MSAD #51 School Board Meeting December 4, 2023

001I'd like to call Monday December 4th M number 51 school board meeting to order welcome everyone I I didn't expect to be on this side of the stage I've said the past few days in this Auditorium ening G dram production of Alice in Wonderland it was fantastic so it's nice to be back tonight all right so we are going to start tonight with a recognition um our principal of the high school here Carl Francis will be presenting uh inel which is the literary magazine at the high school thank you Carl thanks for testing this before you really get started I could y there we go everybody uh I have the pleasure of introducing one of the many wonderful clubs and opportunities that we have for students at KY High School um and one I would

002like to introduce to tonight I'll do a little bit of talking and let our advisor and kids do the primary honor and that is The Inkwell The Inkwell is a literary magazine that's been offered here for a long time since the 80s and it really focuses on allowing an opportunity for creativity in writing and in art through uh the literary magazine so very proud to introduce to you um Alicia gobl uh she is the co- advisor to the program with Bobby Livingston um who is both who they are both English teachers at gy high school so Alicia is going to roduce her students and the program Alicia let's make this I'm sure you all came out here to hear all about The Inkwell literary Meine that's why there are so I I just want to

003say a couple quick things and then I will pass it off to two members of the staff so Inkwell has been around since 1989 and it was founded by Deb Pinkham who was beloved English teacher here and the purpose is to celebrate creativity and expression both artistically and in written form um and I think what is especially important about it is that kids spend a tremendous amount of time crafting essays and giving responses that teachers expect or that they think a teacher would want but there ought to be a chance for kids to just Express themselves not in a rote way or a formulaic way but in a way that speaks to their creative Spirit um and also given that we're in such a a digital digitalized world now we have this paper version of

004something that is a little more permanent um so that has meaning too and it's a different kind of outlet for a a writer or an artist to be able to produce something that is actually distributed in the community and in the school um and there are so many fabulous writers and artists in our community sometimes academics and Athletics is what is celebrated which it should be but it's nice to celebrate creativity also so what you see on the screen is just um last year's cover and then I thought I would just read a quick poem this is not by anyone in inkw it's actually by aan poet and physicist who is kind of anti formula I because people it's called young poets write as you will in whatever style you like too much blood has

005run under the bridge to go on believing that only one road is right in poetry everything is permitted with only this condition of course you have to improve the blank [Applause] all right and I will pass it along to Miles and then and talk very about what the process hello my name is R miles and I'm a senior um this is my second year and the beginning of our process is advertising for it so that's through um encouraging little two kind to give ones and then we decide which ones um going to go in the magazine and then one out and then we start to collect art from umiss that are encouraged by art teachers from the students and we go through those which ones are going to be in the magazine and we also

006consider how they are in black and white in magazine um but hopefully in the future we can start color right my name is Emma hen I'm a junior and this is my second year so the layout is where the staff lay us we lay out we lay out we basically print out all submissions and in around the room we arrange everything in a spiral starting from the end and winding back down to the beginning it's where fin and then thing that eventually becomes the book and so I put all the edits on there and it starts becoming ink well and so compiling is basically the digital publishing the spacing the borders every all the [Applause] thank you so much I just have a quick question so if somebody wanted to get a copy of the

007literary magazine how would they get a copy so the funny thing about that is we printed just enough we we literally have four remaining copies so if you have your hands on one of these you have a coveted piece of literature um I mean there's a few there are some in the library there's some in the superintendent's office I believe so there's a few floating around but um note to self that maybe we'll print a few more next year because they went quickly wonderful thank you and thanks to the students so we're going to move to the approval of minutes from the November 20th 2023 meeting can I get a motion please I move to approve the minutes of November 20223 as presented thanks Christina okay a second thanks anuka any questions s right I'll

008vote everyone approves Ste y wasn't at thank you okay so we are now on the first public comment section of today's meeting and I was wondering was there anyone signed up for the general public comment okay no signups for the general public comments so just a reminder we did have signups if you haven't had a chance to sign up for the book book challenge appeal um there is a sign up sheet that we'll grab right before we get to that section of the agenda um so last call for the general public comment okay so now we're going to do a presentation that is an update on the new school project status we have some updates from the last time we met just last Monday um and then we later the agenda have a vote on

009one of the items that we're presenting on for the new school project and we're just going to bring that up on the screen luckily Jeff's handling that so hopefully get our technology and as as he's working on it I'll just provide a little update for everyone here so as you may be aware we the district been looking um to address our uh student enrollment uh issues for a number of years now and tonight we are just giving a little bit of a history of what got us to this point and then um moving to a vote for an oncampus a look at an on campus facility we'll get there eventually yeah to our Tech Team the mid is not coming up okay and I guess for everyone following along at home I guess we get

010a report that it's hard to hear unless you speak directly into the mic and I know it makes it a little more uncomfortable to speak directly in the mic in this room because you definitely can hear yourself so I'm getting used to it myself as we're getting this presentation up so I'll just get started um so the first review uh in this presentation is where are we now how did we get to the point that we are today as many of you are aware we put forward a refer rendum for a new Primary School in North Yarmouth that did not pass on November 8th 2022 we've moved to looking at a short-term plan to address um the soon enrollments over the next five years which resulted in the Portables that were installed outside of miw

011over the summer and we continue to look for additional Portables that will need to be added to GMS over this next summer the facilities committee has taken a real long hard look at what the needs are in the short term and the long term of the district and continue to use any information that we can get and make available to us to help in those decisions and so as part of our long-term planning process we have also continued to look on the campus for additional options I know it's much more interesting with things so let that I can just keep talking my my favorite thing to do okay okay so what's changed since the last time we looked on campus for a new school project was that we our voters uh app plant approve the

012new land uh NE adjacent to the campus the 2.3 Acres was approved in June thank you voters uh and when we look to update the master site plan this over starting over the summer into the fall we brought in uh architect Stephen blat who helped put in the Portables at miw over the summer who's worked on our district for decades now um to take one last look at that parcel and to see if we could put a school there that might meet our District's needs and so when we sorted to ask those questions again about what could be done on campus we looked again at the one campus model so what we heard back when we asked earlier this year about the potential for putting the school on campus was that yes in fact if

013we were looking at a smaller School uh we're looking at a prek to first grade size school that the 2.3 Acres that was purchased next to the campus could accommodate that size school and so the board being offered that information started to look towards both the fellow board members and to our community to see if this option would be feasible so starting in early October we had conversations with the facilities committee to approve looking on campus we had a joint meeting with both towns to share this idea we had run into some challenges previously around looking at on campus due to concerns around traffic condu and there being enough space for long-term planning so there was a number of issues that we look to address as a community as a school board and with both

014Town Council and North Yarmouth joint select board to be able to address the campus so I really do love a good PowerPoint slide and that's sorry no that's totally fine I can just keep talking just want to keep making this more Awkward for myself thank you okay so I'll just keep going no problem it'll be up there by the time I get to Christina and that's really the Highlight appreciate that yeah so I'll just keep going until we get you there um so there's a number of factors and features that we would look at both addressing if we were looking on campus thank you I'm now on slide four great thank you so there's a number of things as I was mentioning that would be look we would look at if we were to consider

015an oncampus model so we would be addressing uh the grades of the new facility that would be able to accommodate on that space would you need to make some site adjustments um to both play in athletic space uh traffic patterns maintenance and then also to be able to support long-term Investments if we turn back to looking at the at the community um of in the Town of Cumberland to support another school go next slide please so uh on November actually my dates are a little out of order so a few weeks ago we've had a number of Schoolboard meetings this is our third Monday in a row so I might get a little lost in time here we've put forward some recommended next steps and I was just going to remind everyone of those next

016steps and again what got us here today so we again we're looking at an enrollment study to ensure that the projections that we had last received a year or two ago we still in line what with uh the new meth updated methodology looking at the latest enrollment and any new information that we had around births we're also working with both of our towns to understand their building projects that they might have planned to accommodate uh any additional homes that would be in our communities to build into the enrollment study projections those were presented last meeting and will continue to be discussed with both towns the facilities committee met last Friday yes last Friday December 1 first day of December um to review uh a recommendations from two architects that Christina who is the lead of

017our facilities committee will be discussing today what process we use to look at choosing an architect uh to turn to look on campus for comp concept design and then what we're looking at tonight would be for the board to approve the concept design contract with the selected architect there's whole still a whole number of steps that we are going to need to be taking place over the next few months um to work with and understand what it would mean to to put a school building on this campus so we're going to look to make adjustments and upgrades to sustain the one campus model work with the Town of Cumberland and the main Department of Transportation on infrastructure and other off-site requirements and then we have to work to create a new financial plan once we

018decide uh if we're going to remain with the 80 Grade Road Site which is still on the table or if we're successful and developing a design that would work for our community on campus and so today like I mentioned we're going to have a presentation by our facilities chair about the concept design that we'd like to enter into to have an architect move forward with a concept designed for an oncampus building so Christina I'd like to hand it over to you thank you so the facilities committee we had a process I want to explain to you and then a little bit of the history how we got where we're at and then our recommendation so you can see on the slide um um how the facilities committee arrived at its recommendation um we're here tonight

019to recommend a particular architect um to create a design concept design for a possible campus oncampus new prek-1 elementary school it's a mouthful but I want to note um this does not negate the option of an elementary school at the 80 Gray Road in North Yarmouth um instead it's offering creating another option for the board to consider so they'll have both to consider before they bring it forward to a referendum so a little bit of History um October 6 this year uh facilities committee it was a regular meeting and we had an all buildings tour of the campus and it included that new um land that was purchased the 2.3 Acres that the board last year purchased um in July 2023 and at that time there was Rec consideration of an on-site new Elementary School

020the topic was raised so following that on November 14th uh two architects Oak Point and Steven blat Architects they're both Architects that the school system has worked with before for different um projects on campus they were both invited to the facilities committee to interview uh for us to interview them for a proposed new school 500 students student prek-1 um particularly what could they do on that 2.3 acre property on December 1st last Friday the facilities committee um held those interviews with both um firms architectural firms so we had a variety of questions we posed to them and they primarily um were about the acreage itself the site itself how suitable it would be for the school the school we need parking questions a lot of traffic questions size of the school uh we recently got

021the uh School projections for the population so we wanted to know how they would address the current as well as the projected school size going into the near future uh we asked about estimated cost of the project and the architect firms availability both pre and post referendum particularly if we looking at a possible June referendum hasn't been decided yet June November um also we asked them about the possibilities of expansion both at this new potential school on site as well as what would we need to do to the other buildings on campus um if we build there so uh the recommendation of the facility committee uh we unanimously decided to recommend voted to recommend Steven blat Architects to the school board as the architect to create a concept design for a pre1 elementary school on

