001clock is off y That's wrong it's 5:30 okay okay we're going to go ahead and get started um it is 5:30 on January or February 20th 2025 we're meeting in the professional development and technology training center boardroom and we are going to um well first of all welcome all of you here it's so great to have a big audience to uh be here at our meeting today and we appreciate you um being here we'll start with roll call and we'll begin with you Randall Randall Bagley School Board Brian Chambers board member Todd mcke superintendent Roger puls for board member Kathy christansen board member Alan grunig board member Jeff Nelson board member Jared black business administrator and Terry rhods board member is ill tonight so I'm uh subbing for her um we will begin first of
002all with our Pledge of Allegiance and our Pledge of Allegiance is going to be uh led by Knox Nelson he is a first grader at nible elementary and following Knox then uh Jared Black will give us our mission statement we're so happy to have you be here Knox right up there at the front so people can see you please stand ready begin I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under Gods indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you noox our mission is to educate students for success in a changing world and thank you Jared so this is always our favorite part of our board meetings is when we have our um recognitions and tonight we have four teachers and
003one principle that we would like to recogn recognize we are going to start out first of all with uh Nicole Ericson she's a fourth grade teacher at Heritage and principal Lance Robbins is going to do the recognition I about walked away I know okay all right well good evening everyone um if you're okay with this I'm going to read it so I don't get sidetracked is that okay all right it is truly an honor to stand before you tonight to recognize and celebrate Heritage Elementary School's teacher of the year Nicole Erikson this award is a testament to her dedication passion and unwavering commitment to her students and to our school Community from the moment Nicole stepped into the classroom it was evident that she was born to teach her work goes far beyond lesson plans
004grading papers and preparing for standardized tests Nicole has a gift for connection she Fosters a love for learning in her students builds their confidence and encourages them to reach their full potential the impact she has on her students is profound and her passion for education is truly inspiring every day Nicole brings energy enthusiasm and Innovation into her classroom she creates a welcoming environment where students feel seen heard and even supported whether she's helping a struggling student grasp a challenging concept sparking curiosity through creative lessons or simply offering a kind word of encouragement she is making a difference in the lives of every child she teaches I also want to take a moment to acknowledge our incredible team of teachers at Heritage Elementary School the work they do is not easy but it's meaningful and together
005we create a nurturing and enriching space for our students parents thank you for entrusting us with your children and for being valuable Partners in their education and to our students you are the heart of our school Your Enthusiasm and determination Inspire us all it is because of you that teachers like Nicole Erikson find so much joy and fulfillment in what she does Nicole on behalf of the entire Heritage Elementary Community we are so proud to honor you tonight you exemplify what it means to be an outstanding educator and we are grateful for everything you do may you continue to inspire guide and uplift our students for many years to come congratulations than thank you I forgot to mention that Nicole is fourth grade teacher at nibble uh next we would like to recognize Rebecca tholen
006she's a first grade teacher at Wellsville Elementary and principal Glenn Harris will do the presentation will you take that it's an honor to be here tonight to recognize Becky tholen as our uh teacher of the year at Wellsville Elementary when she's in trouble we call her Rebecca uh Becky actually started at our school seven or eight years ago as a pair professional uh she was a resource PA professional and part of her responsibilities then was to to help some resource students in the regular classroom and there she got to see uh teachers doing their thing and she loved how they interacted with the kids and the relationship they developed um she loved the magic that they had when they taught the kids and that made her want to become a teacher so she went back
007to school online and after several years of hard work she was able to complete her degree and become licensed and and we are fortunate enough uh to be able to hire her and she has um been wonderful in fact La this is her third year teaching first grade and last year she was nominated by a parent uh to receed the bill lindow award for new teachers and the committee was impressed with what she had done for that child of that parent and uh she was one of the ones who were able to be recognized uh with that award for new teachers for the district and and I knew Bill lindow and he'd be proud uh to be able to associate with you as an educator uh and now her peers uh at our school our
008staff have chosen her to represent us as our our teacher of the year and I just want to share a few things with you that some of them wrote about her Becky is incredible she's so kind and caring with her students she has great classroom management and engagement strategies Becky does the most fun and rewarding reinforces for her students each student knows that she cares deeply about them Becky is also a great team member she is awesome to work with she's accommodating approachable and willing to do whatever it takes for students to learn and grow in her class if you spend one minute in her room you'll see what she should be the teacher of the year indeed she is thanks Becky for all that you do for our kids congratulations Vicki uh next we
009have Julie Miner she's a first grade teacher at River Heights and uh her recognition will be presented by principal Stacy Williamson there you Go's isn't she just the cutest this is also my favorite night it is so much fun every time that we get to do this I can speak for all of the principles that we really wish we could do this for all of our people because they work so hard but I have to say first of all when we started going for nominations this time all of them that kept rubbling in was Julie Miner Julie Miner Julie and like paragraphs about why I'm like I think we're seeing a pattern here I think they they like to tell jie thank you for all that you do for the school the two main things
010I wanted to say before I read a couple of my favorite things that they said about you is that the first thing is is from the get-go when I've come when I came three years too to River Heights and started going into her classroom to do observations I struggle taking notes CU I am so engaged and she teaches six-year-olds I don't know that that tells about me I'm engaged with like phonics or what but she really is that kind of teacher that she just pulls you into her instruction and the way that she's working with these Littles and her positive reinforcement I mean I was just going you are just a master at this and I'm just from the get-go I have so much fun when I get to come watch you teach and that's
011I'm sure one of the reasons why everybody's like yeah she needs to be recognized but I think that really what has drawn our team really wanting to recognize Julie this year is how much she's been helping everybody with technology and her willingness to be a mentor so she picked up the ball last year saying I'm happy to be as part of the technology team go to the trainings and we got a ton of te TVs and apples and iPads and she has spent so much time willingly helping everybody get to know how to use this new technology and make it seem easy and she really has this demeanor in this way of making people feel like she really doesn't care she loves to help you she loves to spend 10 15 20 million hours extra
