001foreign [Music] here [Music] all right [Music] nation under God indivisible with liberty thank you yeah approval of meeting minutes [Music] this evening Cambridge Springs Rodney Bullock [Music] okay [Music] before Audrey begins can you hear me speak in the microphone I usually have a loud voice I just won before she starts I want you to recognize who you have in front of you she is a first time competitor at the Pennsylvania state journalism Association competition she competed at Penn State Barron and she we just found out on Monday that she is moving on to States and she's ranked second already in the editorial comment um writing so you have expertise in your hands thank you Mrs Miller I'm Audrey Bullock and I'm here to update you on what is happening in Cambridge Springs before we left
002for Christmas break students were trying to meet our bag three-ton goal it was it was a success as we raised 6798 pounds of food for those in need the seniors raised the most amount of food with the Juniors right behind them also before we left for break we hosted an assembly where teachers did a series of Acts that students submitted this was an incentive for the students based on how many showed up to the how cool is your school news broadcast in November 57 of our students attended along with a hundred percent of our support staff and 89 percent of faculty these numbers show the dedication Cambridge Springs has to showing our school spirit our high Q team participated in the Scholastic scrimmage quiz Bowl sponsored by wqln watch them in action on wqln on
003January 17th airing at 5 30 pm it will be shown again January 19th at 8 30 and January 22nd at 2 30. great job to the high Q team a new addition to our high school is the Karen closet the caring closet is available to any student in need of hygiene products winter apparel and other things like deodorant hair products soap and toothbrushes and toothpaste it is free to any student who makes an appointment to utilize this closet thank you to the teachers that worked to put the caring closet together parent-teacher conferences will be held Monday January 16th from noon to 7 25 pm second grade student Landon kernahan from Mrs hardick's classroom is in the running for artist of the week on the Artsonia website he is competing against students from other states in
004grades k-3 for a 50 gift card you can vote for him by going to the Artsonia website the artist of the week program is a simple and fun way to remind us that every child is an artist and deserves a moment in the spotlight according to the Artsonia website it is the world's largest collection of Student Art published by teachers congratulations Landon and thank you to our Elementary art teacher Mrs Walsh for giving her students amazing opportunities like this one February is heart health month heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States I'm sure all of us have known someone at some point who has been affected by heart disease to spread awareness of heart disease and strokes the elementary school is going to have an assembly in February our special
005teachers Mrs Bullock Mrs Walsh and Mr dutchcott are going to team up to offer heart-related challenges during special time to educate students on heart health they are collaborating with the American Heart Association for this event the elementary PTO is hosting a family bingo night on February 24th doors open at 5 and bingo starts at six and ends at 7 30. there will be food a basket auction and prizes the PTO has raised over ten thousand dollars over the past few years that is helping us build a new playground for students thank you for your time and I look forward to updating you on what is happening at Cambridge Springs next month uh as the journalism advisor I would like to share as Debbie did that Saegertown High School has seven students who qualify for pspa
006States and one of those is Jason Jason Giacomo a freshman who competed for the first time congratulations Jake Paul [Music] my name is Jason Giacomo and I am here to update you on what is happening at Saegertown High School parent-teacher conferences will be held Monday January 16th from noon to 7 25 PM visit Saegertown hs.net to sign up or you can find the link on the panther press media freshman Emma kenernack won Grand Champion market Rabbit at the 2023 PA Farm Show we are proud of the students who travel to the farm show each year and we will post all results to the school's media seniors Lucia Sweeney Quincy Zuck and Damon Rossi are attending the national tooling and machining Association ntma Manufacturing Academy with guidance counselor Christy Mogul they have visited High Point tool
007sippy historic machine shop star and Tool and Manufacturing in tool and die future trips include testing automation accutek Precision Aerospace Pinnacle molds and Greenleaf Corporation the program school is that participants will be hired for either a full-time job or an internship as one of the companies students from Cambridge Springs Maplewood and cash are also participating in the program on January 21st the shs high Q team will compete in the Western PA U.S history pool and be at Southside High School in Hookstown PA this tournament is a qualifier for the national competition that will be held in Washington DC in April tune in to wqln weekdays at 5 30 pm to see local quiz pool teams including Saegertown Cambridge and Maplewood compete in 2023 Scholastic scrimmage matches will Air from 9th January 9th to 27th beginning
008today Masters will rerun on Thursdays at 8 30 pm and Sundays at 2 30 PM we can't tell you the final results so you'll have to tune in to see on January 27th students who have applied at the Crawford Tech will attend work sessions in the shops of their choosing they will be excited to hopefully receive acceptance letters in April saegertown's boys wrestling team finished second at Tool City last weekend sophomore Carter Beck was Crown champion at 114 pounds while Junior Porter Brooks finished second at 215 pounds other medalists include Travis huya with third Greg Kaiser with the fifth three sevenths from Gabriel Jordan Aaron chardo and Logan corner and an eighth place from Glen sample seven student journalists from the panther press have qualified for the PA School press Association State journalism finals to
009be held in March at State College they are Brennan McRae newspaper news chase the Giacomo feature writing Lauren Edwards broadcast script writing Naas Lee editorial cartoon luthia Sweeney newspaper photography Katie Reynolds and Elena Merchant literary magazine artwork we wish good luck to the following students who left today for pmea district 2 course at Warren High School Lucia Sweeney Travis Peters Haley Reynolds and Jasmine sample we are excited for Saegertown students to return to musical festivals this year thank you for your time we look forward to updating you next month follow us at thepantherprest.com foreign [Music] good evening again penncrest school board and administration of course students family members from our penncrest area I introduced myself again to you I'm Debbie Miller I am a long time 32 years teacher in English language arts program here
010at penncrest don't laugh Mr Brown I saw that and um now the paea president and I want to come to you tonight and I want to remind you because I think sometimes we're losing sight that there are great things happening in penncrest you already heard tonight about the the Cambridge Elementary student who's um doing fantastic things in art you heard about Audrey if you couldn't tell I was a little bit proud you heard about the Saegertown students did you also know that recently we've had alumni coming back to our high school Penn State Engineering majors and grads talking to our physics students and you know what they're saying they're saying stick with it guys here this is the best place to be to prepare yourself for a college for a career they talked about taking
011the hardest classes they could in high school and sometimes not doing so well but they did it in an area that they were cared for supported and educated also I think that we need to remember that our diamond is our small schools it's amazing here that is not the case everywhere kids have small class sizes they have chances to do things that in other schools my nieces and nephews have attended big huge schools six kids get to be you know in the the drama thing or five kids get chosen for an AP course out of hundreds where here we have so much more opportunity for them and where does it start we have great kids and great families where does it go from there I'll tell you it goes to the faculty I don't know
012if anybody in the room besides myself is aware that on our penncrest faculty of about 220 teachers we have 172 that are at Masters or multiple master's degrees and above they are experts ladies and gentlemen and they know their field and they know what they're doing but you know what they're the best at and I think we've missed this a lot lately they're the best at caring about the kids in this community they're the ones that see the struggles they're the ones that support those aspiring kids when they're not sure if they can make it and that's the best thing about our faculty I said all that and I just want us to focus on it but I would be remiss if I didn't say this before I leave we were disappointed I came to
013you in December and I said please let us be part of the future let us be part as teachers I also encouraged you to include family members parents and students unfortunately I've had only one board member reach back out to me now I could say we're all busy Christmas goodness Lots going on or I don't know I don't know what the reason is and maybe with a little further reflection with a little pause right now we could look at some of the things that maybe are on the table in front of us tonight and take that moment of pause and say you know what I want to do better I want to as a school board use those resources the teachers the families and guess who's most important that you need to hear from the
014students yes Audrey and the student from Saegertown Chase they did a great job but you need to talk to them about the day in day out as well as the teachers and the parents as stated in December we're hoping to make a change of working together and truly truly serving the goal if that's the goal of doing what's best for our kids reach out to us please thank you foreign on my own before we call the first one we got uh 12 speakers listen and our policy there's a district policy limits us to 30 minutes of speaking why what are we going to do we're going to keep time and we're going to keep track of the time because some speakers will speak less than five minutes and if we go over if it's final
015time to to get other speaker to speak they'll be fine you know we're not going to limit but right now we're going to follow the sequence we have we're going to keep track of the time and and then when it is exceeds 30 minutes I'll let you know now I need to volunteer from from the uh outside the board message would you be willing to keep track no I would prefer not to okay then Mr Johnson and I will keep track and do the addition all right objection via the sunshine Act sorry you're not a born man but there's no objection I'd leave anybody in a public meeting at any time can raise an injection via the sunshine act what is the objection yeah I believe that since there are 12 registered speakers and they
016each are supposed to be a lot in five minutes that 30 extra minutes of speaking time during this meeting tonight is not an unreasonable accommodation considering that everything on the these people are speaking about is up for vote foreign [Music] okay he's he's not even a board member reasonable objection to the sunshine ends would you please in violation of the sunshine [Music] ma'am is that true so you are also listen not ours okay Mr Hill please take your stand would you allow me to just say what I was going to say to her which was that to me not to heart which was that it is not my role it is not my role to make adjudications no of these matters disabilities to the chair so the ways to see now they'll be removed I
