BASS LAKE JOINT UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING - 8/16/2023

001[Music] thank you to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God um before we go any farther do I have all of the uh people that want to speak okay okay um who's our secretary and we're all here except for afternoon it's okay [Music] So Randy asked me the other day if I would be going to return home summer suitcases with you guys I think most of you have heard the story behind the solution cases but there are some people that maybe haven't seen which is quite a challenge for me to do but I am going to do it and I am going to ask Genie or Tara or somebody to share this presentation with you later if they haven't already that way you can go through and you can see the videos

002and the slides and things that I'm not showing you tonight [Applause] [Music] and she was injured on the job and could not work for a period of time so she decided to pursue a passion that she had had for quite a while she wanted to know why so many women and children were dying in childbirth in Africa and third world countries period but per se in Africa so she spent some time and went over to their clinics and what she discovered was it wasn't necessarily medical equipment or training people it was the lack of electricity and not electricity to run the equipment but electricity for light so there were women that were giving birth in the dark and if there's any type of complication or a C-section it was very very difficult for the doctors

003and a midwives to take care of them so she came back and explained this to her husband who is Hal Aronson and it turns out that he is an engineer and as they were discussing this problem he said why don't we build a stand-alone solar system it could travel with you on an airplane to Africa and that's how the solar suitcase was originally developed he developed it he built testing and stuff and she took the first one over it needed to be the size of a suit so that they could get it there so they got there they tried it out at a clinic and everybody was just enthralled with the suitcase everybody wanted one in all the clinics so they came back and that went on for a couple of years and they're supplying

004as much as they can it's all a non-profit so they let donations if anybody's interested in this project we hear about it um and they did that for a while and as she was over there doing this with the women and the children they realized that they had another big problem in Africa and that was the fact that the children in schools did not have electricity so one of the things that I showed one the the companies that they developed is a company called we share solar which is connected to the care solar which is the parent company we share solar provides these suitcases to provide electricity in the schools in Africa which we don't always understand because their system or their way of life is much different than ours so for instance there's a

005school over in Africa there's a field room for Deaf children and if you can imagine so these kids live at the school it's a boarding school and at night when the lights go out these children can't communicate with anybody they can't see the lights are out there is no electricity so that's one reason that the solar suitcases got started but it's much bigger than that so in Africa the school system the children don't just continue their public education they have to pass exams and tests to be able to continue their education and if they don't continue their education they are trapped into lifestyle lifestyle very poor and not being able to move ahead in life and not being able to help your family in any way so what the kids do because they don't have

006electricity at night they do have oil lamps which unfortunately are toxic and they they use them in very small areas that their homes are very small they're off they uh so what anyway with the children started to do is they started to travel to the big cities and they traveled to the big cities and the airports and they actually study at night so these are young people that are traveling many miles from The Villages are coming into the towns to study at night so that they're able to pass these exams so they can continue and improve their lifestyle and help their families um The Dangers as I'm sure you can imagine the dangers going back and forth between the villages is very dangerous in their country and especially for young ladies so we care solar

007wanted to help with that but they didn't want to just help they didn't want to just help by just sending suitcases over there they wanted to make an impact in the United States with our children also so what they did was they said we don't just want a censor cases we want our youth to be involved in sending these suitcases because we want our youth to realize that countries are different life's you know it's a different world there and that they can actually make an impact and a difference even at their young age so what we do is we create these suitcases with eighth graders it's a good age it's a junior high age it's when you're starting to develop your outlook online um it's just a really good time period for us to do

008that so this is our way of solving this problem we've partnered the first year we did it was 2018-2019 and we did it with one suitcase at Watson left and stays on a grant they send us all the training materials and then we have these training kits that we build for the kids they get trained with the training kits and then we build the international suitcase for the kids each to a part of building the international suitcase and I wish I could show you some of the videos and stuff I hope you guys will take a chance to look you'll find the links in here I won't click on them right now because I don't want to go over my five or ten minutes but there are links to pictures of the kids creating the

009suitcases and then there's actual pictures of our suitcases being placed the first one of wassuma went to bengoma Kenya in Africa in a secondary school the local deployment suitcase so along with the international ones PG e sponsored what we call a local Department a local deployment case those within the United States is placed for me within our country so the kids built that also and our local deployment suitcase in the United States was sent to South Dakota this particular year there was a really bad storm on a Native American reservation and so they used our suitcase to power their cell phones to be able to communicate outside the world and to have light that might have absolutely no electricity because of this huge flood so one of our suitcases went there that year then the

010next year thank you to our school district and our whole District support we decided to do eight suitcases so the first year we did one this year we were able to do eight four of them were purchased by art history and a high school student that was doing his um senior project write a mirror uh Agnes O'Meara works at our school and that's how Ryan found out about it I actually taught Ryan when he was a little boy and so he decided to take this on for our high school project and he earned fifteen hundred dollars to help pay for an international suitcase and that along with our district um providing you know supporting it is also of some funds and then PG e gave us one suitcase and then we got three what we

011call local kind of suitcase on a break so we're able to do eight suitcases this year and we had 100 8th grade students participated that year so the program grew hugely thanks to your support and then this was 2019-2020 these are the kids and click on the links later you can see the kids let's see if they're building the suitcases and we had the wasima suitcases so two the two Austin suitcases went to and I'm not going to try to pronounce them all they both went to Kenya um and a couple of schools in Kenya and if you click on this story that will open up the PDF that describes how they were placed and um it'll show a bunch of pictures of the kids and stuff doing it okay the this particular year was

012really cool because we share solar decided to not use their own installers or not to necessarily hire people that already knew how to install these solar suitcases in this particular year they went in with their people that were qualified and they trained a group of women in Africa to install these solar systems and the reason they did that is because when they're done when they actually have a working trade so we developed the suitcases but the solar panels and the batteries are all purchased in Africa so it supports there it it saves it saves us the shipping but the important part is it supports their economy and of course the panels are much bigger than the ones we use when we train that year I went to another school in Primary School in Kenya the

013next year we could not do it due to cobit the kids weren't allowed touching things and we couldn't handle things that year and then this is 2122 we had watsuma the class of 8th graders we have two classes of eighth graders at oci we've always had two classes in the nfci Ally in our suitcases the one of The Black Arrow running on it that's an actual picture of our suitcase you can read the kids names inside of it the kids sign their names we send them pictures the kids all right with kids at the other school letters it's really neat so that's one of my favorite pictures we get pictures of the suitcases but we don't always get a close-up of our Thursday so this was a wassuma um this one to a refugee serving

014School in Uganda so some of our suitcases have been placed in these refugee camps that have schools in them so these are families that are clean uh danger in their country probably most likely political by the best intermediate suitcases went to another refugee camp and one of them went to Nepal which I don't have any pictures of but that's our only suitcase that has been placed outside of Africa and then this is last year's crew so we've got one eighth grade class at walsuma and two at oci if you click on those you can see pictures of the kids and our swasuma suitcases have been placed we have one in Peru Kenya and we have one in this house Kenya and then our oci suitcases I don't have the the data on that yet so

015I don't know where they're going to be replaced they were done later in the school year last year due to a lot of reasons but um so we haven't gotten the feedback on that yet and then this is uh Hal and Laura we went up to Berkeley this is a couple of teachers that I used to work with in the beginning uh Nadine and Rhiannon and this is when we went up for training that's them do you guys have any questions for me this um the building of the solar suitcase is an elective that the students can sign up for or it's just done in their eighth grade this is science Sciences we take every other science time at all at both School sites and you can do the instruction or the science teachers teacher

016we share it so the first year I do a lot of the instruction and then once they know what they're doing they understand the curriculum they do all the premise stuff and I come in more actually building the suitcase you have to have two people there to supervise that and it's all done in steps the kids do a step and check it they do a step and check it and then once they've built their own training kit we take all those apart use them for the next group right and then when they build the international kit they'll come to me in little groups and they will build part of that International how long does it take um for the from the very beginning of the project four to six weeks the actual building of it

