001what's going [Music] on for hello all can you hear me all right I'm going to call the meeting to order in compliance with the open public meetings law of New Jersey notice of this March 18th 2025 meeting of the Bridgewater ridan Regional Board of Education was posted electronically on the district website and provided on January 8th 2025 by sending an annual written notice to the cier news Star Ledger Bridgewater Township clerk renbo clerk and by posting on the bulletin board in the Harmon v Wade administration building please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance flag United States America Mr lomsky could you please call the role Mr Lee Yes M Mr Joi here miss lockran here Miss Lee here Mr Pepe here Mr Walker here miss kry here Mr singer here we're going to start
002our evening with our superintendent report thank you Mr singer so good evening everyone um I'm happy to report that that tonight it appears the current meeting it's going to be the largest audience in quite some time for our annual budget presentation so in in in the spirit of transparency and informing the public this it's a welcome crowd so tonight District administration that's that's myself Dr Jones Dr fonder Mr lomsky um are going to give you the presentation on on our proposed 2025 26 budget um which as I've reported out several times to the community this was quite a challenge this year as you know we we live in in a time where where costs increase at at a rate far greater than 2% but we are governed by a 2% cap so every year there
003is a challenge and there's a process to go through and we're always in a cutting stance every year to trim the operation in the best way possible to maintain programs etc for the benefit of our kids and our community so before we jump into this it's important for everyone to know that the budget process really starts in September and kicks into high gear in January it's an ongoing process that takes a significant amount of analysis and decision making both amongst the leadership team and the Board of Education um I'm sure the Board of Ed uh members who are on fft know from our meetings that really the budget conversation like as soon as we we get through this budget cycle the good news is is we get to do it all over again in a
004couple of months so so again I applaud the the lead leadership and and the feedback I've received along the way from all the stakeholders involved in this so now with that we're we're going to bust right into it so as as we start this off I think it's always important for us to go back to our district goals because we want to make sure as we develop our budget that our district goals are are are strengthened and and at least that we have the resources to to meet these goals and these goals are are adapted from our strategic planning committee that that we had multiple evenings last year run through New Jersey school boards and and I'll just go through this quick and and one was we want to emphasize the student experience we want
005to create a culture emphasizing student achievement diversity and inclusion promote opportunities that enable students to become active citizens and contributing members of society um and and really one of our core goals part of our core Mission here at Bridgewater Ron Regional School District is is to promote equity for the students who walk through our doors and and it's really important and I say this over and over people are probably tired of hearing this so what we mean by Equity is as follows that means every student in this District regardless of their Primary School their address socioeconomics race gender Etc has the same opportunity when they walk through our doors right and that's what we mean by Equity throughout the district to make sure there is access to programs and to make sure that kids get
006what they need no matter where in our district they may start their educational careers as we know in Bridgewater everyone ends up at the same place at the high school but the real challenge is in our primaries as you know we have seven different primary schools so we want to make sure sure that the programming and opportunities are consistent throughout all right another one of one of our goals uh for the district was climate and culture we've been working on that for a number of years to develop support and cultivate the whole child and diverse nature of our district by enhancing a cohesive and supportive learning environment our finance and Facilities right creating an optimal learning environment for our students we want to develop a culture of Pride ownership and accountability now we know that
007there are a number of projects that are ongoing due to our successful referendum vote approximately two years ago we we're carrying on with those projects and we're doing other things just to make sure that our facilities promote Wellness amongst our students our staff and also support the the programs that are essential for their success finance and Facilities that's part of what we're doing here now to and to create that to create an optimal learning environment for students we develop a culture of Pride ownership and accountability and then finally with Communications community outreach and engagement which I mean it's on full display tonight that that we have a large contingent of the public here although it may be for something else but at least I I'm hoping you can digest some of this and take it
008home with you and spread it to your neighbors okay and and now our budget goals so this gets a little little more granular is to maintain our focus on academic um excellence and student Equity our goal here at Bridgewater riton is to become the best school in the state of New Jersey we've got we've got a road to travel but we're making improvements to our program uh for the sake of student achievement and student opportunities want we want to remain focused on our our student wellness and the overall experience for students when they walk through the doors here at Bridgewater Ron in order to do that we need to attract and retain the most talented faculty and staff we can find that's critical to any operation we want to improve and maintain our facilities and
009we want to continue uh our commitment to the overall security of our school one of one of the things we're really proud of over the last few years is the addition of security personnel as well as Technologies Etc that have really enhanced really enhanced the security for the entire School Community all right and and that's something we're very proud of and we want to maintain and and keep going then finally uh we're going to maintain our fiscal discipline and provide the the Board of Education and the school Community with a budget that's sustainable all right that's the key terms sustainability and prepares us for the future right so now I'll turn it over to my colleague Dr Jones okay thank you um District initiatives and curriculum and instruction are aligned to our District's goals and
010they're supported through the budget so several for those those of you who attend regularly you know several initiatives are ongoing and they expand each year so these would include that we've been expanding our gifted and talented programs and services and this is K12 um for multiple Years and we're continuing to grow them um that includes honors it involves AP classes dual enrollment opportunities the big one next year is that we're implementing full day kindergarten next year it's in Adamsville and JFK and these will be our pilot programs and then we will be expanding into the other schools that following year um at the high school level we've been implementing career concentrations and that includes Visual Arts music business Robotics and engineering and computer science um we are actually expanding and improving our programs at every
011level so in addition to Robotics and Engineering like if you look at the primary level it's foundational literacy is something that we've been growing each year um we're looking at our course sequencing to um improve on-ramps for kids so for example we are shifting how we teach social studies in the high school next year and we're starting with us one for freshman which will create opportunities for AP their sophomore year um we are supporting ESL Services throughout the district you know at some point it was only in three of our primary schools we had a lot of students who um were refusing Services because they didn't want to leave homeschool so we've been expanding into all our schools um we are implementing programs and services and this is really particularly at the high school to
012improve to improve our graduation rates and some of those programs we've talked about in the past the bright program um learning labs and these are programs that are in place at different tiers to support students who may be struggling academically emotionally we are supporting student wellness k12 and this includes character education it includes having Personnel who can support students mental health um it's programs that we're having come in to support teachers and making sure they have the professional development they need to support kids and finally everything that we do anytime we Implement anything it involves supporting the professional learning of our staff also it could involve curriculum writing for programs and curriculum um projects so that would be curriculum instruction you'll hear more about that from AJ with our minutes tonight the next slide gives
013you a snapshot of our district um some of these figures are as of October 15th our current enrollment of students in our buildings is 7,681 um for this current Year's budget we have 1,270 employees we have approximately 1.2 million square feet of buildings uh and we transport 7,846 the difference between that and the enrollment are we do transport out of District placement students and the current budget is $183 million I'm going to turn it over to Mr beers to go over the taxpayer guide to education spending okay just for I'd gone through this already with the board with the board but I think it's important for the public to know that when you have questions uh on school spending and specifically in your in your community one of the places to go to which is
014essentially a state database for Education spending is uh it's right on the doe website it's the taxpayers guide to education spending there are a variety of categories and and it it ranks it ranks uh districts as far as lowest to highest who spends the most who spends the least so for for comparison sake and I and I included the link there that we'll have posted on the website tomorrow tomorrow so we should know that there are 96 like districts throughout the state of New Jersey and and a like District in the state of New Jersey our K 12 districts with 3500 plus students right so when we look at our rankings one being the lowest 96 is the highest that's important as we go through the numbers one is the lowest 96 is the highest
015so per P spending we rank 51st out of 96 so essentially we're right in the middle so I know with budget time there are a lot of things that come out like oh my gosh they're spending X YZ and and yes we we do spend money to provide an Effective Education for our students but I think you could see by the state data we're Square in the middle not too much not too little I I believe that for years even before I got here Bridgewater was was a fiscally responsible district and we continue to be there that way so our per pupil spending 51st out of 96 student to Administration ratio this is how many students per principal or administrator throughout the district we are 25th out of 96 so again we're in the lower
016cortile for that and then finally our student faculty ratio is 80th out of 96 so what the the so in looking at this information what I derive from it is as follows we're fiscally responsible we're not overload we're not topheavy but we've been able to earmark our dollars to have effective class sizes I.E small class sizes you you don't want your student faculty ratio to be number one that means you've got kids bursting at the seams in your classrooms so we have certainly invested in our class rooms you know from an organizational standpoint um W which is borne out by the data that's on the doe website so I think when we look at you know Cuts we need to make or even our goals for the Future these are certain areas that we want
017to maintain and we want to preserve um for the students who are in our system and for the students who have not entered our system yet all right when I arrived here back in November I did a brief overview of the current budget and made a few assumptions to see where we think we were going to be for next year and some of those assumptions when we first started looking were in these top four categories of expenditures um for salaries I took the current year budget and did an assumption of what the current bargaining Union increases were of 3.3% uh health benefits uh the state had an average increase of 12 to 14% maintenance and Opera operations we outsourc custodial services and the estimated electricity costs I don't know if you're aware in the news
018there's been highlights of increases up to 20 25% on in utility costs and transportation which is set by a CPI rate which came in at 3.57 so just based on these assumptions in these four categories it was safe to assume we'd have a $7.6 million increase um that with the 2% tax levy was alarming and you we assumed a shortfall of 4.3 million so we knew right away off of that brief overview that we'd have to start looking at everything to make adjustments so one of the first things we looked at and Mr beers has looked at since he's uh got here is the over the past four years enrollment has been declining about 340 students um which to our benefit uh allowed us to look at our staffing to right siiz our operations and
019with that I will turn it over to Dr fonder to go over some of what we did in Staffing yes and um as uh Mr Beer said in the the state taxpayer comparison our uh ranking in terms of how much much we spend or or what the the ratio is of students to teachers has us as one of the ones that would have lower class sizes with declining enrollment you would look if you wanted to maintain that to have less staff members as the enrollment declines not drastically but you would want to have less staff members to maintain that because although we wouldn't want to be number one which would mean that we have class sizes that are potentially too big we also wouldn't want to be 96 uh in in that category so this
020is uh an overview of Staffing a lot of of the board members have heard some or all of this before um we're doing a full day kindergarten pilot at johnf Kennedy School in Adamsville school and so because right now we have a half day kindergarten program that requires additional Staffing that was part of the third referendum question that was was passed so we're prepared for this the uh amount of positions that we're looking to add for next year would be four and a half positions and that would allow us to have what we currently have at Adamsville and John of Kennedy School with the half day kindergarten but full day sections for each of those so uh we anticipate that we'll have the same number of sections at each school but there'll be full day
021sections and that's what the the 4.5 comes from uh then as far as the reduction of staff goes uh this is by level for teaching staff uh we have through k6 a little bit more than a hundred students fewer that we're projecting for next year compared to this year so uh the projection is that they'll have seven fewer teaching staff members throughout those nine schools and at the high school we'll have just under 100 fewer students next year and so we plan to have five fewer teachers in total at the high school because we've been planning long range for this uh we already know that this is happening and we know uh as Mr lomsky was talking about the budget constraints so we've been planning for this and so one of the things that's happened
022is even since the beginning of this year if there was somebody who left their position if there was a way to not rehire for that position if we didn't need it for the following year then we're doing that and so this means that the majority of these positions are through attrition uh that these are people positions that are vacant either are vacant now or will be vacant at the end of the year for people who are resigning or retiring at the end of the year the uh 20 full-time educators of uh District support services this includes teacher assistant uh CST child study team counselers intervention Specialists speech and related Services instructional coaches ets's these are all individual who are not the teachers of the students but offer valuable services in the school so in total
023uh there would be about there would be 20 of those and then the last one is uh one administrator one of the school administrators we didn't get more specific there because really in a presentation like this it's not about individual people it's about the district plan for for Staffing in addition to the changes in Staffing this year there was an allowable adjustment to go beyond the the 2% tax levy it is due to the rising cost of Health Care um because the state plan increased 14% for the 2025 year districts are allowed to raise their current Year's budget up to 12% 12% comes from the 14% of the state increase less the 2% tax levy and that allowed us to qualify for an adjustment of $2.3 million so we can raise taxes an additional $2.3
024million we intend to only utilize $800,000 of that um to go beyond the 2% tax levy which is a half a percent so how did we close the budget Gap uh majority of it was through attrition through salaries and benefits uh we also looked at the revenue side um this year we'll be utilizing an additional 400 net 400 $50,000 in reserves and fund balance state aid was increased slightly uh net increase of 185,000 and the healthc care adjustment of 8 $800,000 so here are the proposed revenues um as I said before it came out to a 2 and a half% tax levy increase state aid increased about 1% uh utilizing fund balance and reserves it increased uh 10.59% and miscellaneous revenue is increased 16% that is mostly interest earned on money sitting in the bank
025so a net budget increase of 2.64% and looking at the expenditure Side by category uh salaries are increasing 1.3% so the initial Assumption of a 3.3% increase we were able to trim that down greatly down to a one 1.3% increase over this current year benefits this is not just health benefits this is everything pension FICA tuition reimbursement um the net increase was 8% maintenance and operation which is utilities as well increased 3% transportation did come in right at that CPI number 3.56 uh other services came in slightly lower um that was due to different um lease terms um eliminating certain software agreements um minor things some things went up some things went down and it netted out to a small decrease out of District tuition continues to rise that actually came in almost 133% this
026is due to the increasing number of students that are sent out of district and the rising tuition costs of those students being sent out um supplies and textbooks uh we saw a slight decrease um due to the decrease in enrollment and Staffing um certain areas were able to be trimmed down without any negative effects and the equipment projects line was also reduced by about 21% uh majority of that were because of one-time purchases in this current year budget for equipment that are not needed next year the next uh pie chart kind of gives you a a picture of where all the money is as you can see the majority are in salaries 77% tuition Transportation um make up the next n and a half% and then maintenance and custodial another 6.8% in total all those
027categories total up to 93.5% of the total budget which are pretty kind of areas that are out of our control aside for Staffing these are just to keep the lights on and keep doing what we do so there's very little room to actually trim part of the budget we're continuing to invest in the facilities uh we have budgeted for the high school media center to be renovated um the miltown side parking lot which is also their playground which is in serious need of Paving and um part of the this weight administration building Eisenhower has a few Renovations planned in their budget uh ongoing painting projects we're on an ongoing cycle throughout the buildings and some of the referendum work that is in line for next year we are going to do phase two of our
028window replacements um all the primary schools HVAC upgrades will be underway some were already underway this past summer uh the remaining will begin uh the intermediate schools toilet Renovations have already begun but will be fully underway in the Summer full day kindergarten classroom Renovations will begin this Summer that includes um toilet adjustments and other requirements Bradley Gardens will be begin their cafeteria renovation in addition and the high school Turf track resurfacing and baseball site work will also be underway this spring and mostly in the summer now the next slide is the tax impact for Bridgewater this is a little different than in Prior years prior years had a mix of equalized unequalized for Simplicity sake I made everything unequalized and the ratables have increased in Bridgewater pretty significantly in the residential side so with that
029the average increase per $100,000 of assessment will be $626 for the operating budget for The Debt Service payments for the referendum it is actually a decrease of $16.10 um these numbers may change as rbl can change at any moment so this is strictly informational going to ridan for every $100,000 of assessment they will see an increase of $462 for the operating budget and for The Debt Service payments on the referendum a decrease of $21 and 80 the next steps in this process Are Tonight up for approval is um for the tentative budget which will then be submitted tomorrow to the county office for approval they will review um all the supporting documents and they will have up until April 21st to approve it when that is approved it will then be advertised and available for
030review and on April 29th there will be a public hearing and Adoption of the budget here where changes can be made and do I have any questions yeah before we get to that can I just y say one thing to to close this off and look in the end there are critical areas that are are essential for school Success that's investment in your people investment in your programs then a requisite investment in the facilities that are going to support your program and your and your people I believe we've accomplished this in our budget there are no there are no cuts to any educational programming throughout Bridgewater Ron School District in this budget and I've got to commend everyone in the room here um because this budget process has been reinforced through constant Communications with our
031Board of Education taking input from those stakeholders and and we've uh also sent multiple Communications out to the community and we really used an analytical approach to meet our numbers we we tried to make cuts that affected the fewest uh number of people you know and and what doctor fonder had said we really were honed in on all right when people leave or retire Etc to take a look at those positions before cutting others um and look we've been fully transparent throughout this process uh all along we've met our deadlines um we've taken input and and honestly I applaud the work of Mr lomsky the board of educ and the rest of the admin team in this endeavor so thank you and now we can open it up to questions from the board from the
