June 24, 2021 Board of Education Meeting

001good evening the executive session of the wayne board of education regular meeting of june 24 2021 was convened in the conference room of the wayne board of education 15 ellis driveway new jersey the state of compliance setting forth time date and location was read in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act a roll call was taken the meeting was recessed and is now being reconvened please rise for a flag salute in a moment of silence united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all so [Music] can i get a mover to reconvene bubba mr pavlak mr moffat roll call mrs albanese here mr bubba here mr giordano here mrs kazan here mrs kumar here mr pavlak here mrs

002put up here okay we're going to begin with a presentation for the eagle scout who's in attendance this evening and vice president suzanne put up here look can you hear me now i really got to lean into this it's been a while over a year since i had to deal with this our vice president suzanne puttup will be awarding the proclamation this evening to our eagle scout this is the sawn yeah all right have a resolution to read whereas the boy scouts of america was founded in 1910 to teach boys to be good citizens and leaders and whereas more than 5 million young boys are members of this organization and whereas the purpose of boy scouting is to inspire boys with the highest ideals of character conduct patriotism and service that they may become happy

003and resourceful citizens and whereas aditram balaji is a student and is a resident of wayne township and has completed the boy scout requirements for the rank of eagle scout troop 108. now therefore be it resolved that the wayne board of education recognizes him on this special occasion and congratulates him for his outstanding achievements and special efforts in fulfilling the stringent character service and leadership requirements of eagle scout we present you this plaque to remember your achievements [Applause] can we ask him to tell us what his project was about we'd love to hear it good evening everyone and thank you for having me today my name is adithya ram balaji i'm an eagle scout out of 2.08 and will be a sophomore at wayne hills high school this coming fall and i'm here to talk to

004you about my eagle project as mentioned in an effort to conserve the populations of native animal species of new jersey my eagle scout project was to build 12 nesting boxes for various species of animals like birds bats and beneficial pollinators i installed these nesting boxes at the laurelwood arboretum in wayne new jersey from a very young age birds have always fascinated me and therefore i wanted to pursue a project that would benefit these creatures i chose the local arboretum to be the project beneficiary because not only were we working towards the same goal of connecting people with nature but i also wanted to do my part and make the community where i live a better place the project soon expanded to include other types of beneficial creatures like bats and pollinators like bees and butterflies

005i built nesting boxes for animals that are actual residents of the arboretum so that they would have a safe place to roost and raise their young this would help in conserving the local species of wildlife for the future generations and it would also improve the quality of the environment in wayne additionally in the words of donna mccarthy the audubon society's bird-a-thon chair birds are prime indicators of how well we are taking care of the planet therefore the project not only benefits animals but it also gives us as humans an opportunity to monitor the quality of our environment and make sure we improve it when need be executing my eagle scout project has been one of the most pivotal moments in my scouting journey as it has taught me that a leader is not someone who

006throws around their power aimlessly but is one who is humble patient and responsible during my eagle project i was faced with many harsh challenges that i had to overcome especially since i executed my project during the global pandemic as the leader of the project i had to find ways to navigate past all these issues and bring the project to success during this experience i also learned that strategic planning is a vital part of any project's completion and that teamwork is also crucial to success scouting has provided me an opportunity to grow as a human being and has also helped me discover myself too the organizational and planning skills that i acquired as well as the patience and dedication i have are qualities i hope to use to benefit my school my community and my peers

007thank you very much congratulations young man you're a tough act to follow dr toback we're ready for your report so good evening everyone this evening we'll be sharing with the community the results of our safe return to school survey for the upcoming school year as we discussed in our prior board of ed meeting mrs reichman will be sharing that information in a few moments this is an unusual moment in time for the school district and community and it's time to celebrate i would like to start by congratulating the class of 2021 and recognize their many accomplishments and encourage every resident to read our end-of-year newsletter which showcases our senior class congratulations also to all of our students who are moving ahead in their academic careers and moving to new schools these are students moving from

008elementary school to middle school from middle school to high school i'd also like to thank all of our students for the perseverance of the pandemic our students show great strength and resiliency even during the darkest and most difficult days of the pandemic after many long months of covet restrictions and chaos related to the pandemic we're able to emerge in the final few weeks of the school year and enjoy so many end of year events in some cases we planned a little differently but the bottom line is that we're all able to connect in person to celebrate the end of year and the accomplishments of our students well the outdoor graduation ceremonies for high school seniors was in question due to the weather in the end the weather did cooperate and we were able to end

009their high school experience in the way they had hoped for i think we can all agree that success is a relative term especially when talking about a pandemic in many cases decisions were made from among multiple bad choices still there are many areas where we can see successful outcomes in our operations we were able to open our schools for the first scheduled day of school and without delays to our opening and then our school remained open with a few closures by cohorts or later by school and at certain times across the district we remained closed when the pandemic was at its worst and continued to gradually reopen through the spring we're able to maintain our focus as we work through the budget process we're able to move ahead with full day kindergarten after many years

010without wayne we'll have full day kindergarten in less than three months so it could go on but this time it also like to understand everybody has a desire for a more concise message so i want to just take a moment to thank the board of education for your support throughout this the most challenging of all school years you served as a board of education at a time when it was never more difficult to serve as a board member and you established and maintained a path through the pandemic that bounced many different interests and beliefs about how the school system should respond i also wanted to thank donna reischmann don auerbach matt mignonelli dana sur bill moffitt paul clark joe burchard robert blanchard and rich kabitsky for all of their work in the central office through

011almost every day of last summer and throughout the school year their dedication to the school system was exemplary likewise our school level administrators our principals and assistant principals worked around the clock on many days they dealt with issues of contact tracing investigations quarantine and dealing with the daily problem of being short-handed in some cases to the extent where there were some situations due to staffing it was necessary to close our schools a special thanks to our new nursing supervisor maggie lendowski and all of our school nurses for their unbelievable effort to deal with all coveted matters connected with the schools this means working day and night for 180 days to make sure that all the members of our school community remain safe and healthy and this also includes weekends for the most part we were

012on our own to make dozens of critical decisions about contact tracing and other steps to protect students and staff and i thank our nurses for all they did during this past year 12 our teachers in paris thank you for your round-the-clock work also to accommodate the students in your classroom and at home unless you spend time teaching in a hybrid model it is difficult to understand how difficult it is to teach students in two locations it's also difficult to understand how many ways teachers went above and beyond to support students through the pandemic to our support staff in our offices in addition to handling countless phone calls which to be polite about it were unpleasant but more importantly the support staff had a central role in the district's response to the pandemic in many cases

013they served as a vital and trusted communication link between the schools and the community quietly and behind the scenes the support staff kept things moving along in our offices when times are really tough operating a school system during a pandemic is not an easy task and one prerequisite is that we maintain an extraordinary level of cleanliness in every school so i'd like to thank all of our school custodians for really going so far above and beyond every day of this year making sure each school was clean spotless with the goal of protecting the health and safety of all students and staff bus drivers also deserve recognition for maintaining our long tradition of safe and reliable transportation services one of the big challenges faced by our drivers is dealing with the changes that resulted from different

014stages of our school reopening but also with changes in ridership resulting from parental decisions to send their children to school or keep them home special thanks to all of our parents and for their support throughout the year we appreciate the understanding that many of our parents demonstrated as we did our best to navigate uncharted waters i'd like to mention that um wayne township public schools food services is approved to continue offering free meals to all children from june 23rd to september 8th of next school year this allows us to give free breakfast and lunches to any student sibling or child 18 years old or younger every wednesday is the weekly meal pickup day during the summer it's from three o'clock to five o'clock and the locations are ryerson elementary school and wayne valley high school

015anyone that signed up during the school year can continue to come each week the service is flexible to accommodate a community needs with alternative pick alternative pick up days and times as needed also special menu needs with child-friendly food and service is available i'd like to take a moment to just say a word about miss swalem our cpag president miss isabel swaylam has been the special education parent advisory group president since 2017 and she is officially stepping down miss waylon has provided insight as both a parent and as an educator to serve the wayne special education community of students and their families she consistently encouraged parents to deepen their involvement and expand their knowledge of programs and services throughout the district veswaylem brought beneficial suggestions to the district the district will miss her but feel

016sure that she will certainly not disappear from sharing her ideas and recommendations and one last thing i have to do it's required is i have to do the hiv report so just quickly i'm reporting the following data related to harassment intimidation and bullying incidents in the main tension public schools there were six incidents that were investigated since my last report and two of those cases were deemed to be hib administrative conferences and counseling support were provided to support all students involved in these investigations mr xander that concludes my report we still have the community survey can you hear me it's turned on you can hear okay thank you at our june 10th board meeting a presentation was made to share our wayne public schools safe return to school safe reopening plan the next day a

017survey was posted on our website to allow time for public comment tonight i'm reporting out on the results 500 community members participated in the survey this was a combination of parents guardians teachers other staff members and students we're happy to share that 87 percent of our parents and guardians feel comfortable sending their children back to school in september the large majority of our teachers and other staff also feel comfortable returning to school in the fall on this next slide you'll see that there are a large number of parents and guardians who are concerned about learning loss over the last school year and we also have a large number of teachers who express concerns as well we do have plans to begin gathering benchmark data and standards-based assessment data at the start of the school year

018and continue to assess student progress towards meeting grade level standards and core content areas some of the assessment data that we've already used includes iready francis and pannell benchmark assessments in literacy in the elementary schools we have math benchmarks with our envision math program and we have linked it benchmarks in place which are standards-based assessments the new jersey department of education will administer the start strong assessments during the fall of 2021 in english grades four to six math grades for the sex and science grade sex these assessments will be administered between september 13th and october 22nd the start strong assessment is being developed to provide states and districts with initial data points on students needing support so that we can better target resources to accelerate student learning once we have the exact dates determined we'll

019share that information and that will likely come at the start of school in september on this next slide you can see that there is concern from both parents and staff about classroom environments for september this year with distancing protocols in place many of the classroom materials were removed from the classroom we had resources taken out deaths were spread out shields were used and there was not the overall warm feeling of community in the classrooms that we like to promote and and many of the comments indicated that parents teachers students would really like to return to that normal feeling where they're working in a community type classroom with their peers we're hoping that that will be the case we're committed to maintaining our distance i'm sorry our cleaning protocols are disinfecting protocols and we recognize that

020there may be some mandates put forth by the governor the cdc or the department of health and we'll await guidance this summer but we're hoping to have a a normal return and restore our classrooms as they previously were there's also a great deal of concern about mental health issues resulting from the pandemic feelings of isolation and anxiety we have a district goal in place to assess and address the mental health needs of our staff and students we're going to be offering increased counseling services and program to meet the identified needs in each of our wayne schools a survey was sent out just a few weeks ago to gather up from parents any concerns that they saw in the household and were distinguishing and differentiating in each school so that we can meet the individual and

021specific needs of students uh this last slide details um comments what i tried to do was just collate and grab the comments that we saw most frequently and um tomorrow the presentation will be posted on our website so that you'll be able to look at them more closely and you know what you'll see here is that people really are hoping that things return to normal and and you see concerns about wearing masks versus not wearing masks for various reasons not everyone is vaccinated and people have differences in opinions again we will await guidance and we'll be able to communicate and share out more information in august once we have that information from the department of health and that concludes my presentation you'll be able to view it again on the website tomorrow thank you thank