017believe you're in violation of sunshine I believe I can't be removed because I want to say that missile remover because she's notified the Apollos is very clear that we have a disturbance yeah the state law is clear Sunshine act allows anyone at any time at a public meeting to say that they believe there's a violation of the sunshine you're disturbing this meeting and so I'm asking you again to either sit down on the league I believe they're disproportionate if you haven't if you have any evidence if you want to come and get involved with the free Amendment and all that you've been you've made your objection okay he said no that's going to be the end of it he said no so I'm asking you to either sit down or we have to take a
018walk outside my entire objection has not been hurt made the objection okay I'm not going to get involved with free speech or amendments here but now you're being on the point of he's asked you to be orderly you're not being orderly so you can either sit down or we can walk outside let me let me ask this let me ask this just very briefly okay you said that your entire objection had not been heard now understanding that you're not going to get a ruling from me because that's not my role I don't have that Authority here okay yes now please State your full objection my well I said part of the objection right so what's the question part of the objection is that I believe that it's disproportionate because seven of the 12 speakers that
019are registered and it's on Monday to speak and the people that are not everyone who did not have a cheap chance to speak on Monday or because they were not registered may not be afforded an opportunity to speak today okay is that your full objection yes okay thank you very much [Music] stay away [Music] tell me when to start [Music] okay as you continue to debate and discuss policy revision I would like to take the opportunity to thank this board for being so open-minded the first amendment is alive in penncrest you have taken extra measures to be sure that all voices are heard you have upheld the right of citizens to speak and by doing so have provided for a robust and diverse representation of opinion during this discourse you have heard from many who
020support your policies voters from Maplewood through Cambridge Springs voters from Saegertown from Rockdale Township Troy and Athens townships from Cambridge Borough Cambridge Township from Woodcock and Hayfield and the borough of Venango all standing with your policy revisions against pervasive vulgar child obscenity because child obscenity is wrong and there have been those that oppose your policies and so now I ask you to put on your critical thinking caps please follow my logic and draw your own conclusions about the nature of those that support child obscenity and pervasive vulcer content penncrest is a district comprised of six schools that contain roughly 2500 students with a 13 to 1 student ratio according to niche.com so roughly 200 teachers plus or minus so let me ask you this question how many teachers and how many Librarians have come forward
021to voice their opinions from your three grade schools the answer is not so let's consider high schools how many teachers how many Librarians have come forward from Maplewood the answer is none okay so let's consider Cambridge Sprints how many teachers or how many Librarians have come forward to express outrage from Cambridge the answer is none have there been any students from Maplewood have there been any students from Cambridge Springs that have come forward to express their dismay at your revisions the answer is not so let's progress let's go to Saegertown up to this point there have been no students and no teachers there have been no Librarians against your policy from any of the other schools so now we come to Saegertown so I ask you the question how many teachers and how many Librarians
022have come forth to express their outrage at your proposals from Saegertown how many more the answer is one let me say that again one teacher of all the teachers in your District just one so what about students in Saegertown all students that have come here voicing their first amendment rights have been welcomed and applauded and I want you to know that I appreciate that so where has all the Descent come from these students hail from one school from one club and from one English Department taught and advised by that one teacher I hope that this sheds some perspective on the actual scope and source of objection I don't say this to detract from the importance of of their voices being heard on the contrary I believe that all voices should be welcomed and I sincerely
023thank you for that and then there were three students from Saegertown who came forward last meeting to express their support for your policies and to call attention to the misinformation coercion and manipulation regarding a petition that was being pushed through their school I suggest that this should be investigated so in closing please don't be afraid to do the right thing sanity is wrong one minute okay pervasive vulgar books are wrong please let me say it again child obscenity is wrong it is not protected by law in Pennsylvania it's a crime this is not book Banning this is not censorship this is implementing a good policy for book selection for your District thank you [Applause] [Music] good evening I'm Daniel McComas Troy Township Maplewood School District um I got some more reading for you guys at
024this meeting too with hopefully we can get more through more than three sentences without anybody wanting to vomit this time so I moved to a different book this is uh The Bluest Eyes available here and Saegertown as well as Cambridge Springs high schools uh let's see his attention is therefore gradually settled on those humans whose bodies were least offensive children and since he was too diffident to confront homosexuality and little boys were insulting scary and stubborn he further limited his interest to little girls they were usually manageable and frequently seductive his sexuality was anything but lewd his patronage of little girls smacked of innocence and was associated with his mind with cleanliness yeah little girls are the only things I'll miss do you know that when I touch their sturdy little and bit them just
025a little I felt I was being friendly I didn't want to kiss their mouths or sleep in bed with them or take a bride of my own playful I felt and friendly two of them Doreen and sugar babe they'd come together I gave them mints and money and they'd eat ice creams with their legs spread open while I played with them it was like a party and there wasn't nastiness it wasn't any filth there wasn't any odor there wasn't any groaning it was just just a little white laughter of little girls and me this is a disgusting crap that people coming up here after me are going to try to defend they're gonna say it's necessary for the mental health of some kids in this school it is not porn is shown study after study
026even in adults frequent uh people who are big into porn of mental problems and when you're putting this crap into the schools we send our kids here our these parents send their kids to our schools with the full expectations they'll be protected and cared for while they're here and the teachers will not be putting this kind of sorry stuff in the hands of our kids this is wrong it's illegal and this is a lot milder than what I read on Monday and it only gets worse we've got uh the violent rape graphically depicted of 12 year old girl who by the way cleans up the blood with her underwear we've got drug overdoses drug dealing oh Peter said coming up from his knees do you have a I mean come on is this really appropriate
027material for kids as young as seventh grade seventh grade in all of penncrest schools this is being handed to kids and it's not about book Banning it's not about hating on anybody it ain't nothing like that it's about getting these books out of our libraries and these perverts that are giving them to our kids away from them and out of these schools these teachers have no place here they're social activists and they're groomers at best anybody that wants to get you can't buy a kid a pack of cigarettes until they're 21 years old because they're not mature enough they're not responsible enough to handle a cigarette but at 12 years old we can give them a lot worse than what I've already read out here a lot worse and people are defending our own staff
028in our schools are defending this stuff it's disgusting I think these people need to go um these these books definitely need to go these teachers won't stop uh they've been doing it this long and getting away with it for years apparently this just didn't happen overnight these books were snuck in under the nose of penncrest parents again they never knew anything about it nobody ever gave any school official their permission to give their kids this kind of garbage and we shouldn't be allowing it at all it's completely un there's no educational value whatsoever I mean if you want to learn how to be a proficient pedophile or maybe a hooker or something like that yeah I mean if that's your job aspiration life these are the books for you give these to kids and they'll
029they'll probably be able to figure out how to be a degenerate real quick um it is just absolutely mind-boggling that anybody would try to defend given this stuff to seventh graders mind-boggling these people are pedophiles get them out of our schools get them away from our children and keep them there um and I've heard uh people worried about a lawsuit it's cheaper to pay a lawyer than it is to fix a damaged child thank you [Music] I'm not going to read what I read Tuesday night uh the only thing I want to add and because we're over on time and I'm going to yield most of my time mandated reporting being a bus driver we handle kids teachers handle kids mandated reporting for this kind of stuff these these books and this this verbiage falls
030under that mandated reporting I looked up those sanity laws Supreme Court is reviewing a case from 1972 about obscenity laws so somebody said do we wear a little pen Crest we shouldn't get involved with some bigger School District well it's got to start somewhere and it's got to start some with someone and if the Supreme Court's looking at it and you got incentivize and we have mandated reporting I think every man and woman on this Council knows the responsibility of a mandated reporter when a child is being abused in this kind of text surely Falls in that category I yield the rest of my time Harry Francis steinbrum [Music] good evening well-known author C.S Lewis stated the best children's literature provides profound moral lessons in a form that Delights and inspires young and old alike
031many of today's writers even best sellers tend to leave out all the good parts of a story they present self-absorbed anti-heroes storylines are normless and morally ambiguous of the story's end all learning is from imitation whether in the mind or acted out school shootings suicide bullying teen sex self-mutilation doing away with the nuclear family excuse me among other such things are present in those types of books in our school libraries under consideration this evening can we only dare hope these themes are not imitated in real life by Young Learners of penncrest school district we think in education is something we do to children and young people whereas it's something we do with them they have most of the work to do they want to know and what they want to know is the goodness of
032all things the penncrest school district vision statement allows to develop lifelong Learners so why are we not scholastically in culture inculcating Discerning reading habits for a lifetime reading habits that cultivate goodness cultivate character and cultivate Humanity students are voracious in their desire to collect information almost everything a young person does is for the first time great books not only teach enrich Inspire and entertain the reader can learn from them profound things beyond their personal experience our life is a story so we like to read stories the best books many of them Timeless tell a great story young people have the gift of awe and wonder which is the provocation for all deep learning through good books young people can see life in a different way Beauty tragedy and Triumph cowardice and courage good versus evil