032board I do have a question um thank you for taking my question uh I know I noticed uh for the ESL budget that there was an 18% increase uh and I was wondering if you could just briefly kind of elaborate a little bit on what went into that increase and also um I know you mentioned some recategorization of employees I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that yeah I I was wondering would would you be able to fill me in on on what I shared with you earlier today so I know what blanks Remy I I any I was just asking it for clarification for for your clarification no no for for the public clarification I think which category are you questioning for ESL okay I I can I can go
033through Mr Lee the the correspondence that if it's okay with you the correspond that I shared with you of course I'm a little confused about the question because no no no I just I thought I answered the question no you did oh okay for the for now I get it okay let me let me look up bear with me okay so what I I think I sent it just before noon time okay so the increase that you see is right the short answer we replaced an intervention specialist with an ESL teacher and in Prior years we had two positions that were coded uh in in what what we felt was the wrong category in a prior Ur in we adjusted it accordingly in this year's budget so there two things it's an adjustment of personnel
034from one bucket to the other and then a swap of someone going from a um intervention specialist to an ESL teacher and and I had also shared in the email um a few years back we we had a system where for ESL Services you could only go to specific schools within the district so to Dr Jones credit as soon as she got in her position three or four years ago and and when I got into my position we said this cannot continue so now ESL services are offered at at every school so how that that really uh moved to an increase in ESL Personnel is as follows although we had an increase in students that's one part the second part is that we we had a number of ESL parents who were who were not
035participa refusing Services thank you um because they didn't want to put their child on a bus and and put them across town so now that that we offer it in in their schools right uh you know fewer and fewer people are denying servfaces so that's the short and long answer thank you may ask a followup a question before you change topics for when you refer to ESL teachers are they just specific to ESL or they do other programming are do they you know run other classrooms that aren't specific TL we're deciding who should answer so we'll put the microphone in between us we both can both um so the almost all uh teachers who are ESL teachers have another teaching certificate es the ESL certificate is an add-on certificate and so there are certainly other
036things the ESL teacher can teach but the majority of the assignment for all of our ESL teachers is working with our multilingual Learners our uh students who are learning the English language and in some of the schools there might be uh you know other things that they're doing in addition to that but all of them have that as their primary job responsibility because there's an opportunity to do other things that speaks to Mr Beer's point where at some point back there were a couple of people who were working and had an ESL certificate but were also doing other things now they're primarily doing ESL and they're appropriately in the budget in that way that's what Mr lomsky was talking about in terms of the uh the the budgeting piece of it the other part I
037was a uh principal of one of the primary schools from 2010 to 2020 and during that time only three of the primary schools had ESL teachers ESL staff members at the school the other four uh did not and so if there was a student in a family who qualified for ESL services with the state access testing they had a tough choice to make uh they would either go to the school that was in their neighborhood where potentially the kids on their street would would go to school or they'd have to take a bus across town to a different school where they could get the ESL services so there were a fair number of families who declined services but then that student was still attending the the school without the ESL teacher and of course the
038school staff wanted to find a way to support the child's language acquisition and development when we have ESL in all of the schools there's very few if any cases where parents deny the services because that's exactly what the child needs the child needs an expert and someone who can help help the child to uh acquire the English language and so we see very few refusals and it makes sense that then we would need less intervention Specialists working with the child to fill in gaps when we have the ESL teachers who are who are really providing the most uh targeted service to what the student needs did that leave anything for you just one just one thing right and so the an intervention specialist who's working to remediate gaps or working with kids on skills it's
039not the same function as someone who also works with students on language acquisition so when we had that model it was the best that could be done at the time in the schools but it wasn't the right service to support students so that's part of the shift and then at the high school we do have a couple people who are um world language and ESL certified and they might have split schedules that they teach I know that it's new just to follow up on that too it's a new program so you probably don't have the data yet but I assume since we're offering this in the primary schools as the kids age up we need less and less of those Services because ideally the kids will already be ready to go right there still will
040be students who move in who are newly acquiring the English language but students who've been in Bridgewater raran for a long time yes that that would would uh definitely be the desired outcome and the likely outcome I could just one quick note on that and it's hard to imagine that it was any other way before so commend so Commendation to everyone for making that happen because if you are a student who is going to a school and you don't get to know the people in your neighborhood you have fewer opportunities to interact with them and thus acquire English language skills outside so that's a huge a huge thing for our district and thank you um my question is at JFK at Adamsville uh are what is the status both in relation to the budget and
041just the projects overall to the kindergarten classrooms are since we are starting next year is that um obviously we're anticipating that they'll be ready but is that work going on now or those schools a little bit different in terms of the needs the uh the uh projects for the kindergarten Renovations going out to bid so it's not just going to be JFK and Adamsville but it's going to be all the schools uh for housing kindergarten and that's going to go out in in short order and the work will be done um at least in those two schools the they're going to have priority to be done by September and then the contractor can can sequence the the job throughout the other schools in the district to prepare for 2026 got it thanks and is that
042coming out of the the part is portions of that coming out of the main budget or is that all referendum money that that SEC that first question the facilities work is the referendum okay that's what I thought thank you Mr Walk I just have one Kevin can you give an explanation of Equalization because it's kind of gets it's can be a little daunting in some ways and how it works and how that number can change by the equalization number if you don't mind the equalization Aid as in the state aid or the equalization number for that you have up there for tax purposes that's out of our control but so people understand there's there's some factors that go into that so my understanding is not every home is fully assessed to what they should be
043so there's a an equal ization factor a multiplier that you can apply to your unequalized assessed value to get a true assessment um the fact of the matter is when the tax levy is stried it is based on the unequalized value so that's why this presentation strictly mentions unequalized when you get your tax stubs you don't see your equalized value you see an unequalized which means it hasn't been fully assessed yet thank you and I just wanted to clarify that for our bank cap purposes you had mentioned 2.3 million and we're going to use 800 so that leaves 1.5 million of Bank cap unused that can be used in future years should it be necessary to yes I believe up to two years and then it goes away all right so that will also become
044in helpful any other questions just to follow up on that is that a one time is it possible that the bank cap for next year could go up or is this like a once every threee it's possible there could be another healthc care adjustment next year it's it's really based on the state health plan which U we're not part of but many districts U municipalities are part of so it's based on that increase and if they see a significant increase then a healthcare adjustment is offered and uh not to not to be uh overly negative here but um every District in the state of New Jersey probably every municipality is struggling with healthare costs I I personally don't see an end in sight right uh costs are exploding and it it's it's hitting the the
045public sector the private sector Etc so if I were a bet man would there be more Bank cap next year yes because it's hard to imagine a world where we're going to see less than double digigit increases in this budget category for the near future um well that Segways well into sustainability but it's a it's a different sustainability uh you were talking about um energy costs going up are there Investments that we're making through the referendum that might help offset that yes uh window replacements across the district um should improve energy consumption we're also doing Replacements of boilers um old 50 plus year old bo Oilers with high efficiency ones um so LED upgrades throughout the district so a a lot of the improvements through the referendum are through and more energy efficient means any
046other questions Miss Le um so as I understand that this year's budget uh we included the full kindergarten operation cost from the dra that pass in 2023 I was curious in anticipation from running changing from pilot program in 206 uh to the full full oh in 25 to the full scale kindergarten do can we account for the increase in the Personnel for the year that's coming I'm looking into the next year's planning or is there cuts that we have to make between 255 and 26 I can I'll start then you get um the what we planned when we were doing the referendum in terms of the Personnel cost that were in the third question are matching exactly what we're looking at so so we'll be able to pay for those Personnel costs because there's going
047to be the other pressures like the uh salaries and benefits especially the health care cost it's likely that we're still going to be in a place where we're looking to have fewer positions but we'll be able to pay for all of the things that we need for kindergarten so there's no question as to whether we'll will be launching full day kindergarten and on schedule because we have the money allocated and we'll be good to go with that thank you and it's important to know that we didn't fully utilize all the entire salary line from the referendum we took $500,000 um of that money and applied to it I know we had this discussion I think last year and then there is another million dollars plus that's tucked away in capital projects because it has to
048be in an account that's a one one off all right one off meaning that next year we know we need to roll that into salaries for full-time kindergarten and it becomes a recurring cost but right now it has to be housed in a place where it's an account that's a a a one off and we we intend to apply that next year because it's what the taxpayers voted for now I'm on I I don't have the file open in front of me because I can't figure out how to open it uh we had talked in fft about graduation rates and the investment that was made into programs in the district and I thought it would benefit the board to hear um like how how that improves our budget going forward do you do you remember
049the topic we we were talking about pilot programs and um out of tuition costs and offsetting those out of tuition costs I I know there are two main data points and and um the school performance reports will become uh they'll go out to the public within a month but we've already provided that data to the community into the Board of Ed with our tester report last year and and due to the programs that we added at the high school being the bright program and in these structured learning Labs we have far fewer failures um for instance last year with with the graduating cohort our graduation rate went from 93% up to 97 now it's not where we want it to be there're still an area to go but there's a 4% um increase all right
050so that means approximately 25 to 30 kids are are getting across the line or got across the line last year and would not have in Prior years we we were pretty stuck as a district when I when I took a little walk down memory lane to look at old data we were stuck around 90% for quite a long time and and the reason why is we needed specific programs for for particular cohorts of kids it's when I I get to equity right we we need to to meet kids where they are whether they're top of the class or whether they're kids who are struggling to get a diploma and um and and we want to help them all get out of here with a diploma and and and figure out the the best path pathway
051for themselves so so from a dollar cost standpoint that's one one uh metric where we've got 25 plus kids who are graduating who otherwise would not have and then two when we look at at our alternative programs specifically bright okay just the back of the napkin math is um if you have a teacher salary with Benefits let's say that's $100,000 right salary plus benefits an instructional aid salary plus benefits 170,000 not 170 $70,000 so let's say a grand total of around $170,000 to run a section um out of District tuition for students um in that category would typically run between 50 and $70,000 a year so if you have if you have a classroom in an alternative program with at least four kids you're not just helping those kids and helping them stay in their
052home school but from a budgetary standpoint you're you're saving money so it's really a win-win and that's a great question where we're helping kids because no one wants their kids sent out a district right we want to keep them here there are kids um but an added benefit is is it it helps the students plus it also helps our bottom line it's an excellent I hope that's what you were asking for I have a question if I may uh I'm just curious I know you mentioned the bright program and I think it's a great program I'm curious you know is there kind of like you have any metrics on the success rate you know what percentage of those kids kind of go in and then um are able to let's say graduate high school what
053does that kind of look like if you have that it's 100% 18 out of 18 wow that's impressive right and in some cases students had to make up more than a Year's worth of courses so sometimes they had to do like two sections of history in a year and all of the students you know made that progress last year that's incredible thank you any other questions well thank you to all of the administrative staff for that I mean it was group effort clearly um and and again I want to commend you all for um you know back in January we're talking about a dire situation um and you know going Beyond Bank uh Beyond 2% is something that we never want to do uh but you were able to mitigate it so that we are
054looking at doing it for um much less than we expected so I appreciate that thank you all for your hard work really appreciate it look and the good news is we get to start all over again in a couple of months so all right at this time if you guys are ready we're going to go to our student Representatives reports good evening everybody um so first I would just like to report on the ngpa testing or NJ GPA testing excuse me so last Tuesday and Wednesday the 11th graders at the high school took the state mandate testing which is a graduation requirement at the high school and this meant that the high school operated on a slightly different schedule for those two days and after receiving feedback from all four grade levels at our student
055advisory council meeting last week uh the general consensus was that everything ran smoothly without many complications and the schedule was clear and cleanly laid out for students and staff to follow additionally some updates from um upcoming events that I like mentioned last meeting is the third annual dodgeball tournament which was held two weeks ago was very successful and very organized with multiple teachers and National Honor Society volunteers ensuring that everything ran smoothly um it was just a very good turnout it was a very Lively environment and everybody had fun and the team Ball Brothers won the tournament um Additionally the student versus staff volleyball tournament or volleyball game went well as well the students won in the third set 27 to 25 so it was just very exciting very uh evenly matched game and students
056have mentioned and staff have staff have mentioned as well that having more types more of these types of games um would be enjoyed by the community and finally just a report on upcoming Fine Arts events our Fine Arts Festival for choir orchestra and band are all beginning tomorrow with um the choir Fine Arts Festival um tomorrow at 7 Orchestra is next Wednesday and band is next Thursday and finally our brhs theater department will will be presenting the spring musical foot loose on April 3rd 4th and 5th and tickets are already on sale and it's looking like it should be in a very excellent turnout just like last year and with that I'll turn it over to Izzy okay thank you so much good evening everyone first I would like to report on some of our
057competitive clubs at the school our distributive education clubs of America Deca four kids from the high school will actually move on to their International Tournament later in the year our MDI United Nations team two pairs of students um one first in this International competition with over 5,000 students as well our future Business Leaders of America also competed recently at their state leadership conference an update on Sports as you know our winter sports is finished some of our kids also represented us at the New Balance Indoor Nationals recently and upsettingly the unified basketball team did lose in the state's finals to 100 Central but as Spring sport s are starting the scrimmages will begin this week and we will have a um more clear update on that next meeting an update on the seniors we are
058starting promt tickets selling next week we had our college fair last night which went very well we had senior superlatives finished and are looking forward to senior Awards and scholarships as well as the rest of regular decision round coming out and finally as you know this week in the district is the wellness week so we've been watching all the announ an MS on the brtv um about mental and physical wellness and a lot of kids have noticed the new initiative to quit vaping with the new Vape boxes and um we will just have to wait and see how successful they are and as well next week we have the choose to include week which is run by the unified clubs thank you both uh as always you're welcome to stay for the meeting uh however
059we understand that you've got a lot of work to do we appreciate your time so thank you and good night all right we're up to our president's report uh I have a brief report relatively um earlier this month uh Mr Walker Mr Lee and I attended the uh the Somerset County School boards Association uh unsung heroes night which honored one of our students one of our seniors uh at a ceremony along with other schools within the county um for privacy reasons I won't go into the student but uh very impressive as always and uh truly inspirational uh our guidance counselor Laura KS uh shared with us uh the Deep Impact that the student has made on our BR Community while overcoming numerous hardships um this is one of a number of events that this spring
060that showcases our fantastic students uh which included as our student reps mentioned the Festival of the Arts uh and it's always uh so impactful to to see our students being honored uh and the amazing uh talents that they have on all levels uh I also want to me remind members of the public uh that the people sitting around this table are all volunteers except for the administration um and we're all human beings each one of us is dedicating our time and effort for the betterment of our community board members are not paid and we receive no benefits for working as a board member uh our work takes up a lot of time and effort uh time that could be spent with family or in purs pursuit of other endeavors um but we do it because
061we care about our community and our schools there may be differing opinions both within this board and between the board and community members but at all times I hope that we can agree to act with the civility that we teach our children in our many programs that Dr Jones mentioned before our shared commitment to respect each other and to support our students should always guide our interactions as we work together for the benefit of the communities of Bridgewater and raridon so I just want to remind everyone that with that I'm going to move on to our committee reports up first is Mr Joi with the academic committee thank you um the committee met on March 10th at 5:00 in attendance were myself Miss Huna Mr Pepe Mr singer Dr Jones Mr morelo and Mr beers
062first it item was uh policy review uh and this is just part of um the board's goal to review policies um and this was just a review no actions were taken uh and this is the 5,000 series um that the the committee reviews and these policies were policy 5112 the entrance age and policy and regulation 5116 which is the education of homeless children and youths and no action was taken it was just a review of the policy uh item two on the agenda was the Seal of biliteracy and multi lingual uh parent family advisory committee Dr Jones reviewed the successful expansion of the Seal of biliteracy testing to include Juniors for the first time since the program was initiated in 2017 a total of 172 students passed 85 Juniors and 87 seniors across cost 20
063languages to earn this distinction separately the supervisor of multilingual education formed a multilingual family advisory committee this is great to engage families and build support for multilingual students about 20 family members attended the first meeting representing all grade levels and 11 languages in addition to English any questions okay the item three was the implementation of lifelines program uh Dr Jones reviewed the initial steps of the collaboration with Empower somerset's Lifeline Suicide Prevention intervention and postvention program all administrators receiv received an initial 1-hour training and school crisis teams have been surveyed the administration team will meet to review survey data next steps include postvention training for crisis team members and intervention training for crisis teams CST and counseling staff uh prevention training will be next fall item yeah you're not thank you uh just a quick
