RSU 5 2023-10-25 Board Meeting

001and November 12th at 2 p.m. and you can purchase tiet at the door and then last we car pumpkin for the Camp C pumin which place on Saturday and there were thousands of Jack lanterns and all the funds they raised went to support Camp Sunshine which is a year round three retr in CCO M for children with lifethreatening illnesses and their families yeah and High School teachers were invited to attend a workshop at Meeting House arts and five FHS teachers attended the focus of the workshop was an exhibition of portraits entitled Americans who tell the truth by main artist Robert shedly and some of our Freeport High School classes will be visiting this exhibition this week um Freeport High School's yearbook program has achieved the J's 2023 National yearbook program of Excellence award at the

002Gold level um this award was presented to the FHS yearbook program for achievements in the following categories creating an inclusive yearb generating School engagement and successfully managing the year creation process fre High School's year program is led by English teacher Becky Peterson and our school is so grateful for her support and clubs are getting started at free for the year and um our Outing club had their first trip of the year on Friday they went to hike and braon um our free Port High School active Minds chapter has been tabling at the Free Port Sports Games giving out bracelets and flyers to spread awareness about mental health in our community and interact Club had their year with a big sale located at B Street Market on Saturday and the team raised over $1,000 to donate

003under Theo name so we're very busy at Freeport but um we have a lot of good things happening so yeah thank you very much very thorough great to hear all the goodness all right um since we have such a large um audience or people that may be interested in public comments we have a lotted 30 minutes at the beginning and again at 30 minutes at the end but what we decided to do is move all of it into um right now now the first part so we'll have an hour of public comment if necessary um so if you are interested in speaking this will be the time to speak tonight um and I have some so before we get started um I will read what our guidelines for the public comment in order that the

004board has time to fully consider and discuss the issue we're setting up to 60 Minutes aside for public input so that we can hear from the largest number of voices different voices each speaker will be limited to three minutes for comments for those that have not participated in our meetings before we'll review a few rules at the outset we ask that speakers identify themselves name and town of residence please be brief and try not to repeat yourself we know School discussions of school discussions of school related issues can get emotional but please remember our children are watching and we are neighbors so please be civil we will not permit profanity or shouting at one another or comments that disparage and attack individuals or groups of individuals speakers should direct all comments to the board this

005is an opportunity for the board to listen to the opinions of the public that relate to school and education matters it is not a public debate or conversation so no questions should be directed to the board and the board will not be responding to any questions or comments if they are asked we want want to listen the board will not permit complaints or allegations against staff members these are Personnel matters which the board is not permitted to hear in public if there are complaints against staff these will be handled appropriately through our complaint procedure K if you are interested in a two-way conversation on the rsu5 website individual emails and phone numbers are available for board members and the superintendent thank you for your patience while we make this introduction all right and so we're

006going to have I have a list of everybody that signed up if there's anybody that did not get to sign up another list maybe okay so we can over there Cynthia has a list if you did not get to sign up on this one so um but first up we have um Heather Sylvester oh yes and then next would be David Webster from Freeport just so you can be [Music] ready sorry sorry just a minute we do have an extra mic up here that we could maybe [Music] no [Music] 14 there is I'll take anything else that people want toar karaoke there we go okay it's magic okay I'm Heather Sylvester I'm a resident in Durham and um I see for thisy I first want to just thank our school district for for making such

007such a welcoming and um respectful environment already see this policy as codifying what doing um thank you to the board for bringing this policy forward um and they by showing that it's an important one to consider and for all of the work that has been put into making this policy and I also wanted to say that um I was really impressed and encouraged um and inspired by the work that the school board has done and did accomplish um after the last meeting that we had um for I could tell that you listened to the people that came to speak um so thank you and I support this poliy thank you [Music] heather after David will be Nancy salmon good evening David weste um first I want to thank and support the school board first in

008responding to the community with the changes that you've made in input and hopefully voting to adop the educational best practice policy for transgender and gender expans micone I certainly can thank you I came to a previous school board meeting thinking that nothing new I had nothing new to offer and I listened that evening to the comments about confidentiality uh and it s of hold memories I came back tonight to ask our board and the community to reflect not everyone is as reasonable as you are not every child feels as safe as your child feels living in your home a long time ago I worked in Crisis Intervention Suicide Prevention counselor work in and out of schools and in the community I was trained to counsel young people to avoid self-destructive behavior that is suicide and

009other self-destructive things I worked with a lot of confused kids and lots of solid young people trying to help their friends I worked with concerned and positive and supportive parents and other adults when I talked with young people I was trained to ask is there someone in your family you feel safe bringing into this conversation I expect the same is true today last meeting caused me to think back to counseling and a young man called James I'll call him James he was thrown out of his home for coming out James asked me to drive to the family home to get belongings and clothes thrown in the driveway because James did not feel safe Jam's father came out raging out of the house I was scared after we left James cried in my car and apologized

010over and over about his dad's rage last time last time I knew James was doing okay he was thriving but another kid up called Charlie was also thrown out of his home when he came out last time I talked to Charlie he was not doing well I never heard from Charlie again and I listened to concerns expressed about young people talking to a counselor and expecting parents should know everything right away I thought I thought back to these young people and I remembered my own childhood as a kid I remember the adults talking about the guy down the street who beat his wife and kids and how powerless they felt then back when then no one thought they could do anything about it a close friend told me her story about her child a friend

011who came to hide in their home when his dad beat his mother that after I listened to people talking about this policy see their children in confidentiality I felt compelled to come back and say not everyone is as reasonable as you are not every child feels as safe as your child does living in your home mainstate law says that in certain circumstances children legally have the same confidentiality and privacy rights as adults that law comes from experience of many challenging circumstances please remember not everyone is as reasonable as as reasonable As You Are please do not forget that every child does not feel as safe as your child does at your home thank you work on this transgender and expansive gender policy and also thank the community members um for expressing their concerns their fears

012their hopes and their love for their children for all of our children I was present at the first reading of the policy and appreciate the respect that was demonstrated for all opinions and Views and for all who SP and attended the conversation among board members following the public comment seems to have brought greater understanding of the parents concerns and fears I hope the new language particularly the stated goal for the RSU to support communication between students and their parents about students gender identity I hope that conversation and that new language alleviates some of parents concerns I support this policy and hope the changes will put to rest some of the fears expressed earlier thank you thank you after Gary we have Stephen Fon good evening I'm Gary Sylvester I live in Durham I'm a proud

013father of two kids here in the district um one of whom is at BCS at G Community School the other is at Freeport High School one of my kids kids is non-binary and you know it has been a a process for us but I just want to express that they've had such a positive experience um and I'm very proud that our RSU is as diverse as in so many respects I also want to express my appreciation for the board for the thoughtful uh and work that they've done with the extensive work that they've done um not a knee-jerk reaction nor does it seem railroaded through um the board discussion uh following the previous meeting that we attended um it it seemed really thoughtful uh to watch and listen to the discussion play out I a

014closer yeah it seemed that the discussion uh following uh the previous reading uh was thoughtful uh and the board seemed sincerely receptive to the concerns voiced that evening um I don't have any compelling statistics tonight or any heartrending stories um I stand here tonight in support of the policy and I appreciate your work thank you after Stephen we have Sarah [Music] Gman um my name is stepen Fran I'm a resident of free report my wife and I do not have children but we are both career educators I have taught over a span of 45 years uh the last 35 here in Maine and before that in four other states I figure that I have worked with over 1500 young people both in secondary and on the higher education level in the course of my career