022the grey campus we felt the strength of this candidate this interview group were their high level um of experience with our District's needs their highly responsive to our questions and the requests that we made we have high confidence in their comprehensive a vision for M 51 and they brought a lot of energy and anticipation of our school's future so with that that is our recommendation thank you Christina I know we have a item for Action later on in the agenda and we can leave board questions about the presentation maybe for that time and we're happy to have obviously we'll have a board discussion about the recommendation but we have an item for Action to discuss further so the last slide thank you Christina was just the proposed timeline so I already mentioned a number of

023these dates that were tonight is the date that we're asking for the board approval for the architect contract sure just get a little closer to the mic um and then the architect will develop a concept design and budget it is as you can see a very quick timeline if it needs to be extended it will and then and we will work in January uh with the facilities committee and then with the full board to review the project concept and design and accompanied budget there will be a public hearing hopefully in February and then a board vote to continue with the 80 Gray Road site or an oncampus School plan we are hoping to be able to make that decision in February once we ensure that an oncampus option would be a viable choice for our

024community during that time we'll also then be holding informational meetings meeting at in joint with both towns um and developing a task force to continue to understand and answer any questions that people have about the plan for a new school project with the hopes of having a referendum this June so lots to come over the next few months we just wanted to review that quickly tonight and again always open for questions um please email the board come to a meeting ask comments we have lots that is going on over the next few months and we'll also be looking to hold some Community sessions uh for any questions about the plans for the on campus option so that concludes the presentation portion of today's agenda so we are going to be moving to the public comment

025that's dedicated to the book challenge we do have a sign in if people have not had a chance to sign in and would like to be making public comment please do so so at this time I'm going to read over a a process for the public comment tonight while Jeff is going to go and retrieve the signin sheet so I know we have a bit of a f a full house um so those of you who've been here before know that I have a little sheet to read I'll try to make sure I say it loud enough for everyone to hear okay so the board welcomes and recognizes the value of public comment to ensure public comment is fair and orderly we follow procedures outlined in our board policy BH which was also made available

026uh in copy form and linked on the today's agenda we'll ask that all members of the public respect this policy as well we'll follow it to help keep the meeting civil respectful and productive we also hope that this allows for all community members who would like to speak to be heard we ask that the speakers use the designated Podium when making their comments and speak into the microphone much like I'm practicing now if you're interested in speaking please wait until you're recognized by the chair comments by individuals are limited to a maximum of three minutes at a meeting a clock will be visible on screen oh do we get the really big clock tonight oh [Laughter] yes after three minutes the timer will go off and you I'll hear it it is very loud and

027comments should be wrapped up please state your name and town of resident before beginning your remarks I will be reading off the list so we'll probably I might handle it that way tonight but you can also repeat it residents and staff members will be given priority over non-residents within the allotted time frame our policy allows for 30 total minutes of public comment although that can be modified at the discretion of the board I know we have a number of signups tonight so I we we'll also be keeping track of the 30 minutes and then I will ask the board to vote if we are going to continue so we may get to the point where maybe some people if you repeating things that others have said if you want to summarize um that would be

028much appreciated as a reminder public comment is not a time for discussion question and answer or debate between the board and speakers or the audience rather it is a chance for members of the public to express their opinion on school and educational matters the board will not comment on remarks made by speakers during the public comment period please know that this does not mean that we are not listening and does not express any agreement or disagreement with your statement lastly please keep comments respectful and civil we are neighbors here be kind that includes members of the audience please do not interrupt or respond to speaker comments we also ask that comments are addressed to myself the chair please do not direct comments at or about individual ual in our schools or Community I do want

029to note that I will stop any comments that are contrary to these rules and that individuals who disrupt the this meeting may be asked to leave again I really appreciate everyone's time tonight we have I haven't even looked at the list yet we have a good list um of of people who'd like to speak tonight and again I really appreciate thank you for your time and coming out the first one on the list I'm starting with the resident and staff list is Heather Perkinson [Applause] good evening I'm Heather Perkinson I'm the librarian here at gy I'd like to take a few minutes just to address some of the frequently asked questions I get what are my qualifications I am a certified School librarian in the state of Maine in order to have that license I

030have to have a master to degree in library science which I earned through aaine program with the University of South Carolina I also have a master's degree in language and literacy from National Lewis University in Illinois additionally in my bachelor's degree program from Colgate University I earned a teaching license from the state of New York I've been teaching in schools and working in librar since 1989 so how do school librarians choose books for their Library all qualified school librarians follow the same process for choosing books we are Guided by our school's collection development Pro policy to choose materials that support our school's curriculum and the main learning results the main learning results specify that students should read freely and widely of a range of genres and perspectives I look at each title I purchase read

031the reviews from a variety of expert sources written about the titles and carefully consider whether it meets the needs of our curriculum or will appeal to my gy students as my students know my overarching goal is for them to become lifelong readers who know how to find books they enjoy and as well as books they can learn from so why do I choose books that feature lgbtq plus characters for my library it's important that the full array of books that we have reflect and speak to the needs of all of our students some of our students are lgbtq plus many are not I also choose many many books about heterosexual characters there are far more of those published it is is crucial though that all of my students regardless of their identity see themselves represented

032in the books in our library I also know that it's important to read about the experiences of people with different identities from our own that is how we develop empathy and understanding now what if a parent disagrees with my choice of book for the library I appreciate this no one knows your kids better than I than you here's what you can do first you should talk to your child's librarian the librarian can put a note in the child's record so that anytime they go to check out a book the note will pop up and remind the librarian that they are not supposed to check out that book there's an entirely different process if a parent or Community member believes that the book should not be available for any children in the school we take this

033process very seriously the conclusion of this process is what brings us here tonight a committee with diverse representatives from the community has decided that the book under consideration should stay in the library now that decision is being appealed and the school board members have to decide whether or not to go with the opinions of the committee I thank the board for their careful consideration and for allowing me to speak tonight that was perfectly timed okay you didn't get to hear the buzzer yet all right next I have Sarah Allenby that's a tough act to follow in terms of the Applause uh I'm Sarah aleny I live in Cumberland I'm here to show my support for our Educators Librarians administrators and the lgbtqia plus community and to urge the School Board to reject the book ban

034request for gender queer individual parents have the right to make choices about what material feels appropriate for their children and their family they do not get to dictate and limit this for an entire School Community it's crucial that high school students have access to a diversity of ideas and stories and books to learn to see themselves represented to challenge their beliefs and to better understand those around them I trust the professionals like the one who just spoke our librarian teachers and other school staff to make informed decisions about what material is appropriate for our school libraries let's put our attention and resources back where they belong working together to best serve the academic and social emotional needs of all of our students and our staff thank you so I have TIG philson else okay thanks

035Brady [Applause] hail good evening for those of you who don't know I am Brady hail a senior I wasn't going to speak today because I thought what can a random High School senior add to this conversation but I am simply frustrated growing up as a teenager is already hard enough sorry it's already hard enough and you're just making it harder anyone entering a library should should feel heard and represented but Banning this book removes that feeling for so many students during my freshman in sophomore year of high school I went to chevis but then I got the opportunity to come back to gy and I did in a heartbeat gy has an amazing curriculum it's a great school it's one of the best schools we offer so many different classes we allow students to take

036classes they're interested in we allow allow them to do silos and internships so when I heard about the possibility of banning Banning a book from the school I was blown away and frankly I am disappointed in the community that we've even gotten into this situation one of the best things about education is learning what interests us I love swimming and history so in my free time I research both of them but soccer isn't my favorite thing so you don't see me researching soccer in my free time the same thing goes with this book if you don't like this book don't read this book no one is forcing you to read this book and if you don't want your child reading this book you have that conversation with them but don't you dare threaten to take

037away this book from a school that represents so many students and faculty in this school many people have brought up that this book is pornographic if this book was were porn pornographic then it'd be promoting sex and sexual ideas please forgive me I don't remember the exact page number but after the strap-on Scene It goes to talk about how it was not a meable experience and they wish they didn't do it so if anything this book promotes the idea of not having sex when me and my fellow students walk into a library we should feel represented and heard the book gender queer is a memoir and there could SLR students in gy high school and all over the country that this book represents them if we take away this book they don't feel represented and

038once again if you don't like this book don't read this book book Thank [Applause] you so next I have Audrey I'm gonna say loans and again I'm apologize if I mispronounce somebody's name I would think you'd know that by now lonus my name is Audrey lonus and I live in Yarmouth as was a member of the district's board of directors from 2000 to 2006 since my time on the board many changes have occurred in our society and board service has become more complex I'd like to thank all of you for serving on the board I strongly object to this challenge to the authority in the decisions of our elected board of directors and the professional educational staff staff it is clear that a large majority of our community does not support challenges based on the

039platform of organizations which are from away and out of step with our local ethos this book challenge appeal has been a waste of time for our School District staff and a distractor from the more important work of classroom education I support the process outlined in policy JJ selection of educational materials that was followed by the book Review Committee to make decisions on which books are appropriate for each school's libraries and support keeping the book gender career in the gy high school library next I have Scott Jordan [Applause] before start the clock Madam chair could we please recognize the veterans in the room by saying the Pledge of Allegiance I'm sorry the clock has started can you please reset so I can start then from three minutes since you're not going to do that please reset

040the clock thank you thank you I've requested the challenge book gender queer simply the book is not age appropriate I've not said one time anything about banning books last Monday night November 27th a group of individuals who attended the school board meeting they decided to utilize public comment to try and state that I'm for Banning books come on people stop the hysteria this is not about banning books the school board has local control over policy JJ to select materials good for all of our district District students why is there such mounting pressure to provide demoralizing content to our young students the leaders of the district you the members of this board need to ask yourselves why is it only legal and again I'll repeat myself why is it only legal to give access to materials

041such as this to miners in a public and private school libraries reading materials like the book gender queer seem to be typical for staff at school who seem to be immersed in the prog aggressive ideology due to a host of influencing associations as a parent at home it's extremely alarming a red flag a child's innocence can never be regained once it's compromised and that shouldn't happen at school could we all agree if a culture war is being fought about Library material between concerned citizens and the District staff we are witnessing a breakdown in the values and morals this district is oper operating under regardless of how how many professionals that the district has cited who celebrate these type of materials for miners the content is simply not appropriate for miners it's not the Special Interest

