001good evening everyone I'm calling this man the Germantown Board of Education to order at 7 10 p.m and I ask that you join me in standing if you're able to say a pledge allegiance and for a moment of the silence thank you official meeting notification Mrs Dawson yes public notice of all meetings has been given by communication from the superintendent's office to the public to those news media who have requested such notices into the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Northwest now Express News and West Bend Daily News public notice has also been posted in schools throughout the district and the gsdwi.org website as well as cable access Channel 96. thank you roll call Jane here right here here we'll remember Barney thank you item two approval agenda Melissa approve the agenda second discussion no discussion all those
002in favor please say hi hi for one second I'm receiving notification that the audio is not on for people watching our the people watching this there's no audience Rhonda are we okay okay are you ready uh we're still on the agenda all those in favor please say aye aye opposed that motion carries uh before we get to item three I first want to welcome a new board member Tracy Pollock welcome to the board thank you item three uh school reports and presentations KMS award recognition Mr stausman yes I'm gonna have uh Mrs climber the KMS principal do the next two items KMS award recognition and the circles pilot presentation thank you Mr Southland we have a couple of presentations that we'd like to make to the board tonight we're very proud to have wonderful things
003going on here at Kennedy Middle School I'd like to ask Mr filkey one of our tech ed teachers to come forward first he's going to be making presentations to two of our students who won awards for essay writing in his class but good evening uh each year we enter a competition called the wonders of plastics essay contest you have to have a program either at the middle school or high school that offers Plastics in some form or a manner which we do and then what we do is submit the essays to the Plastics industry and then it's a Statewide competition and we do very well each year and this year we out of the two places we took first and second and so I have the two young ladies up here um Monica who placed
004first was awarded 250 dollars for her efforts in doing the essay and Naina placed second with 125 dollars for that soul I just wanted to the board to um so appreciation for these students to do them both of the students were virtual and this was an activity that we did you know outside the classroom obviously and then I submitted all the paperwork and and I got all the entry forms done for them so that's all I foreign [Applause] and now I'd like to introduce Miss Kerry Berg who has been in charge of our pilot program of circles this second semester and she wants to give the board an update on that program before you start uh Rhonda we're still having issues with audio on Zoom okay thank you by somebody um hello everybody um thank
005you for hearing my updates on the Pilot Course for restorative practices titled circles it's being um held in the eighth grade as a coordinated art course we highlighted students to join the course along with their um their own wants and interests and along with their parents to join in order to build on a growth mindset build on goal setting build on becoming having a kind of stronger stamina for education and social life outside of school um so so far we have begun our third unit and we've really focused along the way for building our own Community rapport with one another in class it's heavily every single day is a discussion and we use talking circles to facilitate those discussions and students have been handling it very maturely and um have been I had a video
006created to show this evening but I technically failed to bring my own login device not thinking I needed one but I'd apologize for that and hope that you can see it at a different date and that did show testimonials from students saying how comfortable they were and the fun that they're having and it is truly their homework is to work on themselves their homework is to come in and be open-minded and listen and learn from other people's trials and tribulations I've had great guests come in such as Mrs climber and Mr Cole I um do look for other um kind of motivational speakers or even just life um people to talk about their lives and what got them through the hard times and things like that and it's really um but I do find other
007ways to get those stories to students including my own story and um they do really seem to resonate with understanding their own um ups and downs that they feel at their age and have in the past and kind of show them ways to get through it when they're not at their highest peak so things have been going really well I do apologize that you can't see the video um I do have some handouts for the board to kind of look through the criteria that we've been working through in the units thus far we do Focus as I say on building our community having a sense of belonging building trust within themselves and their support groups and then in the end really focusing on who they want to be in their own identity and how to
008build up a game plan to make that all come to fruition so um I again just kind of disappointed that the video isn't ready but I do um feel like it's being very successful and I'll be in touch again later and I want to speak on Kirby cap I saw the video she had prepared for you and it's beautifully done and I'll have her forward it out to all of you so you can share and enjoy and what the kids have to say about their experiences in this class and when I was there we shared our goals with each other and every student was able to articulate a really well thought out goal for themselves and the grades I can tell you Mr business the eighth grade guidance counselor and I meet with the students
009every quarter in eighth grade at the end of the quarter and every student's grades have risen that had been part of this program so we're very pleased with the hortonsburg Statin and I want to congratulate her on her hard work thank you very much and that data is enough thank you for presenting questions comments for the board okay thank you moving on to item C student representative report Mr snow yes we'll have Miss Tatum Catalano if she's here um present the school reports um hello so at Amy Bell students are working on perseverance this month as we persevere through the last couple months of school congratulations to Destination Imagination members Millie Abby Zoe Caitlin Rebecca Jenna and Lacey for all of their hard work that they put into their instant and skit Central challenges Amy
010Bell will have a spirit sports day this coming Wednesday for their students and staff at County Line they were the top fundraiser for our district-wide campaign to raise money for our wish kid Natalie with over four thousand dollars being raised thank you so so much to the students and staff for all the help and support in our fundraiser county lines will be practicing Integrity this month and learning about the value of doing the right thing even when no one is watching at Rockfield they had just had a modified book fair the students were Beyond excited to have a spring book fair and that little glimmer of normalcy there's always something exciting going on in our classrooms this month there were a few out of the ordinary events in kindergarten students have gone to space in
011their space station and some got a chance to work in their make-believe Vet Clinic third graders worked persuasive writing and requested some very exciting changes the school board may like to know that one third grader believes Rockfield should have a pool so in the warmer months students can cool down finally a fifth grade class had a surprise Google meet with a fifth grade class from Hawaii they gave each other a number of geographical Clues to try and identify which state the other class was from these learning opportunities are just a few examples of reasons why we are thankful to be in school at MacArthur all fifth graders have completed their detox and in preparation for the next part of their education Middle School MacArthur students rocked the Make-A-Wish fundraiser along with Rockfield and County Line
012as well good luck to all third through fifth graders with the forward testing at Kennedy students have begun the fourth quarter of classes and continue to stay very busy with learning in and outside of the classroom the Young Writers club and crusader newspaper offer two outlets for students to extend their writing opportunities beyond the school day in addition students also have the option to participate in an audio visual visual club or the multi-ethnic Student Association as extracurricular options this spring track is also in full swing with 56 students participating students are always encouraged to pursue extracurricular activities of interest to round out their middle school experience and finally Germantown has wrapped up its NHS Make-a-Wish week where they raised over ten thousand dollars to help their wish kid Natalie get her wish of going to
013Disney Juniors look forward to their prom that will be held on May 8th and spring Sports began last week good luck to all athletes in their upcoming seasons and good luck to all students taking AP tests which begin next Monday additionally there's been a lot of conversation in the Halls about the board's decision to Grant critical race theory in the curriculum and I can report that many students including myself were disappointed to hear this and feel as though it's a step in the wrong direction of both promoting greater equality in Germantown as well as the social climate [Applause] [Music] questions comments for the board okay thank you uh moving on to Citizen comments and before we start the citizen Commons I'm going to read a statement good evening and welcome before we start the public
014comments portion of the meeting I do want to address two items first the Motions that were made at the last board meeting and second the very disappointing and yes racist incident that occurred at the high school involving Burger King hats first I want to thank everybody for all your comments that we have received over the past two weeks referencing the CRT motion that was made at the last board meeting we have received many emails and phone calls both being critical of what was done but also being supportive over the past two weeks we have learned more about CRT and for that I am thankful later in the meeting Mr staussen will provide us a report on how and why CRT is used within the Germantown school district and I know that this information will both
015surprise and Enlighten everyone on both sides of the discussion referencing the three motions that were made and voted on we did consult with our legal counsel and the Motions were deemed legal as they were brought up in committee before the board meeting being a Monday Morning Quarterback and with all that we have learned about over the past two weeks it is apparent that CRT has should have been discussed in a more open manner I want to apologize to my colleagues under the Community for not having that conversation I tend to see the positives in things and I also tend not to assume bad intent but just the opposite good intent saying that we're all in the business of learning and over the past two weeks a lot of learning has occurred and for that we
016are all better for it finally referencing the Burger King hat incident that occurred this past week at the high school please note that this incident is discussing and cannot happen again the incident highlights that we continue to have opportunities in the area of diversity equity and inclusion what happened was wrong we do not teach that in our schools and I ask our moms and dads to start the conversation with your children we can do better and we must we need to start changing attitudes and behaviors not just in our schools but also in our community we need to start being kind and being nice to one another we need to start treating others the way we want to be treated it starts with me and it starts with you again thank you for being here
017tonight we're going on to the citizen Commons and we've allowed in the language here one hour but I'm going to extend that to hour and a half because we have a lot of people that want to speak tonight but do me a favor because there's a lot of people keep your comments concise three to five minutes because a lot of people want to talk tonight and also comments that may be injurious to school district Personnel or other individuals will not be allowed so saying that the first Speaker would Amari markowski assistant course [Applause] good evening and welcome my name is Omar malkowski I'm black and I have autism I've been picked on because I don't always say do or say the right things it makes me sad my mom has been fighting to get you
018to listen do how important it is to help us kids when the boy on the bus told me that black people sucking black people stupid I felt really sad I asked my parents why he would say that they told me she was wrong and that that I am amazing and that my skin is beautiful and I may just like like I want it I still don't get why the boy said it please make it so we that we feel safe in our school so that I can go to school and think about morning instead of thinking about people being mean to me because somebody all tells them or the color of my skin and that's it thank you [Applause] that's me as a parent in the district who believes every child deserves a voice in
019our schools viewing the last board meeting left me saddened frustrated and scared for my children's future I have two main complaints which you all already know stemming from that meeting failure to show any true commitment to any of the proposed actions from the ace committee and the Banning of critical race theory in all forms my family has lived in this district for over 40 years I spoke with my 35 year old brother who lives in Minnesota also a graduate Germantown High School and listened to him detail horrific acts of racism and verbal abuse at the hands of his peers we compared horror stories for an hour and then sat in a moment of harsh realization as it hit that my sons will suffer not simply the kindergarten playground's haunting that they've already experienced but painful
020life-altering suffering imagine for a moment as a parent realizing that no matter how hard you fight no matter how much you Advocate no matter how rooted in love and acceptance this causes your children will still suffer your children will still be hurt what would you do how would you respond maybe you get together with like-minded parents and teachers and create a committee that committee gets a name it gets the honor of board member presence and it gets a few starting meetings only for you as a parent to realize that the board members aren't on board the board members are so far removed in education on this subject the board members are not ready to accept and acknowledge their own privilege as a parent praying for change you keep hoping and you keep waiting then several
021of those board members are advertising their on their political flyers and social media platforms their participation in the Ace committee and yet again you feel some relief they agree they're proud of their involvement you feel hope again because every story needs a good plot twist that hope Fades quickly when the same court proposed and approved the Banning of critical race Theory now imagine being a woman of color was also a parent of children of color in this District you'll not be able to walk in my shoes or my kiddo shoes but imagine anyways the fear the worry the pain imagine realizing that people in decision-making seats don't value you as we are all taking a moment to imagine it now take a second to realize that this is every day for people of color in
022our community we don't get a chance to imagine it we live it out daily my kids live it out daily we aren't surprised that you don't get it we aren't surprised that our board voted blindly on the band for CRT and we aren't surprised that you're upset that we're calling you on on it the children that we continue to neglect are the future of this community they are wives spouses parents future voters do we want our children in this community to be and feel valued or does this board think it's best to continue to neglect them I'm asking the board to take the following actions rest in the van and take time to educate yourself on CRT and how it can actually be used is used effectively in the schools there are several scholarly journals
023on this topic available and Ace is happy to help you find them consider racial sensitivity training for this board many of the comments made from the board show the problem extends far beyond our school walls and fixing it needs to start from within I'm also asking this board to do better and to be better for my kids and for the all the other kids that you see here today with their parents all of you to be better thank you their voice matters more than that right now great thank you also to reach all of us could you please say your name thank you the following statement was written by the Germantown High School black student union in response to the research base individuals like senior union members will also be making a statement tonight as
024well expressing their personal experience and concerns we stand in support of those members speaking the truth what happened on April 19 2021 at Germantown High School was unacceptable it was also disrespectful to the black people and the Germantown Community as a whole for those who are unaware a video have been circling on social media shown as a man using the N word and other hateful language some Germantown High School students wore Burger King has to school in imitating that video later that day another student emailed the Emojis Robertson the video at the high school the Germantown black student union is bringing light to this situation the past encounters has been handled is not satisfactory to us we believe that the racial and sensitive issues have been neglected are taken lightly our goal is to increase
025Awareness on this issue and demand action racism should not be tolerated at our school or anywhere it is not fair to any of us we cannot keep living the life in the cycle of racism racism is not something that should be taken lightly we have to work together to better the community apologies are not enough actions must be taken we are calling on the great disciplinary response to the racist actions and efforts and made towards the student the community and the words unnecessity to racial issues no come on now this is something that we cannot bring light how do y'all have it's not even y'all it's the really better education period we need to teach the young kids the young daughters and kids that's going to high school we need to teach them the racism
026that is not acceptable that's all I have to say I agree Adam Johnson good evening my name is Adam Thompson the teacher at Germantown High School on behalf of the Germantown Education Association I'd like to share a brief summary of the email Gea sent to Mr stelson the school board members last week and make this the Germantown Community aware of our communication the DEA believes that the three actions voted on on the April 12 school board meeting regarding the district policy on racial and Equity issues were poorly understood by board members who among other concerns could not adequately or accurately Define what critical race theory was before voting on it none of these motions were discussed in a way that prevented knowledgeable input for the state of the community staff or administrators who could have
027helped the board understand the complexity of the racial situation in our district due to our strong desire to provide a meaningful enriching curriculum for students the members of the GAA recommended in the future of the board refrain from making decisions impacting curriculum or the advocacy Council on Equity without Gathering Essential Knowledge experts in the field a primary purpose of creating the ace committee is to allow staff parents and the community to investigate and discuss the most pressing needs in our school as well as help us to address them Ace can then bring these ideas to the board for consideration and further discussion as a follow-up to our email we wish to specifically address critical race Theory there are literally dozens of Concepts referred to collectively as CRT one in particular that is very commonly accepted
028and discussed in public schools across the country is acknowledging how and why race is interwoven in nearly all aspects of Our Lives economics politics education criminal justice literature art employment they all have connection to the to race this idea is in no way exclusive to critical race Theory and therefore Germantown already has classes throughout the district where students investigate and debate debate these types of issues particularly in the social sciences we'd have the same critical discussions about other racial groups about gender about gender identity socioeconomic status and age these areas do not receive the same criticism and are considered more acceptable to discuss than issues involving the black and white communities is the board is unable to specifically Define the concept that is unwilling to have discussed in the schools you risk the elimination of
029quality critical discussions of race community and quality and the opportunity to build better understanding about diversity among our K-12 students with that I conclude my comments on behalf of the Gea but would like to add a brief note from my own perspective the recent racial events reactions and counter reactions we've seen in our district and particularly at the high school highlight the scope of the challenge our district faces they are heartbreaking for me to witness and address with students and I cannot imagine the impact this has had on our students of color I would once again like to make a recommendation of the board and add the involvement of Mr Pollock Germantown School District needs to hire a standalone physician whose sole administrative responsibility is to lead the district's multi-faceted approach to addressing diversity and
030Equity including academic achievement safe spaces Recruitment and hiring staff training curriculum recommendations Community involvement and so forth this is an opportunity to be a leading District on addressing Equity not just in southeastern Wisconsin but the entire state I hope the school board and the community will listen and consider with an open mind of thoughts from all the perspectives offered tonight hopefully we can collectively determine what actions to be taken by the board to show their authentic support for the success of the ace committee and for improving K-12 learning environment for all students in the Germantown School District thank you thank you Mr Klein please come forward [Applause] Germantown High School and I just want to just seek my part on what's been going on lately standing here today I feel that this meeting topic should
031have never come about what will it take for Germantown to really realize that that it has students of color and when will you realize that taking critical race theory is hurting their student body more than it actually is helping it erasing CRT from our from the school's curriculum is failing to address the effects of racism experts tell us that CRT analyzes the role of race and racism and perpetuating social disparities between dominant and marginalized racial groups crt's purpose is to realize and analyze what has been taken for granted when analyzing race and privilege CRT helps us look at certain patterns of exclusion that exist in a very much alive and active in today's size in the U.S society CRT can be very can be a very helpful tool when it comes to improving education when
