001okay we're uh good evening everybody uh Welcome to our uh monthly board meeting if we could all uh rise Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republ for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all okay um got a full agenda today and uh I just want to say it's great to have everybody here um um and it's uh honestly it's it's wonderful even if we are debating books and things like that I still feel very lucky to be in a democracy where we can do that and do it civy and I know with everything happening around the world right now it's a very stressful time and you know I I've heard from different students and
002teachers I know they're addressing issues as appropriate in different classrooms and it's just great to keep the students as informed as possible about what going on because that's what we need is an informed future electorate so I'm just really happy with uh what I'm hearing around uh about that um we do have a new person to introduce and I'd like to uh have Patrick do that yeah it's my pleasure to introduce our new student board member Aurora guizetti who is a junior here at Morse and each year in October we have a new board member that comes in so we're very pleased to have you here and just to give you a little background just a couple highlights Aurora is a contributor to the the Morse Gazette um member of the Morse debate team and
003drama club and the tennis team just a few things that she's involved with and in the summertime she's a has been a summer camp counselor at b wck as well so welcome and uh I know you're nervous you don't need to speak tonight but we welcome you okay thank you for being here and thank you for the process uh Patty was involved and I know it was a competitive process this year and I thank thec and the committee that did it uh it was competitive and so congratulations Aurora great thank you welcome Aurora uh okay let's start with uh approve amend uh minutes everyone had a chance to look at them I move to approve as written okay have a second Kurt second okay uh any other questions all in favor okay that's approved uh
004any adjustments to the agenda are we good with the order of things okay uh this is public session so if anyone has any questions about specific things on the agenda they can address it now um in terms of uh 11.2 which is the library material challenge uh we will allow people to speak at that time um as well so you don't have to address that right now but if there was anything else else anyone wanted to address you can come up no everybody's here for other reasons okay uh start with uh staff report so we've got uh Olympia snow women's Leadership Institute and I'm going to ask Patrick to introduce our guests so as you know every meeting we try to Spotlight something and quite frankly maybe this is selfish of me but I hear
005great things um from students about this program NHS induction a lot of the students talked about it as a highlight and quite frankly I don't know as much as I should about this program but again um people Rave about it and so I thought it would be good for all of us to learn a little bit more um tonight we have Carol Ryan SZ who's I think the adviser for the 2024 cohort from the from the uh Leadership Institute uh Kristen Ryan director of networks and Partnerships and then we have two of our seniors Kim inac condo and Sonia veli who are going to come up and kind of talk about the program what it is and um how you how you've benefited from the program as well so come on up don't be nervous
006and I noticed there was a lot of picture taking we can also pause at the end and get a group picture if you'd like so um but thank you for coming tonight and we're excited to learn more oh and also I just like to thank uh amber Macwan too I mean she has um coordinated this program um brought it here and also um I don't know if the funding sources will be addressed tonight but um you know you've been very supportive of this whole program and it's been wonderful for our students at mors um so in the folders that are being passed out right now are some general stat statistics about the program as well as some more specific statistics thank you so good evening ladies and gentlemen teachers leaders and the school board members
007we stand here with privileged and are honored to present the Olympia snow women's leadership which has been making a remarkable impact on our school Community I'm Kim Nando and I'm am Sonia vaselli um we are Olympia's leaders in the Olympia snow women's Leadership Institute the institute's mission is to raise the confidence and aspirations of high school girls by helping them develop skills that needed to be successful in their lives families communities and careers this program is a three-year program designed to support aspiring leaders each cohort is assigned to Olympus advisors facilitating the meetings and curriculums being the guidance and support in the program's first year sophomores will explore their self- knowledge on what they stand for through the values year the second year Juniors Straten their communication skills and how to be heard through the
008voice year in their last year seniors consider possibilities for their future and where they want to go through the vision year while building relationships with other young leaders from around the state furthermore Olympus leaders have an opportunity to earn digital badging that is worth three college credits this program is more than just a program and an EXT extracurricular this program taught us valuable skills such as learning more about ourselves and learning our values voice and vision that could be applied to the real world students are nominated for The Institute by faculty during the Spring of their freshman year their names are vetted by the student services counselors who then select the five finalists for those students who are considered show a spark of leadership potential yet to be realized are in good standing academically and
009socially must commit to the three-year programs monthly meetings must commit to attending the fall Forum held in Banger hosting over 500 students and pleora of business professionals government officials and Senators know so in addition to the regular meetings that take place throughout the school year each year in September Olympia's leaders from around the state will have a chance to come together for a fall Forum this is an all day event in which they are joined by volunteers community members and Olympia snow herself to eat meals Network and take part in breakout sessions in these sessions O's gain valuable insight into the skills they will build throughout the year this is done through presentations discussions and in individual work for instance I senior and I worked on skills pertaining to my personal Vision alongside my fellow
010seniors with the help of community Business Leaders I worked on interview skills and using tools given to me by The Institute I workshopped a personal vision statement overall the fall Forum as well as the program in general has really been an asset to my leadership skills and my confidence yeah thank you um we have questions can you did you want to address representing us we are veryy to work work with7 schools across and those schools have cohorts of five student leers leers and each of those cohorts has two and the goal is for the students to not only as they shared so beautifully but also as our mission statement says it's to confidence and aspirations to give them an opportunity to hear the stories of different women inate what their paths are because guess that
011most people in this from had an idea of where they they were going to be when they were 18 years old and many of us are not quite at that place that we thought we were going to be when we in 18 and so to know as you're leaving high school that that is fantastic um questions members on yeah Katie I'm wondering what you both felt was the most impactful part what what piece of the your work work um as Leaders sort of had the biggest impact on you or do you really feel like you'll take with you moving forward I would definitely say my junior year we've learned a lot on how to use a voice which is really important especially when you want to Give opinions and on that things that you want
012to like to want to be you want to be heard and I think that's really important yeah I agree and also I think really just um in my senior year I can really see how um the three years have come together and helping me build that Vision based on the skills I've learned in the years past um my values and my voice and also just having the the vocabulary to describe those things is really useful Jen you always have a question you have something insightful to say um I just wondering did you get a chance to meet the senator um she has um attended but I haven't met her personally but this year um I think we will because um at the end of the the spring like banquet um celebrate the senors I hope