015I want to thank the board for its hard word and good sense as the preceding speakers have emphasized in developing this policy uh for transgender and gender expansive students um it's something that as a resident I take real pride in knowing about um because like of the other people who have spoken uh child safety and child welfare for all students in our schools is very important to me uh I need reiterate this statistics about youth suicide in this country at this time and I remind you I know that those statistics are far far worse for gender expansive and small uh minority populations uh in various ways of identifying students in the school Community but I'd also like to say that um gender expansive people and transgender people have been a part of human culture for

016a very very long time they go back to the beginning of human C culture in many places around the world they are in our Legends and religions when we speak of gods when we speak of Heroes when we speak of people uh they are women who are warriors they are men who dress and act like women there is nothing doing this and I'd like telling a story about 15 years ago I worked for an organization called glad in Boston gay and lesbian Advocates and Defenders I was their main representative for a year this was in 2005 and in that time I mostly worked with the young man who was their events planner having to do with fundraising uh but also publicity events very very nice guy younger than me I liked him very much a

017jolly story he was short darkhaired and round with kind of a scruffy beard I met with him three times planning activities before I realized he was transgender he had you know he was just a very nice young man as far as I was concerned that's what transgender people want they just want to be accepted they are our friends and neighbors um and they're certainly not a to be afraid of thank you after Sarah we have Brenda ler hi good evening my name is Sarah Gman and I live in Freeport I have two children in rsu5 I'm in support of the transgender and gender expansive policy because it supports our youth and because it is so important for our youth to know that they can be their authentic selves um especially at school but of course

018everywhere and I also want to thank you for all of the thoughtful work that you've done on this policy and for the way in which you've listened to the community today I know our schools navigate all types of diversity with Grace and respect and with our trust and I believe this policy will help our district continue doing the work to make sure that all students feel that they belong and I want to note that it also feels wholly consistent with the way that we communicate what we do for our students today um it seems appropriate and worth noting that the report high school mission statement calls out the importance of celebrating individuality um so if we believe it I hope we will continue to act on the way that supported I want to note that

019even as I State my support for this policy I really believe and hope that in a short time maybe in a few years from now we will wonder why this policy required so many words so many definitions so many explanations when at the end of the day this is simply about being fully inclusive of all students in our community and I really hope that down the line in the future when we as a collective commune are ready that we will find time and ways to shorten and simplify the policy to a level of parity with all other aspects aspects of inclusion this is just about people and being accepting of all people in closing a quote from Mya andelo who said we all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry and we must

020understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter their color so thank you for the way that you are listening to all of us after Brenda we have Stephanie hunt Brenda leer I reside in Freeport I think it's that I really wasn't planning on speaking tonight but I just came from the sh field hockey game to support my niece the purp and I was surprised to hear how many parents live in treport and they're sending their children elsewhere because of the concerns what's going on in the school systems right now and I asked why aren't you coming to the school board meeting and they said said because you're falling on De years that's what they said so you have to at least try and I can't just sit behind and

021and not at Le speak up and at least try to make a difference the last school board meeting I was at you said didn't understand why parents felt like this policy was about secrecy keeping parents out of it but it is you didn't change you didn't include parents in this new policy under Section D2 you have that as as if requested by a student they may include other participants such as parents and Guardians not really hope that you change that word to say they shall include their parents and may include other participants I realize my baby child has a safe home but I think the role of the school here is to guide the children in having that conversation coaching them and being alongside with them so then you know their situation at home if

022there's an enraged parent than them through it they're Mining and a child a child's right to privacy doesn't overrule a parent constitutional 14th Amendment right to care for provide for and and offer health care for if they don't even know what's going on with their child how can they provide for the mental health child if they need that they need they need someone to help to tr what is going on in this child's head are they being pressured are they being coerced is this really how they feel you it's about Communication in a 75 yearlong study Harvard did on students asking what um determining what what made a successful person in life the the outcome was having quality relationships particularly with family members and the number one factor of having quality relationships was open communication

023and this policy is is going away from communication you should be encouraging the communic guiding them with the communication and even if it's a difficult communication and a child doesn't want to do it because it's a hard thing or they're afraid to do it help them through that but don't exclude parents we are in our kids lives for all their life and and the school board is involved for what few years so I hope that you really reconsider re wording the policy and I do appreciate all the work you've done on this I know this is a CH but um I just couldn't hold my P I need to at least please shall include parents with the guidance and coaching how to use thank you after Stephanie we have Emily moer good evening my name

024is can you hear me my name isie maybe get a little closer to the mic my name ishie H [Music] students you've got to get uncomfortably close okay can you hear me okay my name is Stephanie hunt I am from preport and I have two kids in rc5 I want to thank the school board for your public service and um taking a lot of time to develop this policy which I support my experience with transgender and gender nonconforming youth is with my nephew who um is one of the most amazing humans that I know he he is and has been a straight A student for his entire life he is a profoundly gifted musician he um is now in college studying engineering and I know that he is going to do great things for his

025community um for the country and he can only reach his potential with support acceptance and empowerment from his community um and I hope that with this policy Ken youth in our community will also feel that support and be able to reach their potential and their goals thank you after Emily we have Nina whe can you hear me super okay good evening my name is Emily moocher I live in Durham and I'm the parent of three students in the district and I'm here this evening to again present a community letter of support for the policy on tonight's agenda the letter reads as follows we the below co-signing community members of rsu5 towns support the drafted policy ACAA transgender and gender expansive students we value the health safety and rights of transgender and gender expansive students in

026our school communities we recognize that individual transgender and gender expansive people including children deserve privacy and the autonomy to decide when and to whom they disclose their gender identity and that they deserve respect safety and support when they do disclose it we commend the board for taking the initiative to write this policy and to provide our Educators with a road map with which to navigate these sensitive topics we urge the board to vote in favor of passing uh policy ACAA a as written now in the second uh thank you for all the hard work that you do to serve our unique and vibrant School Community um and this letter has now been signed by 269 people from Durham freeor and pel um and you should have been emailed that that updated those updated numbers this

027morning so thank you all again for your hard work on on this policy and for supporting our students have a good evening after after Nina we have Stacy V hi I'm Nina while I live in Freeport um I'm here to urge you all to continue to pass this policy because in my opinion today's transphobia sounds similar to the 1970s homophobia which we can all look back on with disgrace likewise a civil rights M uh movement a decade earlier people didn't want to share bathrooms with black people then they didn't want to share bathroom with gay people and now the words black and gay have been replaced with trans thank you to the board for unanimously voting to move this important policy forward and as Zoe zepher an elected official in Missoula Montana House of Representative

028and Oly transwoman said it's easy to stand tall when you're on the right side of History thank [Applause] you Mary hello my name is Stacy Venia and I I'm just here to say that I support this policy and appreciate the care and thoughtful discussion the board took in developing the policy thank you for your commitment to all of our students I also wanted to show my appreciation for our school staff who share that commitment and are dedicated to making our schools inclusive and safe for all in closing I'd like to share a quote from Chase Strang stro who is the deputy director for transgender Justice with the ACU's LG G btq and HIV project when young people are affirmed in their identity they Thrive thank you after Mary we have James [Music] Harrison um Mary

029Pennington Durham I have two students who went through the um entire rc5 system um thank you to the board for codifying these best practices um in order to support transgender and gender expansive students I support this policy I applaud your work in sifting through some really strong emotions and significant public push back um but ultimately doing the right thing for a really vulnerable population James Liz Gardner hello my name is Jamie Arison I live in Freeport I have three children two that have graduated preport high and one who is a junior right now um I also have a master Divinity from a very conservative seminary in Kentucky if anybody wants to discuss uh theological issues at another time I'm wide open but I'm very glad that's not what we are here to discuss right now