032you want to have kids we want to have an institution that is Broad and diverse schools should focus on improving the atmosphere of the campus and diversifying the staff as well I feel that if we keep CRT out of our school out of our school system it is not realizing it is not only not realizing the hardships of our all minority groups that have had to go through you the board are trying to cover up race and that is not a thing like you I'm sorry I feel that if we keep CRT out of our school system it is not only not realigning the hardships of all minority groups that have had to go through you the board are trying to cover up race like it is not a like it's not a thing it
033is like you want to put a huge Band-Aid over a stable and act like nothing's happening critical race Theory needs to be needs to stay in Germantown Germantown schools for the sake of our students for example earlier in the second semester two black freshmen were called the n-word in all Germantown High School did was send up the email stating that they do not do not accept this type of behavior we need more than just an email with all respect I cannot help but feel that all you you all want to get rid of CRT because of your white guilt and by all means by all means you can feel guilty but don't put other students at fault and withhold them the truth um I know that there's not many of us in this school system
034but you cannot realize that we are not here please make the right choice thank you thank you Amy Crozier hello I'm a teacher here at Kennedy Middle School and much of what I was going to say has already been so well said by people before me but I do want to add that I feel the only way to curb racism in Germantown schools in the community or in our society as a whole is to promote honest and open discussion of the history of racism as well as the historic and ongoing systemic racism present in our society I feel that this ban of CRT is designed to discourage or prevent teachers from having meaningful and honest instruction and discussion about issues of racism it's intended to stop teachers from presenting And discussing issues that might make
035some of the Germantown Community feel uncomfortable issues like systemic racism and white privilege I know that people are often uncomfortable with the topic of race that's because these discussions have been avoided for so long I think the ban on teaching critical race theory is intended to make sure that they are still avoided and I believe that is a really big mistake foreign Jessica Knight good evening my name is Jessica Knight I'm a mother of four children in the district as well as two that graduated last year I was one of the mothers that made a public statement during the March 8th board meeting regarding incidents of racism in the district as you recall that is the board meeting that catapulted the creation of the advocacy Council for Equity also known as Ace since that meeting
036I've taken on an active role in the Ace committee my children are all here tonight for three reasons first as students of the district future voters and current voters it's important they understand the inner workings of local politics specifically the school board and how much power you have over each of their education and Future my two oldest Sons participated in the elections earlier this month and my senior will be voting will be of voting age for next year's election this meeting along with future meetings will help them to determine how and if they should support each of you in the future second it's important to me that my children understand their power as students and community members I want them to see that it is more than okay to challenge their leaders to make better
037smarter decisions I want them to understand that any version of Because I Said So leadership from their school board is highly problematic and worthy of a challenge lastly they've personally witnessed examples of their board Administration and staff members not showing up for them not ensuring they're valuing and inclusivity in this District so tonight it was important to make sure they also witnessed the support from a constantly growing community of parents and concerned citizens that are demanding better from each of you and this District on their behalf I'm here tonight to challenge you on two things first the three motions that were decided upon in the last board meeting with regards to critical race Theory some of you have been brave enough to admit you made a mistake in your vote to ban others of you
038have dug in your heels and for that I'm not surprised others have simply been silent even when parents like myself have emailed you urging you to consider the implications of your Reckless actions to ban a curriculum when you didn't take the time to do your due diligence in terms of how the curriculum is applied in Germantown and how Banning it would impact students for those of you who have dug in your heels Wikipedia and Ron DeSantis have absolutely no idea how curriculum is applied [Music] have absolutely no idea how curriculum is applied for years in Germantown however you have quite a few professional Educators that would have been more than willing to share that information with you as this topic is brought back to the board tonight for a discussion I urge each of you
039to consider whether you've done your homework in the last two weeks to talk to Germantown staff regarding this curriculum if not not only should it be rescinded but you should also consider tabling this topic either permanently or temporarily until you've done what you should have done in the first place with regards to the other two motions both were topics currently being discussed in the Ace committee my personal request going forward is this board works together with the committee each of you supported on topics such as these prior to making decisions on its behalf secondly I'd like to talk about the future of racial conversations in Germantown and how we move forward together it is clear there is no Germantown way for conversations regarding diversity and how it's applied practiced and taught in our district we
040simply do not have the tools in our tool belt to handle that appropriately however you do have students staff parents and community members that have been more than willing to volunteer their time to work together with you and partner with professional organizations to improve Germantown schools I urge you to do a better job partnering as a people leader myself one of the most powerful lessons I learned is when to move out of my team's way when I simply did not have all the information or experience to make a decision that will impact others I think it's time we talk about how each of you should leverage that thoughtful and Visionary leadership you speak of just simply move out of the way Mr Soderberg I highly recommend you consider moving out of the way by resigning
041the true test of a leader is being able to take responsibility when your team fails your team failed and as a leader you need to own that in my little time getting to know you I have grave concerns for your ability to actively listen and Empower your team I tend to believe that most people are doing the best they can with what they have and that very few few people have malicious intent however the way in which you partnered with Mrs Larson to steamroll your fellow board members two weeks ago is deeply concerning either it was malicious or you are so out of touch with what's happening in this District either way that's not the leadership this District needs there is no quick fix to the problems Germantown currently faces you have been asked numerous
042times to stop talking and actively listen and you don't seem to exhibit the ability to do that that doesn't take away from all the good you've done in this community in the past but that does mean that maybe it's time to step aside and let a Visionary leader do the very hard work of propelling this conversation forward in Germantown School District to the rest of the board Germantown has the ability to be Visionary and thoughtful and how they choose to approach this issue going forward but that takes leaders that are solely focused on the betterment of the children in the district and the community they serve and the only way that can be done is by setting aside your political beliefs and your egos there is no room for politics when it comes to decisions
043we make for our children's education their future and how we make Germantown a place where all people want to live rather than a place where people of color feel singled out targeted and unsupported you have the ability to model the behavior and Leadership you want your Administration staff students parents and Community to practice if your commit Community sees you being willing to have hard conversations to practice your own professional development to partake in your own racial sensitivity training they'll feel empowered to follow soon I leave you with this final sentiment thoughtful Visionary leaders do not need to tell everyone their thoughtful and Visionary it's evident in their actions in the decisions they make and how they show up for their students staff and the community they were elected to serve thank you foreign Justice d
044okay thank you uh Melissa garbage can you say your name please thank you high school is supposed to be a new beginning [Music] in my life I've experienced more raise them in third quarter than I have in my entire life the racism comes from teachers and students dermatone is not a safe place for me to be right now physically and mentally students at Germantown High School get away with murder and there's not a strict punishment for the racist acts they commit for example this year there is an incident in band class where I last saw at students who are being racist some of the comments included saying that black people shouldn't have a whole month and one student said that he would grow up to become a cop to shoot and kill black people and
045get away with it I was sent out a class and had to write a statement about what happened and I was told they would be get up they would get a punishment one day in school suspension is not enough for being incredibly racist and last year in eighth grade the same boys who said that he would become black people looked at me and said white power I told the teacher right away and he was told to stop and class resumed as normal and I ask you why is it that when you get into a physical fight it is an automatic three-day suspension but when you are blatantly racist the consequence varies why is it that it took up until the Burger King incident for something severe to finally happen and it's not just the racist
046remarks the asking of black girls if their hair is real and grabbing you without permission is unacceptable as well it comes from students and teachers and the worst part is even if you report racism at Germantown it never stops after I reported the incident from band class I got a message on Snapchat from a student saying that it was my fault and that I was in the wrong if all students got a real punishment that you are so-called saying that they are getting why are they so bold the next day to talk about it and say that it's my fault it has taken a lot of Courage for me to be here tonight and say this because I know when I go to school tomorrow I will be made fun of I will be getting
047bullied I know that people will look at me and talk about me as if I have done something wrong but it won't stop me from telling the truth about what is really going on here thank you for letting me speak tonight and I can only hope that speaking out Against Racism will encourage others to do the same all right Jamie Nelson Nielsen thank you could you please say your name Mike lamina thank you thank you so I'm talking about critical race Theory the idea of that critical race Theory within the school will make students feel America as racist as a disingenuous claim many of us already view America as races we see racism throughout our everyday life we see it on the news where innocent black men are wrongfully killed such as Casey Goodman Jr
048who is entering his own home but because of Deputy thought the Subway sandwich she was carrying was a gun he was shot three times feed in hospitals where according to the American Journal of Medical Care black women are three times more likely to have a maternal death than white women and this that also transfers to Black infants where though they make up 15 of all birds in the United States they count for 29 29 of all deaths and we see it on social media where a viral video of a white man in a Burger King Crown yells the n-word repeatedly on a plane out of frustration so no critical race Theory won't make students view America as racist America makes America look racist the true reason in removing critical race theory is only to promote
049white fragility white fragility the defensiveness team among white people whenever the topic of race occurs white fragility saying that we don't see color in order to avoid topics on implicit vices and racism but the more you avoid issues around race you you continue to promote ignorance with within the school we already see this ignorance last week it was the Burger King incident last month it was a white boy calling two black girls the n-word and last year it was a white senior posting quote I'm going to pull up to a neighborhood and purchase the pretending that racism doesn't exist within our society it's a slap in the face to all the people of color within the school demonstrating that the district truly doesn't care about us but rather only cares about protecting their white students
050critical race Theory can be used as a tool to understand implicit biases within our society in our school to correct these things rather than ignoring them and allowing racism to persist if teachers and staff can understand why these biases occur they can correct this and promote an inclusive school but if they choose to ignore it and pretend that these issues aren't real then why even promote Germantown as quote a learning community where all people are accepted and supported thank you thank you Rebecca Perkins [Music] my name is Kim Grant and I am the mother of Aaron Grant one of those who received the email and as angry as it made me it helped me to stop to think exactly who is the blame for this incident occurring the only way any of us knows how
051to properly use the English language is because we were taught in kindergarten we started school it began at home but it was reinforced when we started school the only way we could hold any of these children accountable for their actions is proper education I do not believe in any type of punishment for anyone for anything if they haven't been taught if you take away any type of racial diversity or any type of that education you have no right to hold these children accountable because what you've done is you've left them to be educated by social media you've left them to be educated by tick tock Facebook Snapchat and all the other things that they use to make it think it's acceptable how do you know what's acceptable and what's not acceptable if I stood here
052and I started crying you would not know that the reason I'm crying is because you're standing on my toe if I didn't educate you you would not know that you are the source of my pain and I didn't tell you if I didn't let you know what was hurting me or what was offensive to me I can't hold you accountable for it so it's really hard and you're setting every student up for failure if you punish them without education that's one of the reasons that whether it's the critical race Theory whether it's anything without diversity training racial sensitivity courses you have set everyone up for failure yes I was angry when my son sent me the email yes I wanted to act out of my emotions but then I had to see what made that
053child feel that that was acceptable it's the same thing that made in my son's freshman here the other student acceptable that sent him a message that said add me to your Snapchat and I'll bring you watermelon and chicken on the first day of school did that y'all actually know how offensive that was to the African-American race how are we going to just put a blanket over the n-word because I can stand here and use the term cracker in two ways as a fool or to be racially insensitive but if you're not educated how are you holding anybody account if you're not willing to have critical conversations that will mainly probably hurt everybody's nerve I can't be so far to the right and you can't be so far to the left that we can't find a
054middle ground because then we're not being human beings we're being dictators I don't need to be I put my son in Germantown to have a better education we have two fights the inner city of Milwaukee and the suburbs of Germantown have I set my son up for failure because what does he have to fight poverty the Inner City crime or the risk of my son just driving and getting shot just like my 19 year old cousin we just had to bury that was innocently driving down the street that was shot in the head just by driving to the store because of problems that two other people were having or do I send him here that he can see that my son and I have arguments because I'm a product of the 70s that grew up
055they had a second grade teacher that felt like us making get well cards for one of the students parents who had plastic surgery was more important than the students making a get work hard for my mother who was had diagnosed with breast cancer not knowing that I would come in from Recess to hear her in the teacher's lounge saying that negro child really thought we were going to make cars for her mother without these critical conversations you are with the decisions that you made at the last will set the African-American body up for failure but you also set that young man that sent that email on April 19th set him up for failure as well now by the grace of God and whatever religious beliefs that I have I've only giving it to God we
056have been able to reach out to that family to where his mother and his father and I and my son and that young man will sit down with each other and have a common conversation as to how offensive that was to myself I do understand that in recent years and even in the past year the racial tensions in the United States have been phenomenal but it's nothing strange to me I'm asking do not set your teachers up for failure for having one assembly to think that's going to educate your students as to anybody cultural sensitivity I would love to see a curriculum that includes just like reading math history that you have some diverse training or education for not just the African-American race for the Native American race for the Asian race and even the
057right race I don't want to exclude anyone but when I'm done with listening to is excuses without action so I'm challenging you to look at your curriculum then look at each and every one of your hearts because I can tell you as a woman and as a black woman if I wanted to go by my past I could just about identify by the looks you're giving me who's receiving what I'm saying and who's not even listening proper education of your teachers and giving them time to prepare the best curriculum and lesson plans on racial sensitivity of all Races yes I'm an African-American woman but my grandfather is white white so don't judge a book by his cover don't judge me not my son by our appearance but we have experienced way more than you think
058so yes Aaron and I get it from both sides because in the city of Milwaukee I have disgraced in my race by putting out there with those people only for him to come home and not be accepted by those people in my household those things are unacceptable but you cannot expect that every household holds their children to the same standard I hold my son to so at some point just like we need to use the proper English English language the school has to be the place to reinforce cultural acceptance and cultural diversity by first giving your teachers time to come up with a very strategic and inclusive curriculum for everyone so they will be better equipped to educate our children on how to be acceptable because if this does not happen I have no idea
059what our America is going to look like and I'm honestly afraid so I do beg you from the bottom of my heart not just for the African-American race but for every one of our diverse races that make up this great Melting Pot of America why don't we start with educating ourselves and educating our students and stop being afraid to have those critical conversations thank you Mike D [Applause] Mike D okay thank you Kelly Dutcher not sure good evening my name is Kelly butcher I was asked to read this letter that was anonymously written by a Community member they didn't feel comfortable with having a voice given the emotions of the situations we're dealing with tonight um hello I currently have three children enrolled in the Germantown school district and wanted to share my thoughts on
060CRT and the recent conversations I have been seeing on Facebook and social media I was able to listen to the last school board meeting and do understand that the topic may not have been properly addressed here are my thoughts the school board appears to be under attack and is being bullied relentlessly on Facebook and social media I have seen some comments which are completely inappropriate and unsubstantiated including calling the school board members racist and demanding the resignation of our school board president based on false accusations this does nothing to help our children or bring us together as a community in fact it does quite the opposite I believe that calling someone racist as an easy cop-out these days as it puts fear into people fear for their jobs their families Etc and is an easy
061way to shut people up who are opposed to your views just because someone does not believe in CRT in our schools including myself again Anonymous letter does not make them a racist the reasons I'm opposed to CRT in our schools are as follows and yes I've done my research and I'm not racist or ignorant CRT believes racism is present in every aspect of life every relationship and every interaction I for one will not raise my children to believe that they are automatically racist or have white privilege because of the color of their skin I strongly believe in social justice but not in Social bullying I am raising my children to understand that hard work and determination are critical for Success regardless of the color of your skin therefore this type of education has no place
062in our schools CRT believes that anyone who disagrees with it must do so for racist and white supremacist reasons even if those people are African-American Asian Hispanic Etc and not white why would we want our children to be this close-minded and fearful to me this contradicts the very definition of critical thinking therefore this type of education has no place in our schools CRT only treats race issues race issues as socially constructed groups so there are no individuals in critical race Theory again this contradicts the very definition of critical thinking it's highly political the Biden Administration is attempting to incentivize schools and teachers and students by offering grant money for schools that teach CRT therefore this type of education has no place in our schools it was formulated on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism not