033Coming of Age loyalty betrayal life and death Justice family power change through to and and tradition it is with great dismay on my part that our library policy must be further defined for our Educators as to what the term ethical means as well as what is considered profane and mood for public school student concept consumption calling these types of books from the school libraries is not a matter of censorship but of stewardship not only of the district funds but also our student Minds spirits and social and academic success perhaps the district could provide an even more well-rounded education for our students as a young speaker mentioned at an earlier board session and off and offer the Bible as literature course in our high schools well that's table that discussion for another time tonight I'd like
034to finish my presentation with the tale of two wolves one evening an Old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside of people he said my son the battle is between two wolves one is evil It is anger Envy jealousy doubt sorrow regret greed arrogance self-pity guilt resentment inferiority lies false Pride superiority and ego the other wolf is good it is joy peace love hope Serenity humility kindness benevolence empathy generosity forgiveness truth compassion and faith the grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked his grandfather which wolf wins the old Cherokee simply replied the one you feed thank you [Music] my eyes were open more than ever Monday night I've known for a while from past meetings that you take with certain citizens say what the grain of salt and
035see other citizens comments as fact even without proof from credible sources and studies it should be blatantly obvious that that to you that what is happening in Central Bucks will happen here when these policies are passed and enforced I realize that some of you may have the money to waste on lawsuits that are unwinnable but this isn't your money this is taxpayer money Title IX was brought up at the last meeting what you don't realize is that you will lose your Title IX funding funding by passing policy 123. telling a respectable lawyer who had to take at least seven years of full-time study not to mention all the cases that they've experienced between then and now that their work and legal advice is worthless in telling them that their job to go over is to
036go over your policies without being compensated is not only inaccurate but textbook bullying I felt like I was back in elementary school I've told you the facts statistics and how policies such as policy 123 are affecting cisgender girls in a negative way I let you know that the ACLU is watching you and that what is happening in Central Bucks school district will happen here if these policies are passed however it seems that your minds are made up I can give you all the research and sources all of the explicit Bible verses stories about how books save lives and help educate those who never learned about topics such as racism sex is a mental illness chronic illness homophobia xenophobia sexual assault and different forms of abuse but would it change anything from what I've seen since
037the homophobia displayed in 2021 it seems unlikely I can't help but think if you had gone through with the diversity and inclusion training like I suggested in 2021 we might not be here it's easy to put yourself in the shoes of someone who shares your beliefs but there comes a time when you need to put yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn't yes it's uncomfortable but it will help you to see why they're reacting the way they are when I came in came out as transgender at 15 Not only was I disowned by half of my family the churches and congregations that I had known all of my life in the youth group and summer camp that I had attended since I was old enough I was beaten up in front of friends and
038peers that I met at said youth group by someone who I consider to be my friend however I was lucky I have a mother who loves me unconditionally she read so many books religious and non-religious to help educate herself so that she could support me to the best of her ability she even fought for medical custody of me when my father tried to keep me from starting testosterone most lgbtq you don't have a support system School becomes their only safe space even when they're highly likely to be the subject of bullying when which when they which can then make them feel alone and convince them that school isn't in a safe space either having an outlet such as extracurriculars and books to read are great ways for them to escape the unsafe spaces for a
039while policies such as these make school more of an unsafe space Not only to lgbtq youth but to all minorities your actions are also providing an example of penncrest students that it's okay to discriminate fight with people they're supposed to be working with and rip away safe spaces from those who don't have the privilege of every space being a safe space I'm no longer here to try to change your point of view I'm here to be visible to let all of the lgbtq and minority youth and adults that are or will be affected by these bands know that I'm here for you I'll fight like heck for you and as cheesy as it sounds it does get better [Music] yep I'm sorry yeah [Music] good evening my name is Ryan Weingart from Troy Township I'm
040Mr President thank you for the opportunity to address the board this evening last time I spoke to I opened with passage of scripture from Luke Chapter 17. I also responded to some of the statements made by the speakers that preceded me I'm not responding anymore I'm speaking to the members of this board and I wish to speak directly and plainly there is any real response to the claims being made by those claims I've heard in the past and even tonight they're secular humanists a religion and an ideology it's not going to be made in a five-minute comment it would be better for a debate I'd like to remind you of the passage that I read you last month and I quote Jesus said to his disciples offenses will certainly come but woe to the one
041through whom they come it would be better for him the millstone were hung around his neck he were thrown into the sea then from to cause one of these little ones to stumble be on your guard if your brother sins rebuke him and if he repents forgive him and if he sins against you seven times in a day comes back to you seven times saying I Repent you must forgive him if you recall I offered a warning to all of you who claim the name of Christ in your own life those of you who say are Christians you're responsible to heed this passage truly I say unto you that burdening these young students by making them aware of their oppression or introducing them to aberrant sexual ideas for teaching them that their skin color determines
042their nature or allowing them to pretend like they are cats and putting cat litter boxes in bathrooms and I could go on qualifies as a fence as stumbling if you support the actions of these types of activism you refuse to stand upon the right Jesus Christ and you continue to allow these offenses to occur within these scores then this is this rebuke is for you but repent be forgiven and do the right thing you should not offend your God I also stated that if you're not a Christian you are still responsible to heed this passage for the same God is in heaven and the hearts of all are laid before him repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and confess your sins to him and he'll be pleased to
043forgive you and change your heart and enable you to become obedient to the most high God Jesus Christ after all I was careful to read the entire pericope which includes the passage on forgiveness seek God while he may be found so I want to encourage the board I want to encourage those of you who claim to be Christian who are voting on this board tonight let me read from Psalm 2 it opens with this why do the Heathen rage and the people plot a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against his Lord and against his anointed saying let's break their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us well I'm telling you that Heathen are raging you've heard it you've seen it the psalmist does not
044answer this rhetorical question but instead it points to the futility of the rage and of throwing off the bands and cords of God's lot the next lines are as follows he that sits in the heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision and speak unto them in his wrath and Vex them in his sword displeasure yet I have set my king on the Holy Hill of Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me you are my son today I have begotten thee it goes on to speak of Hell the son Jesus Christ will inherit and judge the Nations the son is Jesus Christ and you are judges of the earth you sit in a civil government position in this room we are becoming a heathen Nation though we once
045had a Christian character as proven in the Supreme Court case Church of the Holy Trinity versus the United States in 1892 where they declared this and we're seeing the rod of iron shattering our nation you have a role as defined by Romans 13. everyone sitting on this board everyone is going to vote tonight is in this position and I quote let everyone submit to governing authorities since there is no Authority except from God and the authorities that exist are instituted by God so then the one who resists Authority is oppressed in God's command those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves for rulers are not a terror to Good Conduct but to bad do you want to be unafraid of the one Authority do what is good and you will have its approval for
046it is God's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid because it does not carry the sword for no reason you are those people you are deacons of God and his servants stand strong be encouraged to vote for the right thing tonight vote against these horrible books and bringing men into women's sports thank you as I said in the last school board meeting I heard that the lawyer who is paid to advise the district is of the opinion that policy 109.2 is not legal this gave me more concern this policy has been modeled after a policy that was adopted by the third richest District in the state they are currently being sued it is costing their school district between 640 and 940 dollars an hour to defend this policy now I'm sure
047that in rural PA these fees may look different but I have to ask why are we passing a policy that we know is going to cost the district money to defend I think that you have a fiscal of responsibility to pass legally sound policy the other question I ask tonight is why are we rushing to pass a knee-jerk change to a policy based on some infographics and misinformation that are nothing more than fear-mongering who is determining what is and is not considered appropriate for the school library where is this information coming from I looked at a few different sources for book ratings one of the sources I looked at was viewed in the papers that have been being waived around here at these meetings I went to booklooks.org and looked at their rating scale at
048the meeting on Monday I heard mention that several of the books on the list are rated a four or five out of the list of 11 books two are rated as a four these books are both books that are not classified as teen or young adult books the rest of the book nun are rated a five the rest of the books on that list are rated as teen or young adult books one of the books wasn't rated on book looks three of the books including Beyond magenta were rated a two and five are rated as a three now this rating in this rating scale indicates the books rated 2 may not be appropriate for ages 13 and under at our junior senior high school during the first year that the kids are here they're turning
04913. books rated a three are recommended that they be read under the guidance of a parent for those 18 and under these books could be books that could be checked out of the library with parental permission rather than removed altogether I attempted to find ratings for as nature made him but was not able to because this is not a book intended for young adults according to Amazon this book is classified as medical ethics and gender studies the wording and policy 109.2 leaves the interpretation of what is and is not appropriate open for much debate if we use the list of 11 books that has been held up as promoting garbage and absolute trash as the basis for removing books from our libraries then we are really missing the mark I'm sure that those of us