042Who voice their support because I'm not from away away I'm from Cumberland it's about parents who are raising their children who find this unacceptable how many lgbtq teenagers parents or staff state that this one book saves lives how often has the district policy been man ulated and changed to insinuate this reading material from Community concern I'm going to skip forward the president of the Ala American Library Association Emily dubrinsky is a self-proclaimed Marxist this mere fact immediately discredits that organization she's aggressively promoting an agenda an ideology I don't have to refer refer sorry to their code of ethics to know that this book gender queer offers far more harm than it does good for a minor in closing you know what's easy it's to gang up on someone and Bully them standing up for what's

043right can be hard having a mob mentality to gang up and bully someone is easy it's cowardly when you stand up you stand out you make yourself notic it takes courage bullies lack the intestinal fortitude to do the hard thing especially when it's the right thing name calling such as a racist a homophobe a bigot reveals the weakest and lowest common denominator from the immature and IR rational it's the adults in the room who have the rational and reasonable discussions let's take a deep breath and work together God bless you [Applause] all I have Larry aario and while Larry is coming up the next person I have on the list again apologies if I'm not saying this right is quanon weld there's [Applause] Larry Larry O Fiero Cumberland Center my understanding is the biggest problem

044people are having is that people do not want to ban books people say well um I'm okay with almost any book as long as there's some value in it some of you believe that no book should ever be kept out of the library no matter how no matter its content and I understand how you feel because I used to feel that way I was always against the censoring of books but then I did my own research and I discovered something amazing I discovered that responsible and wise Librarians check not only that books are age appropriate but if they conclude that a book is destructive or dangerous in any way they will withhold its entry imagine that you are in school librarian or a member of the book committee what would you do about a book

045like this it's a book that instructs teenagers on the best way to commit suicide worst of all what would you do or would you allow a book that portrays all Jewish people as evil subhuman and worthy of death unbelievably such a book is currently forced upon Palestinian children in Gaza every student in every grade must read this book there is there's no book censorship there I ask you would you allow such a book in the hands of our students history has shown that when hatred is indoctrinated violence is inevitable finally A Book Like This jender queer which by every definition is pornographic the young man said it's not pornographic well I don't I I don't believe he read the whole book when you talk about putting a in my mouth and it was the greatest

046experience in my life and on and on and on page after page describing how wonderful it is to engage in sex statistically when sexual material is promulgated promiscuity in one form or another is inevitable you know I understand your goals for our students and for the most part I sh share those goals we want our students to be tolerant respectful and accepting others regardless of one's religion or race and to a large degree I agree that we should provide students exposure to diversity I agree with that however I do not believe that a pornographic book will help us to achieve these noble goals how great would would it be if we could achieve our Noble objectives thank you Larry not through pornography but through morally pure God centered books that we could all agree upon

047thank [Applause] you so next I had I think it's Clayton weld I might have gotten that wrong um okay somebody standing up and after that I had Katie Simpson C please let me know if I said pronounce that right at all Clayton weed w okay uh skill and Ro uh these two both both these gentlemen said a lot of what I was going to say diversity is one thing to turn around and submit this book has diversity no School Board needs to really address this as to whether you're going to put forward this type of simplicit material and submit it to your students myself and several others here disagree and appreciate if you take a real good look at the content and make a sech from there thank [Applause] you hi Katie Cumberland I have

048two kids and GMS and I have many minutes of things I could say but I'm going to keep it super brief basically I want to thank the board for all of your work period it's a very hard time to serve on school boards and I see you and I thank you for your time and your efforts thank you for the process that you've LED using an expert committee to address this book Challenge and I urge you to uphold the committee's recommendation and keep gender queer in the high school library this process has been fair and professional thank you next we have Zach buard and then Lane G glesby after that hi I too just want to thank the school board for all the work and I want to Echo what Katie just said um please

049do not ban this book if we were to all ban books that we didn't agree with there'd be like four books books left in the library so please don't ban the book thanks Lane gles me northy armouth uh I'm also here to uh oppose the Banning of the book uh and also to thank you the school board for your time and your uh NeverEnding commitment uh that's it thanks I have Jason Curry and then Ann [Applause] Graham good evening thank you madam chair thank you school board for all the hard work that you're doing I've been an employee of the school district for 26 years here as a social studies teacher and I'm also the parent of a 21-year-old transgender girl and I'd like to say I wish my child had read this book in

050high school I wish my child had had this resource all the members of the school board have read this book in preparation for the appeal and now for your final vote uh no amount of persas on anybody's part should be able to turn you from what you know having read the book as in your conscience what you believe it to say I would advise you that books like this are important to keep in our school libraries as a reminder rather than Banning them that people like the author of this Memoir Not only would have their Books banned but their Lifestyles banned where you start Banning books the next thing to do is Banning people people's Lifestyles so I would advise you to remember that I would also like to make a comment on behalf of

051my friend and colleague Jackie young who is a parent of two children in the school district she wanted me to mention although she couldn't be here that representation is important so is context this scene has been taken out of context and portrayed as cacious when in fact the message ends up being that you should feel comfortable saying no to experiences that you try and you should be comfortable saying I changed my mind which is important and empowering to everyone thank you for your time so as Ann's coming up we have Mandy LaVine after an um thank you uh chairwoman kandur super Porter and members of the Cumberland North Arma School Board I want to thank you for allowing public content public comment on this important issue my name is Anan Graham and I am the

052state rep for house district 105 which encompasses all of North Yarmouth and the majority of gray I am a retired pediatric nurse practitioner I have lived on farms Edge Road in North Yarmouth for close to 30 years my husband Ron and I sent all three of our sons through msad51 Ron is one of gy soccer coaches and is up to teacher in the school system this issue is about trust it's about trust we put in our teachers our Librarians our administrators and our staff to teach our children our youth face a complex and often difficult World our Educators not only teach about math science and social studies but they support our work as parents all children deserve respect and dignity no matter their race ethnicity gender identity or sexual orientation we should trust that our

053Educators do that every day Banning books that keep that help kids navigate this world does not serve our kids rest assured we are listening in the state house as well we heard multiple bills that address the concerns the proponents of restricting education have each Bill had extensive committee hearings and were heard on the house floor and the senate floor all these restriced bills were not passed why because the majority of my colleagues trust our teachers We Trust our Educators We Trust our Librarians I will not dictate how a teacher or a librarian does their job just as I won't tell a nurse or a doctor how to do their job I urge you not to let a vocal minority sway your decisions I want to thank you for your thoughtful de deliberation on whether this

054book should be in our high school library I want to thank you for listening to the entire Community please know that the majority of ms51 families trust the work that you and our teachers do to educate our children thank you good evening everyone I'm Mandy LaVine I'm a resident of Cumberland and I'm a parent of two children here in the district I want to start out by saying how grateful I am to all of you for serving on our school board at an unprecedent and difficult time thank you all so much for your time and your really critical work I'm here to briefly express my unequivocal support to maintain the book of gender queer in our high school library this book examines non-binary gender identity in a way that benefits not only those whose gender

055identity is non-binary but also those who wish to better understand non-binary identity censorship of this book sets a dangerous precedent that can lead to further limitations of our students intellectual freedoms for non-binary students gender queer might be the very first time that they see themselves represented in literature representation matters particularly to those of us who belong to minority groups Banning this book robs them of this validation and representation potentially reinforcing feelings of isolation and alienation Banning the book would also perpetuate the stigma and misconceptions surrounding non-binary identities in contrast allowing the book to be available encourages discussions that challenge stereotypes and ultimately Fosters a more informed in accepting school and ultimately our greater community and for students who are not gender gender non-binary who frankly don't know this book serves as a resource on non-binary

056identities helping readers comprehend and appreciate the tremendous spectrum of gender by Banning it we deny young adults in our district the opportunity to access information that could potentially broaden their understanding of gender identity please do not rely on a handful of outof context images that are being used to assert that the book as a whole is pornographic or obscene please keep this book in our high school library thank you so much so I I do want to know we almost to 30 minutes and I'm almost through the first of two pages um I really I know people are applauding and it is we're going to have to maybe move just a little bit quicker to make sure everyone is able to get heard so we're not quite at 30 minutes yet so Carrie chinat and

057then up after that is V Walsh and May and please tell me how to pronounce your name when you get up there thank you hi I'm krie chenette and I would like to seed my time um to Jen wner who's a local expert but I do stand in solidarity with our Librarians thank you is that okay she's on the list I'm on the list you're on the list Jennifer thank you um first I want to thank you to the board for all of your efforts again to volunteer time in the service of our youth and our schools and I am here to retain the book gender queer I'm a Cumberland parent of a gy grad and one that attended until 8th grade I'm an individual and couples therapist I'm an asex certified sexuality therapist a

058sexual Health educator a sex and Faith educator consultant and creator of the raising sexually healthy children Workshop series that has been ever popular in this community and All Around Maine although there are 5,000 adults attending since 2015 I assert that public schools and libraries have an obligation to support intellectual freedom and to meet the needs and interests of their entire Community removing books that provide representation to youth who identify with being gender queer is like cutting off a Lifeline to queer youth which can lead to increases in suicidality depression and anxiety if this book does not fit with one's value system we have the right as a parent to suggest to your high schooler that they should avoid the book if your high schooler has a phone use of the internet and watches videos they

059have likely seen significantly more concerning material than is in this instructive medically accurate and vulnerable book books like this and others out there and books from the past that we have read make excellent conversations to have with our youth to explore their thoughts their feelings and also to share your parental values with them in the most recent main Integrated Health youth survey of 2021 it is important to note that the amount of public high school students who may benefit this book are 3.9% of students identified as gay or lesbian in Maine public schools 12.3 identified as bisexual 4.9 identified as an identity that wasn't even listed on the survey and 4.6 identified as questioning their identity Common Sense Media reports that by age 13 54% of Youth have viewed pornography just on the internet sadly

060most parents that have attended my workshops reveal they have not even discussed this with their youth and what to avoid our time is better spent educating our youth about what healthy sexuality is the value in diversity and how all people are not the same in their sexuality versus Banning a book that those who oppose this book can Rec crust their child to avoid preventing high schoolers who could benefit from accessing this book that explores what teens are already questioning and discussing discussing is a form of persecution I respectfully ask the board to support our Librarians who are experts and the board across the United States who have done sorry done to allow them to do their jobs that they are trained to do thank you all right next up and I'd like to even correct

