001[Music] I call this meeting to order I declare that the Quorum is present and that the media has been notified do I have a motion to approve the agenda so move second I we have a motion to approve the agenda it's been seconded any discussion then all of those in favor of this motion please respond by saying I I oppose same sign at this time I ask everyone to please stand with us and for the opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance Our Father who in heaven be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us Le us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for th
002is the kingdom the power and Glory forever and [Music] amen I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please be [Music] seated do I have a motion to approve the minutes of our regular meeting of May the 10th 2016 so move second we have a motion to approve the minutes of our regular meeting of May the 10th 2016 it's been seconded is there any discussion of those minutes and all those in favor of this motion please respond by saying I I I oppose same sign moving to agenda item five the approval of the 2016 April 2016 Head Start budget expenditures report the April 2016 Head Start credit card report and the students
003with disabilities waiver request do I have a motion Mr chair I move that we approve the April 2016 Head Start budget expenditures report the April 2016 headart credit card report and the submission of students with disabilities waiver request to the office of headart second all right then we have a motion to approve the April 2016 Head Start budget expenditures report the headart credit card report and the submission of students with disabilities waiver request to the office of headart do we have any discussion then at this time all of those in favor of this motion please respond respond by saying I I oppose same sign then that passes 70 is [Music] approved then moving to agenda item number six our Legacy Builders special recognition turn it over to Miss Amy [Music] Murray good evening Mr chair
004superintendent Blackburn ladies and gentlemen of the board and all of you who have joined us tonight we'd like to recognize three individuals the first is Aubrey Hunter Tilman 11th grader at Berkeley Center for the Arts Aubrey won the National Gold Award for his submission to the National Scholastic art and writing competition he was identified by a panel of creative professionals as one of the most talented in the nation this year almost 350,000 works of art and writing were sub submitted during the competition only the top 1% were recognized at the national level because of his achievement Aubrey was invited to attend the Scholastic art and writing Awards 2016 National ceremony at Carnegie Hall on Thursday June 2nd at this time would Aubrey tman please come forward to be recognized and receive your certificate also uh
005would Aubrey's parents pleas stand [Music] right also would Aubrey's parents and family please [Music] stand and can I also get Mr Gary and principal husky as well and I just like to mention that U Mr Gary is here again tonight you all may remember him from last month as well uh with the wrestlers the Ruben Brothers um and so he's here again tonight so it really uh says a lot about Mr G as well I'm not confident I a't say it he's the man you said it okay if you didn't hear that he said he's the man you said it all all right uh at this time I'd like to invite Mr Charlie Davis to recognize our next student Mr Hayes superintendent Blackburn board members and audience it's my pleasure to recognize another student from
006Timberland High School uh anasia as you come up and I know I'm not saying your name right so correct me okay and her coach Joy alzando anatasia is a two-time state champion she won with the girls 400 or 4X 100 meter relay last year as a state champion this year she's 400 meter individ ual state champion she is the first person in Timberland's history to be a two-time state champion repeater so uh she's accomplished a lot in her career at Timberland she started going to the state meet as an eighth grader and participated qualified for it and this year as a junior she is a state champion again one other side note that I find interesting that her brother will remember the rest of his life there are three gold medals in the family the
007brother has one as as a football player at Timberland from 2011 his sister his younger sister has two congratulations and good [Music] luck thank you Mr Davis and at this time I'd like to invite Miss Manda chromer uh to make our last recognition for this evening chairman hey superintendent Blackburn members of the board guests thank you for allowing me to introduce our 2016 rookie teacher of the year M Dorian Paladino is a special education teacher at St Steven Elementary she attended State University of New York at Old Westberry and St Joseph's College in New York she has two Bachelor degrees and her Masters and is certified in elementary Ed special education multicategorical and special ed Early Childhood when reflecting on her first year of teaching Dorian stated I truly believe my purpose in life is
008to help others this inner desire to nurture has drawn me to the field of special education in my classroom there's no such thing as a disability I like to look at it as an obstacle anyone can overcome obstacles during her observations students were actively engaged in music and resuscitations they started the day by singing and greeting each other as well as their guests during the lesson they sang the days of the week in the alphabet song and later recited site words that the teacher used to formally I'm sorry to informally assess their knowledge of insects and spiders it was evident that Miss Paladino had created a learning environment where all students felt loved and excited about learning Dr Norton dorian's principal stated I'm truly amazed at how far her students have come in a short
009amount of time at the beginning of the year the students came to the cafeteria to receive their breakfast without saying a word to anyone now the students are talking to me every morning and saying hello Dorian believes that in order to be a good teacher we must understand many different classroom practices to fit the needs of our Learners this does not mean we have to follow all of the practices given to us but to understand and choose ones we believe will make us better as teachers the progress I've witnessed in each student is undeniable and I take pride in each individual Victory no matter how big or small I make sure each child knows that I love them and truly care about this their success ladies and gentlemen our 2016 bcsd rookie Teacher of the