030we absolutely can't have the school become a place to enforce religious Conformity we couldn't possibly ask our teachers to do that instead what your fine work and this policy is doing is encouraging the teachers to create a caring safe environment so everybody can learn to put aide uh to combat bullying where it arrives to make sure that people are seen as human beings right where they are treated with dignity and respect I can say uh my oldest child um came through and came out to me as trans I think sophomore year at Freeport High School and it was a process I was scared I didn't know what I was doing I knew I love my kids I researched I knew that my first job was to keep this kid alive and that without supportive Parents

031Without A supportive Community those suicide risks are really high and I needed to be there and I did not do it already but right now Micah is has graduated Colorado College is a strong confident healthy happy man with just incredible potential in his life I am so proud of him in every possible way do I know that that's the only way everything could have come out I have no idea but I wouldn't risk it for a second and Freeport High School was there even before this policy but I saw teachers struggling and trying to do the best they could and I can see how this policy will really help the teachers and staff really have something to rest on to understand and have guidelines to offer a safe environment for everyone even for my child

032who is a junior now uh is non-binary I have heard almost nothing but positives about the kind of environment that you've managed to create and continue to support and I'm very proud to be a member of this community very thankful for the work that you have done again Jamie Arison if anybody had any questions on that theological stuff I'd be glad to be there for you but first and foremost right now I encourage you to pass this policy thank you very much after this we have another list good evening DOL oh sorry go ahead good evening my name is Liz Gardner I'm from Freeport and I have two children in the rc5 school system I'm here tonight in support of transgender and gender expansive rights and want to thank the school board for passing the

033first draft of this plan thank you for your consideration in implementing this policy doing so will cement a healthy environment where everyone is treated with respect and dignity thank you thank you Liz we have Michelle bossy good evening my name is Liz doy I a resident of panel at grandmother of two children in rsu5 and I strongly support the policy on transgender and gender expressed students as a retired biology professor at a college in Vermont I would like to share a few experiences I've had with a trans student I met Carol at an orientation for first year biology Majors presenting as a male in appearance she introduced herself to the group hello my name is Carol and I am trans I could sense some apprehension in her voice but she was beginning her college education

034true to herself Carol enrolled in a first year seminar course I taught called pretty or nasty the world of Cosmetics the course was interdisciplinary in nature covering such topics as the history the marketing the chemistry the safety uh and other uh topics related to Cosmetics as you might expect the course attracted primarily female students one of the first assignments in the course was to Define Beauty through the lens of different cultures to facilitate the discussion of BBS defined in Western cultures the students did makeovers of each other in class one student had previous experience in cosmetology and was eager to do Carol's makeover I can still see Carol's reaction when she looked in the mirror after her makeover was completed she literally jumped back totally all struck and tears came to her eyes the class

035supported her with a loud Round of Applause in contrast another experience was not so positive Carol was to receive an award at the college's annual convocation ceremony and her parents planned on attending Carol's parents rejected her identity as a trans female and insisted that she was a male and be addressed by her birth name Carl I asked Carol how she should be acknowledged at the ceremony I can still see the pain in her expression as she hesitated in reply Carl she was still not fre to be herself the trans policy before the board is important it will support students who like Carol in expressing their identities can do so in a safe and nurturing environment and they will not have to wait until college or later to do that thank you we'll have Melanie wman

036hi my name is Michelle bossy and I um had three children that went through the school system I had three adult children and throughout the whole time I um I was always so impressed with the board because the one thing that they care about is children and um I am so grateful for that and am happy that my kids were able to attend free boort um schools um I also also am a secretary at Mo Street school and I know that all of us uh at our school at least we we love our children whether they're shy or have tough behaviors or are anxious or are come from struggling families or affluent families and also if they identify differently as far as gender uh we would want to support all these children no matter what

037you can't just support the majority all means all we would feel terrible if any of these students were bullied or felt like life wasn't worth living um I thought I understood all about transgender identities and was acceptant of people whose identities uh uh who identified as transgender and uh but my recently in the last couple of years my youngest child came out as transgender and um and all I want for them is to be happy and to be a successful adult and to know that they are loved and I'm lucky that they talk with me um and try to help me through this uh I have to say that I I did struggle and I was super worried that I would do things wrong because the the stakes are high and um and I'm I'm

038grateful that they kept um telling me and my other my one of my other children told me when I didn't understand things they said mom we we don't know how it feels to be inside uh Maya and um and she and she's right um and so I listen and I accept them for who they are um I asked Maya if I could talk about um talk about this and they said yes and uh they said I said is there anything you wanted me to say and they said yeah I just want the schools to support people like me and um so I will tell you one story story this summer we went oh okay you can wrap it up uh we went to a wedding and Maya um I I met Maya in the hall

039and and they I said how things going because they were worried about this wedding it was family and everything and they said um they said well it's really because I was going to the bathroom it's really hard to to like go to the bathroom here because it was just two different bathrooms so like I don't understand that you know and I think we need to realize it is super hard for these CH for these children and these adults and um so one last thing that I know School budgets because I'm in a school and I know that people say and I agree with them that single stall U bathrooms would be great but let's remember that when budget time comes because um we will have to cough on lot of money if we're going to

040do that and um and if we really want to do that then we need to be supportive of that thank you very much and thank you for all your [Applause] work up Mel mink hello we good okay hello I am Melanie Wyman resident of Durham um I stand in front of you again to support this policy um I want to reiterate today like I said what was it almost a month ago now that this policy only serves to protect the safety of transgender and gender expansive students and it's not there to limit the rights of parents it is just to make sure that every everybody feels safe and can learn because if you were trying to learn and all you could think about was how the you that everybody sees that everybody loves they laugh

041with wasn't the real you would you ever be able to stop thinking about that would you ever be able to really take in information that would be helping you in you know in your adult life but you are too focused on the fact that you are essentially not living as yourself and so having policies like this where you can feel safe to be yourself at least in school makes it so much easier to actually become functioning members of society um like we already have you know 54 plans and like all of these support programs for the majority of students and focus ing that on minorities is so helpful because a lot of the time the big sweeping projects miss out on the few here and there and so having policies like this secures that so

042that everybody is equal and everybody is involved um I going back to the policy the expansion of the language is incredible it only serves to specify and clarify what it is that you are trying to do for the district um which is to protect the students and having it having the more specific language regarding parental involvement makes it especially to me less even for me less hesitant towards the policy because it makes it more clear that it is up to the student it is not expressly you know the student is not allowed to involve their parents it is up to them if they feel safe if they feel like they are going to be you know kicked out on the floor on the on the curb and abandoned that they don't have to involve their

043parents and I think that is the most important part of this policy thank you after we have Conor Ming hello my name is Minka holtrop I live in Freeport and I go to Freeport High School I would just like to thank you for all the work that you've doing I know a lot of work goes into making policies like this so thank you very much and I'd like to acknowledge the change that was recently made to the D I think stating that um the goal of the rsu5 is to support communication between students and their parent Guardians about the students gender identity the RSU will offer support to parents Guardians and the students as needed which I think is very very helpful in clarifying parent involvement so just thank you for that we appreciate it

044thanks thank you after Conor do we have Conor here after Connor Melanie [Music] saxs um hello this is um I'm studing I go toport high school um I'm aort resident um I really would like to express my appreciation for all the work you're doing in this policy I think it's brilliant um and I think it's important because it ensures the safety of queer students uh in both their home and school Community with the um right to go to the resturant that they find suits their gender um as well as the confidentiality that they have with the school um and it's Al especially important because it acknowledges the fact that um everyone's flawed and tragically not all parents are um good parents um and a requirement of Parental involvement could put career students uh at a

