001one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you mrs. bags Clemmons here mr. Cormack yeah mrs. Cohen here mrs. Dolan mr. Gerhart here mr. Kraus mr. rice here dr. Thompson here and mrs. Walters here Thank You mr. Krause there obviously thank you so much for this the community members that are on the call tonight we appreciate your interest in the board business and expressing your views just a reminder about zoom since it can be difficult since we're not really all in the same space we would just ask that if you are not speaking that you would leave your computers on mute there will be time for public comment both at the beginning of the meeting is well at the end of the meeting the chair will introduce those public comment times
002at that point if you have a public comment to make please unmute yourself and just simply say I have something to say waiting to be recognized because we might talk on top of each other at that point you will be asked to identify yourself and your municipality so that we know who you are and where you live within the district and then I believe mr. Miller since its special meeting tonight I think you wanted to highlight a couple areas of policy item 3 before yes dr. Bolton can you hear me okay great thank you ladies and gentlemen again I echo dr. Bolton thank you very much for the interest that the public has in the operation of the board I just wanted to cover as a solicitor and parliamentarian policy 903 which regards public comment
003we're going to do it this evening because it's a special meeting and because there's a great deal of interest in the issue of health and safety the first public period putana which comes up next is going to be devoted solely to agenda items only that means more on the consent calendar the health and safety plan the contracts and and things like that which are listed on the public agenda everyone will get whoever wants to speak on matters on the public agenda in the first public comment section will be recognized you will get three minutes we will provide a period of up to 60 minutes and we may waive that if there's interest in issues on the public agenda we will then and of course every speaker must be a resident of the according to board
004policy a resident and state law a resident of the district we will then have a second public comment period it's listed on the agenda in which any person who is a resident may speak on any issue of concern or public concern again we will provide everyone with three minutes I will be the timekeeper if your time alarm goes off I will simply ask you to sum up your comments so that everyone has an opportunity to speak we want everyone to have the opportunity to speak on the agenda items in the first public comment section and then on matters concern in the second public comment section of course the general rule is under 903 and the general rules of public comment is it is a public comment period under Pennsylvania law it's not a question the
005answer period aside your Prime Minister's question time it simple to put it as we are comments on the record and and we asked everyone be as they were last time respectful and appropriate all comments must be addressed to the chair to mr. Kraus and not to any individual board members and as long as we observe all of those niceties sorry to take so long to go over them and we'll get through this and everyone will have a chance to be heard appropriately so again we're about to go into the public comment period the 1 of 2 this is for public comment on agenda items only listed in your agenda tonight mr. Kraus thank you mr. Miller and thank you dr. Bolton for the reminder on unzoom something we become accustomed to somewhat as we get
006through this all right so with that I will open it up to public comment on agenda items does anyone have a public comment they'd like to make on the agenda items give me a minute I'm scrolling through to see if I see anybody unmute it Karen did you want to make the public comment don't see anybody muted ok but that going once going twice alright now we'll move into the consent calendar ok I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent calendar items a and B a second net seconded by mr. Royce and for the board members will vote the same way we did last time I will ask anybody opposing or abstaining is there anybody opposing or outstanding hearing none motion passed is 8 0 Activities Committee mrs. Walters thank you we have
007one item on the agenda for the Activities Committee it's a motion to approve the pen our school district health and CP can for summer athletics and activities certain so I can do it by myself questions or comments from board members mr. Kraus if I may make a brief presentation regarding the content absolutely thank you mrs. Miller if you'd give me permission to share my screen I'd appreciate it can I have a thumbs up if someone can see the slides thank you so the Pendred school district healthy safety plan for summer athletics and activities is a is one of two health & safety plans that is required by the state for schools to begin the reopening process this is what they often call phase one and it is what will allow our summer athletics and other
008activities to begin and declare the rules as to which they can operate the second plan that will become obviously later in the summer will be for the reopening of schools and will be specific to the plan for the first day of school so our health and safety plan as I said is required by PDE it was developed by our high school administration led by mr. David Babb our athletic director in consultation with our fall coaches our trainers and both the Pennsylvania and the Bucks County departments of Health as well as other local school districts in both Bucks and Montgomery County you'll see as I go through the next slides there are three phases those phases are two or three weeks in length and they allow us to ease into this all of the phases are
009focused on student and staff safety and during the phases there is an increase in conditioning skill work and team development if approved tonight the first phase will begin tomorrow and run for approximately three weeks through July 18th on all of these phases you'll notice that all of our summer workouts and trainings are optional and completely voluntary the official fall season does not begin until the middle of August and that is the time where students try out for teams these are conditioning and for the team you'll see in phase one that only outdoor activities are allowed and so anything that can be completed outside where it is a little easier the social distance will be allow and social distancing of at least six feet will be followed at all times during this phase only individual conditioning
010and skill development will be held the focus will be on individual athletes there can be group conditioning but they will be at least be six feet apart if they are all doing the same conditioning there will be no sharing of equipment in any way and to limit the number of people that are present at any time there will be no observers no one outside of the coaches the trainers and the athletes will be involved in phase one we move on to Phase two in July 19th through August 1st assuming there's no change in the guidance at that point again the workouts and trainings are optional and voluntary this is when we will begin limited indoor activities there are two fall sports that are indoor in nature volleyball and water polo and so they will as
011they can be honoring the social distancing inside but we will allow inside conditioning although there are things that they obviously can do outside as well and they will continue to do that in Phase two if they can continue the focus on conditioning and skill development but there will be small groups those small groups can be up to ten individuals where they can do thrills and the limited sharing of equipment so this is we're passing one another shooting on a goal those types of things that involve a small number of people will happen anything that a shared equipment will be frequently sanitized or traded out in intervals during the practice again we will continue in this phase with no extra bodies there as observers assuming that everything continues to go well from a health standpoint and
012the recommendation of the Bucks County Department of Health phase three will begin at the beginning of August and will run the two weeks through August 15 again workouts and trainings still during this phase are optional and voluntary social distancing will still be emphasized but this is the phase where contact drills and inter-squad scrimmages will be permitted obviously once you get that level of close contact or again will be free but Santa Santa possession of all the equipment that is being used the first official day of fall sports will be Monday August 17th and assuming that everything continues to go well from a health standpoint the phase three rules will apply to the first official day of sports on August 17 Thank You mr. Krause thank you dr. Bolton other questions or comments from board members
013so mr. Krauss I believe this is probably a question so this is just specifically to the practices and not this isn't speaking to the events the athletic events that will take place later I know there's some confusion amongst people in the community this will apply to their children's sporting events so obviously we don't control sporting events that are outside the purview of the parent school district so I do know that there are multiple community sporting events that have already begun and so there obviously are going to be sporting events in the community that involve Pendred students which is the confusion there are also even sporting events that involves some many athletes from the high school level that are involved in club or AAU or travel again these rules do not pertain to them and there
014may very well be athletic competitions but they will not be Henrich our teams are not in place at this point and so they do not compete at this time I believe it was a confusing article a couple weeks ago regarding the Penn Ridge baseball team and there are Pendred students who are participating in a tournament and that's obviously their parents prerogative do you want to do that many of them on the Penguins baseball team but it is not a Penn Ridge baseball team activity and so obviously there are no competitions for Penn Ridge teams during these three phases any other questions or comments the board members seeing none and anybody opposed or abstaining hearing none motion passes 8 0 finance missus famous poems cenario is getting a charger because my battery was talking I will
015make a motion to approve contracts a through C a second seconded by mr. Corrigan questions or comments from board members standing or opposing none motion passes 0 mrs. Clemens the next Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday August 10th she did announce the next committee meeting mr. Kraus weekend mr. Kraus can you hear us can you do me yes we have announced the next Finance Committee meeting we're free to move on my internet connection is unstable can you hear me can hear you okay good okay so before we move into new business commented look tonight as board members whether elected or appointed every one of us were enough to support obey and uphold the Constitution of the United States in the air make and the constitution of the Commonwealth as board members we did not
016surrender our constitutional rights as citizens which are guaranteed to each of us through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States I did remain silent until now my mother always told me we have two ears and one mouth for a reason I'd listened and I continued to listen to the stories of students past and present learned from their experiences and deeply saddened to hear that any student would be treated any differently from any other student simply because of race religion or sexual orientation personally I believed as a district we have a duty and a responsibility to provide a loving safe inclusive environment for all children to learn grow and thrive in the rigorous curriculum and diverse environment I have no social media presence and I believe these these platforms as well intentioned
017as they may have been are far too often misused to sow seeds of division and teacher with the intent bergeron be respect everyone's First Amendment right to freedom of speech and I do not hold the same viewpoint and believes as some of my fellow board members individual board members have divergent views on multiple topics and that allows for healthy debate on topics affecting the district we don't always agree and we're when we carefully list mr. Kraus are you able to hear me you just looked I'm gonna get moving oh yes mr. Kraus oh good mr. Kraus if you would go back to you were saying something along we don't always agree and then you broke up yeah yeah I actually it actually blew me off the line we don't know who's you really and we
018are better and stronger as a district when we carefully listen to one another work towards consensus and decide together what is best for the district it is time for the just another reason why I can't wait to wear face to face again mr. Kraus can you hear me mr. Kraus can you hear me we cannot hear you it might help if he turns off his video mr. Krantz there was a suggestion if you shut your video perhaps your audio will be stronger you and I'm back again can you hear me talk about yes is there any other point member that would comment at this time mr. Kraus if it would would it would please you I'd like to give a sense in an update on the diversity and equity workgroup would that work now thank
019you mr. Krause over the past few meetings I have highlighted both the past and current work the district has completed in the areas of diversity and equity as we consider different goals for the 2020 2021 school year this will obviously be one of our main goal areas and I wanted to elaborate on some of the items that we'll be working on these items are not meant to be any by any means exhaustive but I wanted to enumerate them to further indicate our community our commitment to this important work the diversity and equity workgroup will continue to guide our efforts during this summer and into the 2020 2021 school year we will number one provide optional professional development resources to our professional staff over the summer provide mandatory professional development to all staff in the fall
020examine our mission vision and belief statements to make sure they appropriately address our commitment to diversity and equity for all students and all staff we will expand our diversity and equity work group to include parent and student representatives we will conduct an internal diversity audit of our English and social studies curriculum working with in current safety protocols we will hold a community farm forum during the 2020 21 school year to encourage education and conversation regarding our entire community on the areas of diversity and equity and continue our attempts to promote and attract additional diverse candidates to the Penn Ridge School District there are promotional materials and our efforts with expanded job fairs and as I said the diversity and equity workgroup will continue to guide those efforts as we work on those goals as well
021as others Thank You mr. cross comment at this time see German hope one second mrs. Walters did you have a comment you wanted tonight Jen can speak mrs. Cohen okay I want to provide a follow-up to what was mentioned at our previous meeting I have information which I'm going to send to miss Chenoweth to put into the record tonight but first I do want to talk a bit about what is being provided in the marketplace of ideas no one has granted a monopoly for any society to function well and in a fair way for all people diversity of thought must be welcomed over the last couple of weeks words like hateful and ignorant we're used to describe a perspective which goes against the mainstream narrative those who hold this point of view have been denigrated