050on both sides of this issue can agree that there is no place for pornography in our libraries however we need a clearer indicator and method for deciding what that means any book that has been classified as young adults should truly not be considered pornographic in nature this policy is poorly written and illegal for that reason alone it should be voted down we need to try and make our decisions based on facts and not opinions look at the methods that already exist such as the Miller test for making determinations rather than vague language that is open to interpretation based on the viewpoints and opinions of adults who bring their bias and agenda to the table and this speaks to both sides of the argument before I sit down I also want to say that I know
051that the chairman of the board can extend the time period for speaking an adult earlier tonight stood up here and besmirched to the name of some of some of the students in your district one of those students is the last one on this list of people to talk tonight and I think she should be able to have the opportunity to defend herself thank you all right thank you [Music] I've got more five minutes and if I'm actually three minutes but you can have the five minutes thank you hello my name is Ezra McClymonds and I am a left-wing radical activist these are the only two things you are likely to take away from what is about to be said [Music] but truly I am just a disgruntled student of Saegertown High School I know you
052might not care that much about the education of the children in this community because this policy changed quite truthfully brings it into question your competency to serve on the board in your true intentions of seeking and maintaining this position because quite frankly I think you tend more to your political and religious beliefs than your duty on the school board to provide the best education possible for the youths in this District [Music] as someone who is going to be graduating in approximately five months I'm aware that these policies are not going to impact me or my education however as someone with friends and a sister in the system and as someone who understands that the children and eventual adults that are crafted and forged in the school district will become the community after they graduate I
053care about what education They will receive I care about what they are unable to read I don't think many people see what young people go through or what situations they find themselves in throughout their adolescence but they need to be able to read books that include those themes and actions they are not alone others went through this and they can make it through I was taught albeit an exceptionally lackluster lesson sex education in fifth grade so why should we be restricted from reading about it afterward no one is showing kids porn or telling them how to have sex what is occurring in our schools and Library specifically is that students have been provided the opportunity to consume media that depicts themes and acts that they may encounter or partake in they've learned about and are
054a part of everyday life for many people this allows them to understand the peers and better explore themselves and who they might be all this policy will do is make people feel alone and Usher in more hate and misunderstanding than there already is you are not all Professionals in learning teachers went to college for a reason and Librarians did too they know what they are doing they are the experts you are not all kids have access to public libraries they may not have a way to get there or their parents may not let them go and if they do have access to an out-of-school Library there is no Assurance they will be allowed to get books that may help their mental health and help them understand what's happening to them here are some statistics between
0552001 and 2015 self-injury increased by 166 percent in girls aged 10 to 14. and 62 percent of your girls age 15 to 19. in 2017 17 of students in grades 9 through 12 seriously thought about suicide seven percent attempted suicide and 2.4 percent had a suicide attempt that required serious medical attention according to the rape abuse and incest national network one in nine girls and one in 53 boys under the age of 18 experienced sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult females aged 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape attempted rape or sexual assault according to the CDC about one in seven children experience child abuse 45 of the lgbtq youth seriously consider attempting suicide in the past year nearly one in five transgender
056and non-binary youth attempted suicide lgbtq youth who found their school to be lgbtq affirmian reported lower rates of attempting suicide and lgbtq youth who live in a community that is accepting of lgbtq people are reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not according to the gun violence archive in 2022 there were 44 268 gun violence deaths there were 648 mass shootings 314 children aged 0 to 11 were killed by gun violence and 1 357 teens aged 12 to 17 were killed in gun violence there were 64 shootings including the tax school shooting elementary secondary school and excluding the tags BB pellet replica gun and brandishing flourishing open carry lost found and there have been 22 mass shootings so far into 2023 this only January 12th that is almost two a day
057these topics of mass shooting suicide self-harm abuse and sexual theme subjects have been referred to at these meetings by speakers where the policy change itself as indecent I failed to comprehend how these are unsuitable for minors when many get thrust into real life experiences of the exact same nature thank you for your time well we actually did 30 minutes uh the remaining four there's a four left May uh address the board after the conclusion of the our business now as far as uh as far as the minutes we usually have a two minutes at the end but if the board would like to or write the rules so they can extend the time to five minutes we'll take that issue after the business is done [Music] student athletic travel as listed foreign [Music] to issue
058a diploma to the cccf student listed in a second discussion say aye facilities of Transportation report item a result of the penncrest borders Florida records approved revised phase three decent amount of two million seventy thousand nine hundred thirty five dollars we have a motion in a second discussion only in favor say aye Item B results in one bid for Cambridge Springs High School roof project we have motion on the second discussion it's just one question all right the funds going towards us how much of that disaster is that's right any other question or discussion be able to say hi hi Chris Board of school directors approve Omni partners for design for this High School roof project the amount of 636 000 it's 356.16 second we have a motion and a second discussion questions AMD approved
059a list of student transportation drivers [Music] we have a motion in a second discussion approve the recycle obsolete maintenance and custodial equipment as listed I think I'm watching any second discussion only if they ever say aye any objections motion approved item F recommend approval of the secret Channel Elementary walk-in freezer per the attached quote we have a motion in a second discussion all right people IMG recommend approval of the sabertown high school walk-in freezer for the attached quote I am washing in a second I'm available Finance report item a Treasures report recommend approval of the attached treasurer's reports discussion questions I shall approve Item B approve the payment of detached disbursements [Music] agency was all the pancreas Board of school directors approved the attached June 30 22 single audit report [Music] and the discussions oh
060and family say aye aye emotional crew vitam D recommend approval of Northwest Tri-County iu-5 sub-grant contract with 2122 id8 pass-through grants as listed I have Motion in a second um discussion family he recommend approval of the contract with Burke one for the 2022 Act 80 comparison services in the amount of 775 dollars we have Motion in the second and a discussion questions recommend approval the a la carte price increase from 22-3 school year effective immediately discussion questions [Music] Personnel report I'd like to run this as a consent agenda items a through J hello I have a question in a second discussion any discussion expressions [Music] approved in business uh expecting the last 14 this week after the policy approvals it seems I was speaking on the policy approvement we're going to listen to them anyhow
061I say let's let them speak now yes we're going to listen to them anymore we got a motion but we have a second so thank you man all right no objections approved registered speakers we are on oh yeah go ahead yes try it hello my name is ariannon I spoke at the meeting on Monday but this time I registered to speak about the policy 109.2 I am 16 years old I have been in the era my whole life my parents specifically chose penncrest for me and my brother's education I spent eight and a half years at Seton Catholic School two at Cambridge Springs one in cyber and now nearly two years at Saegertown I've had a difficult Journey due to my mental health when I went to Cambridge I didn't have friends I confided in
062the library book after book after book I read into my head hurt and I read through them until I had heard now I understand that you are concerned that kids aren't reading enough for the reading inappropriate things and that is totally valid you have a right to be concerned these are the kids you soar in to protect but the truth is you're just reading pieces of a full story you're reading one to five pages of a 100 to 400 page book I read some of the books that are on the list in seventh grade younger grades my first instinct wasn't I'm gonna go have sex now I read them and related cried laughed and enjoyed reading something I related to you can't decide a book is bad from a couple of pages sure there may
063be cuss words here and there but kids scream slurs and drop their thumbs in the hallway all the time I witnessed it if you think we're phased by a sex scene do you know what a teenager looks up if we can have a sex ed class why can't we read about it and understand what it is why am I still young still too young to read about these topics why was I not too young to be raped at four years old but I am at 16 too old to read about it I'm too young to read about it you shouldn't ban these books none of them meet the Miller standard sure some aren't appropriate I won't deny that but that needs to be handled on a book by book case if parents are concerned about
064what their kid is reading then pick up the phone call The Librarian call your school don't ban books in one foul swoop you're upset about being censored yet you go and censor the library do you not see your actions do you not hear yourselves on Monday I witnessed you bicker like you say we do you talked over each other you fought you complained and for what for power I'm sick of seeing people who are supposed to support and protect me and my peers argued like the immature people you claim we are yet when we come together as a student group you think we're too young to actually care about what you're doing and that we're being led by the teacher who the teachers who actually support and protect us no one told me to speak
065tonight not my parents not my teachers not my friends nobody I registered because I wanted to support my peers here fighting for the same thing I am we all have a difference in opinion and but that doesn't mean we should fight all the time if I have to coexist at school with people who hate my guts then I would like to see the people who swore into the school district to not fight every single time I see you you may have different opinions ideologies morals and standards everyone in this room does but I do too I don't agree with everyone in my grade I don't agree with all of you or all of the people in this room and that is okay we don't have to be perfectly safe we don't have to be robots