013we get a chance to meet her she's a remarkable person and I'm really glad that the foundation has this opportunity to do that um and I guess my question would be um could you ever see like being like you'll become an alumni to like that you as you graduate would you come back and talk to other students that might be interested in this or are doing the program ever yeah that be really awesome I feel like whenever I try to explain about the program not a lot of people know what it is so I think it'd be really great to come back and just share my experiences so more thank you thank you one thing that I wanted to add for I should have said from the Dio that we are nonprofit so we are
014not politically Affiliated even though LS is our founder um and The Institute was founded in 2015 and so it's just growing and I was just sharing that um we're starting to see the Ripple effects of the students in our community and so the next is of what we're working on at The Institute U because our first graduating class graduated from high school in 2018 the next graduating class um graduated high school in 2019 so if they went to four-year colleges we now have two classes of Olympus leaders who are in the main Workforce and so what we're trying to do now is to keep them connected so we just um signed our first Charter for an alumni chapter at USM um and so we're starting chapters on each of the campuses the students will have
015um folks that they recognize and at least speak a similar language right so they understand like oh you're an Olympia leader I was too or I know what that means um but we're also seeing that in the workforce because um so many of our mentors are connected with the industries throughout the um the state of Maine because each of the 37 schools we have at least two in each County so it spans the whole state and so um it's been exciting to see um how it's been growing and how are starting to learn about it more so I'm very grateful that you invited um this opportunity so that we could share a little bit about what we do it's great thank you any anybody else thank you so much for taking the time and for
016explaining all this to us it's a phenomenal program that I didn't have that kind of detail before so thank you so much really appreciate it thank you expence a lot of very thankful Amber yeah exactly thank you thank you yeah you can go you don't have you don't have to sit there and wonder when to go just go ahead okay um now we're at the student board represent representative report Caroline hi everyone um so for the report today um the boys and girls soccer teams both made the first round of playoffs that are happening I think later this week um the cross country girls team made States that's happening this weekend and Levi rigs from the boys team also qualified individually um Spirit weekend homecoming last week or a few weeks ago I think was
017very suc uccessful the seniors won um home excuse me homecoming was a good turnout it was very fun um the credit Pathways program students are volunteering at BMS um within the next few weeks I think to educate the students on substance use and um last Friday there were five 10 minute plays um that the students acted in and I think there were over 100 yes which was pretty good turnout so yeah that's it that's a lot that's a lot for just a couple weeks all right um superintendent's report pck yeah I know the board has heard some of this because I send you guys weekly updates but I think it's important to just do a few highlights um Morris High School was ranked number 15th High School in Maine um with us news and World
018Report and again that's just one measuring stick but um it's a highest that we've been and that is that's determined on graduation rates Dropout rates state test scores and percentage of students that take AP or IB exams and also the scores that they receive on those assessments um and our graduation rate which is part of that um this past year was at an all-time high and I guess I would attribute that to all the efforts that we have here at Morse but also with the coid funds we've been able to put some things in place and so we're at the highest we've ever been which is 95.5 um graduation rate so again I keep saying Morse Bath Tech as I do this however um you know you know as students you start in kindergarten and
019come up through and so it's a tribute to all of our teachers in the district um and all of our support staff for that accomplishment B monthly newsletter um we've received a lot of positive feedback you should have got one in your mailbox today and Bill hagget was the first alumni kind of uh Spotlight and we'll do those once a month which I think is kind of um nice to do and so we've um Kim's been working hard at that and uh Gabby our PR person that we share with with bath has been a big helpful big very helpful with that process BMS uh science teacher Monica Wright uh she's worked with a professional film crew last week or the week before to film um a project that she does with around crabs with the
020students and she's been part of a National Science Foundation funded project with the Gulf of main Institute Bowden college and vilt university and so it funded 12 main Middle School teachers science teachers across the state and so that filming was kind of neat to see a very professional atmosphere and that will be shown a little bit later this year that we all should be able to see uh and then lastly I'll just mention and Julie's here she can chime in as well but the Bath Tech advisory dinner we have people from our community or surrounding communities that are um serve on uh each of our U programs boards to provide input and to talk about the industry standards and Workforce Readiness um but the dinner last week I think we had what around 75 people
021there probably and they had a very nice dinner that culinary did and then afterwards they go back to their uh respective classrooms and again talk about industry standards and workplace Readiness so it's a it's a great way to involve our community members in those specific areas and that's all I have all right any questions for Patrick okay um Deb you want to come on up financial report okay hello everyone um tonight we're looking at September um and we have spent 12 12.64% of our budget so that's 5.2 million um that's a little bit lower than last year last year was 14.54 um and as far as Revenue we're pretty much right on 2291 this year compared to 22.1 n last year um I did have the opportunity to do a budget versus actual for our
022new hire staff um and we are in the positive for 168,000 approximately for the teaching staff and a negative with the edtech staff um and so but all all in all it's 81,000 to the good so that's a that's a good thing we do have one new edte position that we have to add um that wasn't budgeted for but um all in all where in a positive uh just keeping an eye on substitute costs we are up about about 20,000 more at this time of year compared to last time but we also have three Ed Tech positions open so some of those uh floating Subs that have been filling in for those positions um ARP funds we have we have spent one point we' spent half a million dollars so we have um approximately one
023and a half million left in that and next month um I'll be encumbering payroll I try to wait until the first pay in November um to pay the schedule be stiens because they paid half and half and half usually most of them um and that gives us a better picture of where we'll be overall for the remaining of the year and that's it great any questions yeah Jen I don't know if this is for Deb or not but on the bottom where it says enrollment it says d l 15 students am I reading that correct yeah is is that surprising I mean it may just be class sizes you know because there's I think there's what four kindergartens versus what used to be five I don't but that means have to look at that 15
024students left the left the district the school I don't know if they left or 15 student less maybe came in um it's probably a combination yeah of a lot of things I can look into it further but it could be less kids coming to we count a prek in there but also bigger I mean a bigger class going up third grade smaller class coming in the kindergarten so okay oh it's not so this this is what we are forecasting for the enrollment to that enrollment actually is gotcha okay any other questions for Deb no not yet too early in the year okay um old business so we have um some action items here the um second reading of some board policies um environmental safety program emergency evacuation drills and bomb threats these are updating policies