045real risk of harm um so that's why I think is really important um and also um when it comes to opposition towards a policy like this a lot of parents are afraid that their students are making poor decisions but they're really our youth is much more intelligent than some people tend to give them credit for um and if they choose to leave their parents out of these discussions of their gender identity it's almost definitely because they feel there is some real risk of their safety if their parents are involved thank you we have um Jennifer curin hello wonderful board my name is Melanie sax I have the honor of representing free Court in the state legislature I am delighted to be here with you all today I was unfortunately ill during your first reading I

046listened to it I am so grateful for the many many hours of time and consideration you've done for this bill I wanted to publicly come say that and also to talk about how this policy is actually in alignment with so many of the state policies that are coming through the legislature at moment in this first session and remarkably oddly ironically today is the day the bills that were signed in the first session of the legislature are enacted into law several of those bills such as the ability of main care to cover gender affirming care whatever that means to a person a student and adult um is covered by main care that a child can actually go seek gender affirming care without the explicit right of their parent that is now law it's one of the

047first in the nation and also Al I'd love to point out that your policy which is on page three under D about no portion of this policy precludes the student from confidentially speaking to a social worker or counselor um within the school was just the subject of a very excitingly titled LD 394 which is a resolve regarding legislative review of chapter 117 rule regarding the duties of school counselors and school social workers a major substantive rule of the Department of education not sexy but super important because that is exactly what we're doing is talking about kids and students and the ability of you and uh as the school board and our community as a school and the staff to be able to support students in whichever way so the state has your back that's what

048I'm here to say and if you're interested in getting some of the testimony much of which was repeated unfortunately on the the halls of the State House both sides that you heard RIT large on about five or six bills I'm happy to point you to the testimony but the one I wanted to highlight was about LD 394 which a particularly wonderful piece of testimony which was a group testimony from glad equality main main transet out main Portland outright here ACLU in the main chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics says schools are for students those students and their stated needs have to be the f focus of our schools in our view every student matters no matter who they are and everyone's primary concern should be the health and wellbeing of the students that's what

049I know you try to do every single day that's what I try to do as a state representative and also as a parent of two kids who came through this school district and are thriving and I was a scout leader for Boy Scout my coach and you are just here for kids and I'm here for kids so the state has your back thank you for your work I urge you continue that good work and pass this policy that's I thank you after Jennifer we have Oz good Jennifer C from fth um in 1985 when I was a gay kid in high school the LA Times published the first of its kind survey and in it it said and ask parents if they would uh how they feel if their kids came up to them as

050gay a 89% said they'd be distressed and upset in 2000 that same question was asked by the peer of the theq research center and that was 73% at that time so we went up a little bit 2010 is a 5050 split and today is a 6040 40% of our nation still feels very distressed if you are getting what was well documented in that survey too is that kids don't come up to their parents typically uh first they will come up to friends and often they know in high school or before that they are gay or trans and they continue to not share that until they are out of their home a quote in that study says it can be much more challenging to approach parents when uh they are the ones that control their housing

051food and Care in the same information states that many lgbtqa a kids feel more comfortable with friends that are strong allies while I take hope that a number of adults who might uh accept their kids is rising there's still a significant risk for many teens when telling their parents about gender or sexual identities the Trevor Project just released its studies saying 28% of lgbtqa Youth report experienced mistreatment and housing instability that jumps to 40% of your trans and 35% if your non-binary when a child comes out to their parents while still at home they risk everything they could lose their housing their food their income and their family all in in one outing so are these trans policies being embraced here at your school to work so that we deny parents' rights I don't think

052so speaking from experience I'm sure a child would love truly appreciate it if they could safely turn to a parent or guardian and share their lbgtqia questions or thoughts or identity however also from my experience many of these children who cannot do so find it severely isolating and harmful not to have the ability to turn to an ally or a friend when they're in need and here is at rc5 policies this policy is going to make kids safer so that they can be themselves and not get assaulted it's hard enough to know that you're different and most times different than those in your family but it's even harder if you think those family members are going to outly reject you I was raised in a Conservative Christian background and although I knew nothing about the

053lgbtqa community and in 1985 my school did notas the lgbtq community there was no books stories people I knew who are lgbtqia and I'm still gay I was conditioned to think that gay was bad I'm still gay and I was told I was an Abomination by my church I'm still gay but the difference is I'm here still alive please Embrace this policy as is these kids need you make this generation different than mine thank you after a there's a name that I cannot read and I think it says Cumberland so if there's somebody here come up thank you all right uh good evening friends neighbors members of the school board uh my name is OSG good I use they them pronouns and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity to

054speak today not as someone who lives in the district but but as a community partner work working for a Statewide lgbtq organization I have been the executive director of Portland outright for the last 10 years which has been supporting and advocating for Main's lgbtq youth since 1988 I am here today in support of the policy on behalf of the broad network of young leaders families and communities who support the passing of the transgender and gender expansive student policy we want to commend you for your leadership for your listening and especially we want to give uh appreciation to the young people who've come out and shared their personal experiences and support of this bill there are very few issues that will get very very busy overworked young people out to Schoolboard meetings and this is one

055of them and I want youall to pay attention to that when people are young people are bringing their voices to an issue in the last few weeks I know you've heard from members of Portland outright my organization and a number of constituents about the importance of creating safe and welcoming environments for transgender students in your District you've heard personal experiences from students and parents and you've also heard oppositions so taking into consideration what you've heard so far I wanted to offer a few remarks on the topic of transgender joy and the opportunity that you have in front of for the last 10 years while I've been in leadership at outright I've mentored and worked in partnership with hundreds of young people to create new policies networks of support and resources in school districts across the

056state I have sat with young people who have felt defeated and unheard as well as young people who have seen adults in their Liv show up and listen when we create a school community that nurtures and supports transgender young people we create the opportunity for those young people to be whole a quick Google search and all of the comments that you've heard so far will tell you about all of the risks associated with the lack of support for transgender young people however I can tell you from experience that young people who see the adults in their lives advocate for them and keep them safe as I believe this policy is intended to do those are the young people that will see doors open opening in front of them young people with this type of support

057in school have more access to Safe adults and peers and in turn can be a safe peer and adult for others someday with this policy in place transgender young people in your district will laugh harder love more deeply and feel more at ease knowing this policy is woven into the fabric of their days as rsu5 students this is transgender Joy the Baseline that allows our students to be students without the worry of fighting for their basic rights and safety at school it is a deep breath and it is a sigh of relief tonight you have the opportunity to pass a policy that is in line with national best practices for the safety and well-being for lgbtq young people but it also reflects the needs and wants of the actual young people you represent right here

058in the audience this policy amplifies and makes official the practices already happening in rsu5 and I urge you to please pass this policy for these students and all of the ones that will come after that um thank you for the time I just ask you to tell me your name please I can't read it Scott from cber Scott Scott from cber what's your last name Jordan Jordan thank you you know I had something to read tonight but I've listened to so much and I'm still processing everything I'm here and my heart's racing I'm feeling like I'm in the Twilight Zone right now you know I went to war I come from a family of men and women uh uniforms I've been around so many different people around the world and I'm listening to what's happening

059tonight what's being said and all the different testimonies and first of all I want to commend all those that got up and spoke tonight but I can't join in in This Love Fest for what the school board's done because we don't have a complete picture here tonight the minorities here tonight the majority is not there's so many people that do not agree with this but they're not here you know why they're not here they don't want to be bullied they don't want to lose their jobs those are the people you should be talking to before writing a policy you know when when you um when you create a policy like this are you thinking about that biological boy that thinks that they're a girl and they walk in the locker room have you thought about

