2021-08-23 Board of Education meeting

001it is seven o'clock I am calling this Germantown Board of Education meeting to order please stand if you're able and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance official media notification Mr stausland yes public notice of this meeting has been given by communication from the superintendent's office to the public to those news media who have requested such notices and to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Northwest now expressed news in West Bend Daily News public notice has also been posted in schools throughout the district and on the gsdwi.org website as well as cable access Channel 96. roll call Medved here Barney here reinemann here Soderbergh no excused loaf here Borden excused absent Pollock here item two approval of the agenda do I have a motion motion to approve the agenda second any discussion so you've done all those

002in favor aye opposed that passes moving on to Citizen comments we do have quite a few people signed up tonight um we're going to keep it to the three-minute time limit and hopefully get everybody in if your comments mirror or reflect what someone else is saying if you could just say that you agree with so-and-so's comments that would be appreciated so we can kind of move things along as much as we can we're looking at at least an hour and a half if everybody talks tonight for the full three minutes so we'd appreciate any uh condensing of your speech would be great thank you much I will call the first person and the person on deck and then each time I will renounce the name and also call the person that'll be on deck so

003you can get ready move up towards the front first up we have Monica Curtis and on Deck is Kevin Curtis hello my name is Monica Curtis I live in Germantown and my husband and I have two kids ages six and four in the Germantown School District I'm reading a statement on behalf of someone who works in healthcare and is too scared to be here due to the harassment they've received from anti-massacres who are in the auditorium tonight dear Germantown School Board I'm not here tonight because of the backlash and bullying that I will receive from the community I call home I am not alone many others I know feel the same way and are not comfortable speaking publicly for the same reason this unfortunately is what it has come to and it is so sad

004I doubt that any sentences I string together will change your mind it is clear that this is 100 percent a political reason for you and this angry mob of anti-maskers are only helping to fuel your thoughts it's a concerning precedent you're setting I'm begging you to separate your political feelings and strictly see the rise in covid cases among children and follow the guidelines the 6 000 kids are quarantined in only the first two weeks of school in Florida don't let that be us what is so unreasonable about trying something anything to mitigate this virus everyone survived wearing a mask last year and we kept the numbers down wearing a mask didn't kill any of our kids but not wearing a mask might the CDC and health experts clearly State masks for both vaccinated and unvaccinated

005people right now it's not a hard concept to grasp we are still in a pandemic please I am begging listen to the directions of people who have spent their lives studying viruses and not your local politician I'm proposing to rethink masks for all kids kindergarten through fifth grade at a bare minimum since they are the ones who cannot receive the vaccine right now or another idea would be having masked and unmasked classrooms at the elementary and the parent can choose which classroom for the year The Masks optional is a weak concept because masks are only effective when the majority of people wear them to protect their spit from going into your body follow the experiences of other states other districts around the state and the science of doctors or a science only real when you

006when you or someone you love as cancer a life-threatening illness or covid and you want science and modern medicine to save them then I'm sure you believe in it or maybe are you just concerned about your re-election campaign and overkeeping our kids healthy and safe if any of these kids end up in the ICU or Die the blood is on your hand for failing to do anything sincerely a concerned parent thank you [Applause] next up we have Kevin Curtis and then Sandy pie hello my name is Kevin Curtis as you've heard from my wife I have two children in the Germantown School District ages six and four they are going to County Line and to Rockfield Elementary last time I came here it was only one week into many school districts time and at already

007multiple cases happen in the in the two weeks since I had spoken many more things have happened in Georgia four districts have been forced to shut down and go completely virtual again also four districts in Texas have been forced to shut down entirely in Lamar County Mississippi one week back two high schools were forced to go completely virtual in Iowa an outbreak of covet in the staff caused school to go back cause the school opening to go back a week in farquers County Washington with only 15 percent of the kids opting out of masks there was still an outbreak at the school which caused the which caused the school board to have an emergency meeting to require masks again for the school and for my favorite example here Washington County Tennessee a town a county

008with the same name as ours the same population as ours and last time with only one week they had 41 cases in the students they've had to call an emergency meeting of the school board meeting in order to get masks back because of how many cases were happening there already right now we know of all the other areas other places nearby that are doing masks Milwaukee Madison Green Bay Shorewood Whitefish Bay Fox Point Greendale Oshkosh what makes us any different from them what makes us better at fighting covet than they are I don't know what it is but the masts are the number one thing that will help us for this time we have an opportunity here we are seeing the future of what could happen at our school at other schools if we don't

009do masks I pray that we change this possible future and put masks back into into the school at least for K-8 for all the students who cannot get the vaccine yet thank you [Applause] Sandy pie and then next is Kristen Barr my name is Sandy PA and I live in Germantown Wisconsin my father was an elected official for 34 years beginning when I was in third grade for his entire career my family was Civic minded towards our community they were lessons that have stayed with me all of my life when it came to his constituents political differences were set aside for the greater good experts were consulted and my dad based his decisions on their recommendations many times their recommendations went against his personal beliefs but he was elected to be a public servant not

010a representative of his personal agenda I was always and still am very proud of how he said his personal politics aside and represented always in the best interest of all involved covid-19 is not a political issue it is a public health issue just as polio and smallpox along with other viruses once were we were vaccinated for these viruses before being allowed to attend school the Delta variant of covid-19 is a communicable viral disease just as polio and smallpox once were we are asking that some precautions and mediation plans be in place for the safety of the school children and their families as well as those they come into Community contact with the children need to be in person in school they sacrifice so much last year there are some children with medical conditions that put

011them at high risk that will be expected to attend those under 12 are not yet able to be vaccinated they are especially at risk in the indoor classroom it seems only reasonable to follow the recommendations of the CDC American Academy of Pediatricians and other health scientists to at least begin the year with a masked mandate in place with a Delta variation showing how it is more contagious and infecting younger children in greater numbers it is not only a reasonable mitigation request but the most logical in allowing the school children to safely return to and hopefully remain in classrooms for the school year last spring when the decision was made to eliminate the mass mandate our numbers were decreasing and the Delta variant had not yet presented itself in our community I ask all of you

012to please reassess our present situation and act appropriately in reinstating a masked mandate to keep our children teachers staff families and communities say safe my dad was an elected of my dad as an elected official always took the advice of experts and voted in the best interest of the community he represented I beg you to do the same we need to be proactive to keep the schools as safe as possible thank you thank you Kristen Barber and I'm Jack is Adam Barr evening good evening my name is Dr Kristen Barr and I have children at County Line school I have a PhD in microbiology genetics and Immunology I am not an expert like fauci or the virologists working directly with the viruses causing with the virus causing covid-19 nor do I claim to be however

013my education and work experience has provided me with the expertise to decipher between misinformation and scientific fact the virus that causes covid-19 has mutated it is not the virus we were dealing with a year ago the Delta virus the Delta variant is twice as contagious as previous variants early data suggests that children get sicker with the Delta variant pediatric hospitalizations for covid-19 have reached an all-time high in many regions especially those where schools have made masks optional with the original strain of covid-19 people over 60 seem to be our most vulnerable now children have become our most vulnerable group to covid Delta variant due to their inability to be vaccinated so how do we protect those most vulnerable right now well I can tell you from the scientific data one thing has worked masks the

014rate of eight or one thing that has demonstrated and it's been time and time again research on um and the variant as well has shown this before vaccines were available masking mandates in schools worked quite well data shows that during the 2020-21 school year where math school math mandates were in place biotransmission was extremely limited why once again because masks work schools without mask mandates subject children not only to a higher risk of viral transmission but also to the experience of seesawing between virtual and in-person classes as outbreaks lead to school closures followed by reopenings Germantown is proposing a weak mask policy and turning them into vague recommendations this will be taking away a safety measure that we know worked this is a known recipe to definitively go back to an all-virtual learning back and

015forth and that is detrimental to Children's Mental Health like I said last time you don't call a plumber to fix an electrical problem it's the same here I don't rely on what people with no you shouldn't be relying on people with no scientific or medical background to have a say to fix some health issue you rely on medical and scientific experts such as the CDC NIH AAP H who am a and so many more and all the medical and scientific experts agree that masks should be worn by all individuals regardless of vaccination status in schools in schools I urge the school board to listen to these experts and make the scientifically supported decision to acquire masks in the schools to begin the school year and I think it would be perfectly acceptable to reassess the

016mask requirement of people of all eight or to reassess this after everyone is able to be immunized against covid-19 which essentially be two months after the vaccine becomes readily available to children under 12. please this should not be a debate the health and safety of students should be a priority and experts clearly explain to keep kids safe when returning school is to require masks thank you Adam Barr and I think we have Gene Mary I don't know if I can follow that up and I'm not just trying to get points with my wife there but uh my name my name is Adam Barr I grew up in Germantown I went to school in Germantown I love Germantown so much that I bought a house in Germantown I'm now raising my family in Germantown furthermore my

017mom dedicated her career as a teacher in Germantown Peggy Barr you probably know of her um but uh the reason why I'm up here today is my ask is that the Germantown School Board state that mass be required for children 12 and under until such time that the Cove vaccine is available to that age group at that point those who choose to protect their children via immunization can do so I've heard multiple people argue and compare statistics from kova 19 to the respiratory flu to me as a parent that is irrelevant what is relevant is what options as parents or Guardians we have when it comes to protecting our children particularly from the second they set foot on the school bus until the second they step off the school bus the point where the duty

018of care transfers between parent and the county the ultimate protection is the vaccine as as it is with the respiratory flu but with the respiratory flu we have enough foresight to be able to actually administer to those to the students ahead of time in this case we do not yet have that ability my wife and I and many like us wear a mask not to protect ourselves there is some political statement we wear a mask to protect those around us who don't currently have that option as County Executive Josh Shulman once famously said wear a mask out of love for your neighbor thank you for your time and consideration [Applause] Being Mary and on Deck is Carol Mary masks optional is the only fair and appropriate choice for everyone but particularly for our students because

019it is the only option that is science-based for both sides on the mask mandate side we have the science that states that a person at risk will derive some protection from wearing a mask that is n95 or better and which is replaced with a fresh mask each day on the mask optional side you have a variety of factors that mask proponents do not consider there are people like me who have been told that medically we should never wear a mask my oxygen level drops dramatically and quickly there are studies several studies also that prove that masks cause too much CO2 to be inhaled which can cause drowsiness confusion and slow reaction times those studies also show that due to the high respiration rates in younger children Mass cause them to inhale 6 to 12 times

020more the safe level of CO2 and that long term this could cause some brain damage for those informative years additionally there are numerous studies stating that masks impair social psychological and emotional development in children and this is compounded for children with special needs on top of that we can all attest to the inability to hear and understand well in many cases when people are speaking through a mask we need to consider that very negative ramification on teaching where hearing and understanding are imperative here's the conundrum the parents who feel their children need the protection of a mask want to impose a mask mandate on everyone even those for whom a mask is known to be detrimental applying that same standards means that parents on the opposite side of the spectrum have the right to demand