017probably two two and a half weeks but they do a lot of curriculum prep beforehand the global global energy a lot about global energy and where we get our power from and [Music] the difference in countries [Music] over a lot of really good stuff can we ordered some cases for this year yes this year we have three coming in for this year yeah so we'll do one of us with our A3 class thank you to you guys I really want you to understand that it's not just the kids that are having an impact this year it's your support also it really makes a difference thank you for bringing it back to us and showing us it's amazing it's awesome it's so exciting to see and there's a question cost s International cities they use fifteen

018thousand dollars then it was on the shipping and installation so the suitcase itself is probably five to eight hundred dollars but all the shipping and the installation and buying their solar panels and the batteries in Africa it all adds up to about two thousand dollars this year [Music] this year so super excited anybody else have a question over here thank you [Applause] that's really a great thing new staff member introduction and welcome our principals are here at the start of the new school year we have several new faces and uh we'll start off with our newest principal face the OES principal Kat Williams [Applause] The District in this role I have so many new um faces or at least people that you know have come in the last couple years and if they're not necessarily

019new to the district they're definitely they've been in new roles so um I don't think that's all come up how they were able to make it tonight see isn't this awesome [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] supervision we have Nina Powell Mina it came to us last year she um is doing she is our RSP teacher doing resource we have Deirdre Taylor and she is the art supervision we have Chelsea Porter she is um our she is one of our IAS in our SVC program we have K cross kid crosses doing PE and then we have Kim Dutra who is also another IA in our that's instructional assistant um in our sqc program so lots of amazing people here and yeah they are in valuable to our campus [Applause] thank you the loudest why was in the

020wildcat people had an Archer [Applause] all right so I had [Music] money yeah Robert are we gonna introduce Scott I don't know are you gonna call me separate stuff rock paper scissors [Applause] for so many reasons so um we have uh we have summer Bowl Mark who is a kindergarten teacher [Applause] [Music] I'm a student yeah and then Andrew messenger is joining us from OES who is going to be teaching Junior High science and we're super excited foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'll say I'll send it okay so we're honestly come on super happy to have her on Salon Floor coming on for seventh grade teaching English and history from English language arts and history uh she just joined us this year from River Gold I've been doing that for a while and is fit

021in seamlessly and just super happy to have you here yeah yeah thank you we also have Michael Simmons coming on uh he's with us he's our SEL para educator um I had him as a student in seventh grade he's doing an awesome job so far and will continue no doubt and then we have Ian Pinkus also coming on he'll start on the 21st and um but he's working at military now I think he's working on this week and uh he'll be an instructional aid for uh part of the day in the special day class [Music] [Applause] okay that's it that's it all right it was great um moving on to our consent agenda okay kind of approval of the consent agenda yeah okay we have a motion to improve in second um roll call vote

022hi hi and I do we have any questions or comments about any of that okay that's very good all right monthly items of financial reports moving under no warrants I just want to note that usually in August we do budget updates but this year because the governor's budget that was signed and changed and were not required today budget updates or the county which was something cool I didn't even know that you didn't have to do that because there's no significant material changes so the budget updates will be presented next at the first interim so that's why if you're used to seeing that in August I'm just telling you that's why it's not on there I just had a question on the warrants on page five and it was uh for the Mountain Area news program

023and so there was a charge for Pool services for 26 685 so you can give me the documentation for that yes so uh we had signed a contract with my club for the summer program for the pool and that was presented in a previous board meeting but this bill is the July bill so if you saw a previous bill in June you know there's less days as there will be in the future bill for August but July was the full month and it just includes all the staff the insurance costs supplies everything for we have tons of kiddos that are attending and loving the school program so we were glad Yosemite and Bass Lake partnered up to do that for the summer and we have two-thirds of the costs the 70s one-third because we have

024so much participation oh I can't wait to see these swings oh yeah for the kids oh there's some out here and then they're out there and then yeah so what's in my kindergarten candy is that it's wheelchair wheelchair Suite is amazing yeah I wrote on it okay I was part of the safety crew I'm going to tell you Robert we I worked with anyway that's good we were like oh kids get their fingers here yeah it was fun um I did have some questions and I um they didn't save on here so I'm looking at my email okay to um you let's see I guess you answered them I don't need to ask him if there's any you want to be public you know it's something you think people would want to know about I

025don't think so I got my answer okay okay there's any other comments questions do we have a motion to approve the um warrants approval is that a roll call vote I am I okay you know moving on to hearing of persons wishing to address the board okay I have quite a few here they're all on the same subject and you you can address the board now or wait till that subject comes up which is the apparent rights proposal which will be a few minutes does anyone want to like this this time it's only Friday public comment is only for items not um these are all on the agenda yeah okay anything not on the agenda I have one that was submitted I have one that was submitted very good um this is from Nicole Meeker

026she's our Aries and data student database coordinator and she just wanted me to share this she wasn't able to be here it says um I wanted to let you know I appreciate all that you do for our district she had written this to Randy and but most importantly I want to thank you for always doing what is right for our students our district has a high level of professionalism and we have always followed the law I have been with Bass Lake School District for over 15 years and we've been through various board members who have used their position as a platform to voice their personal opinions and beliefs I know and believe in you that you will uphold the law and do what is right for our children you and all of our District staff

027are appreciated Nicole foreign okay moving on to our action items uh resolution 2403 districts to CMR representative [Music] I I okay uh resolution 2404 local assignment notification a second [Music] um the changes were made I think there were a couple of typos with regards to the date those are valid for the 23-24 school year I figured the ending date was March okay um okay so we had a motion to approve we did our roll call vote we had a motion a second hi hi hi all right all right the information I was first reading the proposed foreign policy and administrative regulations this was a monster yeah these these were these made up the June 2023 batch of policy suggested policy updates from csba there were several as you found help when you delve into it

028um all of pretty self-explanatory in the descriptions and I also attached the version that showed what was changing with the language struck out or highlighted and then also sent the clean coffee the final draft but this is for first reading or discussion tonight there's no action being taken on these I'm so I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have for one I'm happy that it's the first reading because the first thing I opened to read was 450 Pages it's going to take a little more time on this so okay any other word comments on these for now I like the idea for policy 1113 it has to do with the concepts from this new law that has to do with businesses that provide an online service product a feature likely to be assessed

029by children to comply with specified requirements and provides good guidance for districts seeking to create safe online space for students so anything to protect our students in that way yes [Music] the mental health policy updated and uh there's surgeon general's new guidance regarding the importance of social connection and the impact of social media on health and well-being so uh it reflects the new law which requires the California Department of Education to recommend best practices and identify training programs to address student behavioral and mental health including common psychiatric conditions and substance abuse disorders safely de-escalating crisis situations involving students with Behavioral Health disorders so this is good that it'll help link students to um updated reflect that districts are required to notify students and parents Gardens twice a year about how to access mental health services

030so I like I think that's a very positive one mm-hmm do it I call it no oh God at this time okay um well moving on to our hot plexus button issue uh first reading and discussion of the proposed terminal rights notification board policy it looks like everyone's here because you're uh has been reading yet um that was uh you know sometimes we have our meetings and there's absolutely no one here but us and then sometimes it's a full house with poor people and uh um I just want to compliment everyone for taking an interest in this issue whatever your opinion is and on coming forward to to participate and um with that um did they go right to uh I think I think we go with uh Diana I think we start with Diane