022and ridiculed there are many scholars prominent citizens and ordinary people of all ages races genders and orientations included in the segments of the population in question but in the interest of time I'm just going to talk about one because it so happens that his birthday is tomorrow dr. Thomas soul is a well respected and renowned professor of economics he has degrees from Harvard Columbia and the University of Chicago he's a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and has taught at many of our country's best schools he is also a prolific author of whom fellow prominent economist professor author and columnist Walter Williams said quote my colleague not only writes when you and I are asleep or enjoying ourselves but he might write with two hands in short dr. Souls formal education and
023commitment to lifelong learning and educating others is not in doubt and he certainly could never be described as ignorant but there's more to being a well-informed person than just acquiring a formal education and that regard Thomas soul has had a lot of experiences from which to build his worldview he was born on June 30th 1930 in North Carolina he grew up in Harlem by virtue of his being on this earth for 90 years he has lived and observed enough to hold a well-informed point of view he lived through the depression and in the country that was segregated he witnessed citizens of the United States come together to fight an evil which was ravaging the globe during World War two he dropped out of high school and was drafted into the Marine Corps he saw the
024National Guard deployed so a little girl could go to school he witnessed a fight for civil rights and the filibuster against it by Al Gore senior he has seen the ugly in this nation the progress we've made and he still believes in the overall good as I said dr. Sol is far from alone and holding his perspective which is one that challenges the mainstream thinking it doesn't deny the existence as many kinds of discrimination at all it disputes the degree to which it is institutional and the degree of its pervasiveness it's a view that perhaps made people confront uncomfortable thoughts on the causes of struggles and potential solutions so there's an effort to marginalize him and others who fear his perspective we see this happen all over including on the floor of the US Senate
025where just last week senator Tim Scott of South Carolina's landmark legislation was derisive ly mocked as a quote token and blocked from even being brought to the floor for debate I also saw it myself when a friend offered a well-thought-out civil comment on critical race theory and he was immediately dashed called a quote person of color that Joan Cullen is paying and had his background information posted to social media in an effort to discredit humiliate and silence him the attack was breathtaking in its swiftness and viciousness it was done to silence a person who dares to think differently why how can anyone credibly claim to welcome open discourse when one point of view is to be cleared to be declared flat-out wrong and eliminated before any conversation has had it will be hardly ironic is
026Penn Ridge which has a speech in debate team that regularly dominates its field would set a precedent of squelching academic discourse I don't expect any person to agree with 100% of anything anyone presents however as a resident of this community a parent a school board member and a former educator I will insist that every perspective be shared without fear of punishment so our students can think critically and form their own opinions rather than merely absorb and regurgitate a predetermined conclusion I am an educated woman an informed an engaged citizen my point of view is not ignorant nor hateful the perspective I present affair by many well-educated well-respected knowledgeable individuals I am familiar with the 16:19 project I'm also familiar with the 1776 unites project I have listened to the heartbreaking experiences people of color in
027my community and across the country has happened with regard to racism I have also witnessed a dear friend being attacked for expressing his diverse opinion I don't present this information because I presume to speak for anyone I present it so it can speak for itself therefore I am respectfully submitting this on behalf of myself and many others in this community not for back-and-forth email debating but for the school district to consider during any process to develop curriculum and programming for its students and Families thank you and you spend with how you'll be emailing that to you thank you hear me all right I know there are have been members of this community that have been requesting that the board make a statement in regards to mrs. Collins tweets let me first begin by saying that
028everyone sitting up here is an individual and responsible for their own actions I have always strived to work well with every individual on this school board and I have always voted my conscience as a team sometimes we agree on an issue and sometimes we don't agree we but we have always respected each other's input vote and then we move on that was not the case when I started my term on the school board in December 2017 the board was heavily divided it was not a good working environment and it did not appreciate the way in which other former board members publicly attacked others over personal issues and opinions unfortunately even after leaving the school board some of them continued to insert themselves and craft controversy on social media and in the community has become very
029obvious to me that the social media page is targeting school board do not exist because they actually care about improving the school district they exist only to attack individuals that the administration of those pages simply do not like it's dirty politics plain and simple and I'm tired of it so when I saw a screenshot of mrs. Collins Twitter I made a choice to be patient and worked through my thoughts I wondered mrs. Cohen to have the time to process and respond to the community how she sought it because these are her actions not mine additionally I wanted to speak with mrs. : and understand her perspective further because I believe we as a district as a community as a nation will get nowhere on difficult topics if we don't learn how to have honest conversations
030with people we disagree with the discussion of racism is a layered topic it is difficult to sum up all of one's thoughts and opinions and knowledge and experience on such a topic and a few lines on a social media post I feel mrs. Collins tweet appears very one-sided and has offended members of our community which is affecting their trust in our ability to serve I also do not agree with the matter and what your tweet was presented nearly a year after it was posted it was done so to stir up trouble mrs. : is heavily involved and dedicated to a multitude of things in our community like almost she has opinions however I also feel you have I'm sorry like all of us she has opinions and I fully believe she has a First Amendment
031right to express those opinions however I also feel you have a responsibility to express his opinions in a more inclusive manner when holding a leadership role I did not support mrs. : for vice president and our reorganization meeting in December but she and I continued to have a positive working relationship after that vote this is a perfect example of how this current board defers from the board I was sworn in to in late 2017 we may personally disagree but we will move forward and continue to focus on what is best for our students our teacher in the district I do not think mrs. colon should resign from being a school board director but my personal opinion is that she should step down from her role as vice president I hope that in time mrs. colon
032is able to have a conversations and build relationships with the people that she has offended including I believe in First Amendment rights accountability responsibility forgiveness and grace these past few months have been difficult and stressful we went from school closings to mask-wearing and businesses closing so the murder of George Floyd - protests and everyone arguing and telling each other how to think and behave on social media I'm going to be very honest and say that the world feels really heavy and overwhelming for me at the moment a family member suggested that I not share that I've been overly emotional lately because they didn't want me to appear weak but I am sharing it because I want the community to realize that the people that sit on the school board are human we aren't emotional estroux
033BOTS we have empathy and we care I had a friend tell me last week as I was pouring out all that I had been carrying lately Lisa I know the world is difficult and you don't have an immediate solution but one day you'll look back and say that you were part of making things better I am dedicated to listening and growing together as a community with the concerns that are brought before us and I in faith my fellow board members that we will step forward in the same manner together thank you thank you mrs. Walters would like to say something at this time I see dr. Thompson raising her hand mr. Krasner Thompson okay you're on a different screen I'm sorry yes thank you I'm compelled to make the statement because there are members of
034the community that wish to hear the perspectives of the other board members as it relates to the call for a resignation for John Cullen and apparently also for her to willingly resign her position as vice president so I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth it is instructive that both these constitutions have as their first enumerated great a guarantee of freedom of expression for all individuals even choice to serve your community as a school board director does not strip you of those rights I think that every citizen has the right to speak on matters of public concern conversely I think that people have the right to criticize a speaker's viewpoint I think that some expressions made in juxtaposition of a political movement will inevitably be
035perceived as inflammatory or hateful even when there is a lack of evidence to the same and I think that every citizen that is willing to speak up also has the right to disagree with any consensus or major viewpoint at any time and I will defend the right of any board member or student or staff member that wishes to engage in protected expression so as I see it if you take an oath to uphold the Constitution and the protection in a forge you cannot also punish someone for exercising their constitutional rights I understand that there are members of this community that wish for this court to exact a price and a punishment for the individual viewpoints of mrs. Joan Cullen that she expressed outside of her official capacity a year ago if this reflexive impulse to
036punish mrs. Cullen weren't permitted then it would inevitably and ultimately result in policy formation on individual self-expression for board members employees and students policies that monitor review examine and penalize expressions of thought would directly under my all of our constitutional rights that would be an unintended consequence of an action based on public outcry rather than to heat our duty to allow self expression and where necessary even defend it it is our duty to uphold the Constitution within our official capacities and why you as the community members have entrusted us to do so in fact more than 7,000 community members and trust and mrs. John Cullen who had the highest number of votes overall to defend the Constitution and the protection it affords and I feel I must reiterate that school board directors are not stripped
037of those rates themselves but in fact work diligently to separate their personal freedoms of expression from the venue of the school district that I am even compelled to make the statement would indicate that some community members and not mrs. gem Colin herself have attempted to blur these lines and distract attention from the actual good work that we do here as board members and as for my colleague I encourage you to look at the actual record of her service on the board that's what I evaluate and by that standard mrs. Joan Cullen has been supportive of this board and this community she has put the district the staff and the students first Thank You mr. Krause thank you dr. Thompson this is famous Clemens I think you and maybe you would like to say stone thank
038you from my perspective board members have the right to say what they want on social media but have the responsibility not to we have to be open-minded and remain impartial without alienating members of the community and inviting controversy to the district we also have to be cognizant of how our words impact students staff and families and lead by example everything we say and do reflects on our colleagues and the district as a whole especially when serving in a leadership role on the board where your voice is meant to represent your colleagues for that reason I voted accordingly on who should serve in leadership roles back in the fall but each of us has our own opinions and standards that guide our decisions recent events have struck a chord with families who continue to experience discrimination
039though it's incredibly disheartening to hear their personal stories they are driving the difficult conversations to ensure that here at Penn Ridge we are doing everything we can to secure safe welcoming and inclusive environment where every student feels valued and accepted the Penn Ridge School District has zero tolerance for racism and condemns all hate speech over the past few weeks I have been having those difficult conversations with families I have heard from a woman of color who was discouraged from going to college because she was told she wasn't the college type who had the police called on her family at a local park and a suspicious persons report I heard from a from a young excuse me from young women who were teased for their looks in their hair and referred to with racial slurs from
040a black man who was taught how to get pulled over without making anyone think he was a threat it was treated differently depending on how he dresses I have heard from the daughter of a police officer who has to hold back her feelings as other kids continue to bash police officers knowing her father risks his life every day to protect people and would never do the kinds of things people are talking about on TV knowing he has to watch where he parks when he goes to work because people are going through the police department parking lot taking pictures of private vehicles tracking down where they live so they can docs them and put their families in danger knowing they had to remove all the Fraternal Order of Police stickers on their vehicles so they aren't
041targeted none of these things are okay we are being divided over things we all agree on hate and violence of any kind is wrong and needs to be condemned and we need to do our part to prevent what we can and hold accountable what we cannot we cannot control the rest of the world but here in Penn Ridge we can leave the politics at the door and work together to set the standard on how we treat one another a mom shared the story of when her daughter was a three year old little girl who came home from preschool upset when nobody wanted to use the black crayon because they thought it was an ugly color and it made her think they must not like her because she is that color I also heard about a
042sixth grade teacher from die blur mr. Arnold who has since passed away who gave extra credit to the student in his class who used a black crayon to add diversity to his picture for class after that many of his students started adding color to the people in their pictures as well one of those students grew up to teach at a day care to this day when her students are coloring a picture with people she puts out a range of colors to represent all the complexions in their pictures and admire the diversity it represents that teacher is my sister imagine if the little girl in the story I shared was in that class how much more valued she would have felt in education little things we do every day have a significant impact on the students
