October 2018 Board of School Directors Meeting | CSD School Board Meetings

001hi I'm dr. Renee turkey Plymouth White Marsh high school distinguished graduate and pediatrician at st. Christopher's hospital for children and you're watching CI TV [Music] like to welcome everyone to the colonial school district's business meeting for the board of directors for October 2018 let's start with the Pledge of Allegiance I like to announce that the Board met an executive session this evening prior to this meeting we discussed this evenings personnel report confidential legal matters the meeting lasted about an hour and before we begin the meeting tonight just real quick the fall weather has set in Halloween is next week so we just hope everyone is safe all our children out there trick-or-treating have a safe and fun time I'm gonna ask Dave Sherman to put some websites up there to give some tips on safe

002trick-or-treating going to group flashlights and some other great things that advice for families so moving forward we go to recognitions absolutely Thank You mr. president I'd like to invite dr. pecan II to the podium so we can recognize our National Merit Scholar semi-finalists national merit commended scholars and our AP scholars we have much to be proud of some wonderful accolades dr. Mann Connie a group here had to line them up like third graders Thank You dr. Christian in the colonial school board it's a pleasure to be here this evening to present some of our Plymouth White Marsh high school seniors for their outstanding academic achievements @pw we pride ourselves on our Advanced Placement program we offer more advanced placement courses than most public and private high schools in the region last may 317 PW students

003participated in 606 exams an astounding 80 percent percent of those students earned a score of 3 or above 34% were named AP scholars by the College Board four times in the past five years PW has had at least 100 AP scholars and like to say that this is the most we've ever had 107 total AP scholars this past school year so it's a big round of applause for many students to my right and overall they're so busy I had it took me forever calling them down connect messages and phone calls to have them here they're such busy student so I appreciate many of them being here this evening there are 35 total members of our current senior class who are among the AP scholars I'd like to present and recognize some of the students to

004you at this moment the seniors to my right on out are not only outstanding students in the classroom they're highly active with clubs service-learning student athletes musicians artists and leaders within our building so quite proud of all of them to begin we have 12 current seniors who were named AP Scholar some of here here this evening to be named in Athey Scholar a student must score 3 or above on three or more exams AP scholars in the class of 2019 include Keegan Gallagher it's a fun part David Garcia school board rep as well Sydney Malolo joy of Shecky [Applause] Felix Raimundo we have a few AP scholars who are not present this evening that had prior commitments Emily Hong Julie Kaplan pains Lee Nugent Andrew Strickland and Elena Alvarez like to congratulate them as well

005we have 14 current seniors or Nene these scholars of Honor scholars will honor must average at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and a 3 or higher in four or more exams AP scholars with honor in the class of 2019 include david rucker owen butler jillian honor [Applause] Emma FeO Cabot's [Applause] Eva Rosen [Applause] and kara wait two additional students are not present this evening ethan trend and Rebecca Richards I congratulate them as well for their accomplishment there's one member of the class of 2018 Savannah Goldstein who was named an Advanced Placement national scholar national scholars must receive an average of four or above on all exams taken or for higher on eight or more exams and congratulate Savannah who's off college and she's one of her AP national scholars give her a round

006of applause as well in the past ten years APW has had 908 AP scholars including 257 scholars with distinction and 1980 scholars it's not only a testament to our students but also the staff we do have a few staff members like to recognize to walk around congratulate them as well mr. Marcus mr. Slagle miss Penner ain't there in the crowd one come on up good teachers really busy this evening as well but they are representing the group solely to congratulate our teachers here today representing our ap team nine members of the class of 2019 have been named PP scholars with distinction scholars with distinction most adversely stat 3.5 on all AP exams taken under 3 or above on five or more exams same thing when I read that I looked at the list AP scholars

007with distinction the class of 2019 include Gulzar Berta Berta taupe Adam Friedman [Applause] Allisyn Hilferty alex press key [Applause] Justin Ruggiero Namita Rio [Applause] [Music] and it's sick and kendra see [Applause] two members of the class of 2019 had been recognized as National Merit commended scholars these students scored among the top fifty thousand or three percent of the more than 1.6 million students nationwide who entered the 2018 competition by taking the 2018 pSATS and the National Merit Scholarship qualifying test our National Merit commended scholars are Devin Moore and Devin is also an AP scholar with honor [Applause] Sarina Smith Sarina is also an AP Scholar international merit congratulations three members of the class of 2019 our National Merit semi-finalists these students will be considered for some 7,500 national merit scholarships worth more than 32 million

008dollars they'll be offered next spring National Merit semifinalist score higher than less than 1% of the more than 1.6 million students nationwide he took the 2016 pSATS our National Merit semi-finalists include Spencer Burke who was also an AP scholar with honor Hana Kenworthy she's also an AP Scholar of Honor [Applause] finally Derrick who is also an AP scholar with distinction [Applause] congratulations or AP scholars or National Merit students commended and semi-finalists quite an accomplishment [Applause] and I believe the fun part mr. Sherman wants a photo my correct you do not is it okay all right senior sink on up for a quick photo op in front of the school board thank you mr. Sherman we're going to let you take your picture first and we're gonna allow any parents that would like to take a

009picture to have that opportunity so mr. Sherman go first you all right let the parents get a photo [Applause] breathing all right there's always impressive when you have students like that so gifted so talented really apply themselves it's uh it makes all this hard work definitely worth doing so on the board from the board I guess they were very appreciative of all our teachers and the hard work in a dedication they do with these students we're before we're going to approval of the minutes we have fmt committee minutes minutes from 8 13 18 community relations students safety that's from 925 18 fmt committee meeting minutes from 10 118 the board business meeting from 92018 finance committee from 10 118 policy committee from 10 15 20 18 and curriculum meeting from 9:25 2018 go hear a

010motion I make that into motion here a second for the approval of the minutes and we have a second any discussion all in favor say aye aye aye nice eyes happy financial reports approval of the financial reports for this month include food service invoice check registered food service profit and loss for all the schools a cash flow summary treasurer's report reconciliation of cash accounts budgetary deficit status report bond fund food service profit and loss outstanding investment report comparison of taxes collected trust font trust fund report and capital reserves to make that in a form of emotion have a second second any questions on financial reports hearing none all in favor say aye aye nice eyes had treasurer's report we have a mega motion for the acceptance of the treasurer's report for September 2018 here a

011second any discussion hearing none all in favor say aye aye aye knees i Sabbath and this part of the meeting we have opportunity for the public comments on the agenda I'll open up the mic is ready comment all right hearing none move for to staff reports superintendent report there's no staff report tonight so we'll go directly into the superintendent's report with a motion to approve the personnel report and extracurricular contracts as outlined in 10 B and 10 C board action is requested for the recommended personnel changes appointments for promotion employment or transfer are subject to the presentation of valid credentials employment verification documentation and state mandated requirements you're a motion for accepting the superintendence report motion in a second a second paint discussion hearing none all in favor say aye aye these eyes have it