031yeah is on on the agenda here but I wanted to add before anybody makes a comment please that the reason I put forth this proposed parental notification policy is this is a response to legislators in Sacramento these last couple of months they passed at least two bills that override parental involvement and the rights and I believe they will harm families so the first one is assembly Bill 957 and it pertains to child custody cases involving a transgender identified child so our legislators refer to those children as TGI children transgender identified children and this will change Family Code 3011 the non-affirming parent of a TGI child will not be awarded custody of their child and there's a second Bill assembly Bill 655 and this will allow mental health professionals including public school counselors to determine if

032whether a child as young as 12 years old should be placed in a residential shelter without the knowledge or consent of the Mind nurse parent or Guardian even when there's no accusation or evidence of abuse and this is if a TGI child and parents considered non-affirming so in light of these two laws Sacramento is passing this is why I'm proposing this bill so it has nothing to do with policing students I I read the letters thank you for your comments we really appreciate your your comments in this it's very important to know where the public stands but I wanted to make that first so this has nothing to do with policing students this is not about putting extra burden on teachers the sole purpose of this is that a child in a situation where they

033have what the psychiatric Journal considers uh gender dysphoria that is considered a mental health issue and they should be seeing a counselor um and so we want to make sure that parents are brought into the process of knowing what's going on with their children because they need to provide the care and the support that's needed so it's not about outing children it's not anything to do with that so the first priority is protecting children and parents rights I just wanted to make that thank you okay okay all right so this is what we call a first reading that means no decisions are going to be made on this policy tonight and uh the board's not going to respond to any comments made by them probably and um with that anyone I will call somebody and

034you'll have three minutes but acceptable for three minutes and uh are you ready here later I understand all I know uh good evening members of The Board District I was kind of surprised to see this come up but I guess it has been as he's had a kind of a Hot Topic internationally and I'm glad to hear you say your motivation for this policy is intended to improve access Services for Families and students I think my my concern in reading it it seems like uh policies coming forward for our district from our board um with uh maybe a need for more information from the district to the Community First on how a lot of these issues are already being addressed I had a student come through Oak herself just a few years ago now she's

03522. uh and uh oci and yhs and I know we have um policies dealing with bullying and policies dealing with uh injuries uh as a basketball parent and a soccer parent and a student parent I'm familiar with those uh fortunately and I'm serious but um I feel like this policy as drafted should be put on hold and serve as the beginning of the conversation and not the end of one and I think to keep it short this evening that that's my ask that that the board and the district provide an opportunity for the community to learn first of all what's the current state of Parental notification on all of these topics how are these things being handled now and then as informed uh by school side staff in the district on where they see needs

036for improvement from the community where they see shortcomings once we're informed it's hard for us as Community to pass judgment on proposed policy when we're not sure exactly what we've already got in place and I know many of the things in this proposed policy are already addressed in one fashion or another in our existing policies in our district and at our school sites I've been on several psych councils and I know we spent a lot of time on a lot of those topics so I think that's that's it for tonight that's my ask that this be put on hold and we have a public forums and opportunities for the district to bring all of us up to speed on what we already have so instead of taking a very Broad and what appears to be

037fairly rigid and structured approach on top of what we've already got to be more racism and say Here's what we've got and here's where we need more thank you thank you can I say that Peter is the uh I don't know who you are director anyway I just want to thank you for all your tireless support of the math program because without Peter's hard work our children would not be able to do that so I think foreign I volunteered with the local Fresno Madera Navi National Alliance on Mental Illness and I was a instructor for their uh technology Basics which is a class for parents that teaches them about how to advocate for their children in different systems and one of those systems is the educational system so I looked up some information about transgender

038Youth and I found something called a child is a child's snapshot on California Children's Health lgbtq and it reports that one into transgender youth report contemplating suicide and that's in comparison to 15 of all other and you can find that report at uh children's partnership.org so that's a thing that hits really close to home for me and um I lost a loved one to Suicide I know other people have lost a loved one to suicide and um I wouldn't want to see the district between the parent and the child and their relationship because that parent is a safeguard especially with the mental health situation so I really applaud um for bringing up parental notification it's so important and people's lives are at risk you know it's real kids that are experiencing gender dysphoria they really

039they need their loving guidance from their parents and anything that stands in the way of that is just inappropriate so with that I just want to close um and I want you to really consider you know do you want to be holding the parent's hand and beat up the bathroom in a difficult situation or do you want to be the roadblock and and the division in the family thank you Terry Bailey thank you I'm Mary Bailey I'm a father of three they're all grown and gone which is a good thing I guess I do miss them I submitted the letter should I read it or should I I actually have a copy here okay so I'll try to come prepared [Music] um [Music] actually yeah I'm just a substitution this is to the ambassading school

040board thank you very much for allowing me to speak I'll just read the letter real quick and then I got a couple remarks and I'll be done dear school board members I'm a concerned local citizen a former University instructor former College director and a current substitute teacher at our local community this letter is in concern of the proposal to out lgbtq plus students this type of proposal is being introduced across California schools while that in of itself is alarming this proposal could adversely affect our most vulnerable students the far-right-wing minority continues to push their own beliefs in other on others this proposal must not be adopted I thought that we were going to vote on episode the proposals requiring school officials to out transgender kids effectively documenting and identifying the child this in of itself

041is a dangerous policy identifying children also has the potential to increase harassment and potential for abuse [Music] here are a few examples we have in our community of family by the way it's a family member of mine we're an lgbtq teenager was outed at a party and the father removed the teeth from the house kicked them out and disowned him because of his inversion to the kids way of life as a substitute teacher it's extremely important that LGBT students need respect and acceptance outing our children potentially extreme to extremist parents some parents are good some aren't I hate to say that can be sentimental to their well-being teachers administrators and staff support need to be focused on educating students not paying to extremist policies I oppose this most dangerous policy we are not a police

042state we are a community of individuals families that want the best for our kids overall not a community that is looking to convert children an all right idea of what a child should become this is dangerous and inhumane and I have just my closing new Arts gender is a complex issue for many but that's not my intention to talk about that tonight I'm just asking that we do not pass harmful policies that have been harmful to our students I have firsthand knowledge as I explained in my letter of what can happen I also have strong concerns about the records of the Rasmussen poll the research in this organization is in its biased and unreliable so I request that this proposal not be adopted and I appreciate the time that everybody's given me thank you [Music]

043Jenny Moore hello my name is Jenny Moore I'm a licensed clinical social worker um I've worked with counties both Madera as well as Mariposa in mental health specifically um and aside from that I'm a grandmother of a student who attends Bass Lake School District so I have a personal concern with this so I'm speaking obviously to the gender non-conforming proportion of The Proposal that went forward I think the rest of it has already been addressed and my concern is that what I have seen and all that I have read and regarding this suicidal ideations of children who are transgender come mostly mostly when they don't have a supportive Community when their parents are not supportive when their schools are not supported when their communities are not supported so I just have a few findings from

044the Trevor projects 2022 so it's recent National survey on lgbtq Youth and this is polling approximately 34 000 lgbtq youth ages 13 to 24 across the United States 45 of respondents being lgbtq of color and 48 being transgender or non-binary this is the fourth annual survey that they've done so 45 of lgbtq seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year nearly one in five transgender and non-binary youth attempted suicide and lgbtq youth of color reported higher rates than white peers lgbtq youth who felt social support from their family reported attempting suicide at less than half the rate of those who felt low or moderate social support we can't guarantee parents will be supported it would be lovely but we would not have the issues that we have in our society if parents are always supportive

045you were the one in three transgender and non non-binary youth found their home to be gender affirming lgbtq YouTube found their school to be lgbtq confirming or affirming reported lower rates of attempting suicide 60 of lgbtq Youth who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it despite the efforts that have been put in place such as determining that children from age 12 and up are allowed already by law to seek mental health in other sensitive Care Health Care without parental involvement because we recognize that they need to have access to care that parents don't always provide lgbtq youth who live in a community that is accepting of lgbtq people reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not I have one other thing I'd like to