063only is Marxism anti-American but also teaches hate um this person goes on to say they have a relative in California who's in public school that includes CRT in their curriculum and shared an actual School assignment the assignment forced first graders to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities and rank themselves according to their power and privilege based on the color of their skin it is sickening to me that such young children are exposed to this at school and are being molded at such a young age to believe they are racist if CRT is allowed in Germantown schools how could we ensure this type of teaching would not be present in our schools or have any control over how this is taught to our children based on pure hatred threats and bullying I have been seeing on
064Facebook I am choosing to remain anonymous however I hope that you will take my comments into consideration before making a decision that can truly have a very negative impact on all of our children and divide us even further I'd like to go on and further expand as I look around this room I don't see skin color I see people I see I see my neighbors I see my children's friends this makes me sad it makes me sad to hear what these people are experiencing is there racism yes I do believe that there are people that are racist but I don't believe that it is I believe that it's a hate problem that it's a heart problem and people need to have Kinder hearts and they need to be more accepting of other people every one
065of the people in this room they have their own unique talents but what I see around this room it makes me sad because I see a room full of people that are also scared we're scared and we're losing our identities because we're covering our faces we're scared by what the media has told us to be afraid of because I understand the science behind the masks or the lack of science behind the masks I'm scared because I know what my children have dealt with having to wear a mask all day at school so we're afraid of a virus our body has a 99 greater than 99 percent effective immunity we're hoping for a vaccine to work that has a maybe 95 effective immunity the cases Rose despite the masks so my heart breaks as I look
066around this room and I see the division because it is so on so many levels the statement of our society it breaks my heart we're all people we're all worth something we all have contributions to make to society it's time to move past it Jessica Jessica Chapman can you state your name please good evening my name is Jennifer McCune and I'm here today because I am taking a stand Against Racism two of my daughters Ariana and Gabrielle Prince white attend Germantown High School Gabriella's a freshman Ariana's a sophomore this year has been the worst for them Gabrielle has said in the last few months she's experienced more racism than she has her entire life at a previous board meeting a letter I have written was read by another parent in that letter I talked about
067the incident that happened on February 23rd in the Germantown High School band room my daughter was removed from the classroom after getting upset with two boys that had continuously made racially charge remarks to her those boys were not taken out of class we were told on three occasions that the nature of the boy's punishment could not be discussed fine as someone that works in education I understand that however we still don't know what type of punishment is handed out for situations like this according to my daughter one boy received a one-day in-school suspension I'm sorry but that is not enough what message does that send when students can come into school harass students make racially charged remarks and get a slap on the wrist if anything even happens at all is telling students that their
068actions are condoned is telling students of color that they don't matter that my black daughter does not matter after hearing my letter not one of you contacted me in regards to what my daughters had to say about a teacher in her racially insensitive comments to my daughters the school didn't contact me either after that Burger King incident I emailed the principal of Germantown High School he emailed me a response asking when I would be available he sent an email and I told him when I would be available 10 minutes before that time he sent an email saying that he was really really busy and gave me all the other things he had to do besides speaking with me he sent me a time that he knew I was not available to speak with him to
069me that sends the message that what I have to say what my daughter well all these other students have to say is not important in regards to the Despicable Act of the board batting the critical race Theory I must say I am not surprised it was disgusting and I feel that it was unethical of you Mr Soderbergh and Miss Larson to present something for a vote without all the board members knowing what they were even voting on but members that said you had no idea what you were voting on you're not off the hook you sat there in silence Mr Lowe I'm addressing you directly because I saw an email that you sent to another parent you are insulting every person of color when you talk about your childhood poverty and compare it with white
070privilege you Mr low whether you want to admit it or not you have white privilege you will never know how it feels as a black person to have a phone interview and you are very excited and they're excited to meet you but when they see you in person their face drops and you know the reason why they can't even look you in the eyes you know you're not getting that job and I'm sure every person of color knows what it feels like when you walk into a store and they're following you around because they know that they're racist and they know they feel that you're going to steal from their store they walk around saying oh do you need help do you need help it's not friendly they're watching you because they want you out
071of their store have you learned much black history in school because your kids have it what they're learning is whitewash history that does not belong to them they are not getting to hear about themselves you can turn on your TV and read news articles that widely represent your race they cannot you're not getting stopped in your own neighborhood being asked what are you doing out here and then the officer changing the way he speaks to you once he finds out that you live in Germantown do you know what it's like to have your co-workers assume that the only reason you have a job is because of affirmative action no you have white privilege the truth is this a poor white man in this country will be treated a lot better than me and he has
072a lot more opportunities than me and to deny white privilege and to deny that is slapping me and these other students of color people of color in this community in the face Mr Soderberg you always talk about everybody needs to be kind be kind be kind to everyone you know what that's for preschoolers would you have said that the image of the mother as she displayed her son's body for the entire world to see the evil that exists in this country we are Beyond just saying be kind to everyone there are people in this community whether they want to admit it or not they have the same hatred as those men have for Emmett Till it starts at home and what you guys all need to do is make it clear that racism will not
073be tolerated in your schools sending a letter on your fancy District letterhead is not enough do the work to make the change I'm holding each and every one of your feet to the fire we will not leave this community we will not leave in fear I am staying to fight for my daughters as well as my younger children that will move through this district and any other person of color that comes to this District whether it's students or staff you will make changes you will be held accountable thank you [Applause] Tracy Parker good evening my name is Tracy Parker I've lived in Germantown for 10 years I have two kids in the district thank you for allowing me to speak tonight as I'm sure you know the Germantown school district is 82 percent white 15
074miles away the city of Milwaukee is what's known as a minority majority City only 44 percent White although we're only 15 miles from the city rich with diversity the Germantown school district has almost no faculty and staff of color why is that is it because we don't have enough applicants of color are there not enough teachers of color in general are we not recruiting the right way are applicants afraid to work in a district that's 82 percent light is it because we don't have the right policies in place to address racism determining why we have so few teachers and staff of color despite living within 15 miles of one of the most diverse cities in the country is complex it's multifaceted there's no easy answer there's no Silver Bullet for improving it you can't write
075a policy or send a letter home or hold an assembly to change it these are the same complex social issues critical race Theory explorers dissects and analyzes in an attempt to address them before the last board meeting I will be honest I didn't know that much about critical race Theory I'd heard of it but I needed to do the work I'm afraid board members didn't know much about it either I think the board's action was extremely premature not well researched and my understanding is that no Educators were consulted in the decision-making process it was disappointing to me it was frustrating and I think it was counterproductive to the work this community needs to do so here's what I'm asking for the board immediately rescind the board decision on CRT commit to ensuring that curriculum decisions
076especially those having to do with social justice and race be made in consultation with Educators and those with expertise in this subject matter and please as you've heard from me and others who've spoken tonight double down on your commitment to this Ace committee this work is important it's it matters to my white children as well as it does to all of the other people in this room so thank you [Applause] Tisha Joseph okay Allison Michelle hi I'm Allison beija I've been a resident of Germantown for 10 years I have two young kids in elementary school at County Line I want to talk to you today because I'm beyond concerned about the decision to ban critical race Theory first of all for reasons that everyone else has said I think this is a terribly terribly important
077piece of a tool to have in our curriculum especially as we're facing the problems of racism in Germantown and in our society in the in the whole country secondly I want to talk about how that decision went down I have watched and listened to the vast majority of school board meetings for the past year I will admit that before that I read the board highlights and that was it I have been floored over the past year by how this school district and how this school board actually is operating if you watched that meeting it appeared that there was clear collusion to come up with this decision to ban critical race Theory it has not been discussed in other school school board meetings there were not Educators here who were giving input to that decision it
078came up you could hear Mr Medved saying do we have the information to even make this vote we had board members reach out to my email that I sent afterwards saying I wasn't ready to vote on this I was blindsided by this decision and yet you guys voted I find this to be honest I find it reprehensible and I find it cowardly I think it was appalling I also find it terrifying that the school board is a non-partisan committee and the campaigning happens with electies publicizing their political affiliations I think that is wholly inappropriate our job is to educate children it is not to politicize it is not to be a partisan into the entity I think you all really need to look at how you are conducting yourselves I think that's all I have
079to say [Applause] Michael airnow good evening my name is Michael aarono I'm in my 15th year teaching at Germantown High School and uh I am the advisor to the multi-ethnic Student Association a couple of students from that group collaborated to write these messages that I wanted to share with you tonight from a young age we are taught to love this country and recognize the aspects of it we should be grateful for that is ingrained in our education our media and our politics however we are truly it are we truly responsible citizens if we do not also recognize our faults in fact the ability to identify and change our flaws is an idea this country was founded on that being said one cannot truly comprehend current social and cultural issues when looking at the world through
080a colorblind lens it is not anyone's goal to not be seen in fact differences in society due to race must be seen and heard in order for change to actually occur in reality color blindness does nothing to unite us it is a way of shying away from the topic of race because it because it is easier than actually facing the implications of it in this country however throwing away this colorblind lens has the potential to truly deepen students understanding of the world and others around them without critical race Theory as a tool students may be left to assume that a racial wealth Gap in society occurs because white families work harder or that a racial achievement Gap exists because white students are smarter which ignores long-established discrepancies in Opportunities and resources provided to White students
081and white families versus black and other minorities in America these are the beliefs that divide us in a in a society that is structurally racist colorblindness only further divides us we can only come together by openly talking about the structural inequities that exist within our society if as a district we truly want to unite students and further our understanding and appreciation of one another we must recognize how we are different how we are have access at different rates to different resources and we must contemplate the true reasons for this divide both in history and today this is the students of the multi-ethnic Student Association of Germantown High School thank you [Applause] Bob orch okay thank you can you state your name please you can just take it out you can just pull it out all
082right first of all I wanted to thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight and I am I wanted to start with an excerpt from a letter written out by you guys to the Germantown Community um well it's not like but what I wanted to address was that in this email in regards to the Burger King incident you referenced how it wasn't acceptable in the Germantown Community specifically at Germantown High School for occurrences like this to take place however where was that attitude when I was in the sixth grade a second day of school some kid came up to me and told me open your eyes swear was this attitude in the seventh grade when there were children making anti-semitic remarks claiming white power death to all Jews white white is the
083best white is right where was this attitude last year when when there was um to quote Mike there when there were students where there was a white senior who had spoken on I would go to a n words neighborhood or an n words hood and cop in N word where was this attitude when there was um to go off of Gabby's example where was his attitude when there was students going up to her and telling her that black should be shot and killed um I would like to see a raise of hands from students who attend Germantown High School great now I would like to see a show of hands from those same students who attend Germantown High School that witnessed racial insensitive situations daily now the purpose of what's going on right now is
084to discuss what we can do to move on into better diversify our curriculum correct but the question is how can a committee a board that lacks such diversity do that I would like again to thank you guys for the time that you've given me to speak and share my thoughts but thank you [Applause] Kelly stapleman my name is Haley Marti and I'm a freshman at Germantown High School and I am reading this letter on behalf of my best friend and one of the kindest people I've ever known who's also a person of color who could not speak today I thought I would have a much safer life going to the Germantown School District when I first started in eighth grade it was fun one day I was walking to class I thought it was going
085to be a normal day but I was stereotyped my teacher asked me are your parents married I answer I rather not say since I do not feel comfortable talking about it she continued to ask do you have a dad where is your dad when I became a freshman my teacher called me out in front of the entire class why is your hair so long I responded calmly because I like my braids long she said to me that's too long and it looks quote ghetto that day I knew this wasn't the same as Middle School she later that day asked me why I had an attitude I told her I did not like her comment on my hair she said to me if I did not drop the attitude she would send me to the office
086I wasn't doing anything but trying to complete my homework she started to touch my hair without asking me I asked her to please back up and that I do not like to be touched but she said I was acting out of character I can go on and on about my interactions with teachers and their racist remarks I am a black girl who only wants a better education please I am begging everyone on this school board please fix our racism in our school thank you Carrie Burke Belcher we would like to address a different topic that's on the agenda tonight my name is Carrie brookbacker and I'm an active parent of current Fifth and 8th grade students here in Germantown and a past Middle School teacher I was surprised to find out about the proposed Transportation
087changes to the 2021-22 school year while I understand and support the need to find ways to save money we would like the decision makers to consider the significant implications of this choice the American Academy of pediatric recommends adolescent start note earlier than 8 30 a.m the literature indicates that earlier start times negatively impact academic performance as well as contributing to anxiety depression and childhood obesity later start times however are associated with better attendance as well as improved graduation rates in older students from my conversation with Educators in Germantown and my past experience as a teacher I know that students are already struggling with being awake and ready to learn in first hour so while our kids might physically be there they will not be learning some have argued that this creates a benefit that students
088will be done earlier and therefore get a head start on their after-school activities and the reality of this that these unusual school hours will not align with the schedules of the surrounding schools which means our kids will just be waiting around for other districts to arrive or to get to the event the Germantown schedule change won't result in earlier end times for after school activities thus the students sleep deprivation will only be exam I'm sorry exaggerated starting at Middle School Level Sports are not connected to the school tend to schedule their practices and games later since the younger kids need to get to bed earlier for example my 8th grader has baseball practices that don't end until 10 pm on school nights and wrestling practices that end at nine remember that there is still time
089needed to get home shower Etc before he can actually fall asleep on the flip side my fifth grader has practices that starts already at 4 15 and 4 45 which wouldn't work next year if he was still at map please know that these kids are not alone in this I'm just using it as an example also note that many of the high school activities start at 7 pm again making a late arrival time home before they can actually go to bed there are other issues with the solution as well as including as well as including significant impacts to traveling staff and school meetings for staff across the district finally I'd like to call your attention to the financial impact on Germantown families extremely early start and end times will place an undue burden on households
090with working parents many employees negotiate their work schedules based on school hours perhaps the more likely impact will be a significant increase in the amount of families budgets that will have to go towards before and after school child care which is already a large burden to many families well I understand that this is just a trial or a stepping stone to future plans I'd like to remind you that these students have just been through over a year of trials with covid schools and teachers have done a great job at working with the conditions however studies and statistics are showing that these students are already behind this is not the time to try something out that will negatively impact these students if they aren't fully alert and ready to learn for their first hour or two
091then that's just more wasted time and they're going to fall further behind I would encourage the decision makers to consider the guidance and listen to the Children's Health experts the parents the Educators and good common sense and way the negative impacts against the minimal Financial benefit this change provides thank you for your time Diane Patterson Diane Peterson hi my name is Diane Peterson I live in Richfield and I had been an elected official on the village board and half of our Richfield Community goes to Germantown and half goes to Hartford so I'm here responding on some of the basis of some folks who go to school here up until about three weeks ago I know nothing about CRT and so I decided to investigate it and I found an article by Christopher rukel and he's
092a director of Battlefront public policy Research Center and his article can be found in Hillsdale College in Primus if anyone looks for this and so this is what I have learned I have listened to all these folks here I'm amazed how many people you have here tonight we were lucky if we got 10 to 15 people to speak on topics so I'm glad you all are here and I'm glad to see the young people here I have grandchildren and children and sometimes they have no interest in politics at all or research issues so I'm glad to see all of you here I hope you're willing to take a minute to listen to me because I may have a little bit different story to tell you so in this article the gentlemick says critical race theory
093is fast becoming America's new institutional Orthodoxy yet most Americans have never heard of it and those who have many don't understand it it's time for this change we need to know what it is so we can figure out how to work with it or fight it prior to the last three weeks like I said I knew nothing about it you might want to ask why I'm pretty much against it that's where I'm coming from Mr ruffle article continues CRT is reformulated Marxism I don't think many of these kids here who are standing up for racism issues which I support know anything about Marxism I don't know what you teach about that in your school but certainly that's an issue supporters of Marxism tried a theory of class conflict in the mid-1960s it failed rather than
094abandon the project those promoters move to stir racial unrest that failed but the radical left continued now this is important CRT began in July in 1989. at the first annual Workshop of critical race theory in Saint Benedict's Center in Madison Wisconsin what do we all know about Madison Wisconsin that should tell you a lot as to their political bent I'm not saying it's right or wrong I'm saying it tells you what their political bent is then in 1990s CRT became an academic discipline taught in colleges adults and college people can understand whether they're being told something that they agree with or not now it's coming down to the great schools and heist in high schools at a level where I think some of these kids don't have all that knowledge about how to figure out