012student representatives hi we have our report tonight we're going to start with PW the first week off of October we had our homecoming week and students displayed their school spirit by dressing up according to each theme day and attended exciting team building events like color Wars and powderpuff each evening we wrapped up the week with a festive all school costume dance which was really fun and thank you to see yes for letting us have our dance their gym wasn't ready yet last week PW held parent-teacher conferences and I'll pass it on to David yeah um so for the past few weeks sports the fall sports the regular seasons kind of wrapping up and most teams are having their senior nights to kind of honor their their teammates is final season volleyball and field hockey teams

013won the division title and will move on the playoffs and this week they're actually playing in the new gym on Wednesday I think and the the new gym is opening up to volleyball and basketball teams there was a ribbon ceremony ribbon cutting ceremony tonight as you guys know so everyone's super excited about that and also many thon is starting make a big presence in the high school there's this thing called on Thursday where students go around and can for about 60 seconds collecting money spare change stuff like that and it's just a nice way to raise money PW cancer awareness Club is selling pink shirts in honor of this month which is Branson's Cancer Awareness Month and then this Thursday October 25th PW will host colonial Safe Schools night and this event will inform parents

014about the district's schools and how they maintain a safe and secure environment for students and staff aspect to Maggie next Tuesday October 30th the PW National Honor Society will induct new members into the organization and honor returning seniors students are recognized for their character scholarship leadership and service next Thursday remember first PW will host Villanova University's director of financial assistance to discuss the financial aid process because many seniors are starting to apply to college and juniors are also thinking about it and on November 6 the Tuesday students will have off for election day 18 year old students at PW have also been given the opportunity to register to vote during lunches at the start of the month so we're really hoping to see some first-time voters to visit the polls this week and we encourage

015parents and staff to vote in the midterm elections and so the next reports for CES the school a quick recap for September that maybe we left out or might have missed the music department had an orientation for parents kind of explaining all the opportunity students have here at CES for music and they're all there were also two open houses on the 17th and the 24th which were super well attended parents got to see the school meet teachers and learn about the gave initiative which was Google Apps for Education and then the PTO organized an ice cream social and a book fair tonight on September 27th which was really nice for all the students and staff around parents come out and just very friendly time and in October the there was a benchmark assessment system testing

016which kind of like was completed this month and that's to help students individual instructional needs just to kind of see where students are at and see what they need more help on for the school to focus on and there were also gang groups for math and ela these groups were for targeted instruction and it's just one of the many ways that the schools in our district are working to ensure students are getting the most out of education the school improvement team SES met several times kind of reevaluate the goals they had for the upcoming year and so team members began identifying strengths own strengths and weaknesses they had and in the school climate student achievement and they were trying to discover the root causes and areas of need the student improvement teams plan was completed

017on October 15th and submitted to the district office the climate team as yes on October 5th they discussed new approaches to classroom management there were plans to enhance this the school sense of community in classrooms and just throughout the school in general and then they there was also solidified plans for the National Bullying Prevention Month and on October 1st CES held his first shelf a trailblazer event of the year students enjoy the the time at dance and then the two principals as he s actually DJed CES cares team Club I have two o'clock I have to try minutes DJ Razzie rocks oh my gosh and funky Philip and DJ funky Philips they have a name the CES cares team collected donations for Rachel's way project this month students and staffs were encouraged to donate any

018amount of food to just benefit of Rachel's Wave Food Bank which is at the Plymouth Meeting Mall and average Park her actually also at CES there was an info session or there will be an info session on October 30th to kind of help and parents who are dealing with stress stress and anxiety with their children so like I said Tuesday October 20th at CES October 30th sorry so onto Ridge Park Ridge Park has monthly character traits so each month they work on character traits so this month for October it's respect and each week they recognize a student from each grade with a power paw and then these students are recognized for going above and beyond in some way with a classmate staff member school community gyms are celebrated with their name read on the announcements

019and they received a medal and then just like CES there was also an ice cream social this month on one the Friday's and they had a pizza party to rocket wrap up the week lastly they are having their Book Fairs which was why the pizza why they had the pizza night to support this will look fair and local firefighters came and spoke to rich Park students about fire prevention I'll pass the mic to Maddie okay I have Plymouth elementary on October 3rd students enjoyed an assembly presented by the National Theater for children conservation caper discussed the science of energy energy efficiency and ways to conserve energy on October 12th the PEP co-hosted their ice cream social for the families of Plymouth everyone enjoyed the ice cream and the opportunity to socialize with staff members and

020other families with the dance party in the gym students at PE are participating in a new community outreach and reading incentive program in cooperation with Outback Steakhouse students are challenged to read 15 minutes each night and complete a reading log and then students can exchange their completed reading log for a bookmark that allows them to receive a free kid's meal at Outback and Conshohocken and the winning classroom the classroom that has the most completed reading logs by December 1st will win a catered lunch from Outback in their classroom also at Conshohocken Elementary this month they had a book fair and White Marsh Ellen and she also had a book fair and all the elementary schools will have their fall parade and celebration on October 31st thank you thank you very much excellent job on including

021the whole district alright moving forward into new business Jen motion to approve revisions to board policies 249 bullying cyberbullying 103.1 non-discrimination qualified students with disabilities 104 non-discrimination in employment practices 105 curriculum 105.1 review of instructional materials by parents Guardians and students on a second read basis you make that in a form of a motion and do we have a second we have a second any discussion on the policies that were now at for second read all right hearing none all in favor say aye I'd nice eyes have it okay John again first read motion to approve board policies 103 non-discrimination in school and classroom practices 105 point 2 exemption from instruction 106 guides for planned instruction 107 adoption of planned instruction 108 adoption of textbooks 109 resource materials 110 instructional supplies and 111 lesson plans

022on a first read basis all right and that's in the form of a motion do I have a second we have a second any discussion doing every cap anymore not at this point okay all in favor say aye for first read my eyes hand moving forward school calendar board direction is requested regarding the proposed start date of the 2019 2020 school year the administration recommends that September 3rd be approved as the first day of school motion to accept the administration's recommendation have a second any discussion none all in favor say aye aye aye aye nice-nice have it Leslie state trips yes this is a motion to approve students from the Plymouth waymarsh High School marine science class to visit the Adventure Aquarium in Camden New Jersey on November 13th 2018 in a second any discussion

023all in favor say aye aye nice ice habit unis motion to approve the contracted bus drivers as outlined in the attached memo from Kathy Ellis dated September 27th 2018 do we have a second we have a second any discussion all in favor say aye aye nice I had Adam item F on the agenda is a motion to amend the listing of investment bank depositories to include Fulton Bank and victory Bank all right is there a second on that motion any discussion all in favor say aye all right nice eyes habit Adam an item G on the agenda is a motion to approve the certification of a board resolution authorizing the board treasurer to file applications open new accounts and certify various documents we have a second any discussion all in favor say aye alright nice

024eyes have it alright completes new business on two solicitors Republican I would like I have several item for newbies yeah I do I'd like to make a motion to add as a new item to the agenda the PSB a principles for governance and leadership I realized that it was the intention of the board it is the intention of the board to wait until January to do this and I believe that we can do it more formally if we choose to again in January but I think that it's very imperative right now as a board that we show the public that we believe in these principles I can read them I don't know how that how that goes and I don't know if I have a second to do that this evening not sure how to