046say a consideration to make this to make in this is that frequently the devastation of suicide reaches beyond the losses related to the initial death and can result in clusters of suicide particularly amongst you it is important to realize that the impact of you not having their school as a safety net a safe place to speak their truth could also impact your work not questioning their gender or sexuality the safety of schools should not be threatened by forcing caring adults to out children in homes that may not be supportive of the child's truth and I have um copies of this portion of it that has full 28-page uh has has the web address for that if anyone would like a copy of that is something you can look it up for yourself to make the

047whole time would you mind giving that to Matera to include in thank you [Applause] okay how about [Music] Anthony is it Messner Meister good evening Lord of Trustees convenience good evening best late Administration I stand before you as a uh resident of this community for over 30 years many of you know that I teach AMU City Unified for over 30 years I also am standing before you as a representative of the California Teachers Association I am not only the president for Yosemite unified teacher Association I represent all of the small schools in Madera County I also sit on the state Council representing those as well as the president Madeira service center I am imploring the Board of Trustees to table this eliminated Etc this is opening bash Lake School District of for liability and legal

048there are a number of cases in front of the Department of Education the superintendent of schools for the state you are now on their list there very well might be launching an investigation if this moves forward I'm not saying that casually I'm seeing that with knowledge Tony Thurman's office has this on their desk the state attorney general has this on his desk I know that the intention of trustee for area 2 was well intended God bless each and every one of you for taking the commitment to stand up for our students please thank you thank you thank you I know you dedicate countless hours to our students but I also know that none of you here none of you here are here to injure students you are putting the staff you are putting the students

049in Jeopardy every one of you took a yoga and oath of office to uphold the Constitution this goes against your yoke of office growing up my legal name is Anthony Meister growing up I was referred to as Tony oh my God I was going by that name that wasn't on my birth certificate I think it's okay my grandmother was incest when my parents started calling me Tony because in her mind that equated to a we'll just say um unseeedy element in her native country I've never been arrested I'm not running a crime family okay um we're each and every one of us on staff is a mandatory reporter you're putting us in legal Jeopardy you are putting us in legal Jeopardy because we're torn between the two if a child does not feel comfortable enough

050to talk to their parents about some of their questions it gives you an indication we've had a number of students they've been kicked out of their home when they found their parents found out that they were pregnant do you think that was a nurturing family the answer would be no okay please please please this is a wolf in sheep's clothing I know the intention oh liability for Bass Lake and and this area is woefully and I know each and every one of you read the letter that I wrote I guarantee you that the funds that the state gives you are not to pay for attorney fees go forth with this and you'll be paying attorney fees [Music] [Applause] John Barrow thank you my name is John perro excuse me for my ad-lib notes tonight I

051was on my way back from San Diego and I got work to come to this meeting tonight but so background parental rights agenda historically parents have always been notified about their children's involvement in school issues and what's going on in schools such as overnight sporting events skiing trips even in the sexual education classes parents have the right to be notified and to opt out one of the Gentlemens who spoke here before said that this is the pushing an agenda I'll tell you what the agenda is the agenda is to sexualize our children Let me Give an example why is why why is it that the sexual issues are the only ones that are being excluded from the parents knowing about what okay you don't you're not excluded on ski trips they're not excluded on if

052if the student bought a gun if my son bought a gun to school or something I would be notified and rightly so what about the young girl the 12 or 14 year old girl that gets taken out without her parents notice gets an abortion and dies whose responsibility is that how would you feel or medically injured for the rest of her life we have to deal with transparency and parents are the the Guardians of their children not the school district you have the schools for 12 you have kids for 12 years and those 12 years should they should be taught in education not indoctrination the issue with this sexual orientation the social contagion that has gone on on social media the propaganda that you've heard that well look at the Bud Light thing look how

053that turned out to them you want to talk about social liability they went broke nothing happened because they pushed a vote with agenda and parents need is transparencies what school board members and what schools need are transparency and trust you allow this kind of nonsense to go on into school where you hide from the parents what's going on with their children if you think there's not an exodus from the public school system today stay tuned because parents will not tolerate them parents have the authority of their children parents of the Guardians of their children's form life you have them for 12 years so I think what we had to do is have transparents and we work with those students and we don't we don't drink a bring a woke agenda into the school that way

054we work with the community not against it thank you Leslie Smith hi everyone my name is Leslie Smith I have been a resident and a mother and a grandmother in the school district since 1978. I'm here to address the proposal itself and to make some additional comments from um some of the facts that may or may not be getting put out there first of all I find it interesting that you know the first three bullet points on this proposal which has to do with physical injury and suicidal intentions and a complaint of verbal or physical altercation those three bullet points are already in process they're already being followed there's no problem and then the fourth bullet points include sort of like it's sort of like you know slid in there a student requesting to be

055identified or treated as a gender other than the student's biological sex how do you know or how are you guys going to tell or how are the teachers going to know what the students sex was at Birth are we going to do DNA tests on everyone or are we going to physically inspect our children the second thing that's mentioned here is the Rasmussen poll we have a few comments on racism they are frequently highlighted and featured in the French publication The Epic Times which is a falun Gong religious cult and has become a leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation since 2016 it has used aggressive tactics to create a media Empire comments from other hard fashion statistical analysis site state that the Rasmussen report is biased towards the GOP that they use response bias they skew

056right during a recent election cycle a major cable channel even stopped using their polls due to and you see an extreme bias ethics alarms states that many of the questions asked in their polls by The Residency report are incompetent they're responsible and unethical so why are we shown only one poll as data from this highly right-bending organization to support this policy proposal I think we need more information um the policy changed to out non-conforming children is extremist and homophobic and nationally is even supported by the proud wife so a lot of people don't know that they're they're a wonderful group now I'd like to mention ab1266 and asked that the school board consider who's going to be accountable and liable for any harm that might come to a child in this District should this policy

057be implemented okay so a b 1266 came into signed into law in 2013. it is a state law it extends gender identity and gender expression discrimination protection to transgender and gender non-conforming K-12 students in public schools it already protects our students and our gender non-conforming citizens the California Department of Education heard their website States a lot of stuff but I'm just going to say that it reduces stigmatization and improves educational integration of these students it maintains their privacy students have civil rights in this country just like the adults in this room do okay they have civil rights the California the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution Leslie yes wrap it up okay thank you students are protected under the First Amendment and then the state of California has even stronger freedom of speech protections the

058California Education Code also protects the students rights to discuss lgbtq issues and liability very quickly what if a student is harmed by this policy what if the teacher outs a student to an abusive parent who didn't know that their child had become gender non-conformist what the child is then harmed by another person or an angry parent or guardian and then they self-harm themselves of God forbid in their own life what will happen to children who lose the trust for positive respectful independent determined and engaged Trust of their teachers in a place and that might be their only safe place in their life these schools are golden the work that you guys do is golden this this all protects our children if we pick on a certain population of children and help them and put them

059at risk then we are not doing our jobs if that's something that you're uncomfortable with um you need to rethink maybe your um your membership on the board and I would like to again request like someone else said that we use our limited resources to enhance and provide quality education for our kids let's not put ourselves at the risk of litigation either thank you [Applause] there's hormones hi I've been here for 50 years I've been a teacher since 63. I hear all my grandchildren I had seven kids go through Wasilla and the high school and thank you to all the teachers they not only about the greatest college and I thank thank all the teachers here have been doing an excellent job my point is uh Diane's made her point in Don and John um

060the whole thing it said around the children and if the parents and the teachers can work together and communicate with each other for example when my daughter you know got sick I was called on phone and notified that she was sent and any kind of issue that comes up at school it's the parents and the teachers that are working together in Partnership to help the children thank you for your time thank you thank you is that it that was it on our public comments okay I'll need the pink slips after for Genie we have a number of emails and letters that were sent in earlier and asked to be read tonight at the meeting so bear with me and I'll pour through first one hello my name is Chelsea Wilhite my child is a student