095what someone is saying so basically I was glad that the board voted against CRT listening to the folks here tonight I know that there are issues here but I think if you go ahead and do something with racial issues you've got to get them understand where this ideology is coming from it's not just a race issue it's a political issue thank you Sydney shorter okay Sarah Larson everyone and welcome I am the pastor and this is wonderful look at the diversity of the I bet you know you didn't expect this and we met people from both perspectives have learned something already 55 votes as a few of my last board meeting there are things that you want to move forward about the motion concerning getting an assembly on the calendar uh I wrote my emotions
096as I was sitting there so no there wasn't collusion between me or any of my board colleagues so they weren't probably the most articulous and for that I have regret but that being said in terms of the school assembly I just wanted to get a date on the calendar to get forward progress you can talk talk talk talk about things but unless you actually commit to a date no action is going to happen and so that was the goal of that motion to get action happening same thing with my motion about race and the use of the n-word we all know that just in different context and in different relations but there is a whole lot of different racial language being used against whites against blacks against Asians against all people and so it my
097motion on that was to say categorically that racially charged language is not acceptable and with that I delineated that there should be a punishment but there also should be restorative action because we know when you look at our criminal justice system when you only punish and you don't have any kind of conversation about it you and so there was a restorative justice it's the portion of that where it would involve like let's use that Burger King video incident and the mother said that she was sitting down with that party that's part of restorative action making people actually have that difficult conversation and understand how they hurt someone else but you're sent over here and you know there's a lot of bravado then where people say oh no action was taken well I can tell you
098now that I'm not on the board these people up here they can't tell you what happened to the student and so you hear all these stories of what goes on in the district and you think that nothing is happening but let me tell you if it was your child and their confidential confidentiality rules surrounding those pupil records you wouldn't want these people up here blabbing about your kid you wanting to have the privacy and dignity to be dealing with your own student and so I think you need to give a little bit of Grace and it you know I can appreciate that Burger King video that that put on the web but in that instance the parent that chose to put that on there as a board member I saw it first that evening before
099the parent could then email the board that didn't even allow the board any opportunity to investigate ask questions because it already hit the social atmosphere and people boy it was astounding we wonder why our children are the way they are if you look at those commentary threads from the parents it's disgusting and it's disgusting from both aspects and so that brings me into my motion on critical race Theory look at it half of the room thought this was a horrible horrible motion to make but here we are we've just Advanced the racial conversation of this community by 20 fold by having people here speaking being able to share their opinions in a respectful way and I think good comes out of it everything and so no matter what the board chooses to do tonight this
100community has made leaps forward in understanding someone else um for me I I don't want the teachers here teaching my politics and I don't want them teach ing your politics I want and you have a job having dinner with talking about these conversations and helping them form their worldview it shouldn't be the teachers forming their world view because frankly we may be a conservative but we have a mix of teachers teachers so I don't want anyone telling my child what their political view is that can happen at home and that can happen let's face it your alcohol contents are on your own experience so let your child have their experience an understanding of the world the whole thing with the critical race Theory then and as to why I brought it up I asked the
101administration whether critical race theory was being used in the district and I know the way things work you know I've heard of it as a concern s so you got to get the volume and I think in terms of critical race Theory I'm not saying that we don't have to have those conversations of analyzing why things happen and how that how that relationships and the directions but what I don't want to see is then suddenly a whole different class of racism that it's being developed out of this and we may live in our happy little world here in Germantown but you need to kind of look at the higher level agenda that's happening Across the Nation pure that's trying to understand someone else's perspective perspective is being co-opted for a totally different agenda and so
102I think it you know no matter what happens here diversity is and I always like to come with a solution here and so let's just say the board decides to the point part of we're going to reverse one I think that you can put guidebooks around things and now we all agree we don't want it to we don't want it to be Empire we want the diversity and understanding sorry well I am I apologize so what I would like to see is a section on the website now outlining um what diversity materials are being added at every grade level so that the parents can get an understanding of what materials are being added and people can truly see the progress of is the district moving forward with diversity and their commitment to the diversity issue
103perhaps parents could go ahead and start reading some of that and having foundations with their mothers [Applause] I'm not going to get this last name right but it's Leanne Karachi Leanne Luanne that's it [Music] thank you well first of all I'm very happy to be here I only learned about CRT last week so I don't know too much about it however I did look up some articles and I see where the equity is um changed to equality there is some derivatives that we're not probably thinking much about the transgender thing with little kids certain things about the CRT Theory don't sit well and I think it would be great to have diversity I think racism should be outlined I think it has to be done at home school church just about anywhere out in the
104public but I approve the motion of the board to oppose and employ CRT at this time I just wanted to let you know I agree with your decision to put the brakes on CRT and not use it at this time Brian and Stacy Nika pardon okay thank you Lori grassy and it could be Lou grassy okay Todd and Jeannie hurdle hertzel Kim Grant okay I'm sorry great my name is Jenny Hansel I am a mom of Rockfield and Kennedy Middle School children and I would agree with the bus thing that we've talked about or another parent talked about that every parent I've talked to is not happy with the lack of transparency and the plan that you have presented as far as critical race Theory there are groups over here they're going to like shun
105me because I disagree with it and it's very rude and you're not listening to other points of view but what I've seen tonight is that critical race theory has they've been talking about it and what I've heard is I don't feel like it's working in our schools right now the way it's set up and it is heartbreaking to hear these stories it's Mom over here you speak wisely you talk about educating ourselves and critical race Theory does have Marxist roots and I disagree with that politically and critical race theory is controversial so that in itself kind of goes against board policy I just read an analogy that critical race theory is like finding someone who's bleeding in the street and saying how did we get here it's not solving the problem action talking to other
106people talking about it in the classroom doesn't seem to be having an impact it's having positive experiences with minority groups and when I hear of all these stories and the lack of consequences as a parent I have seen Lex of consequences across the board and it is so frustrating to have these incidents happen at school and there are no consequences it's a little chit chat with the principal and back to class and I feel like we're putting a lot of blame on the board here but who was with our kids every day it's the teachers it is the teachers who are having these conversations so where are we going wrong I don't know I believe we have racial issues I believe right now we're looking at it has to be CRT or nothing and I
107don't think that's the answer I think something needs to come of this but I don't think it's CRT Jennifer McCune okay thank you Gabrielle Prince white okay thank you Rebecca Perkins thank you still Among Us it is scientifically proven that mass do work there are still millions of people that are unvaccinated and I am one of them and so all people that are able to get the vaccine we should still be wearing masks I'm really looking forward to summer school and this could change everything scientists will say you should wear them out so I think every kid going to summer school should still wear a mask Jordan Eli hi my name is Jordan Ely and I'm a teacher here at the high school and I'm also a parent in the district I'm here tonight like
108many of us to talk about critical race Theory and the board's decision to ban on but I'd like to talk about the story first so I was wondering are any of you familiar with Plato's allegory of the cave okay that's one that's okay I'll fill you in so basically Plato sets up this little scenario where he's got three guys in a cave and all they can do is stare Straight Ahead at the wall in the cave and that's their whole life they can't move they can't turn their heads they can't do anything and one day that guy gets out of the cave and he walks around and he goes into the outside world and he's like I don't believe any of this because he's never experienced it before and he doesn't believe it and he's
109terrified and he's scared and slowly but surely he comes around to understand that that outside world is reality and then he goes back to his friends in the cave and he's like hey dummies what are you guys doing why are you staring at this wall there's a whole world out there and the guys in the cave are like hey that's scary out there we like our cave here and if you come back we're we're going to hurt you so do you just you do you out there and we'll do us in here I think a lot of what we've discussed tonight assumes that teachers or Educators should adopt the role of being the guy that got out of the cave to bring back all of this information but that is not our role as Educators
110it is not our role as Educators either to be the people inside the cave who don't have any new experiences and don't question anything that they see in front of them as Educators our role is to take the role of Plato here who is one of the greatest teachers and Minds that Western Civilization acknowledges who sets up that scenario who gives them the choice who says there's an outside world over here and there's an inside one here and demonstrates the merits of both of those I don't know how you can Empower children if you don't give them the choice and the options to learn about varying perspectives and forms of belief I don't think that that's empowerment I think it's the opposite so as you make decisions tonight on critical race Theory or decisions on
111Banning any kind of information in the future I encourage you to think like Plato and not like the caveman thank you [Applause] Alex Hardin good evening everyone I'm Alex Hardin from Colgate uh so I was going to read a couple of things capitalism is essentially racist racism is essentially capitalist the only remedy to pass discrimination is present discrimination the only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination if discrimination creates equity it's anti-assist if discrimination creates inequity it's racist those are the writings of a man named ibram candy he's one of the foremost thinkers and authors on critical race theory he heads up a so-called anti-racist department at Boston University and frankly the fact that I cannot simply just read those quotes and go sit down and have this topic never come up again is is
112fairly troubling because that's that's pretty sick stuff you know the young lady from the village boarding in Richfield mentioned how an attempt at this was made in the 60s you know how it failed we had a guy that some of us may know I don't know if everyone knows his name was was Martin Luther King Jr and he came with the Civil Rights Act and actually brought a sensible form of civil rights and quote anti-racism to society so the fact that we need this cultural Marxism and that's what it is excuse me what Marx failed to do along economic lines dividing the rich and the poor critical race theory is doing Iran around racial and identity lines dividing us up into groups and pitting us against one another and honestly it's sick it is absolutely
113sick that someone could write that the antidote to racism is discrimination that doesn't that doesn't even make sense so the fact that we're here talking about this is is is is is frankly kind of odd I I'm I'm surprised uh and and if you want a preview of where a well executed critical race Theory driven diversity and improve and inclusion initiative leads look over to the east at the Virginia school system anyone see what they did last week they got rid of all advanced mathematics under the great under the grade of 11. in the name of equity and inclusion friends I could not in my darkest most diabolical dream I could not come up with a more racist thing to do than that it's sick I mean it's sick critical race Theory is is morally
114repugnant and it doesn't belong within a thousand miles of the school okay I'm gonna and I I was going to start by saying I thank the board for opposing it it sounds like something may have changed I don't know what that is but I would encourage you to stand strong stand by that decision decisions it will there will come a point where funding is tied to include including the stuff in our schools it doesn't matter you've got to keep this out of our schools it will hurt us academically and it will not solve any racial racial problems all these stories that I'm hearing from this room I they're they're sad they're awful the the idea that that present discrimination is going to solve those things friends that's not that's not how it works there are
115other ways to address these things head on okay I'm gonna I'm gonna address one more item here uh masks and no don't um and I'm gonna I'm gonna ask a rhetorical question no no answer no answer needed what hard comparative data has this school district to justify continuing to force kids to wear masks we'll get to the CDC the CDC is an organization it's not data okay I have I've looked at these board meetings okay and I've heard this I've heard comments like this The Masks are working what we're doing is working what we're doing is what's keeping our cases done folks to make a scientifically valid assertion that some measure is working you need to compare it to the absence of that measure that's science 101 okay control group you're going to say masks
116work if masks work this is what's going to happen with cases if they don't work this is what's going to happen and then you make policy from there I've not seen that okay every data set that I've looked at informal and formal points the same exact conclusion that especially for kids the absolute lowest risk group in our in the entire world's population there is no reason to be wearing masks okay you look over in sweep okay it'll be 1.9 million school age kids this is published in the New England Journal medicine you can look it up yourself 1.9 million school age kids from the period of March to June of last year they never let out of school they never stopped instruction and they never required or even recommended the wearing of masks not a
117single kid died 15 got to the ICU okay that's that would be a comparative data set that I think would be interesting to look at okay you look at States in fact I printed something up for real this is this is uh the the data of alternative of Texas versus Georgia okay Georgia did not require masks Texas did what do you notice these are these are covered cases over time they're the exact same okay cases went up and then went down by the way that's that's fairly similar to what happened in Wisconsin Governor issued the The Mask mandate in August I believe our case has peaked and they were high in November also at the same time that more people in the history of humanity were wearing masks on their faces so I heard the
118comment from the back about the CDC here's the thing guys we didn't elect the CDC we sure as heck didn't elect The Who and we didn't elect the fear mongers at Health departments we elected a school board to analyze this data and make decisions that's all we're asking for we don't need the recommendations about the organizations we need you to look at the data analyze it and make these tough decisions for us and get these masks off the faces of our kids thank you we've only got about five more speakers Jody Graf second you really spoke to me and I really loved what you had to say I I love everybody in this room without knowing you I love my son he doesn't want to wear a mask at school anymore so please don't laugh
119at me when I read my speech I stand before you tonight as a unified voice of all parents who wish to be the only ones in power to give consent on behalf of their children which of course should be every single responsible and loving parent on the planet we must honor ourselves in doing what is right for us and our kids as individuals not as a collective group as not one single one of us are the same and we should celebrate that daily I grew up in Germantown and I now raise my kids in the exact neighborhood my dad built our childhood home I love this community it is filled with caring neighborly kind-hearted people who look out for one another and truly love where they live and let's not forget that please as a
120community as a district we must stop allowing anything to divide us we must agree that we are allowed our individual liberty and freedom of choice and so I stand here tonight to ask on behalf of the majority of parents and I believe the majority of students if we ask them please make masks a choice while the state has said there is no Health Emergency and is unlawful to maintain anything under the health emergency as again Health Emergency does not exist I'm not here to debate the reasons for again against masks I'm here tonight as a mom and as an American as those are the most powerful credentials that I hold we must Empower one another to do what is best for our individual children we must support one another in respecting an individual's decision my
121priority used to be in person School I volunteered in the classroom every single year and now I'm not even allowed to step foot inside my children's School past a certain door so frankly I don't even recognize it in person school anymore there is no end in sight for what when normalcy will be restored and this has to end no longer should a public school discriminate and dictate to its taxpayers and its students that they are to mask and silence their mouths we are here to demand that every parent be the only one who ever has consent over their kids and public virtual school is not an acceptable forced alternative for either side of the issue if parents can't be given the choice to make decisions for our kids at public school then give us our
122taxpayer dollars back to put towards private schools that will because they're out there they're diverse they're wonderful they're not wearing masks they're not getting sick they're busing in kids from all over 34 ZIP codes one school in particular and they're just fine here in this County no sector deserves our money that won't respect our personal choices we must teach our children to stand up for themselves when something doesn't feel right when something is wrong our bodies tell us when we know something is wrong we must stand up and we must not comply we are teaching our children what are we teaching our children when we teach them to ignore their bodies to ignore their instincts to ignore their intuition and genuinely knowing what's right and wrong and just comply speaking up is hard tonight I'm
123choosing my heart I'm choosing my kids I'm listening to my kids because they are wonderful and I love them and they describe deserve a school experience that they are comfortable with and every single child deserves a school experience they are comfortable with we are each in charge of our decisions and our bodies and we should never let our kids ever think otherwise more than that no one should ever be treated differently or discriminated against for proudly taking good care of their physical and mental mental health and individuality you took this position to serve this community to represent the community and to represent us well here we are telling you make masks a choice do the right thing and don't parent our children Empower parents to decide what's right for their kids and make masks a
124choice thank you Melissa fearman hi I'm a parent and a Germantown resident I have waited far too long to stand up for what I believe and I know I'm not alone masks in our schools should be parent choice not a school mandate I tend to be someone who needs to see the facts studies statistics to be able to validate validate my instincts and beliefs but since those statistics do not exist yet and there is a lot of conflicting information out there I encourage every member of the school board and every parent to listen to what your gut is telling you masks are not natural they are not the way our children are meant to live their lives eight hours a day five days a week my instincts are telling me we are damaging our children
125in more ways than what we can see right now and in more ways than any statistic can show the psychological effects of making our children wear masks is detrimental to their health self-esteem self-image mood and confidence in addition to the negative psychological effects consider the negative physical effects potentially decreasing our children's adaptive immune system a great friend once said to me if God had intended us to have a filter over our nose and mouth he would have created us that way but instead he created us with an immune system compromised of mucous membranes in her nose and throat skin tonsils lymphatic system spleen and bare bone marrow not masks our children have developing immune systems the acquired immune system produces antibodies after the body has been exposed to an Invader after the first exposure the
126immune system will build up immunity to recognize the invader and defend against it in the future over time as the immune system recognizes certain viruses it will get better at preventing infection not to mention have you looked at a children's mask after being worn they are physically dirty and that is what we can see think about what is Adam that we cannot see children not changing their Mass throughout the day not safely storing them when they are removed for snacks and lunch and some are wearing the same mask day after day that is what a teacher in our area has told me and she sees it firsthand our children need to practice proper hand washing get enough rest eat well stay hydrated and get enough daily exercise to strengthen their immune system these are the