064question that was that Lifeline program was that part of a grant that we received yes it was the one that was approved theou in December so it's from Empower Somerset so it is Grant funded yes okay item four was the uh review of Federal and State graduation requirements Mr morela reviewed the process by which the district collaborates with outof District placements specific to Federal and State graduation requirements and how students exemptions affect graduation rates as was discussed earlier in the presentation um item five was the review of gifted and talented uh I identification timelines Mr morelo explained that map testing which is the measure measures of academic progress and cognitive abilities test the Kat tests uh have been administered in the primary grades as part of universal screening before we were just inviting folks that
065used to come in on Saturdays to take the test this is universal now however there is still makeup testing due to students uh due to students absences so there will be makeups and then the review of Kat profile uh Mr morala reviewed an example of a cognitive abilities test coat Kat test profile as the assessment was recently administered to all students in grades 1 and three Kat assesses verbal non-verbal and quantitative reasoning abilities in addition to being used as one measure for gifted and talented identification teachers also use coat results to understand how individual students learn and how to best support all students in the classroom so these tests are really useful and beneficial in providing almost individual student uh learning processes uh any questions on that I had a I had a quick question
066there are they and I'm sorry if I missed it are they the coet is it every grade level or is it every other no like a refug first and third it's the first and third just first and third um I have a few questions uh it's good to hear that there's Universal screening um and I'm just curious are you kind of like seeing gifted and talented enrollment increasing as a result and how much is it increasing by potentially it actually in so I don't have it on me now but it was it should be actually in the board drive because I know this came up at another point and we presented on it it has increased quite a bit because um what happened was initially we were really offering like one type of gifted and
067talented which was composite so you had to be gifted across multiple areas and then it was like that year of acceleration so we still have that but we expanded into cluster math grouping so that's in third and fourth grade it was in fourth now it's been expanded into third and we also have small group investigations that happen across all seven primary schools so oh and also we're doing it in kindergarten in first grade which is the law so now that we're doing all of those things it's in it's increased an incredible amount not to mention that we now give the PSATs to all students in high school rather than just students who choose to take it on weekends and so we can use that then to identify kids for AP classes which is of course
068part of that gifted and talented Continuum so yes lots of progress that's good to hear um and I know you've expanded the seal by literacy testing and I was wondering is there are there any plans to potentially expand that further so that kids that may not just be Juniors and seniors I don't I don't think so yet not yet and so what'll be interesting is this year we've had such an increase and we found that our Juniors were as successful right they were just as effective really as the seniors taking it what's going to happen next year we're going to have that whole group of Juniors who will no longer take the test as seniors unless they're taking an additional language or they didn't actually obtain it this year and then we'll still have like
069a group of Juniors so we'll see we're keeping our eye on it because there's always room to expand uh and just one final question uh I saw in the minutes that you guys are offering um some counselor scheduling that students can like schedule that I was just wondering if you could kind of walk through how can students kind of schedule a session with the counselor so we're actually looking at that right now because we had some questions about how like easy or how effective that was so students can go online and there's like a program that they can use and it shows what the different slots are and they can sign up for a slot to meet with their counselor what happens is counselors are meeting with all students in you know anticipation of scheduling
070so the question was really like the timing of it for individual students and I think the intent at the high school was really to ask the kids to review you know the program of studies which we went through and reorganized so it would be more user friendly and targeted to kids um to kind of pick their courses and in some cases that works well they choose them then they meet with the counselor and they work through anything they need to work through but some kids didn't feel like they were equipped to do that because they wanted to meet with the counselor first so that's what we're kind of working on different ways to be able to access the counselor Dr Jones I just want to interrupt you uh Jeremy um AJ hadn't finished the report
071yet so he had actually got sorry my apologies I I I apologize that's fine that's fine so I want go through it one at I want Mr Jo to be able to to then we can get back to your I'll go to the counseling procedures in response to a question Dr Jones reviewed the scheduling process at the high school students can directly book appointments with the counselors as they usually do uh the community discussed that while students are asked to select courses prior to these meetings some students would prefer counselor's meetings prior to course selection so they would have some more guidance into what courses to take so that was your question yeah I just wanted to clarify because when we were talking about scheduling guidance uh counselor sessions I wanted to make sure that
072that it was understood that's in relation to selecting their courses for next year of course they can always schedule time with their counselors uh I think it's through bookme or whatever it is yeah right so there's always a way for them to meet out but this was a very specific conversation targeted towards that all right so the last item was uh the committee discussed identifying areas of need within programs and developing additional courses um such as chemistry to for students who do not want to take AP courses but they like the course so much that they just want to pursue you know a harder level uh cours workk Beyond level one so the administration will uh take a look at that um any questions on that uh I did about the chemistry 2 course is
073it like um is it is it like is it like an honors course or is it it's just chemistry and then it's a STP chemistry there is no chemistry but it's also hypothetical at this point it's not actually yeah it was just a discussion to see what can be done if it can be done thank you for future um and we adjourned at 6:30 and our next meeting is uh April 7th same place same time thank you Mr josi up next is community Rel community relations with Miss Lin uh Community we we I have nothing to report and a date has yet to be determined thank you up next is finance facilities and transportation with Mr Walker thank you we met on March 11th at 5:30 at the Wade building excuse me T was Miss
074laugher Mr Lee Mr singer myself Mr lomsky Mr beers and our guest was Robert Leto our referend project manager Mr Leto gave us a referendum project update providing the update the commune and all the Curr conr current Construction projects in the district window replacements at Adamsville Bradley Gardens Crim Eisenhower Hamilton JFK and Van Holton are expected to be closed out this month as well as the secure rest fills at all schools except the high school the bathroom restroom building received a certificate of occupancy on February 21th so it can be used by everyone now the following project have currently underway and will be or will begin in late spring the HVAC electrical upgrades for Adamsville Bradley Gardens Crim JFK Hamilton and Van Holton the Intermediate School toilet Renovations Bradley Gardens cafeteria Edition and electrical upgrades
075High School auditorium rep Reformation Renovations and the high school clock paging system updates and the bassone field field field site workor there were no recomm at the time are there any questions do you know if it's been decided when the the new restroom building at basalone is going to be open like locked versus unlocked is it just for school events or if someone's there to take advantage of the facilities during the day like on a weekday or a weekend sure it's it's open um primarily after school for all of our students who are practicing what have you so that that's part of the operation now there's also a water B bottle Filling Station there another hydration station so it really helps the athletes where they don't have to go in and out of the locker
076room and worry about unlocking valuables Etc um there's a set time don't hold me to it I I believe it's around six o'clock when our folks leave it's locked up and then for any event that we have and uh and it's an option for those who rent out the facility right I I know there are different leagues that that utilize it um that we we open it for for those groups as well thanks it's it's really been a big hit I can tell you out of anything that's that's happened um the restroom facility is really uh I I think people have uh other tales of the porter John's that were on the side and it's good that we closed that chapter and moved on'll I'm sure by a lot of people they'll be Miss I'm
077sure thank you I had one question I got today from a student um they were looking at they were they love the the fact that we R doing the basone field and the and the football field but they point out me in the picture that the panther was facing the away fans Not the home fans on the drawing so I don't know if that was planned or that's we fixed that okay great so that's fantastic it was just interesting that a this it's amazing student called they loved it and they said are you moving the home fans to the other side cuz the the panther was facing the wrong way so all right so it is backwards on so if they're listening right now I I asked the question so I saw some and and
078the interesting part when they when they put the turf field in we we spoke to the uh the gentleman who's going to to do the work he said they come with the cutout in the field and they have the Athletics director and all the powers that be there and say what which way does this face and and then they sew it in and do everything because probably to your point they've had a few mishaps in the past where it's facing in the wrong direction and we check the spelling too right just in case correct any other questions um we uh discuss the business J was next on the for review the business expi reviewed the the reviewed the draft draft business J action items for the meeting this evening and special intention was T was
079shown to the 25 26 tal budget it was consensus to approve all the acation action aimed in the budget are there any questions seeing that and the tenative budget the business minist presented the 2526 tenative budget with the special attention given to the rising costs utilization of healthc care cost adjustments to go above the 2% tax cavy laap and maintain all current programs and offerings there were no recommendations are there any more questions on the budget I'd like to extend my my compliments to the staff because I think it was a very collaborative effort I mean I mentioned cies like I could couldn't do it alone he's like everybody stepped up I mean to fill that gap of $2.4 million and that was in about a four we 3 we time frame you guys did
080that and working within the bounds I my I much appreciated that for the students and for the community policy update we did a second reading we discuss Poli policy 7441 electronic servance surveillance in school buildings and school grounds clarification was given that the local law enforcement has access to view live stream V videos as they see fit there were no recommendations at the time are there any question questions other matters Mr lomy was informed the committee that there there has not been any update regarding the clean School Bus rebate program and that the district will look forward to any potential new solar energy incentives so Jen and what you mentioned about looking energy and stuff like that we have lot of new roofs and with the cost of increasing energy we have lots of solar
081and Mr Mr LSK you were there explain some of that so just addressing that and there are no recommendations any more questions we adjourned at 7 11 o'clock and our next meeting is April 22nd at 5:30 thank you Mr Walker Personnel committee is up next with Miss kri uh yes our next meeting is uh March 25th uh virtually thank you are there any lers on our delegate reports real quick from The Bu of ran at the uh burough council's next meeting on April the 1st at 7:00 or the public session starts at 7 uh they will be um the mayor and Council will be on ing uh one of our students Anna Sayed there was a article written uh about her recently and a group of students from the uh art Honor Society they went
082over to John F Kennedy School and created a really awesome full size well large mural of the burough of Ren and um a lot of the businesses and locations on Main Street I haven't seen it myself yet but from the picture that was taken it looks great I look forward to getting in there and uh they'll be honoring uh those students at their next meeting so that's really exciting and thank thank you to everyone here at the district and at the buau for making that happen and of course congrats to the students who did the work and created the and envision the project and brought it to fruition I'm sorry it wasn't interrupting you oh that's fine that's I no I was jumping the gun Mike that's okay um so uh Mr Walker and I
083attended the Council of schools meeting on Tuesday March 11th and you know just so you know the Council of schools is made up of representatives from all of the 11 um school PTO and they announced their summer well they they had updated their summer programs and um they've really been flexible about making this happen in spite of you know all this work that's going to go on during the summer and still the programs are filling up and they're doing really well they also introduced a program called operation Elementary um the special guest was Miss kusal I'm sorry um who is the adviser and and basically it's a club that um of kids at the high school that go to the lower schools and they do some like really cool projects like beautification or you know
084like if there's an event like the volleyball game they'll help out and uh and I thought that was really cool they even email they have shirts they coordinate yes they everything I thought they had a website too operation elementary elementary do at brc.org so so it's great for the students and it meets their volunteer hours they need for different items and things they need to do so it's a nice project yeah it's a nice so it's it's available to like the pto's um even sports teams or you know things like that so it's available and it's and they they add the added the email because they they can't receive emails from students cannot receive emails from outside district emails so they gave them an email that that's copied to the president that's right Administration the
085and the advis on it so it's kind of a nice way to it wasn't good working working in administration with the students to accomplish a club thank you yeah um you know I often joke that uh volunteering on the PTO is way more work than being on the Boe um it really is so you know since I have a crowd support your pto's um also I did want to mention the NFL pros versus the Bridgewater R in high school PTO Allstar which is on March 29th they told us about that in the meeting it's a really cool event and it all goes to scholarships for for students um I have more I'm sorry I I attended the town council meeting on March 6th I don't always report on every hero in our town um but
086I did want to make the board aware of an event that took place where officer Noah lot um literally walked into a blazing fire of fused vehicles and rescued someone's life I mean he was told that it might blow up and he walked into it anyway so that's an amazing Act of bravery and he will be recognized at the next town council meeting which is on March 20th and I have one more [Applause] thing thank you um the township also passed a resolution to officially become a revolution New Jersey community and announced Legacy 2126 which is a 100-year time capsule Pro project that's set to be commemorated on July 4th and then that time capsule won't be reopened for another 100 years um I'll be brief but the first American flag was flown here and
087yes Washington slept everywhere but but middle brick wasn't just a rest stop for the Continental Army and um you know it really is uh an honor to live in this town but to see it recognized for his history is pretty cool too so this time capsule project intends to go beyond that revolutionary time period but I always like to mention it when I have a chance um and it's a Once in a generation lifetime for residents uh cultural historical religious and educational organizations to speak to the Future by I'm not entirely sure but they're going to put stuff in a time capsule so what what's the overarch what's the name of the overarching initiative or or or program revolutionary so I I did look into it a little bit but I'm not an expert in
088it um so revolution revolution New Jersey is an organization that um like does events and stuff in recognition of the Revolutionary War um or in our independence here in New Jersey but the name of the project by the township was uh Legacy 2126 it's awesome so I'm sted to see things pushed out about you know we're almost at the 250th anniversary of Lexington Concord next month and obviously there'd be a lot more coming up along the line so it' be great if the schools were involved or the all of our our communities so thank you for that I'm going to look into that thank you oh that was all I have any other L has on our delegate reports seeing none we're going to be up to our public comment period um as Mr Beer
089mentioned we have a lot of uh members of the public in attendance tonight um and as we want to make sure that all have the opportunity to speak public comment will be limited to 2 minutes per person pursuant to policy 0167 uh I understand that people have already signed up uh on the sign in sheets we don't call People in Order um so when you get up to the podium we ask that you do sign in but you don't have to sign in beforehand uh for those that haven't been to a board meeting before this is the opportunity for for the community to speak to the board this is not a back and forth nor can it be a a question and answer period board members will not be responding to questions during public comment
090uh the purpose of public comment period is for the public to share their views with the board the comments and the questions raised will be taken under advisement by the board naturally members of the public are also welcome to share their concerns and insights with the board via email we've received many emails over the past few weeks and speaking for myself each of them has been read uh and appreciated finally I understand that people come to comment about issues that are important to them I again ask that we all act with Civility and etiquette that we model for our children with that said individuals in our groups are invited to present their concerns comments and requests to the board of education at this time for any matters in accordance with board policy members of the
091public are allotted one opportunity to address the board for a maximum of two minutes during this period of the meeting please be advised that a video of this meeting will be posted on the district's website uh we also uh ask pursuant to policy that you provide your name Municipality of residents and if you're representing a group please provide the name of that group sure yeah everyone will excuse me everyone will have an opportunity to speak so there's no need to get up and be in the line right now everyone can just take their seats and you'll be fine I don't know if you heard me before everyone will will have an opportunity to speak so if you want to take your seat and wait until the line dies down you're more than welcome to do
092so thank you ready go ahead Mr P hi good evening first of all thank you all for uh serving on the board it's uh good to be back back at my elementary school here used to be Valley School a long time ago so it's nice to be back is the mic on it is on okay all right I'll try to be loud okay can I can I just for for all of us right we're all neighbors here we're all neighbors the microphones work if we want to hear more effectively we we all have to if if we're all quiet and and we give uh folks the stage we'll be able to hear them but if we're all neighbors and we want to be neighborly we can't start yelling I can't hear there's no one who's
093trying to mumble everyone's going to have their their their chance I I just ask that we we have some respect for our neighbors who are up here speaking thank you my name is Philip pedroso I'm a Bridgewater councilman and I'm also a father I have uh I have uh four children two are currently in the school district I'd like to share some thoughts on this board's policy 5756 label transgender students first let me be clear transgender students like all students deserve safety support and respect no child should face harassment or exclusion however this policy is fundamentally flawed and must be revoked it is ironically discriminatory placing the rights of transgender students above those of cisgender girls the policy states that title 9 prohibits discrimination based on sex yet it disregards this principle by forcing female
094students to share bathrooms and locker rooms who biological males who identify as females the discomfort and concerns of cisgender girls are dismissed and their rights over shadowed this is discrimination likewise in sports biological differences matter women have fought for centuries for Fair competition and allowing biological males to compete in female sports undermines this hard one progress male born athletes often retain physical advantages making Fair competition impossible transgender athletes deserve opportunities to compete but not at the EXP ense of fairness of fairness and safety for for S gender women equal rights cannot mean erasing protections for one group to accommodate another the policy also unjustly excludes parents from the child's gender related decisions at school yes some families May struggle to accept but most parents in our community would offer the love guidance and support their