010Year miss Dorian Paladino wow thank you so very much the Board District all the guests this is so overwhelming okay I am so happy to be here and not only am I happy to be here I'm happy to be in the great state of South Carolina I've been born and raised in Long Island New York and uh when I moved here I uh I was had a dream of teaching a few years ago when I received my Master's Degree it was a tough time for teachers Services were being cut and jobs were scarce I was working as a waitress in New York to pay the bills yet I never lost the desire and dream of becoming a full-time teacher I came to the realization that in order to turn my dream into a reality I
011would have to make a dramatic move so my husband left his career of 17 years to allow me to pursu mine and I now have the privilege and honor of standing before you as the district rookie Teacher of the Year this experience has been surreal and I truly feel blessed I first need to thank the district the board and special services for all they have done for me upon winning this prestigious award I am astounded by the generosity and kindness everyone has shown me I also must take this time to thank my principal Dr alen Norton for welcoming me into the ssse family Dr Norton thank you for being incredible supportive and encouraging in my efforts to change the percept the perception and acceptance of not only my students but all those with special needs
012I'd like to make a promise to everyone in this room one that I made to myself I promise to always be a passionate determined loving teacher I will continue to be an advocate for all students teaching is my calling and a driving force embedded deep into my soul this is only the beginning and I'm eagerly anticipating the journey once again I'm so honored to be selected as your District rookie teacher of the year thank you from the very bottom of my heart to Dr Norton Dr Norton's here as well Dr Norton and that concludes our special recognitions for this evening but but please do take a look at our Legacy Builders publication um if you haven't looked at it already it's packed with all of the information you need to know about the awesome things
013that are going on in our district thank you thank you Mr M those of you who are here for the special um presentations and everything this would be a good time for you to uh sneak out if you so desire as we're preparing thank you all for showing up sneak moving on to agenda item number s citizens comments in order to conduct the meeting in an orderly and efficient manner we ask that your that you honor the following guidelines stakeholder comments are welcome and encouraged however the board will not take any immediate action on public comments at this meeting any person wishing to address the board must register prior to the meeting and comments must be regarding programs policies or procedures comments regarding complaints against employees other than District level Executives or references to students
014other than Children of the speaker will not be heard in public session group addressing the same topic should select one speaker to maximize the participation in the process comments will be limited to 3 minutes per speaker and the board has set aside 30 minutes for public comment the board chair does reserve the right to a lot additional time or halt public comments that do not adhere to the guidelines okay at this time we have our first Speaker Miss Corey Merritt having to do with gender issues you [Music] come good evening Cory good evening first of all I just want to tell you that I'm shocked that we are actually here to talk about an adult issue in our children's school system I'm also appalled that our superintendent and the principal at Berkeley High School made
015a decision for our children and circumvented this board and quite frankly I think they both should be fired because if you're going to make policy without going through the board you'll do that for any reason but the issue that we're really here about is the children these are children that most of can't drive they're not old enough to vote they're not old enough to drink they can't join the military they can't buy a pack of cigarettes they can't watch a rated R movie and you're telling me that they're mature enough and adult enough to make a lifelong life-altering decision to change their gender they're not when they are old enough to drink and join the military and vote and go to a rated R movie then they can pretend to be anything they want to
016be but as long as they're children they have rules to abide by and if you don't make them abide by rules you might as well throw at your student handbook because you can't enforce any of them and when I say that I mean if boys can go in the locker rooms with girls and vice versa then you can no longer enforce a dress code because if my child identifies with being a gang member she can dress as one if she identifies with being a she can dress as one you will undermine every rule you have if you don't make children follow the rules when they're adults they can do as they please last night at the Charleston County School Board three members got up and walked out because they didn't agree with what was going
017on I highly suggest y'all let your constituents know where you stand on this issue we need to know where you stand for the majority of your students for the students who have unfortunately been sexually abused and the trauma they may have received we need to know where you stand on that because if you don't want to do the right thing and you want to do the politically politically correct thing we will make sure we vote you out of office thank you our second speaker will be Nancy Corbin two things that I would like to talk about one is is the speaking policy the community speaking policy at the meeting last month even though you have the authority to extend the time you had a number of people there wanting to speak to you and you