066but we do have to accept our differences and work together for a better District I don't want to spend my time in high school fighting that there are people who swore in to protect and to protect and support us and I'm sure others are sick of it as much as I am and one last thing I adjust the room I want to remind you all one last thing this is a public school district I'm tired of getting the Bible quoted at me to prove I'm wrong prove I'm wrong I got it screamed enough in my face growing up good night and thank you for your time all right am I gonna have to grab the microphone yeah I'm gonna grab the microphone hold on [Music] there we go hello thank you for allowing me to
067speak before the vote my name is Lauren Edwards I'm pretty sure you guys know who I am at this point I speak for myself no one else no one ever forces me to speak no parent has ever told me hey you need to speak tonight and same with staff I speak for myself apparently I need to say that every time I come up here foreign policy 109.2 the policy on library books censors students access to information and if you say it doesn't it definitely does if we want what is best for our students of this District we need to continue to trust them to select the reading material they want to read we have school librarians in our district who went to school and are educated on selecting Library materials you have stripped them from
068doing this aspect of their job in this District foreign held on Monday January 9th you allowed a speaker to disrespect your pancreas staff the panther press the name of a student made petition a guest policy 109.2 the policy that would restrict our library you claim to know you plan to want your students to see what you're doing you claim to want to hear their thoughts and their opinions Express students cannot think for themselves that we are brainwashed that we are manipulating that somehow people are putting words into our mouths I can tell you no one tells me what to say I do have my own mind just as my peers do by saying all those things you are admitting you are afraid of us you are afraid we speak up you are afraid that we
069are informed and are taking action against this policy and others how many times have we had to reiterate the exact same message before you recognize that we matter we are whom you represent I am someone you represent my name is Lorraine Lennon Edwards and I am not afraid of you or your policy good day [Music] my name is Brad silk I'm a resident of Woodcock Township and I have four children currently attending Saegertown Junior Senior High School I'd just like to comment on policy 109.2 and the proposed revisions that are being voted on tonight um we'd all agree there's a wide spectrum of views about what type of content is appropriate for students in a public school and even what type of material is appropriate in any context um for me the type of content
070that this policy addresses is not what I would choose to read or allow my children to read because I believe it describes behaviors that that are outside of the boundaries God has given us for sexual expression and I believe those boundaries exist for our benefit however I freely acknowledge that that not everyone shares this understanding of things so why would I argue in favor of a policy that restricts certain materials from people who have a different belief and that's a valid question to consider so I want to appeal to something that that we might have some common ground on and that is that that sexual content has a unique power I believe to stick in our minds and deeply affect our emotions in comparison to other types of material that we might look at um
071I study calculus one in high school and count two and three in college but sadly if there are any calculus Scholars here tonight I'm not going to be of any help to you because I've forgotten all of that just didn't stick um on the other hand I still have images in my head from from movies I saw in middle school that I now realized I would have been better off not seeing and I don't have an answer why that works that way but I think that's the reality that we should acknowledge and my example there was movies but I think written words can be just as powerful so in the case of the type of content that we're we're listing in the policy a student who encounters that would will have that knowledge pretty much
072the rest of their life whether they want it want it or not or whether they're not they understand the weight of that and so for that reason I think it's appropriate for the board to put some boundaries in place the point has been made that an existing policy does exist that provides a boundary in that parents tend inform librarians that they don't want their children to be to be looking at certain material I think that's inadequate and impractical because it means that parents need to somehow find out that new new materials are there and review all of them and communicate with Librarians on a on a specific item each time that might happen so to summarize I guess I would just say I don't think that the full position for explicit sexual content should should
073just be open to anyone since since the school library is inherently intended for use by all students I just think it's not the right venue for that type of content thank you [Music] hello my name is Claire barrickman I was here earlier this week along with my fellow students to present you with our petition against policy 109.2 I am here tonight to give you the rest of the signatures that we collected from our schools as well as to address the allegations made at the end of Monday's work session it was stated that we coerced and manipulated students in deciding our petition and lied about what the petition was for we did not do this in any way we did not tell students that books were being banned because of racism or drug addiction or suicide
074we did say that books that covered racism drug addiction and suicide were being banned because of scenes that were seen as inappropriate students signed this petition because they wanted to not because they were forced all students had the right not to sign this petition just as they have the right to choose not to read any book they don't want to it was also said that multiple students took their names off of the petition it was two people one was The Sibling of the students who made these accusations and the other was a child of a school board member I hope this clears up any confusion about the intent or validity of this petition I would also like to say that this petition was not just at Saegertown but it was sent to Maplewood and Cambridge
075and they just weren't here to be able to present this to you thank you for your time do we have a motion in a second questions I don't have a question but I'm going to have a promise I already mentioned on Monday night's meeting that by not an approval not necessarily a vote on these tonight but because these were not reviewed by our attorney do we pay to ensure that we are in compliance and not that I necessarily disapprove of some of the changes made but they weren't reviewed that was openly said so while I may approve maybe some of these I I can't support moving forward on this we need to push this to our attorney to have them look at these that is the right thing to do that's my opponent any other
076comments all right I don't I don't have a whole lot to add um except that I and I don't know what all the solicitor has looked at on these he turned his opinion in on uh two of them um which I don't believe was appropriate and I voiced that earlier um but everything here I completely believe is solid content um every revision we're doing there's there's nothing that could even be questioned it really cannot it's solid we're standing for truth we're not going to wait for the big guy to fit to fight our battles we're going to fight them now and we're going to teach that to the young that we don't wait for someone with more money to come along and fight our battles because that's not going to happen we need to stand
077up and we need to be the district to fight this all the way [Music] I just want to ensure that the public knows that none of us are attorneys [Music] for my own clarification kind of in keeping with what Teresa just said after Monday night's meeting I went home and I read through our policies again and I read through Robert tools I I guess my question is in moving forward as a board when we have policies of course I think it's a wonderful idea for the solicitor to look them over and is that something we as a board has just always done or am I missing it somewhere is it in writing is that part of one of our own policies it's not a policy that was my biggest question on Monday walking away I
078I think that we hire an attorney for a reason and I respect and I appreciate their input doesn't mean I'm always going to agree with what they have to say um so I just wanted to clarify thank you and it was anybody else that's right I apologize uh sore throat but uh I am I am for these policies I'm going to make that very clear and it scares me as Teresa brought it up and I read through what the solicitor wrote listener foreign [Music] and I'd just like to see a short hands of who wanted well no you're gonna let me finish uh we wrote These policies and I agree I really do it's not that I don't disagree with them my problem is we all sit up here think it's going to be cool
079or whatever we can found her chest whatever when we get sued who's paying for this [Music] what are we going to do in the lawsuit now first looks at this and says well make this change [Music] at that point right now I'm a little nervous about Darren clack I do support this I don't want you anybody to take this wrong I am in full support of 123. 109.2 I have some questions about but uh the other ones I think I mean we have some good policy and homeless policy and stuff that's awesome I think we can't do enough of that but I my personal belief is we did not have a solicitor to look at these policies policies that impact our community our district the way they do and we heard the excuse why put
080them on the website all right on that website but on page but the solicitor works for us if we don't tell him they're there or we don't notify him in a timely fashion we're there he finds out the Monday before the meeting or Friday before the meeting this is what we get so I think this is poorly done I think our president miss the boat I'm making sure it was done properly and here we said thank you anybody else proceed with a boat so let's have a wall call please I would rather break these out more [Music] all right I can vote for all these [Music] actually on these ones I can go from France right yes scroll no stays yeah Mr G Francesco yes Mr Johnston yes Tyson right Mr woloski yes seven to
081one minute 200 251 [Music] we have a motion for this problem [Music] 200 and 251 enroll in the district and students experiencing homelessness [Music] any discussion no we have a motion in the sea are 200 251 yes foreign policy approval for 102 109.2 Library materials do we have a motion if I have a second exactly the way of motion in the circle [Music] I wrote out some of my comments I'm probably gonna kind of divert from my written statement I appreciate all of you here tonight and I really do appreciate you taking the time because we are here every month and you are not so I'm glad that you were here as a mother of two students in the penncrest district I am appalled at some of the reading material that's available in these libraries
082some of the stuff that has been read by some of the comments it's it's pretty cringe-winning I'm also appalled at everything's on Facebook Instagram Tick Tock and the internet in general it is incumbent upon every parent in the district to use policy 109.1 109.1 that's not even what are we talking about there is policy 109.1 so I printed it [Music] here it is the topic of this policy is reconsideration of resource materials and how to go about writing a reconsideration of resource materials it can be raised by a district resident or District employee who may raise objection to Resource material used in The District's educational program and of course we have a policy that says how books are approved I get that that may be restricted but we just passed it in July July of