021that no one wear a mask in school because of the physical social emotional and communication issues I have cited and yet those parents are only asking that masks be optional politics should never be put in I'm sorry policy should never be put in place by politics or by those who speak the loudest complain the most or whatever in this case the policy should be based on science yes all the science for everyone clearly the only fair reasonable and science-based choice for everyone is masks optional thank you [Applause] Carol Mary and then on Deck we have Teresa Teresa Snyder my name is Carol Murray and I'm a Germantown resident and I want to thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you this evening with regards to sel in our school it is amazing

022these days to hear the teacher unions complaining that parents wants their children in school because they view the teachers as free child care what hypocrisy it is the school systems that are usurping parents rights to be the source and Arbiters of their children's social and emotional development teachers responsibility in this regard is to report any potential abusive emotional or disciplinary issues to the parents and or the appropriate authorities or School social workers the people who have the right to intercede and the people who are trained to do so the only thing teachers should be responsible in their classrooms is education on the subject matter and maintaining an environment in which learning can take place anything beyond that is the parent's domain or should be reported to the appropriately trained professionals The View children have of

023themselves in society and in relationship to others must continue to be the role of the parents to be taught in a family structure which is apparently what the school system is attempting to destroy by usurping parental rights and freedoms CRT Dei equity in Sal are not good ideas in our classrooms Common Sense should tell us that and history bears that out which is perhaps why the schools do not teach accurate history anymore but we have also come to understand the evil of all of it from our Bulgarian daughter-in-law who grew up and lived under Soviet communism she recently became a U.S citizen she now struggles to protect their children from the growing far-left evils in this country the same ones to which she was subjected to most of her life and who which she understands

024all too well I am compelled to Echo what she expresses so often what are you people thinking have you lost your minds thank you Teresa Snyder and then on Deck we have John PA I would like to speak on policy 5310 from what I'm understanding you're saying that you're not going to get rid of the policy because of the funding that would be pulled from us look around this room how about the funding from all the families that have are in the process of contemplating or actually have pulled their kids from this District okay the foreign a lot of them here tonight actually all right this we are not going to let invasive physical Freedom that you have given free reign to our state government handle it's not going to happen this board is an

025extension of the State political leadership you've said that it's a fact all right so a few questions for you to think about before your vote tonight where is this funding coming from and why do we so desperately need to keep it why does it where does it say specifically that we have to have this policy in place what other policies have this little carrot dangling from them that we don't know about yet okay Menomonee Falls Sussex and West Bend do not have this canned purchase policy why not what do they know that we don't does keeping this policy and saying that you the board won't direct staff to enforce it absolve you from all of moral and civil responsibilities and liabilities what if the state mandates in-school testing or vaccinations do your hands go up

026as you say well we didn't tell them to do what the state did you are an extension of that okay every child deserves a free education it's in that pesky little document that keeps coming up you know the Constitution the 14th Amendment specifically education not MediCal examinations not insertion injections or incisions not politics education Reading Writing math and most importantly right now history history needs to be taught correctly accurately we are here to stand up to tell you that we will not allow for mandated testing or injections for anyone the students or the teachers okay there will be no invasive physical examinations done on our children we will not comply our children will not comply and that you can take to the bank with your federal funding dollars all right John Pierre Alex Hardin good

027evening my name is John Pig I don't have any children in the school but I am concerned about the community and I live in Germantown to give you an idea I'm a little different uh as far as I know ER rooms icus and hospitals do not only treat covet patients and thank God I never had covet but last October I went to Community Memorial Hospital thinking I had appendicitis but during the CT scan I ruptured my abdominal aortic aneurysm I was given nine units of blood and rushed to Frederick where the vascular team was waiting another three units of blood two large stents and they gutted me like a deer to remove 12 units of blood from my abdominal cavity then to ICU placed on a ventilator and my stomach left open to ensure no

028other bleeding the surgery the doctor told my wife the surgery went well but I give them 50 50 shot he will live forty percent shoddy will not have organ damage or be paralyzed or have my black toes and feet amputated luckily none of that happened and I'm here but she was told to go home since I was just given a covet test and the results would not be in until the next morning can you imagine that tell your spouse go home and I don't know if your spouse will be alive the next day what hell she went through the next week covid started to Surge in Milwaukee and I was told to get out as soon as possible since the ER room was full and they closed another floor to covet thank God I ruptured

029the week earlier or they may not have had a ventilator or room in the ER or the ICU and I have I could have bled out in the car awaiting treatment and that's what happens in some of these other states So when you say Mass are a choice my medical emergency was not a choice if it happened to me now and I was in the South I doubt I would be here since people have medical emergencies like Minds Strokes heart attack car accidents and since it is proven that mass do help prevent the spread of covid that may require that may require the use of ER room ventilators in hospital beds why would you not help stop or reduce the unnecessary use of these important resources just by wearing a mask look at me and

030tell me my life doesn't matter because hey I'm sorry we're filled can't treat you thank you and by the way here's what you look like on a ventilator good evening Alex Hardin from Colgate one second Alex Alex Hardy and on Deck we have Jenny price thank you Alex Hardin from Colgate uh so you've already heard and you're going to hear a number of additional soul-card our so-called arguments tonight in support of requiring kids to wear masks and much like back in April and May every one of these arguments is completely devoid of facts and they all defer to very powerful experts rather than actual boots on the ground data and the primary expert being appealed to tonight has been and will continue to be the completely politically neutral CDC so speak speaking of the CDC

031here's some interesting nuggets everyone knows that obesity is a problem in America leading to Serious life-threatening diseases therefore the adherence to the Church of Disease Control must know that they recommend kids engage in at least 60 Minutes of moderate vigorous exercise every single day now given that that is a CDC recommendation why doesn't the board mandate it for kids and teachers failure to exercise for six minutes each and every day including weekends leads to expulsion for students and instant firing for teachers just follow the science after all a 2020 study indicated that individuals who had obesity in childhood had a three times higher risk of mortality in early adulthood now I'm no expert but that sounds a lot more serious than the statistically tiny number of children who have bad reactions with covet now not

032to get yucky but did you know that the CDC suggests sexual abstinence as the most effective way to prevent STDs I'm sure all the mask enthusiasts here agree and adhere wholeheartedly to that guideline given the omniscience of the CDC and as a CDC recommendation abstinence should be required by the board of students right teachers too you know I don't know it's hard to keep up with science roulette did you also know that the CDC suggests reducing the number of sexual partners to prevent STDs oh yes again team Mass surely supports this wholeheartedly as a side note this is very interesting given that the sexually explicit SEL program that Brenda O'Brien wants to bring to middle schoolers encourages sexual relationships with however many people you want it's perfectly normal so follow your heart I guess so

033I I guess I better stop poking fun at the CDC before Joe Biden kicks on the door and well probably forgets his name and just leaves But continuing 95 000 people die every year due to Drunk Driving according to the Musketeers it is Germantown School District's responsibility and moral obligation to mandate prohibition it's a CDC recommendation okay now what about the flu what are the ma where have the Masters been all these years in demanding that the board mandate mask wearing for the flu what's the difference maybe we can just let free Americans make their own individual health decisions okay here are the pertinent facts after 18 months of this we know with a very reasonable level of certainty that covet poses almost zero risk to children look past the political spin of various expert

034organizations and the data is Crystal Clear of the 4.4 million cases reported in children .01 percent resulted in death that's not even taken into account several prevalence data in order to determine a true infection fatality rate which would make that number almost disappear and this of course is all to say nothing of the lack of evidence indicating that mandated mask wearing actually does any good a simple comparison of states and countries that required masks versus those that didn't play as well here 's the bottom line parents are more than welcome to make their own kids wear masks it makes them feel better but don't let the emotional and political political desires of one group infringe on the Liberties of another thank you [Applause] Jenny price and on Deck we have Kelly Beecher good evening Jenny

035price from Germantown I'm not going to stand up here and spout a bunch of facts scientific facts on either side because there's plenty of them I am here tonight to ask the board to keep their original stance on making masks optional for the upcoming school year tonight you have heard and will hear many more parents asking you to make masking our children mandatory I understand that these parents are fearful of their kids getting sick we wouldn't be good parents if we didn't fear for our kids I think that everyone should have healthy fears in life the key word here is healthy fears I have a fear of bridges over water does that mean that I'll never travel over a bridge over water of course not because I'm smart enough to know that it is an

036irrational fear that stems from a dream that I had when I was seven years old it's not a healthy fear that is a true story so as much as I don't want to dismiss anyone's fear the fear of their children dying from covid is an irrational unhealthy fear more children die from the flu every year but I have never once heard these parents yelling put masks on our kids they'll die from the flu that's because the fear isn't constantly being beaten into their heads like it is with covid we want to continue to be able to make the best choices for our own children if a parent wants their child to wear a mask that's their decision as that child's parent I would never disrespect their decision I'm asking for the same respect from the

037opposing side as much as I hate saying the words opposing side unfortunately that is what this debate has come to over the last year and a half so please do not change your minds on optional masking we know what is best for our own children no one else if you were to change your stance on masking just know that my children will not comply they will not wear a face covering of any kind period end of story but they will be in school every single day being taught just like all of the other children another thing that I would like to ask of the board is to keep your decision on not making the covet vaccine mandatory for staff or students with this morning's FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine it will make it easier

038for you to mandate it and I think you all know that we are the keepers of our own bodies no one should ever be forced to take a vaccine if they don't want it government entities do not belong in anyone's medical decisions ever I guess what I'm saying in a nutshell is choice choice choice let us continue to have the choice to make the best decisions for our own families thank you [Applause] Kelly been on Deck we have Anna roofer prefer thank you good evening let me just help you out with my last name for a minute it's better not Beecher thank you thank you um so we're hearing a lot about masks again tonight here we sit I'm tired we're all tired we're rehashing this this is getting ridiculous so I asked my children

039because I have three boys in the Germantown School District my my oldest boy is looking so forward to middle school because he will be reunited with kids that he went to daycare with he's waited that long to be reunited with some of his friends I posed the question to him I said hey if you have a choice between changing schools or wearing a mask what is your choice he said I'd rather change schools pretty compelling if you ask me all of us sitting on this side of the room we're here for freedom freedom of choice Freedom that I volunteered to give my life for if asked I volunteered to defend their freedom for free speech we are here to defend their freedom for free speech choice for everyone they are looking to take away Choice

040from everyone that is not acceptable because their health is no more my responsibility even if they're laying in a hospital bed I can't force them if I am their nurse I can't force them because they're as patient choice I can't force them my safety is no more their responsibility because if they're going to say hey my health is your responsibility then I'm going to say my safety is your responsibility you need to get your concealed carry and carry a gun to protect my safety sounds pretty ridiculous doesn't it it's the same thing we're talking a lot about SEL why are we going to promote a program that is so disgusting it's not up to the school to teach our kids to develop we're teaching these kids to become more sexually active at a younger age