018cut the time off at 30 minutes when you have an issue like this and you have people in your audience that want to speak to me it is incumbent on you to allow the public to speak the second issue that I want to talk about is the transgender issue this far exceeds 3% of the population using the bathroom and if anybody here has read which I hope all of you have the eight-page missive that came down from the Department of Education you know it's about showers it's about accommodations what do we do when our band goes on a school trip now because according to that Missi a boy can decide now that he's transgender and if he wants to stay with Missy he could stay with Missy and you can only put an adult in
019the room with them if you put an adult in every room there is more to this than bathrooms and when parents start reading this eight-page directive maybe they'll begin to understand that this is changing more than a bathroom sign thank [Music] you our next speaker is Mason Merritt good evening I am Mason Merritt and I'm a rising freshman and I will be going to Berkeley center of the Arts at Goose Creek High School some of you on this board know what it's like to be a 13-year-old girl you know there are self-confidence and self-esteem issues and we should not have to worry about boys being in our restrooms and locker rooms the rest of you on this board know what it's like to be a 13-year-old boy you know what it's like if you and
020your friends could go into the girls restroom and not get in trouble I bet all of you know at least one person who would go into the opposite restroom not because they are transgender but just for the fun of it I'm not asking this board to change anything I'm asking you to keep things the way they are these kids are asking you to change to change the rules at the expense of the majority of your students I would like my voice to be heard just loud if not louder than those asking for a change thank you our next speaker is Janie l or l love love okay good afternoon chairman ha superintendent Blackburn and rest of the members of the Berkeley County Board of um my name is Janie love and I'm the exe executive
021director of people against rape the local Rape Crisis Center for Charleston Berkeley and Dorchester counties I am here today to oppose anti-discrimination laws and policies specifically Senate Bill 1306 which utilize and perpetuate the myth that protecting transgender people's access to rest rooms consistent with their gender identity endangers the safety and privacy of others as an organization whose vision is to end sexual violence we fully support laws and policies that Pro protect transgender people from discrimination including accessing facilities that match the gender they live every day we at people against rape applaud Berkeley County School boards and District's decision to uphold the rights and protections of transgender students in Berkeley County those who were promoting these laws and policies that restrict transgender people's access to restrooms claim that these laws and policies are necessary for Public
022Safety and to prevent sexual violence against women and children as a Rape Crisis Center who works to meet the needs of all survivors and in sexual violence in our community we speak from experience and expertise that this claim is false we need to base our policymaking on fact rather than fear as advocates we know that the threat of sexual assault is real and pervasive however discriminating against transgender people does nothing to decrease decrease the risk of sexual assault sexual assault is a violent crime that involves power aggression and control sexual assault can happen anywhere any time of day to anyone regardless of age class class ethnicity socioeconomic status sexuality or gender according to rain everyone 107 seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted one in Six Women 1 in 33 men are sexually
023assaulted in their lifetime we at people against rape provided services to nearly 500 victims and survivors in the Tri County Area alone in 2015 we know that the victimization rates for transgender people are significantly higher around half of the transgender Community surveyed has reported Ed being sexually assaulted because of their gender identity with around 12% reporting being sexually assaulted by other students teachers or School staff before they graduate high school forcing transgender people out of facilities consistent with the gender they live every day makes them more vulnerable to sexual assault and increases their visibility as targets of abuse we are all concerned about safety and privacy in restrooms transgender people included more than 200 municipalities in 18 states have non-discrimination laws protecting transgenders people access to facilities cons consistent with their gender identity none of
024these jurisdictions have seen a rise in sexual violence or other public safety issues due to these non-discrimination laws and there is no evidence that transgender people using their preferred gender restroom sexually assaulted anyone we need to wrap it up please okay can I say one more thing one um our mandate is to serve and prevent violence against all victims and survivors regardless of gender identity as advocates committed to ending sexual assault we oppose any law or policy that could put anyone at risk of sexual assault or harassment thank you our next our next speaker Melissa Moore so I want to thank everybody on the Berkeley County School Board um and everyone in the room tonight who has actually taken steps towards supporting transgender Youth and students I believe that everyone in this room is committed
025to the safety and dignity of students in our schools for the people who are opposed to the fourth circuit ruling on Title 9 when you say that we need to keep our children safe but you leave transgender children out you're sending a message that transgender children are not worthy of feeling safe when you refuse to use the pronouns or names that transgender students wish to go by you're erasing their identities and setting an example for other youth to disrespect them and putting their physical safety at risk when you try to connect statistics on rape and violence against women to the transgender Community you are misrepresenting the facts about sexual assault who the perpetrators really are and who the the most likely targets will be when you misrepresent the facts and muddy the waters about sexual