022you mrs reshman did the board have any questions or comments okay thank you dr toback did you have another presentation not at this time okay mr moffatt revisions to the agenda yes we have a few tonight i'll start in the l section uh education we previously meaning last meeting revised attachment number two item two line 52 we added esy one to one ta at uh for seven thousand two hundred and thirty six dollars and sixty seven cents morris junior jointure commission we have a new revision line uh 16 on that same item which is item two approval of 2021 2022 out of district placements and related services that revision will be again line 16 and we'll revise student id to read 3009518610 moving on to school resource finance item number three under approval of contracts

023we're going to revise line number 51 which is professional services special ed council a note will be added indicating going to a month-to-month basis for special ed council moving to emergent action items we have under the t section human resources we'll revise under t1 which is approve approval of additional compensation and that's a revised attachment number 19 which is high school summer programming remove name number 36 which is douglas last name is s-c-h-e-m-l-y under t-6 approval of leave requests under line number nine id number four eight six zero van driver transportation revised to june 14 2021 pm half day to june 15 21 22 full day under t11 approval of extracurricular coaches under wayne hills fall coaches we'll be revising it attachment number three ali gianni g-i-a-n-n-i-n revised from step number three which is 2627

024to step number four which is 2782. under wayne hills winter coaches revise attachment number nine we'll be adding a name amanda morgan cheerleading head coach step number four and that is for three thousand one hundred ninety four dollars we'll also be um adding and revising number ten ali gianni g-i-a-n-n-i-n-i which is revised from step number three which is two thousand seven hundred and thirty to step four which is two thousand eight hundred and eighty five dollars um t-14 approval of summer transportation personnel and hours will revise under the aids section we'll be adding number 20. giuseppe last name is v-i-g-o-r-i-t-o van aid at 8 a.m out 9 15 a.m 1.25 hours total am as as needed in p.m revisions on continuing on t t 15 we're going to be adding approval of teamsters local 11

025memorandum of agreement and salary guides record recommended action reads as follows now therefore be it resolve that the wayne township board of education approves and ratifies the memorandum of agreement and salary guides to a successor agreement between local 11 affiliated with the international brotherhood of teamsters and the wayne township board of education dated july 1 2021 through june 30 2025 and authorizes the president of the board of education to execute the new collective negotiations agreement reflecting this memorandum of agreement and salary guides as discussed in executive session we'll be adding number 16 which is approval of business administrator contract for the school year of 2021-2022 that resolution reads resolve that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves for the 2021-2022 school year an employment agreement between william offit as business administrator

026slash board secretary commencing july 1 2021 through june 30 2022 pc number 29-59-23 backslash bbu account number 11-00-251-100-55-003 and as revised and approved by the passaic county executive superintendent of schools we'll be adding another item number 17 approval of assistant superintendent contract for the school year 2021-2022 resolution reads as follows resolve that the board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves for the 2021-2022 school year an employment agreement with donna reichman as assistant superintendent of schools commencing july 1 2021 through june 30 2022 pc number 29-59-17 backslash bcb account number eleven triple zero two thirty dash 100-54-000 and as we've reviewed and approved by the sake executive county superintendent of schools and that concludes the revisions and changes to tonight's agenda thank you mr moffatt okay that takes us to our first public

027portion and this is our first meeting back in public in quite a while so we're all a little rusty so i figured i'll just give you a quick review on the public portion we have two this first one that we're about to begin is only to address items that are on the agenda because we need to only discuss those items first and then get to that business and vote the reason you speak at this portion only is if you have something to say about something we're planning to vote on and that's the purpose of the first public portion then we'll go through our agenda and we will have a second public portion where you can speak on any topic regarding education the microphone is there we'll turn that around you sign in your name speak

028your name and your address and your business and then start your three minutes um dr toback i think you wanted to address something that is on the agenda before we get started so i'd just like to make a statement regarding the reason why maybe some of you are here tonight so assembly bill signed into law this past march by governor phil murphy goes into effect next school year and requires school districts to include instruction on diversity and inclusion as part of the each district's overall implementation of the new jersey student learning standards furthermore it calls on districts to teach economic diversity equity inclusion tolerance and belonging in connection with gender and sexual orientation race and ethnicity disabilities and religious tolerance schools are also encouraged to examine the impact that unconscious bias and economic disparities have

029at both an individual level okay um so um i'll just go back to schools are also encouraged to examine the impact that unconscious bias and economic disparities have at both an individual level and on society as a whole misinformation and disinformation about this law and any associated requirements has not helped matters while the law itself requires guidance to be provided by the new jersey department of education at this point the department has not provided the much needed guidance that would clear up many questions and perhaps some misperceptions as a district we feel this is such an important step because the law is written so broadly and leaves much to interpretation and that has certainly happened here in wayne and many other communities we contacted the new jersey department of education to explain our concern about

030this lack of guidance especially with the school year being only a few months away what we do know is that beginning of the 2021-2022 school year each new jersey school district shall incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion in an appropriate place in the curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12 as part of the district's implementation of the new jersey student learning standards how that look looks has yet to be determined at this point we will be happy to host the parent forum to further explain once we receive the guidance we need thank you dr toback this portion of the meeting is open to citizens for comment on agenda items only residents are to state their names addresses and subject matter comments may be limited to three minutes per person members of the public are discouraged from

031speaking negatively about an employee or a student the board bears no responsibility for comments made by the public comments regarding employees or students i'm going to need quiet thank you i can any further it'll be in my mouth i know i'm sorry technology if you can make the mics louder i know you're watching back there comments regarding and sorry i'm doing the best i can but you need to be quiet comments regarding employees or students cannot be legally responded to by the board other comments may be responded to tonight or at subsequent meetings under old business can i get them over mr bubba mrs albanese when you're ready sir oh thank you my name is jim frieswick i'm a resident of wayne i went through the wayne public school system from fifth grade through twelfth

032graduating from wayne hills high school in 1968. i'm here to speak to agenda item concerning board policy zero one six seven this is a board policy regarding public participation in board meetings and tonight on the agenda the board is considering an amended version of that policy the following language would be eliminated the length of the of the the length of the portion to be determined by the board that's that language currently is in the policy that the board gets to determine the length of the portions of the public portions of the meetings so you're proposing to eliminate that language and frankly i don't understand why because if the board is not going to be determining the length of the public portions who is i don't understand the rationale for eliminating that that language the board

033is also proposing to limit the amount of time that a person can address the board from five minutes to three minutes in my opinion that the board should keep the five-minute rule not every member of the public is going to speak for five minutes most people will not speak for five minutes but there are people who may want to speak for five minutes and i think they ought to they should have the opportunity to do that that's been the rule for a very long time and i'm just curious to know what the motivation is why now why are you proposing to to change the amount of time that a person can speak from five minutes to three minutes in june of this year why i can take an educated guess i don't know whether i'm

034right or wrong i wish you'd fill me in and let me know but i've got a feeling the reason why you want to limit the people's ability to speak is because you don't want to hear what they have to say [Applause] and that's your time mr frieswick thank you thank you next speaker is my five minutes up your three minutes are up excuse me sir i'm the chair three minutes we have a full room we want everyone to have a chance to speak the rule is five minutes you haven't voted to reduce it to three please don't argue the policy with me sir your time is up next [Applause] good morning good afternoon board members [Applause] my name is jim petuto i live at a lemon pontiac drive in town i've been lived in town

035for 40 years my children have gone to throughout the wayne school system public school system i was very fortunate in 1968 i received the ba from rutgers an excellent history degree unfortunately i had to buy gasoline for my car so for the next 50 years i became an attorney but my true love has always been history i read it and i i live it sometimes since i only have three minutes and that's fine i'm going to tell some personal history my dad came over from italy when he was three years old in 1909 he put himself through higher education during the depression and later as i grew older i found out he got in trouble sometimes during the depression working for the unions for such bolshevik and socialist ideas as an eight-hour day vacations workers

036compensation he actually got arrested during that time he was drafted at age 33 fought in north africa fought in italy caught malaria and they took him out of the infantry and they put him into a support group where he worked with a lot of african americans who were segregated from our armed forces because they could not be allowed to actually fight in combat units except for very specialized units my father never forgot what he saw during the depression and now i'll fast forward to 1963. i'm in high school we're watching martin luther king at the march on washington he gave the of course the most famous speech the i have a dream speech which everyone gives accolades but in that speech he referred to the true history of this country if you listen to that

037speech and my father turned to me now this is an italian immigrant man who fought a veteran and he said never forget jim never forget the day our family stepped onto new york onto ellis island we had more rights and more opportunities in this country than black people who lived here whose families have been here for 250 years [Applause] [Music] and he didn't have it easy he worked he didn't have it easy italians were discriminated against but i commend everyone in this room i have family in alabama go to birmingham go to the civil rights museum go to montgomery alabama go to the lynching museum and see the true history of this country thank you so much why are you i'm sorry about that i have your children that's your time i do want thank

038you sir okay if we could hold the applause we'll get through this eve that is on the agenda it's part of our goal which is being voted on this evening that's a goal diversity equity and inclusion and it is on the agenda now another thing the three minutes just to correct some information that was just given out is for your first time at the podium if everyone gets a chance to speak and someone wants to come back if we haven't decided as a board to close the public portion you can speak again so it's not as draconian as you think and there are two public portions you could speak three minutes and three minutes again so that adds up to 12 minutes uh just as a point of information okay ma'am let me know when

039you're ready okay um actually there's three of us that would like to speak together um so we'd like our three minutes to be combined to nine if that's okay no we're going one after the other that's fine but you each get three minutes thank you great of course so state your name and your address and begin i'm shayna kegelman and address 10 bonita terrace in wayne um i'm dana alaquin 94 carol please and i'm brittany coral 36 lawrence road all right start good good evening approximately one year ago today after three months after three straight months struggling to navigate through virtual learning the school year finally ended it was june of 2020 school was out for summer but ongoing fear and worry about the unknowns of covid19 had blanketed our nation and communities the town

040pools were closed summer camps and activities were canceled and as we as parents and caregivers were doing our best as we juggled working from home and taking care of our kids while reassuring them that everything was going to be okay it was during the season of worry and confusion that this board sought out voted for and hired tamika reese a diversity consultant together you our board then hand-picked and assembled the committee of a committee of paid teachers and counselors representative of every school in the district who were trained by ms reese to be able to identify as you acknowledged seven types of bias that might be found in instructional materials from the elementary to high school level they then sifted through scrutinized and evaluated every textbook novel and curriculum to make sure that there was

041enough diversity equity and inclusion present words which some of us recognize as code for critical race theory you may ask what is critical race theory critical race theory better known as crt holds that the most important thing about you is your race the color of your skin and that is who you are not your behavior not your values not your accomplishments just your race and this one thing determines your lot in life according to crt if you're a minority or in other words a minority system group you're part of a system that has been rigged against you if you are white then you are part of the problem you fall into one of two groups the oppressed or the oppressors crt champions victim mentality as its cornerstone while villainizing personal achievement through individual efforts and