095child needs cutting parents out does more harm than good at a time when kids need care the most this policy weakens the most vital foundations they have their family this is not about Mr pedo Mr P two more sentence I I excuse me excuse me I'm presiding over the meeting I will talk to Mr pedroo I'm sorry Mr pedo your time is up I do invite you to email your comments to the board and we will review them at that time thank you thank you for your time thank you good evening my name is Valerie Sylvester I am a Bridgewater resident of years um I have written down my address on the sheet my children started in the prek program in this District in 2015 they are now at Hillside School and they're growing they're
096so big they're like up there I can't believe it uh I would like to talk to you about the transparency in communication and call for and call for the repeal of District policy 5756 my reason is because this policy mandates that the school district must accept a student's asserted gender identity and name change without requiring parental consent now because I have been a parent since 2015 in the school district I've received a ton of communication and transparency from the district and each of the schools my sons have been in which I am truly grateful for I really appreciate all the emails and um texts and everything and really keep me um in the know about my Children's Schools every time there's a fire drill security drill or lockdown drill I get a nice email saying
097letting me know that my children are safe each each week I get at least one email from the administrative eblast and the PTO e blast letting me know about what's going on in the school then the next communication that I get is to sign papers and return them via backpack or Google forms like um parent signatures on test parent signatures on uh field trips permission slips you know the drill online change of School dismissal um all these have to go with my consent uh notes from the doctor that my child could return from the school all signatures then sometimes I have to go through oh that was fast please uh I would like to repeal um because of uh parent consent hello I'm Jen AER Menendez I no longer have children in the school district
098but I wanted to give you an exam um a real life example of why we should keep policy 5756 um your J your job on the board is to do what's right for the kids not the parents so what's right for the kids is to not necessarily out them before they're ready to be out I speak firsthand on because my son Alex came out publicly in seventh grade he knew in seventh grade he was gay now it's not an um a transgender issue so I didn't have to be notified he wasn't changing his pronouns but the fact that he held the cards he decided when he was ready and he did it publicly he didn't come to his parents first he did it on Instagram to let the whole world know at once it was
099very successful for him and he is thriving in the rest of his life ever since then he's had support from both parents but he would not necessarily have support if we didn't H uh give that to him he could have been emot uh abused abuse is emotional verbal or physical for parents that don't necessarily accept their child as um a lgbtq um person so I implore that you let the child come out when they're ready not out them before they're ready because the difference may be dramatic um and we're talking suicides because people are outed before they're ready to come out so please keep that in mind and I also ask Lucy Lee specifically to stop with the misleading information in the gaslighting you had six instances that you were called out on you have
100to I'm sorry you're I'm done right thank you sir Ju Just just before you start I want to remind members of the public that all comments need to be directed to me as the as the chair um well as as the chair uh and the president yes so um unfortunately it all has to be directed towards me no problem thank you good evening my name is Frank Morano I'm going to speak really quickly I'm a resident in Martinsville a lifelong resident Somerset County a local attorney and a parent of two children in the Bridgewater aricon Regional High School however I'm here tonight my capacity as Vice chair of the Somerset County Commissioners lgbtq plus Advisory Board we are a board established in 2020 through the Somerset County Commissioners our job is to make sure that
101this county is the most welcoming and inclusive place in New Jersey we meet every second Thursday please join us we do this through event events informational sessions and being available to all of Somerset County to handle matters concerning the LGBT community here uh and if uh I I want to first and foremost thank the members of this board for the last meeting for uh not repealing 5756 it is necessary the reasons given to repeal it are incorrect the members of this board that want to resend the current policy I can assure you this is not the popular stance and those in the audience this is not the popular stance or Flex as the kids say that you think it is so let's share some uh facts according to the Trevor projects 2024 US national survey
102on mental health of lgbtq young people 54% reported their schools to be gender affirming and those who did report their schools to be gender affirming reported a lower rate of attempted suicide versus those who are not gender affirming lgbtq plus students that live in a very accepting communities have attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those very non-accepting communities ACC uh 46% of the transgender non-binary student population has seriously considered suicide uh thank you to this board again for protecting these students that you were elected to protect if this policy is rescinded any harm or self harm that comes to any transgender a nonbinary student is on the hands of this board if a student has not come out at home no blame could be put on the school protect the children you
103have been elected to with the present policies in place these students who we all know have a higher rate of suicide have a safe place to live as they're authentic cells without fear thank [Applause] you hello and thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Reverend Anne rosi I'm an ordained Pastor in the United Church of Christ and I'm rep here representing to the New Jersey Association of the United Church of Christ I'm here in loving support of our transgender students and I support uh maintaining policy 5756 in my congregation we are about 40% lgbtq plus folks and many of them are teenagers and young adults many of them have found our congregation because they'd been rejected by the churches they grew up in told they were unworthy sinful unwelcome and way too
104many were also rejected by their own families for non-binary and transgender youth the process of coming to terms with their identity is complicated at times confusing and frightening they are subject to bullying and violence and the suu suicide statistics just shared for these children is proof of the profound emotional and psychological damage they endure while we would all love to believe that every child comes from a loving understanding and supportive home that will accept them unconditionally and help them navigate the struggles of growing up many do not the decision whether and how to tell their parents about their gender identity is fraught with fear of rejection physical and emotional abuse or being cut off from support altogether for these children a trusted adult at school School may be their only safe place someone who will
105listen ask them good questions and create a foundation of trust can be a lifeline and with that trust they can help the child navigate a potential conversation with their parents if and when they feel ready to do so it is very important to state that this bill does not prevent any child from telling their parents about their gender identity it simply does not force the school to do it for them as a pastor I've cancelled numerous families who are going through this journey with their children and it is not easy but we turn to our faith which tells us that each of us in all our wondrous diversity and difference are made in the image of God and that each of us Bears within us the spark of God and therefore we are worthy of
106love and [Applause] appreciation good evening my name is Louise walpin and I live in South br I'm a retired psychiatric nurse practitioner with over 27 years experience treating children and their families including some from Bridgewater my pronoun are she her I've worked with many trans and gender non-conforming children some of whom are suicidal not because they're transgender but rather due to stigma or parental invalidation children living in homes with no history of abuse who upon being outed which hold by their families they will never be accepted 45% of of homeless lgbtq plus youth have been kicked out of their homes by their parents the average age of homelessness for Trans children is 13 and a half approximately 50% of trans youth experience suicidal ideation per year research shows safe School adults save lives I've been
107privileged to work with trans children from affirming school districts using a student centered approach counselors meet with students and their families to improve communication without disclosing confidential information they work with students to develop a plan to disclose their identity to their parents when they are ready as their authentic self are affirmed I've watched them flourish from depressed children who hated school to happy productive students who enjoyed spending times with their friends if you repeal policy 5756 your staff will lack the guidance they need to adhere to all the state laws regarding trans and gender non forming individuals this leaves the district open to inadvertent violations and costly lawsuits with or without the policy student privacy and all laws mandating access to restrooms lockers and school sports according to one's identify gender identity remain in place
108if you repeal the policy trans students will believe that you the people mandated with creating a safe School culture that protects every child didn't care enough about them to ensure that the only policy that affirms their unique needs remains in place I urge you to keep policy [Applause] 5756 see if I can use the microphone as well as she did good evening and thank you for allowing people to speak I'm glad to be here today and to speak against the repeal of 5756 my name is Chris beger I'm a mental health professional I work for ruter University behavioral healthc care one of the many places you send those 100 and some odd students out of District uh often they end up at our school not because of uh developmental needs or um other special learning
109needs but because they've been hospitalized in an inpatient unit and as most of you know teenagers and young people are not hospitalized for just no reason they're hospitalized for a profound danger to themsel or to others as you might expect a very high percentage of the those young people come to us uh dealing with gender and sexuality issues and with discontinuities between who they think they are who they say they are and who they are accepted as being those those issues can take place at home at school or in society but only one of those domains you have control over and that's school I understand that parents want to be uh a driving force behind their children's education I affirm their right to speak for their child to advocate for their child and to advocate
110for what they think is right however I see the other end of the process not just singles or doubles but dozens and dozens of childrens's over the years I've met who are in the mental health system and whose only need is to find someone to support them and I want to recount for you a conversation I've had many times I was a crisis counselor on text and on phone and in person and I will tell you the most frightening question a child can ask you which is can I tell you something and I want you to think about that how many times does your child come home from school and you say how is school today and what do they say fine good they're not ready to tell you how school was but hopefully one
111can hope one can pray one can create a set of circumstances under which they'll tell someone if that person happens to be a teacher a counselor or a a school support person let that person help the child find the right path to tell the rest of the world hey gang um I'm Stacy friedlander um tonight I will be reading on behalf of Nolan Brown um good evening Board of Education members District personnel and distinguished guests my name is Nolan Brown I am a 10th grade student at Bridgewood Raritan High School although I am not able to physically attend tonight I have enlisted some help to speak on my behalf and the many concerned transgender and non-binary students in our district recently I was was appalled to learn that the district was discussing um the repeal
112of 5756 this is a district that has prided itself on the inclusion of all students this policy provides so many necessary prot protections for its transgender and gender non-conforming students that I Cann not possibly imagine how said students would even feel safe in their own school if it were abolished interestingly one of two board members who supported the removal of this bill Miss Lee made it very clear during her 2022 campaign that the safety of each student in this District was Paramount importance with this in mind I find I found it very interesting that she would oppose this very policy that provides safety for transgender and non-binary students speaking of safety it is vital to remember that our district like every District in New Jersey recognizes the legal practice of En loco parentis translated in
113Latin that means in place of the parent this means that during school hours all teachers counselors administrators or any other staff member is responsible for the safety of each student in the same way that a parent is when the student goes home hi I'm Erica Taylor I'm gonna uh continue reading Nolan's letter uh for time allow me to explain why this is significant Mrs Lee a Bridgewater resident since 2014 has several years of teaching experience in Bridgewater's very own Chinese school as a teacher herself I am certain that Mrs Lee is aware of this policy under this policy School staff members are trusted to keep students safe from any threat they may face during the school day including harassment as I am sure she knows it is crucial for teachers to provide a safe environment
114for their students and to accept them regardless of their identity however this safe space is taken away when a student is unable to trust a staff member from their own school with a vital piece of their identity in fear of someone finding out without their consent which could quite literally expose them to violence in a case like that a staff member who revealed a student's identity to someone without their consent would be failing at their own sworn Duty under inoco parentis let us not forget that every student has the advantage of parents that not every student has the advantage of parents who are supportive of their identity in fact many teens would agree that someone finding out about your identity without your permission does way more harm than good now while I may not be
115able to relate to the experience of transgender and non non-binary students my identity as an openly gay member of the lgbtq Plus community means that I know a whole lot about figuring out your identity as well as the possibility of other of telling other people about it and when to do it now regardless of how you feel about this issue I'm sure that every single person in this room can agree that our children's health is of the utmost importance with this in mind allow me to paint a picture that may help some people understand the severity of a children of a child's identity you see figuring out your identity is not exactly the easiest thing over the few years that it took me to become comfortable with mine I struggled constantly with depression anxiety and
116suicidal ideation now while some may feel that parents should be involved in this process so that they can help their children with the feelings I just mentioned I would like to once again remind you that not every child is fortunate enough to have parents who support their identity and will have the any empathy toward their situation good evening my name is Alysa Mueller I live in Martinsville and I have two children in the school district and uh I'm going to use my time to finish the words of Nolan Brown our student representative on the topic of empathy I surveyed some of my transgender and non-binary peers when first learning that this meaning would occur I received many responses from students that were extremely concerned at the gravity of this situation but one response in particular
117stood out to me to quote said response this policy allows for transgender people to be respected and supported as a transgender person I benefit from this policy every day when teachers and students acknowledge me for my true self having the ability to at least socially transition being called my preferred name and pronouns lets me feel safe in my environment and comfortable in my own skin without this policy I would feel extremely hurt on a daily basis there was a point in my life when I felt as if I could not transition out of fear for what other uh out of fear for what other may think say or do to me and that really negatively impacted my mental health even to the point of suicidal ideation without a policy that allows for me to be
118treated as my true self in this school I would not feel safe and it would make it so much harder to learn without this policy I'm sure that my depression and anxiety would also get so much worse not being accepted is one of the hardest challenges I've had to face as a transgender child and I've only been able to get through it with the support system that I have now policy 5756 prevents discrimination and harassment revoking this policy would mean that I am no longer physically safe in my school that it is unaccept that it is acceptable behavior for someone to harass me simply for existing please I'm begging don't let this go through so many kids could get hurt thank [Applause] you hi I'm Dr Kana lovan I'm a board-certified child Adolescent and adult
119psychiatrist and I wanted to strongly recommend that you retain transgender student guidance policy 5756 this policy protects the lives of trans students outing these students could cause severe harm our world is so homophobic and transphobic we want school to be a safe place for our kids coming out is a very sensitive private and individual process to take that choice away from trans students in a community where they most likely will face stigma discrimination and possibly abuse is inhumane and dangerous these students know the people in their lives their views and whether it's safe to tell them or not the school should not be taking that autonomy and decision-making power away from the students if the students know that it's going to hurt their family life or that they're going to get abused because of their
120identities schools should listen to the students and protect their confidentiality in my profession I treat trans individuals and most of them have had unsupportive family members and some of them have even become homeless after telling their families unfortunately our culture needs a lot of Education about lgbtq identities I feel for these students who are so afraid to tell their parents for the school to do it without their consent is unnecessarily harmful and dangerous students should be able to tell others about their sexual and gender identity on their own timeline not anyone else's this is a really vulnerable population according to the Trevor Project's 2024 US national survey on the mental health of lgbtq people 46% of transgender and non-binary young people seriously considered suicide in the past year these behaviors are highly correlated to acceptance
121from their family friends and Community if the school is outing these students they are increasing the likelihood of suicidality for these students these students are also facing bullying from their peers nearly behalf of lgbtq young people ages 13 to 17 okay thank [Applause] you hi my name is Melissa Fernandez I'm a Bridgewater resident with children all my children are in the district hi I'm Hannah golden and I'm here for support I come before you today not to challenge the dignity or rights of transgender students because let me be clear they absolutely deserve respect protection and inclusion rather I just want to express my deep concern about how the policy 5 5756 is being implemented and and whether it truly reflects the balance of Rights safety and transparency that we as a community stand for for
122each and every student in the district the goal of the policy is to ensure that transgender and non-binary students feel safe in school and I support that goal however this policy's approach keeping parents in the dark and allowing schools to make these decisions without family involvement creates unintended consequences that we canot ignore if we truly care about creating inclusivity and supportive environments we should be working towards bringing families into the conversation not shutting them out and yes I do clearly understand that this do not prevent kids from talking to their parents but it does allow that type of conversation and relationship to happen and that is not okay the policy 5756 effectively Sidelines parents by allowing schools to affirm a child's gender identity without parental consent or even notification this raises serious concerns about the
123transparency trust and role of Educators in making decisions that should rightfully involve families schools are meant to educate not act as guardians or decision makers in a child's personal and emotional development by cutting the parents out of the conversation this policy weakens the critical support system that children need at home furthermore the policy creates inconsistencies and potential legal conflicts parents are required to provide consent for basic activities Medical Care and even field trips yet this policy they are deliberately excluded from the discussion about the child's gender identity which can be can have profound psychological and social implications how can we justify such a double standard thank you Miss Fernandez hi good evening members of Bridgewater Board of Education parents and community members my name is Shilpa Kari I'm a Livingston mom and president co-founder of
124a local nonprofit shi's thir ey shi's thir ey works in the space of Youth mental health and lgbtq allyship I'm speaking here tonight as a mother of 14-year-old teenage gayan shev who I lost to suicide you have heard a number of appeals so far with all the statistics and suicidality and other factors being talked about I am one of those statistics my son is one of the statistics I'm here to talk about uh to in support of policy 5756 in your school district I support that and I would like to start with shiv's story my son shiv was one of the most gifted in academics talented in music Sports and well-liked by his peers all all in all a picture of poster child that most South Asian parents would love to have so at the
125age of 14 when we got exposed to his internal struggle which sexuality and his mental health we were confused apprehensive and ill-prepared we gave him all the support outwardly we could during the time but we simply didn't understand or appreciate the nuance of his reality we were learning and learning fast but we obviously were limited by our upbringing what we were exposed to we had given him help from various providers psychologist psychiatrist different kind of therapist 100 other alternative therapists but in July of 2021 barely 8 to 9 months after he was outed accidentally through his phone to us we lost him we suffered the most most horrific unimaginable pain painful loss and our lives have changed Forever This is in short our story why am I telling this story to a room full of