026violence that puts our entire community in danger the fact is that one out of 12 transgender women has a chance of being murdered in her lifetime one in eight transgender women of color has a chance of being murdered in her lifetime if you truly care about violence and sexual assault you need to be doing more to address misogyny and working to support members of the transgender Community I thank you all for your time tonight I thank you um the school district for your willingness to work one-on-one with transgender students but I urge you to take it a step further and please Implement a policy that will make it easier for transgender students who cannot afford the doctors and lawyers it takes to fully participate in the activities that affirm their gender identities and furthermore having
027to do these one-off Arrangements outs transgender trans gender students and raises their visibility when most of them really just want to go about their lives as the gender that they identify as they don't want to be activists um but thank you that's all I'll say our next speaker is Carol Linder brought my bodyguard so stand over here um good evening we are Carol and Dave we are the parents of Charlie who is a 15-year-old transgender child in the 10th grade um in this District first I want to thank Berkeley County for continuing to work with transgender kids and allowing them to fully participate in activities that affirm their gender identities the journey has not been an easy one for our family there is so much misunderstanding out there about transgender people and children um my
028son currently ranks fifth in his high school class and he would never harm a soul my child has to walk across the high school campus just to use the bathroom which makes him late for class he's enrolled in all honors and AP classes um so he dreads missing even the first part of class because he may miss vital material so what does he do he holds it all day and he comes home and goes to the bathroom tomorrow at work I encourage all of you to try this experiment don't use the bathroom at all don't use it at your 10:00 a.m. coffee break don't use it in the afternoon um or don't use it at lunchtime don't use it in the afternoon when your poor choice of lunch spots uh decides to to catch up
029with you don't even think about heading in the bathroom real quick before you head home to work nope you need to wait until you walk into your house to use the bathroom maybe you can make it all day tomorrow but the next day do you think you can make it make it that day too but every day that's what my kid does and that's what many of the transgender kids are doing and experiencing when you talk about protecting children does my son not account do these kids not deserve the same support that the other parents speak of I've heard some of the most hateful rhetoric directed at transgender children like my son by adults who really should know better than to pick on children when you talk about project protect protecting children don't all children
030count this law treats my son and the other transgender children as second class citizens if you want to talk about protecting children laws such as these put very large Targets on their backs and endangers them in the very same bathrooms that you want to keep safe rape molestation assault voyerism these are all crimes these were crimes before the bathroom rules came up um and there there'll still be crimes no matter what happens whether they occur in bathrooms schools homes dark Alleyways or churches we just want our children to be able to go to the bathroom in peace when it comes down to it these silly bathroom laws are a solution in search of a problem I urge Berkeley County and our elected officials to keep the rights of all children in mind when passing laws
031and to rephrase the political signs I see plastered all over Berkeley County on our drive on the way um senator Larry Grooms who who is not here um he doesn't work for us and he doesn't work for transgender uh families I'm done thank you our next speaker is David planton thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight um the definition of a policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and Achieve rational outcomes a policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol and some of my uh questioning of school officials and District officials over the over the course of these uh issues that were discussing here tonight I've been told that there was never an original bathroom policy and that there's no current bathroom policy
032however I was also told by a senior District official that there's a student code of conduct and that if any one were to violate that by going into a bathroom when they had not communicated to school Personnel that they were a transgendered student then they could be punished for that when I question this official as to how that would uh be carried out um without any kind of verification um I didn't really get any kind of clear answer that had any kind of clarity or certainly an answer that would hold up in court um this particular issue we're talking about there are two very distinct sides and both people on both people on both sides are going to be uh passionate about it at the same exact levels and because of the distinctions uh in
033those differences I don't know if a a gap can be bridged so what I like to do is just stick to the facts of this issue and where we're at um the original case that all this kind of centers around took place in the state of Virginia and in that original case uh the courts ruled in favor of the school district that they did not have to allow students to go to a bathroom that differed from their biological gender every Court in America every appell at court in America has upheld that ruling except for the fourth circuit which South Carolina falls under however that 2 to1 vote that took place in the fourth circuit had uh has an appeal against it which means that there's a stay against that ruling which that says is there
034is no government agency no federal agency no state agency no local agency no Local District school boards that are under any obligation to make any alterations in whatever bathroom policy or procedures or code of conduct have always existed now now in the particular case we're talking about here at Berkeley High School I would commend uh principal steel for looking out for the U protection and dignity of all of his students which has been said several times here tonight a particular student I would mention any names because I know that's against the rules here but accommodations were made for this student to protect their dignity and to their and protect their privacy as well as to not infringe upon the dignity and privacy of the remainder of the student body and those accommodations had already been