012just for you she makes people feel that way and then just a couple weeks ago we had not had somebody sign up yet to be a part of the mentor fellowship program and she came to me and said I could do that can I do that I'm like sure let's add that to your reading endorsement too but yeah why not but that's who she is she wants to help she wants to help her kids she wants to help the community she wants to help her fellow teachers she just genuinely does so I can read all of these because they have all these fun things but I do want to share my favorite ones she's always happy and positive yeah very much all the time and so easy to get along with her dedication and enthusiasm
013are truly inspiring and she puts her all into everything she does she's literally the most selfless person she truly cares about her students and us as teachers she took on a huge extra load as a good bul of the teachers got new TVs and she just took care of everything and always made you feel like she had just the time for each of us I love this one my girls are so excited to go to school because of her what a blessing it is to know your kids are in good hands while they're away from home she's so willing to answer your questions and go out of her way to make you sure you feel confident she's just an incredible people teacher she care truly cares about each of her students knows them all so
014well she's patient kind and loving she has a warm and inviting personality in classroom all the students love to be around her she's extremely kind to her colleagues as well she genuinely cares and listen to each person she is friendly and happy and fun Julie is a confidant for many of us and I'm so thankful for that Julie is extremely deserving of this award I could not agree more congratulations congratulations Julie um okay our last teacher for this evening is Andrea Nelson she is a first grade teacher at nibbi elementary and her recognition will be presented by principal Cindy King we have a secretary who's so good at making people feel appreciated did a great job so I first met Andrea H how many years ago a long time ago at White Pine Middle School
015when she was a student and I was a secretary um she exemplifies what it is to be a really amazing teacher she teaches first grade she came to us um two and a half years ago from box elder District saw the light came on over we're glad to have her here with us but she has been a wonderful first grade teacher her classroom in environment is so engaging and she has actually had visits from District teams that have brought teachers into watch and to see how she handles things and how she manages them first grade teachers are a rare breed and obviously we've had several recognized tonight because it is a big job and she manages them and they love her in fact when we announced the teacher of the year I was in a
016third grade classroom and one little girl stood up and said yes cuz that was her first grade teacher she was so excited about it um but she also in addition to her ability to really connect with students um she's a wonderful teammate and she stepped right in and made a difference right off the bat she serves on our PLC team and attended um the trainings we went to in Salt Lake last year and has continued to help bring that process into our school and make it really meaningful and helpful she supports our school community and has served as volunteered last year to step in as our um socialist committee chairman and the team decided to do something fun to spruce up January and so they did an underground spirit week which I know some other
017schools have done that where you do something different each day and the students have to try to figure out what's going on well the first day it was just wear nibbly Elementary shirts and everybody the kids were like oh that's fun Tuesday it with socks with sandals and a few of the students were like what's going on but the third day we all wore black or monochromatic and there were five teachers in black and one of the fifth graders said okay why is everybody wearing black but it was so fun to see them have something to look forward to in the middle of January and the fourth day was the highlight of the week because we were all told to dress like Greg Greg's our custodian he has a mustache and he always wears a
018hat and we have one male teacher but all the rest of the women as well as as Taylor came with hats and mustaches on and the highlight of the day was when Greg showed up dressed as our secretary he had the most fun that day and so about 9:10 I was walking in the halls and I heard Greg come to the office please 50 women raced to the office it was a real highlight and she helped to facilitate that she just brings that to our staff and everyone is there recommended her that was what they said she just is amazing at everything she does and I am proud to present to you Andrea nson as our teacher of the year thank you congratulations Andrea um we all know that it takes a lot of support
019from family and other um staff and teacher members in the school to help all of our teachers be successful and so we would like to recognize all of the family members and the teachers and staff members who are here to tonight to support these teachers would you please stand thank you so much it really does take a village um to help public education do its job and we do appreciate all of our great teachers especially the ones that were recognized tonight and all of you who are supporting them um our principal who is going to be recognized tonight is unable to make it so we are going to excuse him and put him on next month's agenda and so for all of you who are here for the recognitions we love to have you stay
020but uh this is a really great time to leave if you would like to if you would like to to get home what did you say to me just to recognize the family you did that that was yeah okay uh we're going to go ahead and move forward and tonight we are just really happy to um have uh principal Cindy let me get to my agenda here Cindy King do a presentation on nibbly Elementary School and so Cindy you can go ahead and get things set up and then we'll go ahead and begin when you are ready thank you for thank you so much for this opportunity to tell you a little bit about the best elementary school in the district nibble Elementary I'm it was fun for me to work on this project I
021was a little intimidated I've got to admit because I wanted to make sure that it was good that it was interesting that it was engaging and that it also shared really valuable information but I wanted it to look nice so I reached out to one of my teachers who's really good with creative presentations and Andrea was happy to help so thank you Andrea for being willing to help with this as well it was appropriate that she was here tonight for her presentation so our school was opened in 1999 and it is a true neighborhood walking school we don't have any buses except for our special needs students um it is a welcoming and caring environment with a staff that's been there a long time in fact we have two of our employees who started when
022the school opened in 1999 our secretary who is truly as I said the life of our school and takes such good care of all of us and then our um computer specialist both of them have been there since 1999 because it is a special place and I feel so grateful to be able to be there our mission statement is that nibbi Elementary School Fosters an Engaged and inclusive Learning Community where all students and staff are empowered to reach their full potential Guided by our core values of being kind respectful accountable positive and extraordinary we nurture a love of learning and cultivate critical thinking skills as we prepare students for success in a changing world and you'll see on our next slide you under if you noticed I said we are kind respectful accountable positive people