025do that mr. solicitor to add it to the agenda do we need a second to add it to the agenda you can make the motion if there's a second it can be added it's important that you have public comment before any agenda okay thank you so as a motion I'm making that we do it this evening and if we see fit we do it again I don't I don't care if we do it every month I just think it's important that it's something that we need to put out there right now as soon as possible so so we have public comment we wouldn't make sure we I'm going to make sure that the process is done correctly so just also so we have a motion with a second any board discussion on this item I'd

026like to start off with the board discussion and and so I agree with you that with the full intent of the sport is to pass this this is a resolution because the it was initially presented through PSB a during our policy revisions to it was initially proposed from PSB a as a policy and it doesn't read as a policy and so amongst discussion among with Jen and and dr. Christian and and fellow board members it was decided to move it as a resolution a resolution allows us more flexibility because you heard from our policy committee committee meeting that adopting it as a policy locks you in to what the current state of that of that policy would be where we would have to go through a two-month recycled review process if we ever got updated

027so we are moving forward with a resolution and the intent is to have this resolution in January read every January from here on out and and I say this because the work that we're doing in policy is is the framework for future boards not only this board but future boards and so that they don't have to go through this very exhaustive process of policy review as you well known much of our policy was original from 1965 like 30% of our policy and another 30% was 20 plus years old so we're going through this very long and extensive process in it in an open forum with lots of discussion robust discussion at times so there's no the reason is for January and it goes to one of the other reasons we discussed earlier is that traditionally

028in December no every December we reorge we have a reorganizational meeting and at that time every other year there's new members possibly joining the board right so the thought was at every January moving forward be the first official meeting where we would adopt that resolution and it coincides with school board recognition so it's it's a month for school boards for to be recognized for all their hard work and at the same time we can adopt his resoluteness resolution and I think it tonight is it doesn't have to say and again this is all symbolic it says there's no legal teeth to this resolution so it's a symbolic and it's a nice gesture I agree with you and I think it's a much-needed gesture but to rush to it tonight throw it on the back end

029of the new business agenda without actually reading it and going through it at about a policy committee meeting isn't doing it justice and I think that we as a board should talk about it maybe self examination and then you know come January we adopt it the way it's supposed to be and even with that PSB a sells the the resolution on a large cardboard poster that we all can sign off on to it and we can hang it wherever I was talking to dr. Christian some of his former boards keep it in there and super tennis board room prior to meeting they come out they touch it on the way out the door I think that's a nice kind of a game-day feel to it but I think that we can do so much more

030with it than just to do it tonight and then turn around and do it again in a couple months and I think it doesn't adjust us to rush to it tonight I disagree to some of the things you're saying number one I believe that there is no reason we can't do it again in January with more fanfare with a poster that PSB a wants us to sign but I believe that it is imperative right now that this board because of the issues that have been raised by the public that we make it very clear to the public as a whole that we believe in the principles of this and I you know I'm making that motion I think it's important I think that the public it would be a small gesture showing that this board

031is very very sincere about believing in these these parameters so I I understand why you want to wait until January I don't see any harm in doing it both tonight and in January you has this policy been around for a while is this resolution been around for a while just something that PSP I just came up with recently nobody has been around for a while years or months I feel like we've years yeah we did approve it in the past I just I think what Sue's point is there there there is a lot of members of our community who have been frustrated and we're trying to do our best as a board to wom those frustrations and by working together and doing as much as we can together and I think this is just a

032this is why I asked about this the last policy meeting I mean I agreed in January it's great idea but I I asked for this months ago I wanted this months ago I've asked for a board self-assessment for the last nine months and that still hasn't happened I think I think that we I think that our leadership should encourage us to do this as a board and to cook to show and say out loud these things and sue didn't read them out loud but they're all the most amazing things that I know all nine of us truly believe in so let's just say it out loud let's say it now and let's say it proudly and and move forward and then in January we can have the poster and do hoopla and every January from

033then I agree with you that that the this board is definitely in favor of adopting this resolution I have to disagree with you on on the method that you're choosing to do it tonight I just respectfully disagree and and that's okay we can you know we both want to get there it's just how we get there and I think that holding off until January actually is going to represent a more symbolic gesture to everyone involved and if anyone would like I can read it but I think that this isn't the first time that this board has added something to an agenda without lengthy conversation and I think that this is important enough that we do it this evening well and again that's and you're entitled to your your point of view and I fully respect

034that point of view but I think it will be better served for all of us if we do it in the correct way we bring it through policy we discuss at a policy we've read through it and then we adopt it and the resolution in January well that's what we did with the anti-gun resolution which was the only resolution since we've been on the board and it was a fairer discussion which I think was really productive we all agreed it was all unanimous and I would like to do that again I want something that is as important as this I don't understand I'll be honest I'm trying to be as conciliatory as possible and I proved it in the past of my opinions can change based upon new information but this is a good thing

035we all agree it's a good thing why not do it now and then do the celebration in January at least we make a statement do we all Green good government well I absolutely agree good government I don't think anyone has any problem with the content of the resolution I would be happy to subscribe to the principles at any time I don't think I need a resolution telling me how you know how I should behave as a board member and I don't think I need a resolution to tell me what my responsibilities are I mean I certainly subscribe to the principles enunciated and I'm happy to live by them now I'm happy to live by them in a week I'm happy to live by them in January you know that's I think essential to being a

036member of the board I also think that you know this is the kind of resolution what you want to have discussion about it you want everybody buying in because it is so important and I think to introduce it at a board meeting to amend the agenda and put it in there isn't the right way to do it because I think it would be far more effective to bring it up at a policy committee meeting to talk about it and to thoroughly come to consensus and then you know and then move forward because I think that that's really what these you know that at heart that's what these principles are about they're about doing things the right way they're about coming together they're about working together in the right way in a constructive way and I

037think we should do that and I think we should do it right and I think we should do it so it has meaning not as a stunt at the end of Imogen one of my concerns is it was brought up at the policy meeting but then there was no discussion and feel like you said this is gonna happen at the January meeting so there was already a plan so I don't know when that plan was made and it certainly wasn't discussed with all the board members to discuss that a real quick so sorry I wanted the answer rosemarys question we discussed this previously in July when they came up for whether we're gonna move forward on a policy or whatever we're gonna move forward a resolution previously okay so so it was talked about previously

038and and working with the chair and dr. Christian we talked about a couple different ideas on how to execute this and I think we came up with a consensus that it will be on the agenda it can be on next month's agenda but I just feel like it needs more discussion rather than doing it tonight well as as part of my motion I would like to just read the headings of what the principles of government and leadership are as per PS BA and we've all received these in our we have all yes they are advocate earnestly lead responsibly govern effectively plan thoughtfully evaluate continuously communicate clearly and act ethically and as I've said and I'll say it one last time and then I do have a motion on the floor with a second I believe

039we can do this this evening and we can do it again in a more celebratory fashion in January but I think it's important that we make it clear that we all agree with these principles this evening well one of them is planned thoughtfully and I don't think putting it on tonight would be planning thoughtfully and I think we do all agree with the principles I think everybody has said who has talked that they agree with the principles and they it's just a matter of how we adopt them and the method it would read out them but I think everybody has said they absolutely agree with with the principles and abide by the principles and I don't see I haven't heard anyone expressed any opposition to anything in the principles it's just that you know I