061enrolled in the Bass Lake School District I am a graduate both of wasuma Elementary and Yosemite High School I earned my PhD in Psychology at the University of Nevada Reno and currently on full-time adjunct faculty in the psychology department at California State University of Fresno it has come to my attention that the school board is hearing at least one proposal disguised as parents rights to make it mandatory that teachers and other staff notified parents of a child who displays Behavior inconsistent with the behavior assumed by some people to be proper to their gender assigned at Birth this brings up a number of concerning issues listed below number one first the California Education Code specifies Public Schools shall develop resources or as appropriate update existing resources for in-service training on School site and Community Resources for

062the support of lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer and questioning pupils and strategies to increase support for lgbtq pupils and thereby improve overall School climate including ensuring that schools are safe place for lgbtq pupils which is an article 2.7 should teachers and staff be required to reveal to parents any atypical gender related Behavior it would be a direct violation of the California Education Code number two should the basket School District adopt the proposal it will open the district up to lawsuits three given the lack of existing objective definitions for the concepts people advocating for so-called parents rights rules refer to it brings up a number of other legal issues to be clear the only way a teacher or staff member would know gender assigned at Birth of a student is to observe their genitalia as you

063might see this is incredibly concerning number four the health and well-being of children who might feel comfortable behaving one way at school but fear their parents at home is of utmost concern children need a safe place please do not allow radical hate groups to turn our schools into nefarious reporting agencies protect the health well-being and human rights of our children thank you Chelsea foreign ER to whom it may concern recently I've been made aware that the basic school district is proposing a parental rights policy to help students who may be considered trans to their parents this is horrifying I can't imagine in a room full of educated professionals that no one has considered how dangerous this is for the child is this real life if a child feels safe presenting the way they feel comfortable

064at school why would you then go and make them uncertain this is appalling and dangerous not to mention why are grown adults so concerned with a child's genitals whose business is it uh is it what they have in their pants disgusting if a young boy feels more comfortable wearing a dress or a little girl wants to dress in pants and climb trees who are you to determine that's not okay and why this all of a sudden how many of us girls snuck out of the house with lipstick or spirit in our backpacks to change into when we got to school where teachers concerned about tattling men why now seems like this policy is absolutely targeting lgbtq plus children as Society continues to wrestle with what is right and what is wrong I'd like to remind

065everyone that in this country as in this public school district religion or religious beliefs attitudes expectations and taboos have absolutely no place as policy or love if my child were trans I'd like to know they can go to school the same as every other kid without worrying about their teachers making issue with how they present don't you guys have more important things on your plates why are we even talking about this when we should be addressing the ridiculously underpaid understaffed under-supported teachers or how about teach children about acceptance and equality and our Real History instead of targeting those who are different I passionately hope that our community comes together against this to serving potential there are two other huge points worth discussing having grown up and abusive home myself I speak from experience the school

066is the same place for many students favorite teachers friends activities outside of the home we are things or were things that kept me alive literally now we take a trans kid who may be experiencing hate and abuse at home and you strip them at their safe place by mandating teachers tattle on them for being different this will undoubtedly lead to physical emotional and psychological harm possibly even death second Point School is meant for exploration and experimentation we get to choose who we want to be who we want to hang with how to present ourselves this is a time-honored tradition and part of growing up we have pajama days Crazy Hair Days backwards days etc etc encouraging students or encouraging kids to try new things and explore Styles and cultures yet we draw the line of

067dresses what does this actually mean it means we're saying trans kids aren't acceptable we're saying it's bad or wrong to being who they feel comfortable being we are teaching hate it simply cannot pass we cannot do this to our children signed a very concerned model this one's from Nick Dugan I am a lifelong Eastern Madera County resident past attendee of blsd schools graduate of Yosemite high and parent of children currently enrolled in the Mountain Area Schools I write to express my great concern with the proposed notification policy brought forward by board member Flaherty conflating serious notification triggering events such as physical injury suicidal ideation and physical verbal abuse with the manufactured concern about elementary school children expressing gender identity as a divisive and transparent attempt to inject nature our national politics and political ideologies into

068our local schools our overworked underpaid and underappreciated teachers and administrators don't deserve to be thrust into the middle of the social wedge issue I implore the board to act in the interest of our entire Community focused on high quality inclusive education for all of our children and Lead divisive National politics out of the district policies thank you next one comes from Anne Flanagan to whom it may concern I am writing to oppose the parental notification policy proposed by board member Flaherty on tonight's agenda it is a misguided attempt cloaked into the guise of parental rights to force School staff to help her students to their parents this could result in limiting what some kids for some kids is the only safe outlet they have for expressing their true selves and could endanger their mental health

069as a parent it is my duty to understand and know my children to the extent that they are willing to share with me for kids who don't have supported parents regarding their gender identity or sexual orientation this will undoubtedly cause them harm and put School staff in an unnecessary and difficult position I encourage all board members to stand up for students and vote no on the Smiths guided and harmful proposal next one is from Elaine Paisley I have read the proposed policy which includes mandatory recording of a student's gender identity to parents or Guardians I strongly encourage rejection of this proposal or any such proposal that is a clear violation of Human Rights enforcement of this policy could affect the privacy of students and their families placing them at risk of bullying or Worse enforcing

070this proposal also places an unwarranted burden on School staff as a former educator I question whether such a policy is within the purview of a school board this Mountain community and any Community would do well to be more concerned about gun safety in our schools than in a student's gender identity what name or pronoun he she they choose to be called [Music] Loretta I understand you are considering a proposed policy of Parental notification I am writing in opposition to that policy I do not think School staff should be mandated to notify parents of students gender identity request instead of safeguarding children which I am sure is your intent it may jeopardize them these are young children and if they are talking with school Personnel before they talk with their families they may be recognizing their

071risks of Abandonment and abuse students should not fear going to school this policy threatens the safety and well-being of lgbtq plus students and violates their rights instead they should feel safe and included as should all children please vote to oppose this proposed policy or any similar policy Excellence from John Flores I am a parent of a student and find your policy infringing upon the civil rights of children frightening Administration staff are not there to help children to their parents this can have disastrous consequences if and when a student wishes to reveal themselves to anyone that is their choice and right I have had two friends from my own school days who had to allow or had to run away due to their sexual orientation being revealed to their parents one was beaten by their father

072at 14. you cannot allow this policy to be implemented or children may become harmed if this informant policy is adopted I will contact California attorney general Rob fonza with my concerns over this overreach of authority next one's from Yvonne Austin as a concerned Community member and grandmother of the transgender youth adult I am extremely appalled by the proposed policy to discriminate against any persons to restrict and hinder a person from learning is absolutely disgusting and also apparently illegal thank you as a body I am contacting you in regards to very unsettling information I received about the LSD board members proposal the idea that the district would mandate violating the rights and trust between a student and teachers slash staff is outrageous this could potentially put the student at Great risk but also be a liability

073issue for the district if harm came to the student our underfunded small schools cannot afford this liability I noticed proposal and support for did come from a small group of ignorant older citizens Mrs Clarity included that have contributed nothing to the betterment of our Mountain Area Schools this group's mission is to weaken our public schools and make parents distrust our teachers and staff by making these ridiculous claims our four children attended Mountain area schools for their entire School careers my husband and I have been volunteers for all 19 years and it breaks my heart to see what this group has done to Staffing students of the mountain area with their paranoia and hate I wish you the staff and students the best of luck in combating people that want to destroy our Public Schools thank