043we teach one of my conversations was with a woman of color I grew up with here in Penn Ridge it was enlightening to hear the different perspective of growing up in the same district through her eyes and the eyes of her sisters one of her sisters and I were really cooked we're really close growing up we build a bridge across a creek in the woods by my parents house and called it our secret place of course we did not stand back then so our bridge was not comparable to the kind of bridge our students would make today let's build a bridge and bring this community together I invite any of you who want to share experiences and have the difficult conversations to work together and make Penn writes the best district it can be to
044reach out to me I would be happy to sit down with you many community members have a genuine desire to have the difficult conversations but let's not kid ourselves we aren't calling them difficult conversations for no reason we move forward by sharing differing experiences and perspectives in an open and honest way not by silencing those we disagree with respondents thank you any other board members would like to yes all right I just wanted to begin by saying that I know a lot of you a lot of people here don't know me and unlike many other board members and people here at this meeting I did not grow up in the Penn rich community I'm leaving this community in 2011 and decided to start and raise a family here I decided to run for school board
045director last year as I wanted to be a part of this community hoping to be able to make a difference and helping the children in this community have the best education possible by voting me into this position you have trusted me to help make decisions that will affect the education of that your children receive and how we view education as a whole in this community it is a position that I take very seriously and I can assure you that I exhaust every resource possible to make informed and smart decisions there has been a lot of discussion in our community about the issues that our district a nation are currently facing and I want to apologize for my delay in making my own statement there have been many people that have voiced their concerns and questions
046through email to the school board as well as through public comment at these meetings and I appreciate every single comment email and concern brought to the attention to the board it is very encouraging that there are so many people invested in this community and what they believe in I have responded to some of the emails and engaged in conversations with community community members and I appreciate each and every discussion as a member of this community and a member of this board I will do whatever is needed to ensure that racism heat and violence have no part of our district I will never know what it's like to face the challenges that the black and other minority communities face however to not speak up and address acts of racism and racism and hate is unacceptable I
047am an allied to all students and I will support students and this community and any way that I can I do not pretend to be an expert on the issues that our nation and community are currently facing but I am actively educating myself and feel that action is needed to address these issues I'm committed to inclusion and equality in our district and I believe progress begins with communication discussion and education having diverse views and perspectives in the decision-making process will only benefit us this is something that I'm committed to and I hope to work with our community members to help us drive change and stand up for what is right for our students and community I believe that there are racial disparities embedded into our society and even though people may have the best in
048touch intentions these disparities still exist I will always stand firm in my belief that hate racism and violence simply have no place in Penn Ridge and I will work with anyone regardless of their viewpoints in order to move this district in a positive direction I want to thank you all for taking the time to listen and I hope you understand that I am certainly not perfect but I always do my best to do what is right for our students and community I genuinely appreciate everyone that has a voice their concern that has voiced their concerns and reached out to the board your dedication and drive for change is envy Abel and what is needed this is how we do come together as a community to make it better for everyone and we will come out
049of this better Thank You mr. cross yeah yep I just want to appreciate I just want to say I appreciate everybody every board member that would sable speak tonight give their words of encouragement every single word they say is very important in this conversation I'm gonna I ingest everything I believe in a lot of those words that were spoken this evening I just want to let you know that as part of the board growing up here raised my kids here being a resident since I in 1969 so I've been around for a long time and I love this community and I wish to be part of the conversation and the solution to make sure that everybody is included and everybody is meant to felt important thank you yes mr. Krause just a couple words just
050kind of echo the same comments that mr. Rai said is that I've been a member of this community for 30 years three children grew up in this community went through the Penrith School District one advanced education one regular education and especially a student I've seen all sides of the educational process my wife and I are dedicated to look at the special education community and work with them one of the reasons I came on the board was to work with the existing board members who had made a conscious effort to control tax dollars on on providing a quality education that was one of the main reasons who I wanted to get on board number two is I wanted to make sure that every student had a quality education that could lead them into the future as
051two looking at the pandemic and what's going on with black lives matters I just want to say that my field is an economic development we provide low-cost financing to business and industry I don't see color I don't see color at all part of my issue is I see black and white which happens to be on a spreadsheet so I don't get involved in that process again one of my mentors had told me a long time ago if the individual has good character and they can pay back their debt service they get a loan I look at it this way we have a community that is moving in the right direction we've got an administration that understands where it needs to go and has put processes in place prior to any of the discussions we've had
052in the last three three or four weeks so I say that this community is geared up ready to move forward we need to be thinking positively on how to get out of this so-called pandemic from the standpoint of looking at the existing programs working with the existing leadership and moving forward I believe that we need to be able to move forward and our future is not our past but our future and I think we all can provide enough information to make our future the best that it is is there any new business mr. Krause I think mr. : in addition to hearing the stories of people there was a lot of email and even an anonymous letter that was written in support we've received a lot of supportive comments from members of the community who
053would like to see a robust discussion take place and so to the point of saying that a leadership position should be you know revoked or were sacrificed for expressing an opinion that is supported in the community amongst many people to me would send a message that again that this is something that's not acceptable to be voiced in the Pine Ridge School District and that could have consequences for our students down the road because as you can imagine it couldn't very well not stop here a student could find himself or herself in the position of being asked to revoke a leadership position on a team or in some organization because of a political belief that they expressed elsewhere and I would you know I agree with the concept of leaving your politics at the door I
054think as dr. Thompson said if you look at my record I have always stood for all students in this community always and I always will and I am the one who is saying let's hear all voices hearing all voices is the only way to have a truly honest and open conversation and make the kind of progress that we want to make so that's all I want to add that there was an awful lot of support to coming from community members thank you yeah okay all right Thank You mr. Krause in light of everything that has gone on the recent events discussion and concerns you know that many of the community members have raised it's pretty apparent to me that many people in this community are losing faith in us as a school board and is
055questioning our ability to lead this district as we are currently organized for me I think we're all in agreement that this is not a First Amendment issue and for me it's not for me it's accountability and the way we respond to criticism and other view all of us have been called upon to listen to the concerns expressed in our being expressed in our community the objective and find the best way for us to move forward we all must be held accountable for our actions and when our objectivity is compromised whether implicit or intentional we must call for change I feel that the best way for us to move forward as a community and a district is to have miss Colin replaced in her of her leadership positions and I would like to make a motion
056for the removal of miss Colin as vice president and to no longer be the chair of the curriculum committee thank you second mr. Krantz like this yes mr. Miller mr. Krause there's been a motion and a second on that motion is in order it seems to me that under Section 7 town of the Sunshine Act if we add to the agenda that residents are should have the opportunity to comment on the agenda item prior to the vote so I would ask the board to move the public comment that follows doing business up to this point take public comment so that the vote will be in order and when public comment is over then the board can proceed on the motion on the floor including comments from board members in that way we will satisfy the
057Sunshine Act and so saying this I want to remind everyone in the audience to if you wish to make public comments you will get three minutes I will keep the time everyone will get three minutes and when you get to the end of your three minutes if you haven't finished I will ask you to please suspend and allow everyone else the chance to speak in addition in speaking you must first announce where you're from in the district and only residents of the district are permitted under the rule to speak the all comments must be directed to mr. Crouse as board chair its Commons only and not question-and-answer that the format of public comment and please be patient with the parliamentarian / umpire / referee as I recycle my timekeeping device and mr. Kraus recognizes you
058there's a lot of people who are currently logged in so mr. Kraus with that admonition gentle though it is I would ask you to consider doing public comment at this point hi I'm Alexis Thomas I am a Sellersville resident I grew up here in Sellersville one thing definitely one thing I don't like that was stated a lot of people say this just thinking that it's the right thing to say is I don't see color we all see color like I obviously grew up in this area people saw my color and I'm since a lot of people said that they you know heard stories of people in the community and since we did invite people to come out of the board and nobody did we had two people of the board last minute cancel I'm gonna
059tell you my story so like I said I I went to die blur the first thing was first rate I got made fun of because I have a white mother and a black father so that's one third grade got told how to drink from a different water fountain and the crazy thing is nothing to these students were ever done fifth six seven eight nine ten I've been called a I have been told in the hallway by power there has been racial slurs were in on the rocks like this is unbelievable that it has been now 17 since I left the school I dropped out when I was 15 because of all the racial discrimination going on in the school and nothing being done about it really that's all I have to say I obviously believe
060that John Cohen definitely should resign she doesn't believe in systemic racism but I mean I have sent her videos where they're little children videos which you can watch that literally we'll explain it to you I just think that it's it's just sad that this is what our community has come to and it's obviously been going on longer than 17 years to hear the stories of little kids just this year being called dirt and still nothing has been done and that blows my mind and that's all I have to say please bear with me because I have to scroll through the screens I'd like to speak I have a moment yes that's her husband I would like to second miss Thomas a statement that could you justify where you're from your time my wife and I
061both are current residents and one of our children who is a person of color attends one of your schools thank you sir yes so I know that miss Thomas I'm sure has invited you as well as my wife and I to join us for peaceful protests and discussions that you seemingly would like to attend and take part in but none of you have deemed it necessary or worthy of your time and if you had attended any of these you would have heard story after story from just teenagers young 20s of what they dealt with in your system currently and recently and miss Collins statement is very dangerous to future generations it is my opinion as well as my wife that she is not fit to raise future generations in an even an equal manner that's
062all I got to say yes thank you I my name's Jane Kramer I'm a resident of Vernon Glen and mother of a child of color that we'll be entering Henrich School District in the fall hopefully depending on Kovan um I would like to express my concern for the lack of urgency that I'm hearing from the board the school district already has some consultants that are working with them on issues of diversity and inclusion there's already a group so I would really urge the board to pull together a community forum before the school year starts this is not an issue that can wait you can hear from you know people that have shared their personal experiences as former students of hemorrhage school district that it can't stand I can't have my daughter go through that same
063experience and I'm I just don't hear the urgency from this board I hear we we're gonna do some training we're gonna do some some things but you have a community that is ready willing and able and has lived experience but also professional experience that they can bring to the table to help move this issue forward I'm a master's level social worker I've conducted diversity training and I offer myself as someone to serve the district I have offered to volunteer again three years ago I reached out to dr. Radigan and was some was dismissed so I just really urge the board you take this issue seriously to not wait because the longer that that the board waits the more the distrust is going to grow and based on the social media of one of the board
064members there's a lot of distrust at this point and you know we need a real forum we need details about what the trainings are that the teachers are experiencing we need details and we need them now so I agree with other conditions that miss Cohen is not suitable to lead in the school board and should resign thank you thank you hi can you hear me yes hi I'm Kim Battalion I live in Perkis Ibero two grown children went through Penn Ridge I have two grandchildren that will be going into Penn Ridge in the next few years I just want to say that I support Joan Colin I've seen her on Facebook as a board member and every function I'm supporting the school being a cheerleader being a champion for students champion for teachers for innovation