023and extraordinary our school motto is nibbly Nighthawks are brave they say that each morning on Mondays when we do our announcements and we start and end each assembly with that as well and the students really truly do exemplify those traits and recognize that that's an important part of being a nibbly Nighthawk our demographics include 516 students from prek to sixth grade 33% economically disadvantaged with 20% students with disabilities we have an essential elements classroom inclusion preschool as well as many sped and um language support speech students that receive that and we have 5% English language Learners an interesting thing about about nibi is that um they have been through some really hard things in 2020 they lost their beloved principal to co and had a new principal that came in for a year another one
024that was there for just a year before another opportunity was presented to them and then I came in this is my third year there this school has been through a lot and they have heart and they stick together and they've worked to grow and overcome those hardships and continue to help students be successful some of the opportunities our faculty and staff present and have available we have professional learning communities which I referenced with um Andrea as one of those teachers that lead that PLC team it's truly a groundup process where they work together to meet those needs as they are presented from the teachers themselves we have a te teacher assistance and guidance team which provides support for teachers and students a positive behavior intervention and support team with schoolwide incentive programs and support for
025student behaviors and intervention monthly faculty meetings where we focus on a collaborative and inclusive work environment we have a great socials committee which I shared a little bit about some of the fun things they do to help bring that energy and morale to our staff and we have a licensed clinical social worker who is a our school counselor and supports the PBIS efforts as well as student social and emotional learning and needs well Co was famous for for ruining a lot of things in school one of those was academic achievement and our team has worked hard to help that Pro that progression grow if you'll notice the longitudinal data on the left language arts was at 52 53 55 and this year is at six was at 61% at the end of last year so
026really great growth in language arts math 52 54 60 64 science 62 63 60 and 64 that continual progress on growth which last year our language arts growth was 7 and a half% increase and math and science both showed a 4 and a half% increase and that is contributed directly to the teachers who work so hard to meet the students needs and the tier two program that we have in our district that provides that classroom support for teachers to help their students be successful ful and really meet the needs of all of the Learners in their room um the student progress toward early lit literacy is another really um proud achievement that we have seen it has uh we have 69.3% of our students who are reading on grade level which is a 10.9% increase
027from our 23 score and then with students making typical or better progress that is at 76 with a 5% increase the proficiency and the continued efforts that they have put into their work is really paying off those teachers have not given up and they keep working and it is truly an honor to be able to work with them um we've also focused on attendance that's another thing that after Co felt like it really was a a difficult thing to get parents back on board and to help them realize that regular attendance does matter so in 2021 we were at 70% um the 22 23 year at 72% and last year we were able to raise that rate to 90% And that's a difficult thing because it's something that's pretty much out of our control it's
028a parent um support but by making an inclusive environment at school we think it helps students feel comfortable and want to be there and so we try to do that this year we have a couple of new attendance incentives that have been fun we do a class popcorn party when the class reaches their goal of 90% attendance as well as 90% on time because really being on time is a big part of it because when students are late they miss key instruction right at the beginning of the day and we've we get a big bag of popcorn at least and we take cups and they have a popcorn party with their class when they see us the counselor and I deliver that when we walk in with with popcorn big smiles it's always a positive
029thing and we also have a bimonthly do not miss school recognition where we pull a report that shows every student that had perfect attendance for the previous two weeks and then we randomly selct 12 of them and they get a donnut so I take those around with a cart and when I come up they know who they are that's announced it our in our announcements on Monday morning and then they receive that personal recognition when we started it we had them come to the office and we decided no let's let the principal take it to them so I make that trip on those every other Monday and show up with their donuts and I got lots of volunteers to take it that didn't really earn it but they're excited they love that um we do
030have student leadership opportunities which I love the kindness crew is a service committee our counselor and librarian chair that committee they did a they do a diaper Drive each year and a food drive and they look for opportunities to serve at the end of the year they do a kindness Carnival which all of the students attend as part of their prep to be able to have a party and celebrate being kind accountable respectful all of the things in our motto and we also have a student council which seres to be a leadership team they do the announcements on Monday mornings and are able to lead and be examples to their classmates and that's really positive as well our steam night our literacy night our brave positive behavior and incentives assembly each month focuses on one
031of those traits from our brave motto and each teacher selects selects two students who exemplifies the modotto for that week that or the month that we were working on whether it's being kind or respectful and they come up and their teacher says why they received the award their parents are invited to come and support them it's been a very positive thing and last year we had our first annual PTA Hawk walk which we did um a run out in front of our school they ran leps in our Circle Drive we love that Splash from Ridgeline came over and supported them we also have a staff member that works with the Star Wars cosplay and she brought some of her Star Wars friends we had some Stormtroopers and the live ing R2D2 robot that was was
032roboting around and we had also Mason fliff who showed up from the Utah State agie team and ran with the kids it was a really positive experience for all of those who were there and we do have an amazingly supportive and collaborative Community environment with nibi City we have three crossing guards provided by our city to help support our walking school and the crossing guards are part of our school team we love them and they're so kind to our students and then we provide Sports Fields as well as our building for the annual princess pageant we have an amazing PTA as you saw from our our hww walk and terrific parent support even from those who aren't members of PTA who volunteer and support and help in the classrooms and our school Community Council is
033the best I've seen wonderful people we have a playground that's being updated this year and there's a piece of the playground that wasn't um being represented in that because it was kind of an add-on later and our school Community Council stepped in and said hey let's look at ways to finish that and include that in the project so they're working to raise money to help support and do that being an educator is hard work and we can't do it on our own it takes amazing teachers a great community and terrific students and parents nibbly Nighthawks are brave go Nighthawks uh thank you principal King thank you do you have any questions or anything that's just what I was going to ask any comments from the board or questions yeah I have one I I really