127things we need to focus on not masks please consider what effects masks are having on our children physically and psychologically and please vote to make masks the Parent's Choice thank you [Applause] Michael percocki Michael picati Jessica Chapman Chapin Tracy I'm sorry I'm sorry good evening um I have a third grader and a sixth grader and the thing that really motivated me to come here and speak tonight were the reasons voiced by some board members for Banning CRT I think this is just one example of a more concerning problem of the unwillingness of the school board to see the reality of racism and take effective steps to address it in our schools so these aren't comments of the whole school board but one reason that was given for the ban is that it indoctrinates students to
128feel that the system is rigged in favor of white people it is it's getting harder and harder to argue that there aren't racial inequities in major systems in our country that unconscious negative biases towards people of color don't exist and that we as white people even with the best intentions may not be aware of the power of these forces I thought you were going somewhere else with the allegory of the cave the effects on the opportunities health and well-being of people of color as a group research supports this voices support this just a few examples if you have a black sounding name research shows your 50 percent less likely to get a job interview study published in the American Economic Review black people are more than three times as likely as white people to be
129killed during a police encounter 2020 report by the Harvard School of Public Health people of color are overwhelmingly more likely to be a victim of a hate crime 2009 or 19 published FBI data there's more and more right it's late laws changed decades ago but these patterns still exist this board member's statement underscores the need for education for the school board about these issues another statement from a member is that we can't Inspire every student if we're teaching them that they are at a disadvantage from the start because of their race as CRT does again look at the data we can't can we honestly tell people of color they're not more likely to experience the effects of implicit biases microaggressions and systemic racism if yes we need to see the data we need to have
130CRT we need to have something in our schools to be able to have these conversations I think maybe there's a lack of agreement on what CRT is that would be helpful to all come together on side note finally it teaches kids to hate their country and to hate each other my understanding it teaches critical thinking about potential effects of racism it doesn't dictate what conclusions to draw the um the concern about fostering hate raises an important point we need to incorporate an attitude of kindness and compassion in this work for all students in this work guilt judgment anger aren't the goals we'll get further if we Foster an attitude of discernment open-mindedness compassion and action when looking at these issues moving forward to start with the ban on CRT needs to be revoked we need
131training for the school board and staff on systemic racism and implicit biases we'd all do well to have that finally we need an equity committee that has transparency and a valued voice in important decisions we all want similar things for our kids we don't want to teach kids to hate we all want kids who can think critically and not just mimic what they hear we all want kids who are kind and respectful foreign Tracy Parker Gail trap oh she did okay thank you uh Gail trap hi there I've had three children go through the Germantown school district and now I have grandchildren that are in the district I am very Gravely concerned over the direction of Academia I support your previous decision to not Implement critical race Theory all students in your education system have
132an equal value and deserve equal opportunity no matter the color of their skin my husband and I have definitely supported Germantown scholarships because of the high standards of the school district I do not support critical race Theory because the focus is on an equal outcome and not equal opportunity and I'll say that again it's all about equal outcome and not an equal opportunity I want equal opportunity schools have already canceled AP classes this is already happening but it's because of critical race Theory not everybody is eligible because equal outcome is not the same thing as equal opportunity the other disturbing part is that it focuses on white students as being the oppressors and black students are the oppressed that is the basis of that type of a theory we need to look elsewhere for a
133solution to the racism just this last Friday I met a woman that stated her grandson goes to Lacrosse and he was in a classroom and the professor came up to him and said are you white and he's like yeah I'm white he says you're the problem so when these kind of things are being taught within classrooms and in all the way to colleges obviously what do you think that does to a student no matter what color they are students then start to lose their voice for fear of being called a racist or even worse the name calling and the bullying that goes along with the critical race Theory can be very damaging to say the least and are your parents ready to take a study or a survey on how white are they this has
134already happened I've read many articles on it a college in New York is now having six different graduations which they divide the students into groups by the race and their identity the segregate this is segregation folks and this is racism so this theory is not the answer for this school district Dr Martin Luther King fought and died for the Civil Rights Movement this is not what he stood for critical race Theory teaches students to hate America and they do that by canceling the history it goes against our family structure units our family values and it's an attack on my faith a school is not the parent and should never give a child a set of values that change the moral of a family right now my kids are having to make a choice as to
135whether they're going to use this school district or if they are going to homeschool and I guess that depends upon what your choice is I think it is time in this community for us to look for unifying not dividing and to strive for some common grounds that we have As Americans you can cook up a spoiled meat and put whatever spices on it and make it and try to mask what the taste is but guess what it's still spoiled meat when you bite into it on the inside we need to look at a different um process of how we get our goals accomplished within the school district but it is not critical race Theory but yes we have to address it but not with this type of theory thank you [Applause] foreign Gene Mary Julia
136Krantz I'm here today to express my dissent regarding the board's decision to ban critical race Theory from Germantown curriculums for those of you who don't know what critical race theory is and for those of you who may have been misinformed critical race theory is an academic movement started by Scholars and activists it may have Marxism Roots but that's not what it's teaching it states that it states that race is something taught not innate and that racism is created and perpetuated by inherently racist institutions in America Banning critical race Theory from being taught is a hasty decision resulting from a blend of the board's personal and political agendas Banning it is like disregarding the hundreds of years of Oppression people of color have faced in America and ignoring the racism and bias that affects people of
137color every day the band won't get rid of racism and it certainly won't stop the bullying and harassment students of color face every day in and out of school all it does is take away students understanding and sensitivity to these issues if anything the school board should recognize that a more diverse curriculum is needed at our schools we already learned so little about non-european history Mr Loth if you'd like another example of what white privilege is our history is taught as a Core Curriculum instead of an opt-out if the school board continues with the ban I hope they realize that they that our school district's model will have to change as well you can't say you Empower and Inspire every student to success when you don't mean all students censoring and ignoring minority experiences is
138a type of Oppression now I'm not blaming the board for year for the America's racist past but I'm holding them accountable for germantown's future this ban not only affects the current curriculums in place but also limits the progression of future classroom and the future classrooms and the learning of future students Mr Loft said parents could teach critical race Theory at home but what's the point when we know the students who need the lesson the most won't receive it you sent us back to school full-time in a pandemic only to try and ban the conclusions we make from our education that make you uncomfortable we're not being indoctrinated we're being educated but most important most times the uncomfortable conversations are the ones that are most important and on the issue of masks most of your kids
139don't wear them anyways so [Applause] oh my gosh Ellery Perkins and probably not pronouncing the first name properly Perkins talking about masks okay Mark Phillip good evening first of all thank you to our young students today that came out and spoke I learned from you every day you're inspiring thank you other people tonight have bravely shared their stories of what it's like to be someone from a marginalized Community what it's like to be another what it's like to send your kid off to a school they do not feel safe in being a straight white American male I don't have those stories I have not for a minute of my life felt what these families feel every day that's why I listen to them that's why I believe them and that's why I support them rejecting
140CRT is rejecting the realities these families live in systemic and institutionalized racism is not a thing of the past neither is the marginalization of Native Americans women immigrants people of selected faiths and the lgbtq community we cannot celebrate the courage of people like Sojourner Truth Harriet Tubman Susan B Anthony Jackie Robinson Martin Luther King Jr or Harvey Milk and countless others without acknowledging the reasons their courage was even necessary in the first place similarly we cannot condemn the recent racist they asked by students in our own District on one hand and refuse to teach where these attitudes come from from on the other I urge you to reconsider not only your decision on CRT but your entire commitment to the larger issue of social justice for our students your public commitment to making all students
141feel welcome in this district and your equally public dismissal of the reasons many of them don't feel welcome are not compatible let me just say one more thing about to my fellow straight white American males can we for the love of God stop telling women people of color immigrants what their experience is we have no earthly idea okay believe it or not I think that was the last speaker would anybody else like to speak tonight two more people okay sir yeah that's fine I'm going to allow only 10 more minutes because we do have a board meeting to have to have tonight so can you state your name please how far away from this do I need to be closer right there okay my name is Roger Stewart I've lived in Germantown for 30 years
142um and I'm proud of this town it's a great town um the stories we've heard this evening are moving fascinating Illuminating and it would appear to me that the school district does have an issue both in terms of student behavior and and teacher Behavior in terms of racism and I would urge the school board to pursue this issue vigorously to create a program or find a program but CRT ain't it CRT is indoctrination CRT is ideology it is counter through the Constitution it is counter to the first and 14th amendments please do not Implement CRT I beg you but in terms of the racism issue by all means find a way to make this better there must be school boards all across the country that are dealing with this in manners that do not take
143on CRT and we should find those and address those but in the meantime with CRT we do not want our six-year-olds being forced to tell the teacher I am a racist that that isn't right so I applaud your decision not to implement it and I encourage you vigorously not to reverse that decision please thank you thank you can you state your name please darny shook our body and I am with the Burlington Coalition for dismantling racism so as I listened today to everybody I want to share that my children went to the Burlington area school district I have white children and I have black children even though my husband is white and I am black and our children came from the same home they did not receive the same treatment and they did not receive
144the same education it was a completely different experience for our black children as it was for our white children when I hear people talking about how we need to keep CRT out of the schools and how it has nothing to do with racism but you empathize with the racism that statement alone is contradictory within itself when it comes to having a curriculum like CRT where you talk about critical race Theory that's exactly what it is anytime you do research on the internet somewhat have a bias and you can find information to validate what you already believe is true but if we stop for a minute and just think about that critical race fear that's exactly what it is nothing more nothing less the fact that the school district has decided not to include it already
145sends a statement of where you stand when it comes to the work of anti-racism whoever said that I don't see color you wouldn't sit in a room full of men and women and say I don't see any women they all look like men I don't see any children they're all adults that's foolishness God gave us eyes we all can see we're all different that's to be celebrated and to say that you don't see color means that you can't see people of color I know you meant well but that statement within itself is oppressive which is why we need critical race Theory and to the man who quoted ibram with the book how to be an anti-racist when ibram said in order to address discrimination we need to be discriminatory I think you misunderstood and misperceived
146what he was saying so even wasn't saying okay now we want all of the people of color to go around mistreating white people because of the color of their skin that's not what he was saying there he's not saying we want white people to start being murdered by police officers because they're answering their cell phone or because they're brushing their hair or because they're sitting in a park watching birds or because of any of that that's not what he's saying what he's saying is if you have two sons same age they're both able to drive let's say they're twins they're able-bodied and you give one of your sons a vehicle but not the other you have discriminated against your son so then in order to rectify that discrimination you now need to discriminate against that
147son and give your other son a vehicle because if you give both sons a vehicle after you've already given the one son one now that son has two that's what ibra means by you have to fix discrimination by discrimination he does not mean to go around mistreating white people and again I think that's where critical race Theory comes in these are the things that need to be discussed so that white people can have an understanding of what's being said and what's being taught if you have a whole bunch of pregnant women and you want to know what it's like to be pregnant you're not going to pack the room with all men and have no women in here in the same token you can't have a discussion about critical race Theory when all of your
148voice and in the same token just like those men can be educated and become doctors and learn about Labor and birth and delivery people critical race Theory it's not hard white people don't know what it's like to be a person of color so when you come up here and you think that you know what you're talking about no so if you want to learn about what it's like to be a person of color to be a student of color in a predominantly white area you to ask people of color and we're not asking you guys to do something that you're not already doing what we're asking you to do is the same thing that you're already doing for white kids that's it that's it white kids being targeted every single day because of the color
149of their skin that's what we're asking for for children of color you don't have white kids who have to come in here and tell stories matter of fact as I listen to White parents come up here and talk where privilege comes in at is when you can come in here and talk about normal regular problems like I don't want my kids to wear masks or when you can come in here and talk about normal regular problems and say we need to talk about the school bus issue that's where privilege comes in at these families are focused on those issues when they're being called the n-word when they're having to worry about people wearing Burger King hats to mock some racist white guy on a plane calling a woman of color the n-word these are the
150things they have to deal with they can't concern themselves about masks or even covet all of those things matter and they're important but guess what when you're being called racial names and you're being harmed because of the color of your skin those take residence that's what privilege is and guess what the reason a lot of you misunderstand privilege is because there's a lack of all right so I hope the school board will adopt uh critical race Theory and you know what that's going to look like I think it would be really wise to get parents and families and students of color involved allow them to proceed at the table foreign to have a conversation on what that should look like okay this is the last speaker thank you hello my name is Alice town a
151current resident and parent I can attach to the high quality of Education as a Germantown graduate that led me to a bachelor's degree in biology a man a master's degree in nursing and a successful career I am also fortunate that I earned my education at a time when CRT was only a theory discussed in high level Academia CRT has no value in our education system CRT defines You by race and color of your skin not your behavior not your values not your work ethic only a race with respect to educational achievements CRT believes we should reject achievement-based admission achievement-based testing and even achievement-based grading arguing that they serve to reinforce white supremacy CRT makes the case that standardized testing such as the act and sat are an oppressive practice and serve to maintain racial inequity
152allow me to provide you with some examples of how CRT is currently being used in the American classrooms in Cupertino California an elementary school forced first graders to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities and rank themselves according to their power and privilege these are first graders in Springfield Missouri a middle school forced teachers to locate themselves on an oppression Matrix based on the idea that straight white English-speaking Christian males are members of the oppressor class and must atone for their privilege and white supremacy in Buffalo New York kindergartners were asked to compare their skin color with an arrangement of crayons and watch a video that dramatized dead black children speaking from Beyond the Grave about the dangers of being killed by a racist police and state sanctioned violence there are many more of these examples
153and I encourage you all to read articles that are written by Christopher Christopher Ruffo James Lindsey and Dr Carol Swain is doing a webinar this Friday about CRT in the K-12 curriculum please educate yourselves about this CRT is a bankrupt ideology these programs create division amongst their most young impressionable and vulnerable children before they are even able to critically comprehend what they are being taught children should be learning that they must take responsibility for their conduct that race is the least important aspect of another person that hard work and rational thought are things we all value there are other solutions to CRT there are rigorous Civics curricula that do exist including material from the 1776 unities The Institute for classical education the Jack Miller Center the Bill of Rights Institute and the Ashbrook Center furthermore
154CRT puts schools at risk for legal action as coalitions of lawyers are already forming to take legal action against schools where this is being used please uphold your decision to keep CRT out of our schools thank you there was one more lady here that wanted to speak okay one more can you say your name please my name is Patty fromator I have lived in Germantown for quite some time my kids went to school here my grandkids are now going to school this morning I found out that this meeting was going to happen I was so pleased that you guys had decided to not use the critical race Theory um I'm sorry that I missed most of your stories the few that I heard they were very touching um I had work and so I just
155got here but I felt it was too important to not be here tonight there are problems in our country and I feel we need to address them critical race theory is not it I think there's just too much division it it splits us up as a country we've got to come together the only way we're going to survive is to work together I don't know what the the answer is because I know there are problems but I know we can get Beyond this I just don't believe critical race theory is it I please please don't change your minds thank you so much [Applause] okay it's uh 9 42 and we're going to move on to item five approval of the April 12 2021 Board of Education April 12 2021 closed session and April 13 2021
156closed session minutes moved to approve April 12 2021 Board of Education and it's April 12 2021 closed session and April 13 2021 closed session second uh discussion no discussion all those in favor please say aye aye oppose that motion carries item six reports and information items item a covid expense report Mr stowson yes I'm going to hand it over to um okay Karen Rhonda can you turn the other mic on come on no yeah tonight Mike Nowak and I bring the um covid update report from July 1st to March 31st as we do every month you can see on the report that the covet expenses have decreased I'm going to go over the top part of it and again Mike will be going over the bottom portion of the report so the only update I
157have is approximately fifteen hundred dollars was spent on cleaning the buses I'll let Mike go through the rest of the report and then we can go you can talk about the total at the bottom relative to Personnel you'll note that the numbers have remained relatively constant from previous reports I would note there is a slight increase in long-term sub costs I believe it's about 1500 more maybe a little less 1400 more for the month that's because of unique situations that's that had occurred relative to a long-term sub need so our total spend as of today is 467 864 on covet expenses um as you know we got the carriage dollars of about 71 um so a nodal a total net expense of 397 273.64 in which we will use those dollars of the cares 2
158and cares 3 funds to replace those expenses any questions okay thank you moving on to Item B three at five year business and human resource strategic plans Mr stalston yes thank you so one of the things um you'll see tonight you're seeing the human resources kind of three or five year plan the business three to five year plan you've heard that the business part kind of throughout this this year next board meeting having special ed present their three-year plan as well as teaching and learning so um and I know there's a copy in the board packet but I just thought of um If Britney might just want to share a few pieces of their of their plan and if you have any questions at this at this moment but it's something that's fluid and we'll