040think it would be it would behoove us as a board to have a fuller discussion of the principles and I think that would be a helpful thing to do before just adopting them I think they need to mean something and to mean something you talk about them and you know you have a fulsome discussion about them you don't just adopt it I would agree with the principles and I think frankly you know some of the things in here get exactly at some of the issues that this board has had among the sub-bullets for act ethically are abide by the majority decision among the the fiscal responsibility it's you know spending money wisely and we've had some budget challenges so talking through all these issues as a board is not inappropriate and is not obstructive it

041is the right thing to do and I think everybody agrees with these principles so we can choose to make this you know unpleasant but that's a choice that people are making it doesn't have to be I don't that we agree that everyone agrees with the principles we will talk about it at the Policy Committee next month and it can be formally adopted in January with all the hoopla and it still gets everybody the result that they want well given given the fact that this board has introduced as an add to our agenda going out for an RFP for a solicitor going out for an RFP for an architect without any conversation beforehand I don't see why this is such a big deal and this is huge in terms of confidence from the public and I

042think you're correct and there's no reason why we can't all make a decision on this and if it's if we don't agree and the board votes it down so bid so so on that note I agree that and I think there's a consensus that we all went to adoptees and we want to do it the proper way I have to agree with Jen that bring it to policy committee having discussion there is is the correct way to do it to bring it up tonight like this is not the doing it justice so on that note I'm going to make a motion to table this till January there's a motion on the floor in motion I mean there's a motion to table the motion it has to be a second for that much so there's no

043debate on a motion to table so we will vote on the motion to table this motion for the resolution until January can I comment on the motion no call go call Dave the motion to table the motion for the ESP resolution so if you vote yes you're voting to if not consider it tonight this is Dell yes I'd like to table it this is Northcutt this is more mr. broadsky-- Schupak yes mrs. pallucci Franklin Becker yes mrs. Feingold yes mr. Raymond oh yes all right any other new business I just want to say that there are haven't PS PA resolutions that have come to us that they send us an email and as PS be a liaison I know Eunice has gotten these as well or it says we're encouraging school boards to pass resolutions

044in support of such and such legislation or this that in the other that is not something that has ever been brought to a policy committee meeting it is something that is just generally discussed quickly and moved on so I just want to make sure that nobody and the public thinks that we're trying to push anything through and avoid a fight it's a resolution it doesn't necessarily need to go through the policy committee to get to this point so if it was going to be on the January agenda it wouldn't have gone to the policy committee I promise you that I'm just just for correction windows come through for specifically a Senate bill or House bill they do get talked about at the various committees and and we haven't had one in policy because policy is

045new this year we know but we passed a resolution earlier this without it and it did not come to policy I'll bring my notes at the next meeting and and confirm the dates and the time yet moving forward Solicitors report there's no solicitors report committee reports Intermediate Unit yes yes I have one the board of directors of the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit met on September 26 Norristown I just want to mention a couple things briefly about that meeting we were adding an additional three classrooms for emotional support in our Early Learning Academy building which is the old MCI you going on to Cal pike visited response to many requests for support for preschool children with mental health issues additionally we are awaiting a state grant to address between eighty and ninety elementary school students in

046our county who are on a waiting list for mental health support that's a new large number that we never anticipated this grant will help us to reach these children their home school districts it won't just be at the MCI you it's going to be a support clinicians who go to different school districts secondly through degree with the developer our IU is offering a software called social I'm sorry now social Sentinel scans public social media posts or posts for bullying language or threats within our school district we are offering are you familiar --this we're offering the software in a significant discount for art Gummer ii county school this is it's significant it's less than half than what the software developers is offering and many have already purchased initial one year trial lease and we're going to

047use it and i think it's a very good thing I'm glad we're doing it you want to talk a little bit about it yes we discussed a set of Community Relations meeting earlier this year we are utilizing the software it does not we are not sharing any student data whatsoever if only reviews public posts I can tell you that first one I received as an alert I get it just remotely gets it mr. McConnell gets it and mr. Sherman gets him the first one I received was somebody who was bird-watching and he talked about great shots he got with his camera so that that's not to make fun of it that's just to explain it's a piece of software that analyzes language so it doesn't see images and it just is public posts so it's

048important to realize that it didn't that's why we're piloting it but the reality is if it if it prevents one tragedy it's well worth it so I'm happy to report thus far any notifications that we get have not been threatening whatsoever they've been innocuous but you know Tim Tim is on it yeah somebody could post something midnight and I get an email no concerns here dr. Christian and as I reply back so it's just one more layer there is one school district within the county I'm not going to mention which one it is because it's executive session but a student was a credible threat was made and that student has been dealt with with her authorities it's in our county and the you represent him I talked to from the scores was very happy with

049this social Santos it work for that school district and make it save lives there and given that we're talking about safety and security issues I do think it's important dr. Christian that we remind people about the safe schools night I know are one of our student represents already mentioned it but I don't know if you wanted to just say something briefly so that people know you know we really want people to come to that event on Thursday night absolutely our kids did mention it and we've advertised for connected on the website we have several guest speakers and several breakout sessions planned for this Thursday starting at 7 p.m. proactive approach to providing a safe environment for our schools I can tell you that all principals all department heads when we begin the year and we

050talk about goal setting one of our overarching themes is first to provide a safe and caring environment students have to feel safe and cared for before we can even talk about student achievement which is obviously critical as well so we're looking forward this evening we have about a hundred people pre registered you do not need to be pre registered to attend it would just help us with handouts for our guest speakers we have a speaker on cyber bullying we have our architects coming talking about the signing Safe Schools Steve back from Montgomery County is going to be our keynote speaker we also have our three local police departments that will be represented and we also had members of our Student Assistance Program that will be talking about how students the resources we have available for

051students who could be experiencing stress or anxiety and have possible mental health needs there's a very real possibility there could be more questions than answers by the end of it there'll be an opportunity for folks that attend submit questions to us as an exit ticket so we can plan future night this is a community endeavor in the in the districts where I've worked safety is obviously you have the nuts and bolts of things that you do to make your school safe but it's also an atmosphere where kids feel safe and parents feel safe sending their kids at the IU Finance the Finance Committee met earlier this month and a couple things just to highlight one of the things we discussed was the budget calendar for the for the upcoming budget year the 2019-20 budget year

052thank you to mr. Sablan ski for putting that together it's it's very detailed and I think it'll keep us all on track as we as we look forward to putting together the the new budget we also a brief update as I think everyone knows we are planning construction of a new middle school and as part of that we we have to go to the market to raise raise the money through bonds in early October we you know we had a rating on the first set of bonds correct from from Moody's Investor investor service and and they maintained our triple-a rating and they noted which I believe is the highest there is am I correct yes and they noted among the the positive aspects of the district you know our strong reserves conservative budgeting a willingness