083this pasture and we're revisiting it again so I called Dr glass school this week and I said you've been here one five five years something like that how many reconsideration reports have you received in your five years because the answer was Zero the reconsideration form is on the penncrest website so instead of the public and the residents of our community putting together fact sheets that are pretty with excerpts of this why are we not following policy 109.1 and actually writing the reconsideration request oh as a mother of pen press I just wrote seven of them and I emailed them to Dr glasspool because those are the seven that were brought to my attention and yes a little bit I'm not comfortable with that no I'm not telling the school what to do with that material
084but I really am not comfortable with my children reading that material just because some of the content I did reviews online and the American Library Association cites many of the books that I put a reconsideration form as the most banned books on their list like number 27 number 35 okay so we're on the right track here but I guess what I'm saying is we as a district step into drama a lot a lot and instead of actually following the policy that's already written and doing what we're supposed to do we we put together colorful papers and we come to meetings and we comment which is fine that's fine but that's not where you're going to get things done if you want something done then here's the form it's right on the website I don't have
085your copy I'm pretty sure you guys can make copies too if you're unsure of a book or you know oh my goodness there's a book in the library that's just you know it's there is pedophile or there's sex scenes or whatever it might be as a parent then let's take some action and chew Mr zuk's point we certainly aren't going to know all of them but as a community we are stronger right you may know something that I don't know so please write the reconsideration form there's no need to put a policy in place that's already there I put seven requests in that's the most that we've had as a district in five and a half years five and a half years people I I'm Paul frankly and I appreciate all of you coming to
086this meeting I appreciate both sides but what I'm going to tell you is kindness and love and grace are three things that are missing because there are many people pointing fingers making accusations and that's not going to get us where we need to go and neither is this policy it's not going to get us where we need to go it's just putting language in there that's going to be how are we going to you know how are we going to decide what non-approval how are we who's who's the deciding factor there isn't anyone so what I'm telling you is as a board member because I did get elected to this board and I appreciate your votes and I hope you vote for me again I can't support this policy not because I went smut in
087our libraries but because there is already a process in place to get certain books to be reviewed withdrawn restricted whatever that may be by the district and that's what I have to say [Applause] so I'm actually on policy 109 Teresa stole a little bit of what I was going to say at the in my public comments is that yes taxpayers parents need to take advantage of that policy and to use it it's there for a reason it hasn't been used like it should but policy 109.2 digs even deeper because it prevents your taxpayer dollars from going towards that crap in the first place you should not have to pay for that in the first place this gives gets it before you before the parents should even have to find out their kid is reading this
088and write out a reconsideration form and expect the librarian to remember what books their kids can't have this is going to cover that from the start it's going to stop your dollars from going to that in this first place and it is essential this policy needs to be pushed through it's legal and my conscience is clear on it if we go to court over it so be it because at the end of the day we're standing up for what's right and we're standing up for what God has said is right and true original motion that is legal support for policy 109.2 in the appendix where we always put the standard law to enter in PA Title 18 from the crimes code section 63.12 section c and d that substantiate this policy that's the point of
089law for our economy so I make a motion to add that as an amendment to the policy which we put it here so we have a second before any discussion I guess my question is there's already a motion on the table right so um [Music] okay what I said was I would like to make amendment to motion to add to the appendix of policy 109.2 at the very end where we put the point of all where we make these policies to enter in the PA code our Title 18 from the crime scope section 63.12 section c and d Ates before we proceed with the demand motion which will be to the approval of a wonderful 109.2 we need to approve the amendment of disapproved now the uh the motion is to to add to their
090policies in question there were 109.2 to West Coast section 6312 CMD today yeah um can you speak up loud enough probably [Music] um so you you want my understanding Mr Johnson is that you're looking to add a footnote to policy 109.2 from the private school simply making a reference to the prime Stone yes okay and you want you want it to be a reference to 18 PA CSA section 6312 this this and do you do you think it's necessary to add specific subsections in there as opposed to referring to the statute as a whole well it may not be necessary if we put the whole thing in and be fine I mean you're not you're not putting this into the policy but you're simply making a reference to it in the offending shift okay any
091questions am I crazy does everybody else just know what this says if you would like to say this I will I will I I mean I can read it to you but I'm not comfortable yeah I have no idea what it is real quick well you know and that's and that's just it I mean there again I'm not Lord I can tell you I can tell you what it says it's two pretty dense pages of single space um sexual abuse of children it it talks about well the specific sections that Mr Johnson is referring to is C dissemination of photographs videotapes computer depictions and films that's the heading of subsection C and then subsection D is child pornography that's the heading of it well so it says any person who in that subsection D is
092any person who intentionally views or knowingly possesses or controls any book magazine pamphlet slide photograph film videotape computer depiction or other material depicting a child under the age of 18 engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such act commits an offense the one thing I will say is there's no definition of depiction again C talks about dissemination again a photographs videotapes computer depictions and films so that any person who knowingly sells distributes delivers disseminates transfers displays or exhibits to others or he possesses for the purpose of sale distribution delivery dissemination transfer display or exhibition to others any book magazine pamphlet slide photograph film videotape computer depiction or other material depicting a child under the age of 18 engage in a prohibited sexual act or any simulation of such act commits an
093offense so that's C and then we only array of d so let me discover anything that's it well that's that's the question where do we open ourselves so the question becomes what is meant by depicting right it's not defined in the statute and there's no case law out there that talks about specifically the written words to uh in some food if if everyone if you're going to if you're going to make the amendment I would recommend making the amendment and simply including a reference to the statute as a whole because you can't just pick out parts of the statute you have to take it in its entirety and the entirety here does include exceptions under subsection F which includes quote free modified educational scientific governmental or judicial purpose close quote and again it's not from
094the case law out there that tells you what that means no reference to 18 pacsa section 6312 okay okay was that just for the state statutes this is the state statute I think could actually be common ground for all of us because that's actually to be a state uh [Music] procedurally I think that you would need to vote on the First Amendment and then move for another amendment okay yeah okay okay and any further discussion on the amendment of the First Amendment are we voting for the policy yet no the men motion you're building it with the amendment onto the policy that's one vote then the demand the Second Amendment on is another vote then to approve the policy is a third vote so right now you're you're voting to put the PA statute on
095the amount on the policy is everybody clear yes I could probably just do a all in favor right can we proceed with the uh vote on the Second Amendment all right you have a roll call quiz nope that's right yes Carl no stay with us no Francesco yes Mr Johnston yes stationery yes Mr velocity five three motion to the amendment has been approved what was this what was the Second Amendment so this is under 18 U.S and I don't have this already four six six eight four six six a h that's what we perceived would you please make the emotions do we have a second motion for a second Monday and then makes you include the federal law under 18 U.S code section 14667 all right we haven't washed in a second now we can
096proceed with discussions please hopefully we uh so this is going to help us I try so um this the The Heading one on this section of the U.S crimes code is obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children so a person who in any circumstance described in subsection D knowingly produces distributes receives or possesses with intent to distribute a visual depiction of any kind including a drawing cartoon sculpture or painting that one a depicts a minor engage in sexually explicit conduct and B is obscene or two depicts an image that is or appears to be of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality sadistic or masochistic abuse or sexual intercourse including genital to genital oral genital anal genital or oral anal whether between persons of the same or opposite sex and the relaxed serious literary
097artistic political or scientific value or attempts to conspire to do so if I've been subject to the penalties provided in section two two five two a B1 uh including penalties providing for cases involving a prior conviction subsection B talks about additional defenses any person who in circumstances describes in subsection D knowingly possesses a visual depiction of any kind including a drawing cartoon or sculpture or painting that one depicts Minor A minor engaging and sexually explicit conduct and B is obscene or two and it goes through the exact same criteria that I've listed before one required element of defense is contained in C it is not a required element of any offense under the section that the minor depicted actually exists these circumstances the circumstances referred to in subsections A and B is that one any
098communication involved in or made in furtherance of the offense is communicated or transported by the mail for an interstate report of Commerce by any means including by computer or by any by instrumentality of Interstate or foreign Farmers is otherwise used in committing or inference of the possession of the commission of the offense any communication poll I can continue to read this it goes on for quite an offense quite quite a while talks about affirmative defenses under e the thing I would point out here with this one is that it is expressly visual depictions so if you if you wanted to make the reference there um that's that's the section 18 USC 1466 capital A it seems equal representations of the sexual abuse children versus caves law on this one I haven't looked at this one