042diversity of thought by stifling one's passion motivations and dreams a child is forever confined to the box crt says they are in and there is no way out is this the type of mindset that we want to instill in our children that we are defined by the color of our skin that some of us have an unfair advantage just because of this which will surely breed resentment and anger a month amongst them haven't we for decades been fighting and winning to teach the exact opposite of this that it's who you are on the inside that matters that is what makes you who you are that doesn't stop the clocks we are not defined by our physical appearance and that every single person in this country is given an equal opportunity under the law to pursue

043their goals and their dreams [Applause] we have happily lived our lives in this town according to those principles living side by side with one of the most densely populated urban areas in the country with no remarkable incidents at all why would we instigate an issue that does not exist here let alone amongst our children other than to incite hatred division and discord and to satisfy a narrative and ideology rooted in marxism it is a poisonous worldview one that denies the individual and the content of their character we are the freest country in the world again whether you are black latino asian woman lgbtq every minority every person has equal opportunity under the law in this country to achieve their hopes and dreams why don't we teach that and inspire students to that this is not

044to say that racism does not exist it undeniably does but not nearly to the vast extent that crt would have us believe it is also undeniable that humanity as a whole has made incredible strides to come together and to eradicate racism and discrimination of any kind from society as much as humanly possible why i ask would purposely would we purposely seek to undo the great progress our country has made by willfully separating and dividing us according to race once again board members i ask you where were your priorities this entire year instead of providing relief to suffering students as dr toback presented that we have numerous children in our district with severe psychological issues you decided it was more important to complete an audit for hidden racism which just so happened to occur at the

045exact time that crt is being pushed into every district in america there are no coincidences you in whom we have put our trust to teach our children in math science literature and history are instead indoctrinating our children with radical political ideology and rhetoric derived from the teachings of karl marx this curriculum this curriculum works directly against the students self-worth and identity by undermining their confidence students who are being raised in a home with more traditional values are made to feel ostracized they can't speak their mind against such ideas for fear of retribution we are well aware that many hallmarks of the crt framework under the guise of social emotional learning have already pervaded our schools and our students curriculum the banner has been taken up especially by certain rogue teachers hell-bent on promoting an agenda

046that includes projecting their own radical politic politics onto their unwitting students this can no longer be tolerated equally if not more concerning are the proposed changes to the sex education curriculum particularly those which will be taught to our innocent elementary students the content outlined in these guidelines is alarmingly and needlessly explicit graphic and at times perverse and will no doubt result in the exploitation and harm of our kids impressionable minds [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you're cutting into their time i submit this question to the board since when did the public school system take it upon itself to become the moral authority from which our children learn their values [Applause] you have hijacked this privilege responsibility and job from us as parents and from this moment on let the record reflect we do not consent let us

047not forget the original goal of public education to ensure that the citizens of society were not largely illiterate since then the classroom has morphed into a playground of propaganda in which our children are subjected to the constructs of a narrow political agenda that only has room for one point of view this is reprehensible public education should be suitable for all students of every race religious background and gender it should never be a political or religious forum or a substitution for parenting our children we say that it's time to get back to the basics reading writing mathematics science geography and history music and the arts bring back respect for others kindness compassion simply put teach children to treat others the way they want to be treated leave the politics the religion the sex education the family

048values and morals to us it is time to remember who you serve the community and residents of wayne you were elected to carry out and represent the will of the people of this town and thus far you have failed consider us woke from this point forward we are utterly opposed to this extreme agenda and we will not allow you to continue to infiltrate the minds of our most precious commodity our children they are the future torchbearers of our town our society and for that matter our country and from this point forward we will no longer be swayed by a narrative that leads our children down a path of self-loathing and identity politics resulting in psychological manipulation and theft of the human spirit that is instilled in every child's heart you have stolen their birthright as

049american children and we the parents and guardians are the gatekeepers of our children's hopes and dreams and we will no longer allow them to be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness last but not least for over one year now our children have obediently complied with every single coveted related restriction and mandate even when we knew that those restrictions were not based in science as we approach the coming school year our children will not be muzzled masks will be completely optional their right to breathe freely and to see expressions and smiles and to read lips will not be infringed upon they will not be unnaturally separated from their friends and classmates and teachers with wasteful plexiglas dividers which serve no purpose other than to distract injure and hinder our students from learning day in and

050day out this is not a request from this moment on that's your time no that was not my time [Applause] we demand transparency from this board we demand accountability for the teachers who deviate from the will of the parents and clear the room ma'am i'm sorry everyone gets this we also demand a comprehensive outline of any then step down period [Applause] hi my name is katie cluck on 34 hillcrest drive i'm a wayne uh i'm a wayne resident and a valley graduate i graduated in the class of 2020 a very uncertain year when i was younger i was bullied pretty severely and so were my friends due to our race and her sexuality despite the fact i was obsessed with history and anyone can tell you that i felt completely alone i had no language

051to explain what was happening to the experiences i was facing uh there was no one who looks like me in the history curriculum and the literature we read was not my experiences i was looking inside in something that just was not what i faced eventually i did my own research i found my history that people of color and lgbt people and so many and disabled people have been here for as long as this country has existed they have faced what i have faced and worse we have overcome and that is the story of this nation this language and context has been crucial for me it kept me alive if the lives of children of color are not enough the history of people of color is our history whether you are white you have to admit

052american history is also the history of lgbt americans african americans asian americans latina americans other reading from other perspectives allow expands your mind it helps you understand different ways of reading different language um the voices of it prepares you for the real world the voices of people of color is literature as well the mascot only encourages the harassment and that i face and many of my peers faced as well the american psychology psychological association the national congress of american indians and dozens of other organizations agree racism exists my friends and i have faced verbal and sometimes physical harassment and to pretend that it doesn't exist holds the important context it only holds a context it holds it hostage sex education is necessary it saves lives thousands thousands died due to preventable stis millions have died

053due to aids i tried to hide what made me who i am for a long time but the brave people of color before me have taught me that it does not help i will continue speaking and the people of color in this town will continue to fight as well we will keep speaking we will keep learning and we will keep teaching thanks thank you so much have a great night [Applause] hi my name is edwin barrero and i live in 206 radzer road i have lived here in wayne for about 12 years i'm black of hispanic descent and my wife is white and was born in europe we have three daughters our eldest daughter is white and i became her father when she was one year old we went on to have two more girls

054who are of mixed race our two youngest went through the wayne public school system all the way through high school our eldest graduated from william patterson university critical race theory dictates that my eldest daughter who happens to be white has privilege over her sisters who are persons of color can you imagine the impact that would have we would have had in our family if our daughters who have always been close had grown up thinking that the younger two would need to work harder to try to keep up with their eldest one because she is white and more privileged well i grew up in puerto rico to a cuban father and a puerto rican mother we were taught we are all the same that was the simplest way our parents explained it the differences in people

055we were taught that it didn't matter what people look like we were all created equal by god and worthy of respect and dignity [Applause] my wife was born in switzerland and emigrated to the united states when she was six years old her mother also taught her that we were all the same and when she and i met in high school in the 80s we fell in love we have taught our girls the same thing to treat people the way they want to be treated crt is not about treating people with respect and dignity it's about assuming that people of a certain race are bad can't be trusted and should be shunned unless they agree that they are bad crt attempts to flush them out in crt there is no redemption and no forgiveness this does

056not end well this ends in chaos and tyranny crt is not about diversity it's about division our kids [Applause] our kids will learn to judge others based on assumptions about skin color our communities will be split between us and them everything will be increasingly about us versus them trust us where i live we have indian filipino black jewish and middle eastern neighbors of all races i walk around our neighborhood and i see colors and ethnicities all living in harmony with each other what exactly do we need to teach our kids that they are not already living out in their neighborhoods in their family [Applause] crt will not create crt will undoubtedly create more racism we have come too far to turn back now i for one share dr martin luther king jr's dream i want

057my three girls all three girls to be judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character thank you [Applause] oh whenever you're ready sorry hi um my name is jacob van loonen my wife and i own 48 lake drive east i'm a wayne valley graduate i won the student council award in 2004 i had mr carroll as my epic government teacher he was the best teacher i ever had um so i read through the presentation last week and there was nothing about critical race theory and when i see all these people here this week i think it's just a lot of people who want to be angry about something who are trying to be angry and no and i i just want to be clear here what the man speak

058okay um learning more about diversity uh learning about people of different sexual orientations like learning about these things this just makes children more whole and makes them have a more complete understanding of the world we don't want to have to clear the room so that speakers can be heard everyone has a right to speak here what what i'm seeing here is upsetting because the truth is that there was nothing there that said that somebody is defined by their race there was nothing there that said that the critical race theory is going to be taught in our schools and teaching more diversity teaching about different sexual orientations teaching these things you know it just because that's what a child is taught in school like kids can apply critical thinking to the things they're taught like i

059read camus at wayne valley i'm not a nihilist you know like um i think that people just need to be more reasonable here and including more diversity in the curriculum including authors who aren't dead white guys in the english curriculum these things are good things and i don't understand why people are so upset about it and critical race theory was never mentioned and these things that people are upset about in regard to critical race theory as they understand it to be those things like they're inserting those into this they're adding that to the narrative and i just want the board to know that i support these pushes for more diversity and i think the majority of people who live in wayne do and i think that this is a minority i think it's a loud

060angry minority and i want you to know that by by pushing for more diversity by pushing for a better sex education you're making the youth in wayne more well prepared for the world and you're making the world a better place and i'm thankful for it thank you [Applause] brown nosing is not on the agenda hi hello i'm evan taglorini and i live on five lenope trail here in wayne and i am a graduate of the class of 2020 out of wayne valley and i grew up as an american and as an american i learned that there's three things that you need to love that is jesus christ my family and this country that i live in [Applause] the school curriculum should not teach kids to hate any of those the school curriculum should be teaching

061american children to love this great nation that they grew up in diversity is a code word for anti-white and you could see that by having harvard law school invite a speaker who said that she fantasizes about killing white people is this the is this the language of diversity because it seems like everybody that pushes it seems to have a lot in common with that speaker and another thing why is a why is the new york cycle analysis cycle and out analytic institute pushing an agenda that says that white people are parasitic because that's what i think diversity is really about it's about saying that white people are evil now going to wayne valley you know what i learned i learned that white people are evil i went throughout history courses and all i could hear

062is how white people did everything in this country that is evil never about the good things never about winning world war ii never about pushing america to the point that it's been america is the greatest country on earth and nobody should be taught to hit anybody in america or anybody in this room or anybody of a different skin color or a different religion we all are supposed to love each other not hate each other and that's what diversity pushes thank you [Music] [Applause] my name is walter dano i live at 70 beach terraces here in wayne new jersey unfortunately what i hear tonight is people have been watching the fox news buying into that crap oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah no science no science just trying to speak these people on the board have

063been doing the best job that they can in trying to keep your kids safe that's the truth not some crap that you hear on fox news oh we don't need this we don't need that and as far as the other element is concerned okay critical race theory what are they talking about the fact that in this country plessy versus ferguson a man who was one eighth black wasn't allowed to get the same kind of treatment as other people and was denied that's okay that's okay the point is this country has done wonderful things and this country has made a lot of mistakes along the way and we have to correct those mistakes your kids are going to see kids in their class who have two mommies who have two daddies oh my god the world