126strangers I'm sorry I I'm going to give this because please read this this is really an important thing to read thank you [Applause] uh my name is Susan and my children graduated from Bridgewater schools and my husband and I still live here one of my daughters is trans when I told her what was going on she was devastated I want to share with you what she told me in the hopes that you understand the danger of resending this policy meant to protect vulnerable young people my daughter realized something wasn't quite right when she was about 12 though she came out to me as an adult it took her a while to figure out um to figure it out and to feel comfortable talking about it I was not the first person she spoke to that
127was a trusted family therapist but she came out to me immediately after she knew I would support and accept her she was born a girl we just didn't know it at first the path ahead of her was less safe she would be more likely to be discriminated against or be a victim of violent crime some people think it's their business what bathroom she uses and will enforce those opinions my daughter tells me that quote coming out is queer especially trans is one of the most vulnerable times of one's life and if you're in school you already don't have a lot of control over what you do or where you go and now she tells me the federal government is quote calling you a predator saying you're a problem a disgrace unethical incompatible with modern society
128undeserving of health care or your own body autonomy she tells me she is a rarity among her friends having a supportive family with minimal exceptions every transperson she know has family that either don't support them actively misgender them have turned their backs on them socially or financially or have abused them and these are adults who have autonomy if you're a kid parents can restrict your access to supportive friends isolate you prevent you from seeking helpful resources punish you and in some cases abuse you kick you out of the house or disown you for Trans students School may be the only safe place where they can figure out who they are imagine how these young people will feel if you vote against those protections you're sing sending a signal that it's okay to marginalize or harm
129kids who are just trying to be themselves and to learn in a safe environment and don't tell me kids aren't aware of this they have access to the internet they're on Tik Tok they talk to each other they will remember if the people who were supposed to protect them acted for them or against them thank you for your time good evening my name is Laura Berber I grew up in this town I went I graduated from high school East back in the day and I'm here because I care about children and education and I want to thank you first and foremost most for all the the work you do and your dedication to that end um this policy came and I'm also a certified school nurse this policy came to New Jersey districts as recommended
130and even marked mandated by the New Jersey doe however in doing my research as a school nurse then I was Disturbed at the fact the fact that this policy asked School Personnel to hide things from parents and keep legal names hidden and only revealed on a need to know basis in other words it assumes that a minor child in this cas is always right and the parents are wrong I quote the policy parental consent is not required and there's no affirmative Duty for any School District staff member to notify a parent of the student's gender identity or expression and I'm sure you know by now that some districts went to bat for parents and were dragged into court for this but their efforts were Valiant and the results benefited us all because it was determined
131that this policy is in fact not what the law says nor is it mandated and the parent or Guardian really does have the preeminent right over a v vulnerable child's emotions as a health care professional and a certified school nurse I knew intuitively that this policy puts staff and students in a precarious situation to hide a student's legal identity and birth name as it states in your policy is illegal it says I and I quote birth name should be kept confidential by school and School staff members just imagine in all the other state agencies or institutions if they could change their records based on a a request from a minor child this sounds ridiculous right but that is just what the policy states the New Jersey lad laws as referred to in this policy protect
132all types of students from discrimination and it requires that we treat all with respect and dignity and that includes the rights of their parents as well I know these issues can be complex but as a board you pledge to uphold the Constitution and I encourage you to do so God bless I'm going to remind the audience one second please I'm just going to remind the audience please direct your comments this way do not comment while other people are talking give them the same respect that they gave you when you were talking please that's why we're here all right we're all here to listen to everyone thank you good evening my name is Aruna ra my pronounce is she and her and I represent Dai r parents and allies an organization dedicated to building a community
133that values affirms and celebrates all lgbtqi plus identities I've added my residence to the form I'm here today because I'm the parent of a transgender child my child was assigned female at Birth and is a transgender man when he was in first grade he told me he was a boy and asked me to call him by his boy name to let him dress in boy's clothes sadly I was so uninformed about gender identity that I did not accept or acknowledge his true identity my child's State closeted all through his schooling because he was afraid afraid of being mocked and misunderstood by everyone including his own family his fears were completely legitimate finally when he was in college a close friend who also lgbtqi identified died by Suicide her death broke something in my son it
134broke the shell of fear that had accompanied him since he was a young child he decided that he would not stay hidden any longer he wanted to be free my child is now a young man who's kind loving intelligent talented beautiful confident in his own body and in his trans identity I am so grateful for the strength and resilience that allowed him to survive in dark times and to break free from isolation and shame I want to point out that I am a loving mother but that was not enough for me to understand and support my transgender child when he was in school the majority of parents and families like mine have very little knowledge about transgender identity and need a lot of Education to understand support their own child a small minority of families
135are even hostile and could actively harm their transgender child policy 5756 protects trans children like my son giving them the safety and the space to work through their thoughts and fears the safe space is essential to their emotional and mental health and violating their trust and forcing them to come out before they are ready is dangerous I ask the board to preserve the safety and protection of all children in the school district by keeping policy 5756 [Applause] good evening esteemed members of the Board of Education my name is aparna Calbag I'm a psychologist and health researcher and a very concerned parent of the district repealing policy 5756 will do much harm to all not just transgender students as you know the demands of the increasingly dangerous world we are preparing our children for require them
136to seek safe emotional spaces not only within family and friends but within their workplaces and in all spaces they will inhabit throughout their lives by repealing this policy we are telling our children that the only safe place for them in the whole world is their family that school the place they spend most of their waking hours is not safe this is very troubling don't you think let's talk development from my years of working with adolescents and their parents I've learned that in order to resolve conflicts about identity which inevitably appear as our children grow into young people it is usually the parents the adults who have to understand where their children are coming from not the other way around it is they who lead parents to a better understanding of this everchanging world what I
137have seen time and time again in my personal and professional life is that when children and adolescents are not given the space to explore who they are who they love their sexuality how they express themselves their gender their preferred career even which sport they want to play or what extracurricular they pursue they will find a way to their true self sooner or later and if later it often comes with a lot of suffering if you repeal this policy you are sending two very strong and dangerous messages to the children of this District one the adults not you will decide what who and how you can be in this world and two your parents are the only people who you can trust study after study has shown that when our emotional needs are met our brains
138learn better thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Brian I've been a resident of the district for since 1985 and I'm here to read a letter to you from a mom who could not be here tonight my name is Laura Zang Choy and I'm a steering committee member Asian Pacific Islander review parents of P flag NYC a parent of a transgender young adult a faith leader in the Presbyterian Church USA a former School Board member a resident in a resident of Warren County my children are Chinese Korean American students I will not reiterate why what so many Advocates have already said about why children like mine deserve equal treatment as every other student I find it my duty to speak up as an Asian-American mom who supports her child's gender identity because our stories
139are still quite invisible in our communities I've witnessed firsthand what happens to the mental health of children like mine when they do not receive the tra the acceptance that they deserve from their families and their communities for two years between 8th and nth grades there were many days that I worried that my child would not make it into adulthood for families like mine we also know a disproportionate number of families who have lost their children to suicide because they did just did not have enough time for the adults in their world to get it together no children deserve to die because their world is hostile to their existence because of who they inherently are no child deserves to be excl excluded because the CH the adults refuse to create spaces of safety and belonging for
140them even though you are elected to your by your community your consti constituents are not the voters your constituents are the students who count on you to ensure that all students have the safest environment possible to pursue academic Excellence you are elected to be the voice of the student first and foremost and to create a climate and culture where all students are free to pursue the best versions of themselves removing this policy will not accomplish that end it will only make it unsafe for protected class of students that you are obligated to protect please keep policy [Applause] 5756 hello my name is Michaela Moran I am 22 years old I recently graduated from NG I went to R Bridgewater RAR to school district my entire life at the end of the day it is not
141the job of our school to raise students but the responsibility of parents to raise their children I find this particular statement whole wholeheartedly false I know from firsthand how much a teacher or faculty member can change a a child's and student's life if this policy 5756 is removed you will effectively be stripping any sort of trust any student could have with the village that helps raise that child thank you [Applause] hello my name is Bridget Moran I'm 18 years old and I'm a recent Bridgewater ritan graduate I've gone to this school D District my entire life I'm deeply I'm deeply connected to the transgender Community my partner and many friends have shared their experiences what when going to school I've been given permission to share one of their experiences when they were in public school
142they would talk to a teacher they trusted regularly about how they were not doing mentally well with their parents how they could not change anything because their family was not a safe environment the only place they were able to truly Express themselves was the school and their teacher who accepted them for who they are they told me that if they did not have that teacher to confide in and help them build a support system they would not be here today if policy 5756 is removed you'll be taking that security from future and current students away it will greatly affect any trust the student would have in their teachers and isolate them even more thank you and please consider how much power you hold over a child's [Applause] future good evening board members parents I'm kidi
143I'm a mom who Treasures this district for what it's given my daughters my youngest thrives in a federally funded special education program a lifetime a Lifeline that lets her shine U and I'm grateful for it every every day I'm here to demand you repeal policy 5756 as it is a reckless rule that endangers her future and every girl's safety this isn't just policy it's personal it's our kids president Trump's executive order said a clear boundary boys don't play girls can I have some time back for that uh I know you guys don't like what I have to say but I gave you guys respect so I would appreciate that as well you to address us and please give her you were given as well president Trump's executive order said a clear boundary boys don't play
144girls sports or enter their bathrooms it's a federal law tied to over $3 million a year for Bridgewater ridan we had a budget meeting today money that keeps my daughter's program alive special education isn't cheap and for kids like her it's not optional policy 5756 defies that order if we lose these funds what do we tell our kids that is their education that their education was sacrificed for a social experiment we don't need this policy to fight discrimination laws like L already cover that what we do need is to protect our daughters and I'm going to skip this so lose time here in New Jersey my friend's third grader quit sheer her team unraveling because because they were uncomfortable spotting a boy in a skirt is this our daughter's future fear in the Stalls injuries
145on the field their space is erased when did girls stop mattering some of you frame this as Progressive a badge of honor in a liberal game but it's not brave it's spineless dressed up as compassion ignoring biology isn't enlightened it's delusional risking their privacy isn't generous it's negligent gambling our funding isn't clever it's Reckless roulette with our kids' lives look around parents don't want ideology we want safety reason and schools that work Bridgewater ritin has been our Sanctuary keep this District grounded in common sense not a causality of a fight that's already lost its way again my excuse me again please respect the speakers when they are at the podium just as they respected you that's a hard act to follow sorry um my name is Shannon I live in the district here with my
146two children um I did not plan on speaking to tonight when I came uh so I do not have anything prepared but as I have listened to so many parents here share that you know their top priority is the love and safety of their children and all they care about is that our children are able to grow up happy and healthy and I respect that so much and so then it surprises me when those same parents turn around and say that they want this repealed and I was thinking about that as I stood here in line and I realized that there are so many parents who love their children so much that they cannot fathom that there are other families that are not safe places for their children and that's all I ask of of
147you that are that are thinking about the love of your children and you know ask that you understand there are so many children who are not safe at home and I know personally many kids who went to their schools for help in dangerous situations um I grew up in Florida whereas I'm sure you know laws like this have been trying to be passed for a very very long time and kids I know there that went to their school for help because they didn't know where else to go and that school then told their parents that they were concerned for their safety in their own home from their own family members and then those children were thrown out of their homes for ratting out the family members that were hurting them and it's absolutely devastating that
148these of rules and laws are spreading into areas of the country that I thought it was safe to live in and that I thought it was safe to raise my children in because it's the liberal north um but as was pointed out just before me our president has made a lot of changes at the federal level that is now opening the door to allow smaller communities that once cared about all of their citizens to make those sorts of changes we've seen in the [Applause] sou hi my name is Dr Sarah waserman I'm here tonight as a Somerset County resident and on behalf of the bed Rustin Center for social justice I'm going to give a little lesson about what's actually happening here and I'm going to stick to the facts according to New Jersey's law
149against discrimination School boards are required to ensure that all students students are treated with dignity and respect regardless of their gender identity or expression that is a law policy 5756 provides expert guidance for schools to meet those requirements with best practices to create a safe supportive and non-discriminatory environment for transgender and gender non-conforming students it's a tool to help schools align with civil rights protections this policy consol validates and codifies existing state laws against discrimination the controversy over this policy centers on Parental notification the policy actually says there is no affirmative Duty for any School District staff member to notify a student's parent of the student's gender identity or expression simply put School staff have no obligation to tell parents if a student requests to keep their gender identity or expression private in practice when
150faced with this extremely rare situation transgender people represent 05% of the US population School staff work with the student to facilitate a conversation with the parents or offer assistance to the family policy 5756 is not mandatory but protecting students from discrimination based on gender identity or expression is state law if a district repeals the policy it must still Implement measures ensuring transgender students rights including their access to facilities aligned with their gender identity removing policy 5756 doesn't exempt districts from their legal duties it only makes compliance more [Applause] difficult good evening members of the board Mr President Steve Bey Martinsville uh thank you for listening to everyone this evening I think you've heard well enough and I would just repeat and know the proverb I really identify so much with is it takes a village
151and and I look at that from different perspectives growing up I'm a gen xer I know I look younger but I'm a gen xer right I grew up in the 70s and 80s you know what that's like coming in and I'm glad my parents were out all the time I had someone I could go to right I had someone in school my aunt lived across town a neighbor some of I knew I could trust that I could go to in any time that my parents weren't there that I knew there was somebody else or if I couldn't tell my parents something right raising my own children listen I have great kids almost all the time my own children right but I know they don't tell me everything and that's fine that's how it should be
152because I know they have trusted adults in their lives all through their career I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the people that I owe such a debt of gratitude that my children were able to confide in and talk about that I knew might be going on in general but someone else was really able to deal with that in a much more constructive way than I could even though I knew they were okay because they had that relationship and now having had the opportunity to teach here in this district for 25 years and I was that person sometimes I was the educator who students came to and said Mr Bey you know I got to tell you something or can I tell you something right that was me a couple of times and
153incredible responsibility wasn't about leaving the parents out of the loop it's about helping a child navigate their way it is so hard so hard to grow up today for so many reasons and kids need every support they get so please do the right thing I I'll say this we have open minds let's all get inside thank [Applause] you hello board um my name is Khloe dward I went through the school school district as a child I am 24 years old 5 years ago I lost to one of my close friends Charlie Schultz to Suicide Charlie was a friend of many of the people in this building he was amazing he was he was trans I never felt threatened by Charlie or any of the other trans students in our school district intersex youth will always
154exist gender queer youth will exist always exist trans youth will always exist and there will always be trans and gender queer youth who do not inform their parents about their identity because it is not safe or because it is not the right time or because they are unsure about where they are in their journey of discovering their identity we do not require that teachers report on every single issue that might conflict with a parents religious or political views one much more light-hearted topic um is dating I had plenty of friends who had strict parents who were banned from dating and yet they dated anyways they hid that they had boyfriends and girlfriends from their parents do we demand that the school informed their parents about the relationship do we demand that they inform their parents
155about their race religion and gender of who they are dating issues that my friend's parents most certainly did care about no we do not demand that schools have to inform parents about every single little nitpick issue that might come up about a student's identity parents might feel entitled to know this information but that does not mean that it is necessarily required or safe for the school district to give it to those parents this policy protects students and as people have mentioned before it is the [Applause] law so the question of whether to repeal or keep this policy is not complicated on one side you are hearing people bring you scaremongering stories about bathrooms and false equivalencies between gender identity and school trips on the other side you're hearing statistics and heartbreaking stories about suicide and
156homelessness this is not a hard decision you have to keep this policy even if you personally don't approve of people being trans or of people supporting people's gender identity because if you don't support this policy if you don't keep it you are saying you prefer dead students to ones who live way that you don't approve of [Applause] I just want to remind people that please provide your name and uh Municipal Municipality of residents for the record thank you no no war thank you appreciate it hello my name is EMT and I'm a trans guy from brhs um when I first heard about the possibility that this District would revoke policy number 5756 I was immediately horrified this policy was created for the safety of transgender and non-binary students in this school School District with the