061myself it's VI all right thank you hello we're Ma and VI and we're co- captains of the Civil Right team but above all else we are students here at gley High School in a room full of adults parents and people who haven't attended a high school in decades we wanted to share a students perspective on why the book gender queer should be be kept in our libraries the mission of msad is to guide all students as they acquire enthusiasm for learning assume responsibility for their education achieve academic excellence and discover and attain their personal best this statement is from the board of directors the quote assume responsibility for their education is something I feel has been lost in the past years students should have the right to be curious about anything and everything whether that

062is different professional fields self-identity and especially books they have the capabilities to self-censor and guide themselves in their education although many fear the possibility of misguided of being misguided there's always support that students can access the book gender queer has been advised for age of 16 and up and is about the author's journey through self-expression and being gender queer the explicit scenes are not the focal point of the book and if you assume so you're extremely misinterpreting books in general most media in this cens contains explicit content in the Great American read book list almost every book contains explicit commentary and actions The Grapes of rash wrath 1989 The Book Thief Don kote and even Great Expectations by Charles Dickens have explicit explicit content these books are classic novels and commonly referenced in school and

063daily daily life the only difference that these books have to gender queer is the character sexualities if you think these people are Banning this book for the greater good of students you are wrong they are contributing to the erasing of queerness from our community queer students exist and having queer books and queer influences can help them feel less alone in a biased World in a world of technology gen Z and Jen Alpha learn to navigate the internet on their own through trial and error most of us come to this high school with the knowledge on how to use a computer and browse the internet already so if you think we don't know how to put down a book when we read something we don't like you're grossly under estimating us I think it's rather funny

064that the same people that are constantly telling us to put down our phones and pick up a book are the same people taking those books away from us to quote our own board of directors once more the goal of this school is to guide all students as they acquire enthusiasm for learning how can you expect us to develop enthusiasm for learning not just in an academic setting but as we learn in day-to-day life using the tools we get from our education when you are censoring that very education in one simple statement if you cannot trust your child with a book due to explicit content then that is on you as a parent and you really shouldn't trust them with a phone either I'd like to say on behalf of students here at gy we trust

065and support our Librarians and teachers thank you very much Lindsay [Applause] Walsh hi my name is Lindsay Walsh and that's my kid I want to talk to you about one of our CORE family values that has been brought up a number of times tonight trust and how it is a part of the education system the town trusts the school board with decisions about the schools and their role in our community as well as the safety and education of our children kids should be able to trust that Educators and administrators will provide them with opportunities to learn critical thinking other Concepts and help them discover their passions unlock their potential and ideally to keep them safe kids trust their parents to meet their base needs of food shelter and clothing as as well as to provide

066them with a home where they are loved and supported that will always be there for them most importantly kids should be learning to trust themselves they should be learning to listen to themselves to get to know themselves and to come to understand what they need and want in life they need to know that they are real they are seen they are trustworthy or how else are they supposed to trust themselves one of the ways I've tried to let my kids know they are trustworthy is through through literacy books are like pieces of glass they can be a mirror or a window we can find ourselves in a character and come to understand ourselves better just like looking in a mirror or we can see a character and know that they are somehow different from us

067and we're gifted the opportunity to observe them and learn from them just like looking through a window as kids are growing they're naturally trying on new things new hairstyles clothes ways of thinking talk talking and being it's vital that they get to see lots of these pieces of glass so they can learn about themselves and come to know which one is a mirror and which one is a window in order to do that they need two things number one access to all those pieces of glass number two trust in themselves to know the difference both of these things are gifts from the adults in their lives We Trust our children so that they can and Trust themselves and we give access to books so they can be brave enough to go searching knowing that when

068they come home they can trust in the love and support that should be there waiting for them no matter what I just want also in case it wasn't clear thank you for your time thank you for the process that's in place thank you to the Librarians and the book committee and uh it's a slippery slope Banning any book or requesting that any book be removed and I just would respectfully request that we do not begin our way down that path of banning any books or Banning any identities thank you so thank you we made it through the first page I did want to ask if the anyone the board would like a motion to continue with public comment pass the 30 minutes Denny would like to motion is there a second motion second great we

069got a second then we all vote okay kind of out of practice now a few minutes gone by all right would every um would the board like to continue with public comment all in [Music] favor okay thank you okay so I'm gonna continue to page two um again if you would like to summarize your comments or if your comments have already been expressed please feel free to to move on to the next person but the next on my list is Anthony [Applause] Vine um well there just Anthony Vine uh uh resident of Cumberland parent of two grey graduates a msad and uh EMS and gy middle school graduate and a current high school student here at gy um I want to speak about somebody who's never read this book and will find it in their

070life um in the early I'm sorry mid 1970s at my high school um looking for a uh athlet an athletes biography or autobiography I came across a book of the Dave copay story it was about a professional football player um who at the conclusion of his career uh came out as gay and that book was not put there for me um but I happened into it and I read it and if you ask me about that book I can tell you very very little about it except for 40 something years I've remember the title and for 40s something years I remembered uh that this man had the courage to tell his story one of the first professional athletes or professional football players to do so and that probably spoke to somebody else more than it

071spoke to me but I've always remembered it and I think that books power is in that that it sometimes teaches us lessons that we don't expect and at the same time helps people who need to find that message uh of support thank you next I have Eliza bachelder followed by Diane Morrison hi I'm Eliza velder I'm a North GTH resident um I want to thank the board for your hard work and dedication um and I want to express my support for the continued inclusion of the book gender queer in the high school library um every student deserves to see their stories reflected in the library and I also want to express my support and appreciation for the amazing Library staff um in our school district and Nationwide um as they defend our kids access to

072books of excuse me and learning thank you so next is Diane Morrison and then George BYO Le I'm gonna pass everything's been okay thanks sayane George is up next and then after George we have Kit Maloney all right I'd like to start out with a quote from Mark Twain in the beginning of a change the Patriot is a scarce man and brave and hated and scorned when his cause succeeds the Tim would join him for then it costs nothing to be a patriot many years ago there was an emperor who was so very fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on them he only went out when we had the chance to show off his new clothes one day two fellows calling themselves Weavers came to town they said that they knew

073how to weave cloth of the most beautiful colors and patterns the clothes made from this wonderful cloth would be invisible to everyone who was unfit for the job he held or who was very simple in character no one was willing to tell the emper that the swindlers were not making clothes because they would be thought unfit or simple he sent members of his court one after another and all reported how Splendid the clothes were even though none of them could see them eventually in a parade a child pointed out that the emperor had no clothes the child had the courage to speak out at that point everyone acknowledged the truth of the situation there was a lot of pressure on everyone in the parable to go along with the narrative and popular belief that the

074clothes were Splendid you are in a similar situation here the Zeitgeist the spirit of the time says that if you do not wholeheartedly Embrace this one particular book you are hateful there are many people in this community that are afraid to speak up or stand here out of fear you should never judge a book by its cover and I'm glad that you've all read it because you can now make informed decisions I believe you will find that there are portions of this book that are highly inappropriate as a taxpayer in this community I find it regrettable that no action was taken on this book I do really believe and it was clearly communicated that this book was required to help students who are struggling with their sense of self in a very very challenging world

075and I really believe that's true some would argue that this book is a great service to kids in this situation if that truly is the goal I would hope that we would have in our library books that reflect the experience of Khloe Cole if you look her up if you don't already know her anyone going on a life altering Journey deserves to know all the possibilities and be fully informed we really need to act like logical adults here and examine each situation individually without being being swayed by emotional arguments or political agendas we need an objective criteria on what is appropriate and that needs to be published to the community at large you have the opportunity to act courageously to be a leader a patriot when it is hard would any of us have had

076the courage and fortitude to weather Valley Forge or other hardships of the revolution could we have charged with Chamberlain in the 20th main at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War to ensure freedom for for all people no matter what happens tonight it's not going to be the end we're going to see more challenges like this and everyone's time is going to be spent staying in this room and having pages and pages of people willing to speak and not focusing on what's best for the kids but on political grandstanding and virtual signaling thank you very much for your time kit Maloney and then I have Rob hail hi Kit Maloney North Yarmouth resident um I hold a masters in gender and social policy I'm a mother and an elected representative serving on the North

077Yarmouth select board from these various perspectives I share my support for our Librarians and the use of their training and sought after judgment to make decisions regarding the inventory of books in G's Library gender theory is a complex subject matter and often includes Concepts and challenging that are challenging and confronting I had once been willing to give a benefit of the doubt to those that wish to challenge books such as gender queer believing that we might hold different perspectives but that we shared a common and sincere interest in the safety and protection of our children however after learning more about this campaign against gender queer and having many of the nonn North Yarmouth resident proponents of this challenge show up to the North Yarmouth select board meeting on October 17th I have come to see

078clearly that this campaign is not about protection it's not really even about this book it is unfortunately about fear hate and shame fear of what is not understood hate of that which is different and an attempt to shame our kids for their curiosity and celebration of that difference as an elected leader in this community I want to clearly and unequivocally say on the record that I support our students all all of our students to safely explore their identities they have the right to be considered represented and appreciated in their library and throughout the gy campus as our children watch us here tonight may they know that they are cherished and loved for exactly who they are and who they want to be I wish them all health and safety and remind them of the many

079resources in our community that are available to support them when they are in need thank you so much for this process and for this the time and devotion so Rob and then I have Suzanne Hamilton after that Rob hail North Yarmouth I stand in support of including the book Jinder queer in our library it's abundantly clear after two school board meetings a select board meeting and a town council meeting that this is not about a book there are remedies for parents who don't want their children to have this book when we consider the rhetoric that's been used to demonize this book we've seen this rhetoric used in attacks at Cosmic pingpong we've also seen it on the used to inspire the attack on Nancy P's husband we've even seen it tangentially in Leon where a

080mentally ill shooter believed that he was being called a pedophile one of the things that's at risk here even though we have to consider these challenges is the Paradox of Tolerance when we tolerate intolerance intolerance wins so I think we should keep that in mind and ultimate to quote the who the kids are all right so I have Suzanne Hamilton and then okay thank you Suzanne Andrew Baka and then Peter Scott is after that hello uh I'm Andrew Baka um I've been a resident of this town for 26 years and I'm a teacher at the high school for the last five years um I Rise to support the inclusion of this book in our library um I think that uh this school has made a tremendous effort at creating a culture that students can feel

081comfortable coming to school uh empathy from their teachers and their classmates and um and I I I I'm concerned about U Banning books like this how it might affect those students I think we all are concerned about big issues uh in schools about uh anxiety and depression in students I think we have problem with suicide in young kids and when kids can come to school and know that they um have a place that they could feel comfortable with who they are I think that is makes it a safer School for those children thank you good evening my name is Peter Scott I'm a social worker here at Gurley High School where I've worked in support of the social and emotional health of a diverse array of students and families for the last 16 years I'm