025um can we take them all at once or whe there specific questions on any of these no okay well then can I have a motion please John so move okay I have a second okay uh any further discussion okay all in favor of passing okay so those are done we pass and uh Now new business 11.1 CTE classification of instructional program this is an action item and uh we have Julie here is she talking or do you need to yeah Julie you can come on up I me I we gave you some backup here it's really a coding issue on two of our programs but Julie can speak to it real quick and then see if you have any questions it's just something that the doe wants to see school board vote to approve this
026but yeah so um all of the approved programs are they use a classification of instructional program that's a federal requirement to receive federal funds um and the doe in Maine has recently found out the 1500 which is our health science is actually not an approved code that's what the programs are all over the state but there's actually you have to choose a subsection um of a specialization um and after further review with the Department um CNA is one CIP code but CNA is a one-year program so then we have to choose a second CIP code for the health science um in the one that we are choosing is more a General Medical Science Program which reflects the standards that we use um so we have to vote one to change the CIP code um in
027health science and add to additional ones so that one we're going to like in my new approved program list we'll drop one of them and we'll add two more the good thing with that one is it'll come separately in our funding um but it will it will basically because of our numbers we'll get two halftime programs but the um with the halftime programs the we'll get supplies uh lines for two programs um and if we increase our enrollment above 13 for an average of three years then we'll actually get uh full-time like full-time subsidy for halftime programs so that's actually a win-win um the other one is we currently teach um an architectural design CAD course or program um which is a mixture between using CAD for architecture um in more of a 2d aspect
028and we're finding that most of our students are going on to um more of a general or applied engineering at a four-year college or two-year college so we've spoken to Orno um and the whole eain system and smcc to try to figure out the best pathway so while we're changing CIP codes already we would like to add um the CIP code 15.13 well no that's when we're dropping we're going to be adding the applied engineering Technologies CIP code um and if once that is approved we will drop the current CIP code so our funding will just be be similar so with the codes does this does this change your curriculum at all it does so when well for our health science program it will not that's kind of just like it was done wrong at
029the doe level and now we're fixing that um so on paper we're not changing anything we will be changing our curriculum um in engineering to reflect more of the Humane applied engineering technology it's it's going to be more of like a mechanical engineering Hands-On technology um because that's what most of our students go towards but it will still have civil engineering um aspects to it so they'll still learn um cat AutoCAD and everything but they will be using like the programs that industry represents so it's more in that direction a little more away from what was architectural yeah design it's a yeah and so usually the the tools that you learn using AutoCAD you could transfer over to the architectural field but the students will be getting more of a generalized Eng engineering program okay
030and does that get changed like you've already changed it we can't change it until we get a board vote so I've done the full application process and it was actually due in October 1st or whatever but then they told me they'd wait for the board so once I do that everything goes up to the state to Ida Batista and then she runs the numbers for um for EPS but um so this is the last part it's my application's been approved pending the video I send them tomorrow of the board vote okay no I'm just saying because you're already teaching right are they already doing that or we're not teaching we're we're teaching architectural engineering right now and so this would be a change and so next year we have our full comprehensive School review from
031the doe um and we'll be required to use whatever standards that our approved program is okay so that'll start next year okay all right that was just trying to understand that um okay any questions so we need a uh specific last line on the backup yeah I think I actually need two votes though and I think I only wrote one of them in there so the last line is one of them and then up where it says um make a change in CIP uh 15132 to applied engineering Technologies 15. Z1 so that will be have to be a separate vote so there's two changes happening okay that last line do it is that for both of them it says both on the last line just saying latest version okay yeah so will that be good
032enough to do the one you want two we'll do two 51 is g to be the hell science right 51801 and then the 15132 is gonna be the engineering right yeah you connect together I think so I'm like yes I'm worried now that I got my number my because up above I have when you have 15 then it was 51 sense well I just met one you listed it was 15 yeah then you start saying it's from 15 I think we can just say we can we're changing our CIP code to reflect the applied engineering tech technology CIP and this the same for health science but I don't know if that's actually right um let me do this uh so I would say so yeah why aren't we so um we need a motion that'll
033be that we are seeking to vote to add 51.80 for health services in 15132 that's what I I think it is too where is that I can find my applications that's so the 51 thing is wrong sorry I don't have service in here Al either all right [Music] um You need the numbers in the mo or can you just say I think if we say that we're going to change to an applied technology applied engineering technology CIP okay so it's a change so what it is is a change so the first is we are we're adding you can just say add because I'll once you add it I can drop the the other one I just need to add one pad you got this go ahead she's the engineer okay I motion we I motion
034to vote to add 51801 and applied engineering technology CIP program to the Bath Tech okay is that sufficient for each that wording yeah there's actually one more to do this second let's do a second vote then let's not make it more complicated okay so that's the first thing is to add and so we have a second and Jamie seconds and any further discussion on what we're doing okay um all in favor okay so that's now been added now tell us what the I need one more um to add 51. 3902 for the CNA do that 51 51. 3902 I make a motion to add 51. 3902 to the Bath Tech program okay and second second by Jamie any further discussion on what this means everyone's on it I know Katie's on it everybody else is
035on it all right um all in favor okay you've got your votes it's changed whatever numbers you need to use wonderful I appreciate it we'll get it correct in the record once you get the numbers um but you're good and so the feds should be happy okay that's that now um moving on 11.2 the library material challenge this is an action item um we've got materials in your packet from the committee and um we're gonna allow folks to come up and speak to address it how do you want to I I think we would do it like we did before I think we'd have Jason represent the committee and come up and just kind of give a A Brief Review of the committee report which you have in your packet you also have the form
036um you know the the challenge form and you have the policy in your packet and you know the board you've had the you've had the materials for a while now and then all of you had a opportunity to to read the book as well so we'll let Jason start that should be on Jason and then we'll go from there okay yeah he was trying to raise a little taller but I'll I'll make do all right okay uh good evening everybody uh as you know I'm Jason principal at woit uh so I'm here just to kind of re recap uh the committee's work that um we undertook over the last month or so with regards to the book challenge for its perfectly normal uh so our committee uh representation we had our school librarian a middle