065for financial responsibility I think that there is a political movement going on that it's sort of in vogue right now they should be doing which is educating children and leave this social justice type of things that are going on outside politically outside the school maybe in the high school level speaking of it in one of a current event matter but just say there systemic racism as a whole can of worms that starts with top-down and I do not believe that this administration that that did these teachers that this school board is racist or wants to keep black children down or minorities unequal I think that this is just something that's kind of being brought up to divide at this community I think we need unity in this community we grew up knowing that it's wrong
066to call people names the children do it it's the way you know kids are it can they can be tough and individually they need to be spoken to we need to teach each other to be kind to be considerate to understand people you have different backgrounds different abilities and they can that can be generally taught I do not think that we need some sort of diversity education in the school system right now I think this is a political hack job honestly I think that everybody is going after Joan : because she is a strong member of the community and I think this is just a way to disenfranchise the people that voted for her the majority in Penn Ridge who voted for Joan : what Joan Collins to remain in her position that's what she
067was voted for that's what she's doing and that's what we didn't want her to continue doing thank you love I like to make a comment I like to make a comment okay yes good at good evening everyone Dante king hill town Township I have two children and it's our so um I'm gonna just say this too I'm gonna say this to everyone you know I think the be me our focus is in the wrong place right our focus is on miss color and you know I've heard a lot of things and you know what she has the right to say what she wants to say I mean that's her that's her right so first a number right I'm with that what I'm not with is the lack of accountability that is being held right but
068you lady just spoke about systemic racing political hat job in both I've been black for 43 years I've experienced racism in this community my eight-year-old daughter has experienced racism in this community systemic or not it's still racism the fact that we're saying we don't need diversity training in school why kid a kids and the gentleman said he doesn't see color I'm black I can't I can't take this off I can't shake that my daughter can't chicken mother daughter can't shake my wife can't shake it right had this to 11.5 percent of this excuse me three percent of this community can't shake the fact they're black brown or Asian they or or any they can't shake that and they have experienced something again have experienced so traumatic pain this young lady just told us that she
069dropped out of school where was her support it where was her support what were you doing as a school district she dropped out of school to 1750 because she was being teased but if she were white oh be a different story be bullying and be all on the front news but she was in minority and it wasn't handled appropriately so did I'm not worried about miss Carla being on the board or not you know what we can let we can let begin people we can vote her out if you wouldn't wanna vote her out that's not my eyes what my to my focus is is we need to get it back to the children and the children need to have a diversity committee they need to have and again to me special committee settings been
070about Kovac it should have been about this it should have been about what are we going to do to move forward with this again politics aside I'm not getting the politics but we'll say this much to deny that I'm black the deny that you don't see that I'm black in your life to deny that there is no racism discrimination yeah lie you're all lies if you don't believe that and all I'm saying to you right now is if we don't put the children first and if nothing gets done from the school board my voice the voice of the minority the voice of the people that aren't being heard will be amplified and guess what I don't want this little this little conversation that we have right now to be magnified the national news so that
071now perco see is being seen as maybe a neighborhood you don't want to live in i do close its bio louis that's right it's really hard i couldn't say it when I met my husband either okay I'm sorry please oh I'm sorry yeah Maggie bye Louis and I live in hill town Township I am actually myself an educator I'm a special ed teacher at souderton high school um and my daughter will be starting my oldest daughter will be starting kindergarten at Siler in the fall and then I have another that will be starting in um I am very proud that someone finally said publicly that Jo needed to be removed from her position not on the board I understand that she was voted in but I don't think that someone that has publicly shared her
072views such as they are should be the vice president and should be in charge of choosing curriculum I believe that I heard that there is a new social studies curriculum that it needs to be chosen this year and I think this is a great opportunity to choose an anti-racist curriculum I'm going to be pushing the school district that I work in to be hopefully whenever there's is up to be choosing that type of curriculum as well i 100% percent believe that we need diversity education in the school district particularly for the reason that we are not ethnically diverse we our children are growing up in this area where I believe that other man said that only 3% of the children here are black that's not gonna be necessarily where they end up they're not gonna
073maybe go to a college where 97% of the people are not black so we need to teach them the right things to do and the right things to say and the right way to be an anti-racist person I respect Prynne Ridge School District my husband and his sister both went through this school district and I think that they are excellent people and good citizens but I know that we can do better and I know that we need to keep going forward and I 100% support the removal of John Cullen thank you yes Danijela bin West Rock Hill I am in full support of the resignation of John John Cullen 2016 I was in student council and I was a former representative for the school board and I think that the things that she said along
074with the things that other community members have said such as that the school shouldn't have to provide diverse retraining is ridiculous I am a recent graduate from college and I needed to educate myself on these things and I feel like it was the Penn Ridge high schools fault that I wasn't taught more about diversity prior and that I was needing to teach myself I believe that as an older sibling of two siblings who go to the high school I want them to get that best education and I feel like currently they're not getting it and I've had many friends who have been through the Penn ridge system who have needed to drop out or failed out because they were not getting the racial support that they needed and that is my comment yes my name
075is Bethany chuan D I'm in Perkis eberle first of all I wanted to state that I Bethany 20 support the motion to remove Joan Colin from her position as vice president on a school board and her position as director of the curriculum committee should she not be removed completely I would also like to share story I am an educator myself I work in a local school which does a lot of anti racism work currently however because that is a part-time position I also subbed as a Penn Ridge school director Henrich substitute teacher the past two years and I would like to share that in the last school year as a substitute for at Penn rich high school I was brought in when I sat when I took a job and brought into the principal at
076the time I understand that she's not there now and was asked about questions that were asked to me by students in an AP English class the day after the 2018 midterm elections because I was asked directly by students because they were during their work and wanted to have a conversation I did mention that I felt that the election in Georgia was not fair and was a clear evidence of voter suppression and that I felt safe in the Abrams was robbed this was a conversation brought to me by students at no point did I say anybody's position was invalid I was brought in at the next time and I was told I'm not I can tell that you are not from around here no I attended all through Penn Ridge oh you're not from around here
077clearly you know that we had a conservative school you are not to speak about politics to students that is our school district policy now Mun substitutes are not district employees I understand we're not in there to go in and rile things up that was not the intent I was addressing questions asked to me by an Advanced Placement class there are tiny things that the students tell the substitutes that are well beyond outside of the realm of appropriate behavior Diane and day out and I did that for two years so I would just like to state that maybe we can talk about this at the level of high school is completely ridiculous these conversations need to be had from the very entrance into the school district I am thankful that this administration has changed I look
078forward to the movements forward that dr. Bolton has has pushed but I did want to share that story - no thank you I yield my time but I would like to give my husband a chance to speak may I continue or take my time so your an order you have three minutes please name and the my name is Steven Wendy I am a resident / Kesey borough and I have three children in the Penn Ridge School District I think it has become clear over the course of all the stories that we have heard recent as it may be that we've heard them but long is the time over which they've taken place the Pendred school district is a vehicle of institutional racism it is necessary for us to acknowledge this and to work to improve
079and and eliminate that status a key first step in doing that would be for John Cullen to be removed from her position as vice president of the school board and to be taken far far away from anything having to do with curriculum sludge she clearly does not possess the ability to comprehend this on a conceptual level and the cherry-picking of examples of an economist to support her viewpoint only seeks to disprove it hello mr. Kraus miss miss bevilaqua's got the floor must a block be your name and address okay I'm okay and I'm a hill town Township resident I just like to take a moment to speak in support of John : not only as a leader in this district but as an upstanding member of the community she has been zeroed in on in
080a very calculated way by certain groups in the district and they're attempting to use their collective power to overthrow an active member of our community for what seems to be nothing more than politics it's a shame our children are being used as pawns in this manner Jones arms are and always have been wholly and fully open to every single person and child to the point that I have seen her fret and worry and worry that she may need to limit a guest list for a party at her home or of her children's she encourages she encourages she doesn't just let it be she encourages an atmosphere for everyone and a tweet that is being used against her that is being used at a time when there are social unrest I find as disgusting she has
081a right to her opinion and it is not unhurt and unheard of opinion she is acknowledged that she understands that racism does exist however the statement she has retweeted denounces that there is a calculated system in place in this country that is used to purposely hold a section of the population down she stated that she does not believe that to be true she stated that she does not believe that that system is in place and there is a large body of citizens of all ethnic backgrounds that agree with her on this her belief is meant to empower and I just wanted to also add here that yes there is improvements in the pen Ridge School District that need to be worked upon most definitely you will not find me working against that and you know
082I my point here is the politics that have been brought to the table rather than the discussion and that is what is of most important I back Joan I know her personally I've known her I breathed my kids with her um I've known her for 15 years that I've been here and I ask that any one of you sit down with her sit down with me and discuss because that is what needs to happen here is all of this because this district can be better and I fully believe with all the discussions that are happening right now it will be better I have my you know issues with the district as well um but I just think that we're gonna go into a positive direction from here I just asked that I ask that the
083politics be removed Thank You Michelle and Matt McManus Rock Hill we have three brown children who have been through Penn Ridge and we have one child who is about to enter North middle school my husband has a few things to say I would just like to put out there that it is really time for white people to be quiet and listen to the people of color in our community you don't get to have an opinion on this listen to Dante listen to Alexis and there was a wonderful opportunity on Saturday for many of you to come out and hear those stories and no one took advantage of that and it's very disappointing so with that said I'm gonna turn it over to max thank you for giving us this time to speak a couple of
084things that I just want to point on things that were said first dr. Thompson had said that everybody gets the voice any kind of opinion that they want without penalty however in March of 2018 225 students walked out of school protest gun violence and they were all sentenced to detention saturday detention so for a school board member to make the point that somebody can you know voice their opinion without punishment but they prove that they can't do that it's just it's it's hypocritical with that being said First Amendment rights or everybody gets a First Amendment right the First Amendment right protects you from imprisonment from your opinion it does not protect you from repercussions based on the statements that you made and the statements that Joan Collin made wasn't just one tweet for all you
085people are saying it's one tweet or Terry there was multitude of tweets I've been calling for her resignation for the past two years because there's been a multitude of tweaks that she's made that are against just about everything not just what's going on now and this is not political this is not political at all this is this is real light this is real life not for me as somebody who grew up with white privilege this is life for people of color that have to deal with this every single day and for us to just dismiss it and say oh well it's not if it's not systemic or it's not this or it's not that who are you to say what it is you don't you don't ever have to deal with it you're a white
086woman or a white man who's making these statements our curriculum does not reflect diversity and you listen to stories especially last Saturday when you talk and you talk about people that just graduated Penn Ridge or strolling Penn region and what they learn you know about african-americans and the battle that they have been fighting for 400 years it's so my new how can anybody say Joan Collins should remain as the vice president of curriculum when she doesn't want to diversify our curriculum we're just setting our children back because they don't get to learn everybody's perspective by having her as the vice president curriculum you can you can't say that posting something outside of the school board won't reflect on how you perform as a school board member those are your beliefs you posted them didn't have
