but continue to take that passion to make the situation work because you have students in front of you that you are the role models of with that being said I tell ask everyone enjoy the rest of the summer um have a safe Labor Day and do I have a motion for adjournment this evening all in favor thank you and good evening okay