035made without any action from the school district at some point a decision was made according to the school uh District in accordance with the four circuits ruling uh to make a change in this policy however there was no legal uh reason to do that um you were under no obligation to do that it was a decision that was also made without the Authority or without the knowledge of the school board um at our last school board meeting uh the the group went into an executive session where you were instructed by your legal counsel uh who also came out and spoke to the public as well and I would say that Mr Regal's comments were ambiguous at best and kind of wishy-washy it wasn't clear about the ruling so moving forward the school board is left
036to make a decision on how this is going to affect our local community and I know you never wanted this decision but sometimes leadership means you have difficult decisions to make and I would encourage you as as someone said before you owe it to your constitu to let us know exactly where you stand on this issue thank you our next speaker Leanne Leland thank you for letting me speak before you this evening um the gentleman just said that there was a stay in the fourth circuit Court's ruling that is not true it has been appealed it it has actually been remanded to the lower courts for them to reconsider and it has been appeal but there is no stay issu for those of you who are unfamiliar with the protocol surrounding what it means to
037diagnose a child as being transgender let me lay lay it out for you if they are if they are below puberty and they're diagnosed with gender dysphoria the parents are advised to let them be themselves let them dress like they want let them play with the toys they want let them be themselves before puberty they are reassessed if they're still dysphoric they have put on puberty blockers which delays the onset of puberty that's all it does if they go off of the blockers puberty begins and they go through puberty if you wait till they're 18 in my case my voice deepened I grew facial hair I was miserable for most of my adult life 16 years old they are reassessed yet again and if they're still dysphoric they're put on hormones which Begins the transition
038from one sex to the gender and sex and gender are completely different things no surgery is done until they reach the age of 18 and that is their decision to make the parents are looking out for the best entrance of their child believe me I wish I had had that opportunity when I was that age I spent most of my life abusing drugs alcohol and binge eating since I have come out I have lost 80 lbs I no longer drink I don't do drugs anymore I used to stutter that has disappeared I'm speaking before you now where it went I don't know but I'm glad it's gone I have more confidence I'm self assured I've been married to a wonderful woman for almost 19 years and she knew from the minute we met who I
039was so just give us a chance that's all we ask we don't want to look at you in the in in the restroom when I was using the men's room I never looked I didn't want to see it and excuse me I am not going to sit down on a on a commode that a man has refused to raise up when he goes to the bathroom they are filthy I know it because I work construction and I saw those toilet seats I sit down when I go go to the bathroom I'm surrounded by four walls what can I see nothing thank you our next speaker is Rob and Nicole Parkman 10 more minutes hello my name is Rob Parkman I'm the father of a fiveyear old 5-year-old transgender boy um it's under my impression that
040the Berkeley County School District uses a policy now on a case-by casee basis and they use a special accommodation for transgender students in regard to the bathrooms um that's okay I've learned that they allow transgender students to use the bathroom that's consistent with their gender identity but it's not good enough because it forces transgender students to out themselves and in a lot of cases that's not an option for these people they receive a lot of um stresses from home from family from society um this population is subject to violence uh High suicide rates when unsupported at home the suicide rates are up to almost 50% um I don't want to reiterate all the facts that were already given out so eloquently about transgender kids but I just urge this board in the upcoming school year
041to adopt the same policies that were already set forth by the Department of Education and to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that are consistent with their gender identity and to understand that transgender children and people have always used the same bathrooms that are consistent with their gender identity to not let them use those bathrooms would be like telling me to use the woman's bathroom so besides all the exterior challenges this community faces I think one of the largest challenges they face as the gentleman had just said are the internal challenges and like I had said earlier when they're not supported they commit suicide up to 50% 50% suicide rate for this uh portion of the population so not letting these kids use the bathroom that is consistent with their gender identity is form
042of not supporting them and I believe the school is an extension of your home kids spend a lot of time in school and they they form bonds with their teachers and their fellow students and other administrators and I think it's a human rights issue to not adopt the same policies that are set forth by the Department of Education thank you our next speaker is Sydney Fleming hello I'm Sydney fluming a freshman at C Bay High School and an ally to the LGBT community and all people I frequently attend this meeting with my mom and find it interesting that so many people that I've never seen here are here today while some may say while some may say that certain topics and subjects are important are we your future not important at the time I want