064is going to end no that's a reality and this has been going on for years and years that people that are different are discriminated against oh we had an eagle scout oh he's a dod head yeah that's what you people are about [Applause] the things that we've done wrong and all the things that we've done right already this is a great country and can be greater if we show true love for each other [Music] okay you have one minute left and kindly don't use my point my point my point is we don't stop we're gonna have to clear the room my point public meeting everyone gets to speak so i would love caution you not to use disparaging language however continue you have one minute my use of that disparaging language is to make a

065point the point simply being that these same people who believe in law and order are the first to shout anybody down that they disagree with and not give them their chance to talk but it's okay when they spout garbage about other people no he's an american he's an american like you and i thank you very much [Music] are you ready hi my name is lovely medar and i'm hi my name is lovely maddar and i'm a rising senior at wayne valley high school i would like to address the ongoing discourse about the curriculum change first of all change is inevitable and it allows you to to develop new thoughts based on new information but why are we so against altering the curriculum to represent a larger population and learning about new people we need these

066contrasting perspectives to progress as human beings when we the students are in the real world we'll meet so many new people we'll learn about their life stories and we're being done in injustice if we're not allowed to comprehend and digest within the safety of our schools our first district goal is diversity equity inclusion these are but empty words the research the schools have done mean nothing if we don't take action a major point in that presentation shown last last meeting with the advocacy so here i am advocating advocating for curriculum change because i've silently waited 12 years to learn about my people and i've yet to see development so hear me listen to me and see me i want to read works from confucius alexander demoss josephine brown pauline hopkins or bernard tagore not all

067else el salvi but no what we get year after year is shakespeare don't get me wrong he's a very talented artist but he's not the only one there's so many out there that i could have learned about in schools but now i never will because i was robbed of that essential part of my education everyone calls this country a melting pot a rich blend of different ethnicities a fusion of cultures and integration of several centuries of various traditions in reality america is nothing but a school lunch tray the start of the show the pizza of the tray represents our current outdated and whitewashed curriculum but those side pieces those apples and carrots and two percent milk are just as important the stories of millions of these people within our country around the world are just

068overlooked and they're just as important to the health of our education and the growth of this nation's people our curriculum needs diversity like our body needs nutrition thank you [Applause] my name is maria de luca pranza i live at 14 chicopee drive and have been a wayne resident for 46 years i am a proud graduate of the wayne public school system and an alumni of wayne valley high school my daughter just graduated middle school and will be going to wayne hills in the fall i could not be prouder as a wayne resident parent and taxpayer i'm here to say that i wholeheartedly support a diverse curriculum as proposed by the board of education i want my daughter to understand all viewpoints not just the ones she is exposed to at home i want her to

069have a deeper understanding of historical context and know that history is built on the backs of the marginalized but told by the victors so it is even more important to hear the voices of those that have been silenced or underrepresented i am not afraid of anything my daughter will be taught in school because her values are taught at home at home she is taught to value diversity inclusion and acceptance she is also taught that just because she may experience the world one way others who look different than she does or worship differently or love differently may experience the world in a very different way and both are true the reason the experiences are different is something we should all want our children to understand because understanding this is what makes our town and our society

070better for those who might not be aware there was a statewide report released this past march on new jersey hate crime totals and biased incidents by town before i read the findings i thought to myself thank goodness this won't affect me and my town so you can imagine my shock when i read the article and found out that wayne was ranked third highest town in our entire state with the most biased incidents reported to the police this is not acceptable we can and must do better i believe that a diverse and inclusive curriculum is a good start with much more work to follow i also believe parents have the right every right to get information on what is being taught to their children unfortunately the comments i've seen written on by many on social media

071and heard here tonight are false assumptions about the curriculum leading to a lot of inaccurate conclusions even when dr toback offered additional clarification in his letter there was still there were still residents posting vehement opposition to the proposed curriculum without facts to support them in conclusion to my fellow parents who are listening no one is going to teach our children to be racists or to feel guilty about who they are other than their parents teachers are here to educate our kids about history science english and literature but they should be learning these subjects accurately as they occurred not as we want them to have occurred i'll say it again i support a curriculum comprised of diversity inclusivity and equity and maybe most importantly truth [Applause] hi my name is marissa buddick i am a wayne

072valley graduate and i would like to thank the board of education committee for what you've done the last year to make wayne schools a more inclusive environment the presentation given by tamika reese gives excellent suggestions and ways we can make the k-12 curriculums more accurate and inclusive for all students it's important for students to explore who they are in their in their identities being able to learn about the infinite ways one can identify in the classroom will shape the way students can see the world and the people in it implementing authors that are indigenous middle eastern asian indian lgbtq may allow students of those groups to actually read and learn about their own rich history and who they are in a school setting it may make them feel special and valid it will allow students

073not of those identities to recognize and celebrate those who are of those identities additionally when students can learn about gender and their relationships to their bodies in a respectful and accurate way that will also make them feel a bit more secure in who they are and a bit more knowledgeable just in general we cannot ignore uncertain thoughts and feelings students may have on their gender identities and in their bodies so by shutting down those thoughts as inappropriate doesn't solve the problem it makes it worse for them in the long run this revised curriculum will also tell the history of this country and the world in a more accurate way we cannot sugarcoat and ignore the history and current implementation of imperialism colonialism and white supremacy [Applause] i'm speaking so i appreciate it you can be

074quiet we cannot sugarcoat that today's police started as slave patrols locking up free black and brown people we cannot ignore the history of redlining and how it plays into effect today and once students learn the real history it will allow them to advocate for what they believe in to make this world better true true change and equity starts in the classroom and if we can raise these students to have a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives they will grow up to be a loving open people of all races genders sexualities and cultures i implore members of the board of education to not give in to the right-wing ideologies that will only hurt the students not help them the decision to keep the wayne valley mascot was made based on who responded to the survey she

075does the decision to keep the wayne valley mascot was made based on who responded to the survey the most not on what was morally right and just so with making the curriculum more diverse i implore you to continue doing what is right and just and not only basing it off the number of people speaking out [Applause] members of the gear me okay members of the board good evening my name is evan cavello resident at 29 sunset terrace and i am a wayne valley 2014 graduate during that time at wayne valley i was very involved i was a varsity athlete and i was elected president of the student council as someone who was and still is invested in the wayne valley and wayne schools experience for our students i commend the commitment to teaching the valley's

076diversity equity and inclusion in an academic setting in k-12 as someone that within this decades graduated from wayne public schools graduated from rutgers the state university of new jersey and become employed i can say that this competency does prepare you more for the real world this is something that unfortunately when i left wayne valley i felt like i did have to play catch-up on so teaching about race is challenging and learning about it and accepting history is challenging but it's not about guilt it's not about victim mentality it's not about propaganda it's about the truth students deserve the truth students can handle the truth students have more grant and resilience than we give them credit for and they can handle the truth on these issues i say put all the information out on the table

077trust in teachers to use these values and core principles that teach our students in the most holistic way possible embrace those resources to do it thank you very much for your time and attention [Music] [Applause] hi um yvette wenting seven seminole uh wayne new jersey so dear board of education and dr tobach i am struggling with how to address your email you sent to the wayne parents on thursday june 17th addressing the topic of critical race theory you noted that crt is not here in wayne's school system and you're not going to indoctrinate our children but it is already happening i can tell you from my first hand experience what it looks like when only one view on history or any subject is taught in school and it was during my youth in czechoslovakia where

078at the time it was a communist country so from where i stand and knowing what i know this is where we're going i previously previously i have provided you in writing with some examples of what my children were subject to at their time last year in february 2021 first grade social studies inappropriate brain pop video seventh grade new zealand article that was presented was full of hate and new zela is used every day in our schools and finally in 10th grade history class i have learned or our kids have learned that u.s constitution was made by and for white supremacists as it was noted by your teachers dr tobag had investigated this incident and found that there was no issue because the teacher provided the information in the class that was approved by the board

079during this class also videos were provided from brown university as the only source so our children have no way of differentiating between two options to be able to discuss to different views to be able to discuss i spoke with dr martinez and he said there's always an opportunity for the children to talk about other options but how can they talk about it when there's only one view presented so this is what's taking place in our children's classroom we as the parents did a little audit and we found many biased views um that were presented to our children from the other side so we really want our children to be not indoctrinated and be taught you know we're okay with having presented whatever the truth is but no opinions and no political bias in the classroom

080i came to the us for the opportunity and the freedom and i can tell you in an equitable place freedom and opportunity do not exist in my home we teach our children to treat everyone with respect the way everybody wants to be treated and we have friends from all over so do not discriminate please stop the division and stop teaching hate thank you [Applause] hi i'm pam masik 47 henchman av and wayne i'm here as a concerned resident and mom i've raised seven kids i've got ten grandkids i'm studying law education is really important but what's more important is the heart of our children i love quotes and there's one that says all that i am and all that i ever hoped to be i owe to my angel mother does anybody know who said

081that yes abraham lincoln someone who is largely homeschooled and yet went on to be one of the greatest presidents in our nation's history i'm here to say we are neighbors you're my neighbor i'm teaching your children and they're watching how we navigate the situation they're they want to see our influence in their lives in our community in our homes and we want them to be history makers like abraham lincoln he didn't need a diversity this or that he was taught character and i just want to encourage you that if you make decisions without including us as you're hearing our voices then we will put feet to our voice i homeschooled for 20 years my youngest is now in school i've run the gamut i'm in all support groups and i will help whoever needs to

082home educate their children if their children's values are not upheld we we understand about school voucher we will do things peaceably using the the law and our rights to find out what's happening with our taxpayer dollars and we we have as you see we have a voice maybe you didn't expect it but we're your neighbors we want solutions and we want to work together we are not asking the government to co-parent our children we are asking for academics and let us you have a we have such a diverse group we have a large muslim group we have jewish christian conservatives that don't have those values that others do but yet we want to co-exist we have great neighborhoods we do a lot of community events i mean you said there were six cases reported and

083only two were substantiated and one other thing as a substitute teacher i was in history in high school a week or so ago and on the wall was a huge poster there were about 12 pictures that looked like the cover of time magazine and it was all the same president but it was so derogatory i thought how could they do that with barack obama like all these terrible things oh wait it was ma'am trump [Applause] hi john pennington 242 beach terrace i've been in wayne for almost 30 years i'm 76 years old i'm a grandfather so i know a lot of several generations that have been in schools my mother was a public school teacher in texas where i grew up in segregated texas so i've had a lot of experience that some of you

084may not recall but before i start i just wanted to thank everybody up here i haven't seen this kind of openness in government you know where i grew up i wasn't there then when i read all these rumors that so many people seem upset about on social media i started looking around on the website you can see the entire curriculum for this school from k to k to 12. and i read the superintendent's letter and it's very clear he doesn't believe in this crt and isn't teaching it and i looked it up it's not even a clear thing and i know people all over the country and it's not infiltrating our school system so i just please address the board sir now what's interesting here sir sir please address the chair i'm embarrassed only thank

085you embarrass that people on one side of this disagreement always feel comfortable interrupting the others you're my neighbors i'm not this isn't supposed to be a democratic republican body you're buying into conspiracy theory people my age remember when people were paranoid and said we shouldn't have a catholic president and then we elected kennedy i mean there's there's a lot of we have evolved and we're still evolving but there's a myth about this conspiracy and i'd be the first one marching if i heard teachers in wayne schools were teaching white kids that they were the problem i think our kids wouldn't buy into it and neither would their parents so i think there's an imagined problem here and i think everybody here ought to go back and read the superintendent's letter it just seems clear i