082here this evening to speak for the books for the books have no tongues just as The Lorax might say in line with the National Association of Social Workers code of ethics which shines particular light on the dignity and worth of each person and the importance of social justice on May third of this year the executive director of the main chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Chris Chris mcgoffin provided testimony to the main legislature which landed firmly against ld23 and 10008 both acts that effectively aim to hinder access to certain books in that testimony executive director mlin made strong arguments that I Echo this evening one all students need to feel seen and valued in schools one way this happens is through representations of diversity in books found on Library shelves and in classrooms

083two 41% of the Books banned across the US classrooms and libraries during the 2021 2022 school year contained lgbtq plus themes while another 40% involved major characters of color allowing one person or group's perspective to dictate what is a appropriate just exacerbates the harmful yet very prevalent practices of Oppression discrimination and shame what on the surface appears to be efforts to Simply protect children are in fact designed to among other things disrupt local control minimize the training and expertise of Educators and Behavioral Health Providers and further marginalize youth from historically underrepresented and oppressed communities Banning books is an affront to the wellestablished concepts of access to educational materials freedom of expression encouragement of critical thinking and supporting student intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights the National Association of Social Workers Maine is a strong proponent

084of parents having the right to set expectations for their own children however we oppose the notion that one individual or small group of individuals should have the power to limit access for all the youth of that school I Peter Scott believe that the msad51 school board will kindly join me in speaking for the books and can you to stand up for making our school a safe welcoming and accepting place for all students families staff and community members thank you so next I have Michael Timmons and Then followed by that I it's hard to read the name but it's I think it's Mary Mary Mary okay thank you good evening it's never too old to learn uh I spent 47 years in classrooms and as an administrator and I ended up uh being honored by being

085named Main's High School principal of the year that was all of that has made me see just about everything you can see in school and with staff and everyone the thing the the negative beginning and the only reason I'm going to do that I'm going to be real careful I never was fired in anything so if I say anything that you feel I'm totally wrong on don't offer to fire me I don't want a first time in it this particular book has caused more talk than any other book I think that we've probably ever heard about uh there are 58 to 70 school systems that have banned the book and I heard people say that they were totally against it but there are people in the country uh at least 58 right now and they

086also were first in uh two years the last two years so it is isn't uh it's something that more than this room has been discussed however I'm not going to stand here uh and get a f a failing grade because I believe that we have a wonderful school system we have a wonderful town to live in I've lived there for 24 years and I've been president of famous club for 18 to 20 years and I don't think in all those time in all that time we've ever had anything but positive with our students uh I'm going to leave I'm going to leave by saying that I still don't want any failing grades but I could go and say make sure and I think that you will 13 of you up there that you uh take

087everything into consideration before you make a final vote thank you thank you very [Applause] much so I had a Mary on the list and then next I had Sandra Porter my name is Mary Bolino I live on gy road I was the teacher for 30 years um and I must say that in all those 30 years and more I've never seen the culture changeed so much as no you can all agree that our culture has changed tremendously and I think the root cause of our C cultural change is the fact that we've forgotten God we have forgotten God God is a he's the designer the maker the ruler and The Giver of Life and God is for the is for justice and I noticed when I was looking in the um looking researching all the

088books um about sexuality that in every book before I went to read it there was always a warning to the reader graphic content be careful graphic content but we don't see see anything wrong with giving our students this these books that something's wrong with this Society not just this this District but everywhere it's unbelievable we've forgotten what is what the holy we've forgotten the holy and the just and the decent you know there's a reason people are people have different feelings they're transgender whatever that's all new you know this is all new in the last 20 years but there's I think that there's an answer and it's with God but I do think that we have to take seriously you people on the board it's your responsibility and I think you can't put Power and

089money behind your decision and I think a lot of you really if you were honest with with yourselves would say that you really don't see the the rightness of these books in school and not not just that book but you don't you don't stand for your C your convictions I really don't believe that all of you cannot see these books and what the damage of that they can do and I I guess I would say that I I would advise all of you to pray about your vote to ask God what is the right thing to do and that's all I have to say so I have Sandra Porter followed by Tyler McGinley I'm gonna pass you're gonna pass okay so then after Sandra I'll figure out how to say that one after this my

090name is Sandra Porter I live in Cumberland I'm mother of two gy high school graduates I'm very thankful that they got excellent educations in the Cumberland school system that was quite some time ago I believe the the school system for the most part remains excellent I want to talk about trusting too much do you know sometimes times if somebody has Garing of a leg and the surgeon recommends amputation that certain certain surgeons have amputated the wrong leg can you believe that but it's actually happen don't you think the patient put too much trust in that surgeon that's only one example but I honestly believe that sometimes we folks put too much trust in certain professionals including Librarians I do believe that the lady who spoke first um is a librarian at the gy high school

091and she seemed extremely well qualified but there are other equally qualified school librarians that refuse to have the book in their school libraries because it's pornographic maybe it's introductory pornography rather than fullblown pornography but why would you want even introductory pornography as part of the school curriculum does that make sense not to me and I think it's important that the um that the head of the uh School Board excuse me that the those people in charge on uh the people on the stage let me just say that I don't want to name one person I think it's important where they agree that they would immediately remove a book from the School library if it dealt with how to commit suicide or how to make a bomb they need to recognize that it's harmful pornography is

092harmful to children whether they're in kindergarten whether they're in elementary junior high or high so the next one list is V vno Dukes thank you please when you your approach let me know how to correctly pronounce your name my apologies and after that is Katie Murphy followed by Fortunate mu it's Vernon Dukes thank you you're welcome Vernon uh I live in cumin been here eight years 37 do you know what the number 37 represents 37 is the amount of time that parents spend with their children without mobile devices in their hands a week 34 that's where Maine is ranked in the country 34 so what G's one two three fantastic there one two or three of Med ioc we've stopped actually educating our children we are now number 34 in the world there's something wrong

093with our educational system we're not focusing on education we're focusing on books books that don't help our kids get any smarter not a one of them and I don't really care what the book is what I care about is that our children are getting dumber and dumber and dumber every year the numbers show it as a business person who deals with these young people on a regular basis it's infuriating what they don't know infuriating as parents our job is to educate our children not you sad 51 it's your job as a parent to be educating your children if I had a conversation with a 15-year-old online that mirrored that book that man over there would arrest me and throw me in jail and I really I don't I don't care what you're you know you're

094if you're gay if you're a transgender I don't care I love everybody okay but I love our children more and we are not focusing on our children we're focusing on all this other but the numbers are bearing it out 34 last year we were 28 the year before that 27 we're going in the wrong direction in education we got to fix the problem [Applause] so I had Katie Murphy followed by fortunat Mueller and shaa Mueller good evening and thank you my name is Katie Murphy I've had two children in the msad51 school system and as you can see it's been a while since I've had Direct contact with the student population but back 25 years ago I had and still have dear friends whose trans son started as a freshman in gy at that time

095support was really non-existent and he only lasted a year he ended up graduating from another Main High School he's now a producer and editor for television and the film industry living and working in New York City and I tell you what it's thrilling to see his name when the credits roll at the end of a series episode or a movie and who gets credit for nurturing this young man's Talent during his high school years not gy what a lost opportunity I'd like to believe that this community is more enlightened now after almost 25 years and I believe it is for the most part I'm really proud to know this talented young man I've known him since he was born I can't imagine what life was probably like for him in gy as a questioning and

096lonely young person with few if any resources let's let our kids find what they need here with peers teachers staff and families who support them thank you hi good evening thank you for your patience tonight my name is fortunat I'm a resident of North Yarmouth I have two amazing children at gy middle school as parents I believe that my wife and I have a really important role to play in understanding what our children are learning in school what they're reading and how that relates to our family's values and beliefs we do that by being curious and by engaging with our children in Frank open and honest conversations about what they're reading what they're learning what they're consuming in school and Beyond as parents we have the right and the responsibility to engage with these things

097with our children to provide context to help them understand the material we don't claim for ourselves the right to police what other people's children children are learning or reading we don't advocate for censorship or Banning books that make us uncomfortable or that we disagree with I support our teachers and our Librarians and their efforts to create a school Community where every student feels safe and welcome and where all of our children can access age appropriate books which help them form a secure identity and a healthy sense of self I ask the board to vote to support the decision of the committee support our students and reject calls to ban books from our school library so it looked like shaa was passing and then we had Steve morari followed by Jen jonaco and I should know

098how you're you're yield too all right Steve great Steve's coming up and then we have laui and Whitten after that thank you madam chair good evening my name is Steve Mor Ary from 12 Oak freet in Cumberland um I'm happy to be here before you this evening I want to thank the board in particular for the seriousness and respectfulness in which you have received this subjection to the retention of a particular volume in our library your decision to appoint a Review Committee was carefully considered and responsible I'm very pleased that you did so I'm particularly grateful to the members of that committee for the thoroughness and the time that they invested in handling the task assigned I absolutely support the decision of the Review Committee and urge you to do the same to educate is

099to challenge and to inform and sometimes that triggers controversy this is one of those times they are intermittently unavoidable but as a 40 plus year resident of Cumberland I have an ongoing strong interest in the continuing vitality and health of this school system and I believe that offering our students a range of options and a range of choices in what they choose to read what they choose to learn is a sign of strength and is an indication of the proper way in which to fulfill our mission so in the interest of brevity I stand shoulder toosh shoulder with those who have preceded me and who have endorsed the retention of this book in our high school library for all the reasons that they so carefully and eloquently articulated thank you so we have Lauren approaching

100and then next we have Lucy Nunan thank you um I will be brief because so many people have said really wonderful things beforehand but my name is laurian Whitten and I am a resident of North Yarmouth and uh the reason why I came up is because I'm also a licensed therapist and I have been working with people who identify as part of the queer Community for almost 15 years and so I felt like it was really important to uh to speak on behalf of what I hear so often from my clients um they feel othered and they don't feel often that they belong and their mental health uh obviously suffers greatly because of that and so books that show them who they are or who they can be is really important and uh keeping this

101book in the library I know will also help them be able to see aspects of who they are and not feel as ued thank [Applause] you my name is Lucy Nunan I'm a resident of Cumberland and I'm a student here at gley in the senior class I here to encourage you to not ban the book gender queer this proposed Banning isn't just about this book although the Banning of this book would be a restriction on lgbtq plus education and expression the proposed Banning is testing the waters of this District we live in a country with numerous freedoms and book Bannings and those who support them are tearing those freedoms down one by one it starts with this book gender queer where one person said they didn't like it and didn't want it in our schools