159change but it gives us a focus of where we're going in the next three to five years sure we're going to start off with the business office um three to five year plan um we broke it down into three main goals so the number one goal that I have is around the budget and which we've been speaking about for a few months now so I'm not detail on the zero-based budgeting process and getting input from staff members to build our budget we're going to continue to do that my second goal is effective inefficient Communications around the financial aspect to make sure that we have all the information to make sound decisions and then also to make staff members families aware of the decisions that we're making I aspects so we're going to increase transparency is
160basically the the actions we're going to take to meet that goal and then finally my third goal would be around a safe and orderly learning and working of our environment for our students staff and Community we do have a internal Safety Committee that we work through that we go over work comp cases that we go over to liability insurance cases and that we also talk about the safety as in doors locks fire drills those type of things so we're going to continue to focus on perfecting our Safety Committee as well as we do walk-throughs with our insurance companies we have done three of our elementaries in one of our middle schools so far and then if the insurance company on a work comp or liability side they create a report and then we create action
161plans with that site on how we're going to improve our safety at that site so again we've done the three three of the elementaries in one of the middle school and we will finish the other Elementary in the high school within this year and then we'll do those every year to make sure those action plans and the corrections that were made are continuing and not just revert back to what they were previously and then Mike will go through the HR department thank you Brittany um in HR we have three areas that we're looking at the first is seeking high quality cost-effective benefit Solutions in the areas of insurance and retirement in the area of insurance in particular over the past I'd say three to four years we've made great strides relative to creating choices for
162our employees in their insurance options that they can take the next step in that is to analyze deeper costs further and options and try to move ourselves towards the possibility of being self-funded if it's what benefits are district relative to the quality of insurance we're getting and the cost of that insurance the second area is is striving to implement new approaches to compensation with employee work groups throughout the district we've done some analysis relative to teacher compensation we're ready to take that conversation deeper in terms of um making some change we've had some meetings with teachers and we're excited about possibility of building a transparent system that gives teachers some level of predict predictability we believe that will be a critical piece to attracting and retaining teachers as well which is our third goal that
163is attract maintain high quality candidates who also reflect the diversity within our school community and Beyond one of the key pieces here is that our major means of marketing positions has been one tool that's we can which is a tool that all school districts throughout the state use we believe that we can and stretch further and that that will be and create you know use the different means to get our jobs out there and this is beyond those teacher groups this is across the district as a means of attracting um you know different different candidates to our district thank you very much questions comments okay thank you moving on to item seven unfinished business discussion of possible action regarding ad hoc curriculum committee and the advocacy Council on Equity issues Committee Member report specific handbook
164language regarding racial slurs KMS ghs all School assemblies and critical race Theory Mr stelson yes thank you so there's a lot under this this heading and it's kind of in two parts three parts um I have Meg Makowski and Mr farron who were both on the ace committee and if they want to field any questions but I'm going to talk first about the handbook language and and current policies and so we're we've started the process of analyzing our high school handbook as well as the Middle School handbook the current language that are that's that are in those handbooks it's it's pretty clear on like bullying suspensions harassment intimidation however there are places where we can we can strengthen it around racial slurs and other harmful language and so we will bring that forward once we've
165completed that to the board for approval just like you approved whatever you approve the handbooks anyway but um that will be be changes to it the other thing is that um District policy 5517 is our anti-harassment policy and again the current policy has language based on trade sex religion Creed ancestry Etc um what we're going to do is look at it from discrimination harassment on basis of race color and national origin for all students so again our policy committee will review that um and suggestions from the policy committee would come to the full board for for review so we're doing those those two areas the the second thing is the the all school assembly and at the last board meeting there was a motion to have an assembly within three weeks of the last meeting
166which would be a week and then we did contact or I did contact the recommended speaker and his partner to speak and they just first they they truly are interested they just can't find the time to to do it between now in the end of the year so I'm asking for a motion to rescind that motion um however we we did this last week both at the middle school and high school through resource time the there was a the administration the teachers reviewed our current policies around um harassment and bullying and racial slurs so that we started that but we know it's just the beginning and we have have more work to do in those areas the so yeah so the assembly piece and you know and talking to our student groups they've given feedback
167as well and and you know their the concern is that if we start hitting topics that kids want to continue to talk about and we don't have staff that are are trained to to handle the conversations that's potentially um a bad issue right and so we want to be be clear on what it is we're asking our students to think about and what conversations we're asking them to have and then how is that facilitated and and what are things we're not going to talk about too I mean there's there's going to be a point I think in most conversations it's like look that's something you need to talk about at home or or ask or I don't know the answer to that and so until I could learn more um you know can we can
168we facilitate that that discussion so um again we're I'm asking for this to rescind that motion for the assembly within three weeks um before we move into um the the CRT piece um I just want to know if you have any questions around like handbook stuff or the assembly like I said I have Mr Farren here and Meg from the ace committee um those are those were those two topics were discussed at our last Ace committee in in detail and that's where we had Mr Whitehead shared some of the Mr Aaron I'll both shared feedback from from the students so um can I make the first motion so we can get this sure passed and then so I'll make a motion to rescind in three weeks to get an assembly knowing that Administration has it
169on the docket to do it in the proper manner second second discussion and I just want to share the reason why you know that was the motion was made um Mr Stafford and myself we sat down with two of the uh three um black girls that were involved in the incident that happened at the high school and we sat in one of the conference rooms and we listened and I learned a lot just like I learned a lot here tonight and I asked the question if you were in our shoes what would you want done they brought up the school assembly and that was over two months ago so that's why the motion was made to get the ball rolling and I would agree with Amanda that if the administration is working on something that's
170great and quite frankly three weeks was very aggressive but as long as it's in the queue and it's moving forward and we're collaborating with the right people that's that's a good thing okay any other discussion so just to be clear what are we rescinding right now the school assembly and uh okay for working with the administration on scheduling something and what the content would be yeah I'm okay with that yeah I think we still want to have the assembly we're just not putting a deadline on it correct yeah and it's and it may have a different format than just a flat out assembly right through resource or different yep smaller groups but um yeah some some formula we just need to start the conversation make glitch is a good thing um in order to get
171a better idea of where the students feel they are before we start making possessions and pulling resources and signing with different agencies help us in this if you have an idea where further discussion on the assembly motion see none all those in favor please say aye aye opposed that motion carries the next the next topic is um why the majority of the people were here tonight that's the critical race Theory and as Mr Soderberg said at the beginning of the meeting you know these past two weeks we've we've learned a ton about the topic um and you know one of the task was to figure out how it's used where it's used when it's used and also what does the ban mean right there's there's a lot of um I guess subcategories that may fall
172under the umbrella of topics that the CRT would cover and so we we had to investigate that and we also means Mrs O'Brien who did a lot of the we in talking to the her teachers and evaluating the curriculum to see where it is and and and she's going to talk more about it in just a second here but um one of the things it's it is um it is mentioned specifically in only two courses and that those are upper level Advanced courses one's an AP course another one's called critical theory um it's it's mentioned as a lens like many people said tonight I don't even know that existed I didn't know what it was a week ago or three weeks ago and so it is and just to give you an idea some of
173the other lenses that are taught in these courses you've got feminist Theory political Theory economic theory post-modernism post-colonialism psychoanalytics Marxism so they're all taught as these are different lenses to to be a critical thinker right and to to know when when someone not when our students hear that word or any of these right they have a they have a context to think about it and they can choose if they they adhere to it or don't adhere to it but we do the same thing in our theories about science I mean think about our education we were always introducing theories and different thoughts and different perspectives and and CRT is not being taught in kindergarten in a first grade and in second grade and even in middle school but it really shows up in our curriculum
174into two courses that are taught at the high school so um with with that and I think knowing what we've learned you know I am recommending the board just reconsider the the motion uh based on what they've learned over the last two weeks and what they've heard tonight but also I'm going to have Mrs O'Brien just share pieces of what she's gathered in the last two weeks sure thank you Mr Southland my purpose in speaking tonight is to provide some clarity around the motion made including the words content pedagogy and critical race Theory as they relate to our curriculum the word pedagogy is the art science and profession of teaching this act of teaching or the teaching strategies used in the classrooms come from an un consideration of different theories of learning of understanding our
175students and their needs their backgrounds and their interests some common teaching practices or pedagogy used in our classrooms include lecture projects reading discussion compare and contrast and feedback in school settings the word content is the what we teach the concept of the critical race Theory originated in the mid-1970s through the writings of various American legal Scholars this term has adapted been adapted over the years to become a framework or a lens by which to look through for racial inequalities that continue to exist today to me this is the content of critical race Theory one might question why any literary theory is taught in schools theories provide a framework for explaining ideas for example as we as we've learned tonight not everyone interprets the same text in the exact same way a literary Theory provides readers
176a chance to view a test with different sets of lenses rather than insisting that one view is the best or the correct one literary Theory attempts to find Value in all of the views that are based on a careful study of that text teaching students how to understand and respect others viewpoints even when they don't agree with them is one of the goals of teaching literary Theory if we begin to ban certain literary theories we begin to take away the tools that students might need in order to truly understand another person's viewpoints or interpretations of that text over the course of the last two weeks I met with several High School teachers so that I could even better understand the impact of emotion made on April 12th and how that would have an impact on
177our current High School curriculum here's what I found difficult in ascertaining where critical race Theory might impact the curriculum without a clear definition and understanding of critical race Theory any topic any discussion and any text involving races other than white to be construed as teaching critical race Theory teacher's voice concern and have reservations about teaching the following topics as they don't want this to be construed as teaching critical race Theory incarceration statistics voting laws and the use of absenteeism ballots Jim Crow laws gerrymandering redlining in Milwaukee texts characters of different races as director of teaching and learning I believe in important skill we teach our students is the ability to think critically stakeholder group and the people strongly about this as well as this has been articulated as an essential success factor to our educational
178and that is the ability to learn how to learn one practice in teaching our students this important skill is and practice to understand different perspectives different perspectives that are probably going to differ from our own if we are not able to afford our students the opportunity to learn from read about discuss and share different viewpoints in the Germantown School District so that they become productive in a diverse workplace and be civically engaged I question our purpose as a public Institution at this time I asked Mr Whitehead teacher at Germantown High School to share yet his perspective all right 10 o'clock am I the closer I wish okay uh John Whitehead social studies teacher uh seven years now at Germantown High School several days ago I was asked to report on how critical race Theory appears
179in our curriculum the following is my response which I have been asked to read for you today the best way that I can articulate a response to the critical race Theory Board action is to try to assess what we are talking about when we talk about critical race Theory as you've heard the term originates among legal scholars in the 1970s and 80s these Scholars are raising concerns that the American criminal justice system was struggling to recognize and deal with the reality of unequal treatment of demographic groups because our legal principles are rooted in Enlightenment era ideas focused on the individual in terms of Rights Liberties and protections what to do about this situation how the American legal system should or should not respond to these challenges is still a subject of great debate at highest
180levels of legal Academia needless to say this original concept of critical race theory is well beyond what is taught in K-12 education with the exception of an AP course I guess this term or similar terms have been adapted over the years to identify a willingness to examine how the development of racist ideas and discrimination have impacted outcomes in many aspects of American society historically and up to the present day as you've heard many of our speak to disallow this exploration would present a stunted grossly incomplete interpretation of history that serves to deny the lived realities of millions of human beings including those that you've heard from tonight such a ban robs our students of essential understandings about the world that they live in today there are already countless stories of individuals whose ignorance on the
181topic of race has caused them great difficulty and embarrassment we should work to ensure that our students do not unwittingly join these unfortunate ranks furthermore based on board members comments in the ad hoc curriculum meeting and the Board of Education meeting on April 12th I think another term excuse me I think another interpretation of the term critical race Theory needs to be addressed and that's one that we've heard a lot tonight as well there are politically motivated efforts to create a culture War wedge issue out of this term expanding its definition to include any idea or language that can be fear-mongered for political purposes from this view virtually any discussion of race or class-based discrimination or unequal outcomes could be slandered as Marxist and yes I wrote that before tonight suggesting illegitimacy or bad intent
182this is an old dishonest political tactic from what should be a bygone era McCarthyism is not the tradition Wisconsin should aspire to as a teacher of history and applied sociology I make careful choices about presenting historical content ideas and perspectives in all three of my courses for the seven years I have been here I have included many lessons that discuss race social class corresponding events outcomes debates disagreements from the old regime of the French bourbon Kings to 1930s redlining and housing segregation to Modern racial disparities in the criminal justice system these are the realities of the world that a good social studies education prepares students to confront so to answer the question of where critical race Theory appears in our content it depends on which of the above definitions we are talking about since I
183do not teach at a law school I do not teach actual critical race Theory that is also incidentally why the actual phrase has never come up in my teaching and likely never will I do teach about race and about social class since these are real social constructs that impact our history and present-day Society here we are to not do so would be malpractice on the part of any social studies educator in summary I must express my frustration the members of the board have inserted without cause a hyper partisan dog whistle political fight into the administration of our schools I work very hard as a teacher on these subjects to deliver accurate content and a fair honest presentation of instead of doing that I am now spending my time in energy responding to this income comprehend
184thank you are there any questions for myself or Mrs O'Brien all right uh topic on the table is critical race Theory and again I I I I welcome the conversation I learned a lot uh and for that I'm better because of that I think we're all better because of that because it's 10 15 almost and we're still here because we're all very passionate about uh educating our kids which is a good thing and I would welcome a conversation with you after this maybe tomorrow you're you're wonderful you're wonderful so uh get the conversation going I would like to make a motion but I'd like to make a few comments first if I could um it's been a rough night um I've been deeply saddened by what's going on in the Germantown Community for several months
185if not probably the last year the amount of divisiveness the misinformation the people attacking each other people trying to destroy people's lives and families to me it's been very disturbing and I would say most of this happens on social media it got to the point where I am no longer on social media at all I have no interest in degrading to that level and having those kind of conversations I concern I mean you can't even go on the next door app and see people have a decent conversation it becomes neighbors telling on neighbors and talking about how bad everybody is it's very frustrating for me we've been having a hard time in this community and I hope that we can do something I'm not sure how our kids all get along when we see the
186adults in this community that can't get along I find that troubling and I hope that things begin to change I talked to Brad earlier today and I guess my biggest hope is that this is all just covet fatigue and we're all just so burnt out so stressed out that once this you know Mass ban is lifted once we can get out in public that hopefully we can all get back to being good neighbors and getting along I've been in Germantown for almost 30 years I think the community is one of the best I've ever seen and I've traveled around the country and seen a lot of different places my neighbors have been some of the most kind generous people I've ever met in my life I think there's a lot of good in this community
187we need to really work to keep that good and not divide this community I do believe that there are people that want to divide this country that want the race is divided I think there are people that have bad motives and I think we hear that in what some people consider critical race Theory and what other people consider critical race Theory perception is reality that's the fact if you have a different perception of something that is your reality and there's not a damn thing I can do about it we need to come together and have a common conversation and be able to come together and talk the same language to be able to understand each other to boil will walk a mile on each other's shoes I think Martin Luther King got it right but
188some people would say that you're racist for thinking that I have a problem with that as well we really need to strive to do better and I think this community if any Community can do it ought to be able to do it but it's going to take a lot of hard work we have a lot of work to do I'm I guess you can tell I'm frustrated I'm passionate um we probably made a bad decision we made a rash decision and for that I apologize I tried to tap the brakes last time we needed to have a bigger conversation and I'm thankful for everybody that came tonight and spoke it took a lot of Bravery to get up in front of this group and say your mind say your peace and say your story and
189I appreciate all of you for doing that that is that is where we need to start but we have a long way to go and I hope we can all hold hands give each other a hug tonight and move forward that's what I'm hoping for so having said that I moved to rescind the previous motion regarding CRT from the April 12th board meeting and begin a district-wide review of policy 2240 controversial issues in the classroom and also to include policy 5780 which includes parental consent and I would also like to include the ace Committee involved in our curriculum building for race we need to have critical conversations about race but we don't necessarily have to use the way critical race theory is to be an abused in certain areas I think we can make this