087to be as part of the school board you posted them easier beliefs well those beliefs or against everything any of us you believe it so for you to say oh well I think this outside of the school board it that's okay that's not okay because it does reflect on your it does reflect on you as a person and right now that person needs to be removed from the vice-president she should not be the head of curriculum and we should call for a recall vote so designer position sir thank you very much I appreciate your - time is up thank you this week mr. Edwards yes sir yes sir please my name is Craig Edwards I have three kids that graduated Penn Rajai live in Bedminster Township my fourth child is at North middle school right
088now and I've been in this district since 1982 so it's been a while that tells you kind of hello them so I appreciate everybody's perspective here and and I've watched this school district for a long time the problem is that we we mix up a lot of our definitions in a lot of our terms here of course everybody has the First Amendment right Jones no different but the big question if Joan had said something that was truly offensive a year ago she retweeted a black man's host that she agreed with she's referencing Thomas Sol who's a brilliant black man who agrees with Joan there are many other black people in America that agree with the perspective that there is no systemic racism which has a very specific definition which is different from saying there is
089no racism okay we all agree there's racism and when you find it and you pointed out we should all attack it together it's it's a it's an offensive thing to all of us even though I'm not black it's still offensive to me I grew up in Papua New Guinea I was the minority where I grew up so I experienced stuff myself but that's not relevant to this point I suppose what Joan said about systemic racism has to be looked at intellectually without the emotion I feel like so many people are worked up because they want something to be angry about they're upset about what's going on - well they're upset about this cop who did a heinous thing you need to root it out where we find it if there is systemic racism we need
090to call it out specifically systemic means top-down what government policy what's school board policy what police policy is there that promotes light sources either from the top down or from a movement a group movement that's the issue we need to have an intellectual discussion about it without all the emotion and the vitriol and the ad hominem attacks of people I've known Joan for a few years I don't know her that well but I know enough to know Joan's certainly not a racist if you get to know Joan you'll know that too if you can relax and stop the attacking and allow the conversation to happen outside the obvious fact that she has the first woman right to say what she says right what she said was not wrong what she said was accurate okay now
091you could disagree with me you could disagree with Joan and we could have a great conversation about I willing to listen to find out where the systemic racism is not racism you give examples of specific acts of racism and we agree that's bad but systemically where is the racism and that's the question Thomas soul addresses that there's many intellectual people who talk to miss a session we can have but to remove somebody from their position because they took here your time is up thank you I would like to speak all right is it miss Thomas yes jalisa Thomas my family as well so I just continue to become educated about my ancestors who fought and died for me to be able to have a voice in the rites I had because of their courage and
092they were so courageous and I too needs to be just as courageous and so to do some of you first I'm just still unsure about how a person in this country better yet a leader of a community and a leader of youth can be just so ill educated on issues that have remained present in this country for the past four hundred and one years you know does one not realize that American America has enslaved black people beginning in 1690 and in nineteen and until the Emancipation Proclamation was passed in 1863 and that our country was built physically economically institutionally and systemically based on that and that being racism and actually just because the Emancipation Proclamation was passed in 1863 doesn't even mean that all persons were enslaved we're set free we know that's not the
093truth hence Juneteenth although most of us just found out what this holiday was because of the lack of education we have received across America and including our Pembridge then finally when like Americans are considered to be free 1865 begins the year of Black Codes and then not too much later comes Jim Crow laws which continue to allow our country to systemically perpetuate racist policies and laws and ways of life once the Jim Crow era ended in 1964 this was followed by a criminal justice system that disproportionately affects the black community in America called mass incarceration and then we're here today in 2020 watching black people be senselessly murdered and having to tell people that having to tell people that black lives matter and you know and I don't even have time to go into go
094on about systemic racism present in systems of education public health housing and employment but there are plenty of books that people should read websites evidence you know like facts that show this so again I just can't fathom how one can say that systemic racism doesn't exist it's like mind-blowing to me or tries to state an opinion that suggests otherwise facts are facts and opinions are opinions and this isn't a political movement is clicking right issue and how privileged one must be to be able to say that it's political and I think to the people who are to here and I think we've come to realize how important it is to pay attention to who our leaders are and who we're voting in what are their values what do they stand for it's also important to
095pay attention to what we are being taught who was picking and choosing what we're being taught you know we must demand change in our curriculum to include the truth and to include the truth it's going to force a lot of people to rethink how they thought and what they've been taught and to confront their own mis-education you know it will be a bit difficult process but that doesn't mean we don't do it we must always stand for what is right and for the truth and for an education system that actually educated ma'am I'm afraid your time is up thank you very much okay and I just wanted to add I do agree with the notion of removal for the vice-president School Board Joan : when I believe that one cannot have our own education they're
096going to ignore facts thank you ma'am yeah so I'm I just want to send a very genuine thanks to our Ryan Gerhart and Lisa Walker mr. Schmidt could you suspend please would you please announce your name and where you're from oh yeah sorry Chris red burka see thank you sure um so I just want to spend it very very genuine thanks to Ryan Gerhart and Lisa Walters for obviously listening to the experience and stories of those in the community and proving this in their actions tonight I have known Lisa specifically for a really long time and if there's one thing I know it is that she values every single community members experience and in calling for Joan Cullen to step down she is very much proven as is reflected from his statements tonight it's quite
097evident that this is also true of Ryan Gerhardt so I would like to include that in the event that the motion passes and John Cohen is no longer vice-president as someone who voted for Lisa Walters to be on this school board I support Lisa Walters taking that position in her place as I believe Lisa is able to genuinely listen to community members and make decisions that benefit students of every skin color every gender every sexual orientation and any other identity thank you for all you do Lisa and thank you to Ryan Gerhart from moving to remove John Cohen from her position mr. Crossfield I would like to speak I have my hand yes miss fields here you're around your photo is out I see is your name so I apologize so go ahead please miss
098fields your name is mr. talmann so my name is Ruth field I'm in hill town Township as well I'm calling there's an echo selling me initiatives I'm speaking once again the last meeting we had this country had the same conversation regarding Joan Joan Cullen we talked about why we feel the way that we feel this is not a political agenda as someone mentioned this is more than a political agenda this is about our children our children of color that are being impacted by them the students that gave their testimonials I'm not talking about some made-up racism or sub systemic racism that does not exist this is what they lived with in this Pendred school district I moved into the pentose School District I did not come from the penwick school district but the stories that
099I've heard I no longer want my children to be exposed to that we want a change and this is why we have come to you over and over and over again asking for real initiatives real change to happen not the work force initiative that about the hiring practices you guys are planning on doing actions speak louder than words make it happy include us in this process I'm gonna give my time because my husband is also here and he wants to speak as well hello everyone my name is Sayid fields and and hill town Township someone someone mentioned earlier the blatant denial of systemic racism I just say to that person or persons having an intellectual common conversation when you can't recognize that I can't change my skin color or my seven children can't change their
100skin color is a problem things need to change and for those who are in support of whether or not you support the removal of this person you support it great if you don't support it great what I'm concerned about are my three boys that are going to this school that are gonna be going to this school district and what will their plight be like as they matriculate through school that's an issue when people think that there's no such thing as systemic racism mr. King said it perfectly Dante King said it perfectly he cannot remove his skin I can't change this my three black sons can't change their skin color they will be met with some form of racism we try to shield them from it but for how long and it sounds like it's an
101inevitability if things stay the way that they are so I'm voting for a change I'm hoping for change you don't want to believe in systemic racism you want to quote a few black people who don't believe there's systemic racism I don't know how they were raised I know how I was raised I know that when I go when I get pulled over I know when I get pulled over and someone else it's pulled over it's a different situation when I get pulled over by a police officer or what I have to teach my boys when they get pulled when when they're out and how they need to interact in the street if they're if they're in care they encounter a police officer so please stop speaking from a place of privilege when you have no
102idea what it's like to live in this skin thank you I yield my time hi my name is Janelle Township and John is entitled to hurt pain what I am most concerned with is the curriculum it's no way she can be partial with her views it needs to change as far as the curriculum a non racist curricula teaches the real history of the United States of black and brown people and how we've been suppressed and part of that history is systemic racism to say that there's no systemic racism is to downplay interstate at every person of color who gave a testimony or told their story on these phone calls and that these rallies are lying as mr. King stated we can't turn off our black and brown skin we live with it every day our
103concern is our children in the racism that they will face in the school is inevitable that they will buy some of the current students and some of the alumni I charge you guys to make a change educate the teachers I've spoken to parent school teachers they don't feel as though that they've been properly educated they don't think that they've actually received equity and inclusion and diversity training hire someone real who's who's talented in that area who has the credentials in that area to educate your staff on what is needed for our children it's time for a change you guys have people standing behind you who's willing to help you I'm a masters prepare social worker I'm an advocate by heart this is what I do and I'm not going to be silenced I'm going to
104continue to speak up I'm going to continue to send the emails and want to continue to call until there is a change if each one of you have to be voted out during the next election that is what will happen okay I I appreciate whoever brought the motion to remove Joan she definitely needs to be removed as the curriculum director I yield my time I would like [Music] hi I'm Alison I'm Alison frisky I live in Sellersville I grew up in / Cassie I'm actually in the same neighborhood as some of the members of the board here today I wanted to start off by thanking the people of color who have spoken up on this call and have continued to come out every weekend to share their terrible and horrible experiences that they have had
105in this community and on in this school I want to thank Ryan and Lisa for their emotions and for clearly listening to some of the people who have spoke and I want to say I'm disgusted by the wishy-washy statements of other members of the board and their unwillingness to listen none of you showed up on Saturday none of you and as someone who grew up in the Penn Ridge School District I feel I was done a disservice about learning about black history about the history of Native Americans in this country I don't see how a woman like Joan : who is in charge of the curriculum can make positive changes how is she going to educate these students on Jim Crow how is she going to educate these students on mass incarceration how is she
106going to educate these students on voter suppression if she does not believe systemic racism exists and my last point is it's not an opinion this is fact this is what's happening in our country it's not an opinion and it's not politics it's obvious why do not why is our community so limited with diversity you think that's by coincidence you think that's just because people don't want to live here there has been suppression of people of color in this country there is suppression of people of color in this community and I'm disgusted by the silence and unwillingness to listen and I would like to call for Joan Collins resignation [Music] yes how about Goro I am also Penn Ridge alumni I graduated in 2000 I currently have a child in school they're going in junior year
107person of color I want to address the progress that is being made and regards to the policies procedures that are being implemented guarding discrimination that's happening at Penn Ridge I understand that's why the diversity and equity work group was created and I appreciate excuse me all the updates that I've been sent what I want to talk about right now though is that I know we can do more and we need to do more sooner we need to set the bar higher for us and we need to work hard to achieve bigger goals and we currently have set we need to be proactive and to be teaching anti racism anti-sexism and anti-homophobia to children of all ages in our school his teachings are as equally if not more important a step as improving the curriculum and
108implementing diversity and equity programs we know that the penalty school district is capable of faster progress we've seen it there is no reason why progress for such an important matter should be slowed and calculated a pandemic swept across the globe this year and Penn Ridge was so quick to act make decisions and adjust their strategies to deal with this unforeseen circumstance or district that included thousands of people we saw the district's response time we know how capable you are of mobilizing and acting immediately when needed Henrich has the opportunity the capability and more importantly the need to make these significant and progressive changes our school in our school district we are watching as other school districts around the nation and locally right in PA make much larger larger strides to affect great changes in their