034like what you're doing to incentivize the attendance have you seen progress in that is you you seen well I can tell you there are not near as many kids lined up at the front office in the morning I've noticed that um we're still collecting data from this year but we have seen an enthusiasm for it in fact when we go into the classroom the like we said the students are excited they're seeing and I think a lot of times making it visible and making them aware is half the battle so yeah we we've been pleased we don't have the numbers for it but we've seen the the benefits great presentation thank you thank you so much thank you for your great leadership principal king um it was a great presentation and fun to see all
035the success you're having with some of the struggles that have occurred because of Co and um our district is working so hard to try and get everything back up to where it used to be and uh it's awesome to see some of these schools actually surpassing what it was before um we are going to go ahead uh now and have our public input um just a couple of guidelines that I'd like to go over before we do have the the public input we have uh 13 people who would like to have some public input today and so because of that we are going to um have um a a limit of 2 minutes for each person and everyone who does want to or H is planning to needs to be signed up on this list
036so make sure that if you are planning to speak that you get signed up on this list um Personnel comments are prohibited and uh just so everyone who presents tonight knows this meeting is being recorded so what you say and how you say it is going to be recorded for anyone who is watching now or later and we just ask that you please be respectful we do appreciate those who come for P public input and um we'll go ahead and begin with uh Katie child will you just make sure the microphone is on when you it takes a couple of seconds for it to turn on Tess I think it's you go my name is Katie child I am the mother of four daughters all of whom uh have attended or currently attend uh School
037in the cash County School District I speak tonight in support of keeping the Kite Runner on our high school library shelves I have personally read The Kite Runner by khed hosini it is a profound and moving narrative that explores themes of friendship betrayal Redemption and the complex dynamics of familiar relationships against the backdrop of a changing Afghanistan its poignant storytelling provides students with insights into cultural and historical contexts that are essential for fostering empathy and understanding in an otherwise largely homogeneous Valley the book encourages critical thinking about moral dilemmas and personal responsibility while addressing important social issues such as class disparity the impact of War and the importance of forgiveness I am not one who gives cart blong to every book on a school library shelf I have personally app pinned to school librarians that
038some books are simply not appropriate for placement there but I strongly Advocate to keep The Kite Runner on school library shelves allowing Educators to offer students a valuable opportunity to engage with powerful themes that resonate across cultures and generations ultimately enriching their educational experience thank you for your time and service on behalf of our children thank you Katie uh one thing I forgot to mention is we're going to ask that during the public input there is no applause that we just respectfully listen and um we'll go ahead with uh that in mind and uh Julie an duffen is up next okay my name is Julian Duffin I am the mother of um kids who same have either been in the school district or are currently in the cash County School District and I know you've
039heard from me before so I will keep a brief but I I feel pretty strongly about these things so I'll just keep it to three points right here um education is vital to diversity and growth and in this everchanging world of diversity and hard things it's our responsibility to help our children to understand and to prepare um learning can foster sympathy Y and compassion but ignorance can also lead to hate and fear and pain and books that address tough issues are tools for processing understanding addressing problems and having valuable discussions my second point is that the the content um for which most of these books are being questioned is not even what the book is about um most of them are about overcoming and conquering hard situations it's about hope hope in this case with
040The Kite Runner it's about the mistakes that we make and about um you know opportunities for redemption and forgiveness all of these things which our children need to learn um hard things happen in life all the time and sometimes right even around us and avoiding content in a book doesn't make it go away in real life it uh leaves students ill-prepared for these real life situations and third and the one that I feel most strongly about is that once you start down this path path of restricting certain criteria where do you stop like what education will be lost and what is next and what will be left Banning books deny students the opportunity to learn question and grow so please allow each of us to make the choices for ourselves rather than taking the choice
041away from everyone I am all about protecting children but I believe in protecting them through education and choices and discussions um um education is power and it's about empowering our students thank you thank you Julian uh next we would like to hear from Alan Miller editing on the way because it says three minutes and we changed that but I'll try to keep it short um so yeah my name is Alan Miller I have kids in the district I recently listened to The Kite Runner and would like to voice my support for the committee's decision to retain the book but even more I would like to comment on some concerns I have about the review process first transparency I'm here tonight because I only heard through the grape fine that this was the book being discussed
042on the agenda however the agenda does not specify what book has been appealed agendas for school board meetings are not available well in advance and early information is incomplete only yesterday did I find a version where the information and recommended action for the sensitive materials appeal had been added how can members of the community stay informed on what books are being reviewed and the outcomes of each step for instance if a b if a book were be to were to be removed as the outcome of a challenge I would not be able to appeal it in the required time frame because that information isn't easily available second wasted time and resources the agenda lists the financial impact as not applicable but there are costs associated with this process both direct costs like purchasing copies of
043the book for review and stiens for teachers teachers serving on committees as well as indirect costs like time spent by District employees that should be spent on curriculum development and implementation there's lost opportunity cost here and the and the public deserves to know what it is third the added burden on teachers I come from a family of Educators my grandfather was the state superintendent of schools for the state of Utah my wife Mother's three siblings to sub in-laws and several ants are all teachers and you know what they talk about when they get together how difficult teaching is but it's not the kids it's the policies that constantly pull them away for f from focusing on their teaching in the classroom policies that create additional burden and under or that create additional burden I understand
044that as a school board you have a responsibility to the students of the district but you also are responsible for protecting the district's teachers and creating an environment where they can Thrive these are highly qualified professionals that are con constantly subjetive to subjected to questioning and unnecessary CR criticism I know state code stipulates much of this process but I beg of you to not go beyond these requirements for example in December's board meeting regarding an appeal there was a discussion around introducing a new process for parent consent and one of the board members suggested if you could please conclude okay this is the last part but suggested the Librarians could quote figure it out this might be well-intentioned commentary but it places additional burden also I've heard those who have submitted book challenges tell District