037school science teacher middle school health teacher fifth grade classroom teacher and a Community member uh that made up the committee that worked on this um and it is uh our recommendation our recommendation after reading our school board policies with regards to the educational goals and mission of rsu1 and the book in question we believe that it should remain in the professional development collection at wiw Central School and we have three main areas to support that decision first is the Schoolboard policy itself uh this material we believe this material does promote the mission of rsu1 and follows policy JJ which is instructional and library media material selection more specifically this material meets The Following criteria under that policy this m this uh resource gives comprehensive and accurate information that staff can use at their discretion to
038develop units of study the information in this professional development resource enriches and supports our District's curriculum goals this professional development resource supports the achievement of Main's learning results and help students attain knowledge needed to meet content area standards we also recognize uh that this is written by a credible author wrote Roby Harris is both competent and qualified in the field she is an accomplished author of more than 25 books for children and young adults SE several of these books focus on uh presenting accurate uh in factual information to children on Sexual Health she also has experience as an educator formerly teaching at the bank Street College of Education school for children in addition the reputation and significance of the author and publisher support this as being a valid uh source of information this book was
039written by ro Roby Harris as I just mentioned and published by Candlewick press Candlewick press is renowned publishing house for children's literature this book is often found on best of lists It's Perfectly Normal received many accolades when it was first published in 1994 which is the addition that we have at wo Central School in our professional development collection the list include uh was on the book list editor's choice that was in 199 4 uh School library Journal of best books in 1994 Wilson Library bulletin favorite reads in 1994 Boston Globe horn book honor book in 1995 the New York Times best book of the year list in 1995 and American literature Association of notable children's books uh on their list also in 1995 so in closing it is it is the belief of this committee
040that it's perfectly normal meets the educational goals and mission of rsu1 it is written and published by a credible author and publisher it has received numerous accolades and supports the education of our middle school students we completely support its inclusion in the professional development collection at willwood Central School and believe it is an appropriate resource to be used at the professional discretion of our staff all right thank you any question questions for Jason and how they came up with it what they did what he said no yeah go ahead Kurt no Jamie can you dis can you define what you mean by professional discretion is it something that they use so so for example this this particular piece of literature is housed just in our professional collection so it's not accessible by any of our
041students so it's in a separate room uh that's just houses our professional development resources that uh School librarian assembles um so then it would be there if there was a um unit of study within a science class or a puberty unit it would be something that teachers could go and reference um could possibly choose to use information from that book in their in their teaching so it's their discretion to do that I would also just say that within any of those units of study parents are also notified in advance um that you know if it's the puberty unit coming up they get a letter that we're going to be doing that in advance of any of that those topics being discussed in school so yep great thanks any Cur go yeah so that yeah that's
042exactly right Kurt that's why we send that home as a uh that letter kind of in advance of those um puberty units as such so if they choose that they would like to have their student learn that a different way they we would opt them out of that yep okay any other questions no questions on the general um challenge but do I wait um on the actual challenge itself well let's just see if anyone else wants to speak and then we can certainly address all those is that okay all right okay yeah thank you okay okay anyone else wish to speak on the topic hi my name is Alicia and I'm a parent of a fourth grader at Woolwich Central School I would like to make a little disclaimer first I was never informed when
043I first challenged this book and throughout the whole process that parents were notified in advance of a topic like puberty um with that being said I was thinking if that came up am I still going to continue with this challenge um I am because I'm not sure the degree that parents are notified is it just hey we're talking about puberty or is it hey this is exactly what's going to be said in class and you can opt out um in the state of Maine so very quickly due to the criticism I received last year when I challenged a different book being on our library shelf I would like to start off by making it very clear that I am not trying to take any parents rights away I am simply utilizing my right as a
044parent to do what I feel is best and since I was so graciously termed transphobic last year I would also like to make it very clear tonight that I am by no means that's the fear of sex for those of you who are unaware after initially challenging the book It's Perfectly Normal I was informed by superintendent Manuel that the book is kept in the Woolwich Central School professional Library which means that it is located in a room off the library designated for staff and is only available to staff as a resource when I asked for a couple of examples of a staff member needing this book as a resource he stated an example of a staff member referencing this book may be for a middle middle level health education class now before I continue I
045want to acknowledge the idea that someone may argue that well the book is behind closed doors so it's fine please let me quickly remind you that there are many things that are not okay just because they're behind closed doors bullying stealing lying cheating all not okay just because they're behind closed doors and although I was pleased to hear that our children cannot directly check this book out it still has no place in an elementary or middle school the book It's Perfectly Normal hear me out is in fact perfectly normal normal IT addresses topics that may be uncomfortable for parents to talk about with their children IT addresses topics that are important to learn about when the time is right but who should be deciding when the time is right is that the school's responsibility or
046ours as parents and is school really an appropriate setting for children to learn about topics such as sex homosexuality abortion ejaculation and wet dreams our children are all going to learn about this at some point and I understand that sometimes it's probably sooner than we'd like to admit but at the end of the day it is 100% our right as parents to decide when these conversations happen and what they look like like no child learns the same no child matures the same last I knew we send our children to school to learn about writing reading and arithmetic we send our children to school to connect with other children to strengthen current skills and learn new ones and for them to learn how to become contributing members of society we do not send our children to
047school to co-parent with teachers faculty or staff the book written by Roby Harris is aged 10 plus and has been controversial since it was first published in 1994 in fact it is one of the most banned books in public schools in the past two decades due to its graphic sexual content the pictures are Illustrated and kidfriendly it is full of controversial photos of nudity and sex they are also extremely graphic illustrations of naked boys girls men and women an illustration of a naked woman on top of a naked man having sex an illustration of a woman bending over and looking at her private parts with a mirror labeling the anus and opening to the vagina it even illustrates a comic-like scene of ejaculation if a topic wouldn't be acceptable for two students to to be
048discussing at school if it wouldn't be acceptable for two staff members to be discussing at school and if it wouldn't be acceptable as a one-on-one conversation between a staff member and a student then it's not acceptable for a staff member to discuss discuss it with multiple students in a classroom the classroom doesn't magically make it okay for example it's one thing to talk about or teach our children about puberty and how your body might start to sweat more or how hair may start to grow under your arms and on your legs or for boys facial hair but it's a totally different ball game when that conversation turns into how your penis gradually grows larger and longer and how a tiny bit of sticky whitish fluid may come out of the vagina both direct quotes from