086don't think [Applause] diversity itself to say diversity is a code word for something else are you going to say life liberty and the pursuit of happiness or a code word or or equality i mean people are being taken in by nonsense on social media and that's disturbing to me we're probably the most diverse nation on earth and we're going to become more so and our children need to learn about the past that does not mean they don't learn about the good things but they need to know that the irish the italians the jews the chinese muslims blacks and other religious and ethnic groups have been treated unfairly and that right now for the last four years there has been a rise in hate crimes and i can tell you that on my street i know

087people who are so i'm sorry in our community who who have been the subject of verbal harassment because they are not white that's your time sir thank you [Applause] my name is anthony maragliata i live at 220th place i'm sorry my name is anthony moragliata i live at 28th jewish place um so first off i just wanted to start by speaking as a wayne valley alumni i graduated class of 2017 that keeping the wayne valley ending was the best decision that has been made in this township so i say this because we definitely should not erase our history our history should be revered and that the indians do have a history in this township and that we should cherish history that has been made in wayne um growing up i was told to love america

088and my family my friends and most importantly myself but to teach people to hate each other that's a different story and you know i don't hate myself um that's exactly what critical race theory does it teaches you that um it teaches that your race is the number one thing about you and that um and that's that's the exact opposite of what martin luther king preached um in that um like i mean i don't really see that but i would say like at that teaching students to see you know race is number one thing when we should be seeing the content of their character is not right we're going backwards now but yes i acknowledge racism is bad but to teach students that we are that were inherently born racist is just going to throw gas

089to the fire hi my name is stephanie katz i live at three amy way i've been away in residence since 2006 and i've been raising two boys in the school district i have a question um that i would love to have clarified i'd like to know what it is you mean by equity that you last used in your ladder dr toback and also what ms reece was alluding to when she was talking about what she was investigating for our school district to many of us equity means equal outcome no matter how hard you work or not you will end up in the same place this is different from providing equality or equal opportunities to all of our children in the wayne community in light of your answer i would also like you to explain the

090mission statement and how equity applies to our children of wayne it's just a question i i just think that would clear things up because people don't realize that we have some fancy jargon for other bigger words like critical race theory maybe we're all confused but if you could explain what you all mean by equity that would help thank you [Applause] my name is robin duhain 36 lawrence road and i would like to donate my time back to my daughter [Applause] i'm just going to pick up where i left off from this moment on we demand transparency from this board and accountability for the teachers who deviate from the will of the parents we also demand a comprehensive outline grade by grade of any changes made to the curriculum we demand to be kept abreast of

091exactly what our students are being taught we will not go away we will not be silenced we demand a seat at the table and make no mistake we will be the loudest voice in the room because let's not forget these children belong to us and we have their very best interests at heart [Applause] if you as an elected board member in this town feel that you're unable to fulfill these duties and abide by the oath you have taken to serve the members of this community then we kindly ask that you immediately relinquish your position and step down from the board thank you [Applause] okay hi my name is sandy prasakos i'm at 28 dartmouth road i want to start off by saying in my opinion it was wasteful spending to hire a diversity consultant i

092did hold on i did my own google search that night because i couldn't understand a lot of the terminology and i actually found the exact information that your consultant presented as well as ideas for lesson plans on satcher.org s-a-d-k-e-r-dot-org so the exact labels of bias in instructional material that teachers were told to investigate came from the work of david and myra satger the sackers education philosophy is by no means balanced so this is quite shocking to find out that we're going to be following guidelines set forth by people who have biased views to begin with especially towards white males so satcher.org will show you what i mean uh ultimately i can't help but assume that the most obvious reason to hire a diversity consultant is for optics purposes so i've listened through many board of

093ed meetings and the way that some people are extremely disrespectful to the board i don't agree with that i don't not even with the people you know up at the podium we all have a right to speak but yet these are the same people that it seems like have been the biggest influence over you that kind of has brought about um this change so you're telling us that we're overreacting and we have our facts wrong and that all these changes are not going to happen overnight the problem is that we don't want these changes to happen at all we were sent a letter stating that the district will not be implemented critical race theory yes it is true that the title itself critical race theory was not presented but the components of critical race theory

094were there in the terminology that was used in the presentation and i could put forth a presentation for you for free and it's not a joke i'll donate my time because i know the consultant was paid but again i could have provided you that same info that she did with my google search so i i have to and again with all due respect with all due respect i think this is what the big problem is i went and i wrote i know it's a hand written here but this there's 34 terms could be more um that i counted i did not understand from miss tamika reese's presentation but one by one i'm i'm googling them or you know looking at different sources and they all in a way lead to the tenets of critical race

095theory so that that needs to be explained and i think it would solve a lot of you know everyone's issues because maybe some of us don't know some of us do know and that's where the back and forth comes in um so there needs to be more transparency with that uh and again like implicit bias for example that's just you always have bias and you don't know that you have it so i don't know how how am i supposed to get away from that thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] god hi my name is roger gunnels i'm from uh 22 loudly ave folks i'm a combat veteran i have very men overseas and i stand before you appalled that i have that i have to stay here and teach you and tell you right from wrong

096[Music] i'm not finished i'm going to read to you an email that i sent to mr toback i'm writing you to express my grave concerns regarding the direction of wayne schools i recently learned that wayne school's board of education has entertained the instruction of subject matter that is inappropriate dangerous and has absolutely no academic value whatsoever not only does this subject matter not have any academic value it's what i and many others consider to be harmful to our children it is honestly inconceivable that our parents are forced in pleading with the school system so not to endorse and carry out an unethical radical liberal agenda and forcing it down the throats of parents and children through our tax dollars we the people parents the citizens of wayne demand and expect a sound and useful education

097that will that will help our in preparing our children to be to be to become productive members of society not pawns on the liberal on the liberal chess table and an ideal of social and social justice the kids the kids themselves on their own with instructions from their parents can make their own minds up on this on to the subject matter as i understand a wayne school board desires to teach children not not even young adults sexual subject matter that is difficult and inappropriate for even adults to talk about this is absolutely repulsive repugnant and disgusting creating the young minds of our children is an act that brings it corrodes children's minds tell them not listen carefully tell me what's the difference between a convicted sexual predator and a school system teaching young children inappropriate

098sexual subject matter there is no difference the school system will not hide behind the misrepresented and misguided liberal definition of education apparently when school board is willfully ignorant of the ongoing problem facing our communities regarding motherless and fatherless homes and what impact that brings on our children any attempt it brings to teach such vulgar and inappropriate subject matter will be met with great rebuke and will not be accepted or tolerated let us talk about the void of any void of any intelligence and academic value the subject of critical race theory or or live subject matter disguises with similar technology terminology such as diversity equity and inclusion aimed at creating the minds of our young children indicting them for crimes they have not committed you are right mr mr toback you are right we did in

099your letter you said that that uh we're connecting crt to what's being proposed you're right we're not fools we know what you're doing critical race theory or otherwise teaches that all members of minoritized groups look i'm not going to get into that because this is a long email but we all know what crt is it it teaches certain kids that they should place themselves beneath other kids because of the color of their skin and that is exactly what racism is you can't fix racism by teaching racism if that's your time sir [Applause] hi good evening um i'd like to start by saying first of all thank you and bless you all because you have more patience than anyone i've ever seen in my life i have wow we don't even know how to let people

100listen um first of all i'll get to what was just even mentioned um i've spoken at these meetings several times after i'm sorry patricia brown 1500 ratzer road after listening to people this whole year disrespect the board disrespect this town saying that they pay your salary which you don't even receive saying that you have done nothing for the children and families look how shocked some people are by that saying that teachers are lazy and much worse once again some people in rain are busy screaming and never listening critical race theory was not brought up we can try to connect the dots and make things there that are not all we want but it was not i want to speak to you guys because this side of the room is has to be better than this

101side of the room that's really the bottom line and the people on this side of the room are here to do a job and you were elected for that job because you're well educated because you're you're you're progressive and you know what things need to be done taking surveys for people on this side of the room is what led to 20 years without a full day kindergarten which thank god we finally have because this side of the room actually knows better you study things you look at things and if we want to continue and while i appreciate it doesn't bother me while i appreciate the thought exchanges going i won't i am next going to the oppressors to talk about oppression never works it's like asking slave owners if we should get rid of slavery

102it's not going to happen you guys have to be the progression you guys knew we needed a full day kindergarten for a very long time but the other side of the room is what kept it because they voted it down time and time again even though well-educated people know that it was not the right decision so we have to stop asking some people but anyway at some point you guys have to just make the decisions maybe you don't get reelected you have to know that that's a possibility but do what's right for this town it's not a popularity contest and of course you already know the loudest voice in the room is not always the smartest um and i would just like to leave you i'm sorry ma'am i'm sorry that's your time change in

103progression okay no i'm sorry ma'am that's your time okay progression comes with pain thank you [Applause] can we try to stop drowning out the speakers please we're almost done phillip rizzo 45 millbrook road [Applause] when it comes to bias uh the things that i've been listening to tonight were perfectly represented by the last speaker that is the perfect representation of bias talking about who's on which side of the room who's sitting up front and who's sitting in the back i heard one racist remark about a scout that came from somebody where we know which side they're on the eye rolls the curtness of your time is up has clearly represented bias throughout this entire meeting i think it's vitally important for every parent here to understand that these are your children not those that believe

104their elite that sit facing the crowd there is a movement happening in america and also in new jersey where people are being fed up by those that think they are smarter simply because they have initials in front of their name or after their name the most important title anybody can have on this earth is parent [Applause] everybody in this room you're going to have a very long time with this board being the way that they are i recommend instead of coming here and standing for three minutes at a podium week after week i recommend running for school board unite your voices [Applause] unite your voices and put the people in control that will represent children the most and that is every person behind me school boards are run with three officials up on a rotating

105basis and arise new jersey arise nj.com arise new jersey is a school board entity a statewide initiative that i started two years ago to help put parents back in control i recommend everybody go to arisenj.com get the resources you need get the encouragement you need and put the people up front that are going to represent you and your family thank you [Applause] my name is annette collecerta i live at uh where do i live 135 12 stride i've been in wayne forever i have spent 40 years secondary elementary or every school every grade i have taught shakespeare tambien espanol everything and i taught in wayne about this passaic county tech nobody went here anyway in passaic county tech yes we had our problems oh i taught hackensack i thought south bend in not just pacific

106county but people were all different colors all different uh nationalities and if i were to go into an all black school now or back to passaic county tech or a multi-racial school these kids are liable to look at me and say you'll be a white supremacist they're liable to stone me now i mean we can't get this white supremacy theory it's just a theory who thought it up i don't know if i'm a product of white supremacy i mean i worked sweeping floors for three dollars a week if that's where white supremacy got me well okay but anyway i am not here to speak i want to give my time to edwin barrera um diversity i normally don't look at people by their color but now all of a sudden i realize that you need