045employees that they will fight till the very end and they don't need to be constantly looking over their shoulder for somebody else to come out them so please do the best that you can to protect the District employees and teachers and Librarians so they can teach our kids thanks thank you Allan uh next we'd like to hear from Joy Lynn Gonzalez good evening my name is Joan Gonzales and while I am a teacher at Sky View High School tonight I stand in front of you with a parent of a freshman and a junior who attends Sky View sometimes people feel that my word as a parent should be disregarded because I am a teacher but I say my role as a parent supersedes anything I do during the day I want to teach and prepare
046my children to have empathy and engage in a world that is more diverse and complicated than I sometimes feel capable for preparing them for it's books like The Kite Runner that allows me to do that I want them to learn what real goodness looks like as khed hosi wrote in kitr runner I loved him because he was a good man maybe even a great man and this is what I want you to understand that good real good was born out of your father's remorse sometimes I think everything he did feeding the poor on the streets building the orphanage giving money to his friends in need it was all his way of redeeming himself and that is what true Redemption is this quote from the book is what I have conversations about with my children at
047home as a board you may be tempted to think well why don't we require parent permission to checking out these books or storing them in a separate SE section of the library which policy 4200 does allow but our Librarians are not some back alley pedlers of smut they shouldn't have to be uh they shouldn't have to be embarrassed or shame a student for wanting to read a book my children have the right to choose this book to read if they want to without any shame or stigma attached to it I want to thank you for your Comm committed and dedication to our students to providing diverse and educationally sound materials to them I appreciate that thank you thank you joyin uh next on the list is Leo Steel hello I'm Leo still and today I
048would like to talk to you and speak on the matter of The Kite Runner why this book is facing controversy is because it discusses sexual violence against a child in no way does it promote sex yes this book discusses some things that are hard to read but I would like to emphasize you that no one is being forced to read it and like any other book you can always skip forward a couple Pages or just close it it has already gone through review and has been proven to be safe in our schools enforcing it to be reviewed again or taking it away from our libraries it is disrespecting all the time people have already put in to make our librar safe this book has much literary value something that I found very interesting is the
049main character's relationship with his father and and how he was always trying to just gain his father's love and how hard he had to work for it this book has taught me many valuable lessons it mainly taught me about how something the main character did to harm Hassan his servant and how he had to cope with it for the rest of his life these are very valuable lessons on both regret and Humanity in general another really big part of this book was the amount of discrimination that took place discrimination sadly is something that we still see today and this book does a great way of showing what happens in the real world even right now even if I don't see it every day in Cash Valley it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist and in
050showing it it helps us better understand what's going on around the world thank you thank you Leo um next we have Christina White hi I'm the mother of seven children I consider myself to be fairly conservative I homeschool until High School um and my two oldest are at Ridgeline um I fully understand the desire to control a learning environment and I understand that libraries have limited space so choosing books that are impactful is important I'm here tonight because the appeal to ban The Kite Runner this book does address some very difficult topics like sexual assault racism and Su suicidal EDI however I feel the overarching message of the book is the damage of bullying and the price one pays if they're too cowardly to stand up to it considering that our children live in a
051world that is Rife with bullying and sexual assault I would rather have a book like this on our high school libraries in our high school libraries to provoke thought and encourage children to learn from a fictional character's mistake I know there are plenty of brain candy but less substantial books in the library and I would hate for a book like this uh to be removed to make more space for that my niece and Alaska recently read the book Speak which is about a girl that is raped and stops talking until her friend begins to date the boy who raped her one reason speak was banned was because it made young men feel uncomfortable but the point of that book is that sexual assault should make us feel uncomfortable and we need to be able to
052talk about it in order to prevent it an Franks the Diary of a young girl was banned because it was so sad and I've heard that people have wanted ban Mouse literature about slavery sexual assault the Holocaust racism and bullying will be uncomfortable but we are not doing our children any favors if we Shield them from engaging with these challenging topics we need to allow books that have difficult topics so that we can have a dialogue let's remember that many books we now consider Classics were once banned Moby Dick Lord of the Rings Shakespeare's 12th night and the Harry Potter series just to name a few I was a history major in college and I cannot think of a single instance in history where Banning books has led to greater good thank you Christina uh
053next we'll hear from Amy White my name is Amy way and I a sophomore at Ridgeline high school as a student at Ridgeline the effects of book Banning affect me and my peers I believe that the kit Runner is a powerful book displaying the effects of cowardice and cruelty far too often students sit back and do nothing as others are bullied belittled and ostracized they choose cowardice over courage because they have not been exposed to the effect their actions have on others but Sheltering children from the sobering facts of The Kite Runner does nothing to help them open their eyes to the sad yet true realities of the world World sexual assault War racism and social inequalities are real even today books give us a chance to see the hardships of the world without having
054to personally experience them if we ban books with hard facts we blind ourselves with false pretenses of peace and prosperity in the world we live in this is why I believe the kayot runnner should be allowed to remain in our high school libraries thank you thank you Amy Taylor Freeman is next hello and my name is Taylor Freeman and I'm a freshman at Ridgeline House High School over the past week I've actually read the kit Runner this is not a book about sexual violence and terrorism like some say but it a book about real life and how bad things happen and how we get through them people say this book should be banned because it has sexual violence can lead to terrorism promotes Islam but it's none of those things it's a book about love
055and proving that hard things cannot Define Us in the book Hassan gets sexually abused but he doesn't let him drag him down later in his life he has a wife and child and was content he didn't let his horrible experience bring him down this book may have terrorism and seual abuse but it's only because it's naker view of Afghanistan we can't blind ourselves to think these things aren't happening in the world we need these things in books so we can prepare better prepare for the future The Kite Runner is a book about Redemption and overcoming guilt Amir feels guilt his entire life and only when he confronts his fears and the PE the person who sexually abused hisan did he feel healed and at peace only when we confront things can we overcome and be