102well then what's next because there will be another book on the table to be banned and another and another and another if each individual person wants to ban a book there would be no books left everyone has an opinion and a choice they have the free will to choose which books to read or not which books to recommend to others and deter them from Reading no one has the right to take away that choice for anyone else and I am here to say that I am here here I am queer I am non-binary and I will not let this stand so please for all of the students at gley high school all the queer students at gy high school and for all of the books yet to be banned I urge you not to ban

103gender queer thank [Applause] you I'm uh d n in Lucy's dad and I just found it quite interesting the only thing I'm going to say everybody said a lot of really good stuff but uh find it very interesting that all the students that have spoken here tonight have been in favor of not Banning books so I think that's kind of a little bit of a hint thank you next I have Joselyn oconor followed by Jill o Conor hi my name is JN oconor I'm a Cumberland resident up until this year I attended gley um I've been openly queer at school now for a few years I left the Cumberland school system because it became an uncomfortable and uninviting environment kids are constantly making jokes and remarks that are insensitive and homophobic Banning books that tell

104stories like Maya coab babes that could could change people's perspectives on the lgbtqia plus Community is harmful and invalidating giving power to people who want to silence others voices could push more kids like me out of the school my sexuality was not influenced by words on a page but those words felt validating and safe I hope you'll put the safety and comfort of my peers and friends before preferences of adults that don't attend the school or have access to its Library thank you that's my kid uh yeah so um sorry I have to get my notes I'm Jill o Conor I'm a resident of Cumberland parent of two kids um one in gley schools uh thank you for again for your service time and uh hearing all of this um someone asked for a clear

105set of rules for materials deciding whether something uh should be um considered pornographic or OB scene and there is something uh the Supreme Court has the Miller test uh the Miller test is a three-pronged obscenity test and it asks for a work to be considered as a whole you cannot you don't take one piece you don't take one panel you don't take one quote take it out of context and call it pornographic or obscene it must be considered as an entire work and not be considered puant Pur puant for those who don't know is incredibly lascivious or erotic um abnormally and unhealthy healthily depicting sex uality uh if you have read this entire book and not just looked at a panel someone showed you you would know that as an entire work it is none

106of those things it is someone's experience going through a lot of questioning um the second prong um is says that something can't be patently offensive again that's a little bit more subjective a lot of people clearly find some of this stuff patently object uh offensive but as you can hear from the students and the people who's who are being represented by this book I don't think that one holds and the last one is that a reasonable person would not find the matter taken as a whole um serious literary artistic political or scientific value and clearly this book has some very real value to the People For Whom It Was Written uh so there is a Miller test you can look it up and maybe it can satisfy some of these claims that something is obscene

107so I will end this by saying that um my child's not an ideology she's not a concept she's a person she deserves representation as do many other kids and she and I can talk about what it is that she can and can't read or wants to read or who she is but I don't get to decide that for someone else thanks next I have Mike Peretti followed by Ashley Schumacher pass pass on Mike Ashley Ashley Ashley Jamie Andrews and then after that sty yeah please don't hi I'm Jamie Andrew I'm from Cumberland um I just have a story to tell I work um with a lot of people I have to have a lot of tough conversations on the phone and I was talking to a person about I don't know a month ago and

108we were just chitchatting and a lot of times people tell me more stuff than they need to and he told me that he had been you know removed from his home he was living by himself in an apartment and then we sort of chitch a little bit more and he was saying that he was trans and I said you know congratulations and there was a a long pause and I thought oh whoops I stopped in it and I realized he was crying because no one had told him that and that's why this book is important because for the kids who don't need it they don't need it but the for for the kids who do need it they need it hi my name is Stacy caul I live in North Yarmouth I have two children

109in the schools a seventh grader and a first grader um thank you so much for taking the time to hear from members of the community on this import important issue I've thought about lots of things that I wanted to say but everyone's done a great job so I'm going to keep this really short I'm here to register my support for keeping this book in the gy high school library I support our library staff to make decisions about what books should be included in the library but I also went ahead and read gender queer from cover to cover and my biggest takeaway at multiple times during reading the book was gratefulness that this book is available to our teenagers including my children when they are in high school I only wish that a book like this

110had been available to me and my friends three decades ago when I was in high school it would have made a significant difference in a lot of people's lives not only do I oppose challenging our librarian our Librarians and the committee's decisions but I oppose the Banning of this particular book Thank [Applause] you so I've reached the end of our residen and staff sign up I know there's some other people that came in who may be residents or or students students who may not have gotten a chance to sign up was there anybody else who is a resident or staff or student you'd like to speak okay so I do have oh oh I'm sorry thank you can I sure oh actually Sarah I saw your name on the non-resident page okay all right hi

111good evening Sarah Russell I have two children um I live in Cumberland and I have two kids at really a senior and a seventh grader thank you all for your time tonight um it's a long evening but I just um I just want to say that I understand that gender Queer as a book can be uncomfortable it's different it represents change and change can be uncomfortable it makes us fearful fearful of how that change will directly affect us and our loved ones but here's the thing we cannot dictate policy public policy through fear and fear cannot dictate what books are available for everybody for all patrons in the library so the magic of a library is that it is sacred and it is secret it's a beautiful thing library is probably the only place left

112where what we read is not tracked it's a place where kids can go and explore and access books that they might not be able to access under the nose of their parents possibly um it allows them to learn and grow and understand differences and yeah gender queer it's different but is it obscene thank you to the Supreme Court Miller we know that it's not because taken as a whole it adds value um it effectively you know the value it brings is that it Gra apples with the hardships of coming out of the confusion of teen crushes um the challenges of being non-binary in a very very binary world so yeah gender queer is different but to be accused of porn you know the dictionaries definition of porn is books magazines films Etc with no artistic

113value with no artistic value okay and it that describes and shows sexual acts the point is the value pieace and the synonym by the way for porn is smut so to argue that gender queer is obscene pornographic smut is to be in full denial of today's sexual and gender environment when we challenge gender queer and other uncomfortable books and try to move these books off the public shelf what we are saying to our young kids who identify with these narratives is that we don't want your story we don't want you as you you define yourself and that's just wrong and hurtful so thank you to the school board for this process thank you to the book Review Committee I obviously support the committee's recommendation and hope you do too thank you okay so we have

114completed the residents and staff um public comment would the board like to make a motion to continue it looks like we may have four non-residents who signed up for public comment does somebody want a motion to continue motion I'll move to continue public comment with non-residents with non-residents would anyone like to second I'll second okay all in favor of continuing public comment for non-residents so it's not a majority okay so we'll not continue public comment for non-residents thank you everyone for coming I know um I really appreciate everyone taking their time um and I want to thank the students as well for speaking um are you a [Music] non-resident um if you're not a resident of the school district um per policy um residents are prioritized per the did you get a copy of the

115policy too so so the next item is the items for Action we're going to move on for the vote on the book challenge so as a reminder so yes we do we have a list of then okay so we're gonna move on with the challenge to the the book gender queer so as we've moved on to our item for Action the vote on the book challenge when the challenge was filed on the book gender queer which is located in the high school library collection policy igj a Review Committee was formed met and discussed the challenge the committee's membership met the policy requirements including a curriculum leader an administrator a librarian a teacher and a Community member that committee unanimously recommended that the book remain in the high school library and the results were shared with

116superintendent Porter and the complaintant the complaintant then appealed the decision that prompted this appeal process which is being done following P policy igj each member of the board received a copy of the challenge book on November 20th is and was requested to read the book by today December 4th at last week's meeting we heard from both a complaintant and a representative of the Review Committee and the board asked clarifying questions of both at tonight's meeting the board just had public comments specifically about the book and then we are now deliberating in public to vote on the appeal the board was not asked for a book report only to vote on the committee's recommendation so I would like to ask for a motion I will move to accept the recommendation from the Review Committee that the

117book gender queer remain available in the gy high school library with no changes in the access to the book a second okay so we had a motion and we had a second and now I'm giving the board the opportunity if they would like to make any comments about the book or the book appeal okay well since I made the motion I'll go first all right here we go um first of all I would like before I even begin I would like to uh assure everyone who is listening on especially Mr Jordan that I have read the book um you can see I've got lots of notes uh I I have chosen to take as I'm sure that everyone else on this um board with me I've chosen to take this process very seriously I actually

118did pray before this because that's who I am uh so I am speaking for myself I am not speaking for anyone else on this board I am not speaking for anyone who uh you know what I think they want to hear this is my process and this is how I came to this decision first of all I worked through the review committee's report uh and I appreciated that they just went through policy igj and established that the book fits the criteria as outlined in the policy I also uh looked at the not just the criteria but at the beginning of policy JJ it says that books should provide enrichment opportunities that expand students interests and encourage lifelong learning I can say that my personal response to this book meets that and I realize this is

119not about adults reading it this is about the teens the high schoolers but I I actually feel like I'm a better person for having read this book and I feel that it fits policy JJ so then I moved on to the appeal itself based on the committee's report uh it took me a while to sort of parse out from the appeal the the primary arguments the ones that were most cogent to the U the book itself and what I really took from from Mr Jordan's appeal is um well none of us can argue that there is sexual content in this book of course there is sexual content in this book and I I agree with Mr Jordan that policy igj doesn't directly address that so had to ask myself first of all does this book

120fall under the category of pornography if it does we're done that book should not be in this Library uh so I needed to ask myself that um I if I had just been shown this book without context I would have been very surprised I would have been concerned uh and I would certainly want to know what it is about the book that outweighs the sexual content because because I do believe that for a book with this sort of content to be in it there must be something greater than that content uh I read the book contemplated it and I've arrived at the decision that it does not fall under the category of pornography uh primarily because I looked up the definitions and for the most part everything I found uh talked about how pornography is

121content that is intended to stimulate erotic or sexual excitement rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings uh the page most in question page 167 certainly sexual in nature but it also includes the words written by the author I can't feel anything and right there to me what that says is the author did not put it in because it was stimulating but actually the opposite uh which has been referenced tonight uh so the irony is that what makes the sexual experience a pivotal moment in the author's life is the total lack of sexual excitement that the author was experiencing so if I uh feel that the book is not pornographic then I move to Mr Jordan's next argument which is that it is not age appropriate in his original challenge the author stated that um the material

122is not age appropriate and that the author of the book stated it is for 18 and up uh there's a lot of tension about that because of course there's an interview that has been cited many times in which the author says when I was on a book tour in 2019 I was asked many times what age of reader do you recommend this book for I would generally answer high school and above but the truth is the readers I primarily wrote it for were my own parents and extended family I believe that Mr Jordan takes that to mean that because the author wrote it for parents and family um that that precludes the audience that might also read it and I I actually disagree because I think one of the most beautiful things about literature is