049a book now before I wrap up and I appreciate your time I'm going to ask all of you to do me a favor and just think of a child that's important to you and that you love between the ages of 10 and 14 and I want you to imagine that they are in a health education class or a comprehensive Family Life Class and at the teachers discretion this book is introduced again I was unaware that a note was sent to the parents and I am unaware of what that note actually looks like in terms of details masturbation is touching or rubbing any of your body's sex organs for pleasure because it feels good when people masturbate they usually rub their sex organs with their hands or with something soft like a pillow a girl often
050rubs her clitorus a boy often rubs his penis a person may have a warm good tingly exciting feeling all through her his body while masturbating this feeling can become more and more intense until it reaches a peak or climax at that moment a male May ejaculate a female may feel strong exciting Sensations just in the area around her vulva or throughout her body a female may also feel some wetness in her vagina that's directly from the book on pages 48 and 49 on page 56 they move to sexual intercourse after a bit the female's vagina becomes moist and slippery her clitorus becomes hard and the male's penis becomes erect stiff and larger it is now possible for the male's erect penis to go inside the female's vagina the movement of the penis inside the vagina
051soon feels very good ages 10 to 14 is this how you want our children potentially introduced to some of these topics without your knowledge or supervision would you want your child's teacher counselor or nurse going over this book in class potentially reading excerpts like I just did and showing them the illustrations of graphic nudity within the book so much of this book is inappropriate especially for this age group borderline pornographic if you haven't checked the book out I highly recommend go looking at the picture pictures and has no business being shown or read in our children to our children in school thank you all right um thanks for coming up and um you know I understand what you're saying everything that I know about and I know Jason and Patrick can tell us in more
052detail but it is pretty detailed when they send home a letter explaining what's in health class and that they will be going over all kinds of everything it's pretty explicit um because you do as a parent have to decide whether your child can or cannot um should or should not be in that room okay but there is but there is a difference you know you say two kids talking about it is very different than being in a classroom with professionals who know how to address these issues and for some kids this is the best opportunity they're going to have in in a non-judgmental place to hear about some of these topics if you're a parent who says I want 100% to do this I don't want it in class they don't have to attend that
053class they don't have to be in it and and it is a letter that is sent home explicitly explaining the kind of topics that will be addressed and this book controversial it's controversial to whom it's not controversial to the mainstream medical um psychological or any other Association because they've all backed it there's a reason it's up to what A fifth edition not because it's not good but because it is the most Gentle Way the illustrations are not pornographic I'm sorry you may feel that they are and that's your opinion and that's okay but this is ways of addressing a very important topic so that children can be safe and they can learn about this in the best way possible so I understand that you're upset I wish you did know that you would receive a
054letter when your child reaches that age and you have every right at that point to say I do not want my child learning this in that setting in that classroom I do not feel it's appropriate that's how you feel you have every right to take your student out of that class so what is my student supposed to do during that 30 or 40 minute guidance class or whatever class it might be what do what do we do Jason you want to speak to that at Wich if you had I don't know if you've had that experience but if you want to come up well I we certainly bad experience where students have been opted out for different reasons not necessarily for this topic but uh anytime a student opts out say they opt out of
055the State Testing that we just completed we would set up an alternative uh unit of study or an alternative activity uh would possibly be in a in the library um would be away from that setting where that topic or that what they're being opted out of is happened um you know we would work with family with the teacher to create a different learning experience for that would not be of that topic if that's the point of discussion yeah so they're not it's they're not treated like a pariah they're not treat they're just there's students with that given topic does not work they just are uh treated to a different a study hall or another topic something they can work on worksheets something else they can do so we're not you know forcing this on anyone
056right and I want to if I can remember what you addressed a couple times I I love hearing like Devil's Advocate so like I reached out to some very trusted people in my life that have been in like public schools and I asked like what are your thoughts and she knew exactly where I was going with this what are your thoughts on like things like puberty being taught in the public school and she's like I know where you're going with this she's like it's a very sensitive subject because like you said this is some kids like best bet into learning about topics like this with that being being said I don't know this for a fact but I would like to argue that that group of children that doesn't have that support or guidance at
057home is the minority and I'm not understanding why a guide I just keep going back to a guidance counselor because the school I worked at that was the guidance counselor's job um why like some kind of letter couldn't be sent out to parents of said age groups just addressing like if you need help navigating these products I don't know why we need to talk about sexual abuse masturbation abortion all topics that are in there like some of those topics are very sensitive topics like if you take abortion I'm not even GNA go there right people have so many different opinions on that and there's no black or white answer so am I going to know exactly what you're saying to my child in that class about that like are you ex like it's just inappropriate
058I mean I think I have nieces and nephews that range in the 10 to 14 year old age and I'm trying to picture them in a class learning about some of these topics and I'm not saying you shouldn't touch upon a topic like puberty and just maybe get the surface of that but the details that are again in this book specifically are just age they're inappropriate for that age group right I understand I understand that's how you feel at the and again like that's great but like are you going to say okay so the book It's Perfectly Normal by Ruby Harris written in 1994 is going to be introduc like is that the detailed letter that I'm going to get they don't talk about all the de you go ahead Jason you I was go
059ahead no you're good yeah go ahead the letter is going to identify that we're going to be teaching a top unit on puberty uh it won't necessarily list every single resource that's been used to create that but that's certainly opportunity for a parent if they want to question or ask more specific details of what is going to be used or what's going to be covered that's when we invite that conversation you know I can speak also to the fact that like a lot of the stuff you're citing in that we're not going to use that book and just go through that book cover to cover in order to teach the topic we would construct those topics in a very developmentally appropriate way for our age of students when we do a puberty unit in fifth
060grade or sixth grade it's covering body changes it's not getting into sex it's not getting into the sexual maturation of a person other than to help them identify why they may be feeling some changes within their body um it's focused quite frankly it's Focus focused much more on the social emotional needs and changes of students as they're maturing and growing through that age that age period so you know you would get a letter that would identify the time frame in which we're going to be teaching this unit it would probably highlight in four or five bulleted points like I just identified you know the topics that would be covered and then you know it would the closing paragraph would be for to invite families to contact us if they have specific questions about what or