043to speak on the example that some of you are setting for children students and young adults maybe in a way that you don't realize is this really about safety in bathrooms I've never felt compromised or unsafe in a bathroom at C Bay High School in fact that is the least of my and many of my classmates worries but as you continue to say that you are making decisions in the best interest of the students how many of you have spoken to any students not just your own child or grandchild but have you spoken into a critical mass of students to see how we feel I have not spoken to any of you and neither have many other students I've have spoken to so before you make decisions that you continue to say is best for
044us how about you get to know us see how we feel get your own opinion get our opinion on the bathroom situation which is really no big deal for many of us until you started making it a big deal believe it or not we have been doing this a long time and had no issues until you made it an issue after the segment with WBY Char we actually thought awareness would make it better you can't speak for me if you don't know me and you will never get to know me if you keep speaking and acting as if other students are not even worth your time and energy to speak with us not add us when anything happens it is often said where were the adults in the situations the teachers or the administrators where
045from where many of us sit the adults are behaving like children which leaves us all alone as we try to make sense of the world around us I hope you will think about this as many things are said have been said and continue to be said that are very negative towards a group of people it is them now will will it be NE me next week next month next year we are people with feelings too and deserve to be respected this is so much larger than when than where we go then where someone goes to the bathroom we see it I just hope you will see it before it is too late thank you we've got time for one more Mr David Perry uh good evening uh since the uh last board meeting there's been
046a lot of words pinned in the Echo chambers of the median elsewhere as to why Berkeley County is having all this fuss about their bathrooms and as one previous speaker already noted a very large reason is because this doesn't end a bathrooms as the OCR edict uh indicated it very clearly includes locker rooms it includes shower facilities this isn't the end of the road and I regarding the four circuit opinion who uh legal decision this District decid to step out in front of the Train on um I want to read one uh comment by the judges in the majority opinion there and that you can find us in footnote number 11 if you wish to look it up later we are unconvinced of the existence of danger caused by sexual responses prompted by students exposure
047to the private body parts of students of the other biological sex so these judges are saying when you get teenagers for example together of opposite biological sex and varying states of undress they they admit that uh sexual uh responses can be prompted but they say there's no there's no safety issue there well that that requires a suspension of disbelief and even though they also state that their decision to supplies the bathrooms they are perhaps very clearly foreshadowing here how they're how they would rule in a shower facility case for example I also have a couple requests let me be the third speaker this evening that would request that the board go on record uh with a vote as whether you support the uh the district's decision to step out um in front of things and
048change what had been the the bathroom policy I think as elected officials of Voters of this District are entitled to know where each of the board their board members stand on that um lastly and this might fall under the policy issue the prior speaker brought up if a student comes to you and says I'm transgendered and I wish to use the facilities of the gender I identify with how do you go about analyzing that claim testability or falsifiability is a basis for determining whether a claim is is valid or whether it's bogus what what's your decision tree look like what parameters what criteria are you applying to make that decision I I think parents in this school district are entitled to know how you're going about making that decision process thank you very much Mr
049chair as we did last week are there any speakers on other topics no how many how many are left is there just a couple three more three we limited to like two minutes each can we just go ahead and hear the rest of them so they could all speak I would be in favor of letting everyone speak yeah especially them going through that two minutes two minutes of two minutes for each one how how many more speakers do we have three three okay okay Mr mauce Brown thank you for the opportunity I'm going to set my timer well so I can be in [Music] compliance all right first I would like to start by saying there are absolutes in the world and in the issue with the Trans transgender having a choice the word absolute
050to me applies absolute meaning a value or principle that is regarded as universally valid or that may be viewed without relation to other things it's universally valid that by nature men are who they are and by their by by their counterparts and that women are who they are by their counterparts that's absolute this issue is very clear that there is a law in place a law of nature like it is with a law of physics or law of basic math 2+ 2al 4 it's a foundation of basic principles who we are as human beings and who we should live and procreate the Earth and for anyone to to come against the basic principle and known fact that foundation of the human body and its functions its identity and meaning of life it is abnormal and
051to me ludicrous transgender people say they were assigned a sex that isn't true to who they are there is a saying that says the proof is in the pudding Your Body by Nature tells you who you are no question no doubt for someone to think they have the audacity to change what nature or in my view what God has given them which they do did not and will never have the power to create thems is preposterous it's out of sync with oneself and abnormal and for a particular group whether transgender homosexual lesbe to force that AB abnormality on the majority of the rest of us who have accepted what nature the natural part of what our creator has given unto us is wrong and unlawful invading our rights as human being and a people of