060the 99% of the biological girls who feel uncomfortable changing in front of that boy you probably haven't and the crazy thing is the majority of Bo is [Music] women did I say something offensive okay I can tell you as a man if you went into a locker room full of boys and you had a young lady coming in there the boys are not going to feel probably the same way the laden field you're creating an environment where you're protecting the minority over the majority which you're making the majority feel uncomfortable if you want to be welcoming inclusive diverse think about the majority who you're making feel uncomfortable who can't speak out because then when they do speak out the bigots they're racist they're homophobic when we probably all want the same thing we want to

061be welcomed we want to be loved we want to be successful businessmen and women we want to be super intendant you want to be Vice chairs of boards down the road have you ever thought about the 26y old lady no name's mentioned who was encouraged to transition how a double and I can never say the word right so please forgive me in advance the double his Rec me the lady Parts wants to now be a lady and can't have children and you thought about that person I can tell you the school board is not going to have anything to do with it later when she files a and none of you care because it's not your child I just ask you to think of all the children not just a minority but thank you for

062everything he's done have a good evening and God bless everybody thank you and that concludes the public comment portion so we will move on with our agenda so we'll go to the uh number eight reports from the superintendent okay we'll start with um District happenings under items for information um some things that have been going on in the district we had 52 eighth graders from Freeport Middle go Middle School go to a national park last um last at the end of last week to complete some research on invasive species and their field work has been submitted to the Gulf of main Research Institute and I think as we look at um great examples of Hands-On education that brings that curriculum alive this is certainly a a wonderful example of that uh I want to do

063a shout out with a milestone reached by a staff member just to let you know Reena Frank is the kit assistant at Freeport High School she has just completed her 30th year in the school nutrition program all in rsu5 so we just want to do a shout out and thank Rea for the many many many meals that she's she's spred out our children another shout out Caitlyn heog she is a a speech language pathologist at Mo Street school she has designed and installed four large communication boards on the playground at more Street to support communication for our students with autism and developmental disabilities and I want to thank her for her tireless inclusivity efforts um and Kaitlyn also said make sure that I I thank Jason Chisum who helped make sure those boards were secure

064um we sent out this week a reminder um for folks to go on the power school and fill out a form for its an Al as an alternate economic status form now that lunch is free uh the doe is using a new this new form to determine our eligibility for State economically disadvantaged funds under the EPS uh this data is not for school lunch purposes the old form we used to collect to see if folks qualified for free lunch it's not for that purpose and it will affect our subsidy uh we did send out our reminder this week and we encourage families to log it to power school and complete the very brief survey it I've been told by our data Specialists if you log in and you don't see it it means you're already

065completed it so some folks have found us so we really hope remind your friends and neighbors to complete that form um transportation we we're still struggling we have um um a total of five um positions open we are pleased that we do have one candidate who is started driving the INF Forest this week that will shortly be driving a bus so will certainly support us uh what we've also noticed um as we I mentioned um a meeting or so ago our school nutrition program lots more um families are taking advantage of meals our ridership is really really up this year particularly buses in Freeport are very crowded some of the runs um so certainly if there are folks that could transport their student that would help some of those runs because they are there we

066have one plus it's um 70 students at one L at the elementary level and under number two um resignations um I'm announcing the resignation of Gabe Wagner Freeport High School Educational technician and that is all for the superintendent report thank you je next we have administrator reports and Kelly is already at the podium so go ahead thank you good evening everyone um included in your packet are expenditures for the month of September um everything seems to be on track for us at this point um we are about um 15.8% expended with 63% of our budget commit because as you know from the budget process umot the biggest portion of our budget the majority of almost 80% is um staff um and so of course they're all in the schools we're about um 21% uncommitted at

067this time and as the superintendent mentioned we do have some vacancies which is help can contribute to the amount that's um left over but we don't see any great concern in the vces thank you K does anybody have any questions looks like good thank you all right and then we have um 9B which is our update from pel elementary school and goal review with principal holl johnon hello everyone for those of you that know me I'm Holly Johnson from H and I'm here to on my uh calendar I said glows and goals um for po Elementary so um I want to report that the year started with a lot of um great energy and it continues to have that positive energy student we're seeing um student engagement growing strong and Leadership along the way with

068that it's really exciting to see students um involved with the learning um throughout the day um one example of this is um our grade two students um had an early science unit uh that involved them learning about plants um and pollinators and they um added a pollinator Garden out behind the school here uh and it was a great example of um with parent um volunteers coming into support um and it was just wonderful to see um students and parents um working together um and it what they planted here is the beginning of future work together through the um School community so we're excited about that uh we also have um been starting some work on looking at our playground it started last spring um and I have a group of parents that are working on

069uh looking at um Renovations for the playground um we've been evaluating the current status of the equipment we've surveyed students families and staff about um what they see as needs and ideas for um ways to add to the playground uh so now we're generating plans um looking at how to um Outreach um to the community and uh support funding for that so um more to come on that and will be the next course of the year so we're excited for that uh in your packet you got uh the review of U the goals from 2223 and then updates for this year for 24 um and a lot of as you looked at the two you probably saw a lot of similarities um and uh really a strong focus on social emotional learning is where we're

070spending a lot of our professional learning um and work with students at all levels um across the school and um I can go through each of that any questions about um 2223 I'll start with that I actually have a question I'm raising my hand I forget I'm in charge of the meeting tonight okay um I was just curious about the um this establishing the student advisory just because I didn't see anything on the other side so did that happen or yes last year it did um and actually like today I was actually tallying votes um right before the meeting uh students voted um today um for this year's um members uh so last year we had two students from each grade um and we met monthly sometimes more than once um during the month depending

071on the projects that we were working on um and uh so this year we actually had to add we ended I had come up with some ideas on how the uh group would work but I never made a process for going forward so um obvious we had to um um vote in some new third graders but so I sat with the members from last year and we talked about it um and they agreed on um uh having term not a term limit but it would be for one year and at the end of the one year they could um if they chose to uh reapply because there is an application they do um and then um be join and and be voted on so um results should be announced tomorrow afternoon so that'll be great

072thank you that's great to hear do you have a lot of applicants 19 this year so it was definitely more than last year yeah that say very good number right no more questions all right so um looking at this year um some the action steps we're going to be taking uh around social emotional learning include um continued work with responsive classroom it is wonderful that the district supported um many staff members that had not received um the first level of training over the past couple of years we did an in-house training in June by hiring a consultant um and I think there was 25 to 30 Educators across the elementary schools that were able to partake in that shortly after school got out and then the biggest um really great uh part of this planning

073is the consultant is coming back three times this year which will take place in the next week is his first um return um and there will be some more professional learning and then also some coaching so the um the consultable coach at um Mass Landing here and at Durham Community was the teachers that um were able to participate that the teachers are really looking forward to that so it's great uh so thank you for that support uh the other big areas around student engagement um we're going to continue our work as a around um uh We've added uh definitely an emphasis on habits of work it's not something that was strongly um across the grade levels here at pel so we're really working on that as a staff and um a big part of our

074student engagement is um working on content area learning and science um and our math uh work went on um creating thinking classrooms it's really the excited to see students um really enjoying learning through those aspects and um it's contagious and we want to keep that going so uh and Community Building uh we continue to um grow as a community um our schoolwide expectations are going strong um I've had compliments from families that come in during the morning and they see um the patterns of the day and they really remark on how positive um the student environment is so it's great to get that feedback from those that are outside um seeing the students action here and uh this year we brought back buddy classrooms this is something that disappeared through Co um students are really

075enjoying that they're hearing stories about how they missed it when they um they might have enjoyed it as a kindergartner but then it went away and now is fourth and fifth graders they're the um older buddies so it's great to be on that other um end and uh students are really enjoying and the teachers are enjing to see the paing and the learning uh the other thing that was added is um last year we developed a school Vision together that was worked late last spring um so it's something that we are trying to live and um support our work and everything that we talk about and do as the school um as adults are is really being tied to that vision and um this year we will continue to work on that and develop some