053to increase the district's property tax levy our our large tax base and in growing economy so a lot of positives for the district a lot of positives I think about our community as well and I think that Triple A rating speaks not only to the work the administration has done and the board has done but also to to our community and our community support for fourth public schools and support for public education and so we you know we thank you because that really that a triple-a rating is really a reflection I think on the entire community here and that concludes my report thank you HR no no HR report however effective the school report continue I was out the detect school today to look at the greenhouse and we are only days away from opening

054and the numbers have level out at the tech school and I'm really glad to say the enrollment now is around 735 mmm when I first came on the board I think was 505 such really impressive and we are about to offer two brand new programs all the 70 districts which I really can't talk about yet because we don't have the state approvals but I'll have them probably by December and that's also very exciting that's my report excellent I would agree with Mel they're doing an amazing job up there and it's just a lot of energy there's a lot of positive energy coming out of that building so that's it's great to see thanks Mel I can just comment I worked with Seth in Chester County and and we've had some very good dialogues with the

055superintendents meetings at school and here's some fresh ideas that I think are being well-received can I'm gonna add that I've been in discussion with dr. Christian [Music] dream about having a meeting up there so in the near future we're trying to get logistics down that we would like to have a meeting that's great whether it would be a curriculum or another opportunity we're hosting around a little different idea so that's it in the works I just don't know okay thanks um curriculum yes okay our curriculum committee met last Monday October 15th in this meeting room and we were privileged to have all of our districts curriculum supervisors building principals and vice principals at the meeting to present discuss our students annual achievement summary this meeting as are all of our curriculum is are open to

056the public we encourage you to come in small groups for opt or review of a great deal of information that night report over PSSA data which indicated points of pride regarding our test scores for each school as well as areas of focus for the future and strategies to improve learning if there was any deficiency noted over all K through 12 we rank consistently higher than the state or federal averages is very good sometimes significantly higher we also looked at data in the population of historically underperforming students in an effort to support all of our students to achieve his or her highest potential it was a very ambitious and impressive presentation thank you dr. McKinney it was amazing however our district looks beyond PSSA scores to local benchmarks national scores with SAT and a CT and

057other metrics specifically tied to our curricula it's not just a PSS a scores we're considering let's just a one-shot one day of kids taking a test that is not reflect all their learning the real takeaway here is that the focus of our districts improvement efforts is a dynamic amalgam of several objectives mastery of core academics critical thinking and problem-solving competencies in collaboration and effective communication and what I believe to be a very important self management competency is learning how to learn it's sort of a take on lifelong learners so our next curriculum committee meeting will be on November 12th in this room at 5:00 p.m. and there will be a prize the comprehensive plan for our district required by PDA every three years will be another very informative meeting so I encourage you to come

058in dr. McKie and our committee been working for months toward this and I'll be submitted to PDA before the end of the year zakharik very important document for us thank you that could fit our report Yunis fmt Facilities Management and Transportation Committee met on October the first we had some updates on the renovations and the final touches going on at PW and just about everything was completed at that point including some of the items at the West Jim we had a wonderful ribbon-cutting at the West Jim this evening and we know that students are in there and enjoying the gorgeous facility and so it's wonderful and congratulations to everybody who was involved in this project because it's just fantastic and fantastic that our students get and our community gets to take advantage of such a

059wonderful facility but we also had a discussion with respect to the roof leaks in this building in that entry corridor with some of the rain that we had earlier this fall there were some significant leaks and so dr. Christian and mr. Yemm and the team are working with companies to arrange for appropriate for pairs I don't know if you have any additional update since the meeting that we had dr. Gershman we're still waiting for garland to give us the report we will include a short-term plan for some of the immediate needs and then a long-term plan for capital projects for the board to consider so so some work to do there but they have an excellent handle on the challenges that and what we need to do to fix that we also then had a

060very extensive presentation on the new middle school we had an overview from Casey PA architects all of those slides are available on our website there's a whole section where you can look at the plans and some of the conceptual drawings it's important to note that what is represented there is the wish list it's the here's everything we'd like to have and that comes from the administration and and the staff who work in our building saying here's everything that we would possibly want we're going to have to look at that with the administration and the construction management firm and say here's what we want here's what we can afford and determine where we need to be and so those conversations will go on over the next month or two to get us to a working budget

061you know and compromises will have to be made to determine how we extract the most value and make sure that we have the right size program for our district both now and for the next 50 years we're making a 50-year investment with this new building at least and that we also talked about the options and there are many for the access road that would potentially be shared with a limit on ship to address some of the traffic issues and that's that's really everything we talked about and again I encourage you to go to the website because you can see all of the conceptual stuff there will be community meetings to talk about this in more detail and you can always attend our facilities management meetings which are open to the public to ask questions and

062give your input all right Thank You Eunice community relations nurse Mary we didn't have a meeting this month but as a reminder in addition to the safe schools night this coming Thursday just a reminder to everyone about the October 30th colonial community coffee hour and the theme will be mental health supports in the district and another very important reminder because this will happen before the next public board meeting on November 7th Plymouth White Marsh is going to be hosting in the cafeteria the intermediate units Resource Expo and this is for families and students with special needs moving beyond high school there's going to be representatives from colleges technical programs advocacy groups employment supports community resources financial planners leisure groups so many more things there's going to be at least 50 vendors on hand to discuss

063supports for students with disabilities their families and educators all Montgomery County school districts have been invited to this and it's November the 7th from 6:30 to 8:30 in the Plymouth White Marsh High School cafeteria thank you very much a slate if the legislative committee did not meet this month I will say that mrs. Dow and mrs. Padilla and I believe dr. Christian all attended the PSB a conference last week I don't know if there's any highlights that you all would like to share from your experience there I eat chocolate and maybe a chocolate martini the best part of the PSB a conference and I've gone for I guess to my third year is just talking to other school board directors and other superintendents from other districts you know seeing what they do well them talking

064about what we do well or what where we can learn so I loved that and also just having an opportunity to listen to people who are experts in certain fields teach me write teach me I want to share some information with some of you the beauty of it is is now that you know I've gone for a couple of years I know that there are certain sessions I don't need to go to talking to dr. Christian about this I don't need to know how to do that that's more for the superintendent's and and certain people going to so I've learned of which sessions to go to and I just feel like I learned so much about there's a lot of things about policy and there was things about there was a transgendered session about how

065to deal with different things with that and I just really enjoyed myself there was a speaker at the end of the entire conference that was the father of Rachel from Columbine shooting and he really had a wonderful message to share and I left feeling enthused and excited and happy to be a member of school board randomly there was a session this is sort of a legislative update as well there was a session on scardy starting school times later the reason I bring that up is I know that there's a group of parents who I've been chatting around on social media as well as live about wanting to learn more about that Senate resolution 417 pass and it creates a committee to study to do a study on the benefits of just having our older students

066start later so the good thing is is we don't have to waste any of our resources or spend any of our time doing that kind of research the State Commission will do that for us and then we can look at it and obviously make whatever decision we feel is best but just the parents know that this state's doing something good that we can benefit from from their work but that's all I love the conference thank you to the board for removing us to be able to go I should have brought you all some Hershey's kiss as I apologize that I didn't and it was my first time going and I loved and my favorite part was the for the keynote speakers because it was just so informative and it gives you a way to look