157policy itself stating and I quote the board developed students in sorry the board developed and adopted this policy to ensure that it schools provided a safe and supportive learning environment that is free from discrimination and harassment for transgender students including students going through a gender transition I personally am already struggling with the hateful anti-trans rhetoric running rampant through this country and the government both legislation wise and um the murders that are happening um every time I open social media now the first thing I see are no longer like cute photos from my friends or pets but the latest attack on my community my friends are scared I am scared and to see this hate traveling as far as BR just furthers my Terror because this district has always felt safe for me to express my
158identity and I'd be deeply saddened to see that changed there are people pretending that revoking this policy would be beneficial for us because because it is preventing us from parental support but nowhere in this policy does it say that we are not allowed to tell our parents my parents support me and my identity which I'm very lucky to have but I also know that not everyone's parents are supportive this policy protects students from abusive situations at home and taking that away can potentially put kids in danger this policy also States the school district shall accept a students asserted gender identity not being accepted for who I am is one of the most hurtful and stressful things that I have experience and while I may be misgendered often in other areas of my life I know
159that I can count on the people at brhs to support me I'm able to use the bathroom that corresponds my true identity and I would hate to see these protections taken away from us and I implore you to talk to the kids in the school School District because I don't know a single kid who would want this policy removed I will conclude with this the policy the removal of policy number 5756 will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the safety and well-being of so many kids in the school district and I would be ashamed to live in a district that strips our rights away thank you [Music] [Applause] good evening stefia alids I'm a resident of Hillsboro but I have close connections to Bridgewater through childhood friends who are now raising their families here and
160through my connections through the Ruckers marching band uh I'm a transgender woman as you might have noticed um I knew at seven when I asked my dad why I wasn't a girl and he explained to me about Plumbing if you know what I mean at 12 I asked my mom why my breasts weren't developing she point to me that it's because I'm not a woman well funnily enough at 42 with doctor's help here I am um it's an awful lot of fuss there's about 100 adults in this room it's an awful lot of fuss for two people you realize that right you're making a fuss over 1% in this case 2% of people who have identified El as transgender you're doing so in my opinion in violation of the Schoolboard code of ethics I will
161make term make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and seek to develop and maintain schools that meet the individual needs of all children regardless of their ability race Creed sex or social standing I also would argue that certain voices on the board from what I've seen are not up adhering to letter F I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interest or partisan political groups or to use the schools for personal gain or the gain of [Music] friends I am honestly speechless at the amount of support that there is here I thought I was going to have to come in here and be the transwoman who had to get up and make the whole big scene and whatever and I didn't have to do that all I have to do
162is be here and make you uncomfortable and that's [Music] enough that's enough my sheer existence is enough to make some people in this room uncomfortable I have just been called a man and a dress in as many words guess who it doesn't [Applause] bother good evening my name is Gerald Mago and I'm from the Dolores turo Foundation our mission is to protect children from abuse use and neglect um so we do not and we believe everyone is created in the uh image and likeness of God we do not discriminate against anyone for any reason but I'm here to give you the research and the facts and I'm leaving the national most current research on the subject of a transgender the transgender experiment is being recognized nationally and internationally as the biggest child abuse Scandal of
163our lifetime Most states P are passing laws that restrict these procedures on minors and the um there are two Phil bills uh protecting children from experimentation act and entex peray funding of gender experimentation act that would prohibit transgender procedures on miners Nationwide and prohibit funding of these procedures uh the most current and accurate information is contained in the what I will leave with you the research um scientific evidence shows that cross sex Medical Treatments are harmful to Children the transition or suicide claim that parents must choose between a live transon or a dead daughter or vice versa is false and not supported by scientific evidence in fact the most uh Landmark case which is a Swedish study shows that followed transgender patients for 30 years after surgery found that after sex reassignment surgery the transgender
164patients were 19 times more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population 85 to 90% of children who experience gender dis will resolve their gender identity Confusion by the time uh they reach young adulthood and social and cultural factors have a significant effect on whether a young person identifies as tra excuse me transgender um transgender affirming care includes pu puberty blocking drugs cross- sex hormones and sex reassignment surgeries that are experimental and not approved by FDA uh hi there Franco greski Jackson Township they them uh now for many the issue of policy 5756 has become not about the children but about the parents at the last meeting it was stated the policy forces students to go through one of the most challenging moments in their lives alone without the people they love rather
165than forcing students to navigate their gender identity alone we need to find ways to work with our parents to ensure students gets the love and attention they deserve end quote as Mr singer pointed out uh nothing in the policy prevents a student from talking to their parents students are not being forced to do anything and that is key coming out is one of the most challenging moments an individual can face however that is precisely why it is in that individual's best interest for them to decide how and when to come out and to whom a member of this board also believes that speaking to an administrator about one's gender identity before speaking to a parent is the wrong way to handle this and that the best support that students are going to receive will come
166from parents because their parents have been the most supportive people in their life uh that is privilege you were fortunate enough to have that healthy relationship with your parents not everybody is quite so fortunate students experience neglect or abuse or simply do not feel safe at home and know by acknowledging this we are not assuming abuse we simply also cannot assume that these students are always safe at home and whether or not they are students must always be able to come to school to feel safe and secure continuing on the subject some people have turned this into a parents rights issue a reminder lgbtqia plus individuals are a protected class A group of people who share one or more common characteristics and are espcially protected by the law from harassment on the basis of those
167characteristics parents are not a protected class parents have the same rights they' have always had but 5756 will ensure that we protect our students who are at greater risk of discrimination lastly fighting policy 5756 is a waste of time and money manop in English town Middletown and marbro have already lost this battle at both the trial and appet level is this really how you want to spend your school district's time and money I would [Applause] reconsider chairman and members of the board this is short my name is Natalia Benson I'm a 25e resident of the Bridgewater Township and I'm a transgender graduate of the Bridgewater rton Regional School District I went to Crim the hillside to the middle school and into the high school policy 7565 5765 apologies is a necessary protection for LGBT children
168within this District an attempt to repal this policy is an attempt not only to allow bullying harassment and abuse to come to students but to make this abuse policy students are sentient beings as I'm sure you all know just like you they have complex thoughts they have emotions they have hopes and dreams they have pains and they have miseries if you want the policy revoked then all you want is harm for students on the district they need to come out when they are ready it is not your choice it will never be your choice and it never has been your choice if you want otherwise you want the blood of students on your hands and that is a blood that will never wash [Applause] away uh hi my name is Theodore Alexis uh I attended
169Bridgewater Ron uh for my K through2 education I'm currently a senior at Ruckers University and I am transgender um I believe policy 5756 is uh a great part of our district and I think removing it would make uh Bridgewater Ron uh Regional School is worse um I think it's important for youth to be able to express themselves without fear of being reported on by their teachers to their parents before they're ready um I think coming out is a very important moment it's one that I cherish um and I think it would be a shame to take that experience away from a parent and child and instead have it be between uh a teacher and a parent um usually you get bad news uh from a teacher like something about the child's safety or about their
170grades um something about how they're expressing thems at school should be more private it should be a conversation between parent and child um and I think it's uh developmentally appropriate for it to stay that way and I think that policy reflects that um I also think that it's important for students to be able to figure themselves out uh without having uh preemptive measures like uh being outed to their parents before they're ready I think it'll happen in due time and that's all I have to [Applause] say hello my name is Darcy Alexis and I'm a Bridgewater resident for 22 years um I don't really have anything prepared but I just wanted to make a couple of comments one it seems like this is a waste of time and a waste of money for this um
171policy to be questioned seems like it's a great policy for the school helps the teachers and it certainly helps students so it's about the students and I think that it the parents who seem to be wanting to change the policy are just interested in more control and I just wanted to point out that high control environments e either in families or in institutions are dangerous for kids makes them more um susceptible to abuse and suicide so I think it's a better policy to just take it slow let the kids talk to teachers if they want to and their parents when they're ready thank you [Applause] hi Amy Salinger I'm a resident of Bridgewater um I have three children I have a son who is already graduated from the high school and two daughters who are
172currently enrolled um and to be honest with you I worry more about them not using the bathroom because of all the vaping than anything else um I've told all of my children that they can come to us with anything we're open we support whatever sexuality they choose all of that and we've told them their friends are welcome in our house no matter what all of that being said if they didn't feel they wanted to come to me or my husband with something I hope beyond all hope that they had another trusted adult that they could go to and that's what this policy allows them to do as an educator in another town I had the opportunity to attend a two-day seminar on transgender people it was informative I've shared what I learned from that session
173with my colleagues friends family anyone who will listen it was very informative very factual it's not what most people think it is um I've also had transgender students I've had some where the parents were supportive they knew everything was great I've had some where they we weren't sure if the family knew we worked with this student the school counselor talked to the student and we figured it out and we had a positive outcome with the family I've never been faced with this situation thankfully yet where students been fearful to talk about their gender identity with family but I did have to call DC PNP one day because a student was so afraid to go home because of a grade so I can't imagine a parent being a student being so fearful to go home because
174of their gender identity and this was over a grade and this kid was terrified because they got a bad grade to the point where we weren't sure if they were safe or not to go home and we had to make the call so that's what this policy protects I I think you should keep it and I thank you for your time [Applause] good evening my name is Adrien Fel I'm a Bridgewater resident and I have two children attending our schools I graduated from the East Building long ago and I am now back raising my kids my expectation is for our district to maintain policy 5756 it is imperative that our Public School protects each student and fosters an environment in which they feel safe look around this room and recognize that people will become who
175they are meant to be and brrsd should maintain 5756 to ensure that the kids in our district become confident wonderful creative educated adults the way that they want to be thank [Applause] you good evening my name is Philip Jones I'm a resident of Bridgewater and I'm also a teacher and a parent of two students in the district um mainly I'm here tonight to avoid having to put my kids to bed um but on a serious note um this is gonna sound like Z left field but um I wanted to say congratulations to the Bridgewater high school wrestling program um and the amazing season they had um my son who just started wrestling the year before last had the ability to um go witness them at the states I saw Mr singer there I saw Mr
176beers there thank you very much for supporting the team and everything and he was inspired and Mr Walker as well uh and and he was so inspired by seeing these athletes and and it really uh instilled a passion in wrestling for him so that he's going to carry that with him a long way so hopefully I get to see him at the high school at some point as well um I'm also going to talk about 5756 though um I I am in support of the policy I do not believe it should be repealed it's just common sense and it's also the guidance from the state which this board's responsibility is to follow the law Implement guidance from the state and to not go Rogue uh because of a couple board members and I will say
177I I think the the fact that it's a transgender policy is simply just lwh hanging fruit in this current political climate and I think it's really about political grandstanding and a hope for some members on this board maybe an audition for their next role or their next position um and I think it's disgusting I said this when I was running for board this fall but that's exactly what would happen and here it is uh and I really appreciate all the six board members who had the guts to stand up to that and pointed out as being wrong so have a great night thank you my name is Joyce Lynn I've been a Bridgewater residents for the last 34 years and I'm first generation immigrants so my English is my second language so pardon me if
178I don't speak clearly first I don't agree with the previous gentleman he said that he's a teacher of the Bridge Water school system and uh he think he said that the it's a law so we just adopt it just take it it's already the law I want to quote him or everybody a saying by church here he said a few how few men are strong enough to stand against the prevailing current of opinion before I go into this uh policy okay I want to quote something okay a recent report by the organization of economic cooperation and development which is oecd published on a university website highlights the stock reality of this country facing okay let me read part of it the United States has been grappling with an economic crisis for many years many countries
179now outperformed the United States in high school mathematics exposing a significant achievement Gap even more alarming American Millennial rank last in mathematics and problem solving skills compared to their Global peers this crisis threaten our nation's economic strength and undermine the future competitiveness of American workers your children your grandchildren all our children the fate of this nation is based on our gen generation okay so just want to quote you that and first I want to say the kids mental problem is not necessary because they are transgender transgender their issue is created by adult okay maybe okay and and the reason ma'am no the reason I want to say that ma'am I'm sorry that's your time oh yeah it's a it's exaggerated it's no is exaggerated okay by by some by some very buy some very politician
180try to control that okay but certain ma'am and I tell you I I I feel I'm GNA call for a res I'm going to call for a five minute recess and I feel the parents pain I feel the parents pain that bring out your children in this Society in this Society okay I feel your pain okay about how hard to grow by your children we're going to take a five minute recess and again I appreciate everyone that has come before and respected the two minute timeline I ask that you continue to do so I also ask that you respect the people at the podium You can disagree but do it respectfully thank you okay ready my name is Loretta Grace I have a non-boundary child who lives here in this District I also have a
181trans child and as well as special needs child and when my child my oldest revealed themselves to first it was non-binary gender queer and now I believe it's aromantic and um asexual we've gone through a lot of labels they knew I was a safe person to come out to because I've always been an ally even before I knew what all these words meant in fact my kid taught me about asexuality transgender gender career neuro pronouns everything I've never felt left out they socially transitioned before they told me and as many of these people have told you it is a matter of life and death for somebody these kids my own child who is thriving now at ruter University studying history was hospitalized for suicidal ideation because of the gender dysphoria that they felt imagine fighting
182your own brain every single waking moment of your life that's what it was like for my kid one thing that Co taught all your teach teachers is that some kids do not have stable home lives you got a glimpse of that during Co now imagine that hundredfold and that's what it's like for a lot of kids to come out to reveal who they are to their parents my kids know they can bring home anybody as long as they're good people some can't bring anybody home at all thank man um my name is Magie whan uh I was with the Bridgewater district for most of my life until I switched into therapeutic School in high school um uh I'm currently a junior in my college uh in rvcc uh to be a teacher and I'm constantly
183getting told by teachers that um the Board of Ed is not with us they do not support the teachers needs um there there's a lot of negative teaching stories and we're we're constantly being told to prepare ourselves and um also I am nonbinary I I could tell you A big story but I don't really want to do that um I did get chander neutral bathrooms and for anyone who's like I'm uncomfortable with them changing here you know maybe they could change neutral that's that's [Applause] all um I'm Zachary zir i was a student who went through the K through 12 program at Bridgewater uh and I'm currently at Ruckers University as a graduate student in the Masters of information um and I just want to kind of give the board something to chew on um
184you many facts have been stated throughout the this entire night um about the well-being of transgender and other lgbtq um students and I just want to let you know that this is going to be if um uh policy 75 or 5756 is repealed this is going to be something that will be brought up every board meeting at every instance this will be a fight you will keep on fighting for probably the remainder of your time on the board um thank [Applause] you hello good evening my name is the Reverend Rosemarie Newberry I live in Redbank New Jersey but I'm here representing the New Jersey unarian Universalist Faith Action Network Statewide organization of all our congregations in New Jersey and I'm also a member of sweep New Jersey I stand here in solidarity with all trans
185youth policy five 756 has been in place for many years giving all New Jersey Educators and School staff guidance when needed they have been trained on this policy and they have provided a safe place for the trans youth to learn that could soon be and could soon be changed after the vote I weep with you the lgbtq plus children who are trying to discover your authentic selves while adults that are responsible for your safety are not supporting you depending on how this board votes the repeal of policy 5756 will be Harden you and I pray for you and with you as a unarian university Minister I believe that all public institutions need to hear the voices of love from people of faith my faith calls me to speak in public to protect the inherent worth
186and dignity of all people all bodies all genders all are sacred and holy God gender is complicated and it's much more than just an XX or y pair of chromosomes it is not a [Applause] binary hello my name is Evelyn husar I'm a bror uh riton resident and I graduated here and I lived here all my life and also a former teacher during my second year teaching one of my students came out to me as trans and uh to the school and their parents none of my students my 66 students ever told me they were uncomfortable with it and I pride myself on having a safe classroom for all and none of the parents contacted me telling me that their students were uncomfortable with this trans St however they did not have the support of
187their parents and because of this they stopped caring about school when I showed them that I supported them and I wasn't going to uh out them continue to out them to their parents via communication they start to feel safe enough to participate in school work again and felt like when they came to school that's where they could be themselves but let's talk worst case scenario in my first year teaching one of the 11-year-olds took their own life they did not have a loving family and they did try to open up to the school and the school did not have their back I didn't learn this till later please don't make this same mistake at that my school thank you [Applause] hi my name is Jessica seelinger I'm 25 years old I live in Bridgewater um