190work I think Germantown is capable of it I think this community is ready for it and I think it's time we get started do we have a second second do we have discussion that you're not happy with them they teach the critical marks of theory they teach the critical disability feminist Theory because they've been doing it for 10 years but only one theory was banned use our children and how that might affect us okay we have to fight for our kids whatever it is what we have to do it within all my mind we are marked with them in political no matter all the theories fans and not just the one so these are people in all the lines and we hear you too you'll find that nobody on that aids committee was in an
191altercation with anyone on those Facebook pages we know that right we are here for all our students your students with all the other ones and working out that you allow us to continue to work for its equity for all our students all of them what's up well this has been one heck of a first day on the job thank you one of the big things that I I'm a big believer in is process in transparency and in some cases I'm going to assume that we as the board need to take immediate action or at least action in such a way that has to move swiftly I think this is the perfect example of something that needs to go through a process whichever way we go and so ultimately what what I'm going to take away
192from this is that something like this topic something like topics that we will have to address in the future we need to take a process with it if it doesn't require immediate action let's talk about it let's make it known and wait another board meeting to do something with it I think we've all learned something I've been getting your emails the last week or so whether it be to my personal or my my school district email I've read every single one of them I haven't responded to any because today's technically my first day but I've read every single one of them I put them in the appropriate folder I've written notes I've taken under consideration many things that's been said but that I think is something that we need to consider going forward is do
193we really need to make a decision tonight and we all need to be comfortable enough to say wait a second I'm not ready and we have to put ourselves out there and we would all probably hope that the community gives us some Grace in that regard thank you further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say aye aye opposed opposed okay that motion passes um one note yeah right I just want to follow up with something I've been on the curriculum committee for several years now I don't know exactly how long and I've also been on this board for almost the better part of a decade I think going forward we really need to look at each other and assume positive intent I don't think the board made a decision last week that disparaged
194anybody or that we wanted to disparage anybody or that we wanted to exclude anyone this board has never made a decision like that ever so going forward again both sizing to look at the other side and say assume positive intent unless you could prove otherwise assume positive intent that they're trying to do the right thing for the kids I think everybody wants to do the right thing for these kids all of our kids across the board I've been working um I'm working with Brenda and I think I can go back to 2015 when we had our board or our our Summit in Germantown talking about education and we began having a conversation about what education should look like in Germantown and I don't think race ever came up in that and maybe it should have
195but what we were trying to do is come up with what do our kids what do we want for our kids to get out of an education and we actually had students in the room at the time we drafted a statement at the end of that which I think everyone agreed on and everyone thought was a good idea and this is what it says how do we Inspire every student to success the Germantown school district will be in the business of cultivating the whole child we will identify students passions and meaningfully co-create opportunities for students to pursue these passions from these experience they will develop their strengths in order for them to reach their fullest potential and become productive members of an ever-changing world I don't think you can say it any better than that
196we need that for every one of our kids let's fight for that let's make that happen we want kids that are problem solvers that are collaborators we want kids that are good communicators that are creative we want logical thinkers we want kids that can think for themselves we want them to know how to think not what to think we want them to explore their passions we want them to be self-reliant Seekers of knowledge with a growth mindset something we've been working really hard on lately trying to develop kids so that you may not have it right now but you'll get it you'll get there keep trying that's a growth mindset so that's all I have to say thank you further you may I just want to make it clear that in no way 81 almost
197but I can study for myself anything that I need to address that I have not contacted contact even with my or even when he was at MacArthur that everyone on that staff treated me with respect I have to let him know that there has not been one call that I have made to one teacher whether it's academic or whether it was something personal that everyone at that high school on the administrative staff contacted me back appropriately and we have handled it accordingly so my concern is simply education I am going to always stand on it without education there is nothing that you can do your disciplinary actions hold no ground because I can't hold the held accountable for something I didn't know so what I want to make sure you notice that if if we
198can make a common ground to not be so far left and I'd be so far right that we don't understand Ms Grant you're you're wonderful thank you [Applause] as a follow-up to that fret and I we sat down with I mentioned this in the in the conference room with two of the three girls that were involved in the incident back in February when they shared with us that they don't feel safe they don't feel comfortable that's wrong and we're doing a disservice to our black and brown kids when they don't feel safe they're not learning and we're failing failing as a school as a community and that's wrong and we need to fix it and I I love your motion on critical race Theory I love it um it's it's a journey we're going to
199get there we're not going to get there tomorrow but I I see good intent in everything I'm a half full guy and what happened here tonight moved the discussion forward 20 times and that's a good thing so thank you for being here so any further comments on critical race okay in the back um did you want to say something sir could you come into the microphone so we could everyone could hear announce ment one is teaching CEO the way you would teach the way the way you would teach something else like the Battle of Waterloo or the 30 years war or or some other historical event teach its features and teach what it is and have a test on it that's one aspect the other aspect is to take CRT and Infuse it into the
200entire system of the school in every grade and throughout every class and every in a systematic way and I think I I don't think I know a lot of people here we're discussing one and other people were discussing the other you talked about banning theories you teach this and that the other Theory yeah so it's so in terms of perhaps teaching this because it is a social event these days sure fine teach it but let's not Infuse it all the way through and I think a lot of people were hearing one thing and moving to the other position am I making any sense so I think that needs to be clarified for everyone yeah in my comments before the public before the two and a half hours of public comments tonight uh which I I
201welcome I said later in the board meeting Mr staussen will provide us a report on how and why CRT is used within the Germantown School District and that information will both surprise and Enlighten everyone on both sides of the discussion we just heard tonight it's not happening what you're saying I feel comfortable that whatever we come up with partnering with the ace committee partnering with people that know it more we will find the right solution for it okay but there are schools where criters one one week out of every month I understand and that's I understand okay so there are two groups there okay that's all thank you Mike well I was the loan to Center on this and I have zero tolerance for racism I really do um I wrote something in an email
202that I feel was used against me but I'm fairly comfortable admitting to it I grew up in Milwaukee and I grew up in poverty I actually did and I didn't know it because I always had shoes on my feet and food on the table you know so uh there's other white people that I work with I work with a very diverse Workforce but I compare notes with other people other white people and there's other guys that I work with that also grew up in poverty and their story is the same they didn't know it you know so I think I had less clothes in high school high school was a tough time I was made fun of because you know because of the clothes I wore it was it was difficult so I can relate
203and don't howl at me I can relate to a lot of things that the people of color are saying in this room my my experience my experiences similar in many events um well let me let me let me see a little more [Music] you know and start telling them that [Music] going through you don't do that with anybody else coming through a business down you don't need to do it well I'm not I'm not doing that and you know I had race racial slurs yelled at me in high school also and I mentioned it two weeks ago uh at the meeting there's the m word there's the c word and there's the the H word uh it's a few years ago but it did happen and all right excuse me excuse me can we let
204uh Mr lowspeak yeah yeah just let them let them talk and then we'll come back just just let me do that and understand that my true your true and everybody's truth is their truth not to be disrespectful I'm not going to do this week and I hope he doesn't detained so this is the problem where not we're so far here that nobody wants to come to the country and that's hurting like I am a product of the south in the 70s my God the stories I could tell y'all but I also have fight and I wouldn't want to live a lot of me got to our kids if we're the example we're family we gotta help understand how you both sides we can't remember don't minimize the black experience oh man I I wasn't yeah
205I'm not trying to minimize anybody I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to stir the pot either I'm just telling you so like so please continue Mike okay thank you you know so so the question was asked about being pulled over by the police I work on my own cars I drive old cars because I work on them they're Rusty I probably have the rustiest truck out in the lot right now so I'm working late One Night in Mequon I leave Sunday night at 9 00 pm from work and a Mequon cop gets behind me and pulls me over because I looked like I was at a place in Mequon or at least my vehicle did you know and and it's it's bothered me since it's happened it's happened to me I was pulled over
206because I was driving an old clunker in Mequon and I didn't appreciate it at all I really didn't but any anyway it's not about me I just wanted to say something uh I'd like to thank Miss Peterson I don't know if she's still here I don't think she is she kind of Vindicated me because I actually had read a lot of material before the two weeks ago event where CRT was banned and it's on record I mentioned that some of this started in the 90s in Madison Wisconsin and you know I'm thinking like why why does this stuff always have to happen in Wisconsin and then Madison on top of it but uh the rest rest of the story is is um the board knows I believe in life liberty and the pursuit of happiness
207the difficult part is Liberty nobody knows what it means it's not just some fancy word Liberty means your ability and my ability to live as free people without interference from the government okay so when I'm looking at the websites both um my nose getting you're right both uh Ford CRT and against CRT websites that support CRT never mention individual liberty never do and websites that do not support CRT mention Liberty but they also mention Marxism the Marxist Scholars have never gone away they tried to divide the United States into economic classes but that wasn't working in the United States so they chose to to divide the people along racial lines instead through CRT Marxism has failed wherever it has been tried the USSR Cambodia North Korea Cuba Venezuela just to name a few now what
208I would like is I'm a student of U.S history and also believe it or not a student of Marxism I've studied both but not in high school later in life in the last 20 years some very knowledgeable about our founding and our framing of our constitution I'm also very knowledgeable about Marxism and because I work in a international company I've gotten to compare notes with people that have worked in other countries around the world and and there's some really bad things going on in other countries so I I don't this meeting's running late but I work with three individuals I I work with individuals it has a lot to do with your kids I've I've okay I'll put it real simply I've asked graduates of the Germantown school system what's the difference between North Korea
209and South Korea they can't answer the question so it tells me history is not being taught properly I ask them if they know what's going on in Venezuela can I all right all right please may I finish it's in a year one year so they have no idea I work with three men that escaped Venezuela in the last 10 years and their stories are not pretty so when I say I don't want Marxism taught through CRT in the school that's what I mean I'm I'm protecting your students right yeah I am all right please please anything else Mike I I think that's it okay thank you any other comments on CRT okay moving on to item eight finance committee discussion action to approve purchases over fifteen thousand technology leases Mike great well you think that
210was exciting now we're going to talk about Finance seriously so all right yeah make sure the finance committee meeting some of you were here early so you know that uh the first thing we did was approve vouchers the next thing we talked about uh was Michael Clark with Robert W Barrett spoke and he talked to us about ways that we can't quite do today but ways of saving money on interest and other ways to uh let's say uh keep more state aid coming in you know based on how we've financed the debt I'm getting the yes here from Brittany so I'm doing well and then um item board agenda item 80. was uh we've got a couple of motions with positive recommendations and it's for technology leases and that sort of thing so if you
211want to give us the cliff notes version that would be fine sure thank you I brought you to the board uh requesting 18 emotions about the recommendations uh Ford two options for two different leases one for Chromebooks and one for iPads option A for both of them was for fair market value leases option b was for dollar buyout leases which I recommended to the board they do option b as the dollar buyout leases bring us greater flexibility in the future in order to utilize the devices longer than just nearly the least cycle um so yeah okay so we bring forward to the Board of Education with a positive recommendation to lease purchase Chromebooks option b in an amount not to exceed 168 748.48 and finance the lease purchase through a four-year lease arrangement with U.S
212Bank as presented and charged the appropriate capitalization and Lease accounts in the general fund thank you that's coming the board of the positive recommendation doesn't require a second to be a discussion Brittany I just want to make sure this is something that you have budgeted yes we do have a budget is as it's a decrease from what we have spent in the past years excellent thank you and I believe you mentioned year over year it's 91 000 or 97 000 Plus so the the year over year that is expiring was 97 000 uh proposed year over year is just over eighty one thousand got it okay thank you further comments discussion seeing none all those in favor please say aye aye opposed that motion carries okay and there's one more uh we bring forward to
213the Board of Education with a positive recommendation to lease purchase iPads option p in an amount not to exceed sixty three thousand four hundred dollars and finance the lease purchased through a four-year lease arrangement with Apple financing as presented and charged to the appropriate capitalization and Lease accounts in the general fund thank you that too is coming to board with a positive recommendation do we have discussion seeing none all those in favor please say aye aye opposed that motion carries all right uh next thing we talked about was um the 2021 budget and uh Esser and cares funding update um I think that's probably good enough unless you have a Cliffs you're you're good and then the last thing we talked about was the merch variance report so this report this report is I think
214especially important for Brittany because she's in her her first year with the school district and it kind of shows the board and also Brittany she's doing the work as to where we are you know in the budget with respect did I get that out correctly so if you got anything else otherwise that was it okay thank you questions comments for Mike okay moving on to item nine Transportation committee discussion action to proof 2021 2022 Transportation options Mr staussman yes I'm gonna hand that over to uh Miss altadorf and Mr I'll actually take it first first off Colleen from RightWay is here and Brittany our finance director also beer just to go back a little bit on the timeline this Transportation committee met November 2nd 2020 um in the meeting at the meeting the the committee
215was actually presented with uh future Transportation routes and at that time RightWay was asked to come up with um options that could maximize our bus routes and ridership for the 2021 and 2022 school year we also met on February 22nd uh 2021 and March 22nd of 2021 to review those multiple options at goldwright Ray brought forward there's a little confusion out there that there were four options that were actually given to us but RightWay pulled one of them off the table and we were only with three the committee myself Amanda and Mike reviewed those and we had lengthy discussions we also taped those meetings so that the transparency would be there for the public to see and I said that several times in that meeting that we would be doing what would be in the
216best interest for the students before making any decisions um so evaluating all those things whether you want to take it as a issue to fix the budget it's also to look at to maximize dollars and ridership in the best way that we can do it I understand there's start times that are an issue there's other things in there but we also moved it forward to give the administration business uh Finance director the opportunity to talk to Administration and all the key players involved to make sure that whatever option that we did move forward with would actually work and it would have the least impact on everybody involved so with that being said we moved to approve option number three and I'll stop there and I'll let Brittany go on a little bit with a little
217bit of discussion if she has anything or Colleen would like to share from right way before we bring a positive recommendation to the board start and then Colleen can try there's any questions that that she can help with so at the March Transportation committee the committee approved the concept of maximizing our transportation they did not approve start and end times of school for the 21-22 school year so the concept which is one of the options that they were given was to combined the middle school and the high school routes and then stagger the transportation which would then affect the certain end times so start and end times were not discussed at that it was just the concept of and then we were given the time between the March meeting and tonight to develop start and
218end time options we I put together three different options and then Mr Southland and I went to the sites and we talked to the principals that would have been affected mostly which is the Middle School County Line and MacArthur those principals then went to their staff or their leadership team and um I guess gave them the different options and got feedback from them and that's how I developed my q a that was in the packet today so we did get feedback from staff on how the changes would have affect the staff the staff's family and our students and then we also worked with the park and rec department to see how it would affect after school activities as well as before and after school child care and they also worked with the food service department
219in regards to if this would affect feeding breakfast for our elementary students So the plan tonight was that I was going to go through the three different options I was going to go through the Q a that you have in your packet and then if we have some discussion and then the recommendation would come to the to the board for approval so I wanted to start out with our start and end times in our total instructional minutes so the goal was to not affect our instructional minutes that's my the main goal I didn't want to decrease instructional minutes too much or increase instructional minutes too much um so on the first page in your packet and I don't oh it's up over there so you can kind of see it our current start and end
220times so I'm just going to briefly go through these the high school starts at 7 20. the middle school starts at 7 39 and all of our Elementary start at 8 50. the middle school starts at 7 39. that's the first time the students have to be in their seats 739 per the principal s the start Palace 7 39. the current end times are 235 at the high school 304 at the middle school and 344 at the elementary schools so then I'll go through the the options that we developed the first option is to switch in which the middle school would start earlier than high school so the middle school would start at 7 10 and the high school would start at 7 20. um with this option the middle school would lose 10 minutes
221of instruction and then the high school currently their load time from when they the bell rings to get onto the bus and the bus leaves is eight minutes and I'm going to tell you Colleen can vouch for this every minute counts in the transportation world so when I talk about eight minutes or six minutes on loading time it's it's a big deal so um So currently it takes the high school eight minutes to load in every other grade level six minutes to load so again that will come into effect later on um and then there were um I guess times in which the bus needed to travel obviously between um start and end times take into cons from one school to pick up children and then get to another school the second option is again
222the middle school starting first at the 710 option they will only lose eight minutes of instructional time um with this option and then instead of the 12 minutes that that they learn and lose in the first one option three is the option that I'm bringing to the board for recommendation this is gives the least change for students and still maximizes our bus routes first the high school would start at 7 10 so that is a change of 10 minutes from what they're starting today the middle school would start at 7 20 which is a 19 minute change from what they're starting today to be able to do this I'm going to explain the word in a three-tiered process so the buses would go out and they'd pick up the middle school and high school students