099again you know we talked about it we talk about literary value and things like that um this is this is particular woman we haven't talked about any graphic novels um or things like that in the library so I don't know that any of the books that people have talked about contain any pictures any drawings anything like that that would fit that that visual depiction element okay I'm not really sure exactly very long but there's the Miller stand or the standard one is harmful to minors May differ from the standard of light to adults my understanding that was under U.S code that particular us code powerful materials for miners include any communication consisting immunity sex or excretion that appeals to the prurient interest of minors it's patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with
100respect to what is suitable material for minors and lacks serious literary artistic political or scientific value for lions that language is what I suggest and being be put on this amendment I don't think that that language is part of the part of the code that you cited okay all right then maybe we need to find it because that has been actually quoted by the particles the people here and so we need to get the specifics on where that is we're still talking about a footnotes okay so that that's a footnote you're voting on an amendment to add the footnote [Music] discussion of reference I was ready to vote on the policy and now we're reading two versus [Music] suggesting two footnotes that read 20 times longer than 12. so are we really ready [Music] it's
101questioning it's just a reference to the law yeah they're just references between log into [Music] um [Music] so now you're wanting us to add stuff on here hey if you're going to pass anyhow if we live in your heart so it's just a you're just a public law it's not I can't change the law but it doesn't really switch policies are going to do what you want to do you have had all the stuff on you want it's not going to vote Yes for anything add it on to this policy all right the other thing is nobody's defined these books what you guys are saying sexually explicit what is sexually expressed is it a novel that it has a sex email is that sexually explicit or I know some of the books that you're talking
102about they should be out of school guys no problem I do not I want to know the word of life okay I have another question if I could ask the chair yes [Music] yes that's the procedure so my question is based off of what Mr Brown has said the definition well I agree there's some stuff that is absolutely wrong is this policy then you're going to say oh our kids can't redescribe a letter oh our kids can't read Great Gatsby oh we've got you know those are classic literature and I with them in high school and there are clearly sexual things in all of our travels there's some sexual content is are we Banning that by putting this policy in place because if you read those Classics let me just stop there you know if
103you read the policy that was proposed of the main prophecy nobody's Banning anything it's a guidance [Music] and then we can take actions okay if the material in the library by letting the law then then we have the glory okay the Administration has to do it too but nobody's paying anything okay this is not this is not the same thing that happened in Florida that we call uh to say no today no it's not that we're not doing anything okay the policy doesn't the policy number one doesn't mention anything about it hbps or gays or other places I'm not asking about that let me just let me just qualify my question um so I I would like to just qualify my question I went to college and I graduated with an English degree I read
104the classics and I know that there are some things in some of these books that are they're a little you know spicy let's put it that way and I'm just number one I I hear what everybody's saying but I just can't understand why we're not qualifying that and then we're adding to the policy which policy when we vote on it should be complete and ready to go not on footnotes and and again I'm not a teacher please please don't misunderstand me I'm not an attorney and I really appreciate our teachers I do but I'm confused about what do we do the policy already is here and now we're adding I just I'm confused that's all okay I think we're talking off I can't let you repeat everything you said before what do you have what
105books is it at the beginning in the meeting earlier somebody in this board said that they had hundreds of books they were going to get out of it what are those books that's the first time I heard of that well [Music] I know there is novels I know there are books that do kind of they're they're sketchy but they're not I want to make sure that we don't go over the edge office I haven't heard anything out of your policy for me or you Mr President stating that somebody was going to be in charge right that was capable of making those decisions but if you don't like it you're overruled so I have a problem right you know most of you yes went down you know with that but um in response to you never
106mind okay that's it no more discussion we just repeating everything so so again we're voting on The footnote foreign [Music] foreign [Music] yes Second Amendment amendment has been approved let's go to the main motion to the approval of a 109.2 which includes the amendment any more discussion on 109.3 I just feel a need to say how I feel because I know that I've represented several different angles on this policy in the last two two years I am so sad right now because I came here and I decided to vote for this policy this evening until the surface that just happened here in the last 10 minutes we have a responsibility to do the right thing the right way we can stand here holier than now and talk about doing the right thing for our students
107but if we're not following our own policies and we're not following the law and we're not following the procedures are we trading one evil for another and that's what I'm concerned about I am all for policy 109. all for that policy but it's embarrassing what just happened here 10 minutes ago it's embarrassing clearly there's members of the board who are meeting on events when we are not all president you're rattling numbers off that none of us even know what you're talking about are we all supposed to sit here and pretend that nobody's noticing that you've all kind of figured this out before you got here like you're all doing the right thing but you're doing it the wrong way so though I appreciate the content and I'm in fact like I'm sick to my stomach
108I wanted this policy to go through and it will because you've all decided that it will but my conscience can't vote for it because of the surface that I just witnessed here and thank goodness Jeff Brooks wasn't here tonight because then all that bully would have been going on too that is all this personal garbage that goes on like come on guys we're grown-ups here these kids are counting on us to not only do the right thing but to do it the right way we are not it's embarrassing it's embarrassing well I was going to vote on 109.2 also I have not a lot of microphones I was all set and I will vote for this but I will not vote for this now with the shambles that just went on uh I'll speak to
109him thank you uh Miss Davis I agree with Goldie what she said and I've read this three dozen times it does not attack LGBT it does not attack anybody that we want to say that but I'm not going to argue that but there is openings in this policy that can get good Books banned if somebody's got a case though but about this like that 500 arrives all right fight that fight when it is in front of you that is right in front of you now no no I'm not running again you run and you do all the you want I'm perfectly fine of that like I said I I I'm gonna defend the kids with this the level of confusion I saw and foresee the embarrassment to all of you sir please do not interrupt
110this is a an important I can't hear you may as well I understand your family but just hold on [Music] all right well that's the vote let's take a vote for the uh Amendment the motion the the main motion pause which include Amendment one and the management two local police yes scroll no Miss Davis you should all be ashamed of yourself Francesco yes I am Mr Johnston yes Mrs Mike yeah Mr valeski yes bye Frank my mom should post the Amendments that have been approved announcements Boardman executive session on January 9 and 12th for personal negotiations and litigation we are not going to have sent those comments on already exceeded our 30 minutes that brings us to board member marks welcome [Music] let's start with Mr Brown get my throat okay [Music] well unfortunately this
111is another example of pancreas board really I'm embarrassed as Mrs Davis said uh and it's very clear that we've got five board members that I I do think they have broken the Sunshine Law because those five they're like spot on all the time but on to my remarks I've heard many things here tonight and let me tell you I don't care if I agree with you or not I commend everybody for coming up here and speaking it takes a lot and I appreciate it I've heard some things against Christianity in which hey that's cool I understand uh I am a Christian I'm not ashamed of it and I will I will profess that [Music] the lost my pride the Bible is very descriptive of Acts that were performed throughout the ages including acts of violent
112sex innuendo and other forms of rather disgusting acts of aggression now saying that there was always God speaking out against that sin and man has so fallen in with and continues to do so one person can show me how some of these books there again I have a promise of this but some of those books that I heard excerpts from I don't see how that is an educational piece of literature I do understand that's wrong I don't understand I can't understand but for some of you reading those books and helped you through something that may be great but there are other ways we have 2 600 students in this school we have to thank all 2 600 of them it may only affect a few of you but there was 2 600 that we have
113to think of in a hole we will not make decisions that are best for all of you at all times but we have to make decisions what's best for the majority of you come on guys I wasn't rude with you thank you uh I do enjoy listen if you know I'm just gonna stop right there it's just going to go downhill uh I do want to make one notion some or one note somebody said something about 44 000 done deaths just remember over half of them were suicides they don't count that but on the good news I will say Cambridge High School has started their Karen closet many others and our district are doing great things I'd like to forget all this nonsense for just two seconds and say to all our teachers you guys
114work very hard I know what you do I'm married to a teacher I see the hours that are put in and I haven't said it enough but thank you very very much the dedication the teachers I see in the stores buying stuff for their students their money they don't ask for a damn thing this board Cuts their budget they still come through they get the materials they need for the classrooms you go above and beyond I will not agree with everything that you all do I want to so I'm scared uh but I want to say thank you I do not believe there's any pedophiles and I heard I heard one gentleman say some pretty nasty things uh I'm not saying we haven't had some bad ends but majority of our teachers are awesome so
115thank you thank you thank you for everything you do that's awesome [Music] I've had a moment to collect my thoughts and I do have something to say um I've left a number of the board meetings probably the last five or six and I've written my resignation letter in my head on my way home because I'm not a quitter and I truly dedicated that student District I threw those letters out he pushed me over the edge tonight I'm done I want to thank every single teacher in our district I appreciate all the effort that everybody has put in here but this board has made it impossible for me to sit here in good conscience anyway I have a strong desire to serve my God a strong desire to do what's right to teach my children to