041what why why are we doing this the choices at this board are making they're making me want to pull my kids from Germantown public school three boys three boys how much funding are you going to lose I'm willing to pay for private school tuition there was a gentleman that we're familiar with Mr George Orwell the further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those that speak it we had a president that said once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition it has only one way to go and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures until it becomes a source of Terror to all its citizens and Cree creates a country where everyone lives in fear that was Harry Truman I stand on

042principle and conviction and that is what I have taught my children I do not change my principles or conviction for convenience I never have and I never will I say what I mean and I mean what I say so you can believe I mean it when I say I am done with Germantown Public School [Applause] Anna and then we have Krista tiresome Pearson thank you hello everyone my name is Anna priefer two of my daughters will be attending County Line Elementary this fall I have serious concerns about the return to school plan specifically the covid mitigation procedures for this upcoming school year and I am not alone as a parent you have to be the biggest advocate for your child I understand that all of us here all of us here are fiercely protective of

043our children I tell my children that my number one job as their as their mother is to keep them safe the second thing is to be a good human to be kind to one another and think about others and how our choices affect them especially now that we are living in a pandemic we all want to keep kids teachers and staff healthy so that schools can stay open and parents can stay at work thankfully last year schools did stay open but our district followed local and National Health recommendations to mitigate covid-19 which included wearing masks social distancing hand washing proper air filtration contact tracing in classrooms and other safety measures our district based their decisions on the most up-to-date science-based evidence not emotion or popular opinion we aren't talking about the same virus we dealt

044with last school year it has mutated and this Delta variant is more contagious than the previous strain child hospitalizations are the highest they've been during the whole pandemic so why do we have little to no precautions in place to mitigate risks even vaccinated adults can carry and transmit this virus all of this makes masking essential and the greatest benefits occur when everyone is wearing masks one suggestion is to start the school year with a mass requirement and reevaluate in four to six weeks this gives our kids some protection and buys time until a vaccine is available the plan can be fluid and change based on new data and recommendations from the experts in public health such as the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics currently both recommend that students staff and visitors wear masks indoors

045at all times regardless of vaccine status if we aren't following these guidelines from our local and National doctors scientists and epidemiologists then what exactly are you basing your decisions on my nine-year-old daughter has asked me Mommy why do we mask to protect ourselves and others but other people won't do the same for me how do you answer that as a parent I understand that these decisions are incredibly difficult I am however urging you to reconsider reconsider the mass requirement especially in the elementary schools to keep schools open and communities safe let's partner with our health care providers to reduce the transmission of the Delta variant this fall not ignore their advice and act like this isn't happening thank you for your time and consideration brista and then we have Pam Schultz my name is Krista

046dearson I'm the mom of a seven and three year old and a family practice doctor working locally I'm speaking on behalf of myself and not my Affiliated institution I'm here to do to the de-escalation of the covid-19 mitigation procedures in schools most importantly Universal indoor masking the American Academy of Pediatrics the CDC and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services all recommend Universal indoor masking for all in schools and I urge you to heed their advice with the emergence of the Delta variant we are again seeing a spike of cases make no mistake this is not the same virus as last school year it is a much more contagious strain meaning one person that's infected last year infected two to three people on average but the Delta varying infects up to eight people on average you

047are also eight times more likely to get infected if you're unvaccinated versus vaccinated and remember all children under 12 are unvaccinated putting them in a very vulnerable position as a parent of a seven-year-old I have no other way to protect my child other than the measures the school decides to utilize and if it's optional masking that does nothing it is All or Nothing schools were very successful last year at reducing the spread of covid-19 by using Universal masking as well as the layered mitigation approaches good quality data showed these measures when used together reduced all viral transmission including covid-19 Universal masking in many studies being one of the most important measures I think we're all grateful that the severity of the original covid-19 virus in children is low but that being said it was not

048zero last school year 350 children deaths and 15 000 hospitalizations were reported and with the Delta variant previously healthy kids are being hospitalized at increased rates this month alone pediatric hospitalization rates in the country are Rising by 22 percent and pediatric icus around the country are at full capacity for the first time since the pandemic started removing a proven prevention strategy with a more contagious strain on the rise makes no logical sense even if we use all the same measures as last school year the infection rate will still be higher before we remove the prevention strategies in place if the number of infected kids is higher everything Rises the number of kids missing school due to illness the number of kids needing to quarantine the number of kids becoming severely ill requiring hospitalization and yes

049the number of children who will die from coven 19. a mask to me is not a political statement it's not an impenetrable force that will stop Alcova transmission it's one of the tools we've been using successfully to keep schools open while minimizing the risk of infection um we live in a time where opinion and expertise are falsely viewed as equivalent you and the Board of Education are the experts in the education of my child and I trust that you do that to the best of your abilities but you are not the experts in public health schools trust Physicians to make decisions for the health of children all year long and I eval you ate countless children for sports physicals broken bones fevers other illness while working with parents to form a safe back to school

050plan and if you trust us to make medical decisions for your children then why are you choosing in this instance to go against our medical advice thanks thank you and on Deck we have hi I'm Pam Schultz I'm coming to you as a Germantown resident as a mom as a pediatrician with MCW and children's although My Views tonight Are My Views not those of my employer but I also come to you as a mom of a high risk special needs child I I can't imagine being on the board this past year and those difficult decisions you guys have made and listening to arguments from both sides that have been pretty heated on a lot of subjects this year and you guys have done a good job mediating through things and not letting things get out

051of control and that has got to have been a hard year for you throughout this pandemic you made difficult decisions but you made the decisions looking at the best um safest education for all of our students not just some healthy students who are in that 0.1 percent of your child may become ill but if that's your child in that point one who dies that's your child public health is a public responsibility it's all of our responsibility to make sure that we take care of each other and we provide safe and free education for everybody every child does deserve a free education but a safe and equal or Equitable free education when you're looking at masking and how and the risks you also have to look at the equality of things our lower income population are

052black population our Hispanic population our people of color are higher risk of illness and severity of illness of covid-19 especially with the Delta variant so if you're not going to look at you know necessarily my child who's a high risk you have to look at all the children in the Germantown school system we're not all made of healthy middle upper middle class people who have the ability to fight this disease the same as everybody else I agree kids need to be in school my kids were out of school last year it was not a good situation but that's the only option we had they need to be in school but having a mask on is the only way people in school are going to be safe the current plan you have is just so wishy-washy

053we're not going to do the mediation anymore we're not going to separate kids we're not going to uh all this um separate lunches we're gonna have everybody in the same thing we're not looking at distancing we're not looking at you know any of the any of the strategies it's supposed to be school as normal with masks optional which I think is kind of going way overboard I will tell you though that I'm not even sure my child can be in school next year I emailed the board the KMS principal because uh teacher for next year his special education teacher and the school nurse two weeks ago to ask what the plan was for my son and I have received no information at all school starts in less than two weeks and I don't know if

054my son's going to be able to go I don't know what the plan is I don't know if is there a plan is there a plan to keep him safe we have plans in action to keep people with allergies safe we have plans and actually to keep people who are you know disabled safe I don't even know the plan for my son thank you Meredith and then we have Tracy Parker hi good evening to all the members of the board and good evening to everyone in this room I think it's awesome that you give us the opportunity to talk with you and I came here to hear from my fellow community members to learn and to ask you to reconsider your decision to make masks optional a lot of information has been shared I'm not

055here as an expert or a doctor I'm here as a parent I have three kids two are in the district they've gone to Germantown schools their entire lives I've always had a positive experience and so I thank each of you for the role that you play in The Daily operation of our schools I love Germantown School District um I have a different approach tonight what I did is I read through the German Town School District's mission and vision statement and with that there are several beliefs that I think I would like to ask you to think upon when you make that decision tonight because ultimately you're hearing both lots of sides lots of arguments but like you're the ones that are going to actually make this decision and as you make that decision regarding maths

056I ask you to consider these three beliefs from the Germantown School District mission statement the first one is that each individual has the right to a safe environment so as you make that decision regarding masks and other mitigation measures how does your decision keep each student safe and give them a safe environment for learning the other belief I'd like you to consider is that the quality of life is dependent on a healthy Community I totally agree so when you're making that decision about masks which which way is going to keep the community the healthiest as possible we I know none of us here want our kids to be at home we don't want to get sick we want our families to stay healthy and the last belief that I wanted you to reflect upon and

057I think this is the most important one is that each person has an obligation to others um I I believe that I raise my family that way so as a School District School Board as you make that choice about Mass mandates are you are you holding that belief are you are you living that value that each person has an obligation to others yes I know there's so many different viewpoints and people want to have their freedom to make that choice and I totally agree um but at the end of the day are we doing for others are we making the choice that is going to keep the most people safe and healthy so thank you Tracy then we have Alyssa Apollo good evening my name is Tracy Parker and I have an 11 year old

058and a 14 year old in the district my children have been home since March of 2019. tonight you see just me standing here but I want you to picture 500 of our community members behind me I'm here to represent comments from a petition that was started just five days ago and has 500 signatures the petition calls for following expert guidance and requiring Universal mask wearing in Germantown schools here are some of the community's comments I'm a student and I feel very unsafe with barely anyone wearing a mask in school this past year I was fully virtual student for the duration of the school year I was not comfortable with what precautions the district was taking then and I'm even more so uncomfortable now without an adequate virtual option making Mass mandatory will alleviate student parent

059and staff concerns as well as anxiety about the coming school year schools must be a safe environment and right now our schools are not I'm fully aware of the fact that kids need to be in school one way to ensure this is to follow safety measures the kids did it all last year and we were able to stay in school with the aggressive spread of Delta variant it is foolish to put our kids our teachers and other school staff at risk without a mask mandate that is exactly what we're doing our community's lives are much more important than this ridiculous notion of freedom to not wear a mask implementing Universal masking while local case burden is substantial or higher currently high in Germantown and kids under 12 cannot be vaccinated is the safest way to

060protect our children teachers staff and by extension the larger community as a pediatrician there is zero question that mandatory masking is the only choice to keep children safe please stop listening to The Angry fringe look at the traditional trusted sources American Academy of Pediatrics American Hospital Association AMA Mayo Clinic Johns Hopkins there's no harm to wearing a mask just ask a surgeon our community is woefully under vaccinated with Delta variant coming in strong children are at risk for illness even death this can be prevented by simply requiring masks in school this these are the voices of our Germantown families this is my voice last year we didn't have a Playbook we did our best with the limited information we had this year we have numerous playbooks from the CDC not just the CDC though American

061Academy of Pediatrics Wisconsin Department of Health Ozaukee Washington County Health Department and the guidance is clear crystal clear these trusted scientist doctors epidemiologists that work in this field say vaccines are the best tool for fighting the virus and they and that lower vaccination rate strongly correlate to more coven unfortunately Washington County lags other counties near us in vaccinating the 12 to 17 year olds and most of our kids aren't eligible for this vaccine yet this leaves masks as our best tool this isn't my opinion it's in the playbooks we have the Playbook why aren't we using it thank you [Applause] [Music] Alyssa and then on Deck we have Diane Peterson Alyssa Paolo Germantown I want to touch on the SEL curriculum further I remain concerned how a second step aligns with the castle core competencies