067at things that you haven't looked at of that way before I went to that class on the timing and Radner actually is a big proponent of that so they're doing a lot of the work that we might not have to do and they're really close to us and I also went to the transgender class and that was very refreshing to see people from all over the state that want to address this issue and it just was again that was really informative just a note this coming spring and SBA is in Philadelphia and so what a great opportunity it's never easy for the board since this is your volunteer job to make time to go to training and conferences and those types of things certainly appreciate everybody and all that you do but what a great

068opportunity since its local this year to send the team down and hear the speakers it's it's generally an outstanding conference so it's great that it's an early this year it's in the spring I'll send the dates to the board it's usually April in Conshohocken everyone is invited to attend the fellowship house pumpkin party it's a free event all supplies will be included it's this Saturday from 12:00 to 2:00 dress up in the Halloween costume for children and adults to win a prize and participate in the fun and there'll be a raffle prize given away at the end of that event so that's 12 to 2 and then between 3:00 and 3:45 you can register for the annual Halloween parade at the number to fire company at 8:00 in Fayette the parade begins at 4:00 and

069will march along Fayette Street going down to washy fire company number one down at 36 West Elm there'll be refreshments and prizes prizes for the top three best costumes for each age group and category and new this year there is the dog category so pets can be dressed up and march down Fayette Street and for Plymouth Wednesday November 14th at 2:00 p.m. Plymouth is having a veteran's recognition ceremony held at the Plymouth Township service and devotion monument there will be a guest speaker and light refreshments and on Wednesday November 28th at 6 p.m. Plymouth is having their second annual patriotic tree lighting last year was very successful there will be a mini concert and hot chocolate and cookies and this year members of Villanova's baseball team and a Boy Scout troop will be on hand

070to help with the festivities very good no policy I'm sorry yes policy during the October 15th policy meeting we discussed the possibility of adding a new policy to address the unique issues facing transgender students this transgender policy is intended to give support for our students who show their gender identity differently than other students this policy will also give the families of these students a sense of compassion and understanding and gave them the knowledge that their child is being accepted and appreciated although it may be difficult conversation for some people to have it is imperative that we as a district shall we SPECT to every student and provide a safe healthy environment where they can flourish into happy successful adults furthermore there are far-reaching effects that are not included in the wording of this policy this

071policy gives validation to all students who have been bullied whether they are trans gay straight or have felt marginalized in any way during their school years the passing of this policy will show that colonial school district is a place where all students are respected regardless of society's traditional box they do or do not fit into the board along with our superintendent and the administration will be having extensive discussion on the best way to go about implementing a policy such as this and not only welcome your feedback tonight I encourage you to come to our next policy meeting on Monday November 12th and ask any questions you may have about this important issue and if I may you know I I just like to thank mizdow and mr. Montoya ms/ms feingold for their leadership in having

072the board take up a policy protecting transgender students some months ago before this policy was was introduced or considered five of us receive correspondents urging the board to reject any efforts to protect our transgender students the letter accused schools of seeking to make kids transgender a pine that transgender students are really just suffering from mental illness and decried with the writer described as the quote-unquote trans trend apparently in the writers view transgender kids don't really exist they are just part of a hip new trend like fitness trackers or farmers markets of course the writer deliberately ignores that these so-called trendsetters face overwhelming levels of bullying harassment and physical violence that in surveys seventy-five percent of transgender students report feeling unsafe in their schools and that 41 percent of transgender people will attempt suicide in their

073lifetimes the writers also willfully ignorant that the exact same arguments he or she makes to justify discrimination against transgender students were used to justify discrimination against gay and lesbian students in the past I thought of this letter over the weekend and and I raised it here when it was reported the Trump administration is seeking to define transgender individuals out of existence people who are neighbors friends family members co-workers people who call this district home the Trump administration just like the writer of the anonymous letter that we received seems to think that if you just pretend they don't exist our transgender friends neighbors and students will be forced back into the closet to a life in the shadows on the margins of society let's be clear that is the goal here transgender individuals their rights to

074justify discrimination to say that our transgender friends and neighbors have no place in our society that's not the colonial way it's not our community's way now more than ever I think we must stand up for the values of our community and protect the rights of all students to live our authentic lives free from bullying from discrimination and from fear as leaders we must send a strong signal that in our community in our schools we accept and cherish the differences that have always made this country great standing up for the rights of transgender students to attend public school free of discrimination and hatred is not a slippery slope to unceasing demands from other groups for similar protections it is rather an essential step on the climb to a more just society to the mountaintop envisioned by

075dr. King we may not reach the mountaintop but we can do our part to affirm to our transgender students that we value them that they exist and that in our schools they can be themselves and achieve their full potential as we debate and deliberate on this policy over the coming weeks hopefully with lots of community engagement and feedback let us remember that the policy is not about those of us sitting up here rather we must keep our focus on the goals at the heart of this policy protecting our students accepting them for who they are and supporting them through the obstacles and challenges they face along the way if we are unwilling to do that who will and if we won't act now when will we thank you I'm Adam how did you get this

076letter you the letter was to the district / address some of us on the board just to some not everyone just to site the rest of the board was never told about this the the the letter came to us it was addressed to some of us on the board and it was you know it was not a great letter well I'm concerned that I'd never that I never knew about this letter no thank you but you know the concern here is really that you know what we're trying to do and the focus on the policy that we're trying to enact marry one reason is we didn't want it to become bigger than it should be and we didn't or at least I didn't want to give it traction so I figured not to advertise it

077or other people to jump on that bandwagon I mean it was anonymous so they kind of lost their I respect ability I understand that and I agree with you that you don't want to give it more credence than it deserves however I do agree with rosemary that the board the rest of the board should have no should have been told about it the rest of the board can be trusted to keep things like that confidential and we have to keep in mind that this is a board of nine well my question is how did they know because this was awhile ago before we ever even said we were going to be doing any transgender policy so that's always I've wondered that too yeah moving for believe it that name down there alright for your information

078included in this report the school activity accounts athletic activity account building report technology report and curriculum instruction and assessment report all right we're going to closing items is there any public comments for tonight hi I'm Beth Petrino from White Marsh Township I left my house tonight dressed like this thinking I'm not standing up I'm not gonna say a word and yet I sat here and once again listen to what went on and I just can't help myself I mean the fact that right here we just had five board members knowing about something that went on and feeling that they couldn't talk to their fellow board members about it but yet won't pass the resolution and stand up here and pass the PSB a motion saying that you support communication that you support working together ethically

079I mean I'm speechless like I'm shaking and no excuse me please don't interrupt me her thing sure for you so much it is and you know I got something in the mail from my from I'm a Democrat from my fellow Democrat saying all the things that the school board is doing on behalf of the Democratic Party and it was laughable because it's not true respectfully disagree is what I have heard pretty much every single month for the last ten months and you sit up here and you say it to dr. Christian you say to your fellow board members you say it to members of the public well we are respectfully disagreeing it's an embarrassment and then to say you don't trust your fellow board members with something and that yet a resolution has to go