107me up there [Applause] who who is going to be the morbid diverse and give me your seat of course of course i'm just kidding but i'm trying to make a point to you i wouldn't want your seat and no i mean i would be happy to do the work that you're doing but i think you're lousy at your job and and i would be i would be just one voice in the sea of inadequacy so i please i implore you please i implore you to think about what you're doing look at the world around us today do we need more critical race theory more accusations more that white person this black person do we need more of that or do we need more people looking at each other and learning from each other and getting

108to know each other and living amongst each other and being nice to each other and treating each other the way they want to be treated not not judging people just being what we know we should be as americans we don't need to learn that from some diversity guru that can can get a 50 cent certificate on the internet that's all i have to say thank you [Applause] my name is julie bertland and i live at 126 lake drive east and i have one daughter who just finished first grade and i have two more coming up into the school system first i would like to thank all of you the board for all the work that you are doing this has been an incredible year and you have had to think about us as a community

109as a whole and that is incredibly hard something that i've witnessed i wasn't planning on speaking but just learning from the voices today and something that i've learned is that we are a diverse group here there are many opinions many beliefs and something that i've learned in reading about the work that you've done and the proposal that has been put forth is that you as a board our school system is trying to encourage equity diversity and inclusion and that means listening to more voices and hearing more stories and understanding the histories that make up this country that we live in and so i don't know why we are that's one thing we have in common here is that everybody wants to be heard and that's what this proposal is about is that more voices more

110history so we can have a better understanding of where we are today and how to move forward better and so i thank all of you for thinking about the community as a whole and not just listening to one voice but to listen listening to all of us and i just want to encourage all of us to continue to create spaces especially in our school in our classrooms where more voices can be heard and more history can be learned so that we have a better understanding a more holistic understanding of who we are and who we are as a country and how to move forward together thank you good evening my name is jennifer leighton i've been a wayne resident for 35 years and i'm also a product of the wayne public school system before i

111adjust the board i do want to add that i have spoken to our superintendent about the matters listed below and i want to thank him for taking the time to hear my concerns i do feel like this is worth repeating so that the members of the board and the community can hear my concerns i've been a taxpayer in town for 10 years and i've always considered that this is a great investment as i would eventually have children in the school system that day has come i have a daughter who is set to enter kindergarten in the fall unfortunately my family has decided to not enroll in wayne public schools but rather to put our daughter in private school as we are not comfortable sending her to wayne public schools due to a lack of overall

112transparency as of now there has not been a public invitation for incoming students to see the schools and at a time like this it is important for families to be informed and comfortable about the classroom and school environments that their children are entering from what i do know of the current situation with our schools we have five-year-olds who are seated alone at desks sometimes inclusive of shields on their desks at all times with masks on this level of social isolation for children this young is not developmentally appropriate does not support social emotional growth no matter how many times we like to repeat that these kids are resilient this will become increasingly more challenging for both students and staff as these young children are transitioned into a full day schedule to add to this already distressing

113beginning of our school our daughter's school career in wayne we now have additions to the curriculum that have yet to be written into a transparent grade by grade plan for both sex ed and equity wayne is a town of 25 square miles we have many amazing and diverse families it would be nice to see our school district involve the community as they form a curriculum in a transparent manner so that our community members do not feel disenfranchised in doing so i feel that some of the opposition that we see tonight on both sides would be clarified in a constructive manner thank you [Applause] [Music] hello my name is sabi savitas i just have one thing to ask everybody in the audience here and everybody that is listening to it remotely in november there's an election

114in every part of this state for board of education you can get on the ballot if you get your ballot submitted in the end of july i need everybody in here to get on the ballot and change things from the way they're going to the way they were before and the way that is right thank you [Applause] madam presidency no one else arrives and moves to close public session second mr bubba ii mr cadillac moved [Music] facilities and transportation committee met this evening i was mr blanchard mr moffat mrs kazan and myself we're updated on the summer construction projects going on in all our schools the upgrades to the heating system at wayne valley which will be computerized and controlled the kindergarten rooms we're putting a finishing touch on and we're looking at a reorg

115in the transportation department that's i don't it the agenda from tonight do you have a copy of the agenda yeah they grab mine from the from the sub meeting i'm saying committee agent the committee which committee uh personnel tonight i've read my whole package i could do the communication okay i'm sorry mr pavlak were you finished who else had a committee report this evening okay well she needs the agenda do you have a copy you weren't there were you no no i could do communication yeah okay go ahead the communications committee met tonight in attendance were michael bubba dawn kumar eileen albanese uh presided over by dr toback the superintendent of schools we reviewed quite a lengthy list of media presentations news articles e-articles we also reviewed in case you haven't seen it the end

116of the year newsletter which is a salute to all of our 2021 graduating students there's a lot of really nice information in here about what students have done what they're looking forward to doing it's a wonderful tribute to the class of 2021 and uh that concludes my report thank you mr dana yes i have the report for the personnel committee from tonight in attendance is myself susan puddup donna reischmann and paula clark in the meeting we discussed personal committee minutes which were discussed and approved we reviewed several questions regarding human resources from the agenda of the 24th we discussed a per diem and permanent sub rate for 2020 for 2122 we reviewed uh the secretarial sub rates also we also reviewed caregiver and clerical system increases for 2021 these were discussed we reviewed a request

117for full year unpaid leaves from several employees we extended the contract of the interim facilities director we reviewed a job description of confidential hr employees we reviewed the uh we reviewed single unit contracts also for the meeting and that's it thank you mr giordano okay let's move on to the rest of the agenda i get a mover then president i would move the whole agenda that's one item second second i will second it mr giordano moved by mr pavlak seconded by mr giordano moving the agenda as a whole discussion madam president i would ask that we table the vote on public policy zero one six seven participation in board meetings because there's been an omission in the policy i would like it to go back to the policy committee for review before it is brought

118back to vote on the agenda thank you are you making a motion yes i'm making a motion i'll second that oh second okay so uh mrs puttup is uh giving us a secondary motion to table the policy the second div by mr bubba so we'll vote on that first and get back to the full agenda roll call mr moffatt roll call on the tabling motion mrs put up we're tabling an item and we're voting on it the public portion policy go ahead sailing motion uh mrs put up yes mrs albanese the policy that we're voting on is policy zero one seven it regards public participation in board meetings um while the policy was amended at the last meeting to eliminate a time overall limitation on public speaking at each portion on the three-minute rule was

119the other portion of that policy change i spoke against this last time i'm going to continue to speak against that um so my vote would have been no but i'll agree to tabling the policy to go back to policy committee thank you mr bubba i agree the table mr giordano yes the table mrs kumar yes the table mr pavlak i'll send it back to table but i don't agree with it i didn't agree with it last week i'm not going to agree with it now we have something in place in policy if we wish to change something has to be voted on by the whole board should not be a policy that allows one person to dictate what we can or can't do with a public session mrs kazan yes tabling motion carries this was

120still omitted it took away our right to change it what's before the board is the whole agenda minus the tabling of policy number zero one six seven any other discussion on the agenda the rest of the agenda okay well mr moffatt put up yes mrs albanese yes mr bubba yes mr giordano yes mrs kumar yes mr pavlak yes and i'll abstain on emergent item t17 noted and mrs kazan yes motion carries at this time we have some retirements to read would like to go first mr giordano thank you i want to read the retirement blurb for mr luigi tulapani mr luigi tulapani is retiring after serving the wayne township public schools for 33 years luigi has held various positions in his 3-year career in the district he started in 1998 as a full-time custodian for

121a few years in 1992 he became a groundskeeper which he held for eight years in 2000 luigi was lead groundsman and in 2008 he was promoted to district ground supervisor luigi has done it all when it comes to grounds work in the district be it summer fall winter or spring he was outside cutting and edging our natural grass lawns raking leaves trimming tree branches and shoveling snow in the last six years luigi has held the position of district custodial supervisor his main focus is to make sure all 16 buildings and schools were properly maintained and cleaned by his custodial staff he also made sure facilities related to requests were addressed in a timely fashion during covid luigi played a major role in making sure all ppe supplies were ordered and delivered to the buildings his

122staff of full-time and part-time custodians were responsible for ensuring the cleaning and disinfecting were applied to high standards they also played a part in preparing each building in each of the opening phases for the students and the staff to return back to school safely luigi is responsible for several critical areas fire safety equipment ipm asbestos and fleet management just to name a few outside of school luigi enjoys spending time with his family especially with his dog cooper he also enjoys attending red bull soccer games we'd like to thank luigi for his years of dedicated service we wish him all the best and hope he takes some well-deserved recreation time thank you [Applause] mrs albanese eileen hayes has been a valued member of the wayne valley high school community for 32 years throughout her time eileen

123has taught a variety of special education and inclusion classes with a high level of effectiveness empathy and professionalism as a member of the math department eileen has always been a leader while participating and contributing to various initiatives eileen has one of the strongest work at work ethics of any educator we have ever been around she is extremely well respected and liked by her colleagues administration students and parents throughout her years eileen has always worked with a variety of students and prepared them with rigor and real-world applications at a high level eileen has always been a strong leader and an educator and both her colleagues and the administration respect her perspective as a highly effective educator she is a strong communicator always advocating for her students contacting parents after hours setting up meetings or offering additional

124support or are all examples of how eileen always went above and beyond for our students so they could find the success they needed eileen will truly be missed by administration colleagues families but most importantly by her students who she has always had such strong rapport with for her supportive fellow colleagues her attention and enthusiasm to teaching and overall impact on the wayne valley community we say a huge thank you we want to wish eileen hayes health happiness and good fortune as she takes those next steps into retirement congratulations [Applause] barbara giuliano congratulations to barbara giuliano on the announcement of her retirement she's been a dedicated and appreciated co-worker of the wayne board of education for many years she's a wonderful colleague with a true love for teaching and has a profound and has profoundly changed

125the lives of many children barbara is energetic passionate and patient she has gone above and beyond for each and every child to learn their interests and their names she has always put the students first and has made sure classrooms were prepared for the day and gathered materials for the day to ensure success for each and every student she has shown dedication and development trustworthiness relationships with everyone she encounters it has been a pleasure having barbara as a member of the school community we are confident that she will find the same success in her retirement and continue to touch the lives of so many we send our best wishes and congratulations on a well-deserved retirement [Applause] this is put up james brown will be retiring from the transportation department on june 23rd james began his career

126as a bus driver on september 19 2010. over the course of his 11 years of service to the wayne township public schools he has always been dedicated to his job responsibilities mr brown as he is known by his parents and students has always received many compliments for his professionalism and caring nature during his tenure the transportation department has received many calls near the end of each school year from parents requesting mr brown to be their children's driver again for the following year i can attest to that as he leaves his job with us this will allow james to move south to a warmer climate yet he plans to still drive a bus in south carolina the transportation department and the wayne township public schools wish to express their sincere thanks and appreciation for his outstanding

127job performance and dedicated service from all your friends and co-workers we will miss you and wish you the best on your move to south carolina may the next phase of his life bring all that he seeks and even more thank you for your service james [Applause] marianne gunther mrs marion gunther has instructed math for 18 years 17 of which have been in the wayne township school district at the george washington middle school where mr leonard has said he has been very fortunate to have served as her principal for the past nine years during her time at george washington middle school mrs gunter has instructed sixth and seventh grade math and for the past few years her concentration has been sixth grade mrs gunther brings a true balance of compassion and academic rigor that is needed