056better and The Kite Runner is a perfect example of that and I think it should be not banned because it has more good than bad things in it thank you very much thank you Taylor uh next is Cordelia McNab hi I'm Kad McNab I'm a junior at Ridgeline high school and I have talked to you guys before however I thought it was important to come today CU I have personally read The Kite Runner it was one of our choice books in my AP Literature class however our teacher did warn us about the difficult subjects in it and we were not forced to read it in any way now what I got out of this is it does handle difficult subjects and I have talked to my peers and numerous people people in my class about
057this book however it handles it with as much care as possible and while it is incredibly sad it shows impactful story and shows the numerous topics we have discussed about Afghanistan throughout the years generational trauma and how to speak out against injustices and deal with past actions that is what I took away from this book while it does feature these difficult topics that is not the themes and what you get out of it and if we had banned this book I would have never had the opportunity to read it I had not even heard of this book prior to this year but this was what allowed me to read probably one of my favorite books of my life because of the impact it has had and the difficult subject it confronts and takes away good
058lessons thank you thank you Cordelia uh next up is Pamela budge I want to read the definition of objective sensitive material in Utah law objective sensitive material means an instructional material that constitutes pornographic or indecent material under the non discretionary standards of one human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal or acts of human masturbation or sexual intercourse or sodomy or fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or pubic region I will not read the definition of sodomy here but if you read this book you will know what that entails sodomy is one of the objective sensitive non-discretionary standards which the law states that materials which contain it must be removed from K through 12 schools not discretionary means something that is not left to personal choice the law does not specify
059how detailed a description of sodomy can be it just says sodomy which can be found on page 75 of this book I know there are a lot of arguments that this book is only in high schools that this book is used in AP classes with the option of students choosing not to read it in the 10 years that I have been watching the state legislature I have heard the argument from time to time that whatever they're trying to do is fine because there's a way to opt out of it or to opt in but here's the thing if whatever that thing they're that they're trying to do is bad it does not automatically become good because it's optional instead of mandatory just because student a student can choose not to read it for AP or
060to walk past it in the school library does not mean that the book should should be there in the first place because the law does not allow it to be that is where our FOC focus should be not on whether other school districts have kept it and not on the book's literary value which the book certainly has value I know because I have read it as an adult but that one objective violation makes the point irrelevant when we are considering it for minors thank you thank you p uh next we'll hear from Hillary patus I'm really sorry I probably Massac massacred your last name a thank you all right I am here to refute the decision made by the Review Committee again and their decision to allow a book with pornographic content specifically The Kite
061Runner to remain in our schools they have been given clear and precise example of its explicit and indecent content as defined by Utah law and made a decision again that shows a lack of respect for the law the students and the parents step two in the sensitive materials process lies an objective sensitive materials review this is to read over the content of concern to determine if it contains a description or depiction of one human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal two acts of human masturbation sexual intercourse or sodomy and three fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or pubic region if the answer is yes to any of the above the book is to remain inaccessible to students The Kite Runner violated number two four times and number three two times
062an argument I heard repeatedly for allowing explicit materials in our schools in a previous school board meeting meeting was that quote difficult subjects need to be discussed in a safe environment assuming the school allowing porn in the safe environment for our children and home and parents are not anyways that argument sidesteps the whole issue at hand and is completely irrelevant difficult or complex subjects can be presented objectively or puant pornography is the puant representation of sexuality it's intended to appeal to the reader sensuality not his reason this has nothing to do with the objective existence of difficult decisions to be made about difficult subjects the point is that you are introducing sexual matters in a titillating manner pornography engages the reader's imagination and brain so as to immediately create shame and confusion in an innocent
063mind and a desire to either hide or Justify their mental participation in it it overwhelms the senses before one can possibly engage in rational thought especially in an innocent conclud a person who is sexually aroused seldom pauses to think critically about what they are reading the whole pornographic appeal is that it bypasses reason and goes straight to arousal and children should not be burdened to control senses that even adult brains and bodies fail to restrain thank you I was told I had three minutes earlier so that's what I prepared thank you thank you Hillary uh next uh we'll hear from Darby Holmes hello um I am so grateful for everyone who is willing to come out and discuss this topic together even if we um might see things differently um I think the importance as
064was stated earlier um the importance of community and parents and Educators working together for the welfare of our kids is is crucial for a community um and I'm genuinely grateful for our school district and those working within it I have met many of you personally and I truly do believe that there's no one uh trying to do anything that harms our kids intentionally we all have different backgrounds and experiences that shape our opinions um for the students in the room I just wanted to clarify something um I just want to make sure that we understand that trying to curate a age appropriate collection for a certain group is not book Banning it is just that it's curating an age appropriate collection um for something to actually be banned you wouldn't be able to find the
065book anywhere in the United States um so just to clarify that that for people to step up and say hey I think this might not be appropriate for the age group that it's in that's not book Banning um parents can still have their children read these books and it's interesting cuz I come to I come to a completely different conclusion with choice I feel like my choice is being taken away when book is in the schools and I might not be aware that my child is reading it um so it's just interesting that sometimes we see the same thing differently um I do believe that under state law that this book does violate the bright line Rule and when you're talking about this book if you could explain to us how the rape scene doesn't
066violate what's been mentioned with the genitals in the state of arousal and things like that um and not necessarily talking time is up if you could thank you um and not necessarily discussing like nudity or whether it's arousing that's what was discussed last time and that's not really what the bright line rle is um so maybe if that could just be discussed a little bit of how it doesn't um fall under that thank you thank you Darby okay our final uh person tonight is Karina Richardson okay so I have a lot of respect for educators I was a teacher myself before I uh became a mother and even so I have the belief that parents rights to censor what their children are allowed to be exposed to trumps teachers or Librarians or administrators rights to