076beliefs about um learning and that will be added um to our work and um shared with the community as that um un gos and then um we have a goal certainly focused on academics and continuing um continuous academic um achievement across um primarily reading and math but we know that's we want that across the day and um some of the big shifts on that is really thinking about early um foundational learning the district has um been supporting some of the new curriculum at K one and two um and that work is really electronics and and um the new reading and writing curriculums um really uh emphasize that work and allow students to transfer that learning and at tier two we're changing some of the work we're doing with students to provide more um targeted instruction

077um and really looking at assessments on how best to support students and uh math the same thing we're really looking at those foundational skills with math fluency that work started last year and we're going to continue that part this year any questions mie thanks so much H yeah is are loud um oh wow I always just like to check in I'm pretty sure I was the answer but but you're coordinating with um with more Street school as well and Durham so that there's similar curriculum approach yes um a lot of our um well a lot of it's districtwide so like our work with social studies that will be districtwide um and then there's other little pockets that we make up to team together and work together um in the next couple weeks we'll be doing

078a reading with um the reading writing project Consultants um and that's uh K2 and 35 so there's a lot of work the district does provide whether it's a professional learning dat where we do some crosswork together for um some of these are release days for teachers where we get subs for part of the day so that um grade level teams can come together and focus our work yeah please forgive me asking that I just think it took us a while to get to the point where we felt really coordinated across the district so I think it's always worth it to to hear how that's working exactly um and I also wanted to ask you me work were not being used like in all grade levels yeah I mean something on the report card but nothing

079as a real concentrated effort not only like reporting on it but how are we supporting students with that growing those skills um and helping them to kind of really be a part of that work and understand their not only their role in it but how it their awareness importance how are they doing with those skills and so more I would say was more active but we're really excited it down all the way to to that's good that should make for a smoother transition to middle school thank you you thanks Hol um I just had a question about the responsive classroom that the training that the five staff members went to how are they bringing back what they learned to the rest of the staff question um so some of uh the administrators were together in

080a meeting and we're planning for that that next level of training and um many of us would love all of our teachers to be able to go sit for the hour and a half this planned on November 1st but um at this point it's not set up to do that um so what I did in August when um that trainy took place in June and when we came back in August and as a staff worked with responsive classroom um with I didn't ask teachers to present but it was just a natural flow of conversations as um we brought in some of the same work that happened in June those teachers added to that conversation they brought in examples um so it was just a natural um they brought their learning naturally back to the staff

081and we're growing it together Mar thank you so much Holly really great to hear about all this could you speak to the equity walkthroughs that were done and if they informed anything that's this year so um that was a part of last year's work work um it actually um one of the reasons it was in last year's work is was started the year prior that I was here um and they even the leadership team um and Lisa Dem got it somewhat organized but because of time it never actually took place so last fall um I kept it in as part of our action steps um and the leadership te and I work together to select a tool um there was a lot of um uh resources that the team had worked through but nothing had

082totally been selected so the leadership team last year and I selected the tool um which is multiple pages I actually um brought some of it um and we knew it was just too conversome for us to achieve um in in quick walkthroughs for staff so um the team chose there were four different areas and each the four different areas they picked um four kind kind of look fors out of the list of maybe 12 to 15 that were in on a page um and we created a Google doc um so we could use um Electronics if we wanted to or I made print offs if a teacher preferred to do the walkth through and check off what they were noticing um I was actually I used my phone it was easier for me to bring

083it right up on my phone with a click click um and then um teachers were invited to um visit one to two classrooms and um then we just the data was easily D because of the Google um Google form and um that data then gave us um kind of a a dipstick in what was going on across the school um and that's what we used to help plan for um the work last year and other questions for Holly no I guess thank you so much all right we'll move on to uh number 10 board comments and committee reports and a we have board information exchange and agenda requests and before we get into that I just want to acknowledge that we have two board members that this is their last meeting here with us so

084we have Maddie herenton and hand that will not longer leave with us after the election report but we just want to thank them for their service six years I believe and four five years almost four three and a half okay well thank you guys both very much it's been um you know very helpful I know Maddie you been a leader and a mentor and many way many people on the board it's been very appreciated and Susan you've had some fantastic we love all of the sustainability and everything that you brought to the board and you sign it so thank you so much your work on the board [Applause] so any else has any information or agenda requests I have to speak a little bit because you know I'm a talker um I did want to

085just say a couple things because it's our last meeting um so serving two terms has been at times exceptionally challenging but it's always been exceptionally meaningful work um there's some things that I've been thinking that I've shared with some of you but I thought I would say some of these things publicly um and I hope that they're helpful to you my colleagues I believe that it does not work to come onto a school board with a predetermined agenda but with an understanding that we're here to serve students they are our constituents it is the law I struggled to understand that at first but now I see the wisdom and that design it's important for us to keep that in mind I see each of you as good regular people neighbors who demonstrated a willingness to

086dive into difficult topics with respect for different perspectives this time um of crippling political divides this is important it's important because we serve public education students are watching ouri staff are watching and our neighbors and our friends and our families are watching they're all watching a lot more than we think usually our meetings are pretty quiet but I get a lot of notes I hope you're getting them too people are watching um I believe that our district has a culture of trust that is well established and growing this board acts as stewards of that trust in board work in budget deliberations policy development and being accountable for the environments of our schools including things things like encouraging student voice inclusive practices and meaningful staff appreciation I ask you all to encourage your community members to

087participate the way that they participated tonight which always is amazing when it happens ask them to come to participate in public comment write us letters um and attend the annual budget meeting which is when does anybody know at the top of their head June something may may may 15th please come to the budget meeting please um to all of you please go to the annual conference go every year if you possibly can it is amazing I think it's this Friday right it's the first one I'm it's tomorrow I'm missing it for the first time but it's so good and it will inform all of your work um please Champion all extracurriculars the Arts Athletics Etc they're all important and we have a crowd history in this District of valuing all of them um please take

088every opportunity to observe teachers and students in action it's always surprising how much education has changed since we were sitting in these little chairs even though some little chairs tonight um the residents and the towns of Durham Freeport and panel are more alike than we are different it's meaningful to our students and our communities when the school board Bears this in mind I thought that was important to say because before I joined the school I was told that we were not and one of the reasons that I said yes to running for office in the first place is because I thought that was ridiculous and I'm really pleased that this board we treat each other with inclusion and um equality um Equity so I'm happy about that and lastly I just want to say how

089grateful I am uh to have served with all of you um your really incredible colleagues um it's just been really been really great you do great work and I look forward to all the work that is to come information all right we will move on to uh 10B strategic communication commit report okay it's the Green Piece in your folder and um we met and the big work we were doing was um finalizing the summary for the workplace satisfaction survey which we brought to you at our last meeting and the other thing we did was just look at what we have to do this year you see that on the list we'll be looking at the budget for sure the strategic planning process parents satis faction survey and mechan mechanisms for more Community engagement that's really

090the extent of the report you'll hear from us again great thank you Candy does anybody have any questions for candy okay we'll move on to um C which is the facilities and operations committee report and sure okay you're the chair welcome to the chair position chairperson for this committee which is also a brand new committee facility in operation this was our first meeting and this new committee also folded in the sustainability committee so as such we invited a member of the community involved with sustainability Bob Stevens who gave us a report on some of the historic work of the sustainability committee especially with regards to facility operations and had some of it was um you know input such as when providing changing over to LED lights which was something we could easily do other items