128for this age level in the classroom mrs gunther has a warm and comforting personality thus creating an environment where students feel free to be active participants and take academic risks the connections she has made in her classroom during our student's sixth grade year continue throughout their time here and her students know she's always there for them always being there for her students was just the start for mrs gunther during her time at the middle school she has fostered the same relationships with the faculty and administration for those who have been lucky enough to work with and truly get to know mrs gunther you can understand why her students are so connected to her and look to her for support and guidance she has always been there for the students and staff both in and out

129of the classroom but now it is time for mrs gunther to commit all of her time to her family and enjoy what we all know is most precious to her we are so thankful for the opportunity to work with such a caring person and we thank mrs gunter for all that she has done for the george washington middle school congratulations on your retirement [Applause] [Music] [Applause] mrs coomer domenico solomon mr dominica solomon is retiring after serving the wayne township public schools for 23 years of service demonic was started back in 1997 as a part-time custodian but only for a short time demonico became a full-time custodian in 1998. in 2000 domenico became head custodian at fallon elementary school in which he became a staple of the school for the last 21 years dominica has worked

130well with each principal at fallon and with his co-workers he has taken pride in the work and accomplishments he has made during the pandemic he played a critical role in ensuring the cleaning and disinfecting were applied to covert standards he has made sure on a daily basis that all kids and staff were accommodated with supplies and taken care of domenico is proud of his wife and adult children he looks forward to spending time with them along with a planned vacation to italy dominica is a self-professed jack of all trades some of which include a meat butcher roofer floor tyler and all around general construction in his previous career he was a foreman for thomas's english muffins for over 20 years we are sad to see him leave the wayne family but we are happy that

131he will begin to enjoy his well-earned retirement we hope that dominica will be able to enjoy his family we'd like to thank domenico for his years of dedicated service and wish him all the best [Applause] and last but certainly not least diane douffett diane douthit has been a dedicated employee of the wayne township public schools for the last 30 years she has educated the young minds of students at john f kennedy a.p triune and randall carter elementary schools with a love of music her lessons always involve movement fun and of course great music students could often be found coming in for extra practices to expand upon their musical skills or create a great surprise for a school assembly mrs d's lessons always work to expand students understanding of music by exploring different countries and cultures

132backgrounds and experiences to understand the great traditions of music everyone at randall carter wishes diane the best of luck in her retirement may her days continue to be filled with the music that she shared with all of us [Applause] okay we'll move on to our final public portion this portion of the meeting is open to citizens for comment on any topic residents are to state their names addresses and subject matter comments may be limited to three minutes per person members of the public are discouraged from speaking negatively about an employee or student the board bears no responsibility for comments made by the public comments regarding employees or students cannot be legally responded to by the board other comments may be responded to tonight or at subsequent meetings under old business can i get a mover

133mr giordano mrs put up okay good evening eda ferrante wayne education association president i'm here tonight to read a letter that was given to the educators in this community it starts with the word appreciation it's defined as recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something a full understanding of a situation we have been thinking a lot about how the pandemic has changed us at the micro at the macro level we have seen the importance of science and public health but this experience has clearly affected us in our schools as well those working in public education have never felt more vulnerable and responsible we are forced to quickly adapt to new to new ways of working amidst learning about new procedures programs and policies to operate our schools and classrooms each day during

134a pandemic this year has shown us that despite the traumatic scars this pandemic has left on us we are forced to adapt to dramatic change and to the best of our ability normalize the day-to-day educational experiences for our students your daily interactions with our students offered some of the best support for our school community during the height of a national crisis we could not be any prouder of the work you do and your commitment to getting back to school this is just a small token of our appreciation for all you do each and every day to keep our students our schools the best they can possibly be stay healthy and hydrated with gratitude the central office administration team and the wayne board of education members and this letter was followed by water bottles and i

135just want to remind the board to put this sentiment into settling our contract thank you good evening trustees my name is kristin valencia and i'm an elementary school counselor i'm sure that i don't have to tell you that the last two school years have been extraordinary the coronavirus has presented the district's educators with challenge after challenge while we often struggled with faulty technologies and constantly changing schedules our educators had to make learning happen class after class day after day as if there wasn't anything and we made it work many of us fell victim to illness we even lost two of our own members others have lost family members and some have struggled with the mental and emotional challenges during this crisis after all of this stress and heartache imagine our disappointment to hear that the

136bargaining process to give our educators a fair contract is at a standstill yes we made it work over the last two years now all we are doing is asking to make it work and to offer us a contract that reflects our work and our skills and our dedication we gave and we gave now all that we are asking is for our raise in september we don't think that's too much to ask a few weeks ago the board sent our educators a water bottle for teacher appreciation week with their thanks for their efforts this past year i'm sure there were some good intentions with this gesture but it also seems contradicting i am sure you can guess how many of our educators felt when they received a water bottle and then we're told that the districts

137simply cannot afford their raises in september many saw this as an insult the letter that was attached which you just heard appraises for a job well done but when it comes to the contract negotiations the opposite is being implied so as a respectful gesture but a symbol of our disappointment we are politely returning the water bottles that will be outside in the lobby in hopes that you can return them and use that money towards our salaries to our parents we obviously have not seen eye to eye in the past year in regards to the reopening plan but the one thing that echoed meeting after meeting was what a good job so many children's teachers were doing you know you may not know this but back to school night is not in our contract we prepare

138for them set up for them and attend them all on our own time because we feel that they are truly important due to the status of negotiations some may be assuming by now that we will not be attending these events in the fall but after this year the educators aren't interested in playing games your children are too important to us they are your children and our shared responsibility we have seen what the pandemic has wrought and we know that there is work to be done however we do ask in fact we urge that the board postpones back to school nights until the educators in this town have a fair and settled contract we want nothing more than to meet all of you and welcome you into our classrooms it is important for you to see

139what is important to us but we cannot in good conscious spend countless hours on such an event only to find out that our work isn't valued we can do both things at your time have a fair contract and do back to school in an equitable [Applause] hi katie cluck 34 hillcrest drive um i'd like to address the question of critical race theory makes white children hate themselves first off that's false second off this isn't critical race theory it that's just not what this is um and it just that's not what happens when you learn about history however erasing the history of people of color and our accomplishments does make children of color hate ourselves we are more than the dark moments the proposed changes will just expand the education system to include us why does

140the thought of people of color being confident in their history scare you so much history is important the accomplishments of people of color are important the history of lgbt people is important thousands upon thousands of queer people queer men died due to aids we cannot let our next generation face the same issues our dark history biology sex education all mentionable i'd like to quote mr rogers i'm grew up in mr rogers neighborhood i'm sure many people in here did as well anything that's human is mentionable mentionable and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable i'd like to tell the all the lgbt children disabled children and children of color in our education system you are not alone you are from a long beautiful history not only in tragedy but in happiness and love and

141accomplishments and i'd like to address the board and say that we all deserve to learn that history whether you are white or whether you have to you are a child of color and you have to do all of that research by yourself that is all part of all of us we are all a part of one another thank you [Applause] history's history we should learn all about it not a problem with that but don't twist it and don't make it fit a political narrative crt teaches that members of a minoritized racial group are victims of a system that is rigged against them those born into privileged races are inherently explorers of minority that that could not be more false after serving in combat you love everybody we all believe green i don't care what your

142race color creed religion is you all you love you love the men and women beside you because you put their lives and you put your love in their hands and they put they put their lives in yours i'm not finished we want to talk about is wayne's school system proposing that kids that white kids be taught that they are racist and to place themselves beneath those of a different race god forbid simply put you get out of life what you put into it ben carson is a prime example of one of the greatest success stories in american history that if anybody had an excuse to be a bad person he did but his hard-working mother did not she couldn't even read and she made sure that man grew up to be an outstanding man and

143you look what what blessings god put in that man's hands if the school system is going to teach the impact of slavery that's fine we should we should teach about history should teach you about slavery but let's not forget about the barbary slave trade who in here knows about that where the where the european whites at the same exact time as the atlantic slave trade was going on the barbary slave trade white europeans were enslaved by the muslims and taken to morocco in greater numbers why don't we teach about that i know it's inconvenient but we should right we should i mean if we're going to be an inclusive society we're going to be including society we should teach that right or is that just not allowed for the liberal agenda shame always public school

144systems for even entertaining these senseless and ignorant and violent theories of which there are no professors if if concerned parents do not bring about change from a clear intentionally misguided political agenda then wayne school system will have admitted that they are no longer they no longer have the best in mind for our children and are carrying out the greatest fraud of child abuse ever seen my child will not take part will not take part in anything that is valueless senseless and goes against my christian faith thank you [Music] tori esposito woodlot road i'm still waiting for the letter from the board and dr toback to governor murphy about unmasking the children in september like all the other superintendent districts are doing why do we need to wait until what what dictator murphy is saying covet

145i guess didn't exist for the first three weeks of june it was okay because it was hot please please do not wait for him put pressure on governor murphy unmask the kids [Applause] hi i just have couple ques quick questions um in regards to what the gentleman was just talking about just this week i was with third graders again substitute teacher and and they made them keep their masks on they went out to play it was 90 degree weather they came back in before when they were lined up they had to put the masks on they come in the little boy one little boy says i think i'm going to pass out i need to take my mask off and they said no and i tried to stand up and say well why not it's

146look at the he's sweating we just came back from jim no he says that all the time i had to march down to the principal's office and advocate for that third grader so that when i came back he didn't have to wear his mask that's the second time it happened in that particular classroom so we do have to be absolutely clear you can't have some paris or substitutes or whatever because they personally want to wear a mask make all the kids wear masks that's number one number two i've been certified since last july k through 12 throughout the state of new jersey as a substitute teacher i kept asking well when can i start i kept hearing at the board meeting sorry we don't have enough substitutes we don't have enough substitutes i wasn't i

147wasn't approved until december and then i couldn't start working till the last week in february i'd like to know why i've been here willing to work and help and then i'm told i can't only work four days a week and not five like what are these things but we have money for tamika that could have just googled it but these are real questions you know if our kids are first i want to know i want to know why i couldn't work sooner and be a part of the solution so i think that's a fair question i think we have summer school and i'm going to probably apply and you're going to see me around in july for your kids uh you know they need to know they don't have to wear a mask they need

148that clear that has to be stated come july 1st thank you hello i just had couple comments i have emailed the board many times you've probably seen my name coming across and i very very rarely receive a response there's only two board members who respond to me mrs kazan and staci sher who always respond to me but nobody else does so i wanted to point it out also i will be emailing you today some examples as i noted before in my speaking that of what already happens and it's not just for me but it's from other parents we have put it in a little spreadsheet and i want to just make a note of it that you will be receiving it tonight thank you madam presidency no one else tries to move hope go ahead

149i'm sorry sorry um i just wanted to know why a committee was not put together to try and find a solution so that our teachers didn't have to simultaneously teach virtually and in person which was quite the undertaking for them and i'm sure you know it was an extreme struggle so why couldn't a committee have been put together to figure that out figure out the teachers who wanted to stay home and teach virtually and let them teach virtually and the teachers that wanted to be in school allow them to teach the students who wanted to return to school i think that's a fair question to ask it seems like people had time to be on committee so why wasn't that a more pressing matter is there an answer i'm sorry we don't do back and