067choose what children their children are exposed to um and um I understand that kids of all diversities find themselves in all different kinds of books and stories but I just want the right as a parent to determine the different between diverse and harmful uh what has literary value and what doesn't we could debate that all night but in the end each parent should have the right to decide that for their children they're still minors uh us as parents are responsible for their safety and well-being even more than teachers and administrators are therefore we need to have the right to decide what's harmful to them or not and we can't do that if other adults who have been entrusted with our children take that away from us and make those judgment calls in our place so
068all I ask is that sensitive materials be restricted in some way like parental consent to check out certain books um and for the term sensitive materials to be determined by the law that has already been written on that subject as has been mentioned tonight thank you thank you Karina we appreciate all of the comments that have been um made this evening on both sides of the issue but I just want to say how much I personally appreciate the civility um of this meeting tonight I think that everyone here has agreeably disagreed and um you don't often see that in the world of controversy so thank you so much for your Civility and for your kindness and for your respect as you have presented the different opinions that you have tonight we're going to go ahead
069and uh move forward with our agenda and um next we have our consent agenda I will take a motion for the consent agenda to be approved I move that we approve the consent agenda I second it okay it has been moved and seconded any discussion on any of the items on the consent agenda all right we'll go ahead and uh vote electronically voting is closed and the motion to approve the consent agenda passes unanimously thank you um just so everyone understands on our consent agenda we have items that we have um had presentations on on and we've had materials that we have read about them and um and then um we're just voting on them too approve our uh our dis disagree with them okay next we have our action agenda and um on the
070agenda is the approval of the CTE Health Science curriculum and I will take a um motion for the um um approval of the CTE Health Science curriculum I move that we approve the um CTE Health Science curriculum I second any discussion on this subject and once again so everyone knows we've had um a lot of presentation and materials that we've read over before this meeting tonight so we'll go ahead and vote electronically voting is closed and the motion to approve the recommended CTE Health Science curriculum passes unanimously okay thank you Jared okay and so the item on our agenda now that um most of you are interested in is the sensitive materials appeal um what we are going to do on this is I would like to just uh read a statement from Terry roads
071our president um we will take a motion to either uphold or um let me think what the other word is here hang on or reverse the appeal and um after the motion um I'll take a second on it and then we'll have discussion with uh the board okay so this is uh the information that uh Terry has left in the past two weeks board members have been hard at work considering all aspects of the appeal filed against the decisions of the two two committees that reviewed the Kite Runner one or more of us have reviewed Utah state code regarding sensitive materials reviewed the objective committee summary reviewed the subjective committee um oh sorry re reviewed the objective committee summary reviewed the subjective Comm committee summary read the appeal submitted by Mrs purus close okay thanks
072um read the checklist documents submitted by each Committee Member read the book in its entirety interviewed committee members regarding their findings and decisions after our review we find that although sexual content is mentioned in the text it is not described or depicted in a way that violates Utah code 76-100 d227 there were two findings during the appeal process one the district failed to convene the objective Review Committee before the subjective Review Committee according to State School Board Rule and we recommend corrective action and two some parents felt pressure from the pro for excuse me from the professional Educators on the committee to retain the book yet through their own research elected to recommend retention of the book motion to uphold the decisions of the review committees or motion to reverse the decision of the re
073Review Committee will now be accepted by the board so I'll take a motion to either uphold the decision of the Review Committee or reverse the decision I'll make a motion to uphold the review committee's decision that I'll second it okay now that it has um been motioned and seconded um we can have our discussion on it and so um I'll just open this up to discussion by the board the board members on this matter so what would the corrective action look like for the not following the process like we should have um actually I'm not exactly sure what would the corrective we've already taken steps to make sure that going forward that we follow it to the team and that's being handled through our teaching and learning Department okay any other comments um I'll just
074share a few thoughts okay I think we know each other pretty well as board members but I don't know how much the community Community recognizes us as parents and grandparents who have had kids go through the system the school system in this opportunity we have as board members we get a chance to meet District members Librarians teachers who are part of this committee process we evaluate them we talk to them we get to know them these people like us care a lot about kids I find and they value very much the safety of our of our kids and so I've been impressed with the way in which the district has moved forward with these book reviews and I appreciate the good work that they do now in addition to that um as a parent and
075previously in employment working for an IT company that hosted millions of domains around the world um a lot of the challenges that we deal with as parents is trying to help our kids understand what to do with our smartphones and and internet and so some of these challenging things that we talk about in these books are really especially challenging in technology you know as I've studied the code specifically too and looked at these books and understood the context of the books one of the questions by uh one of the people who presented wanted us to maybe have a little more discussion about this like many of you I'm sure you've poured into this code to try to understand are we doing what the state asked us to do and I I believe that we are
076and I think the main issue here is that when we're looking at what's harmful for minors when we're looking at nudity and sexual conduct and sexual excitement it's important to read the rest of the of the a code that says when it taken as a whole appeals to the puant interest in sex of minors I don't believe that the content that is in the kite Runner um appeals to the puran interest in miners in addition taken as a whole does not have serious value for miners now as I've visited with some of the people who have reviewed this book that's the conclusion they came to as well I'm the first to be very protective with my kids and the things that they read or see the content that's in this book as well as the