061how it's going to be covered and or if they would like to off their student out of that so that that's how we would cover that at w is it the school nurse that does the training or uh so we have uh we have some of our uh teachers are involved um but we also have our school nurse can be involved with that we also have our middle school health teacher that assists with that as well and we also we always have uh so at well wi we would separate uh we have two females that work with the young ladies and girls and then uh myself and our middle school health teacher happens to be mail work with the boys so you separate the boys from the girls during the yeah just so we can
062talk a little more developmentally appropriate to to you know to what's happening within each does that answer your question a little bit I mean it's a little clear think go ahead no go ahead I was just going to say like if you so Mr Libby said that like you know it might come out like oh we're going to talk about puberty but he's not going to go into detail like that's a sensitive subject and I can't imagine that I'm the like only parent that feels this way maybe I am but like I just why is it my job to have to dig into like dig deep into what exactly you're telling my child and I guess I'm probably a little bit defensive just because I've seen like some of the things that have been taught
063in schools and you'd like to think that it wouldn't happen at a little school like Woolwich but I'm trying to be proactive here and in your comment about you know two students talking about a comment or a topic is different than bringing it into the classroom with like a health professional agreed if my son went up to a male teacher and innocently asked him a question and I'm just going to go back to masturbation because that made me sick to my stomach um asked him about that I would think that that would be inappropriate for the teacher to answer my child's question and I would like to know from that teacher that hey your son came up to me and asked me this just in case you want to address it but then it's okay
064for a male teacher to sit with just boys which is nice to know and potentially talk about that topic just because they're in a classroom no that's not it's not the same thing if someone comes up out of the blue and it's out of context it's it's contextual no I said it's not being out a like it's an in innocent question that could be question that be there it doesn't mean they're just going to talk about it if that happened in a classroom because then the teacher would be concerned Why that student when we're talk what we're talking about is something that is designated as time to discuss health issues puberty sexual health and that is why parents are notified and when you were notified you have any questions if it's not detailed enough and
065I'm telling you some of it's pretty detailed remember for the bath middle school and I got it with my kids I was like whoa they're going over the okay and I talked to the kids and said you're going to do this and you got any questions well you know we've talked about some of this already and this is how it's going to be that's fine that's how it works you don't have to do it no one's telling you to do it equally we're not going to prevent other people from getting that opportunity to learn in a safe environment about these topics that's how they become healthy young people it's how they avoid STDs it's how they learn how to respect one another there's a lot of stuff going on here and we're not going to
066avoid those topics so why can't it be more of like if if that's the case then why can't it be more of like an after school class like Hey we're gonna offer this like I just think it's inappropri again I think like I know that because when I challenged the book last year was a different author I know that like the um what's the word they used the reputation of the author in both last year's case and this year is like talked very highly like she knew it was going to be controversial like I've read about it you know what I mean and I just don't think that these topics and that book specifically like I don't know what other books are in the professional section of the library because quite frankly I don't have
067time to just sit down and go through the library but it's completely inappropri roate like I don't and I understand Mr Libby saying that they're not going to sit down and like read excerpts necessarily like I did but I'm sure there are more age appropriate ways to address these topics to these children depending on grade level and age level than this book I'm not necessarily challenging you talking about puberty in school right we get and I get the opt out I'm challenging this book and I just no I I understand understand and and we will we will vote on it and I'll let everybody comment who wants to we understand where you're coming from we understand what you're saying I will also say that that's why you have um and Abby you can tell me
068it's is American libr Library Association I forget the actual name of it is okay um you have professional association after professional association whether it is about the library whether it is Teachers whether it is all these who vet this information that say this is and they rank it this is appropriate for this age group this is appropriate you be taught at this age group you may not agree with it but that's that's where we get all our information we're not making this stuff up and that's where it comes from but Patty go ahead did you have a the um I have a elementary school age boy as well and I know third fourth and fifth graders are talking about this stuff and I know that a lot of kids don't know they just they don't
069tell their parents I know that these boys talk amongst themselves and they don't understand it completely my son will ask me things um and I hear his friends say things that are completely out there and I like do I tell him that his thoughts are wrong and I mean I feel like it's a safe environment for these kids to learn and you can opt out of it but it's there's fourth grade girls that are having their periods I think it's important that these kids know what can happen at that age I mean it's young today where kids are having puberty unfortunately because I was much older I had I had this talk when I was in school many many years ago so I feel like it's nothing new it's just um it's hard as a
070parent to to know the right time to tell your kid you know this is the way life is and this is what's happening but they they talk about transgender they talk about all this stuff three four and five I hear them on the playground it's it's there no and I think maybe I missed that part in like my little speech I think I said that like I think I said that like I like I grew up in a small town in New Hampshire and I don't remember this ever being in anywhere from 1 to e8th grade I remember we had a domestic violence speaker come into high school and we needed parental consent to listen to her and I understand like our our children are learning things at a way younger age excuse me than
071I remember learning about them but that doesn't mean that it's just a free-for-all to talk about at school and I wish you know I almost looked up to the numbers and I'm like no that's going to come at another time but there's some crazy percentage of children a study was done that admit to watching pornography by the age of 13 and a very high percentage of that number like over 50% that had to watching it by the age of 10 so is that mean because it's out there and children are talking about it that we're just going to bring it into the school because that's a safe environment that is a these some of these conversations again touching the surface of some of them I get it but I think this book and some of
072these topics are completely inappropriate for the age group that it is listed in in grades 5 through eight at Woolwich age 10 plus and I just think that just because the conversations are out there with these young kids doesn't mean that we should just be bringing it into the school and talking about it just because they're talking about it right now I we understand where you're coming from and thank you for for you know telling us how you feel and where you are I think now we're gonna have what go ahead I just wanted everyone in the room to be aware that the main state standards that were required to teach which is not a district decision or a w Wich decision as low as fourth grade in health say students explorers ways their bodies