062and all core competencies are woven throughout the units and elements of Second Step this is visible when you view their alignment chart I believe I previously shared with the board the YouTube Interview with Jason Littlefield who is an educator and former castle and SEL specialist since 2014. in this interview he outlines how Castle has redefined SEL as transformative SEL and students are critically examining the root causes of inequity Equity we know is one of the key buzzwords for the CRT ideology I also found in the Second Step website their anti-racism and anti-bias resources they highlight learning for justice which was previously teaching tolerance which before that was the Southern Poverty Law Center my question for the board is Will these anti-racist and anti-biased resources be incorp into the middle school SEL curriculum I ask for

063the love is respect website I recently visited this site my first red flag was the immediate heads up pop-up which instructs students how to hide their browsing history and escape the website quickly the love is respect website also directs students to another website called Scarlet teen which has more content that I feel is not appropriate for students regardless of the website content I do not feel we should be using any resources that instruct students how to hide information from their parents cover their tracks and do other Shady behaviors if the board is going to proceed with using this curriculum in the middle school there must be firm expectations set on how this curriculum is implemented and what materials are approved for use in advance transparency is hugely important and I strongly recommend for the Second

064Step SEO lessons plans and materials to be available to all parents if Second Step says that is not allowed due to trademark copyright intellectual property or proprietary arguments then we should not be using these resources I also would like to see the love is respect website blocked from all district computers which is something West Bend has already done lastly I want to point out that the Mequon Thiensville School District collected enough signatures as of yesterday to recall four of their school board members Somerset District had a successful recall of two board members Oconomowoc District recently had three board members stepped down due to community backlash over their poor leadership and Waukesha School District flipped their board this spring I bring this up to highlight that parents have had enough and we are taking back our

065schools we want our children's education to be front and center of what we do and to push aside Mass mandates critical race Theory and other political agendas that interfere with building a thriving education thank you [Applause] Diana and Krista ewert is on next on Deck good evening Tracy do you remember what happened on April 13 2021 Ray how about April 15 2019. Amanda and Bob April 27 2020 Mike how about April 15 2019 and Tom what about April 13 2021 those are the dates you signed your oath of office I have copies of your oath of office in each State's I having been elected to the office of Germantown school board but not yet entered upon the duties thereof swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution

066of the state of Wisconsin and will Faithfully discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability you made that pledge how well do you think you're doing hope holding those two constitutions or are you upholding the desires of what we now know as CRT SEL in other words forms of American Marxism and other anti-American ideologies anti to those constitutions I believe most of you probably didn't know this was coming into the schools and now it's at all levels of government federal and state and local you can't play deaf anymore because you've heard this for months and maybe even years people are desperately trying to get into the United States for what reason socialism CRT scl wanting to promote racial issues no they're coming because they want the freedom of those constitutions that

067are not offered that are not offered by American socialism which seems you're willing to allow in the Germantown curriculum while not a lawyer there might be one willing to make a case allowing this anti-American material in Germantown schools a violation of your oath teaching what is bad for America is not expected by these parents you've heard they do not want this anti-American ideology taught which only makes each and every student feel guilty rather than proud of being an American last lastly Wisconsin State statutes chapter 120.12 duties of the school board subsection 2m regarding teacher effectiveness States beginning in the 2014-15 school year evaluate the effectiveness of each teacher and principal employed in the school district by using a system established in a state of State Statute and another state statute are you listening to the

068national teacher Union rather than these two constitutions freedom is never free and it's not silly it must be fought for and these parents are fighting please join them and fight with them Krista and then on Deck we have Jody Graf Christy you were at Germantown I have three kids in the school district um one thing before I start I just wanted to bring up that you haven't been asking people to stay where they're from um and that's a inconsistency across the board I just want to make sure that we stayed consistent with posting everybody's name at the end of this meeting in the minutes um so and also I wanted to take a minute to thank the board we've been here for months speaking to you and we have made some ground we've started adding

069the curriculum on the website we haven't seen the teacher in service information on there but I'm assuming that's because there hasn't been any yet for this coming school year so we're still looking for that we've added policies that we've asked for to the employee handbook thank you um at the last policy committee Bob not here but wanted to thank him specifically for bringing those policies to be a part of the policy and thank you to Tracy and Amanda for bringing those with a positive recommendation to the board tonight um what I really wanted to speak about was SEL and specifically the love is respect website so what I take Express special problem with I know that's the wrong wording but what I have the most issue with with the SEO website love is respect is

070that it teaches and promotes students to hide things from their parents how in a school can we promote students hiding information from their parents we should be teaching them to have those conversations with their parents and I'm not naive to the fact that kids are sexually active but it having it be promoted from a teacher or from a website that's given to them from a teacher saying in casual relationships sometimes it's better to step into that intimacy with sex to 13 year olds this is totally inappropriate so I'm asking that you vote to take away this SEL program because if it's promoting a website that has something this toxic this unmoral in it how can we trust the rest of the content if you don't choose to remove the SEL program at the very least

071make it an opt-in program where parents review the information before it is shown to their students and have to choose that it be shown to their students thank you Jody and then we have Richard Bank Jody craft Germantown first the second step program and its Affiliates do not align with the policies and ethics of GSD in particular the love is respect.org website seems designed to drive a wedge between kids and their parents so let's keep in mind these are middle school kids 11 to maybe 14 years old the KMS counselors were not looking for sex ed class they simply wanted to instill kindness and empathy so yes I take issue with a site that states what to do if your parents don't approve sex can be an important part of your relationship in a fun

072and gratifying activity for you and your partner's plural to enjoy together 11 to 14 years old and here's a golden nugget relationships look different depending on the community and cultural context you're living in particularly in the United States a country with broad existing inequities on the basis of race gender sexuality ability class education and any number of other identifications sounds like a direct violation of our commitment to equality and just another website that's trying to tell our kids how oppressed and classified they are we need to stop supporting companies that don't support our kids and find a better company that is more inclusive and loving and regarding masks as usual this is very simple no one human is the god over another and no one has the right to take away another's medical Freedom we

073already exhausted this topic last year anyone who wants to mask their child already has that right and we need the board to stand for choice these are they're actively GSD parents dealing with battles of cancer that do not want their kids wearing masks or getting any experimental injections these are arguably the highest risk families saying no give me choice not to mention these kids are dealing with a parent going through cancer and in one case having lost a wonderful mom that we all knew and loved these young kids already have so much unnecessary Stress and Anxiety in their lives we all do and the stress of force anything is not something we can allow anyone to take on so you want to talk about social and emotional learning do you think Force masking our kids

074faces gives the ability for social emotional learning when they can't socially see emotion they're told they're dirty they shouldn't interact with one another in a healthy way why do you think suicides are up so high is it worth it for some their time at school might be their window of Joy during the day and it should be for all of them keep masks a choice we do not co-parent with anyone and for these parents sending their kids to school even with a mask in their backpack will not be an option Freedom First please thank you Richard and then on Deck we have Gail trap hi everyone first of all my name is Richard bianch b-i-a-n-k so uh you know I like any other band and grandparent don't want to see a child get sad the

075worst certain we die from a disease but I did some research on numbers in 2019 there were 9 173 deaths among children now CDC tells us that from January 1st or of 2020 . last week there were 296 for children that means children died your mother things 31 times more than from govid the chance of a child dying boy zero zero zero zero zero sense [Applause] I have seen the negative effect of wearing masks on my grandson seven years old and coveted he came oh socially that's Interactive it it just kind of took away his Joy so let's put these numbers in the germatology school district we can expect 0.7 deaths from all causes in Germantown are the 3 900 students but we can expect less than 1 40th of attack caused by govid [Applause]

076Gail and then we have Nicole Boyd Gail Trapp Germantown School District I recently went back and listened to a lot of the different Congress interviews of members of the CDC the NIH and nyed highly encourage everybody to go back and go ahead and do that because one topic topic that did come up was mask on kids in school and obviously mask mandates and I after reviewing all of those I am still very convinced that putting masks on kids in school and anywhere else actually is just political theater and it's not science if you go back and you listen to a lot of them they continually asked over and over and over what is the science what are those the the groups of people that you looked at and that you took all your data from

077so that other people can peer review it and actually come back and duplicate that data very very few studies actually produced what they were telling and what they were mandating and telling people to do and besides the CDC just so you know it's not a government agency it's just their opinion for a lot of stuff that they come out and tell us so the director of the NIH his name is Francis Collins he admitted in a recent interview within the last week here that there's a extremely low risk for children to even catch covid but they want your children to wear masks and his whole reason for wanting the children to wear masks was because then they wouldn't have to shut down schools so where's the science if you want to tell me if you're

078from the NIH where's the science then but if you just don't want the inconvenience of having to shut down a school because a kid isn't wearing a mask and you have some kids that come down with covid but at the same time the CDC and the FDA tell us that the tests don't work ninety percent of them are false positives okay so how are we supposed to understand what does that even mean for us so when was the last time in the last 10 years that we had to shut down Germantown School District because of the flu did we shut it down for Chickenpox when was the last time we shut it down okay then Dan Crenshaw actually was interviewing uh it was probably about two months ago that Rachelle wolinski from the CDC about

079masks and she was asked repeatedly about what what is a study that you're actually using for the science that masks work and she kept citing a study that came from India many years ago and it was never actually peer-reviewed once the other scientists looked into it and that was actually debunked many years ago so then he asked well what other what other data and what other research have you done and you know what she couldn't come up with any other study so when people say follow the science they keep saying do this because the science says the science says tell me what the science is show me the study they never produce it go back and listen to them go back and actually listen to them they never produce the science that's the problem no

080masks make it optional thank you [Applause] Nicole and then on Deck we have Lynn Hirsch hi I'm Nicole Boyd and I have a daughter in 11th grade a German Germantown High School I'm not here to quote statistics or points I'm just more looking at the emotional standpoint of mass when we were originally doing mass and going to school every other day my daughter her depression her anxiety went completely off the off the racks you know not being able to socialize with our friends having these Mass mandated was not very good for her I see kids wearing masks that I don't see them as social as kids that are where are not wearing masks they're more sociable so I'm just here to say keep Mass optional let students have the choice let parents have the choice

081decide whether or not they want their kids to wear a mask because I feel that if we go back to wearing masks a lot of our students our children I think their anxiety their depression will Skyrock back it up and we don't know what would happen so please no Mass make Mass optional for those people that want to wear masks thank you [Applause] Lynn and then we have Rob Klein hi my name is Lynn Hirsch Germantown New England medical journal May 2020. it's clear that Universal masking alone is not a Panacea a mask alone will not prevent people from contaminating their hands and spreading the virus to others in many cases the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic two reasons all-day masking is bad reason one Dr Russell

082Blaylock a nationally recognized board-certified neurosurgeon Health practitioner and author contends that mask wearing is not only useless but possibly even dangerous because it's unwise to breathe one's own breath for long periods of time the bacteria your mouth the bacteria from your mouth gets trapped in The Mask the mouth is the dirtiest part of the human body case in point a group of Florida parents concerned about the potential harm of wearing masks during the school day sent their children's face coverings for analysis to the University of Florida's research education center of the sixth mask there were that were examined five were contaminated with bacteria parasites and fungi three of The Masks had dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria no viruses were detected on the mask although the test is capable of detecting them reason two children's language