091such as um buying electric buses are certainly more complex issues and something that we may still be grappling with um for a little while but um I'm going to just invite if there's anything else the sustainability committee would like to add at this point um call no okay um the biggest part of our meeting was a report um Glenn Reynolds our director of facilities talked with us about submitting a couple of applications to the Department of Education for receiving revolving renovation funds and if we do receive these monies they will be used to remove as best as tiles in Freeport Middle School and P elementary school and then finally on the agenda we talked about some of the future topics for discussion at our meetings including building assessments um analysis of capital projects funding Improvement

092plans facilities tour which might involve the full board and most gerain to the conversation that is happening has been happening and is going to happen with regards to our policy we will be we have it on the agenda to discuss the options and feasibility for installing single use bathrooms in our schools great thank you does anybody have any questions Maddie I think I only got to go on one facilities tour ever but um I I'm hoping that's going to happen soon because it's so helpful for board members to have had the opportunity before budget presentations begin and and I know in the past when when Dennis was here they were usually a couple different options um for board members who worked or you know just to try to get as many people through as possible

093okay we'll put it up to our um director to try to get that on the schedule as soon as possible anybody else think we will move on to the policy committee I'm guessing that would be calling thanks Beth um so in your folders uh board members we are the uh sort of khaki sheet tonight you say it's khaki light brown tan um we met on October 6th as a um as a policy committee and Via zoom and our work uh as I spoke a thing about last time um are work involved sort of the regular policy review process um and so there were a couple of policies that we were we had looked at in a couple of years um including bbda board director member qualifications um ECC bomb threats and ecac vandalism um and

094those policies were reviewed um with no substantive changes there were a few changes to pronouns um but otherwise unchanged um we also looked at um e which is environmental and saf program and um after some discussion we asked that the administration um review that uh policy um to better understand um whether it is uh uh the level of generality is rather General policy um as written and especially when we were looking at a policy like evcc on bomb threats which is incredibly specific um we just wanted we had some questions around whether it is appropriate to have the environmental safety program policy be as general um and as overview as it is or whether there's more um specific language that we need to be looking at so we'll be returning to that um later before

095I move on to talking about ACAA there any questions about these other policies we riew or can didn't care that it say anything wrong uh great so we also at the board request um looked at um our draft policy of ACAA transgender and gender expansive students um at the last not the lastek board meeting um two board meetings ago um the board passed uh the first read of that draft um with some requested changes um so I'm going to go through those changes um so are you gonna go right into policy review here a motion to discuss are you still doing your committee update I don't know what are we feeling should we go go into it yeah let's just M let's make a motion so would someone like to make a motion please I

096will read the motion thank you we could have consideration and approval of second read of policy AAAA transgender and gender expansive students laa and Malik thank you all right go ahead col thank you now we're here um so I'm going to go through the um the policy as we um uh as we amended it um and I'll point to each of the different items that um you all asked us to look for um we and just to be clear we only made adjustments to the things that the board asked us to look at uh there were some moments where we we thought we had some really good ideas about some other the things and then we checked ourselves and we're saying that is not that's not our purview now our perview is to make the

097requests make the changes that were requested U by this board um um so if you turn to uh page two of a policy um in 3D um I will read the now the the complete uh I'm sorry D3 excuse me support plan for transgender gen F students since three so I'll read the complete uh item three now um in the case of student who has not yet discussed a change in the gender identity with their parents Guardians the designated staff person will discuss parent Guardian involvement with the student to ensure that the student feel safe and supported it is the goal of the RSU to support communication between students and the parents Guardians about students gender identity the RSU will offer support to the parents Guardians and students as needed uh so those final two

098sentences uh that the board had asked us um to uh insert after having looked at some other policies I believe help help me here if you remember I believe that was maybe from um the found policy that [Music] may my apologies my apologies Kitty B you had great language um uh I thought I might go through them all and then we could return and look at them just because you all you all asked us to and how we we uh we move some things around or we put some of these changes in some places that were not originally where we were thinking that we we adjusted for clarity um if we then go to page three um d uh seven um we added the following Language School Personnel shall not prescribe or suggest medical treatment

099nor provide tools that promote or conceal gender expression at any time again that was language that um the board requested that we um add to the policy um I suppose I would just note that that uh request was made very much after uh hearing um the concerns of the community around um issues that covered uh addressed in that item um so we again use the kok uh language um you under e guidance on specific issues under one privacy d uh we added the following no portion of this policy precludes a student from confidentiality from confidential it's going to read it out loud uh from confiden I'm going to read it as it is I won make a change to perhaps no portion of this policy prudes a student from confidentiality speaking with a school counselor

100or social worker about transgender or gender expansive issues such conversations are confidential to the extent set forth in applicable law um if we go to uh E2 uh five um you will see that the request of the board we changed um five uh the language and five to mirror the language in four um so that it now reads students are permitted to use the lock room most closely not just their gender identity if any student expresses a need for privacy they will be provided with access to reasonable alternative facilities or accommodations such as using a separate stall a sta facility or an alternative schedule so now four and five are mirrored um structurally so all of the grammar P ANS out there can be happy about that um I guess that's all we Chang that's

101all we Chang okay last page oh we changed the May to sha thank you thank you under G staff training informational materials um it now reads the superintendent and obility administrators shall Institute in service training Andor distribute regarding ing the legal rights personal safety and emotional wellbeing of transgender and gender expensive students thank you for the touch Coles great thank you all right so anybody have any questions discussion m i uh I was particularly moved by speakers tonight um and and again want to thank the public for coming out and participating in this process us um and it was it was especially meaningful I like to hear from students uh and young people um appreciates the language the clarification we put around um their ability to lead the process um with their safety um and

102wellbeing in mind I thought that was great and I also appreciated representative saxs coming out and um and acknowledging the the the new laws that are are in alignment with what we're doing here um so just wanted to put that thanks out there and um I'm ready to pass as written with the with the one typo fixed confidentially Mara um yes i' just like to Echo what Maddie said and say I want to thank especially the students and members of our gender expansive and transgender Community for your courage and for coming out and for sharing your voices and your stories you are loved and I'm I'm proud of our community and um thank you for your advocacy I know [Music] Susan oh yeah [Music] that okay all right um yeah no I want to thank

103everybody and I want to thank for the you know over the past year everybody's worked on this and everybody's spoken uh from their their hearts and their experiences and wisdom and thoughts um and having shared those with us I just wanted to question I appreciate the changes and just clarifying just because I kind of read it in two different ways uh D the new language in D7 um School Personnel should not prescribe or suggest medical treatment nor provide tools that promote or conceal gender expression at any time I think that's clear but it just a little bit to me Echoes whether that's even allowed to be discussed and I don't know if anybody else has that I just don't know if if there's the Nuance I just want to make sure it's not Nuance that

104you know those can still be discussed if people want to talk about you know options and it doesn't say that it can't be but it does sort of say I guess there's a difference between suggesting And discussing and I just want to make sure that's clear and I think it is just I see it as clear and to me the the words that make it really clear are prescribe and suggest medical treatment and and that is um you know we also already have policy jcd which is about the administration of medication that I think supports this idea as well um I I think uh it does not prevent staff from providing resources like websites or professionals um you know Outsourcing those kinds of questions to people who are licensed to provide that kind of expertise

105but um I think it's can we cross reference it with that policy just to also show that it's in align with other policies that we [Music] have it's a you know it's it's not in the cross reference section I don't know we call um I see I see no reason to not cross reference it at least in the cross referencing section um I'm not not sure how if what the change would be if we were to amend seven to reference that policy if anyone has any thoughts on that my thought on that is that this is saying they shall not prescribe or suggest medical treatment and the other policy is around medication administration which is already prescribed right so I'm not sure that it it exactly correlates I think it's related but but I'm not