109district and we are looking to you the school board I'm wondering why we aren't authentic after witnessing firsthand how quickly act when they have to we can't help but wonder why it's moving so slow when it comes to this what kind of message is that sending to us it's hard to be pen Ridge proud when pen rich is so hopefully behind on such a critical issue we aren't discussing semantics here this isn't a political issue it's a humanitarian issue these are human beings we're talking about these are our children we have a responsibility to do what's right for them I also call for John Cohen to step down from her position thank you I would I would like to speak my name is Tina Dahle my kids go to grass and I'm from I'm Sellersville
110I just want to thank some of the board members really went out of their way to meet with a couple of people in the community and I just want to thank them for what they have done and I know this hasn't been an easy week for them I think what Dante said is really important I don't I don't think it's whether or not you know Joan chooses to resign or not I think the dignified thing would be to resign I think good leaders have to understand that they they make mistakes but they make mistakes and then they admit them they make mistakes and then they learn from them you know like and if you're not open to learning which I think in this time is really important if you're not open to learning or changing
111your heart then I think that that's a different story and the other thing is I think that this meeting has been focused around you know what are we like what to do with miss : but really like there's a much more important issue at hand and Dante spoke to that and it's funny because I think that you know just now like people are starting to talk and have these conversations but like within your own community you have people that are super experienced in feeling like that they've been judged feeling like their voices aren't being heard and I I want to thank dr. Bolton but at the same time like my email responses it was almost like well this is a learning opportunity for mrs. : I'm sorry like we don't know like that's not my
112job nor is it the job of the community right now so be educating somebody who's supposed to be a leader so I just want to commend Lisa and Ryan for what they've done and I also want to say thank you to people in the community who have reached out them and that's it so I am an immigrant to this country but I never get harassed about it because I'm white I benefit from white privilege and white supremacy and systemic racism every single day I've lived in this country for 18 years and I can say every day I've probably been treated better than actual Americans and actual American citizens who are residents of Henrich who have spoken here on this Zune call and it's not because I've heard so I had I saw so many people
113say we want to like hunt out racism and squash it is racism is not a bunch of ants under the floor book of floorboards it's the air we breathe and because of that I was an immigrant walked right into this country after college and the red carpet was ruled out for me and I got to I've got to see over and over people who claim patriotism claim to love this three who really really only love people with fair enough skin here and for me to benefit from that over and over when we have people in our community who have to reach rabbit eyes themselves in order to be heard from the one one commenter said it's it's on and vogue to be looking at these issues I think it's invoke to actually believe black people
114and these people who are bravely coming coming up coming to this meeting sharing these stories over and over with us but that's returned enticing for them but they are doing that because they want us to finally listen and finally here we would never ever have to see a white man being having his nail his neck knelt on for almost nine minutes in order to believe that he was hurt unjustly but that is what is necessary to mobilize people in this country because they are so blind to the oppression of people of color it is so commonplace it is the air that they have breathed their whole life but they are blind to it and we have an opportunity here in this district to say okay are we gonna start believing the children in this district
115or are we gonna wait a whole nother generation or another couple generations before we actually say that we believe that and that we believe their experiences and that we are going to shape our community and the learning of our children and the education of them in order to make sure all voices are heard and that all lives are valued thank you I have a comment yeah my name is Andrea ki-moon Sellersville just a quick and brief things I would like to thank everybody who has shared their narratives and who have come out to all the local community gatherings and also additionally to the school board members in which who have been willing to listen and start these conversations and in addition I would like to thank the members of our community in which I've been
116fighting this fight for a very long time mutton battens I think the number one thing in which we need is think Paul an apology is maybe too much to ask for but I think it admits at least from that the school board and a collective statement that there have been instances in this district and which have not been dealt with have not been heard and that is the absolute bare minimum in which we as a community are requiring and it is rather necessary that you make a collective statement that being said making sure that there is an accountability system before the twenty twenty and twenty one school just school year excuse me be set in place and not to wait until the fall or October or November to have all staff be educated and have
117an in-service day like there should not be an optional committee or a program or a training session for all people to or for all staff to attend it should be mandatory and lastly to speak on the gentleman who asked that all motion be redacted from these conversations regarding systemic racism asking for you know proof where these things have gone it is very very hard to do so and I absolutely agree that there must be civil discourse in order to have these conversations however to ask who are we to tell somebody that their emotions are invalid that is the most inhumane thing to say that your experience is not real and I don't believe you and therefore to remove the emotion from this conversation is near impossible because these are lived experiences these are lived emotions
118and I do a call for mrs. Holland to resign her position and I yield my time thank you I'd like to speak please mr. greenie hi my name is Lennie grainy and I'm a resident of hill town township and I just wanted to go on the record based on the last meeting where I was quoted in a local newspaper it identified my role in position that I referenced as a director special ed with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit and I just want to be clear that I am NOT speaking on behalf of the Bucks County Intermediate Unit in any way shape or form I'm speaking as a resident of the district and using my experiences in light and the current role that I leadership role that I have an educational organization to help for my
119opinions so I have a couple of questions from the presentation that dr. Bolton shared earlier tonight and I heard things correctly I'm gonna go back and listen to the recording I heard that staff and parents students are going to be part of these community forms we do have members of the community myself included in my family who do not have children in any of the school I stated that the less I present and don't speak for the LGBTQ community but I am a member of that community and I although in a marriage where my husband's of a minority and asian pacific-islander so I have to two lenses at which I'm looking at things I would like to volunteer my time to be party that's being helped or being formed to address the issues in the
120district and I to care about the district the community that we live in and I don't want it to become a place that says don't go live in the pen rich community because of X Y and I also have a question about will the board be participating in those trainings that were referenced earlier by dr. Bolton because I think it's imperative even based forced on the conversation shouldn't tonight that they'll be educated in those discussions I feel that I have information that can be helpful being a member of the LGBTQ community and in an interracial relationship my prior experiences in educational settings in the Los Angeles area in multiple four school districts I think that will bring value to the community I also want to express some disappointment with some of the board members and
121I wanted before I share the disappointment I want to acknowledge mr. Gerhart and miss Walters for their genuine authentic empathetic responses they worthy to the conversations I could feel that the feelings coming through the phone I want to take mrs. baines Clemens up on her offer to work together for the good of the district and again ask the districting white people that don't have students in the district to the table I would also like to reinforce the statement of I don't see color that just is another example of an unconscious bias let me just run if I can just wrap that and just follow up with the quotes are saying believe somebody when they speak the first time don't ask them to prove it again and I stand by my requests to have mrs. Cullen
122resigned from her role as the vice president of the school board thank you mister peeny thank you yeah my name is sarah noon I live in Sellersville um I just wanted to bring up the fact that there's an abundant empirical evidence that denotes the existence of systemic racism in public education that includes the over-identification of people of color within special education and also the disproportionate instances of suspensions and expulsions among people of color and I really suspect that Petra does not exempt from that that being said I think it is you know really important that Penn Ridge adopts a curriculum that reflects anti racism and I can't see how that can be done without acknowledging the existence of systemic racism that's why I want to thank Lisa and Ryan for their motion I'm asking Joan
123Crawford Joan Collins resignation so thank you to them thank you please bear with me miss mr. Kaplan yeah I just went down my name is Kenny Chapman I have I'm from hill town had two bullies in a school district running grass and the other at Central Middle School and I just wanted to recognize an amplified light the story that miss Alexis time was told it shook me to my core very scared me and I think it should scare everybody on the board of what she had to go through my son you know he was he came home and told me that kids would make fun of his skin color told him his skin was the color of poop you know he has his hair braided they made fun of his hair my older son saw
124the n-word in the bathroom one time so those microagressions pile up and it leads down the path that Miss Thomas went through and I think that we should take action to make sure that that doesn't happen in our community again as far as miss Colin the board is talking about the First Amendment but that didn't apply to the Pendred students who walked out miss : tweeted retweeted somebody that called those students misinformed marks it Trent Pierce so that type of language is used to describe to students I believe she should have been in a leadership position that's hard to say thank you [Music] for naming municipality yeah I'm curious Ehlers bill i'm also an attorney and i want to say that i think it sets an extremely harmful and dangerous precedent took call for john
125collins resignation on the basis of her political opinions this is exactly what our Constitution protects against what social media policy did she violate I'm curious because I've looked and there's no such policy for school board members and she's not the only person in this community who doesn't believe that America is systemically racist she's far from the only person never once have I seen her trivialize any instance of racism I've seen her acknowledge every single one I've also personally heard her speak about the injustice of mr. George boy's murder I've heard her repeatedly say that she believes every single voice in our community matters I've also seen her walk the walk and talk the talk on many occasions I've seen her willingly endure hours of personal attacks all while remaining respectful and open to every one
126of them what we're facing here seems to me to be an ideological struggle thirteen people who want to tear down the systems in our country by any means necessary all the way down to the itty bitty local level of the Penn Ridge School Board and then there are those of us who want to preserve improve and conserve the noble principles that this country stands for the very principles that allow us to have the open conversation here tonight I also want to say that as a female attorney I've experienced many instances of sexism I majored in gender and Women's Studies because I've done pro bono work for rape victims for sex trafficking victims for victims of horrific sex crimes I've also survived sexual assault myself I've been derided and mocked for my sex both for being
127too female and for not being female enough but you know what I still agree and I echo john cowan statement that systemic sexism doesn't exist I agree because the entire intent of her statement as it applies to sex and race is that personal responsibility ambition and dedication matter the most that victim identity damages the person who adopts it the American Dream is alive and well in my heart and in the hearts of many and I just want to add to my comment that it's extremely transparent that board members who didn't support John Cohen for vice-president initially and community members who attempted to launch an initiative that failed last election are many of the same people attempting accounts on this opportunity to call for her removal it's transparent shameful and frankly it's embarrassing Samantha the others
128hill town Township in Mike's I graduated in 2017 in my experience at Penn Ridge pen ranch was reactive rather than proactive on pretty much every issue and the reason when we would ask I was vice president for our council homecoming queen all those things I was heavily involved when we would go and ask for things to be done we were told that they couldn't happen because we live in a conservative community so we couldn't discuss consent we couldn't discuss safe sex we couldn't discuss lgbtq+ rights we couldn't discuss these things because we live in a conservative community and so what I would say to that is first of all these are things that your students are dealing with as a survivor at college my rapist is not in jail and that is for the reason
129that he is a wealthy white man sexism on a systemic level exists specifically in our judicial system specifically in our communities where we say it doesn't there are so many instances that people have given at Penn Ridge High School where black students have been called down to the office for when something happened and white students were not even though in the end it was found out that a white student had stolen something from a locker room or something like that we had security guards who specifically targeted black students while I was the student they're specifically targeted certain students a specific student who at the time was not just dealing with being a black student in a predominantly white school but was also homeless at the time and we had that security guard we tried to
130get that situation resolved with the principal and the superintendent the time and it was shoved under the carpet and so what I would say is and and miss Cohen's opinions aside because she may tweet what she would like there needs to be diversity training at Penn rich high school there needs to be discussion about things that may not go over very well with everyone in our community because they're important like I said discussions about things that affect our students I didn't hear the word consent my entire career at Penn Ridge High School it was discussed when I got to college that should be discussed in middle school that is so important and we had so many instances of students who were sexually assaulted at Penn Ridge High School and it was never discussed we had