083skills correlate to their academic achievement masks hindered children's development including speech language and social interactions language and speech comprehension happens through not only sound but also visual communication both of which are handicapped by facial mask coverings a teacher can't demonstrate pronunciation empathy and nonverbal communication without seeing full facial expression and mouths May 2021 University of Louisville study conducted using data from the CDC covering multiple Seasons reports at mask mandates and use are not associated with lower SARS covet spread among U.S states summary children are at an extraordinary low risk of diet from coed and transmission of the virus among children in schools and daycares is very rare based on CDC published data 99.998 of children at Contract covid survived viruses mutate all the time are we going to wear a mask for the rest of

084our lives what about acquiring herd immunity go ahead and wear a mask if that makes you feel better but not tell me and my family to do something that we feel impairs our health that's our right to choose and no one should take that choice away after all it's my body my choice Ben Franklin said those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither Liberty nor safety thank you right and then we have Melanie smite thank you good evening my name is Rob Klein I'm a parent of element three MacArthur Elementary students so when traveling this meeting tonight who crossed a bridge when you arrive the light's operational arcing was a new Performing Arts Center structurally sound or collapsing what was your level of trust in the people responsible

085as an engineer our code of ethics State our fundamental countenance as such engineers in our fulfillment of professional Louis shell hold Paramount the safety Health and Welfare of the public perform Services only in areas of their competence issue public statements only in objective and truthful manner and so on as elected officials in charge of students do you hold Paramount does their safety Health and Welfare the board's mission statement read earlier demonstrates it should follow the same quote of ethics so I ask you if you chose to vote no to a mass mandate what would change that stance is it subject matter expert consensus analytics that withstand peer review and rigorous scientific process or rapidly spreading Delta variant all that is already in front of us we need the board to be consistent in trusting experts

086from engineers to epidemiologists so what is an acceptable number of students to be sick to lose classroom time be hospitalized or die unlike Engineers who have to stand by their designs your vote will hold you civilly or criminally liable but each and every one on the sport will be held morally responsible morally responsible to by your neighbors Community your conscience and the students who look to you to hold Paramount their safety Health and Welfare now this isn't about me my children or everyone in this room I petition you Institute a mass mandate and do what's right and not what is loudest thank you [Applause] Melanie and then on Deck we have Sarah Larson good evening Melanie Smythe Germantown after the last meeting which I watched on live stream I wrote you an email covering a

087couple of things and today I'm following up on those one of my suggestions was that this ad hoc curriculum committee should be made more permanent there seems to be an awful lot of materials that need to be reviewed it was a little disturbing at the meeting that you said that some critical race Theory items were okay but maybe they shouldn't be at all um there couldn't be a review of lesson plans which could be put up there with the curriculum that might be a good thing to do and also all the professional development classes that the teachers and staff should be taken should be part of that so that everything is coordinated um you did miss one policy page I think in the policy I briefly scanned the 280 plus pages of the agenda and

088packet policy 3242 which describes who handles professional development content and in light of Mrs O'Brien's actions earlier this year I think there needs to be more oversight of that information and a revamping of that policy number again it was 325 to 3242 um the main reason that I actually wrote to you was the web page which is the Billboard to the world and for several months and even with the conversion to the new website we still have the diversity equity and inclusion page and uh this morning this afternoon I went there and I looked and I thought oh wow look they've made a change and guess what you added eight letters and one forward slash in the title nothing else has changed it's even got the same wrong board president's name on the bottom that's

089ridiculous how unserious are you about this listen to what these parents are saying they don't want critical race Theory or anything about it on that page or on the school district at all um I also sent you a comparison of the non-discrimination page from the website which seems to contradict what's on that page and that actually is law federal law 1964 is a big year that needs to be redirected the last thing is what about the ace committee we haven't seen any reports what is it doing what is it done is it still in effect um it has big big goals big things that it's doing it's all about policy it's all about professional development hiring community and parent engagement I haven't heard anything where are the reports we haven't seen anything so Mr stausland

090take down that page [Applause] Sarah and then on Deck we have King Kim Higginbotham good evening Sarah Larson Germantown so the question is to mask or not to mask and I'm here to offer a suggestion that might be workable one of the things that you took off the table was the virtual option and by leaving it masks optional and offering the virtual option most likely you're going to need virtual anyhow based on the way the numbers are trending in other areas so why not go ahead and just allow a virtual option the kids can opt back in at any time at least for the middle school and high school because then that it really takes care of the folks that want masks and are so adamant about it that would provide the virtual option for

091their children I Echo the sentiments of everyone who has presented about SEL I think it like everything else what started out as a good intention has been co-opted for other other uses so I ask that you either rescind the use of that particular program or don't allow any digital materials to be used and have it be totally instructor-led and the board approving any handouts that are given to those students I also liked that opt-in option for students but I think it really removing that digital access very well could solve your problem regarding the physical examination policy having served on the policy committee during my board service we do have the ability to not add in policies that Neola recommends and so I'm concerned that this one specifically would be tied to Federal funding it would

092be understandable if special ed related things or anti-discrimination were tied to federal funds I'd be very curious as to exactly what that is because in looking at the background changing that one sentence thinking that that's going to appease the parents by saying the board will not you've now inactivated the legal protection that Neola claims to provide by having altered their canned language so I really recommend that you eliminate that policy altogether and look into why it would have been tied to federal funds but aside from that as always thank you for your service you're doing a great job and thank you for your patience listening to everyone tonight thanks we have Kim and then Gary Point doctor Kim Higginbotham Germantown I would initially like to point out to the board the observation that many of

093the advocates for masked remove their mass in order to speak tonight I just found that interesting is it due to the importance of speaking clearly in addition to one's expression in order to communicate how is that different for our kids I will not stand up here and pull over a list of pros and cons neither will I recite a variety of facts and possible fiction as we've heard tonight there is a plethora of information falling on both sides of this argument this fact in and of itself is one of the most valid Arguments for leaving the decision to wear a mask up to each each individual child and his or her parent should it not be the responsibility of the parent to pour over the data and determine what is best for their individual child

094anything else would be an overreach aboard making decisions based on both personal biases and possible fears how do you tell a parent that is determined wearing a mask is detrimental to both the physical and mental health of their child that they must force their child to wear a mask parents inevitably decide to have their child wear a mask must believe in the efficiency or efficacy efficacy of that mask that being said why do they worry about a child not wearing one their child is safe right because if the mask is in fact is ineffective for the child wearing it why would their child wear one anyway I implore the board to make the right decision and uphold the decision to make masks optional leave decisions on the health of one's child in the hands of

095their parents in closing their two very distinct sides of this argument one in which we would certainly debate all day in the end I'm certain the board would not make the decision that a child will be unable to wear a mask at school therefore you cannot in good conscience force a child to wear one either this is as simple and concise of an argument that I can make you cannot validate one person's right to protect their child while invalidating in others thank you for your time hello uh mine's going to be really choppy because I'm going to try to follow the recommendation that we don't duplicate too much here I'm pro-choice on masks Krista covered everything I wanted to say as far as thank you for listening and putting the suggestions in the policy manuals

096the last Topic in the agenda agenda is discussion and possible action regarding mitigation and return to school plan I'm presuming that's what's posted on the website I fully support the plan is documented and I hope you don't make any significant changes tonight it would have been great to hear or have some detail in the documentation in the packet for the meeting on mitigations there's a lot of discussion about masks there's significant other mitigations that can be done I hope you're already doing them and and it would have been great to know ahead of time so I could comment on those but I can't so here goes anyway I do have some real science that has been out for a long time some of the engineers hopefully will stay up with this says if you are

097exposed to air that has 3 000 microscopic water droplets per cubic meter containing any virus continuously for 30 minutes you are likely to be affected by the virus there are other mitigating circumstances that can make that 30 minutes longer or shorter increasing air exchange rate significantly reduces the concentration of microscopic water droplets this can be done by increasing the speed of the air through the environment simply cranking up the fans a little higher or increasing the amount of outside air there is a balance when you add outside air especially in the winter time you're going to have to heat it more it's pretty low cost solution if you can really jack up the amount of outside air a lot of people like to quote the CDC here's CDC says in regard to Portable HEPA filtration

098units they are effective at cleaning air within spaces I'm talking about a classroom to reduce the concentration of Airborne particles which the microscopic water droplets would be including cars SARS covet 2 viral particles thus they give effective air exchanges without the need for conditioning outdoor air I looked it up for 100 bucks you can buy one that'll is big enough for most of the classrooms I'm familiar with in Germantown it also includes a UVC light the UVC light in case you don't know about that it kills bacteria and viruses of all kinds so it'll kill a hundred percent of whatever passes under the light you don't want to let that light out of the unit it'll harm people um somebody referenced seasonal flu infections hospitalizations those who like to quote those need to go look

099at um what the statistics were for others and quickly there was a study released Friday from the CDC from Georgia schools that says there was no significant difference between students with masks and those without thank you very much [Applause] Jen and you're the last one my name is John Genki I live in Treetops in Germantown I have children in county line Kennedy Middle School the high school and the UW system just for a second let's talk about the masks no one thinks they're fun or comfortable but they are necessary my UW students have already been informed that masks are required for all in-person classes and those are vaccinated adults their response thank God we finally get to be in class and this is everybody's goal kids in school in person in Washington County as of

100today children between the ages of 12 and 17 only 30 percent are vaccinated that means it's critical to follow the CDC instructions to mask it's is not politics this is public health we don't allow children in school with pink eye or lice because it's contagious and easily spread we take all of the precautions to keep the children healthy and those are illnesses that don't kill people or have lifetime effects covet is highly contagious it's easily spread it has lifelong effects and will kill you the only reasonable thing to do is to mask to mitigate it is your job as the school board to keep our children safe and learning it is why we do background checks on our staff why we control what the kids are seeing on their school issued tablets it is why

101we don't allow weapons or drugs in the school this is a public health issue masks keep more kids healthy than no masks it is your job to follow the CDC Public Health instructions to keep kids healthy and safe in school now my kids remember covid year one that was when we all got sent home covered year two it wasn't real because we never went to school let's make sure that covid year three is not the year oh I remember when my friends died because we didn't wear masks thank you all moving on approval of the minutes August 9th 2021 Board of Education and closed session minutes do I have a motion move to approve the August 9 2021 Board of Education closed session minutes second any discussion see none all those in favor aye aye

102opposed that passes all right I'm with you um I had a quest we're going to take a five minute Comfort break and we'll be right back all right we are resuming at 8 40. moving on item five policy committee discussion and action to approve policy updates and modifications Mr style salon yes I'm going to hand that over to miss reinemann um the policy committee met last week and reviewed quite a few of the policies 100 through 9 800 not all of them as we do them in batches at different times of the year um but the policy reviewed and the following policies we are bringing forward with a positive recommendation please take a look specifically to 2132 as the language was added related to what is now the employee handbook on n-o-n-p and as regards