116do what's right but I also believe that that also includes following the laws I had to do it in a proper way I'm not saying that it's not things don't need to be changed they do but line manipulating and changing the truth isn't getting it done the proper way and I I can't sit here and have this push and pull at every meeting losing sleep frustrated spending hours upon hours reading policy that's just going to be changed and thrown up in the air in this embarrassment so I will put it in a rating tomorrow thank you again for all your time but I'm done thank you for your service [Music] congratulating Ms Bullock and Mr Giacomo and the other students that got some high honors with their academics with the journalism class congratulated next week
117I get to go to the vote Tech and see the students that go into the National Water Society last year we had quite a few of them from our schools and that was pretty awesome I'd like to thank all of our important people that have done good this past winter season and year to be congratulated as well there's no answers [Music] first I'd like to welcome Fred Ryan officially to the board and I'm looking forward to serving with you so you can bring um to the board here um and uh secondly I'd like to address the claim that there's been any type of meeting that would violate the sunshine sunshine act among board members with the policy committee anything there's been a policy committee meeting and there's been public meetings there's no violation of the
118sun's Sunshine act I didn't know that they were going to bring these forth today but I trust them both they've come into this in the last two months and they have a lot of wisdom and I believe that they're adding to the policy in a good way the footnotes I believe are good it's good to represent the laws at the bottom of our policies so I trust them in that and I also um just again I'm supporting this policy and um I hope that Administration will follow through and make sure that they're implemented in our schools good evening shall we test it is with great disappointment that I'm going to make my school board comments tonight our children are watching on full display the rude and unprofessional behavior of the school board and let me
119be clear I'm not offended if you disagree with me we must disagree in a professional manner and we must hold ourselves accountable we must offer Grace kindness to one another having a different point of view is not wrong but what is wrong is how this on board treats each other what is wrong is how the board makes condescending and rude comments to each other to its solicitor to the legal advice and opinions of the students the teachers the other board members what is wrong is making offhand comments about the district about the teachers we must learn to disagree in a professional manner the gal who cannot silence oppon opinions The Gather cannot silence the students the teachers the parents the administrators or the school board members I implore my fellow board members to offer Grace
120to one another to offer kindness to listen I too am a Christian our creator made us with two ears let's be sure to listen to each other respectful and loving Manner and when we disagree with one another that's okay but what is he not okay is being rude condescending and unkind it's just not right the example we're setting for our students and our teachers it's despicable we would not permit this behavior of our teachers in front of our students in a classroom yet we sit here and do it to each other each person sitting here tonight and professional and courteous and we do that in our play ER play I'm pretty sure of it otherwise we have rubber bands on our records the behavior is demonstrated by the school board are deserving deserving of disciplinary
121action my career for the past 20 years has been in human resources and as an HR Director I kind of feel guilty for not issuing reprimands to all of us for behaviors for comments for unprofessionalism display at a Monday night's meeting in tonight the room was on Monday night and is currently filled with students with parents with teachers and citizens with legitimate concerns for our district and our kids and this board is out of balance we've been out we definitely should not permit our teachers and administrators to act in this unprofessional manner absolutely not and the kindness does start here with us but please do not mistake my kindness for weakness so let me state to everybody here that's listening next year next year is an election year there are nine school board members here
122nine seven of these seats are up for re-election next year if you are 18 years old and you're a citizen of this District you qualify you you qualify to run run for our school board seats so if you're tired of the dysfunction of the embarrassment what Mrs Davis said you know we don't have our we don't have it together obviously you've seen that on full display here tonight then we need you The Ballot Box is where you make the changes we need concerned and professional citizens and parents we need you I'm a parent I work a full-time I've got two kids and guess what we got a great salary too just so you know it's a whole whopping zero dollars I did ask for a 20 raise but you know those are the other good
123at math 20 to zero it's pretty much still zero so I'm doing it for the kids doing it for the district but we do need you we can't make changes with a dysfunctional system we can't we just it's not going to happen and everyone here in the room has a legitimate opinion and I appreciate you being here to tell us your opinion and while I may not agree with you I will not make fun of you I will not condescend to you I'm going to listen to you and I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us because that's important many more meetings that we hold no one else is in the room because there's not a Hot Topic no one else is here it's just the board and I really appreciate this room
124being filled tonight but what I would like to say also um again just back noting on our policy that was passed tonight the state and federal statutes if you know it was very important to put them on a footnote then the Publishers and authors probably already would have been prosecuted just putting that out there too because if if that's the case then I'm pretty sure the authors of those books if that fell under those State statutes and federal statutes there would have been some sort of criminal prosecution but there hasn't been so I'm very disappointed in the behavior of this board the dysfunction of this board but I am not resigning you elected me to a four-year seat and I'm going to do it and I will rewind okay and I appreciate the teachers I
125appreciate you students please don't give up you know um one of the things that I had a conversation with my kids and one of the things I want to make sure that you guys understand and the board my kids aren't going to remember the Monday meetings that their mom attended you know what they're going to remember they're going to remember the dysfunction and the surface display up here and that's unfortunate all right I appreciated you Mr Speaker and you you mentioned that you don't want to insult to the audience please stop Consulting the board unfortunately it is my turn to comments Mr President and I'm allowed to make comments you can't do that you can't tell a board member when to stop oh okay [Music] once again dysfunction was like have a great evening well
126I I agree with Teresa that this has been a very messy process and I think we've all learned a lot and I hope we can take that for the future uh the challenge I would encourage like she said for parents to get involved and complete these uh pre-consideration forms the problem is those books should have never been there in the first place some of them are against the law for minors to have in their possession there's a difference between advocacy and information there's a difference between literature and pornography there's a difference between legal and illegal there's a difference between adults and minors and there's no question some of the readings we've heard tonight would would be illegal pornography for minors to have we've all taken an oath to uphold the law we have literature in
127the libraries that is illegal and should not be in the possession of minors and it is a seven year uh prison sentence for breaking the law so we have a responsibility to make sure that the law is uphill thank you [Music] oh I don't have a whole lot more to add to that um should be quite pleased when I saw at the back of the petition the letter there that actually was talking about the Miller test and that was one of the reasons I thought maybe we could find some common ground and add that end of this policy because it's basically what I feel like the policy is a summation of are those laws I'm on the policy committee I read those when I looked at the policy it looked like it was a summation
128of those but in case there was any questions or confusion about that that's why I suggested to put that on CE all of that um I know Ivan on the other end before and have come up and spoke about different things and so I wanted to answer a question that a student had at the last meeting there was a complaint regarding the musical instruments at sagertown high school and I would just wanted to let you know that that was addressed months ago as I personally witnessed Dr Glasgow tell the music teacher to make a list of instruments needed and he would make sure she received them Dr Glasgow is a man of his work providing thirteen thousand dollars worth of musical instruments and one thousand dollars in use in music so we wanted to clarify
129that and one more question about that I wanted to mention [Music] um is the word explicit and I know that sometimes you think well what does explicit really mean but I looked it up of course um when looking at the policy and it says because I also really love a lot of books I love Les Mis it's like one of my favorite books ever and I'm like okay there's that scene in there but it is not is explicit and many of those Classics are not explicit explicit meaning fully and clearly expressed this is the key part leaving nothing implied okay so that's the definition of an explicit um and so anyway that's all I have to say and I hope you'll have a good evening thank you very much well I don't have only a
130little written comments I'd like to make and this last week's this board has eagerly received public comments I feel it's necessary to commend all the voices that I haven't been heard here and over assurance that this District stands for equity matter of fact we did pass a resolution about treating everybody equally none without any preference about anybody inclusion and diversity of thought the district stands for Equity inclusion and diversity of God when seven choices their children to pancreas school district and the board is responsible in my opinion that the district pursue their expectation of a good basic education so that their children once a dog can cope with the demands placed on them but their own family workstations and society as a whole the world should stand always against bullying and indoctrination and against any
131form of intimidation of any group reality we would even learn it only one does it tolerant to protector of the rights of our students the policy Provisions Pace today do not change the board commitment to these principles there is knowledge that there are books in our libraries that are inconsistent where educational goals and and the policy is revised to provide a suitable framework for selection criteria in the future we have been and told that we can do better and this is our commitment to every parent to every student and to every statement I am confident the board will maintain a warm and welcoming learning environment that will support and Empower other people to become confident lifelong learners as far the uh the unfortunately comments made by a board member by the board I'm not going
132to count on that because you know my parents always told me that dirty Linens they should be taken care of at home that's why they believe and I might have the rest of the uh the administration and the board and next married that is it appears to me that we need again to have a a lesson about Elementary procedures and duties of the board and that's all it's like I say I don't want to make any further comments on some comments that were I don't think we're accurate thank you for coming you know and it was very informative now do we have a motion to adjourn only to ever say hi [Music]