223they would then go drop off the high school students and then go to the middle school and drop those students off they then would go out and they'd pick up the County Line Elementary students they and then they dropped them off at school and then they go back out again and they'd pick up the MacArthur students and then they drop them off at school so the first one is that the high school would start at 7 10 the middle school would start at 7 20. and then they would need time to go pick up the county line students so they'd start at 7 21 which is a 29 minute change they'd be starting 29 minutes earlier than they currently start today and then MacArthur would have to because they are the third tier start at
224906 which is a 16 minute later start then they start today foreign finish please thank you suggested end times would be again for the high school it would be 233 which is moving it back two minutes for the Middle School it would be 243 which is moving minute back 21 minutes and then County Line it's moving them back 23 minutes so their end time would be 3 21 and then MacArthur would be forward 22 minutes getting off of school at 406. um rock field and Amy Bell they're in the more rural areas so their start and end times would be the same back four minutes at the beginning starting at 8 46 and then moving forward with this option um ending at 3 46. the difference with this option is that you're adding six minutes
225onto the elementary schools day I'm currently they're at six hours and 54 minutes and this option would extend them to seven hours the middle school would only be losing two minutes of instructional time and the high school would gain eight minutes of instructional time with this option so all these options are brought to the staff for their input and then their input was given back to me and that's how I created the question and answers and I can go through those if you want otherwise you can ask questions and I'd be able to respond to your questions okay why don't you talk a little bit about the cost savings what the approach what the logic was behind this process sure so one of the so at at the beginning of this we when I started
226here one of the things that was brought to my attention is the amount of students that are riding the buses and we have seven students on a bus we have 15 students on a bus so one of the things that I was tasked to look at is maximizing our bus routes which means putting more students on the bus which in turn decreased costs So currently we have 40 buses that go out and pick our students up and drop them off at their locations with this option we'd reduce seven buses or what the bus World calls seven pieces of equipment um by completing the option that was brought to you today so that's 272 thousand dollars approximately that we would Reduce by moving forward with this thank you We're not gonna put audio just wait right
227any further comments an ought to touch the subject um you know I've been on the board for five years we've been looking at all different things I mean our boss expenses are one of the highest out of everything other than teachers and labor um you know I thought to several friends from the disrepid in this district for 27 years and I feel like the kids who are friends of mine who have gone to this District that back in the day you know one of the concerns that I hear from parents from emails is about how middle school and high school on the bus it was that way way back I don't see a problem with it I don't see anything happening with it this is just something that we would be putting together and trying
228and if it doesn't work we explore other options it's not just about budget it's about saving money on all kinds of things when we're looking at all every option of okay sure yeah privacy and wild MacArthur and County Line are going on we already have buses that don't have that level Speedway um yeah we just started what happens when a bus goes down our buses later we have snow and in our respects everybody for your coveted situations where they can put words in the beginning of the year so that that question is is what putting kids in the dark at almost five o'clock and they hit traffic they hit anything dinner she she referenced Amy Bell in Rockfield schools are are getting out are getting home around 4 45 4 50. so with this option
229MacArthur would also be getting home the same time as those other students currently there are there around 4 30. their latest time it would be 4 45 which is consistent with two of our other elementary schools and foreign and I believe there are students that are currently at Amy Bell and Rockfield that get dropped off at 6 A.M I mean we have we have before school that starts at six a.m and after school that ends at 6 a.m or 6 p.m sure what was your comment I'm sorry I think that was one of the questions then you wouldn't then the you'd still have to have them running at the same time so right now right but then the elementary would get home twice through the length earlier I mean that's bleeding like this so with
230that with your internet was talking about is modifying the bell times and keeping the Middle School and keeping the middle in order to adjust the bell times your reality of it is in order to find 30. and we needed that was not um you know a fact it was an action that we came up with but now they're very easy yes one more comment that we've got to move on so pardon yes go ahead so really that's it so our current first student is getting picked up now no so the first person now that you combined will still be 605. now if a family would have a high school kid and currently the high school kid would leave at 605 and then another bus would come around and then Middle School because now they're both
231you know thank you the first pick up the time for the middle school was 40. my question is why is this even an option to be doing this work I don't understand why this is what you're telling us is that all about this is about that of all the actions but this option is not you know option for our children and I don't really care why are we able to look for it now are we not able to afford to know and that's the problem then we have bigger bigger power spending our money and not how we need to be trans fer their kids which is working right now at the proper time thank you okay pretty but that's all I have unless you want me to go through the Q a but we've discussed
232most of the questions yeah I think Mr Borden has addressed the I guess cost benefit of coming even starting this conversation it just didn't make sense in the transportation committee did a wonderful job on coming with some options um an Administration is reporting out on it um Ray do you want to comment anymore you know even before covet I mean we had very few students on buses and that's one of the reasons this came together we even uh brought in another individual from right away from another school district area and asked what they felt would be the most appropriate and options and this these are the options that were presented to us and looking at them option three is the best I mean I get it I totally understand where the parents are coming from
233but you know if you don't do this now you know costs are still going to keep going up and this is something that was addressed when I first got on the board was we people are talking about the bus is not being utilized to the full capacity so we started addressing it when I took over the transportation committee we started looking into it and this is all came up no we nope that's all we were providing non-mandatory policy yeah there was notice yeah there was there was there was that yes all right we we really do have to move forward even though I like the interaction going on with the uh the audience we really have to move forward so I think one thing that might help is so we're voting on the recommendation for
234option three assuming it passes what's the next step what happens you know well right way would move forward with the option um there would be letters going out there would be transparency on everything that we've discussed looking at all the options that are going to happen and we can go I mean when people say there's no transparency I understand that people have lives and I understand that people have things I have a life I have things outside this board and I'm going to tell you right now these are notices that are public and this started back in November this discussion for for people to come out now and say that they were blindsided by this or they didn't know about this this is It's absurd you know this discussion has been going on for over
235five years and finally the board has taken action the transportation committee has taken action as of November so these things have been put out there people have asked us to start videotaping our meetings so that they know the transparities going on we did it it's on there it's online sorry Mr Mr style salon Teresa I'm going to tell you right now at the meeting on March 22nd before we even went any further with this I made it very clear at that meeting publicly on tape that this stuff will be posted so that everything can be seen for all of our people that are in this so everything has been on there Mr stausland option three any concerns referencing that from a curriculum standpoint from a learning standpoint no I mean the I think the the
236concerns that people would have and are shared with both Brittany and I are just on some of the early pickups for some kids that aren't used to it middle school kids and then um the the 906 start puts puts the MacArthur kids out after four o'clock and I would say those are the the two biggest concerns our instructional minutes are the are the same we know that we've read the research on 8 30 being the optimal start time for for middle school high school kids that's pretty rare for any school district unfortunately some of that stuff was driven by after school athletics and sports and multiple teams but um you know I think if the feedback we received from the the principles is it's doable like we can make it work so that's why three
237of the of the three options was selected or that that was the principal's opinion of that of the three options that would work the best thank you okay further discussion on this say no no entertain a motion make a motion to prove option number three as presented to us to adjust the start and end time starting in the 2021-2022 school year in direct correlation with the transportation route changes second thank you discussion yeah what was the final dollar savings for this one 272 000. what was it 272 000 yeah that's a big number right um I'm going to post this one I I like the idea of saving money I think that's great um having a few bus routes can help I don't have a problem with the middle school or in the high schoolers
238being together I think we can work that out um the start times and the stop times are not necessarily a problem except that I think we're going the wrong direction I think you should be flipping it the other way where the Elementary starts before the middle school and the high school I think that's better for our kids um for their education experience and statistics back that up and and I and I can tell you that probably almost every school district in the state of Wisconsin has tried to do that and again and we've spoke and we agree that the the little ones are up early and the the older ones are sleeping later but again it it it's in the effects the wiaa you know has certain games that are starting earlier some some schools
239are traveling an hour and a half to go to their WIA games um if the wiaa would make all their um their games starting at 9 00 PM maybe that would be an option again there's Co-op students that that put these kids getting pulled out of school anyway aren't these kids getting pulled out of school to go to the game anyway no not all of them sometimes sometimes sometimes and then there's students that have that work after school so that's my opinion further discussion and one last thing too is I I think I'm going with a nay on this one just as much as I believe me as much as I appreciate the cost savings I think they're this can potentially create some issues for our families uh in that in this regard so okay
240further discussion saying none all those in favor please say aye aye opposed yeah okay that motion passes moving on to item 10 new business discussion possible action regarding return to school report and summer school masks Mr stausland yep and I'll I'll try to um I'll try to flip through this pretty quick um just I have always show you the data with two-week data where we're at with Burden rate in the community from Colgate Germantown Jackson Richfield you can see that we've gone up a little bit in the Colgate area a little bit in the Jackson and Richfield and Germantown seem to be about the same um just update on on where we're at within the school elementary cases are not as frequent as they were a couple weeks ago Middle School cases continue to occur
241high schools had an increase in cases this past week and more students in quarantine becoming positive and um the the story is they've there's been large Gatherings of high school kids after hours um and it's um and they're seeing lots of kids at those events becoming positive um so they're not getting positive at while they're at school um and I think those kids that are becoming that are quarantined and then become positive were also at the same same that's well there's there's not um necessarily a proof but we didn't have that before we didn't have when kids were quarantined we're getting positive but because they're saying that they were at the same events so there's a there's a correlation doesn't mean it's proof though okay um the we're working with a outside Clinic um those
242uh to bring to any any staff who has not received the vaccine or if 16 years and older would have an opportunity to get the vaccine if they want it's nothing obviously we make all right um though I do love the interaction please let Mr stause the finish and then I'll open 80 not too like two weeks ago with at least one shot um and then um when I meet with the area superintendents twice a week and we meet with the health department as well at the same time several of the schools in the area of the 13 superintendents are on the call are talking about summer school and masks if required not required I put it on as an agenda item and some places are going mask optional with that other ones are doing
243what they call masks of motion so if kids are walking down the Halls if they're in a closed space and they're moving that they would have the mask summer summer school is to me a time to try this we've got windows can be open kids can be outside um families can still choose if they want their child to wear wear a mask so that's that's kind of what I'm hearing from the other schools as well and so I that's why I put it on as a possible agenda item so that's all I have okay and thank you and Mike I'd like to make a motion unless someone has something written up already nope go ahead okay I moved to make wearing of masks optional in the school district starting with summer school in June of
2442021 this also includes the 2021-20 starting in September okay do a second second discussion okay I would I will say something Mass are very uh heated topic and I don't like wearing masks I can't stand it I think everybody here heard my comments his last board meeting there was an appetite at that time to go optional for the rest of the school year at least for our K-5 kiddos which I support that's not to say that it can't come back on a board agenda if one of the if one of my colleagues wants to put it on the agenda but for right now why we can't vote on that tonight is getting back to the conversation that we had on CRT you know our attorneys said even though those motions were legal he is recommending
245that we provide more clarity and be more specific in terms of what's going to be discussed I.E summer school Mass so it's even though the return to school report is very Broad and this board has taken action in the past on topics that weren't identified on the agenda we learn our lesson or I learned my lesson everything going forward will be very specific in terms of what the board will talk about and what the board will take action on all right pardon yeah no I understand I understand yeah okay any further discussion okay sir I like this I think what Mr Southland said about being outdoors and being have windows open I think this is a good a good good motion to be able to give people that light at the end of the tunnel
246that Master are going to come off we're going to have the opportunity for kids not to have to wear them I think that'll give people some hope you know I encourage it and before we move on to this topic Tammy last two weeks ago we were 89 for inoculations for staff where are we at now right now yeah I agree okay and one last question I'm I'm more for my curiosity uh the state has opened it up for 16 and above where are we at in terms of our kids getting vaccines and I know we can't ask that because of HIPAA but what are you saying you're talking with your colleagues we actually put out what do you really know already it ran quite a while that we put something out to the parents of
247the high school student they have since they can't get vaccinated please send a picture of the fully vaccinated part to make it easier we're not asking for it for one shot or anything for both shop if you're getting a must a day and day that sounds like I'm loving you um so that way we have both days right there because you will can be something quarantine except two weeks pass upside you know so that's a yes for the full part so she has a record of all of that um I do know that it's a lot more than I can think of subpoena but that's the answer is great thank you further discussion on this seeing none all those in favor yes experience if you make it optional then there will be education for those
248who opt to where and accept and no discrimination but I would recommend that we would you wouldn't see some Type of you know I don't think these masks will ever go away I don't I mean I mean within a school district will but but you're going to see that there's going to be some people that just don't have the Comfort level the appetite if they want to wear their mask that's okay that's okay right yep bingo right I agree thank you for the discussion Mike yeah I think um in other countries we've seen people wearing masks if they have a cold or that sort of thing and that wasn't very common in the United States I think after covid if somebody does decide to go to work with a cold or something I'm guessing they'll
249probably wear a mask now so I think it's maybe a good thing that we picked up from other more heavily populated countries like China perhaps you know where you would see people in the news wearing you know masks sometimes if they had a condition where they didn't want to spread it to others so I think it's all good optional it increases our Liberty and our freedom to have the option of wearing them versus being forced further discussion no yeah okay that's true yeah yeah you're right we're gonna have to change that only for summer school well Kate well I'll rescind the good catch thank you I'll resend the uh 2021-2022 school year and uh I suggest we put that on the agenda for next time I I actually requested the agenda for uh 2021-2022 school
250year and it got changed to uh summer school you know so okay we'll pick it up next time all right further discussion see none all those in favor please say aye aye aye that motion carries okay moving on to Item B discussion action to approve English investigations course Mr stausel hand it over to Mrs O'Brien if she's awake so this investigation's course the proposal was taken to the ad hoc curriculum committee earlier in uh in March and then also to the last board meeting so I do have uh Mrs Jordan Ely here who is the English teacher and department chair at Germantown High School to present the English investigations course thank you hi um [Music] [Laughter] no I I have no questions I I read the background and I think it's great it's pretty cool
251that you're doing that very exciting right I would like to thank you for getting this it's information ahead of time so we had a month to digest it and look at it and we think you got a great program here and we we welcome it for yeah oh just talk to me no no no after the board meeting okay let's finish the board meeting and then we could talk or you could send me an email all right further discussion comments or entertain a motion no two two three school year second right discussion no discussion all those in favor please say aye aye opposed that motion carries thank you so much good job congrats uh uh discussion and action to approve Staffing plans yes Mr Nowak is going to close out our evening with the Staffing
252plans you don't have that much um um a little bit different than previous years um in this particular plan the bottom plan is what was proposed at this time last year trying prior to knowing about a virtual option the middle plan is our staffing that includes the virtual sections that we have and then the top is the proposed plan for next year which would not include those virtual teachers as we've said in in previous years when we've done this this is a look at where we're at right now this changes it's a snapshot of where we are at the current current moment and the important point is that this plan proceeds two things one contracts that will go out May 15th and then actually prior to that the need for any potential layoff I'll talk
253about that as we discuss budget at a different time but as you look at this particular or plan the important Point really is in the the bottom paragraph whereas this current year we're at 310.7 FTE next year calls for 305.7 and from that there's reductions listed at each of the grade levels or each of the you know the grade levels meaning elementary middle and high um as we look at it um the the reductions include one FTE at the elementary level nearly two ftes at KMS and 1.5 ftes at ghs now when you say 1.5 you might ask well what does that mean that couldn't that likely means two teachers but then we would backfill with overloads and situations and where we arrive is at 1.5 of those reductions those are people who are on
254limited term contracts or part-time contracts and would not recover would not require um a preliminary notice of layoff so that's where we're at at this point we'll also talk at a different time about other areas in terms of AIDS and custodial and those kinds of things but for for right now it's really important that we're talking about the teacher-sightedness and FTE thank you entertain a motion motion to prove the Staffing plan for the 2021-2022 school year second discussion seeing none all those in favor please say aye aye aye opposed that motion passes we are now on to item oh holy kind of 11. a closed session the Board of Education will enter in a motion to convene in closed session persuade two sections 1985 one e f and g Wisconsin statutes as appropriate to discuss
255Gea negotiations pra and Personnel issues the board may take action in closed session if necessary or appropriate or entertain a motion to reconvene into Open Session take further action if necessary and appropriate and or to entertain a motion to adjourn the meaning entertain a motion and make a motion and move into closed session pursuance to the reasons stated and also we have a half hour before that we've done campaign okay Medved yes both yes important yes Bernie asks an excuse Pollock yes Brian I'm in prison you know we are adjourned thank you for coming in