074you for your time China clubs in Flores I am a local Citizen and parent who is very concerned about this new policy proposal that attacks gender identity and its effects on our young people the schools should should be focused on teaching our children not policing behavior that doesn't fit status quo as if it's a crime insisting that teachers and School staff infringe on the individual students constitutional rights privacy this proposed policy squeaks in a betrayal of A Private Matter that is a subject's own business to be conducted on their own time between themselves and their parents it is not for us to do it for them that is where the danger lies a potential change of gender identity is not a danger to them it is outing them that is the danger before they are

075ready we do not know the intricacies of their Homelite nor the prejudices or and biases their parents possess or what those parents family members or Guardians who they live with may do with this information to structure this proposal within the framework of protecting our kids is purposefully misleading and simply untrue this policy will absolutely increase the risk of them committing self-harm or running away this policies underlying message is that you want to read them out and make them more of a Target not just at school but at home these are fear-based tactics that are known to rile up those who prefer to dehumanize the lgbtq communities who do not fit into their own ideological agendas reconsider this bigoted policy it is harmful to our kids and our community and makes our schools increasingly unsafe places

076our children already have to do drills for armed Shooters if you're making it worse [Music] to those of you that value limited government and worry about the overreach of government and choose private lives this policy undermines parents ability to have private conversations with their own children about these issues and requires the school district a government agency to intervene into the private matters of the family records will be kept letters will be sent conversations will be documented this policy implies that parents aren't keeping a logical eye on their own children and having conversations about these issues with their own children no one wants our teachers turned into the morality secret police to those of you who dislike when people try to force their politics and religion on you please reject the temptation to inject your politics

077and religion upon all the children and parents of our community and the teachers and staff that work for the district to those of you that want the district to have talented staff and teachers this policy will make it harder to attract and retain teachers and staff as many potential candidates and current teachers will find your moralizing Accord and will work elsewhere to those of you that believe public school is for all children not just the ones that conform to your religious and political ideology this policy will make it harder and less safe for those children that are trying to be true to themselves and are simply trying to live their lives to their fullest you're moralizing from the diocese doesn't help it hurts and it makes Public School less welcoming and less safe for children

078I sincerely thank some of you who came to this policy will be helpful but I promise you this policy will result in a child or children being harmed and when that happens it will be on those of you that supported this policy thank you for considering my comments hello my name is Diana strimling I am a graduate of our local schools I also have a master of arts in marriage and family therapist and a lecturer at CSU Fresno and have a graduate certificate in diversity equity and inclusion I am also the founder of Oakhurst lgbtq plus which started because of members of this community not having safe spaces I volunteer earlier lead a peer support group for local lgbtq plus youth as well which has had many local youth should come and share their stories

079with me bullying of LGBT kids and not supporting them in their identity has been clinically shown to cause great harm to their mental health and well-being lgbtq youth are not inherently prone to Suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society 75 of lgbtq Youth report that they have experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime and more than half so they experience this discrimination in the past year those who experience discrimination in the past year attempted suicide at more than twice the rate of those who did not imagine being a child with non-supported parents who have been informed by a teacher or other staff official of their identity imagine

080the emotional and physical harm that could result from someone else sharing such private information before you were ready for it to be done as a therapist who has worked on school campuses are ethical codes parenthetically this includes school counselors social workers and lpcc's all prohibit us from disclosing this type of information this also breaks the best practices recommended by California safe schools which I have attached to my state being lgbtq is no more a choice than having blue eyes or freckles supporting children is literally a life-saving major thank you for your time [Applause] thank you this one's from Jennifer Flaherty I'm truly saddened and definitely opposed to the proposal being brought forward by blsd's board member Diane player schools should be focused on supporting and educating our kids not pulling them out for being suspect

081and questioning their own personal gender identity Please Don't Force our caring teachers to help their students the far right Fringe is going too far students have civil rights this forced outing policy is pure and simple bullying and should not be tolerated as a senior citizen in the Oakhurst Community I am firmly opposed to this proposal please reject this proposal [Applause] I'm a member of the local community here and I'm writing to object the proposed parental notification proposal this is not something the school and especially not teachers should be involved in it is a private family issue don't put teachers in this position and don't leave students feeling trapped between teachers and their parents it will create a terrible Dynamic where students will feel as though they are potentially being spied on by their teachers instead

082of trusting them school should be about educating not making kids feel like they are suspected as criminals in danger of being reported to their teachers this comes from Junior Johnson please reassure us that our teachers will not be mandated to out students to their parents it should be up to each person to tell their family or not it is most certainly not the job of schools to get involved in such personal matters between students and their parents it could be very dangerous for the kids thanks for listening foreign Judy Stafford I'm writing to strongly disagree with the mandatory reporting to parents regarding student gender identity the young person should inform his parents when he or she chooses not as a teacher her teacher should not be made to police their students this is madness in

083regards to the bsod meeting this evening I believe in children's right to thrive I believe in parents rights to decide and support their kids I believe that kids have the right to learn and the right to succeed I also believe that teachers have more than enough to do in supporting their students without adding gender policing to their list of never-ending tasks suggesting that teachers spend their time questioning a student's gender rather than teaching said student is absurd let's focus on Family Values by allowing families to decide how to proceed with their kids it is simply not a teacher's place I am a parent and a grandparent we have raised our family from K through 12 grades in blsd I do not feel that any child should be singled out it's hard enough being a growing

084up uh this will cause mental health problems that are just not necessary my mother and father taught us to love one another school boards should not have the power to invade on a child's privacy who should not have access to therapy records if you vote for this you will be processing the Privacy action this is from Sarah Domenico I am a concerned Citizen and parent of blsd student students what I have read about the proposal of mandated outing of non-gender conforming students is highly disturbing to say the least these children are already at Great risk of harm and or self-arm and suicide the statistics speak for themselves on that do we need to lose more lives because a school Society wasn't comfortable with what was in the child's pants if a child's parent doesn't know

085their child's gender identity before the school does then there are obvious issues with the safety they feel at home expressing that part of themselves huge red flag on home safety subjecting the children to further bullying and singling them out because a group of adults is so concerned with what genitals they have is preposterous schools should be a safe place and this proposal is far from that we don't send our children to school for this this is a violation of a student's civil rights which is very clearly expressed by the California Department of Education my children couldn't care less if their peers are non-gender conforming maybe a lot of people could learn from them Emily O'Connor maintaining communication with my children as they grow towards adolescence has been no easy feat knowing them is a full-time

086heart-wrenching Pride swallowing job but at the end of the day I get to take pride in it because the yields are real relationships what I don't get to do is hold someone else accountable for how well I know my children I don't get to make it some someone else's job especially when that someone already has a job and they wake up early every morning to create inclusive nurturing environments where any child can show up and get an education if I don't know what my child my children's pronouns are that is my bad I have failed to make space for them to communicate interrogating teachers enforcing knowledge about how my child identifies only serves to damage relationships and discourages learning keep disrupted policies out of our school and protect teacher-child relationships Harbor this I I am

087a local resident and citizen and learned of a very frightening proposal before you I am opposed to forcing teachers and school administrators to identify and report on students who are questioning or talking about their gender identity we are not a police state especially in our schools whose focus should be on educating our kids and opening their minds not making them afraid and or causing them to shut down out of fear of harm or ridicule students have civil rights this forced outing policy is pure and simple bullying by those who want to control the hearts and minds of our diverse young population and align our institutions to their own religious extremism thank you from Bridget Hannah schools should be focusing on education not individual personal gender identity that is a parent's responsibility and their child should

088be part of that private discussion Miranda jams I am writing to express my extreme concern over a recent policy proposal regarding students who Express questions over their gender identity or sexuality let it be known that reporting students private information is illegal according to two different laws one would be Education Code 49060 that states private information such as transgender status should not be released Title IX would also prohibit it please refer to the judge's ruling in a similar case in California above all please refer to what the Calgary Department of Education has to say on what you are attempting there are many more case laws and legislation in California that blocks the board from taking any action on this clearly if the board follows through they will face serious legal action from the state and possibly