103to 5310 the statement that we added at the beginning which states it's the very beginning that states the board shall not direct the school staff to conduct a physical or invasive exam what I know of this policy from everything that we've just learned is this was adapted in Germantown in 2011. I do I know that we were told this was the language comes from federal code so Federal funding is somewhat tied to it are you able to give us a little more information Mr Southland yeah I mean the I don't have the handout that I gave that that particular night with all the information that that came around that my understanding is once a district has it in their policies it can't be removed now I can obviously verify that and and double check that

104I meet with the Neola person after or later this week right so and we can definitely Circle back and look at that what I can tell you from policies that they are put in place to protect children never harm them um so we are moving with the following recommendation can we list the policies the numbers that we're approving tonight the motion was to approve the 100 to 9 800. okay we have a positive recommendation from the policy Community to prove the policies does not require a second do we have any discussion uh just one quick discussion on 3242 that somebody brought up again these are done in batches so we can definitely make sure that that is added to the next batch of policies Mr love I was disappointed to not see a policy 5310

105in there so we can't discuss it tonight because it's not on the agenda but it's in there it's in there oh is it really no no take 5310 isn't it wasn't in the list I looked in I even did a text search for it the policy committee handle it as an individual item during our meeting it wasn't part of the batch that that's right okay so that's why I don't know packet see it in there so what what's the deal with it so as I stated we added some information on the beginning of the very beginning it said the board shall not direct School staff to conduct a physical or an invasive procedure and as I stated the information that this policy was adopted in 2011 so this isn't new and then as Mr Southland

106said that there is some federal information that we're going to double check on triple check actually we heard from two audience members tonight who said we should scrap the policy completely get rid of it I guess I I see it a different way I think we can send an even stronger message if we keep the policy and say that we shall not do something the absence of a policy I think just opens it up that that stuff could happen I would agree with that if you don't have a policy in place that just leaves that door wide open to allow something to happen and you don't have anything there's no backbone or back information there to say nope hold up we can't do that and the information about the board will notify um the way

107that I was informed on this is that this is how everybody would be notified it would be an open meeting conversation and I mean I don't foresee that happening but if um everything would be in the public side okay the the only I was going to just mention that particular piece but it also if you look at the bottom of the policy it refers to a couple of State statutes Federal uh information as well and uh the I believe it was the state statute referreds to protection of the pupil or protection of the student and so um it's tied in with that and and like I said I was just going to mention the same thing that Amanda just mentioned but okay I agree with the comments that were made I think disallowing the policy

108by board action saying we will not do this is as strong if not stronger than actually removing the policy so I'm okay with that part of it all right any further discussion Mike I just want to say I couldn't hear the stage speakers weren't working very well so that initial uh the things you were saying um not you uh Amanda I couldn't hear a thing okay we're getting a little feedback if you can help us out with that no well lacko well Heather's actually turning the speakers up a little bit on stage uh so we can hear better on stage but uh no I didn't know 5310 I did check with uh when I heard about Federal funding so it is on the agenda I can't talk about it I emailed Brittany during the citizen

109comments and she got back to me and said that she does not know of any federal funding issues I asked if uh you know she could confirm that some way you know she might not know exactly how to confirm that but if anybody can do it you know it's Brittany our business manager that can do it so um I think we could eliminate the policy altogether but I think maybe it should be changed to uh none of this will be done and leave it in place I like that idea also so thank you for that and sorry I missed it in the board material I'm not sure how that happened but it happened maybe it got lost in the 285 Pages somewhere that was a short one but I uh I did do a texture

110search in couldn't believe it wasn't in there so I don't know what happened with that either so thank you any further comments see none all those in favor aye opposed that passes moving on to building committee Mr Pollock thank you uh we have a couple of items to bring forward to the full board for approval Mr Erickson is here in case we do have any questions uh first item is regarding the administration building digital control upgrades I'd like to make a motion to approve the administration building digital control upgrade as presented at the building committee meeting on August 9th 2021 into award building Master Solutions a contract not to exceed forty nine thousand one hundred twenty nine dollars with thirty thousand three hundred twenty five dollars funded from fund 41 and 18 796 dollars to

111be funded from the buildings and grounds fund 10 budget to complete the entire administration building digital control upgrade do I have a second I'll second that but can you confirm the not to exceed number please I think what what I heard you say I don't think is what was here so I just want to make sure we get that corrected should be forty nine thousand one hundred twenty one okay thank you any further discussion I'd just like to point out uh by going this route the the original plan was to do this over several years uh it was recommended or or suggested by the building committee that we go back to uh to the company to see hey what kind of cost it would be to do it now in one big swoop and by

112going this route we're we're going to save approximately somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 000 by doing it all at once rather than spacing it out very good any further discussion see none all those in favor aye opposed that passes the the second item uh building committee is bringing forward is regarding the Germantown School District Emergency Management plans we've all been provided with the Emergency Management plans prior to this meeting we had the opportunity to ask questions suggest updates to Mr Erickson which he has provided back to us so with regards to this I'd like to make a motion to approve the Germantown School District's Emergency Management plans as provided to the Board of Education um Don when it came to different forms of communication I didn't see two-way radios in there unless

113it was you know unless a text didn't just come out and say two-way radios and it was buried in there somewhere that I didn't understand so I believe we have a modern two-way radio system with repeaters and I didn't see that mentioned in there not what I'm thinking is is depending on the disaster our radio system might be the only system that works you are correct in that I'm not sure that it does specifically state that it's the two-way radio system I do believe there's uh terms of the district using whatever Communications is available at the time I'd have to review the plan and see what it says underneath the communications okay so it is it important that it be there or or is it good the way we are what's that is it important

114that two-way radio communication be mentioned or or is it is it okay the way it is so when I read that I was wondering are we still using our two-way radio system because it's not listed in here we do still have the two-way radio system and it's ready to use it anytime we need it okay just checking them I'm not sure we need any more than that on the planet might be nice to put it in there next time it needs to be reviewed or updated I don't think we have to do anything more this evening I'm okay with it the biggest change is that each building now has their own individual plan versus being one plan for the entire District okay anyone else okay see you none all those in favor aye opposed that

115passes moving on to item seven unfinished business Germantown High School Palm and dance update Mr Stout yes at the last um board meeting the board approved the um common dance overnight for a competition in uh lacrosse and with the um caveat if they if they qualified that they would go to Nationals which is in Orlando on February 16th the 21st and they did Place well enough that they placed second so they did qualify for National so they would be headed to Orlando just wanted to share that congratulations [Applause] this one full disclosure this one's close to the the heart here because my one of my daughters is part of the Palm program she's not in high school yet but a lot of these young ladies do coach and volunteer their time to to assist with

116the younger kids as part of the the rec program so uh very proud of my daughter but very proud of these ladies for for doing as well I have all the breakdowns if anybody's interested but the biggest one is that they did take first place in competition uh the competition or team so amongst other trophies so [Applause] I think we're gonna have to because it's there's nothing in here that allows us we'll have to bring it back but but it is we just wanted to share some good news if nothing else so I it's a good question but I think last time the motion was made knowing that this would be the outcome if they placed okay so my understanding I just wanted to clarify yeah and if it's if it's listed under unfinished business

117you can motion on it because it's a continuation so if you feel better we could make a motion if we're okay with the understanding from the last meeting we're okay too well just to cover our bases and congratulate them I would say let's make a motion and forward them on to Orlando I'll accept a motion I don't have the exact language but you'd be approved of their trip to Orlando Florida February 16th to the 21st to compete in the National Palms competition so moved do I have a second second any discussion see you none all those in favor all right opposed that passes moving on Item B discussion impossible action regarding Middle School social emotional learning SEL program Mr snow yep and I um you know this was after our last meeting it was asked

118by several board members to be put on for further discussion and I just want to share what I know at this point that the Middle School in their in their planning are are taking the approach that they would do half the number of lessons that are in the program the first year and the reason for that would be to make sure that they can study the lessons you know have time to study the lessons and also then get information to the parents well ahead of time exactly what's going to be talked about and parents would have the opt out option as well and I did you know heard um in public comment tonight and it was already also talked about as the uh the website and there's no reason for that website to be anything

119that our kids need to be um using or going on so that could be part of it as well so can you describe it a little further as far as how this activity is being presented to the students in a resource period how long it will be what the activities might be that it's not an online program that the online activities are not existed in this program can you just so you're right it isn't a it is in a resource period so it's not in a specific class and they're designed to be 10 to 15 minutes in in length and so there might be a top topic with some um some discussion questions reflection questions um they might read a short article and then you know have pair share where kids talk about it and

120but it's facilitated around the different different topics from you know from mental health to bullying to what I would say are our topics that our kids many kids struggle with um and we're continuing to see the need and increase need around these topics so that's that's the that's how it works about 15 minutes and this would be again every other week okay and you stated that all of this would be made open to the parents and they have the ability to opt out of it if they see something they don't want their kids talking about yep and they were they were in the discussions they weren't they wouldn't even start until October again to give everyone time and to share all the information okay um I'll just start the discussion and this one is difficult

121for me as someone who has studied curriculum for a long time now well over a decade and knowing what common core has done to our school system and how all of these problems that you see creeping up in curriculum over the years have become very pervasive in all curriculums that are a nationalized curriculum for the most part because of Common Core being dictated for every school district in every District in the country the curriculum companies are very good at sneaking in this stuff that you don't want so sometimes you have to take the good out of the bad and bring the proper things to our students that are age-appropriate nothing in the Sal program that we were presented with all of the activities that the students would be doing had anything to do with talks

122on sex or talks on websites that will teach you to avoid things from your parents I don't think our Middle School teachers had any idea that that was part of the program as we didn't either until we saw the research that we did with the overall program but none of that was part of the actual activities that our students will be doing and again it'll be open full disclosure we will be communicating to the parents exactly the topics that will be discussed or the activities that will be some of them are games and activities and team building and growth mindset activities stuff that I think our Middle School teachers have brought to us as a need for our students something that's very important and necessary but in an age-appropriate very um quality program not something

123that we're trying to indoctrinate students that's not at all what they're trying to accomplish in all of this but again there are the outliers in the curriculum where these curriculum companies create problems for us and for us to be able to go out and find a a pure history curriculum or up here you know our AP classes have been a problem as we've found there's a lot of things that creep into the curriculum that we don't have any necessary control over but we try our best to try and control all of that as much as we can and that's what we've been doing for many years now and as you can see with the amount of curriculum and the amount of things that get presented to us it's tough to keep up on it but

124we're doing our best and we will continue to do our best to continue to make sure that all of that happens so Mr Paul I I definitely don't disagree with your comments but I think they're in my opinion there are a couple of things we need to firm up and we need to set some guidelines by um it is challenging for us I mean most of us spent quite a lot of time in going through all of the material as I specifically pointed out at the tail end of my update the last meeting when we did approve this there I I'm I'm the one that actually brought up and to everyone's attention the love is respect.org website I full disclosure at the time I'd mentioned that I had not had the opportunity to go through