073grow change and develop through adolescence that's one of the fourth grade standards that we're required to teach um fifth grade students describe how their bodies grow change and develop physically mentally socially and emotionally so that's the K to five standards for health education and six through eight that same line develops through to to sexuality and so regardless of what you all think it's actually on our health teachers lists of things they required to cover right and I did and like I said I was well aware coming in that I could opt out of any type of like sex ed class and I'm aware that the state of Maine requires a they call it a comprehensive Family Life Class in grades K through 12 but again I think there's a huge difference and to my knowledge
074the state of main doesn't necessarily say you have to teach X Y and Z it kind of gives that like blanket topic but like I said with puberty there's a huge difference in saying hey you might notice hair on your face boys or girls you know under your arms or on your legs than talking about like genitalia right like that just blows my mind and I feel like I don't no I go Caroline go ahead um hair grows on genitalia as well um I think it's totally normal for a girl a young girl to want to know why there's discharge coming out of her vagina to be completely transparent um scared me when it first happened I thought I was sick I wanted kind of to know what was going on um people get their
075periods at the age of eight kids penises start to grow I mean they want to know what's going on I think it's totally normal to have a mirror down there or want to like check out what's going on and I agree I think school is definitely a very safe place to learn these sorts of topics and making assumptions that um the minority of students that don't have a safe place to learn like I think it's it's definitely something you shouldn't assume that a kid at home can learn sex related topics or puberty related topics about your body so right and I'm not I'm not disagreeing that like of course these kids need to learn about that stuff like I'm not like naive like I'm not naive to them talking about it I'm just saying yep
076girls are get getting their periods it's scary that's what moms and dads are for well right and if I don't know how to talk to my son about certain topics or my daughters about certain topics then I know that the resources are there whether it be a school nurse or a guidance counselor to be like hey I'm having a really difficult time can you help me navigate this or even better could you sit down and help me do these conversations and then go from there I just again it's this book specifically it's not like the topics I just tended to pick the things out that made me go whoa when I was reading it the fact that that could be I understand that from your Viewpoint you think it's too explicit I I get that
077and so I think you know we've heard where you stand why you've you know have objection to the book I would like to do is see what the board thinks so that we can um decide how to move how to move forward so I thank you for your opinion for coming in for explaining all that and I'd like to hear from the board on uh your thoughts yes thank you um you know I appreciate you being here tonight and and standing up for what you believe and I truly do wish that a lot of kids had parents that would come to Schoolboard meetings and stand up for what they believe so I just wanted to thank you for coming in um and sharing that with us tonight um I read the book as well I
078have um now an eighth uh eight-year-old who is new in my home and I thought gosh how would I talk with her about this um definitely not at8 but when I looked at the photos I was a little uncomfortable which I think is normal because it's something that I think we all get uncomfortable talking about um I am someone who came up through fipb school and had lessons in fifth grade about um sex ed I think we had it again in 10th Grade here at Morse um I remember it being uncomfortable but I don't remember learning the detail that I learned through my position um or read in the book It's Perfectly Normal so I understand that some of the topics are very um difficult for some people especially around sexual abuse espec especially around
079abortion I thought about those things and read through and also um you know read different articles about just the controversy with the book um and I heard a lot that it was teaching kids how to masturbate or it was um pornography and I didn't see that I did look at this objectively I did not see that I saw matter of fact details about um things that are really difficult to talk about and Caroline thank you so much for sharing what you shared because those are the things that you you may a lot of our kids in this community don't have parents that they could talk to um and I'll share story recently someone said to me am I being neglected and they so were but they didn't understand it because they didn't know anything different
080and so when we talk about the sexual abuse in that book we teach about that because somebody somewhere is experiencing that and it might help them connect with someone who can help them out of that situation and I think that if we're we're saying you know it's just those kids that need to go to that class and learn about that stuff because they don't have good parents well that's not fair for them either um so I would vote to uphold the decision of the book review committee and keep it in the professional development Library um other okay does anyone else want to comment before Kurt we have a motion and it's one second and yeah uh thanks for speaking um I I would Echo what Jamie said I appreciate when parents come in and stand
081up for what they believe in or what their children are experiencing um from my point of view I'm not a a sex expert as child psychologist um I would just go with the professional organizations and the credentials of the people who recommend this book was whether it be nationally or in our own School District like our Librarians and our health teachers um when I was a kid I didn't want to tell anything to my parents and I didn't want to ask them about anything especially that was uncomfortable um and I have a child who doesn't tell me anything and who's not at this age yet luckily but um I don't know if that made me a bad kid or if it makes me a bad parent now but the reality is is that kids aren't
082want to talk about sexuality with their parents um to the extent that the parents probably would like them to um and so having you know what I would you know I read the book too what I would say is pretty objective uh explanations of what's happening to people's bodies I think is a really good kind of Baseline to set so that kids who don't know what's going on can understand it and if they're the kind of kid that doesn't want to talk to a family member for whatever the reasons then they have sort of a safe space to probably not talk about it but probably hear about it from an adult that they've been going to school with for a while and that they can trust so I would also recommend keeping this book in
083the library any other yeah I I would have to say that some of um because I'm sure health class over the years has probably gotten more explicit than it did when I know a million years ago when I was in health class but I think part of it too is with social media with the fact that as Alicia you had said more and more kids are you know how are they getting access to porn well it's you know they got one of these with nothing no guards on it that's how and I'm telling you they're not teaching them anything that's right so we really have I think have to have the opportunities in the classes where we are explaining it and you know whether you like it or not and you know it's uncomfortable sometimes
084but if we're not G to be detailed there then the kids aren't going to get the details on Tik Tok and everywhere else they're going to get stuff that is is a whole different direction so um I think that's kind of where we stand so we have a motion we had a second any other questions discussion this is about keep everyone understands the motion keeping the book where it is okay um all in favor of keeping the book okay uh that's unanimous and so again thank you for coming thank you for stating where you are thank you to our staff for all the committee work and bringing us all the details so we can do this the right way and uh following our policies and I uh appreciate all of you thank you all right