052right thinking if someone felt that nature messed up and they felt like a the cat's head should be on a dog's body and vice versa they go through the process of beheading the two animals to make themselves happy or feel better does not make it right does it make it right insan thank you thank you Ron Nelson yes good evening bu good evening Mr excused by dress atar I was at Crowfield getting ready to beat Mr Charlie Davidson on June 17th but should I say uh at school board golf tournament by the way good evening to miss Blackburn Mr mcquillin a special thanks to you for giving the opportunity for the citizen at our last meeting to hear where the coachs are on transgender nevertheless knowing that is a tough issue that the board have
053to deal with as I as I Ponder on it after the second reading that I read in the paper last week I said there has to be some kind of conclusion in order to wrap this up as I Ponder on it multi-purpose occupancy facility seems to be the thing of the past if you happen if we happen to do away with a multi-occupancy facility then you probably need to think about how can we make that happen because therefore everybody entered the facility under their own privacy whether you're transgender or whether you are normal so therefore you are entering any facility as a multi so that's probably appears to be the thing of the past multi-purpose occupancy restroom as I listen to all of the speakers out here one of the key thing is the restroom
054facility so as a recommendation to the board you need to think deeply into that of eliminating these multi-purpose occupancy restroom and of course it's going to be a cost associated with that and thank [Music] you all right and our last speaker then is Riley re short people problems huh anyway uh I'm Riley bakes I go to C Bay High School I am 18 years old transgender and I would love to say coming from an abnormal child that these are these we need to do something about the bathrooms I'm tired of getting outed in front of class I'm tired of being different I am tired of listening to all these bigots talk about how I'm nothing to this world anymore I am a human being being I have skin just like you eyes nose mouth I
055breathe the same air as you I think it's time to change something and the bathroom policy is one of the things you guys need to change it's time for me to pee in peace and that's what it should be I I no different from anyone else I shouldn't have to deal with going to school scared I I'm already scared of going to school tomorrow because I have a substitute teacher have you ever been called the wrong name or just a wrong name just a negative name you know how that makes you feel inside makes me feel that way every day when I get my name called the wrong name or even my gender marker wrong I listen to these people talk about how we are nothing to this world how we mean nothing how we
056are abnormal how we are a disgrace I'm not no disgrace and I will be the person to tell you if I'm a disgrace or not I've been called it I've been called multiple names and I not no disgrace I will never be a disgrace to this world and I am who I am and if you have a problem with it then you should not even be on this Earth either I am a strong independent person and I always will be I am transgender and I take that as Pride anyone else has a problem with it I'm sorry but the world is going to change one day or another and whether you don't like it I'm sorry and that's all I have to [Music] say okay moving on to agenda item number eight Financial Services item
057for Action Mr Thomas we're looking at BVB 464 the 1516 interior painting for Berkeley Elementary and sangar Elementary I thought I was going to get you to approve the budget but we'll do this one first Mr Mr Thomas Mr chair if we could just give our visitors just a minute or so to exit this would be a good time if you came to speak [Music] don't you listen the police out there with that could be a dangerous situation ready okay Mr Thomas thank you Mr chair members of the board M Blackburn we have before you best value bid 464 uh for 1516 for interior painting services for Berkeley Elementary and sangar Elementary uh we ask for you to approve this bid and award it to BNR painting for a total cost of $108,000 which is
058part of our Capital Improvement list um item so hi do I have a motion you do Mr chairman I make a motion to approve BVB 464 four for interior painting services for Berkeley Elementary School and sangar Elementary School to be and are painting Incorporated for a cost of $18,000 as presented by Mr Thomas and finance agenda item 8 second all right we have a motion and it's been seconded to approve the bvdb 464 for the interior painting Services Berkeley Elementary and sangar Elementary to BNR painting Incorporated for a cost of $108,000 as presented by Mr Thomas in finance item number eight do we have any discussion that's a regular schedule painting that's normally done yes okay that's being done to different schools at different times okay any other questions all right then if there's no
059other questions and all of those in favor of this motion please respond by saying I I oppose same sign okay you've got your paint thank you they don't want me painting I know that moving on to agenda item nine it's the superintendance report the item for information is the 2016 through 2021 strategic plan yes thank you Mr Hayes well I know you all know we've been down a pretty long road to get to where we are this evening and I would especially like to say thank you to Sharon Snyder for her leadership because she's facilitated much of the conversation around what should the Strategic plan for the next 5 years in uh Berkeley County School District look like I would also like to say that I appreciate our teachers our administrators our community stakeholders the
060cabinet and the board for the direction and contributions that each of you made to get us to the point we are this evening tonight our focus is to bring your attention to anything that is different in the document before you than in previous months so what you'll see is the whole context of the document and you'll see in bold red something that's different and that's all we're going to talk about tonight because we think you probably um have this thing memorized by now because we've talked about it a number of times as a point of information it's really important to know that every Focus area for each goal has a comprehensive action plan that identifies explicit steps to be taken um to allow us to meet the expected targets and next October we'll talk to