106sure if we need to cross reference that policy but any El I mean I I think that perh per with that's your Insight on that I wonder if perhaps we do include it as a cross reference but we do not add any additional language to seven specifically so that if someone uh again the Curious um could make their way through these different cross reference um documents and um perhaps if they had a question about that they would then know where to go and look which is the purpose of those cross references yeah I think that just helps show that there's a little bit of consistency across policies that's certainly there there there are two different things but to say that this is the approach we're taking and it's in line with what we're already doing

107when we're talking about this is something that's Rec cified practice anyway that just showing that consistency could be could be helpful I guess I would I'd be curious to hear Cynthia's take on that I mean I I don't see a problem with it but she knows these policies better than Cynthia would you like to come up to the podium asking Cynthia to get up from her super cool chair oh oh no all right well just give her a minute super cool chair that made surpr she had a surprise Podium request Point fell asleep not that you're very entertain so is is the question uh whether or not to um add jcd as uh which is administration of yeah to the cross reference do you see any problem with doing that I don't see a problem

108with doing it I don't see I'm not compelled to feel like it's a you know a mon dud because we're not prescribing but if you feel as a board that that would be helpful there's not a problem to do that K so I'm usually one who wants to cross reference as many things as possible but I'm not sure how helpful that based on what you were saying Beth too it's not something that is being prescribed so I would have to look at that policy closer myself to know if that if it makes sense to connect the two if that policy does reference at all gender Expression Medical right so I'm not sure it's it relates as much I do appreciate your question M about the what is what is suggesting medical treatment um but I

109I feel comfortable with it as it is anybody else I mean I suppose I I think I I probably would agree with that but I think it uh because what is the what is the actual title of that policy as Administration a ministration of medication to students so I even wonder whether actually the inclusion of it might be more confusing in terms of just having those words on the page um to make to make to have a suggestion to like have someone perhaps run back through the document to try to discover uh a place where we are talking about the affirmative um the prescription of something which they would not find but it might be confusing um but I I do I do think that we are clear with this this language of not prescribing

110and not suggesting um and I think is adding to to car's point I also I'm a great lover of cross referencing um but we do not cross reference exhaustedly there these policies must engage one another and these policies Al also uh cohere to law um so we do not exhaustively reference um any other policies that might be related um but suzan I totally look at while you read that Point anybody else have [Music] anything all right I think I just wanted to add since we've heard with we've heard from the audience the the commenters from both sides people who are concerned um that their kids may be sh keeping secrets and and also the people who are concern that we may be pushing students into dangerous situations and I just want to acknowledge um that

111I felt that the language did a great job of balancing those two concerns that we um you know we certainly do want to encourage parental involvement but unfortunately we also know that many of the families of these students um a lot of these students do experience a high degree of Parental rejection so I just want to commend the committee for making a good balance of those two issues yeah I Echo what the previous board members have said about expressing gratitude for those who have spoken tonight in the previous meetings and sent us messages by email as well so thank you again everyone who's participated in that uh and I I'm also hopeful that the inservice trainings that that shall be um instituted now will include education or support for the Educators who um um who

112will be in situations where um they may be speaking with parents if that's what the students are choosing to do and um VI I really am happy about the part we added around communication supporting communication between students and parents and I think that that is one piece of Education in particular that would be especially helpful for staff to to know how to support that communication um what does that support look like in particular and I'm hopeful that they that the services will includ [Music] that Colin yeah I would also just Echo um the thanks to everyone who came out particularly our students um and the other young people that came um this evening um but as another as another um community members said anyone who's brave enough to stand in front of that microphone share

113their ideas um deserves our respect and attention um I think I just want to add that again because we we know that there is um we know we've heard the um the kind of concern there is around um around paral involvement and particularly around sort of questions of of secrecy which as we've talked about is not um at all policy is promoting um but also just to remind um all of the parents and Guardians in this community that um that under fura they have the right to access um all student academic records um and that this policy does not does not change that um and so the parents are and we we encourage them to do that um and just to be clear that that that right has not been infringed upon or remains untouch

114any last P thoughts the only tiny little formatting thing my God is in the new sentence um you in uh D3 you um say students parents and Guardians and the former like the previous sentence has the s for parents and Guardians in oh yeah that's some good that's some good pentry right there that's good that's good yeah we need throw in parentheses uh there I love it love it put parentheses around around those right now I to go and and we're changing it to confidentially yeah which we will also figure out how to spell because I tried to like spell it like five times in the margin of my book and LLY expel as your representative from cour okay so seems as though this board is ready to vote so we have a motion on

115the floor um so we will take vote all those in favor none opposed all right okay we will move on we have nothing Under 12 unfinished business we have 13 new business consideration and approval to employ two educational technicians at Mass Landing school for the 2023 2024 school year oneye PHS instead of a fifth grade class siiz reduction teacher funding for the additional I'm sorry funding for the educational technicians to come from contingency funds motion first Kelly mark thank you okay if we recall back in August at our Retreat um I informed the board that our grade five at Mass Landing the numbers were really high um and they remained High throughout the summer and may gathers more children um since then and the board um took a vot to have us hire a fifth

116grade class siiz reduction teacher to support of the students in that that very large grade level uh we have advertised and we were unable to find a suitable candidate that um we felt would be um the right fit to do the position um principal Grim is back she's off the mountain and uh having a conversation with her um we said we'd like to try a different approach to hire two Ed teexs instead uh she thinks that perhaps there may be some um although we that Tex are special education that there may be some folks that want to work more in this Genet setting so we're proposing um for the same amount of money that we would have had for the teacher um to hopefully get some Ed techs even if it was some part-time Ed

117Tech help that would be um helpful for our grade five team at Mass Land our students and that um I support um what what Emily's thinking is on that so that's why we're asking you so that we can change that post to it help that class just changing the position changing the position okay anybody have any questions okay take vote all in favor none opposed thank you very much quiet oh yes we should let our students have know that you can vote and and you also are allowed to leave whenever you want so you do not have to stay the entire thing but I think you're almost there yeah so but thank you um okay so we have a b also she said okay sorry okay here we go so here's the we need another

118motion we have a consideration and approval to employ a teacher of English for speakers of other languages for the 2023 2024 school year one year only and laa and Le okay I'm very excited to present Ellen Sage for this position Ellen has a a bachelor's in French from Bates College in Leon she has a master's and Applied Linguistics teaching English as a second language from the University of Florida she holds certification in Maine and for teaching French and also for English for speakers of other languages prek K to2 some relevant experience uh she is an an esol teacher she was an ESL esol teacher in Braden River Middle School in Braden to Florida she's been an Adent instructor for English for academic purposes in manate community college in Florida she's been an esol French Spanish

119and Spanish teacher at manity high school in Florida she's been an instructor at the University of Florida she's been an ESO migrant immigrant Academic Program specialist at manity County School District in Braden Florida she's also been a program supervisor for ESL NGS and an assistant director at Manatee Technical College in Florida um she is currently a French teacher at Oxford Hills School and near name references describe Ellen as having an extensive know of curriculum and instruction knowledgeable about second language acquisition going the extra mile with integrity and a strong work ethic using current research-based methods and strategies for teaching and learning and we're excited to have her join our team all right that sounds fantastic we're very excited that we found uh English teacher of English or speakers of languages my goodness Okay so so

120um we have any questions okay then we'll take a vote all in favor all right and post all right so we don't have um 14 we just took care of that and 15 the public comment we moved to the beginning of the meeting so we will not have that then right now um so we are going to move into executive session um um so I'll take a consideration a motion for a consideration approval to enter into executive session pursuant to 1M RSA section 456d for the purpose of discussing support staff negotiations for rsu5 Maddie and candy thank you all those in favor great all right we're all in favor thank you very much [Music] the come I