188I just want to say like in the beginning you guys on the first slide you were talking about the well-being of children the um Diversity Health or diversity yeah inclusion of children and I just think that's so important and I just like like look around at how many people are here in support how many young people are here talking about to you about how they feel about this issue they want they're the students that you want to like are caring about I am so lucky to have parents that are supportive I mean I'm so lucky to be in my own body like be comfortable be born as who I was um I had like teachers that supported me just throughout my education and I like I feel so lucky that I was born female and
189um I sure all of you on the board you went into teaching because you care about students and so if you really care about students just listen to them listen to what they want yeah that's [Applause] all hi hi um I'm Sean Bensley I'm a resident of Hillsboro and I have over 30 some years of experience um as a mental health professional working with with children and Adolescence um my latest job from which I retired was as a school counselor in Oldbridge um Public Schools um I came here tonight uh thinking that I was going to read a letter from somebody who couldn't be here but um I decided instead to kind of uh just comment on things that I'm thinking of right now um as a mental health professional um I agree with the
190people uh that have pointed out that not all kids come from safe homes unfortunately and um if you spend a couple hours with me I could tell you stories that would break your heart that's unfortunate and kids shouldn't be subjected to telling people that they don't trust about themselves if they're not ready um I grew up in the 60s and 70s I know I look much younger like the guy before said um as a lesbian um and I didn't come out until I was older um because at that time it wasn't very safe I look around at these young people here and their parents who have experienced all the things they have in their lives and who have the courage to come up here and I don't think anything I could tell you would be
191more important than that and more important than the fact that they can come here and feel safe enough to talk about it I hope that you don't repeal this policy because children know who they are look at these young people who have bravely come here and shared their lives with you they know who they can trust they know who they are allow them to come out however they are are in their own time not be forced [Applause] to um I'd like to remain uh as an anonymous current resident within the school district uh however I will tell you this about myself I am an alumna of brdar Ron high school has taken part in the honor of performing at Carnegie Hall and later in years performing for a sitting president of the United States and
192has worked as data entry Personnel for Johansson's Corona virus vaccine trials and during the entire time I still have to keep my non-binary and demipan identity private from my parents for years when I was growing up I already had a razor sharp lens on everything I was doing or not doing I was constantly told by my parents to get in lane and don't go against the flow getting critiqued constantly for how I looked or and act I had to keep a double life in which wherever I was not home I was happy and loved by my friends and peers those in 4 my school and those in after school programs all were accepting of me and even though I didn't have the words to describe that aspect of me at the time if I had
193the words to describe myself back then I know I'm cautious enough not to tell anyone unless it's a need to know basis but not every person is overly cautious as I am [Applause] hello board members um my name is Joe Shaner Bruno um really impressive Finance meeting so far um bridgew has been doing great I was a alumnist of the 2004 class so a while ago um I've since been a public school teacher I was a public school teacher for nine years between Newark per Amboy but I got my start here at Bridgewater as a sub for two years so thanks for the leg up then the I now practice apply Behavior Analysis as a bcba candidate and I always tend to go for the numbers uh as any like Finance graduates on the board
194would know so of the 8,000 students in the Bridgewater and Regional School Districts The CDC and NIH published a study in 2023 that about 5.5% of the population would be trans or questioning that's 440 of the current student population about 51% of them will consider and will follow F on skipp skipping school because they feel unsafe that kind of goes against the give students a place to learn goal 40% of those students will be bullied at school that's 146 it's a lot more confidential Hib reports that you guys have to review every month approximately 26% of transgender and questioning students will attempt to asde in the past year compared with 5% of their cisgender classmates 114 Bridgewater R and Regional School District students will consider that in already a safe place I think and coming
195upon the board and pursuing with their goals of get kids what they need and to create an optimal learning environment to maintain the policy that's currently in place thank [Applause] you I always do things differently those are I believe you don't make a decision for a population without being educated and if you don't have children or you don't know any transgender people then there's a list of books right there that you can read that will help you become an ally good evening my name is Laura whan and I'm a Bridgewater resident for 42 years I have two children in the Bridgewater Ron School System One a high school sophomore and one a graduate and now a college attendee I was the one who started the Buddy bench at Hamilton which spread to the other Elementary
196schools to give young children a physical manifestation of an opportunity to practice empathy I was also a leader of the Grassroots organization preserve Bridgewater who led the successful fight against the creation of the monstrosity on Route 202 206 that included 400 apartments a hotel a grocery store restaurant and more I am also the parent who worked with my child and Dr Greenberg to obtain gender neutral bathrooms in the high school I was even approached by a town council member to lead the Bridgewater diversity Group after the incident at the mall when I replied that I would love to and I will definitely include lgbtq people I was never contacted again so I know the climate in Bridgewater I have a child who attempted suicide over 10 times I personally pulled rope and cable off of
197their neck and they did this because they were bullied and sexually assaulted by their peers in the Bridgewater Ron School District I am lucky though I am so lucky I'm lucky to have the resources to help my child I'm lucky to have talked with dozens of mental health experts professionals doctors therapists and researchers I'm lucky because because this journey has allowed us to find families like us at the pride Center in New Jersey I'm lucky because I was able to talk with so many of the kids who attended the youth Gatherings and I was able to give them hugs when their own parents would never again I was able to listen to to their stories I was able to attend the gay stade Alliance and trans youth forums I was able to meet Carol Watcher
198who wrote 5756 thank [Applause] you uh my name is Jennifer kitchen I'm a 30-year resident of bridgew I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the absolute bravery of the current and former BR trans students who have spoken tonight um I believe that the parents here speaking about 5756 on both sides love their children I understand that the parents speaking in opposition to this policy find it Unthinkable that there is something important about their child that they they don't know I ask you to consider something else Unthinkable that there are parents who hate the idea of their child being trans more than they love their child that there are par parents who would deny they would rather deny they have a child than have a trans child also Unthinkable right but we have heard
199too many heartbreaking stories tonight not to know that that is true so I ask you to support this policy to save those children so we have never have to hear one of those heartbreaking stories again thank you good evening my name is Andrew bucko uh first I'd like to thank everyone who has told their stories um a lot of them are are very uh emotional um you could you could hear from the voices of the speakers uh how difficult it is to come forward and and tell their stories uh here in public the members of the board everyone in attendance here I think that uh the policy um does what uh the school board should aim to do which is to put the student first it treats the students of the district like the young
200adults that they actually are with thoughts and feelings and emotions and concerns of their own that are very much valid and uh it would it would be a mistake to assume that uh your life completely mirrors everybody else uh as the saying goes you should not judge somebody until you've walked a mile in their shoes and there are plenty of students in this District uh who uh who probably uh need to have uh certain members of this board walk a mile in their shoes I urge the board to uh not uh resend the transgender policy if it is brought up again uh and uh and and again put the students in control put their privacy uh put their privacy first if they choose so thank you very [Applause] much are there any other persons that
201have yet to speak that want to speak seeing none I'm going to close that portion of public comment I want to thank you all uh for your adherence to the time limit that was put into place um and for sharing your thoughts with us um on all issues um if you were cut off I apologize and I ask you again feel free to email your thoughts to the board your thought your emails are read and they are appreciated we're now going to move on to the remainder of our agenda uh item number 11 the approval of minutes is up first so moved second there is a change to the minutes however uh in the new business portion correct yes new business the vote to repeal repal 5756 is listed as approved approved but it should
202be changed to not approved correct so uh I need a motion to revise to has revised second yes so mov so moved sorry I need the motion first J motion so moved Second Great are there any other changes to the minutes that need to be made seeing none Mr lsky could you please call the RO Mr Lee Yes MRSA yes Mr Joi yes Miss lochan yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr Sanger yes motion is approved motion passes we're up to Personnel 2519 second there any questions about the personel seeing none Mr lumy please call Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr jhi yes Miss lockin yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we now
203up to curriculum 2553 through curriculum second any questions comments seeing none Mr lunsky could you please call the rooll Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lockin yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker recuse on 25 53 yes on the others Miss kri yes Mr singer yes motion passes we're up to business 25119 through business 25127 so moved second are there any questions or comments about any of these business items is that your saying that you have a comment M Lee go ahead um I would like to make a comment about uh bsiness item 25124 the tenative budget I appreciate the effort that the administration put together in presenting us thetive budget um I intend to obain on this vote uh for reasons I think that there's critical piece of
204information that is the movement part I would like to not uh uh vote at this moment yet just a question what information were you looking for I think I would like to um not talk about this because I think uh they might uh send the message about uh District that I don't think we should talk in in this form I'm just explaining why I'm not voting why I'm abstaining on this vote that's all I'm understanding man but did you ask this qu any you have questions correct I have but I'm not going to ask in this for did you ask them it's not question that asking now is going to solve that problem are there any other questions or comments but it's Barry operational procedure that we usually follow if you have a question you
205ask them ahead of time correct that's usually how we do this Le did reach out to the uh to us to let us know that her reasons for upstanding would she like make them clear is that what she said is exactly what it said there I'd like to know because it would come through Finance because it was approved to committee she's allowed to abstain if she wants to obain okay but it's questions you're asking questions which is fine but if they're questions you feel that not there's not transparency is that the issue what I just I think we should just move on okay any other questions on the business items I would like to thank the Hamilton school PTO for their uh donations uh for their giving the Hamilton School the lead you assembly and
206an author visit in the theater assembly I know how much those kids really appreciate it and they're very valuable to our district so thank you Hamilton school PTO with that Mr lumy could you please call the role Mr Lee Yes except uh 25124 no and 25120 abstain Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lockin yes Miss Lee obstain on 25124 yes to the rest Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer uh I also extend on business 25 I'm sorry I recused myself on business 25120 uh yes on the rest of them and with that the motion passes correct yes special services 25 20 and special services 2521 is next second any questions or comments seeing none Mr lumsk please call the r Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes
207Miss lockran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker we accusing on 2520 and yes on 2521 Miss kry yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we're now up to other 2526 and other 2527 for which I'll entertain a motion so move any questions on the hivs if so we need to go into close session for that it's not one that goes in close session if I have like a literal conflict of interest is do interest do iuse or do okay seeing them Mr lsky please call the RO Mr Lee Yes missa yes Mr josi recuse on 2526 yes to 2527 Miss lockran I will just recuse them both Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we're up to policy 2515 and policy
20825 16 so moved second any questions or comments question on the uh spectator code of conduct I know it's listed as mandatory and this is a policy that's required by I don't think I ask Mr Walker the NJ IA um I guess my question is in the second in the second subsection uh the board prohibited on Sportsman like condic are action by a spectator which include but are not limited to and look a lot of these things happen at every game uh particularly letter C entering the field of play before during or after an inter Scholastic event obviously I think that's meant to be you know charging the field or something like that or storming the court look after almost every game there are people Milling about and obviously I know that we have common
209sense where we're not going to enforce take take action against that I don't mean to disrupt you no please but in this case it's a case of while the event is going on it's not after the court congregating anything like that it's during an event you're disrupting to the point where you be removed from the facility right you know and I understand that that's the the intent I know this says I mean subsection C says entering the field of play before during or after an in inter Scholastic event would that need to be someone who's also ejected for that obviously if there's a big crowd no one's going to toss anybody out and I don't mind having it as long as there's an understanding that everyone's going to use common sense or something like that
210I mean I I think again as as with all policies yeah we're giving tools to our administrators and teachers to allow them to to use them and you know in that in that situation I think the administrator needs the tool but we'll use it judiciously that's understood that's thank you any other comments or questions about policy seeing none Mr lsky Mr Lee yes Miss Asuna yes Mr josi yes Miss lochran yes Miss Lee yes Mr Pepe yes Mr Walker yes Miss kri yes Mr singer yes the motion passes we're up to item number 13 old business is there any old business that needs to be brought to the table I'd like to make a motion uh I move that at this board repeal policy 5756 is there a second I Rec my motion [Applause] W
211is there any other old business I yes I I have to mention something related to uh the policy for electronic surveillance and buildings on school grounds there was some discussion at the last board meeting and I I just I have to say it and and I want to offer clarification for the entire Community because I do believe some statements were made that were Reckless um the comments made when it came up for for review was that uh there's arbitrary language leads to arbitrary police enforcement it may lead to outcomes that may endanger our students this policy will prevent law enforcement from being able to access systems when an emergency situation is developing but not currently happening and the thought was that the community has a reason to be concerned that this policy may be used
212to potentially limit the vital role the police play in keeping our entire Community safe especially our students and children so I I just have to stay for the record it it couldn't be farther from the truth um for for this critical fact which I I mentioned several times the police are the ones who determine what the emergency situation is when it comes to video surveillance of our schools we have a memorandum of understanding with the local police they have a login to our camera systems where God willing it never happens but if there is a dangerous situation they have a login and can access the cameras anywhere in the district and they're governed by certain protocols nobody's calling me In the Heat of something going on asking for a login and password to access our
213systems they have it and the police are the ones who who determine I'll say it again the police determine what a dangerous situation is no one confers with me and the reason why is this the law says they don't have to because they're trained professionals and know what a dangerous situation is so I I've got to respectfully just say that the comments made at the last meeting were were patently false and we've got to be incredibly careful when we when we're talking about Public Safety something I hold near and dear to my heart we've worked on in this District when it comes to Public Safety we have trained professionals at every level there's an excellent working relationship there is no friction between the two parties and I I just have to clarify for the public
214and for this board um that unfortunately that that uh was patently false I just say something very briefly I want to say thank you Mr superintendent for those remarks I do appreciate the clarification is there any new business I'm sorry I thought I asked twice okay go ahead okay um all right uh gay students matter and lesbian students matter non-binary students matter non-conforming girls boys and transgender students matter and um and so do parents and at our last meeting Miss Lee made a motion to send the policy to committee and at one point um Miss Jones you you ask well what what do you want us to do um there was never a response to that until much later in our meeting in which Miss Lee also said again that she would hope that the
215academic committee would review the policy including alternative policies and one of them that she named was the njsba sample discretionary policy titled gender identity and expression there are several reasons why I think this policy uh is more inclusive IT addresses many of the concerns that people have brought to this board that board members have discussed without taking away anything without outing anybody and I think it would be a disservice to not review this policy and consider it in place of the current one that we have I uh I gotta tell you this is a lot of pressure so I didn't I didn't really have a fully formed speech here um there are several factors um that I think is worth noting first it IT addresses the concerns from both supporters and critics of the transgender
216policy by allowing caseby case accommodations engaging parents when appropriate and ensuring privacy protections for all students its title and language are more inclusive ensuring that gender non-conforming and non-tr gender students are also considered it prevents potential conflicts by offering privacy accommodations to any student who feels uncomfortable and it creates a framework for fairness in athletics rather than enforcing a blanket policy that can lead to controversy in contrast while our current policy is strong in its commitment to protecting transgender students it it lacks the flexibility and inclusive language needed to ensure that all students and parents feel heard and respected now I have a lot more notes and comments but it's pretty late now I I I would ask if anybody has read the policy and reviewed it and if you want to comment on it
217feel free um but but that's that's my position on this issue can can I ask is that did you get that straight from njsba are you looking at a district that adopted that policy or a version of it thank you for that question questions I can do um I actually it was it was sent to me by some by another board member who got it off of the njsba site and on and on follow-up and I'm not going to speak on be on behalf of this board member but on followup it was confirmed that it has been um instituted or adopted in other districts uh which is also a comment that Miss Lee had made um at the last meeting and um and and there were several other facts and stuff but I I don't
218want to speak secondhand to those thank you um the question is can this be sent to committee for review so that we can put the two side by side to understand the differences between them okay there there's just a growing frustration I'm sorry this is based on the law so yes the wording I I I I've got to respectfully finish as the person who does run this District I would I would hope that my opinion maybe does hold a little bit of weight the change in policy will do absolutely zero Euro and I'll say it again it will do nothing to change our practice and protocols it is a pure political game that's all it is and I know people have their talking points but this is about politics dayto day in these schools we
219have procedures that we follow and it's based on the law I went through it at the last meeting that's not going to change and honestly if members of the board want to go on Wordsmith um because it's more politically palatable I think you do that on your own but you know instead the academic committee the last time I checked we're trying to raise test scores we're trying to focus on student outcomes student well-beings and all the above and I think our time and focus has been really diverted from from a policy wait when did it get instituted in 2019 I'm sorry but but the Strauss estimate was 19 2019 the law was 2017 that's my editorial the board is free to do what they want but I can tell you as someone who and and