131students who completed the act of suicide when we were at Penn at high school and it was never discussed we never had counselors grief counselors brought in following the deaths of students or alumni those are things that need to happen at Penn Ridge High School it starts with difficult discussions about all these things about race about LGBTQ brothers and it needs to happen thank you much thank you other comments I have something miss Bob do you mind if I go to Carolyn thank you Bob for that my name is Carolyn Sheree no I'm from hill town Township I am a member of this community I'm Hispanic group Hispanic family I have two kids that currently are in elementary school and two other kids to go in I just wanted to say that I'm a very
132strong believer that diversity education needs to be in our elementary middle and high school right now I just have my elementary kids and it scares me to hear what I'm hearing that these high schoolers have experienced and continue to experience and is something that I do not want my kids are any of our kids to have to go through so I did hear that dr. Bolton was saying that they are working and just like someone else said earlier is that it's we need to work it quickly quickly we can't wait for something for other kids to be experiencing this it just really shouldn't happen in our community I definitely also agree with another person that said that the teacher should have to get diversity training um it's much new in our school and I'm also
133a firm believer that diversity is also something educational diversity comes from the home it really is something that you know we have to whether it's a education we provide to parents because it's not just the school's responsibility but it really is the family's responsibility I know that I myself teach my children about what it is to be Colombian so that they get that education so that's really what I wanted to add and I also wanted to thank you the board members for letting us speak thank you thank you can you hear me yes we can okay so a lot of sharing tonight I gotta stop you naming municipality please sure Bob sellers East Rock Hill a lot of sharing tonight and and I wanted to say Don Dante you kept it you kept it real
134to be honest with everybody I'm more comfortable under a car or a farm tractor as opposed to talking so bear with me so right off the bat I'm a conservative and for everybody walks away because I know already that you can see I'm white and I've already been told I really don't have a voice here tonight and I've been told that I don't have any experiences I can tell you that for 15 years I rehabbed homes down in Kensington in Philadelphia and I wouldn't have labeled myself as a conservative then but it was in rehabbing them and seeing do they single black women with their children that went into these homes that I felt good about but I also came to the realization that it was highlighting broken families and not having a father and
135a mother together having a strong family because if they had that they wouldn't have been entitled to that government home and that made me sad so the last two homes that I rehabbed I donated to church down in Kensington so I don't know if that counts as an experience or not but that's I wanted to share that so what I'm hearing tonight is there's stories about Henrich school oh here's the other thing the other thing is I have about five pages of things I want to read but I have to tell you and I guess I'll direct this to Dante because I I'm scared to read them be conservative that my voice doesn't matter you have 39 seconds left and I really need you to talk to the chair not to any other person thank
136you sure yep so I'll just get right to it so we can all agree there acts of racism and hatred that still exist in America we all agree as Americans we condemn we condemn it and we have no place for the issue that was brought up was about systemic I'm a conservative so I have entirely different philosophy an ideology that people have here as it relates to systemic or non systematic so that's the fork in the road okay and on the one hand the left leaves that American Mr Sallis I'm I'm terribly sorry I apologize but everyone's got in three minutes thank you for sharing everybody I do a support Joan there are elections elections do matter and if there's if you want to change the board that's why we have elections thank you yeah
137thank you I am Robbie Fischer from West Rock Hill township I just wanted to say that I support the motion that has been brought up and thank you to miss Walters and mr. Gerhart and thank you for everybody for speaking up adding on to what mr. Chapman and others have said regarding the First Amendment to the whole board or rather to the president please stop using the right to free speech to hide your discomfort or unwillingness to disagree with the statement that systemic racism doesn't exist I I hate talking about tweets but you can just come out with it and miss Collin can say what she wants but so can you mr. Fisher you're out of order now please make your point without being personally attacked in the press it matters what the community knows
138or it matters that the community knows exactly how you feel about this and I'd like the young people of Penn Ridge to know how you are proud of this being your legacy I heard that some of you say you have zero tolerance for racism and Penn Ridge and I'd like to hear those policies and how you plan to strengthen them because now is your chance thank you I would I'd like to address each member of the board with the following yes sorry Emily Smith he struck out I'd like to address each member of the board with the following question should there be a no vote on the motion to remove mrs. Cullen what kind of message does that send to our community if possible I'd appreciate an answer during the questions and comments section of
139the vote that's it mr. Hogan [Music] yep thanks Joshua Hogan West Rock Hill township I would like to ask the same exact question of the board and I'd like to get an answer in the same period if miss colon is removed what message does that send the members of the community who share her opinion I want to mention that you know I moved here to the East Coast when I was in my 20s and I grew up in California I spent as a white kid I spent many years as the only white kid in my classroom as some of you probably know California is probably the most diverse place on the planet in that capacity I experienced racism both ways I was punished for you know racist actions of myself on to other people including
140blacks and I had people get punished because they were racist to me my experience in California being an extreme minority as a white person is shockingly similar to what I'm experiencing and listening to here when we're in a community that's you know what ninety percent plus white in Pembridge it's always the same tactics it's destroyed don't build the same way that statues are being torn down right now there's no constructive conversation here going on there's just two sides people yelling at each other I fully support Joan : to maintain her position I agree with what was said earlier that this is a very transparent attempt by people who already didn't vote for her to just do the same thing I really questioned the message that it's sent if somebody is punished for sharing such an
141innocuous non offensive opinion I mean look if you disagree with the opinion disagree with the opinion we've clearly heard that everybody in the community has heard that but to be shouting people down because they disagree with that opinion again that happened when I was 10 years old in California is the only white kid they were still doing it even then so you know where does it end where does this madness end you're going to remove Joan you're going to topple a statue what how far is it going to go and when are we finally going to be rid of this madness I think it's very interesting that as the years have gone by America has just become progressively more and more racist I don't know why that could possibly be que tiran a percocet burro
142and every board member who spoke this evening noted their commitment to the students and to an inclusive education I see no productive way forward in which the board has the trust of the community to deal with issues of discrimination if miss Cullen is to remain in her role of vice-president and curriculum chair I support the motion to remove miss Cullen from her leadership roles on the board I thank mr. Gerhardt and mrs. Walters for this first step to regaining the community's trust and to prioritizing a positive experience for all students I look forward to being actively involved in making Penn Ridge a district that we can all be proud of [Music] my name is okay first names Michael last name avender hill town Township um so I would kind of like I am a graduate
143of Penn Ridge High School 2013 and I'm a clinical social worker that lives in the area and provides services in the area I think that it would be setting a really harmful precedent to allow someone that is perpetuating the idea that systemic racism homophobia transphobia sexism do not exist when we know to the contrary based on all evidence that it does and we do not want to deny the experiences of those folks especially survivors so I think it is important when we think about trickle-down policies to think about who is going to be affected by those and that is those are the younger folks so if we think about precedents and we do not call for the rising nation of Joan : then what does it mean to do the next kid who is the
144victim of discrimination of racism and let's not even call it microaggressions we will call it racial abuse because microaggression is a euphemism so I think that in order for us to heal and move forward as a community and to support all members of our communities because we are not thriving and we are not healing this anybody in the community is feeling discriminated against or prejudiced against I think that we have to call forward and support the resignation of film : so that we are making sure that we're a community where people feel safe to eat who they are thank you thank you mister the questions comments I'd like to make a comment mr. Clifton sure Charles Clifton Sellersville we've heard a lot tonight about freedom of expression we've heard that you know Joan Cullen has
145a right to speak her mind read that policies that that monitor and penalize expression or a violation of our rights we want to see robust discussion take place on June 19th of the district posted on its official Facebook page a small blurb honoring Juneteenth June 19 the official end of slavery in the United States so I posed I saw this and I posted a reply which I will read I posted good start maybe the district should also respond directly to the concerns expressed at the last board meeting regarding the insensitive comments insensitive comments on social media and social media policy I'd also like to hear from dr. poultry or mr. Krauss I would like to hear them say without reservation that in pen Ridge black lives matter this post was immediately removed was taken down
146censored the closest of two other community members were also removed they weren't profane they weren't defamatory they were just like district residents expressing their opinions on social media just like MS Cullen was expressing her opinions on social media her opinions that there's no systemic racism that there's you know we should question climate change science etc so the question is like why is brie de mix of expression only for those who are in power only for those who control the conversation so let me just take you know the time here to ask that question directly to you mr. Crouse that was taken down and let me ask you directly are you willing in your role as president of the board here tonight without reservation without qualification to say that in Penn Ridge black lives matter it's
147okay to say that the mayor of sounder tuff said does it concern you are you you can make a comment you are not permitted to ask questions so it's okay to say that I heard the mayor of souderton say that just a couple of weeks ago can we say those words can we say those words I love this community and for my community's sake I hope that you I hope that we can say those words now yield my time I hope that we do I'll try to do this in three minutes you know I am first and foremost about these children first of all when you when you talk about Thomas Sol you have to know the man including his articles he is extremely homophobic and it just it's kind of more evident that it's
148surprising to people or people post when a black man has hate speech and I understand freedom of speech in the First Amendment I'll start with that you know he consistently brings up the same topics he doesn't really talk too much about he specifically is about policy not the implements of the policy he haggles over systemic versus structural racism right he's a brilliant man there's no doubt and I agree what some of the things he says but he doesn't come into the fact with things like the GI Bill after World War two mass incarceration okay so I guess we're going to start teaching financial literacy and we're all for charter schools now since we're talking about Thomas soul okay he continues to talk about black people choose to the wrong majors and that's the true reason
149for the wealth gap well one of the matrices says black people choose is teaching which is correct where are our black teachers and Penn riched and again the next quote from Thomas so literally a paraphrase is not directed towards what is currently going to be done in Penn rich I applaud those efforts and again this is about the kids to paraphrase him I know he was talking about the welfare state but his comment was to the effect that intentions are good but results are bad so clearly if the community at North Penn excuse me that pen Ridge feels this way the people of color then again intentions may be good but the results are very very bad thank you Thank You mr. Jones their comments I'd like to make a comment a question those are
150Adam venchik East Rock Hill so we heard about the diversity committee that was that dr. Bolton brought up earlier I was wondering he also saw something that said that it's been around since 2018 and I was wondering if it's there are any minutes or is there any policy recommendations or anything that has been pushed from that since it's been around for almost two years so yeah that and I also support Lisa and Ryan's statements from earlier and I thank them for being brave enough to come forward and speak out Thank You Spencer [Music] so I'll just follow up on the last point that that Adam made around you know the diversity workforce you know being around since 2018 we really don't have another two years to see any progress and so I would I would
151just echo the comments of the folks that have asked for an urgency the fact that we could have a special meeting to talk about our summer activities and not have a special meeting to progress this conversation forward so that the community can move move forward together and so that we can start in a better place the beginning of next school season then how we're ending this school season is really appalling to me and III really want to thank Ryan and Lisa for taking a step forward and and moving into a very uncomfortable place I'm sure but I would like to thank you both you know for taking that step and I I do agree for the call for the for the stepping down of miss Cullen as the vice president as the curriculum chair but