061you a little bit about what kind of progress we've made with the action steps but you're seeing the big picture at this point in time also this summer in our Retreat which is not very far away I think it's like July the 12th we're going to ask you all to identify some priority phot Focus areas that you would like for us to pay specific attention to but we won't do that tonight so at this time I'd like to ask Sharon if she would come forward and highlight for us the changes that have been made as a result of the continued input from all the stakeholders Sharon thank you again thank you oh sorry thank you I can't believe you're asking Archie thank you so much I knew I should okay I know that like Miss
062Blackburn um mentioned we are so happy and thankful that we have finished this process but it is an ongoing process that we will continually work through as we move forward but we're anxious we're glad we're just it's just a great day like Miss Black Room mentioned our vision since the last time you saw that has remained the same um our the language that we've used is very tight and all the stakeholders that we shared this with um were very enthusiastic and they love that so that hasn't changed we listened to the comments that all of you shared with us and we teetered back and forth on communities and the word community in a part of our mission and we decided on that the word Community because we want to show that Oneness of Berkeley County
063so that was important so we kept the word Community uh our goal one stayed the same now we'll go into our Focus areas we felt it was important that we add this Focus area for goal number one because we felt that we need to really continuously review and reflect our policies our processes and procedures that we have in place to support our organization these Focus areas remain the same goal two student achievement we listen to the language again and a lot of our stakeholders including yourselves um looked at the word common we're not satisfied with the word common so we changed that we kept and we put in place the word unified um for when we shared with you information about the Unified curriculum we also added the word system as we spoke about our
064assessment system our Focus areas we felt in our first Focus area that we needed to really finish and finalize that first area so we added to support teaching and learning that was extremely crucial to our uh stakeholders stakeholders as we shared that goal three communications that goal remained the same no changes since the last time we shared our Focus areas the first few stayed the same we felt in our fourth Focus area that we felt that communication was very important and crucial to all of our stakeholders and that we need to make sure that communication was two-way back and forth so we would also share information but also take information and feedback continuously go four Human Resources remain the same our Focus areas remain the same for the first section and we thought this was
065important and all of you really felt that this was crucial as well um we added the part about supporting the social emotional well-being of all staff not just students but all of our staff across Brooklyn County that was very important to us and goal five fisal [Music] responsibility our Focus areas remain the same one thing that we mentioned we had several Focus areas but we felt that we wanted to tighten this goal up in our Focus areas so um what you see there as our last Focus area attains an overall unmodified audit opinion positive Bond rating and maintain an adequate fund balance to ensure the financial stability of the district those were originally three three additional Focus areas so we combined them together into one we felt that it they worked really well and they
066were seamless Focus areas to include that do we have any questions regarding where we are with our good Sharon thank you again and for your leadership and for filtering through the hundreds and hundreds of comments that we had to come out with a I think some very powerful ful messages so thank you again the last thing I have is just a comment I'd like to share with everyone I had the privilege this morning of going to the breakfast for Champions and if you've never had an opportunity to go it was a wonderful wonderful event in which we honored high school students uh grades freshman through seniors for a scholarship uh leadership and uh uh academics as well and uh service and it was amazing I I must thank our our sponsors Berkeley County Chamber uh
067Trident Health South Carolina Electric and Gas and um Charleston Southern University who are always such great host for us and a phenomenal event and some wonderful uh Young Folks were recognized and each High School had an opportunity for a senior to recognize an outstanding faculty member from that school and some of the things that the kids said uh truly touched my heart and I know it must have touched the heart of those teachers who were praised so highly uh by the kids who say you know what teachers make a difference and they do and so it was just my pleasure to be a part of such a celebration not only of teaching and learning but of kids and working together and a powerful powerful place to be this morning and that finishes my part of
068the agenda all right then that takes us to agenda item number 10 which is our executive session and in executive session we're looking at nine student appeals a discussion of pending employment matters including an appointment of an administrator and a discussion of legal matters do I have a motion for us to go into executive session yeah I'd like to make that motion but on the discussion of legal matters to discuss a settlement agreement I think we've got to be a little more specific on why exactly we're going into executive session to comply with Foya so to discuss a settlement agreement is all I know of there may be other matters but I think as long as we can be vague I will second his motion so he can continue this discussion go ahead Mr mcquillin
069that's all I've got to say unless there's something other than a settlement agreement we're discussing but and we have a motion to go into executive session we will um entertain nine student Appeals discussion of pending employment matters including employment administrator and the discussion of legal matters concerning a settlement oh okay thank you is there any discussion no sir then all of those in favor of this motion please respond but saying I I I oppose same sign and we are in executive [Music] session