089civil suits from residents uh Dr Tara Lockhart I Am A literacy educator of 25 plus years who lives in awani and has taught in K-12 education community-based literacy programs such as the boys and girls club and most recently in the CSU system since 2008. I am sorry I'm not able to attend tonight's meeting but hope will be read as public comment in those in these roles I regularly work with lgbtq plus Youth and other young people who are exploring aspects of their identities as a normal part of the development and maturity process although this exploration ideally happens within a supportive family and support structure too often my students report that raising questions about their gender or sexual identity has caused them to be kicked out of their homes emotionally or physically abused or to have

090familial or financial support withdrawn many of these kids end up homeless struggling to still attend school and pay their own way in such cases these young people need the support of other trusted adults such as teachers to help them feel cared poor and safe enforcing schools administrators and teachers to out a young person for questioning how they identify not only poses a safety risk to such kids but also detracts from the explicit mission of the public education to help young people learn about the world the issues and people that shape our world and themselves calls for mandatory reporting of a child's gender questioning even when a child explicitly states that they do not feel safe having their emergency views reported jeopardizes his educational goal further such reporting can push kids over the precipice and retorts

091self-harm and suicidal ideation or action as reported by Forbes in 2020 and the largest survey of trans non-binary youth to date over 40 000 participants more than 60 percent had committed self-harm in the last 12 months and over half had seriously considered ending their own lives the antidote to this crisis is not policing children and their teachers it is instead as the study found in Greater levels of support and acceptance which are directly associated with dramatically lower rates of attempting suicide parents certainly have a crucial role to play in helping their children form their identities and can just do that daily at home public schools and their teachers likewise have a duty to support all children and to do their part to keep children safe as teachers we put your child's education and safety first

092even if you yourself cannot imagine it we have seen firsthand how such Majors can go drastically wrong for children I urge this board to reject all proposals for mandatory reporting of gender non-conforming or questioning to parents or Guardians given Decades of experience with my own students as well as the National Data and research cited above such proposals are simply too dangerous in the cases where such reporting could lead to dire repercussions foreign Jessica White schools need to focus on students educations and not and not try again schools need to focus on students educations and not how they identify or their sexual orientation this policy would endanger students and could put them in potential dangerous situations are you ready to take responsibility for a child's life if it's taken too soon by bullies abusive parents or

093suicide if this policy is to be put in place the policy itself goes against California's Education Code 49602 as well as assembly Bill 1266 the school in Sacramento that put this in place already is now being investigated by California and don't think for one minute the same won't happen here if this had passed I have attached a government website that shows all the educational codes federal and state laws and bills that this policy would be infringing on as well as many other resources on this subject thank you for your time and listening to my concerns I'm a mother of two in the community and the safety of the children in our area is my top priority while emailing you hope to see you at the meeting [Music] I'm a retired administrator I am requesting that

094bastic school board keep its focus on protecting and educating children not adding to any pain some may have schools have a duty to never harm children physically mentally or in Social manner please resist the politics of a local minority whose interests are only their own respectfully Dr Bruce seller made a retired assistant superintendent and Bass Lake homeowner and resident [Music] Carrie Jenkins I am a parent of two yhs graduates recently ran for the yusd school board and a local business owner and an extremely concerned long-time local resident I am vehemently opposed to forcing teachers and school administrators to identify and report on students who are questioning or talking about their gender identity at school put forward by a small vocal ideological zealous group this ridiculous forced outing policy threatens the safety and well-being of lgbtq

095students who may already be vulnerable to harassment and potential abuse from peers and family members please do not burn the schools further with enforcing this ridiculous overreaching policy thank you students have rights this forced outing policy is pure and simple bullying by those who want to control the hearts and minds of our diverse young population and align our institutions to their own narrow-minded religious extremism please stop this strong armed tactic to help our kids who don't conform to what used to be societal gender Norms they have a right to coexistent feel safe especially at school among their peers and caring teachers thank you Greg returning as a full-time homeowner in pokers a taxpayer and a licensed clinical psychologist well-versed in human behavior and Child Development I wish to oppose the above reference proposal to require

096children to be out and publicly as identifying with a gender difference in what is society this is psychologically harmful and puts the children along with their family at risk to extremist elements in the community who may not be accepting of such matters it does not belong in a school district which is tasked with nurturing and protecting children as they develop into healthful and adaptive citizens who will then be able to guide others under their charge once adults it is also not appropriate to utilize taxpayer funds to push an agenda that has been scientifically researched and shown to be harmful in short both personally and professionally I strongly oppose this proposal and I'm saddened that this extreme politicization has been allowed to even be presented in front of the board in the citizens of our local

097community and the last one from Beverly Harper [Music] I am a resident of Madera County and I vehemently opposed this blsd policy proposal regarding teachers being forced to invade the private lives with minor children with possible gender identity issues this is California not Florida teachers are paid teachers are paid by our taxes to teach school not become fastest air in tattletails to the school district what about teachers who do not agree with this proposed policy and if enacted are then forced to Engrade children privacy and rights what if that teacher was wrong harm to these children could result in the form of Parental abuse bullying and or self-harm or worse and a teacher would then have to bear blame due to the following school policy that should never have been and live with this travesty

098for life this policy has far-reaching ramifications teachers are already overburdened with tasks unrelated to teaching don't burden them further with this violation of minor children's rights foreign well uh again this is uh listen put up for a vote tonight and it's just a first grade uh first draft something whereas we're looking at it's a lot of school districts are looking at this we've got attorneys looking it over and uh we've been listening to every comment you know pay attention to our agenda minutes and go to the next week first reading um so is it just automatically go towards I mean we haven't discussed it as a board like if we want to see it just go forward like personally I don't want to say performer so well first reading it's a it's us to it's

099up to Ralph foreign legal opinions coming in and so we could we're definitely not moving forward with it tonight well no I know not tonight but typically our first readings are followed up the next month with an action item and I do not want to see this on the next month's agenda as an action item for one I will be out of the country and I won't be able to attend well that's the perfect time I don't think it should be an action item next month because of the it's just the nature of the issue and the controversy um there's a lot of information still not in and and quite frankly I'm confused I mean I understand everything about child rights um but nobody's talked about any parent rights you know and that we can't

100do sideline all the time I've not put put aside indefinitely so so can we make a motion to table it November let me bring it back later well it came to this agenda without us all approving it so I want to make sure it doesn't come to the next agenda without further improvement from approving from the board anyways okay um can we make a motion to table it until October definitely until you come back no no no don't worry about that [Music] until at least October a second okay [Music] um okay thank you okay wow all right and enrollment report so this was due for the board packet last Friday um so numbers are constantly changing when I check today before the meeting it's at 810 students but as of this report it was 804

101and you can see the number there we ended up 800 we ended the year with 849 students so that's the decrease of around 40. if you look at today's number you can see the numbers for each site in the blue box so you can compare um you know to see where the where the schools are at at the end of last year so you can see Oakhurst Elementary is down about 10. Bliss is down about um is down nine and then oak cook is [Music] so you can see it spreads through all of it so this report is from the end of last year last uh no last week I did the report okay but the blue box has the numbers of the end of how we ended the year the header is oh I'm

102sorry oh man you guys always catch that stuff I missed it coming after us um no I'm sorry I will fix that and re-upload it right now no this is the current okay current numbers thank you I was traveling so I did this late at night I didn't see that right you see the notes that Genie included for the beginning of the 23-24 school year we have 44 students transferred into our District 27 from Yosemite unified seven from Mariposa seven from solanaki and three from Raymond Knowles 30 students transferred out with 15 going to Yosemite unified Ford Mariposa tend to chewanna key and one to random number again this is typical for our beginning of the school year yes for us and it settles down yes okay um accomplishments and other reasons to celebrate throughout