152also as the personnel chair nobody's mentioned that piece of it if we're talking about bringing diverse talent into this community I do not want someone with those type of thoughts sitting on that can be sitting on that committee and for those that have suggested sitting down and talking with Joan my husband and I did that Joan participated in a board and a special one-off board meeting with my husband and I and a few other board members as we talked about the racial events that my daughter was subjected to as a second grader she's eight years old Joan chose at the end of that meeting to totally provide a tone deaf response that we were focusing too much on race and that because we were doing that we may suffer unintended consequence well you know what
153my child was attacked because of her race and so we have to focus on that there is no way that we cannot do that and the tone-deaf responses that we continue to get from the board where they will not acknowledge a race they will not say black lives matter they will not say their acknowledge that they have a black community that is harmful it's harmful and it's supportive of the type of rhetoric that we keep hearing that is not helping to move this district forward hi can I jump in and really have West Rock Hill township I would also like to agree with the resignation of John Cullen um I know I'm gonna bring up a comment that she made on Twitter a chance to understand and all of the board needs to understand that
154her comments are being seen by students and can be seen as dangerous to the welfare of our students and closing off conversations that could be had to help protect them so I'd like to bring up a comment that she made granted seven years ago but is now floating around Facebook at the moment and it was in response to an ABC post about President Obama suggest election gave him some political capital to borrow a term on tax rates and I quote her GLAAD pres is so gleeful about his impending rape of my family and quote I think that is inappropriate insensitive disgusting and it shows the type of attitude and opinion she may show about major issues so I urge the board to be brave enough and thank you to the two that have already stepped
155forward and understand that she's representing a community on her Facebook on her Twitter on her out in the community and I think it's just ridiculous that comments like that are being made and they are being circulated and students can see them at the moment and among some of her you know other recent comments I just think that it at her off of the school board where she's making decisions about personnel curricula and other very important items I yield my time yes this is ed sharp I am is rokkyo and I've been listening to this thing for the foremost of it my wife spent the entire time what stands out to me is that the conversation is wondered but you get right back to for me several things facts matter the curriculum matters that you can't
156make individuals the non majority individuals disappear from history they are there and unfortunately so many people miss it this is about the kids education a black history is going to happen for my kids it's not a question it's gonna happen for my kids because it's at least gonna come for me the sad part is that many of your kids are not going to get that trick to them when that's left out that's a disadvantage for your kids this is about my kids but it's also about your kids your kids not understanding diversity is a disadvantage your kids all the kids in PIN rich are disadvantaged by the ignorance of fact so if you could call it politics if you could call civil rights if you could call the things that matter that should matter to
157all of us politics then you really have the wrong perspective so the fact that an educator someone calls themselves an educator can say things like systemic racism doesn't exist simply says that person is ignorant in fact it doesn't say anything more to me than simple ignorance so I do echo echo the statement that there must be a sense of urgency that you need to start now you can't keep waiting you can't keep having the wrong bad discussions you need to start now and do something thank you speak there's still time mr. Kraus it was support method warmest like the former us yeah before mr. rush goes forward with his three minutes I just want to remind everyone that we've suspended the general rule that there's an hour of discussion we've gone way beyond that we're
158headed towards our two-hour mark so it is the prerogative of the chair and the board to hear comment and mr. rush will get his three minutes but I've asked everyone to be relatively economical with their time Thank You mr. rush for your indulgence Thank You mr. rush mr. Miller I'm sorry mr. Ross please thank you people don't believe this of me but I honestly try not to come through a meeting with an agenda to speak or not to speak and I broke my rule tonight I was just gonna listen and not speak and when my heart starts pounding through my chest and a voice goes through my head that my words are not mine but they're coming from someplace else I usually just decide to speak I'm not a Quaker but uh I might tell
159a lot of Quaker meetings and the Quakers always say that you know there's some spirit sometimes in some energy that moves through human beings that is not of that person my guess that the best move tonight and I have by the way I've been here my entire life I'm from Perkis II I was born in Blooming gland graduate at 72 and a very proud member of the wall of fame in Penn Ridge High School I think the best move tonight is the table this vote it's too important there's too many accusations flying around it's too filled with energy and you can call a special meeting any time you choose and I think the best thing is for everybody to take a breath go to sleep my father's my father's advice goes always go to bed
160and sleep on it sleep on it and wake up and make a better decision I do not think it's a good move to make this vote tonight there's been a tremendous amount of people speaking and there's probably 10 times that many that are in the community that don't even know this meeting is happening tonight so in in defense of Joan and her position about being asked to to witness this vote tonight in public I think that people need to take a breath and sleep on it and I think it should call another special meeting I think that the person who said that if we had a special meeting for sports this is one of the most important meetings I think in the history of our district going forward into this decade and I really think
161the best move would be to sleep on this and at table this vote tonight thank you thank you mr. rush all right so folks it's approaching down three quarters right now are there other comments I'd like to make a comment if I if I may my name is Thomas McBride from Sellersville so with a lot of the testimonies that have been made tonight you know and with an intention of path movement forward I just like to highlight that this is you know something that is prevalent in our school district and all grade levels it does occur in the elementary level definitely has become prevalent in the middle school level my children are young and haven't been at the high school level but based upon other testimonies from kids in the community it's prevalent as well
162so in your consideration of a path moving forward I ask that you know the Board considers a policy that would be through all levels of school thank you thank you sir I have a question yes Shannon javi mine is him we think about possibly banning the Confederate flag on school grounds it's a controversial symbol of hate and that that's it miss hoppy I'm gonna break my general rule about not answering questions during comment I'm recently engaged in researching that issue and will be discussing it with the superintendent and the board that's all I can tell you right now well thank you yeah Melissa I'm sorry that you've spoken already once in this comment period is good yeah my name is what's the risky and my family's from Rock Hill township my sister stated we live
163in the same neighborhood as some of the board members I would sort of like to go um that I have witnessed not perfect I felt because I am white but I have witnessed and her the narrative and heard the discussions at not only the three black lighter what black lives matter protests and gatherings that we've had that the school board was invited to but also we're just talking to some friends over years of my entire life and per Kathy as well as my career in Penrith high school so this is not a new issue this is not an issue that is in vogue this is an issue that permeated their community the stand of X base is impose a systemic homophobia and a systemic sexism or strength about our community if you look at the
164board it is all white members there are fifty percent females and our community I'm assuming there are only three four members on the board as well teachers there is no black teachers in the Pendred school district that is also showing systemic racism the reasons that we need to educate on anti racism and we need to have a diversity quick curriculum that is focused on diversity education for the teachers of all the students is because of the accounts of the people that spoke up today and is on their experiences with racism but also the people have spoke up and have denied the systemic racism occur in our community and have denied that this that just that racism no wearing happens our community that directly intersect I think that diversity education will be very beneficial to not
165just blacks tense but of course to the many white students that have that are the majority of our communities that we don't continue to have some of the opinions of community members who decide who who D determine and state that they are going to deny that systemic racism is present in our community in our country and in the world to be honest so I also believe that your comments can you need your free speech but it does not come about consequence of a teacher in a neighboring school district if I say something that goes against the school code or the school values I am going to also have consequences and I believe that go : statements were racist and that should go against what the values of the school board and the school district as
166a whole are and thank you to Ryan and the other board member Lisa hill were brave enough to make the movement or motion for her removal and I yield my time thank you thank you okay so I apologize folks but I'm going to be then - public comment at this time I do and and I and I think it's instructive I just want to remind everyone that the motion is as I understand it to remove miss Cullen from the vice president position and from the chair of the curriculum committee the vice president motion is in order the decision of who is a chair is under board policies yours are apply of a decision for the president of the board to make and so I'm going to and it is not subject to board policy a
167vote of the board but I'm going to suggest that mr. Gerhart's motion is intended to be a suggestion to the president that he considered to do so and I think that's consistent with mr. Earhart's intent secondly I think it's also instructive I've heard some comments about the curriculum chair and so on and so forth and I just before the board members comment before we proceed to a vote I'd ask dr. Bolton to address the role the creek curriculum chair which is different than the professionals who do curriculum instruction in the school district it's my understanding the curriculum chair serves more as a facilitator than as someone who actually selects curriculum I think everyone's been very very polite and very very gauging this evening and I appreciate everyone making it easy on the timekeeper referee /im
168fire so thank you very much for that but I think it's instructive and may be helpful to the discussion and debate to outline the respective roles of what the curriculum chair on a board does versus what a curriculum a person who's attached with curriculum instruction does at that the district I know that may be a little granular but dr. Bolton with that incredible set up could you you know had a couple comments thank you and you're correct that all of our committee chairs this isn't true just for curriculum just like the finance chair does not construct the budget just like the personnel chair does not hire employees the curriculum chair does not participate in the writing of curriculum all votes that have to do with any of the items that I just mentioned whether it's
169hiring or budget or curriculum are done by all board members and are voted on by all nine board members they are not voted on at chair and committee meetings the chairs do in fact as you said facilitate meetings so they are the ones to keep the meetings going make sure the agenda is followed and ask any questions that may come from a student but all of our curriculum work as you said is done by our curriculum experts our teachers our supervisors and our administrators so thank you mr. Knoller for that clarification thank you mr. Krause I believe there's a motion and a second on the floor and board members have the right to comment and I like to make a comment please thank you I'd like to just go back to a few things that
170have been said the word opinion is being used a lot and when I share the the word person that doesn't mean to imply that there are no facts behind what these people think the opinions that I'm sharing there are indeed facts to support the argument against the term and to borrow from Senator Scott once again he said that it's kind of like what mr. King was saying that you shouldn't be quibbling over the meaning of a word and we're getting lost in the meanings of words but he said for the idea of systemic racism meaning that our country as a whole is racist our country is not a racist country is what he said and that's the spirit of what I am sharing with all of you and once again there are facts and strong
171arguments to be made and voices to be heard as I mentioned in my statement there are different theories like mr. sellers started to allude to but he ran out of time different theories about the causes there are different theories about what can be done for minority communities and so to me that's all that's being suggested suggested is that we have a good discussion and I agree with many people this is not the place to have that discussion but to say that there aren't any facts behind it I think is inaccurate I'd also like to just correct the record that I've never once said again racism doesn't exist and I also want to make sure to be clear that I completely agree with diversity and equity being addressed from kindergarten through twelfth grade through college you
172know that's not a position that I ever presented as something that I would advocate for and I do on the topic of advocacy I do advocate for members of many underrepresented of underrepresented communities and I take a bit of exception to the you know description of me as not being an advocate for all people I am mrs. Coleman can I ask you to so Ferns emotion I'll just reiterate that some people have already asked if you are to say that a person who presents a point of view that again is backed up by factual information and is an opinion held by many if you were to say that if you hold that position you should have to revoke positions of leadership because of it I think the message is sense to our community is number
173one that their voice is not welcome and number two it sends a message to students that you should always be careful to not let your opinion be known even if it's backed up with facts because you too could be asked to give up something that you worked hard for and that you earned and I think that that would be a terrible message to send to students don't see your icon show okay there you are okay your your unit okay it would be probably in order at this point though mrs. baines Clemens yes mr. Cormac hey mrs. Colin no mrs. Downes not here mr. Gerhart yes mr. Krauss no mr. rice no dr. Thompson no and mrs. Walters yes okay motion fails five three with that we'll move to the next agenda item which is the
174announcements the next regular school board meeting is scheduled for Monday August 24th at 7 p.m. thank you all for participating truly appreciate everyone's comments questions concerns raised here tonight thank you everybody have a good night