150forth dialogue okay i just wondered if there was you know a little answer okay thanks we'll have final comments [Applause] madam president seen no one else rise i moved to close public section second i said i'd be happy to do that um oops i'm sorry did anyone hear what i just said i asked dr toback to address how we plan to move forward with communication with all of you on this topic okay so first of all um we do appreciate all of you attending the board being tonight and we do appreciate your input we can't hear you okay you gotta lean in here you go okay how about now i mean i don't know so we we do appreciate all of you attending the board meeting tonight we do appreciate the comments that were made

151we do um by by sitting here and listening to what you're saying we do certainly understand more about the community the concerns of the community and um as i said before what we would like to do is we would like to have a parent forum because obviously there's a lot of people who have a lot of different concerns and it's certainly fair to ask questions to be concerned about what's being taught in school to make sure that ultimately you're satisfied that your child is getting the kind of education that you would like them to receive okay now that being said what i would like to ask you to do is for everyone who has a child in the school system for all the parents here what i ask you to do is you know i'm

152not asking you to look at every single thing in the curriculum but i ask you to look at the curriculum for your child's upcoming school year okay it's all posted on our website it's very easy to find and if you take a look at the curriculum some of the things that were said tonight like i said if it's a collective effort to go through the curriculum some of the um comments that were made about particularly some some of the educational programs that are proposed for young students none of that exists none of that is in our curriculum so there is some misinformation out there that is being spread and i ask you to read the curriculum go through what your children will learn and make your own mind up don't respond to what maybe you

153you hear about on social media i mean certainly you can go through social media but sometimes i think that some of the mis information that's out there has to do with that there's definitely a lot of misinformation out there look at a curriculum make sense of it and come prepared to have a discussion about what it is exactly that the school district plans to do i will also re-emphasize that ms reese and her work with the district was a year-long project there was a goal that was established last summer for that for that particular purpose the district went through a process there were committees formed there was a report on the from the different committees and there was ultimately a presentation made to the board of ed nothing was done in secrecy that is about

154as transparent as it gets the fact that you're here tonight makes it certainly um obvious that you you have gone and you've read the the information that was presented at the board meeting and you have concerns about that and i do agree that some of the terminology that was used is certainly i could see how depending on your point of view why you might be concerned about some of that terminology so that being all said like i said i encourage you please review the curriculum we will have a parent forum at some point in july late july early august and all this will take place so for example any changes to the curriculum that is not something that just happens okay the curriculum is something that makes its way through the board there's an education

155committee of the board of education they review curriculum they provide updates every board meeting when they meet they talk about the curriculum that was discussed any changes to the curriculum those are all reports that are given to the community so like i said it's it's important to understand none anything that you are concerned about would would not happen without your knowledge so that's an another important part the board um does provide that information to the community so stay involved and like i said we'll have that parent form and hopefully at that point um we'll have a number of speakers that will help everyone understand different parts of what the district is is attempting to do so um with that being said we do thank you for coming out tonight thank you dr toback any board

156members care to comment mr giordano put this aside so you can hear me first of all i want to uh thank and congratulate everybody who came tonight um this has been a brutal 18 months for many different reasons and first of all welcome back to chambers i'm very happy to be back here in chambers so i can see the faces of the people here i saw a packed room full of passionate people one side passionate on the other side you are all very caring about your children and so are we here's the problem a state law came down from the governor's office that says you have to do this as usual the governor's office he said you kind of do it yourself you will figure it out later on and if you read it it's

157pretty much the way it comes about here so as usual we've been given a bowl of flaming whatever and said deal with it this is the time to deal with it i asked last week last week at last meeting to participate whether you're for the curriculum change whether you're against the curriculum change we're all servants here none of us are rulers we serve at your pleasure we need to know and hear your voice we want you to continue with this voice to the person said we didn't respond to the emails i didn't respond to the 63 emails i received in 48 hours the message was perfectly clear you have an issue you need to come here and you need to deal with this we are the process and mechanism to make things go this is

158your town you are the ones who have to decide this and the best way that's going to happen is with that gentleman over there who just invited you to sit down and have an intelligent passionate well thought out conversation i'm here to tell you right now that not everybody here on one side of the issue is a hundred percent right and not anybody on the other side of the issue is a hundred percent right the truth always comes down the middle but as i look around here i see half room full of people who took one side half of the room took the other side other than a little bit talking back and forth it was a civilized discussion and i salute all of you for and i ask you to continue that process do

159not fall asleep this is far too important get into those meetings talk to dr toback keep emailing us we do all listen to it but we have to listen to a gigantic community here so please don't fall asleep on this thank you mr pavlak i too thank you for all coming out tonight and speaking up and speaking about issues it's nice to see your faces again and not look at a blank computer screen i respect each and every one of you i respect each and every one's opinion what needs to happen is or the big problem i see is when you have politicians dictating curriculum and developing the curriculum it's not being developed by educators the whole critical race theory was not developed by educators it was developed by three attorneys in the late 1970s

160so when you don't involve educators in curriculum it fails look at common core prime example of government dictating what's going to happen in the schools not involving educators but involving major corporations and major book companies who made billions of dollars off of it enough we need a curriculum not which divides children or divides anyone but one that brings them together that is what's been fought for in this country and a lot of people have died for it we need [Applause] we need a curriculum that teaches the truth [Music] all right not just but where do the textbooks come from the textbook company what is curriculum it's driven through the federal and state legislation and by the time it gets to us like a lot of other things in government there's not much choice left keep

161keep talking keep your voices up i have to say i was a little disheartened to hear tonight from some people about situations that have occurred where we have educators telling kids what to think that's not education i have a great mentor at sea and hall in my postgraduate program his theory is when he presents something both sides get to argue it very collaborative but at the end of the day at the end of the semester i said to him doctor the whole semester you never gave me your opinion on any topic we discussed we went from morality to affirmative action and everything in between he goes that's what a good teacher does [Music] [Applause] go ahead mrs kumar so i'm actually really happy to be here and to hear everyone tonight in person um it's

162been a long road um but as now chair of the education committee and someone who has been on the education committee in the past year as we've discussed in committee one of the biggest things that we talk about is we look at the curriculum that the job of public education is to teach critical thinking in order to analyze a breadth of accurate information okay accurate information now that means there's plenty of good things out there there are plenty of bad things out there too and we can all be proud that we get to sit here and i can be proud to sit here that i got to marry the person i got to marry because of the loving decision okay we all get to do different things and we should all be proud of where

163we are and what we've become no matter where you're from but we need to critically think about what happened before us where we came from and accept who everyone is where they are so we need to critically think about the past and that's okay that's it [Applause] this is thank you for being here this evening um just as mr pavlik did research i did too and critical race theory was begun at harvard law school in late 70s early 80s it was not meant to be something regarding the interrelationship between races it was not meant to have people feel bad for being white that's that's an accident of our genetics where we lived where our parents came from however critical race theory examined things like redlining and different laws that had an impact on minority communities

164it used words like diversity equity inclusion but now those words are being taken out of context and being used politically to make people think that our curriculum is going to make children feel bad about themselves that is not the goal in wayne public schools no one should ever have to apologize for their skin color their beliefs religiously or how they conduct themselves so i just want to caution you that about critical race theory being used in a way that it was never meant to be used it's easy to grab onto those buzzwords so thank you again for being here this evening and we appreciate each and every one of you [Applause] oh i'm sorry go ahead mrs albanese i want to echo a lot of what my fellow board members had to say tonight i'm

165not going to repeat since everyone spoke very eloquently but as this is our last meeting in june i really did want to use my time to congratulate all of our graduating students our fifth graders moving up our eighth grader moving on to the high school most especially the class of 2021 you're an amazing resilient group of students parented by some wonderful people who got you through some really difficult times um so this is our last meeting in june we had five wonderful graduations over the last several days i want to congratulate the students the parents the staff members many of whom were here tonight really for an exceptional job during very very difficult times so congratulations to the students and um i i wish them all the very best in their future endeavor so thank

166you that's i wanted to use my time thank you guess i'm last first of all i just want to clear up some misconceptions about the role of a board member like mr pavlak said and it's something i've been working in trenton personally on a few state committees there's not a lot of local rule left most of what we do here is dictated to us by the department of ed the state board of education and the legislature uh by the time it gets to us uh we have a minute amount of autonomy and that's unfortunate and it's it's something i argue constantly in trenton and mr esposito if you're still here uh we do talk to the governor maybe not in the public manner that you're seeking but um he receives information from us we lobby

167as a group the new jersey school boards association and we work directly with his office on things that we don't always necessarily agree with so yes we are always advocating always talking uh to our representatives uh and to the governor's office and we take an oath to uphold the constitution so whatever the state dictates to us that's what we have to do and if not there'll be consequences so it's easy to say just do what we want to do but unfortunately that's not possible but we will continue to advocate obviously we report to you directly you elected us and if you're asking for something then that's what we'll lobby for clearly uh that's what i will lobby for i go with the consensus of the community that's definitely who i report to um and no

168we don't get paid just throwing that back out there in case you didn't hear it during the meeting this is a volunteer position and um i think my colleagues to the right and left have done an amazing job this year we've been brow beaten and bullied and treated pretty badly uh over things that we have very little control over um like the mandates and uh unfortunately you know it's our job we'll take the heat not a problem and again continue to push for uh better solutions our curriculum is not hidden as dr toback mentioned it's online easy to find you can read it uh it's broken down quite comprehensively i have to say and yeah petitions are due i believe it's july 25th so if anyone really believes who ever stated it that we're doing

169that lousy a job by all means uh very few people run um maybe now that you know we certainly don't get paid we'll have the usual turnout of candidates but uh you're free to do it and i welcome new people anytime this is your community and and your right to run for public office um but i wanted to end the meeting and the year on a positive note with gratitude um grateful to that most of us survived the pandemic and our lives will always be enriched by those we lost i'm grateful to our students for persevering and moving forward with their education no matter how challenging the switch over to mostly virtual learning was for them i'm grateful to our teachers who went above and beyond to ensure a quality education was delivered in spite

170of ever-changing schedules technology issues hybrid classrooms and fears for their own safety and families i'm grateful to the parents who stepped up in ways they never thought they would have to it was tough stressful and downright exhausting i can only hope there were some fun memorable moments that you will always look back on and remember fondly i'm grateful to our administrators and secretaries who worked hard to keep our building staff so we could remain open as often as possible nobody signed up for that sort of crazy scheduling i'm grateful to all of our support staff who stepped up as well we couldn't run our schools without the custodians bus drivers paraprofessionals and substitutes i am grateful to our superintendent and his staff at central office who led the way with communication technology changes constant plans

171faqs changes from trenton i think everyone's cardiologist had an uptick in patients this year it was stressful i'm grateful to my colleagues we were the target for things we had very little control over i thank them for handling themselves with grace and professionalism through many difficult meetings and finally i'm grateful to have attended all of the year-end promotions and graduations ultimately our graduates were able to enjoy the end of the year with some sense of normalcy as a good friend always reminds me there's always this silver lining if you just look for it so congratulations to the class of 2021 and i hope everyone has a nice safe summer thank you [Applause] can i get a mover mr giordano thank you meeting adjourned who has the year-end brochure