080through policy and has to be talked about and well thought out when we've sat here month after month and members of the public and members of the board have been blindsided yet you talk about integrity you talked about doing what's right for the community seems to me you're serving a different agenda and it's not one that you should be proud of well I'd just like to say I you know with all due respect to this patron oh and I appreciate your comments that I mean I just talked about one of the things that I'm doing and one of the pieces of the agenda that I'm serving which is to protect all kids and and I would hope that everyone in our community would be behind that effort um and we absolutely are about our kids

081and about protecting them but we're also about open being open being honest and not just sitting up here and I mean a resolution that was so easy for you guys to do and yet there is this split and you summarize every time someone says something and you you say oh you understand and you hear what we're saying it doesn't seem like it it doesn't seem like it it doesn't seem like you're here for the kids it doesn't seem like you're here for the taxpayers it really doesn't there was something really simple you guys could have done tonight to show good faith and you're gonna do it in January and that's great it would have gone a long way to do it tonight especially before saying that you kept things from your fellow board members [Applause]

082Aaron Cellino Plymouth Township so I'm a little late I was watching you guys on CI TV and I had to wait until I my husband got home so I could come over and literally I was watching it and I was kind of blown away so the resolution which I think would be a great thing it's not just symbolic it actually is more than that and it I feel like there has been a huge discord between the board and the public speaking someone from the public and I think it would have been a very nice gesture if not an intent of the board to go forward but the one thing that really annoyed me and I I literally sang at home watching this and I was gonna you know put the kids Bed Head myself I

083put my jacket on and I didn't change I literally came here rushed here for public comment because miss Dale said that that agenda item miss Morwenna dad wasn't thoughtfully planned and all I could think was December 2017 the item that was added without prior knowledge of the other members of the board to fire the previous solicitor was not thoughtfully planned and I thought that was incredibly hypocritical so much so that I was started to literally come over here from putting my kids to bed issues my husband walked in the door and that's really sad and I unfortunately I missed the letter about the transgender policy and I'm fully for every policy you guys talked about with non-discrimination and I think we need to be totally inclusive but that's inclusive of your board members as well

084that's also hypocritical if you can't include someone on something so simple to understand as we want to be an inclusive community we want to value people's opinions and whether somebody addressed a letter to three of you four of you five of you if it's that important to read it this board meaning it should have said a simple forward to the rest of the board that's called respect and if you want to claim that we're going to be a respectful implicit including community you need to walk off you need to do it otherwise it means nothing so think about that and also I heard miss North cut earlier asking about something that was going to be added to it if she was talking to you Felix I'm totally blanking right now but it was during a

085policy committee they were talking about adding the co2 the January agenda now I feel like she should've been included in those conversations she obviously felt she was and that's not a thing that this is a simple thing of respect to include people because what you do reflects on the whole community I've been up here time and time again and I felt disrespected but I also I keep coming back and I obviously don't feel that disrespected I don't feel like I can't speak here because I do but you need to realize that there's people watching people like me who actually is sitting at home watching in a really bad TV like yeah I'm gonna tell you it's not a very flattering look for anybody I'm sorry but it's it's I literally rushed over here instead of

086getting my kids and going to bed so just something to keep in mind there's everybody there's a ton of people watching and when I watch it on YouTube there's more people watching and unfortunately I think there were some meetings that were cut off I'm sorry whoever does that one of the last committee meetings I went to go listen to it on YouTube and I don't know if it was not posted or what happened but I do go back to listen because I can't make it to all the meetings and there's a lot of other people and you want to be transparent you have to be consistently transparent not just select transparent so thank you Chris Epstein White Marsh Township and I - I'm shaking since it was brought up tonight about the principles for government

087and governance and leadership I thought I'll take a look at it mom's sitting here and the fact that some of you got that letter which personally angered me that letter the first thing I would have done is send it to the rest of the board to make sure that everybody got it because they all feel the same way in terms of the writing of that letter and that was very unfair but under the principles of governance and leadership which you refused to talk about tonight is a section called lead responsibly and in that it says work together in a spirit of harmony respect and cooperation and collaborate with the superintendent as the team of ten that was definitely not happenin here tonight and that is really disappointing and disgusting to see that that's the first

088thing I want to say and that's all I'm gonna say about that right now but I wanted to go back to the facilities report and I just want to make sure I understood correctly in the meeting which wasn't mentioned in your report but you did talk about costs and things like that but the construction management firm mentioned that costs have increased over 3.1 million dollars based on the plans they have since they started the architecture on this and that was not mentioned in your report and the other thing we've talked about finance and in facilities that we have the triple-a bond rating in that you're going out to bond for this project you have agreed if I understand correctly to borrow up to 85 million dollars for that for this project and some other things

089saying that that was you know just a member but do we yet have a cat on the cost of that building because I know at that meeting the facilities meeting last month it was asked can we come up with a budget cap so that we know and we can be responsible with our fiscal dollars and as far as I know we don't have a cap we have a you know one hand is saying let's go out and borrow up to 85 million dollars one hand is saying oh look at these beautiful plans and looking at what the construction management is saying with cost going up to 68 million seven hundred eighty eight thousand thirty-three dollars based on last month's numbers that he calculated we need as the public to really get a handle on this

090and we're not getting it where the same questions are being asked over and over and over it at these mean we don't have a cap we don't have a budget and it's it's very frustrating as a taxpayer we do we had a lengthy discussion missus I've seen at the FMT last month and we will have further discussion with Casey ba they went back and are refining elements of the building as mrs. Franklin Becker said and so there absolutely will be a cap on the building so but we had many questions for Casey BA to answer one of our key things was is to maximize instructional space they have some wonderful spaces in there but I want to make sure mr. Fowler does too and the faculty does to make sure that we're getting the most

091utility out of those spaces so we actually the middle school administration surveyed the middle school staff about some of the more open spaces that exists and which which of those spaces would get used so you'll see a refined presentation I met with them as recently as last week with mr. Fowler and we reviewed some revised plans but and we'll be sharing all that with the board and we do have information up on the website and I'm certainly available you know you can give me a call any time to talk about in the last thing I want to say about these principles of governance and leadership you want to wait some of you want to wait until January I'm just going to employ you right now to start at least practicing some of the things on

092that list you can at least practice working together as a board so that in January you really mean what you're saying I just wanted to ask dr. Christian with what other thing now that the my understanding now that we have the construction manager engaged on the middle school project as well is part of what will happen is the board will be presented with varying options you know and cost scenarios associated with them so that we understand when we're deciding on sort of a cap what what that actually means in terms of the the physical plant of the building that we're talking about that's correct just add to that to that I think we been communicating very aggressively with Casey be a construction manager in concert with dr. Christian about keeping the cost to a goal

093we didn't set a hard cap but we definitely communicated a goal and we are far we are early in the project at this point there's a lot of things that have to get redefined and and some some things going to change as the project moves forward so I think as a board we've been very mindful of every dollar we're gonna potentially be spending there that's such Lin white marsh Township first of all I want to say to the student reps great job and I love that you're talking about all the other schools because we used to see that and I think it's great oh good job um just one quick comment mr. Shue PAC I I didn't miss any meetings for eight years and I'm embarrassed to say that I don't get to make a