125it all and I also mentioned my initial concern just by accessing the site that there was this escape hatch if you will that would in effect hide or or give the kids the opportunity now in no way shape or form my my blanket accusing teachers by any means that they would do that sort of thing to open it up and go through it in class but there are a couple of things that understanding that that they're going to go through this that I feel are important I'd like to bring a couple emotions forward and let this board make the determination on them so first thing uh motion to prevent the usage of the website love is respect.org in all Kennedy Middle School social emotional learning classes the website shall be added to the district's internet

126filtering or blocked list second maybe a discussion Mr Wolf I just can't agree with going this route I looked at the love is respect website at work because my work internet access does block a number of websites and I was surprised that it wasn't blocked and I mentioned that I did this at work and a friend of mine was surprised that I did it at work because he felt that I could possibly be fired for looking at this website so I will while I would like to um I would like to restrict the use of these sort of things Tracy got a motion in before me so I'm not making a motion but if I did make a motion I would just move to ban the use of SEL in the middle school and suggest

127that staff look for a different program or develop their own if they feel we need this type of material in the school [Applause] so if you if you if you'll take my motion as a friendly Amendment I'll make the motion and go from there I just want to clarify so SEL is just stands for social emotional learning it's the second step program that you're talking about specifically correct in my case all everyone correct yeah so if I were making a motion I would ban the use of SEL and second stop I I don't I just don't like having these things hanging out there that we have to review possibly each year to keep out of the classroom you know it's just it's just not right and what will happen is is if we approve it

128tonight what will happen is if any of us are in the board five years from now we'll be told well the board approved it so you know that's what happened with CRT in the one class of ours that we have control of where CRT is covered well you approved it five years ago well if you think about it some of us have been in over 200 board meetings you know in the last nine years how would I remember that one night five years ago when that happened so my preference would be is uh we don't need to deal with things like love is respect we'll just we should ban it this evening and look for a different program altogether thank you okay I'll take it I'll accept a friendly motion our friendly Amendment excuse me

129so are you saying though that we would look for a new curriculum or are you saying we're going to let the teachers figure it out because we can't let them figure it out well I I think we have a first of all we have a number of parents here this evening that expressed the fact that they don't like this curriculum or whatever you want to call it scl second step getting in between them and their students and while I don't have any students in the district anymore if I if I did I wouldn't want my students doing this curriculum or looking at love is respect for example so where I'm going with that is is I think we should ban it this evening rescind the approval that we made two weeks ago and look for

130something else you know if we really need a program that teaches hmm non-bullying and respect for others I'm okay with that however understand that most parents in this District have taught their students how to act and react towards other students most have and there is a handful of students that might need help and in a way this really comes under the student's counselor and the student that has issues it's not necessarily something that we need to teach to all students [Applause] thank you having gone through everything in in this sixth seventh eighth grade program there I'll I'll stand by some of the material there's material in here that are at that is applicable to our sixth seventh and 8th graders goal setting you know having a discussion about bullying and harassment those type of things

131it's there are there's a level here that I believe can be should be during one of these you know shortened sessions so I'm I'm comfortable with it we can use I'll be honest I screenshotted everything out there because of the fact that a year from now I wanted to make sure nothing's changed or at least nothing significantly changed so I have screenshots of every slide out there um thank you nice work no no it's not uh and I did share concerns with uh specifically the seventh grade recognizing bullying and harassment where there's some touchy subjects some things we absolutely need and that was going to be the second topic formalizing notifications of the parents regarding all this because while some of these discussions are worthwhile having and certainly people can disagree with me on that

132there's also the aspect to make aware what those topics are so that parents can be more active can have that discussion I know it's tough I've got a 13 year old he likes hanging out in his room that's that's his thing right now so I'm experiencing eighth grade right now so to your point I'll I take the amendment I don't recall if there is a second or not but Amanda will you keep your second yes as long as we move forward to continue to help our children learn goal setting and talk about bullying and things because it happens as adults it doesn't go away so the way I see this if we ban it we will consider doing something else SEO and second step that no I I don't know I don't know if I'd

133use the term ban we'll pivot to something else right right we're not going to use the SEL program based on second step is what we're the motion on the table right now so um and I would not be upset by that at all knowing the connections that we have with second step um I'm thinking that we have teachers that are plenty talented that could come up with a program on their own to be able to do the social emotional learning in a more age-appropriate more engaging way with our students I think we have some incredibly talented teachers out there that can definitely get this done so I'm not worried about that and they can bring something back to us that would be much more effective for our students without all the baggage included Mr Martin

134[Applause] I I agree with rescinding it I also agree with your comments from earlier that there are curriculum makers that are trying to sneak in critical race Theory into certain things and and this could certainly be one of those situations so us pulling it back and maybe finding an alternate curriculum that doesn't have some of those things in it is probably to our benefit okay [Applause] I'd like to say also we've got a lot of parents here tonight and parents are always willing to help out with advice I think parents might be able to find something out there also as a suggestion for us so you're part of the team you know if you can find anything that is you're amicable to I think the whole board would appreciate it I I'm sorry I have

135two other things sorry I'm taking my school board hat off and I would suggest as a parent of 13 and 11 and a nine-year-old that we ask whoever would be working on this to London ear or or tip our hats towards trying to incorporate parental involvement as I said I have a 13 year old boy who likes hanging out in his room and sometimes having conversations with him in general much less regarding some of these topics is difficult and so if we there's been talk about being Visionaries and all this other stuff right here's our chance to do something a little bit different get our parents involved and maybe even give them some tools to have those conversations at home just a suggestion the other thing I've got my school board hat back on now

136I'm disappointed that this website wasn't just simply brought to our attention right off the bat the it's my understanding that there was a team that reviewed this curriculum and I'm a new guy I understand this I'm only four months in however I had a level of expectation that questionable or possibly controversial material certainly outside websites being brought in should be highlighted during this if it takes okay we spend all this time fine whatever looking at this that's water under the bridge but it would have saved all of us some degree of time while we were reviewing this and so I just wanted to put put that out there you know it's I understand it's a lot of stuff to go through but it's also one of those things where I think the process the transparency

137the accountability piece that's where that comes into play with just highlight hey just so you know this piece of this particular area of this course takes us to this website you might want to review that and let us make the decision I mean we we own to some degree the curriculum we have to approve it so therefore any assistance that we can get in helping make these decisions is appreciated so I'll I'll stop there thank you Tracy I Echo those comments because we can sit here for hours and read this information but we're not the curriculum experts so we need help with that so I think creating some new kind of format or what have you that we can actually have a document to look at and all the eyes are dotted and teaser crossed

138will help us along that path Mr burning yeah there's been well a motion and a friendly Amendment and discussion about that motion and let me just read something that's in a motion format and if it matches perhaps you can adopt it just to make sure we cover it all so motion to rescind the approval given by the board on August 9 2021 for the SEL program and further prohibit the use of the Second Step material the SEL material at KMS in addition instruct the administration to locate an alternative alternative curriculum to fit the Gap left by this program's absence yes second okay any further discussion see none all those in favor aye aye opposed that passes thank you moving on to new business excuse me discussion and action to approve teacher resignations Mr stelson I'm

139going to hand uh ANB over to Mr Nowak thank you tonight we have three uh resignations to bring forward Stephanie we're recently submitted her letter of resignation effective August 17 2021 she was hired in August of 2015 in the Germantown School District as a kindergarten teacher at Amy Bell Elementary School Jill hippenbecker recently submitted her letter of resignation effective August 11 2021 she was hired as an aide in October of 2010 at Rockfield Elementary since August of 2015 she has worked primarily as a second grade teacher finally Paula Jakes submitted her letter of resignation July 27th of 2021. Paula began as an aide in September of in 2018 at Rockfield Elementary she transitioned to teaching first grade in 2019. we ask that you approve all resignations as presented I'll entertain a motion approve the resignations

140of Stephanie Ware Jill heppenbecker Paula yet Jake's thank you and thank them for their service to their to our students families and the Germantown school district and approve the posting to fill these vacancies second any discussion so you know and all those in favor aye opposed that passes Item B Mr Noah thank you we have uh I believe it's eight contracts to bring forward today um this is all part of sort of the push towards the beginning of the year I'll go through them now Kristen oxner kindergarten teacher at County Line Elementary this is a regular contract at fifty four thousand dollars uh Jessica montijo kindergarten teacher at County Line Elementary School regular contract 52 500. Chris sapinski second grade teacher Rockfield Elementary regular contract fifty four thousand two hundred and fifty yeah sorry forty

141one thousand two hundred fifty LaBella hegwood special education teacher MacArthur Elementary regular contract 52 000 to 50. Kayla Thurston first grade teacher Rockfield Elementary School regular contract 46 750. Kevin Plath a mathematics teacher at Germantown High School this is a limited term contract for 51 days at 15 708 Jessica Imick special education teacher at MacArthur Elementary School regular contract sixty thousand five hundred and Catherine sabilka special education teacher at Germantown High School regular contract 41 250. we ask that you approve these contracts as noted I'll entertain a motion move to approve the contracts as presented second any discussion see none all those in favor all right that passes moving on to see discussion in action to approve summer diagnostic contracts that's my Mr Liam thank you since the most recent meeting where we brought forward

142some names of Staff members necessary to complete evaluations we've had some additional special education evaluations that have need to needed to be completed and so what we have in front of you are some additional staff members who have been part of evaluations during the summer for whom we've needed to provide additional summer contracts for their work so we ask that you approve the additional staff members for the work they've provided I'll entertain a motion motion approve the contracts as presented second any discussion see none all those in favor opposed bad passes item D discussion and action to approve Germantown High School banned overnight requests Mr stelson yep the band has asked to have the board approve a trip to Boston uh to perform and tour and it's during would be during our spring break in

143March 2022 the dates will be March 19th the 23rd there's no cost to the district the the band is raising the money and or the students are paying part of it I'll entertain a motion motion to approve the overnight travel requests for Germantown High School band to travel to Boston Massachusetts on March 19 2022 to March 23 2022. second any discussion CNN all those in favor aye aye opposed that passes discussion and action regarding mitigation and return to school plan Mr stelzman ah yes thank you the um the the one thing with our with our planning is we know we have to be flexible and adaptive to what uh we don't know what's going to come this fall um and this information um is what I sent the board late last week this is as

144of August 20th just to get an idea of of where we're at with numbers if you look at the graphic I know you can't read the numbers maybe but that's from August or sorry that's of April of and you can see the biggest Spike was kind of late October early November and the the three different colors are the the four main zip codes coming into Germantown School District um and then there was a spike which correlates what what we saw last spring around April and then you can see where we're at we're just here above where we were in April with new cases per hundred thousand in the last seven days so um and we'll continue to watch these numbers and look at these numbers as the year progresses um some some different benchmarking from