220the folks here who the last time I checked are the ones who are running this District dayto day it has no bearing on anything we do and and I and I hope I do hope that there is a respect for administrative time from this board and and and look I I have tremendous respect for everyone who came here and spoke tonight but this was all due to a political stunt and it was no more than that um one one thing I want to say the reason that no answer was given is because it was put to vote so before we could do anything it was put to vote and it was voted down I understand that so that that was this policy wasn't voted down but first of all politics are directly tied to policy
221we are elected based on our character and based on who uh uh believes that we represent them and our job as a board of education is to review policy so I didn't bring this up because I'm being political I brought this up because I listened to everybody at the board meeting every word I transcribed it all by hand every single word that was spoken so I reviewed the policy and if you haven't reviewed the policy and and you're you're going to um call this a political stunt because I believe that in my opinion this is more inclusive of so many of the LGB and q's that were referenced here tonight no wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait I'm I'll get to the tea give me one second sorry I don't talk to the
222I I can't talk so many LGB Qs were referenced here tonight especially in stats and I forget the name of it it's here my mind's a little all over the place but the only reference in the policy is transgender so what I'm saying is that this policy is more inclusive of the rest of those same people in the lgbtq community and I think it's worth consideration if I may I would like to make a comment too and this isn't in reference to your request at all Jen but this is um in reference to just how you introduced it with I think is how AJ was saying it and I just want to clarify so when the topic came up at the last board meeting I no I know I what no I know I'm saying
223just now when you introduce this as you know the conversation happening last time so when the topic came up last time with uh Lucy I very genu Ely tried to have an understanding of exactly what the request was and I think you know for all of you who have been on committee with me for I don't know how long you know that that's how I approach things I also listen and so as I was trying to understand if the request are we just reading it are we reading it with a purpose the note passing situation happened and then at that point like I said something and then Jeremy called it to a vote and that ended the conversation for me because once it was voted on and it was you know I didn't consider another
224policy at that point so I just want to be clear because I feel like you know the Public's watching this too and it wasn't that anything was shut down it was just things moved very quickly and it was a motion was made and it was called for a vote I feel without maybe most people being PR prepared for that but that's you know just my observation so just to clarify it wasn't you know absolutely and and for that matter I wouldn't expect any practice to be changed in the school that protects students all students and I'm not asking that I'm I'm I I followed up actually I I followed up because another board member had reviewed the policy and we spent hours hours researching this I have the original Law I have several vers of
225the recommendations that were sent that are all different I have each version of the policy and I I did my due diligence and so I stand firm in my conviction that this policy is a far better policy that represents a more inclusive uh gender identity and expression policy so that is why I'm asking how does this policy get reviewed and what would be the next steps in determining whether or not this is worth reviewing worth uh implementing but I'm a little confused you're saying this is more inclusive so what do you want to review she's asking to review njsba 545 okay all right so com njsba versus what we have so 5145 so Lucy emailed right before as we were starting the meeting to put this on the agenda and I responded to her no
226that was different I know but we will I said we will review at a future meeting so it will be reviewed at a future meeting we'll put it on the agenda what you're asking will be added is you know in addition to what Lucy has asked so we will take a look and what is the time frame because I think this is critical where I again take my advice with a grain of salt I think everyone needs to take a collective deep breath here and okay it'll be reviewed by committee but not next month well let let's take a little time you know and and like I said I've got to clarify something just for the record there's one iteration of the doe guidance that I'm aware of and it's entitled transgender student guidance for
227school districts that's it goes through everything and the Strauss Esme policy is basically a cut and paste I mean there no one went on a riff with this policy it's basically the the same so I I would just be careful because there things are politically charged I I think we pride ourselves in the distance we've come as an institution I know since I've been here since Miss Jones have been here since this leadership team has been here and um I certainly don't want a message that we are looking to change things because I like I still don't know why we're doing this and and there has to you know like with any action there's got to be a why right so there's guidance on transgender students but we're going to review the guidance like I
228don't even know why we're doing it and and I I'll still say just like the last time whether we like it or not if people out there do not like this law or this policy you're protesting it in the wrong place we don't legislate here in Bridgewater they legislate in Trenton guidance comes out and policy is based on the guidance from the doe and and I've got to tell you as a leader of this District in our practice we are following the guidance from the doe and we're not going to deviate from that and if people need to escort me out the door have at it but we're going to follow this guidance great um so the the law was passed I believe we were told during the Christie Administration I'm I'm pretty sure a
229lot has changed 2017 a lot has changed since 2017 in what in gender identification there's been so many new documentaries and and universities and studies and what I will say is that this policy does follow the guidance and in fact not only does it follow the guidance but then it also lists laws against discrimination inquiry or no sex discrimination sex of teachers like there's there's an entire cross reference that's in the back part of this policy that it references and it was written by the njba and I can tell you that I believe that the njsba absolutely has students best interest at at heart when they do just about everything um so I feel like it's worth consideration simply because it's just a better policy it it really is and you can you know opin
230on how you feel about the political situation but this was brought to this table I didn't know about this policy until this was brought to this table and we got dozens of emails and I read every single one of them and I did all the research and and yeah it got voted down and I I was one of the votes and I was one of the votes but what did I say I said I don't know if I understand this policy this policy is based on a whole lot more than just the guidance it's actually thoughtful and it gives consideration and I wish that I got thought thoughtful consideration and you just you know let me have the opinion as a board member that represents this community that maybe it's worth the time for this
231worth our time and money as a board to review it and if you want to come back and tell me that you don't think that there's anything worthwhile in this policy that's fine I'll accept your opinion but read it and come back to me and tell me that it's not worth our time just you know I I have read it I I've read it just if there's an accusation that I'm unfamiliar with it that that's patently false but you're not a voting member of the board that adopts policy so a little conversation about policy uh 11 years ago there myself and there's some other people in the room that spent you mostly two years con um transferring um from Schoolboard Association policy to Strauss Esme there are different ways those policies are written written by
232the two organizations and looking at these two policy I have this policy in front of me I have the the guidance in front of me I've had it for weeks and read it and look through it myself also and doneo due diligence is and school stra sesme puts the administrative code and links in the document and you're reading along with it so it reads a little differently than the njsba document for those who have looked at it can I see anybody I've looked at it you understand what I'm talking about so it reads a little differently so you see the reference to code right away um I I have some reservations about this one I have reservations about a lot of policies but on this one it you know it does hit some areas but
233maybe not all is it better ultimately will changing this policy confuse or do anym or we'll leaving it where it is that's my question what what's the what's the end effect of change in this policy IT addresses gender identity and expression and I've heard several people speak tonight and make reference to Binary non-binary to several other different groups of people that don't fall into the specific category of transgender and it makes reference to that and it also is a lot clearer about the relationships and everything else in the first line P document it talks about generally makes it unlawful for schools to schools to subject individuals to differential treat for treatment of gender identity and expression that's in the first paragraph title 9 it references which the document does not reference in our policy the
234other poliy does not reference Title 9 at all specifically proit discrimination the basis of sex and and federally funded educational program activities so in the first paragraph it references the both JY statute title N9 which is federal statute and the US code then why is the title of the polic N also says directs the commission of Education establish guidelines the policy indicates why the policy why this was done you know I mean so I'm kind of concerned that then the difference the policy I'd rather see the justification up front in that area and I've read a lot of policy and and spent many hours looking on this justification of what it the justification of policy it doesn't say the other one say njsl 18a 36-41 directs the commissioner education to establish guidelines outlining this policy
235to provide direction to schools in addressing common common issues concerning the needs of transfender students and to assist the schools establishing policy procedures that are Ensure a supportive and non non-discriminating environment for students the first part of the the the the first Mr President can I well I'm not going to recognized when someone else is speaking absolutely then no so bar you finished I I just I when I look at policy it's when you like you reading an author in certain tone in writing you know who writes it I'm concerned that the the the policy ngpay which I'm a very supportive member of njsba and think they do great work I'm not sure I like the policy any better and I'm not sure it meets the needs any better but if he wants to go
236to policy you want to S Comm s Comm let discuss it so I'm good with that if you want to have that conversation before you go on Lucy Jen your request has been heard by the chair and by the administrator they have said that they will take it up it will be taken up to review both policies to see whether there's any difference between them that is is worthy of attention I we've spent a lot of time on this but Lucy by all means if you want to have a comment please make it quick make it quick I don't know because I think today there's a lot of things that's said uh as always I want to appreciate everyone who come to speak on both sides Lucy we're talking to the board okay I appreciate
237everyone from the public who came to speak to our board and I think that was a great effort that was made from everyone some of them are out of town and I appreciate that their opinion as well uh while I think our own residents voice and students voice I would absolutely put more emphasis on I think we here as the legislative body for our district we look out for the students all the students in our district I believe uh there's assumptions that were made out of the reasons uh that that we are discussing this policy I think those assumptions were wrong and it is wrong to base off the Assumption and make your actions I would like to point out that how the meeting went down last time was a little bit unusual um if
238I if I can take the chance to ask to answer uh M Jon's question uh you asked me what do I like to get reviewed in the committee um I think that Miss Lin had really really I appreciate her actually listening to what was said during the last meeting while there was a lot of emotions that charge discussion that really got the information buried in our emotions so I believe uh there is no one that come from place of hate there is no one come from a place to take away protection everyone here cares about our students and I I care and I care so much that I want it done right that's why I wanted to bring to our board the attention of a alternative policy which I believe takes into account more parental
239involvement and takes into account more people that needs to be protected not just as a titled transgender policy I had made it very clear in my last meeting that I would like this board to take take a look at this policy because the status the status V being marked as mandatory exceeded its guideline and the guideline itself has been challenging court for exceeding its enabling law I need our board our committee to take a look at it compared with nsba policy which has been accepted adopted by many school districts which I also believe has the Merit to protect a lot of students many of them people come to speak to us today or have relationship too so I I don't know how do we uh move on from this but I think I stand have
240an issue with the current stress is made 5756 for reasons that I have uh already stated and for reasons that many people in public have concern about and particularly about how parental involvement hasn't been the default rather than the exception the nsba policy had made it clear let me read the exerpt of it the board believes that Foster this understanding successfully requires coroporation and good communication between the parents Guardians School administration School staff and the school Community the chief School administrator shall ensure that students with gender identity or expression concerns and their parents Guardians shall be given opportunity to discuss this issues and participate in education planning and programming for their students I believe this policy gives our school Personnel their professional opinion to judges situation and not blanketly one-sized fitall to not tell I
241think that actually is in accordance with many of what people from audience were talking about so I would like to see how do we support this this position of looking at this issue because clearly people from the community out of supporting the students would like a more involvement from parent side so instead of asking that last time you seconded a vote to repeal the policy to repeal the policy why didn't you just ask this last time and save everybody the trouble of coming out and doing this you could ask wait wait wait wait wait can I just first I want to say something to the parents before you know like we're it's our meeting first I want to say something to the about the parents portion of it I can hear you I can hear
242the talking back it's like come on to to the to the portion about parents yes it encourages open communication and it and it suggests a balanced approach but it also addresses that like not every student comes from a safe home environment so I understand what Lucy was saying but I don't agree exactly with how it came out essentially it follows the same guidelines as the other policy I just think it's more thoughtful and I think it deserves consideration but but to answer your question she did send it to committee we were told as a board that it's doesn't belong in committee that you can't just demand to send something to committee and then it all went to another direction from there so all I'm asking for is the consideration that we put into reading this
243policy and considering it so we will discuss it in committee who's to stop another motion to resend again with everyone of us who votes no which I did so we we will take a look it takes time for the administration to do the research okay this isn't just like you're going to ask a question and then within two minutes we're going to come up with h you know a solution to this we will take a look it takes time to review policy it takes time for the administration to do the research we will take a look but all I'm asking and all I'm stating here is that this could have have been said at the last meeting let me take wait a minute if I can could I be could I be recognized all right
244let me respond to that right I have said all of that in our last meeting except no one was listening no one was listening I had mentioned ngsp policy during our last meeting already what I said today just now if you go back and hear my talk last time you would find the exact words almost but that's what I'm saying we were discussing it and then abruptly a motion was made that's when the discussion stopped if you wanted the discussion correct because I watched it like three times when I got home and honestly like really I did say like what is it you know as policy there's part of it where is the board goal where we just review policy but we're not making any changes or revision we're just supposed to be becoming familiar
245with the board members and then there's board policy where you're reviewing it because you're making a revision that's what I was trying to get clarity on in the middle of trying to get clarity is when the actual motion was made the vote was made that's what happened but I do recall Lucy mentioning this other board policy were having but it wasn't part of that conversation right I would really much like to stop talking in circles right now we've talked about this uh at this point at nauseum it's already to is there any new before we do that well there's a motion on the table is there a second no second object you could say no but object you don't get to object I understand she does if she wants to sure I seconded it f
246Mr can we have a rooll call for this one then that is what we do yes Mr lumy could you please call the RO it's a return been seconded by AJ oh Mr Lee no missa no Mr Joi yes Miss Lo motion to motion yes Miss Lee no Mr Pepe no Mr Walker yes Miss kri no Mr Sanger no pretty sure the motion failed right yes cool is there any other new business to discuss before we I would love to have an opportunity to speak tonight just on anything please um I would just like to I don't know if I need to make a motion I don't think we need a policy for this but we've discussed it during the past year that I've been on the board um but we're asking our students to
247not use their phones in school and I think that we need to model the behavior that we expect of our students especially when we are entertaining guests to our meeting and we're trying to pay attention whether we have a speaker that's training us or we have members of the public that are here to um give their opinions we need to model the behavior that we expect and I would appreciate it if everyone would stay off of their phones and off of their computers if you have things that you need to prepare prepare in advance at the meeting but don't use that time to research and prepare what you're going to say later in the meeting be prepared I will say that I take notes during of course I also take notes during the meeting I
248I also take notes but I take notes on my iPad and computer so Mr Lee you had a comment um I just I know I made the motion earlier uh but I do want to I think that people uh deserve Clarity on how I feel about this policy and you know I mentioned a lot of points before but I I I think the most important thing to recognizes this policy is not mandatory um first of all we have every right to repeal this policy um we're not going to get a lawsuit if we repeal this policy uh but repealing this policy is not going to out any transgender students or put them In Harm's Way it's the last thing I would want to do as a board member and you know I understand that it's
249my duty to always do its best for our schools for our students uh I I want to also point out as well that this policy won't exclude any transgender students from being able to participate in sports um every child deserves the same educational and extracurricular opportunity ities uh and also uh you know keeping this policy uh is not going to prevent suicide by transgender students or eliminate bullying or harassment from our schools and I think that making sure that we're supporting parent driven initiatives that'll encourage respect and tolerance and making sure that there's appropriate resources from organizations like Empower Somerset um making sure those are available is important because uh that's ultimately what's going to be preventing suicide that's what's going to prevent bullying and I think every student deserves uh an opportunity to be
250in an environment where they feel respected and where they're tolerated is there anything else yeah I want to go a little bit about mandatory policies do people understand why policies are marked mandatory just me ask you do you guys know why they're marked mandatory why Steve can you come unless this is a Class come on you're I'm calling on you you're well from what I've read from emails that we've actually gotten is that stra M May marks mandatory policies when it's either following a rule or where there's been guidelines established by the department of Ed at the federal or state level they put it out as mandatory and and actually some of those guidelines say that we must have a policy on this and that so that's why they're marked mandatory mandatory is just an
251arbitrary arbitrary marking indicating when we go through qac and they come in and look at the board policies that we have policies addressing this so the mandatory is arbitrary you you can take it all take it off all the policies if you want just so we have the policies that we are required that that that say they the law says we need to have and a lot of policies are there to reiterate other statutes in areas to make sure they're there that's what this policy does sometimes clarifying and memorializing is good too so everyone understands I can make a motion to remove M from all the policies and it wouldn't matter you know it doesn't matter any of them we could do that if we want to but we have to have the policies that
252are by law required so the m is just an arbitrary M on there that's not correct and actually we have our legal board opinion that this policy is not mandatory just for clarification are we on new business or old business now I think where are we on I am on new business okay make ation is there new business I'd like to make a motion to adjourn second all in favor I I any opposed we're returned our next meeting is April 8 can you get me your countdown information e e