103the district yeah this is a new component to our board agendas we've talked an awful lot how we we always enjoy having our student groups come in and present it and tonight with Chris on the solar suitcase project there there's so much good stuff that's happening in our district it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle so we've created this area of the agenda that will go each month now and to kick it off we looked at some of the accomplishments that came to our attention at the end of last year so these references to an eighth grader that were in eighth grade last year but nonetheless this is how we finish the school year so the first one there deals with the city National Park eighth grade law day and we had two oci students

104bring home some Hardware Emily Kirby took first place in the art competition and Kate man landingham took second place in the essay [Music] [Applause] the Fresno Madera County Music Education Association oci student Rory Booth he participated Rory participated in this and was one of only two middle school band students that were accepted from our area [Applause] California Cadet Corps the Bass Lake Cadet Corps participated in the 2023 Extreme Team Challenge down in Southern California late in the 22-23 school year our core earned first place in the junior high division and in this year's annual General inspection the same team received a grade of excellent which is the highest ranking possible and the junior high units comprised of students from ocim Washington [Applause] in the Madera County math tournaments you see our Kira and Michelle [Applause]

105at all [Applause] [Music] Madera County academic pentathlon you can see the results there for the 23 pentathlon Daryl Henderson first place in literature and Essay in second place in science Michelle Tran third place in science Rory Booth first place in science and second place in literature caveman landingham uh fourth place in social science and the super quiz team brought home third place and the academic pentathlon team earned third place overall in athletics last year we had championship teams at oci in boys basketball boys soccer boys football and girls basketball and they were also winners in boys and girls cross country in track and field and while Sumo Wildcats cross country team won the golden Gallop down at minarets high school when they competed [Applause] this is a biggie and I've got some pictures attached there

106so if you have access to the agenda the creative Club got them um Parker student out at lasuma she was she was a fifth grader she competed in the American Iris Society foundation's National essay competition called the Ackerman essay contest during the 22-23 school year Ariel was informed by local members of the foundation in front of her classmates and teacher that her essay was selected as the first place entry in the national competition for the 22-23 school year um foreign not only pictures of aerial as she learned of winning but also her actual essay is attached to so you can go on and access that agreement she's an amazing kids [Applause] program is every year the huge reason to celebrate so Chris thank you for all that you continue to do yeah we'll share that

107well but it's awesome stuff [Applause] all right superintendence report uh I'll make sure that this gets attached to the notes or the meeting minutes as well there were a few hard copies out back but um just a couple of quick things just a welcome back to school I was able to make the rounds and grab a few pictures the first ones you see there are some of our TK and Kinder students here at the lunch line in this room that we're in tonight and then also then you asked to see the swings there's a picture on the top of page two the upper right hand corner the other thing that um was really good was we contracted with an organization called knowledge saves lives and we did three days of trading one day each at

108each of the three sites and it involved active threat response SO trading included classroom instruction training which the stations one was a classroom another was the school office and then also self-defense techniques and fire extinguisher safety and included at the end of the training with a response to gunfire and then which would initiate lockdown procedures and protocols staff provided very positive feedback regarding the training which will allow individual schools in the district to further its safety initiatives and response plans and then I attached several pictures we didn't allow video and we didn't allow pictures in parts of the trading because we don't want it out but our responses will be but we did I did capture a couple of pictures one was here in you know at the OES training with the staff doing the

109classroom portion the second picture on the bottom is a portion of the staff doing that breakout session and one of our classrooms the top of the next page is the fire extinguisher safety and then using whatever you have at your disposal if you have the right and so each of our staff members got the opportunity to shoot out the fire extinguisher on the dummy you see in the picture his name is Bob Bob took a beating because not only did he get spraying with the extinguisher but then the staff member was trained to flip the extinguisher around and come in to do harm so you can see our peaceful 11 staff members they actually got after it pretty good uh so it'll be several pictures of oh yes folks and then there's a picture of

110the wasuma staff in their classroom portion and then the last several pictures are members of our Fresno flats and wassuma staff um getting after it and I think it's time that Cecilia definitely retires because if you look at it she was getting after Bob pretty good you use blank space real and then last but not least the last picture is or Madam the principal over there getting after Bob yeah [Music] and then the last page we'll have we'll have all kinds of back to school nights coming up the rules our principles and make sure we get get Jake sometimes and all that but also we're starting our our carnivals and and Community nights and stuff and it's the advertisement for a lot of students is on there uh being Friday September 8th that's all I

111have for you tonight really fast uh I'm doing dance party recesses on Friday and if you guys are welcome to come it's from Pittsburgh from 9 20 to about 10 40 and I'll be kindergarten and the first and second grade I've been doing their Vibes like 9 20 to 10 40 on Fridays yeah so I'd love to have any of you come and dance along with us except for what you asked for yeah no it's going to be it's all good you know um okay good okay well we're gonna practice that yeah yes all right um board member comments I just um it was fun to help out in school and we'll just be here um yay I got down about kindergarten I'm going to be there tomorrow uh very fun to see all the

112young kids especially um and I really don't have anything else to say except for if the other schools need help please like reach out to me because you know I will volunteer Thursday or Friday if I can those are my days off um I will not be able to make the dance party this week or next week because I am working but after that you never know um and I am going to Europe on September 13th or 16 days so I will not be at the next board meeting and and we'll be attending the Madera County School Board Association meeting next Wednesday that's all I have to say this is next Wednesday right yes it is okay beautiful to see Chris's presentation and how these kids are you know learning to help others I think

113that's really beautiful but I just wanted to bring up that uh September 17th is the day that schools are to commemorate Constitution Day and citizenship day so I hope the school will take part in doing activities that uh you know these kids can learn about how awesome our U.S Constitution is and why we have free speech that people can come up and say whatever they want and wonderful floor no comments all right we'll all use work on your mind anyway so it's really great to have a full house for me it's personally really sad that nobody's here you know and uh we don't hear very many teachers we get almost no parents and uh and from what we heard tonight you know it sounds like everything that we really want to do to help our

114kids has to start with the parents and uh you know other than knocking on doors personally I don't I don't know how to get more parents to actually pay attention you know what's going on in their schools looking forward or even in their Community I don't know what they're doing you know but they're getting rid of their kids for the whole week you know but anyway if you get too far in that soapbox but the um wanted to say uh you know thank you for all all for coming and uh and I wanted to brag on our our schools a little bit you know we we were pretty avant-garde in getting you know the safety measures we got in place with the doors and the locks and the windows and the alarms and the cameras

115and then to follow that up with actual um what was it called knowledge stage lives you know first year of training for all of our teachers you know we set ourselves up as actually a pretty safe place for people to come we'd like to see that continue and uh you know and I was really happy to see the the enthusiasm that the teachers at Wasilla put into their the knowledge Safe Life thing that I that I was part of it now you know a lot of times I go to events and and the people that have to be there just kind of you know walk through it like I'm doing my thing I got to get here you know that I'm moving and and that's not what I thought I saw I saw an enthusiasm

116the teachers that wanted to know how it was going to happen what do I do how do I stop someone from shooting hit I mean they were very involved and uh I just wanted to know I know a number of teachers are here I'm going to compliment them for that and because I know that goes Downstream and they're going to be the kids are safer because of that and uh it's a group effort so that that one the link was my my spot all right um future agenda items all right next meeting date yes September 13th Wednesday September 13th it's on it's on the agenda yeah very good okay yeah we thought it was a gentleman asking are we like wanted to wait till we have that for sure okay um I mean public comments

117regarding closed session items I've never understood what to do without honestly there's no how do you know what we're going to talk about right because it's on here so with that our public uh portion is over thank you foreign