123that often you write it for yourself maybe a very small group of people and then it lands in someone's hands um much like maybe a biography of a gay athlete and the person who reads it uh it just it's it's like it's for them and that is the beauty of literature and so I don't agree with the argument that just because of the intended audience that that automatically makes it inappropriate um I also uh saw uh or read an interview with the author in Penn America where the author stated and and some people have referenced this um if I had had a book to read like this specifically when I was a freshman in high school it would have saved me years of questioning and confusion about my identity and could have really helped me

124figure out who I was and how I wanted to interact with people through the world and who I wanted to be much sooner I didn't really figure that stuff out until I was in my late 20s and I actually uh the author has not said this but as I read that I I had to wonder if that sexual experience on page 167 would have even happened if this book had been available to the author um as a teen uh there's also in my mind a discrepancy between the world the word child and the word minor uh in another interview also with the Washington Post the author states that gender queer is a comic and in full color but that doesn't mean it's for children I originally wrote it for my parents and then for older

125teens who were already asking these questions about themselves I don't recommend this book for kids that has uh that quote has been used many times to to say that it should not be in the hands of min um I actually looked up the word child and the word kid and I was kind of surprised to note that in no definition does kid or child specify under 18 uh the definitions are U someone who is between the ages of infancy and puberty and just as a on a personal note I I think that is sort of culturally accepted that a child is that not not a specified age but more where they are in life um I was the children's ministry director at our church for many many years and that Ministry went up through fifth

126grade and it was just sort of understood that that would be a child sixth through 12th grade was a youth ministry so I don't agree with the argument that just because she said it's not for kids that that means that it is not appropriate for anyone under the age of 18 uh so I do not believe that that it is pornographic and I do not believe that it is not age appropriate for teens the last thing I want to say and I I think my board members I know I'm going on a little bit here um in my process I found myself really considering the appeal itself if anyone was um watching or here last week uh I asked Mr Jordan for clarification on his contention in both his written and verbal appeal that page

127166 depicts children engaged in fellatio Mr Jordan's answer was because the author said it in interviews and when I pointed out to him that on page 162 the author talks about being 25 at the time Mr Jordan appeared to have no idea what I was talking about and claimed to not be able to find that page I find that very odd it was a flag for me because every other page that he had identified in his challenge lined up aligned with um the what he was talking about so I I don't really understand why he wasn't able to find uh page 162 and I I had to draw my conclusion that that meant that Mr Jordan has not carefully read the book perhaps has read every page but in his original challenge he answered yes

128to the question have you read the book the entire book he wrote yes and I I just because of that moment um I I don't feel that he has uh and then there therefore that is false information um I also would like to note that we asked Mr Jordan to send us links to those interviews that was a week ago and as of yet we still have not received those uh the written appeal itself was full of typos quotations that were incomplete sentences that were inconclusive and discordant I had to reread it several times I mentioned uh a moment ago that I I had to try to glean Mr Jordan's primary arguments and I I really had to reread the appeal several times to get that um it's been at least five months and I

129feel that a much more cogent argument could have been presented in this case um and finally it's my understanding that Mr Jordan was involved in the creation of an online poster if you want to call it that um that depicts depicts what appears to be a six-year-old maybe child who is sitting in front of the book and what I don't understand is why if if the the board the district is being accused of putting the book in front of Miners And yet here is a picture of the book in front of a minor the reason the reason that I say that it that it's associated with you is because of the main Republican party Cumberland County chapter which said contact Mr Jordan a concerned parent and Mr mcbrierty also identified you as the person involved

130in this picture which has a child in front of the book I took this process very very seriously I wish I could say the same for you [Applause] sir anyone else um I just had a few um remarks that I wanted to make the first was that I actually wanted to um give appreciation for rereading this book I had read gender queer previously before this book Challenge and this challenge allowed me the opportunity to read it in a slower more critical manner than I did the first time through and as a result I leave finding even more value to the educational aspects of this work that I had previously first and foremost um the author outline struggles around gender and sexual identity that any person can experience and it's also important to note that the

131author was raised in a more liberal and Progressive family and school environment so when you consider the fact that we may have students in our district or in other schools that don't have that same sort of support thinking about the challenges that the author went through could just be magnified um I think that the book also provides a lot of value for our students who also aren't questioning their gender or their sexual identity it gives value um discussing the real trauma of menstruation and gynecological exams that our students will experience in high school and Beyond um it also depicts amazing conversations regarding consent not just consent relating to dating sexual relationships but also relating to friend um and other emotional connections um I really struggled with the appeal process because I felt as though majority

132of the points listed by the complainant were related to criticism of the author's family of origin and parental experience that they had and the Waldorf School and Founders philosophy versus the actual content of the book I feel that it was there was attempts to sensationalize those explicit content chapter or pages that have already been mentioned without looking at the subject matter as a whole um so I accept the recommendation of the committee and I just want to thank everyone who came out to talk for or against I know that it takes a lot for both but particularly our students who came out um thank [Applause] you um so I will be voting yes to keep the book gender career in the G ghs library for me Banning books has been an Over My Dead Body

133proposition for much longer than I've been on this board we can pretend that this is not book Banning we could consider irrelevant hypotheticals like books about making bombs the fact of the matter is that we are being asked to make a judgment about removing one particular book from our library and that our Librarians have deemed to have educational Merit and is age appropriate for our high school students I'm a firm believer in academic freedom and I trust our Librarians to make good responsible decisions about educational materials in our libraries they have the expert an expertise that I do not have and I suspect most of us here do not have and I respect that I feel that this rationale is sufficient for my decision and I know I should leave it at that however please

134indulge me for a couple of minutes as I feel compelled to share my thoughts about the book I appreciate the complaintant bringing this book to my attention is probably not a book that I would have picked up otherwise and I really enjoyed it uh there was someone last week during public comment who mentioned the Dual benefit of providing representation in the library to students who may relate to uh the content and for someone who may not relate to the author it offers the opportunity to understand and empathize with someone who had a very different lived experience as a cisgender heterosexual man I've had the privilege of not having to confront the issues that the author encountered on a journey to identifying as non non-binary and as ual I was impressed by the thoughtful and nuanced

135questions that the author posed I also appreciated appreciated that the book Framed the complex issues that it addressed by drawing from the fields of psychology sociology and Neuroscience it did this all in a way that was relatable to young people I want to acknowledge too that the content on pages 166 and 167 and these are the pages that have been referenced um at multiple meetings uh so far they made me feel uncomfortable um and I had to give some thought about how I felt about the inclusion of those pages in the book and ultimately I landed on a few things first I think these pages and others throughout the book serve a useful purpose in demonstrating the auor author's discomfort with sexuality second my discomfort with the two pages of the book should not dictate

136whether others should be able to access the book If I had kids in high school and I felt that strongly about them not getting the book from the library there's a process for that third many great artistic Works have made people feel uncomfortable this is how we challenge ourselves and push boundaries I think I was in Middle School when I read my Angelo I know why the Cage Bird Sings this is a book that covers similar territory exploring the issues of identity and including a graphic scene depicting her rape as a child like gender queer it is a book that has frequently been challenged and I would never support its removal from our educational materials I think back too to my high school years when I read my fair share of Stephen King books which

137have no shortage of graphic violent and sexual material that surely make readers uncomfortable I look today and the ghs library currently has 63 Stephen King books available to students I'm sure that we could cherry-pick objectional material from those books but I suspect that nobody is interested in that finally thanks to everyone who came out tonight it is exciting to see such passion about education in our community first I'd like to say thank you for all coming to hear about the new school really appreciate that very much just happened I'd like to make a lot of points been made that I uh agree with um so I'll keep it brief um I want to start with two facts that I know first fact there are different kinds of humans it's just there are different ways of

138living there are different ways of acting my colleagues my friends my own child they're going to be different from me no matter what I say no matter what I do they're different in ways I may like and may ways I may not like fact number two there is no single set of morals we've gotten a lot of comments a lot of emails about immorality it may be immoral is how you feel but that's according to your of morals and there are other sets doesn't mean my set's wrong or your set's wrong they're just different so on that note um I come to the conclusion people are different to be human is to have questions we need to allow students and adults to read and question and then yes in turn once they've read and they

139have questions and they more questions they should feel free to turn to their friends to their teachers and yes to their parents to ask what they think but in the end they're going to decide and think what they want we can't decide for them but we need to give them the information access so that they can decide for themselves and to me that's what education is thank you um so I just want to Echo I'm sure I'll Echo a number of things that have already been said on the stage tonight but maybe there will be a couple new things um for you all in my comments as well um so certainly want to thank you all for coming out tonight um and speaking with us and also um express my appreciation for rereading this book

140book um when I was running for school board in the spring the question that I was asked hands down most from everyone who I spoke to was uh Where I Stood on book Banning um I honestly did not expect to be here in this position tonight uh at that time and you know was very clear that I would not be banning books from our library uh but it also encouraged me at that time to read books that were being challenged and banned elsewh in the nation at that time so I read gender queer and I appreciated the opportunity to read it again as part of this process um I think what all of this has shown me is that this process the policy JJ and the procedure outlined are working um the policy as some

141people may know was revised in February of this year and I would like to thank the members of last year's board uh actually all of whom I think uh had a primary hand working in this are no longer on the board but certainly want to thank them for that work that they did to update this policy which included then policy committee members Mike Williams Vanessa Bryant um the policy committee chair at the time Jared Levan and the board chair at the time Jason record um JJ is a selection process for identifying educational materials to including classrooms and libraries as we all know so books and other materials that don't meet the criteria aren't included um this book in my opinion does meet those criteria to be available through our high school library the only place

142it's available in our schools and our professional certified library media specialist at the high school followed this policy and that was demonstrated and affirmed by the committee as reported in its response to the book challenge the committee read a wide range of reviews reviewed the material in light of our educational mission and vision and in line with the selection criteria and policy JJ specifically citing criteria a b c d g i j and k um the book is the winner of the American Library Association Stonewall honor and the um ala young adult Library Services Association Alex award um regarding the age appropriateness of the book as noted in the committee's response the school library Journal indicates the book is appropriate for grades nine and up as does book list it was also a book list