077two previous ones that we looked at talk about really important issues of sexual abuse and we have a problem with sexual abuse in our country in our state and in our community and for people that don't recognize that go talk to capsa and go talk to the Children's Justice Center we have uh many uh reports of of sexual abuse these books while very challenging talk about those specific things and I think it's important for our kids with obviously parental uh instruction and support to talk through those things so my view as a board member as a dad and uh talking to teachers and understanding the district I'm grateful for the process that we've been through and completely uphold it and support it okay thank you um anyone else have a comment um one comment a
078couple comments or my thoughts on reading the book um uh like you Brian I felt that it was not pant puant uh it was maybe a fancy and uh violent but I I didn't think it had the the prant element in it and although the part there were parts in The Kite Runner that were hard to read and I did read the whole book this past week I do believe that it has serious literary artistic and um political value which is one of the uh requirements for keeping it um just some of my own personal thoughts I was an English teacher for 25 years years um in middle school and so some of my feelings and thoughts are probably based a little bit on the experience that I did have while I was teaching uh
079students but I I believe that reading good good books helped children grow develop empathy understand their place in life and gain important knowledge for how they want their world to function in the future and for me in reading this book I I thought that that it put across um some important ideas to the to students which is that ruling governments make a huge difference in how people are treated and valued and just because a tradition or a behavior is part of a community's culture doesn't mean that that tradition or behavior shouldn't be fixed and that they in reading the book might decide that they want to to become an advocate to fix those kind of problems as they get older so that's that's my opinion and I do agree that the committee did a good
080job in looking at this material and evaluating it and um I believe that this um book should be uh maintained anyone else I agree I I spent a few days reading the book this past week and I also taught children over the last years that came from places that saw this kind of a life I know there's things in there that we don't like our kids to see I don't want my grandkids to have to witness that but I think it's important that we teach our kids responsibility and they can make a decision and we as parents grandparents or teachers or whatever we need to instruct the kids to make good decisions for themselves and we need to show love for every nationality every group of kids that we come in contact with and adults
081because we do have a problem with recognizing that and showing respect for everyone and I support what we've decided here too anyone else okay we'll go ahead and vote electronically now just to be sure what are we voting on to um uphold the committee's decision voting is closed in the motion to uphold the decision of the review committees uh regarding the Kite Runner appeal passes unanimously okay thank you thank you board members and thank you all of our public for your input we appreciate it uh we will go ahead and move on to our reports agenda and uh we'll begin with our monthly financial report by Jared thank you so I've shared with the board a copy of our uh fin Financial reports completed for uh January for for the last month and uh in
082my uh narrative at the start I usually give an update on any audits we're participating in and just wanted to let you know that uh the one that we're actively participating in right now is the school construction audit that uh is a Statewide audit involving most if not all of the school districts in the state so we're supplying uh the information that that's being requested with that audit uh of course we're we're monitoring uh several legislative bills that that will be important to our uh School District Financial picture um as the session kind of takes shape so so that's a big part of what we're doing right now we're also doing a lot of preliminary work for the upcoming budget that we'll be putting together in April and May uh as well so just wanted
083to briefly comment on those and if there are any questions I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my ability any questions okay thank you Jared uh next uh are there any board member reports Todd I was just wondering if you had a chance to talk to the mayor of Hyde Park about the safe house not not yet I have a call into him but we have have not been able to connect but it's on our agenda we had an audit uh review committee meeting two weeks ago and the audit that has been uh being worked on has been reviewing the different high schools and um the costs and fees and Money Transfer with extracurricular activities Athletics things like that uh the report from our auditor was that the schools are doing an
084exceptional job no concerns no issues so it's great to hear that um we have um great financial secretaries or administrators in the schools that are managing these things really well so kudos to Jared and and the team uh they're doing a great job with that so I just want to report on that thank you Brian anyone else okay uh we will um not be having our board president report tonight so we will but she did want to let them know we we were not having the April meeting right oh yeah that was her note U oh I didn't even see that Roger can you tell us about that just I think the date was April 10th the April 10th study session would not be happening there would only be one meeting in April okay thank
085you for bringing that up and uh superintendent we'll have your report yes um couple of things for the board first uh I want to publicly thank uh Wayne ree uh jiren ganell and all of our team that are up bright and early um on these days when we potentially have weather uh they do an amazing job of trying to forecast uh the weather across this Valley um they're reaching out to the state county and City Road Cruise all before 5:00 a.m. to try to make a decision on what's best for our student students and our staff and so I'm really grateful for them and the efforts that they're putting in we don't always get it right we're not perfect but we certainly are always trying to do what's best uh for students and for staff
086uh second I want to inform the board that I I have approved uh three trips for students to travel out of state I've approved the north cash science trip to the Tetons um the Sky View High School FFA uh trip that I believe was actually last month um and Ridgeline High School cheer um will be traveling to California and then finally I just want to let the board make the board aware in our last meeting we discussed uh procedure for policy review um we have a a number of existing policies that we need to go through a review process on we will start that uh this next week we have a committee that a d diverse group from across the district trying to represent all employee groups schools um so forth that'll help us take
087a a fresh look at existing policy and make recommendations to the board and that's my report all right thank you superintendent um does anyone have anything else all right um thank you so much to the board appreciate all of the the work that you do there's a lot of behind the scenes excuse me there's a lot of behind the scenes work that um everyone is involved in in reading the materials and contacting people and listening to other uh folks's opinions on things and we really appreciate uh all that you do to help our our district be successful and so grateful for um superintendent and all of the District staff we have a wonderful district office full of a awesome Personnel who work really hard to make sure that our students are educated for success in
088a changing world and I think the other great thing about um our district besides our administrators teachers and um students is oh my gosh I forgot what it was that must be it that it was uh we have awesome teachers administrators parents and students so we're really lucky to live in an area where we have such awesome people that uh we're able to work with as we try to educate our students