085and Katie you get to follow this with instructional update so everyone should have this chart um in front of them I just have some numbers um that had been I believe it was Jen who asked last year to um be kept sort of uh a breast of where we were with our free and reduced versus our change to the economic status form so um last spring if if you there's a a letter on the back um of the charts and essentially rather than having families be required to fill out that free and reduced um lunch form where you have to fill in your income and whatnot um the state um had us switch to a different form this is the state's form not one we created um and Matt Fred Davis and Kimber just worked
086really hard to um upload all of these forms digitally so when families enrolled their students this year um through our online system this is what they saw and essentially um once this information is collected they just answer yes or no to um you know based on their household size do they make equal to or less than the amount on the chart um if they do answer yes then they are um seen as economically disadvantaged based on these State numbers and so that's the new way we are collecting this information so if you go back to the Chart you can kind of see um between 2022 fall numbers and 2023 fall numbers where our enrollments are um last year's form was the free and reduced lunch form this year's is the economic status form and probably
087the most important section would be to look at the second chart 2023 the last The rightmost Columns so what is our percent um economically disadvantaged as of right now and how much did it go up from its 20 2022 number um something to point out you'll notice that there's one line that says in progress and complete records we have um Kim pulled thank you Kim all this data for me today we have 241 families that we're waiting on for them to finish their online enrollment and so these numbers could shift um and looking at where um some of this fell before they'll probably increase in economic disadvantage status um the only school who has 100% enrollments complete is fipb on there so FIP fsb's number is accurate at 44.7 um and you can see compared
088to how we were collecting the free and reduced lunch during free meal when free things change to free meals um it's very different um from one year to the next um in terms of accuracy of where our families really fall especially looking at fiser Mitchell um Dyke Newell um fipb in particular um and so essentially um that's sort of the main update I just wanted to Bri knowing we had two longer presentations um so any questions about where we are as soon as we get more we're going to send a letter home tomorrow and and secretaries and principles have been working really hard to get everyone so we can get as close to 100% of all of these filled out as possible so we'll send another reminder home that Kim put together um today at
089tomorrow um and we'll keep you posted if this changes in a significant way second is that did we you're saying we did that when you do the online registration you have to answer yes or no I guess I did yeah I just don't remember I I I was just happy that I was one that finally no usually I'm usually I'm the one when you say and I'm like oh I didn't fill that out yet I actually did go online and I was just impressed I was able to get on Infinite Campus so that was a big that was a big plus um okay so all being done as because I know there was another email sent out to make sure people did it so so you're staying on top of that that will all get
090done a lot simpler than in the past yes so that's that's great thank I would say I'm I'm impressed that you know of 2,000 students we only have 24ish people who've not I mean yeah that is pretty imp first year of a new system um you know kudos to those who've been working really hard on this great thanks yeah that's great okay any questions yeah Jen so we lost title one funding money this year with these results that you have in already it's just it's a better story it's a much okay and so um these results are also combined with the other program um participation that we already know so those if there's if the family's participating in a certain certain number of programs from DHS that automatically qualifies them um and then this will
091cover those people that are not using those programs but self-identify as needing them correct okay and so that will money will go in and that will Pro provide the basis for our this is federally this is the federal government says this is an acceptable way to collect data and we're likely to see a bump in our in our Title One I hope so I think what they've always done in years past is average three years yeah so this will obviously count as a year but I don't know if our two past years of lower numbers will still get averaged in or if or if they will be able to wave those other numbers knowing that districts in addition to us didn't have accurate percentages and that these are likely more accurate because they're self-reported and
092we have a higher percentage of people filling them out so I'm I'm not sure of that but it you know it's it's a tricky thing Patrick and I were talking about it earlier today to be hopeful based on a poverty percentage but that's how you get more money and so this is UN an unfortunate problem in our area but it helps to have an accurate perception of where we really are financially in our communities so we can get the funding we deserve right because then we're getting the money for um the reasons we actually need it for right yeah great any other questions for ktie no okay thank you thank you very much kti appreciate it um field trip requests action item there's a few field trips in your packet um do we need to
093go need to go over them did anyone have any questions on these I do you have to recuse is it your is it your oh yeah then then yeah then don't do it don't do it okay so you'll abstain um any questions on these field trips can I have a motion please yes Jennifer so moved I like yes do it all together and Meg yeah okay Megan good um all right uh all in favor okay we pass those have fun on the trips good luck um now we have a uh first readings of board policies this is a no action tonight but you have any questions uh one is admission of homeless uh has to do with admission of homeless students another one is school closings and cancellations which I think is is an awesome
094one because everything was crossed out and then the whole new much shorter basically should just say up to Patrick um was great and you know we'll let you know uh I thought that was appropriate um any any questions on those for tonight we're just missing a comma um on the homeless admission of homeless students between on the second page number four between mental health services and case management where case management was added yeah okay great thanks for that um but nothing everyone's good with content no questions okay so we'll do that next time uh 11.6 Personnel items uh Patrick yeah we just had two resignations uh once the school year started this year so i' just like to thank Mia bosen and David K who both were educ at Tex one at bath middle school
095and one at Dyke new for their years of service great thank you very much um board goals we just always have this in just in case there any reference Jennifer you want to speak to it sure I just um in reviewing the goals I would say that we' definitely hit the communication goal by that wonderful new District new newsletter I think that's a really great resource thanks for highlighting yeah um uh the safe and supportive schools you know I think looking at those policies that we reviewed I think those are important places for people to have comment and and to see what our policies are in terms of being prepared for those instances and the prek um programming I think um the instructional update Katie gave us just in terms of having Title One Services
096hopefully be better funded is the way we've met some of our goals this meeting I I would add on board goals just real quick is uh you know I think our discussion on 11.2 tonight kind of fits under that safe and supportive piece I know it was kind of an unexpected thing but um I think if it falls into that and then the last goal that we have around the elementary schools we will talk soon but probably at the next meeting about um the possibility of doing what I would call Ed specs for the D new will and fish and Mitchell which is kind of a visioning process as well as possibly um you know getting a site kind of a generic site study done of the current D site just to some steps we
097talked about this at facilities committee to be proactive um regardless of you know the state's decisions so we'll bring that up soon great all right um next meeting is uh Monday that's what the Monday after Thanksgiving all right Monday after Thanksgiving um so don't fall asleep while we're in the meeting all right thank you can I adjourn so moved I second it all right all in favor we're out thank you so much for everything