145area schools and there's a lot of information in this graphic if you have specific questions please ask um but just looking at kind of the three different uh what I call categories of mitigation mass quarantining and then just other mitigation so Slinger for example currently is having Mass optional positive cases um and then they're quarantining positive cases and close contacts in the same home and in all other close contacts are informed 10 days quarantine for a positive case from onset of symptoms and or the the positive result um as of when I gather this information from Slinger they had 18 students out of 3 400 that are choosing their virtual option Hartford choice for all students staff and visitors isolation for positive cases same thing 10 days for a positive case for mindset of symptoms

146they do not provide a virtual option West Bend is they have been changing theirs a little bit so I I don't want to say this is exactly what they're doing they're recommending masks and they're requiring them on the bus recommend does not mean mandatory and also they have some they're using some metrics that would determine masking so if they hit a certain threshold of cases in their school then they would require that again I don't that's not definite this hasn't gone to their board this is um what I've learned from last week Grafton right now is optional at all levels however they have a board meeting this evening as well and so I don't really don't know the results Grafton has a medical exemption only for virtual and they have as of last week had

147four students out of 2100 that are choosing virtual um Mequon is making um for 712 masks are recommended and required for staff and students grade 4K through six at certain levels depending on the burden and if you look all the way over to the right if they if the local burden is above 100 then they require mass at the 4K through 6 7 is mass recommended and Port Washington is going with with um again when they hit us certain certain threshold all students and adults indoors and required on the bus same thing with their quarantine 10 days from onset of symptoms or a positive test test whichever comes first and using a percentage of positive cases within their school so at five percent positive cases it means one thing at 10 it means something else

148and and they they move from recommended and should to must when they when they get certain thresholds any questions on the Benchmark and I did share previously you know Shorewood Whitefish Bay are all requiring mass at this time Brown Deer as well health agency recommendations again Mass distancing quarantining metrics that they're using busting and other and the columns are CDC DHS and Washington Ozaki Public Health Department and you've heard it tonight as well Universal indoor masking for all students staff teachers and visitors to K-12 schools regardless of vaccine status that's the American Association of Pediatrics and CDC DHS is saying the same thing Washington Public Health is recommending it as one of eight other mitigation strategies and there and if you look at their chart that Washington uh County Health has its they have different

149color bands kind of the zero to nine ten to 50 50 to 100 100 plus and then recommending like three out of the you know three of the five mitigation strategies so if you get into the five it's um you know seven of the eighth mitigation strategies the uh all three are are saying Mass required in all Transportation apparently because the U.S Department of Transportation has a has a policy in place for Mass on all all public transportation which includes school buses um however if you read the the requirement they also cannot deny a student a ride on the bus and um regardless of their mask is on or not so but it is is recommended you're putting a lot of kids in a tight space and then other other recommendations mitigation strategies which we

150know from last year ventilation hand washing screening respiratory etiquette and obviously stay home when sick to families any questions on this page our air cleaning procedures continuing as they have in the past year yep yep in our in our filters I know Don isn't here but our um my understanding is the standard filter on HVAC systems is is a eight and the recommendation is a 13 ours with all the new updates have been at tens and they were tens all of last year on um eighty percent of our HVAC systems the ones that aren't just because they're older older systems so to retrofit to something higher would be pretty costly but um that's our HVAC filters any other questions I would just add one thing actually since we're talking about ventilation because I did I

151hesitate to even bring this up because I'm sure I'll get fact checked however I will say that I came across a earlier today a Canadian study that that I have not read in full however when I scan through it one of their findings was that two air changes per hour outperforms in some cases many of the masks so I asked Dad what's what what can ours do and he said we should be able to do three easily so not that that solves all of our problems but it hopefully will put at least some comfort in the fact that are our airflow is is sufficient possibly more than sufficient but like I said I I scanned through it and that was one of their findings that that they noticed made a difference when it came to

152classrooms Mr Stone have you changed the recommendation I'm asking other than what we came up with at the last meeting so here are you making a recommendation I can um the the quarantining so I have two pages of of quarantine information so or not of mitigation information um the recommendations that we we go uh with the 10 days from onset of symptoms of a positive test or or symptoms for someone who is testing positive um the the language allows for someone to return after a negative test after day seven so we would go with that and this is for staff and students if they were positive we we have again in our current policy that's been in place for many years is that 30 percent absentee rate however we're going to notify families sooner than

153a 30 percent that's going to be that's pretty significant if we're seeing that many cases we're going to let people know and if it's in a class or if it's in a grade level the the thing I would say is is um Mass can can remain a choice I I am concerned about the k6 students um and I I think the language needs to be stronger students should wear masks um possibly even opt out if if they're not going to and then obviously highly recommend it for grades 7 through 12 especially when we move into the substantial and high risk categories based on the the mitigation assessment guide which is the the graphic that you can find on Washington County Health you know again it's it's recommended students on school transportation wear a mask as

154well and then you know we're asking our our staff to use as much physical distancing as as possible however if there's 25 kids in a class the six feet is out the window four feet is out the window three feet possibly just depending again on the size of the classroom and um the number of kids in that room obviously other mitigation strategies encourage hand washing we would say respiratory etiquette but really teaching kids wipe their nose on a Kleenex and sneeze into their elbows all those good things and again just reminders that if if a child is sick we ask that families keep their their children at home and also I would would I think the from the board's perspective that the the Assurance is that the board will continue to monitor the numbers and

155the data from from our school specifically and make decisions accordingly and we do have a virtual option for families through our the key a little e-school which is uh the platform that is used as the Florida Virtual Academy platform and the families are interested in the virtual option they just need to reach out to the district office or they can even reach out to their school and they'll the school will give them the proper information who to contact okay any comments foreign keeps it optional certainly provides the strong recommendation in in certain cases which follows the CDC guidance not to say that I completely trust the CDC but if they're the experts let's go along and recommend what they're recommending well I mean just to be clear CDC is recommending Mass on everybody K-12 vaccinated

156or not I'm just just to be clear that's what their CDC is right so I'm saying we can recommend what the CD recommends we're just not enforce what the CDC recommends [Applause] and that's kind of what you're doing you're you're saying they should wear a mask or on the previous page you recommend they wear a mask they just have the option not to how well how will we be communicating to please please please how will be communicating to the families what the level is and what our expectations are on a daily basis weekly basis are we going to have some kind of a blast out to the district how is that going to work yeah I mean part of it it depends on on the number of cases I mean like last year it was

157it was varied by by school you know like at one point Middle School got hit pretty hard and so there was communication there um high school was you know we actually closed high school for a couple days uh right before Thanksgiving because numbers were High um County Line had a couple grade levels that shut down so it's going to be school specific but um you know we'll communicate all of this information out tomorrow to families but as far as cases once we start to if we see any spikes we'll get information out okay any further questions I'd like to keep it simple we've got the motion we voted on back in July or I'm sorry June masks are optional I'd like to keep it that way um I don't think we should move on anything

158this evening that's confusing and what I mean by confusing is if we make a motion to do what the CDC recommends and then say we're not going to enforce wearing masks I think that's extremely confusing so just to reiterate what I think happened last year it's a little bit surprising to me but it seemed that transmission of covid from student to student was very unlikely transmission from student to teacher was very unlikely transmission from teacher to teacher was possible and did occur and transmission from parent to student occurred at home and what I would like to do is thank our parents because they did do a very good job of keeping students home and under quarantine when it was required of them I don't believe any parents sent their students to school sick especially with

159covid or probably not even with colds for that matter so I'd like to congratulate all the parents for the great job that they did but I'm okay for change with changing a little bit of wording if you want to say for buses masks recommended I think that's fine you know it's a little bit different than masks optional but masks recommended and I think for you know the parents that want their students to wear masks I think they should send their students to school with masks I don't have an issue with that but I think everyone here will be happy to hear me say I believe in life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that's just not some fancy statement written in the Declaration of Independence I believe it and all of us in this

160facility should believe it we did like Diane said we swore to uphold the Constitution the Federal Constitution first and then the state and I think it's unreasonable for us to demand students to wear masks if masks work you should send your student to school with a mask if you believe they don't work you should send don't send your student to school with a mask I don't know if my situation is important or not but I caught covid from a co-worker at work who was wearing a mask it's that simple [Applause] so can't can we get the details worked out uh you know just what we're moving on so I think there's a little bit of text changing possibly Brett from your write-up can we be clear on what that is and I think the too

161much mention of the CDC is not very effective at this point here's the other part of it we actually ran a school district all last school year the CDC hasn't ran a single School District we we know what we're doing I believe our staff knows when it's time to shut down a classroom for example and we like Brett said we have it in policy the number is 30 percent so I believe the policy was put in place for something more like the flu or some other virus and certainly what we're dealing with right now is some other virus you know it's it's not something to be alarmed over it's just another virus [Applause] that's a problem the uh I would just recommend we add to the to-do list I don't know if it's necessary to

162include something immediately but based off of feedback that uh I I know I received I wouldn't be surprised if you guys also saw it as well that uh when or if uh the vaccine is approved for those under the age of 12 that we visit the topic of when we take that into consideration as far as fully vaccinated if we need anything hear me out first off let me finish and then you can yell nope wait it's the additional piece is the following or something similar to this statement because one of the other things that was suggested by those folks who are pro mask is that we have some sort of recommendation here's the language that I would suggest and the board could take it up whenever they feel uh it likely or appropriate that

163the board recognizes that Health Care decisions are very personal in nature the board recommends and encourages families consult with their doctors to determine if the vaccine is right for your situation so a couple of to-do's but well all I simply said was it's something to consider for our to-do list if we take it up we take it up if we don't I'm fine with what has been shared any further discussion Mr stafflin you had said that we will notify parents obviously more than the 30 percent can you give me just a little more information like are we gonna is the teacher gonna say hey guys we have three kids out this week no it'll be a letter from the principal or or the nurse hey hey Brian yeah can we just go over what text

164I think there's very little changing but can we repeat it because I was looking for the email with that file in it and I couldn't find it and I'm actually not technologically challenged either I just couldn't find it in the email system there's a couple of changes to the mitigation that was presented this evening I'll entertain the motion if we want to accept the changes as presented we but can we review what that is we talked a lot about it we talked a lot about a lot of things changes from last meeting yeah I mean I I think the the what's on the screen right there is um you know we're quarantining positive cases for 10 days from onset of symptoms or positive tests whichever one can I think the only thing I see that's

165different from last time is The Mask will remain a choice the k6 students should wear masks and they are highly recommended for grade 7 through 12 when positive cases in school Community are the substantial or high-risk category mitigation assessment guide and is recommended students on Transportation wear a mask that's the biggest change yep okay that's what we got okay so so there's no no point in that mitigation that says if the county or the CDC level goes to a certain level masks are mandatory that's not I'm not seeing that right okay good I'm good anyway do you want a motion on that I would I'll make a motion to accept the mitigation plan as presented second any discussion see you none all those in favor aye opposed that passes I'll entertain another motion motion to

166adjourn second any discussions [Applause] all those in favor aye opposed we are adjourned at 6 43. thank you all for coming 43. I'm sorry 9 44. thank you all for coming and drive home safely