094lot anymore but this is the third or fourth meeting that I've been to and in that time I think this is the third time sorry that I've heard you specifically reference Donald Trump or his administration and I am you know however anybody thinks politically I would just like to point out and I have a little experience this having been on the board for eight years and when I came on the board we had you know we had I guess when we came on five Democrats and Republicans I'm a Democrat we all worked together and it was a little weird when we came on but we all were together and I just I want to remind and I'm speaking to you specifically because you're the only one I've heard mention it but I would like to

095remind all of you that you represent an entire community of you know limit White Marsh and Conshohocken and you have in the high school a Republican Club do you have a democratic club you have a lot of kids whose parents think the president is doing a great job and you have a lot of people who may think differently and you got a lot of folks in between and to sit there and grill a resident on who their political donations are made to or to sit here tonight and talking about out of policy that I strongly support and I don't know I mean anybody who's against it don't really want to hear from anyway but that was great but to talk about the fact you know about Donald Trump's administration or what's going on I feel

096like you're using a platform that should be completely nonpartisan Inc which should be completely focused on children and what's best for children and what they're doing I'm gonna I'm asking you to please consider that and not use this room and this building and your very important position as a political to talk about Europe I wasn't in on getting up there I'm sorry as a way to talk about a you politically believe certainly you're entitled to that we're all entitled to that this is not the forum for it and kids and parents and this entire community are all allowed to have their own opinions and please don't use this in that way thank you that's I appreciate the the peep the feedback and and let me just say that I you know obviously have no issue

097people can vote the way they want to vote support the issues that they you know and the and the people they want to support for office and that's not why I'm I raised it I raised it because it was a it is a policy that has been announced and I feel like part of my responsibility is when I see a policy that I disagree with and I think will negatively impact on our schools our students in our school community I have an obligation to speak out if it was coming from a Democrat Republican independent it doesn't matter if it's a policy that's not good in my opinion for the you know for the for the further our schools and our students then I'm going to speak out and say something about it that's all good

098evening everyone my name is Tim Ford I live in White Marsh and last Monday I spoke to the policy committee about the need to have a policy to support transgender and gender expansive kids students in the colonial schools I offered a number of statistics to show the unique challenges the transgender and gender expansive kids face in schools I told you that in Pennsylvania 77% of those who were out or perceived as transgender at some point between kindergarten and grade 12 experience some form of mistreatment such as being verbally harassed prohibited from dressing according to their gender identity discipline more harshly or physically or sexually assaulted because people thought they were transgender fifty-five percent of those who are out or perceived as transgender in K through 12 were verbally harassed 26 percent were physically attacked eleven

099percent were sexually assaulted in K through 12 because of being transgender 12 percent faced such severe mistreatment as a transgender person that they left a K through 12 school and even unlike their LG other LGB students transgender students consistently reported higher levels of harassment and assault were less likely to feel a part of their school community and had poorer educational outcomes after I gave these numbers I was disappointed to hear some board members express the view the transgender and gender expansive students should not have their own policy to address their unique challenges and needs some board members suggested that if transgender and gender expansive students have their own policy then you need a policy for every group you let's be clear if you say transgender students should not have their own policy because other groups

100don't what you're really saying what I hear is that you would rather do nothing for anyone then something for someone not make this a race to the bottom and even if you do think every group needs a policy to address their own unique needs the policy for transgender students is before you right now don't miss your chance to help one group the need to act for transgender students is all the more important after this weekend's news and I'll talk about president from because the United States Department of Health and Human Services issued a memo seeking to define sex on a biological basis for programs under title 9 the only appeal through this redefinition is genetic testing remains the transgender kids just don't have same protections as other groups you have the chance to do something

101for someone I hope you will [Applause] as this nice woman's coming up to speak I just want to make sure everybody does understand that one of the policies we just passed today tonight on a secondary basis was board policy 103 and it's an our non-discrimination policy and it does include gender gender identity it lists all of them so we are we are currently protecting all people I just want to make sure that nobody thinks that we're currently not doing that and having a new policy or a new resolution about this will enforce it and that's what we're talking about but we we do currently protect them as best we can to this point good evening everyone my name is Vivian lots I'm from Plymouth Township I spoke last week as well I am here in

102support of your policy to protect transgender children I worked for the School District of Philadelphia for 36 years more than 30 as a counselor in middle school and in high school during that time I listened to many many many students talk about these would be Kay and lesbian and transgender kids talk about being bullied tormented teased rejected by their own peers rejected by school staff rejected by family members Church Society they talked about planning to run away they were kicked out of their homes because they were gay or transgender and so many talked about and really contemplated suicide the devastating effects of discrimination of all kinds but in particular discrimination against transgender children is well-known and it's been well-documented for many years by mental health professionals but this policy that you are formulating I believe

103will protect transgender children allow them to learn to grow to develop into productive and healthy young adults transgendered students have hopes and dreams and plans to what they need and what they want and what they deserve is what we all want for all our children our grandchildren we want safe schools we want supportive learning environments we want encouragement and praise for our children and we want protection from those who would discriminate I'm grateful to you and your lifeline did Holly on the board for being brave enough and standing up to the current high that is a very divisive and very anti-gay anti-lesbian anti-transgender so thank you very very much you good evening everyone my name is Renee Bess and I'm a resident of the myth Township I spoke to you last week also and I'm

104here to speak again in favor of your policy to protect transgender students sorry I'm going to read from what I've written my I'm a retired teacher and I think I've memorized one too many class lists because I have trouble memorizing anymore the first news that I heard this morning regard regarding a consideration of a redefinition of gender or that is the first thing I heard the proposal will define a person's gender as the one identified at birth which is based upon one's genitalia thus two definition will roll back the recognition and protection of some 1.4 million u.s. citizens and permit the exclusion of and discrimination against those citizens somewhere within that number of 1.4 million are kids school hits let me repeat that this new definition will legalize the exclusion of and discrimination against a

105segment of American citizens gender it seems is a complex system of emotional psychological and physical characteristics that result in having an identity that fits one's tendencies and behaviors I imagine that feeling you've been born with physical and/or emotional characteristics that don't match the things that seem natural for you must be similar to wearing shoes or a coat five sizes too large or worse trying to wear shoes or a coat five sizes too small finding the right size must bring such a sense of relief until you discover that no one else is wearing shoes or oats that you stand out from the crowd when you're wearing your correctly sized clothing and on top of everything else you've become a target for abuse now that you've been brave enough to claim your clothings right sighs it's a

106struggle to come to school it's extremely hard to concentrate and learn I'd like to think that most teachers and school administrators possess a natural instinct to respect and protect students who are singled out and abused simply because they are different but it takes emotional energy and frankly guts to intervene and stop bullies it takes sensitivity and a willingness to understand the feelings experienced by transgender students when they're under an assault of harassment and microaggressions on a daily basis a codified policy that offer emotional support and protection to transgender students will also offer support to the district's teachers and administrative staff when they encounter transgender related conflicts in the classroom the cafeteria the hallways and on the athletic fields dr. Christian a bit a little while ago mentioned the importance of kids feeling safe and cared

107for in colonial schools it is my hope I'm glad that he said that and it is my hope that the board members will consider crafting and passing a policy specifically for transgender students a policy that will respect and protect them in all of our school district thank you you their public comment there's meetings officially adjourned [Music]