143editor Choice winner for books in books for youth in 2022 um we have heard some content from a Washington Post interview at one point which I went back to reread and noted that the question from the interviewer in that uh interview uh ends with they make it sound like it's marketed for six-year-olds and Cab's reply in that interview was it keeps being called a children's book this was after Senator Kennedy had brought it to the floor Senator Kenny Kennedy implied it was a children's book but I think that's coming from a misreading of the comic book form gender queer is a comic and in full color but that doesn't mean it's for children I originally wrote it for my parents and then older teens we've heard this part before who were already asking these questions

144about themselves I don't recommend this book for kids and then going to the pen America interview which Kim previously mentioned if I'd had a book to read like this specifically when I was like a freshman in high school it would have saved me years of questioning and confusion about my identity and that was in May of this year so I agree with the findings and recommendations of the committee I'd like to thank them for their their work as we've noted this book is not being pushed on anyone um it is part of the policy JJ that we seek to provide a wide range of educational materials at all levels of difficulty with diverse appeal and representing various points of view no one is required to read this book everyone does not need to like it

145or agree with it it's not being forced on students it's not part of the curriculum um it is as was written in the committee's report one of over 14,000 books in the library and for some as we've heard it will be a Lifeline of reflection a validation and for others it might be that window into someone else's experience and a way to develop empathy and understanding um I do believe that removing this book from our collection would be synonymous with Banning it and I support the rights of our students and their parents or Guardians to make their own decisions that are right for themselves and their families if parents or Guardians do not want their student accessing this book as we've heard they can easily make that request um I believe that there are also

146so legal reasons which we don't need to necessarily get into for not Banning this book but um that you know a dislike of ideas contained in the book uh would go against decisions that have been made at the Supreme Court level as well and I think that we have heard some indication that it is not just the uh couple pages that have been objected to but more um of the ideas overall in the book that are presented and that are reflected uh let me just see if there's anything else that feels important to share from this thinking that I've done um as we've gone through this process you know I do want to note as others have also said that this has been a challenging process for our students and our community especially those in

147the lgbtqia plus Community who have felt targeted by book challenges such as this around the nation and I do want um you to hear me unequivocally express my support for all our students in this district and that that support is not Zero Sum so by giving it to our lgbtqia plus students I'm not taking it away from others it's inclusive of all our students all our Educators all staff and all administrators um but it does feel important during this time to expressly uh Express that support and again noting that that's not mean that I do not support our students and community members who identify and present themselves um in more traditional normative ways and I do believe that we have a mental health crisis but it is not the existence of non-normative gender identities or

148sexual orientations but it is contributed to by a lack of acceptance and support for lgbtqia youth um and there's certainly plenty of evidence from Nami and others to support that and I think we've heard a little bit of that tonight as well um so I will we'll be voting to keep the book in our high school library thank you thank you [Applause] Monica Tim uh so I too want to thank everyone um regardless of where you stand on this issue um just for The Bravery um that and the thought that was displayed tonight um particularly from the students it was really moving um I value all the comments and and the the thought from the boards as well and the messages you sent us over the last couple weeks and I made a commitment to

149not decide how I'd move forward until I heard from you tonight so I want to thank the uh the Review Committee for their initial review and I want to commend Mr Jordan for publicly standing up for his principles that's not easy in this climate regardless of tonight's vote My Hope Is that people truly heard the concerns of their neighbors I know quite a few people that were too scared to speak tonight and Afraid afraid of being because they were afraid of being shunned and I fear we've become a society and now a community that deals in absolutes which is just isn't how I think about things I shudder when I hear books um I shudder when I hear that books like this are a form of grooming or indoctrination and spending just five minutes talking

150with our librarian or staff and it becomes clear that the intentions are good I'm also challenged by those calling this book Banning I don't consider this book ban from IW or the Middle School even uh even though it's not there and if we do equate this as book Banning I don't even know why we would have this process to me these are terms that are used for the purpose of being on the right side rather than getting it right it's a shame because I think there's an opportunity for our community to grow from these conversations whether that's understanding more about the population we serve or about the standards we parent by multiple things can be true at once you can support LGB lbtq plus students yet feel this book has content not appropriate for high

151school students just as a person can think this book has Merit while not supporting adult content in our schools you can respect the role of a librarian while respecting the role of a parent for the record I think it should be a very high bar to remove a book from a library especially after it's been through this process what I'm about to say is about gender queer not any class of books or books in general I think this book serves an important uh community at an important time and I'm thankful for the opportunity to read it like those that have shared that tonight I agree with almost everything the Review Committee said except I admit I do question whether or not gender queer passes section D of policy JJ which says take into consideration the

152varied maturity levels of students served I don't believe this book was intended for all ages served in our high school and therefore may not meet this standard the Review Committee ref references the American Library association's rating of nth grade and above but in my research this is an outlier most rating systems including the national educations Association and Common Sense Media show at least 16 years and above with many calling for 18 plus perhaps more taling has been referenced tonight the author says older teens and above those that don't don't name an age but grade level an understandable attempt to make it easier for schools to operationally have in high school libraries rather than what's developmentally approp rate my daughter will be 13 when she enters High School while I was 15 there's a reason why

153development either in Psychology or legally use age and not grade level I don't question the right of for the author to make certain artistic choices it's m story and I think it's a really powerful one and I see why the author made the decision to M did however when the content includes referencing an active porn site uses very graphic language and includes mature images as a parent it's reasonable to want safeguards regardless of the greater context take Schindler's List for example it's extremely valuable and relevant to a vulnerable population but due to the content it's rated R requiring an adult to rent it when we did that or or see it in theaters the rating doesn't make it any less important given everything I've heard read and understand about our policies and the law I

154plan on voting to keep the book because of the policies and rights for parents to make individual requests for their child but I'd like to make a recommendation to the district this book remain available in our library but require deeper conversations with an adult or Guardian below the age of 16 which is the legal age for consent in Maine in what seems to have the most consensus including from the author whom said it's appropriate for older teens not 13 which my daughter will be I understand this is unlikely to happen but it just feels right for me policy-wise I hear people say that kids have access to things much more graphic than this and that may be true but we also have safeguards for those things in school and out and I understand it may

155be inevitable as a parent but I haven't given in yet my kids are very young so I've got time to give in um I want to end this with this I spent 30 minutes on Friday speaking with our high school librarian who spoke tonight and I heard how much she cares about our kids and takes time to support them I encourage all of you to reach out to our Librarians and share your thoughts and concerns about your students know that you have options as a parent but also know that I have full confidence that our staff will keep our kids [Applause] safe so of course when this book was brought up like many others I had some questions after reading the complete Memoir I now realized I was questioning whether this book belongs in our

156library because I was not given the full needed and valuable context to be honest I didn't even know this book existed prior to this discussion being being brought up much less in our library because it has not been pushed on our students in the library and I've been in the library almost every single day for the past two years I've talked to a lot of my peers about gender queer and I can say that they feel the same way this book obviously takes a level of maturity to read like so many other valuable books do books I've read on my own and even in my English classes often take a high level of maturity to read Because sexual and graphic content is simply a part of most books students read at this age that being

157said the more graphic and sensitive portions of the books I've read are not what I remember most vividly what I do remember and take away from these books are the main messages they convey the conversations I've had surrounding the book the author's writing style character development and much much more I doubt I would have chosen to pick up and read this book on my own but I'm glad I have among the many things I gained from reading this book one of the most significant things was perspective I was able to recognize that these topics are things people I go to school with could be experiencing that's something so easy and simple for me to do like wearing the color pink or shaving my legs could be things people in my classes my friends and even

158my teachers are uncomfortable doing the lessons and messages in this book are valuable to not only young people confused about who they are but they are valuable to a wide variety of people one of my main reasons for joining the board as a student was to find ways to make this school place every student feels safe and welcome in that they have a place they look forward going to that they don't feel negatively towards School I like to think we do have a pretty welcoming community at the high school but I know that this is not always true and if this book can help give perspective or security to my peers and future high schoolers then it should definitely stay in our [Applause] library okay I would like to Echo many of the many of

159the sentence ments that were uh talked about tonight by my fellow board members and as one sorry as one of the student representatives to our board I have tried to do my job bring the student perspective to the board I truly appreciate the courageous students that have come to talk tonight your your voices have been heard and are valued prior to this meeting and hearing all of the opinions shared in public comment I have talked with the students in our high school I've discussed the issue with students and have tried to get the varied perspectives on the subject gy teaches kids to think critically contemplate different sides of an issue and speak up when their voices must be heard we have had class discussions about the issue that sits before the board and in every

160discussion I have had students are thoroughly engaged and have thought about these issues I presented the pages and panels that have been disputed with provided context and have discussed the arguments on both sides on each occasion where I have spoken with my peers students have felt confused and asked why would a book like this get removed on each occasion students have supported keeping this book in our high school library in hearing others opinions and after reading the graphic Memoir twice I have come to a similar decision in my own opinion and that of many of the students at the high school I support the decisions of our Librarians and our Educators and the thoughtful committee that removed that reviewed this Memoir and because of that I support gender queer remaining in our high school library

161I'm going to keep it brief mostly because I agree with um my fellow board members and I agree with a lot of our community that's gotten up to spoke to speak tonight um which has been I think incredibly valuable to hear all the comments so thank you for coming um I will also beh hold voting to uphold the committee's recommendation I very much trust their experience I trust their expertise um I trust that the policy was taken seriously and I trust that because the written response and the explanation for why the committee wanted to keep the book in the library was so well done so well thought out so thank you so much for the work that you put in it's very very much appreciated um I don't consider the book to be pornography I

162agree with Kim on this I too looked it up I don't think that the images in this book the images that we've seen many times in big poster board size when the book is read in context they lose that gotcha value because they are part of the story they don't they weren't put in the story to titilate and to get a response they're simply part of the author's story um so I too agree with Kim I think that that part of the argument just floundered um I was really happy to see Jen Weisner here and glad that she quoted some data about um the main integrated youth Health survey which um found that you know a percentage of our main high schoolers identify as queer and I don't know what percentage that is at our

163high school I don't know if it's the same 13.8 or whatever or if it's 5% or if it's one student but when I think about what we're doing tonight in this vote I find Value in thinking about it from the other side not in should we ban this book but what is the harm of removing this book and to whom would we be doing that harm and that's what's really I think most important for me is that um I think that if we take a resource away from a kid that needs it and we know that many kids who identify as queer are not treated equally do face more bullying do face more discrim discrimination don't necessarily have as many adults to turn to so if we take away a resource from that vulnerable group

164that to me becomes totally unconscionable and cruel and wrong so I've found Great Value in looking at this process from that standpoint um so that is why I will be voting to have to hold the committee's [Applause] recommendation anyone else okay so thank you for fellow board members I know this has been um a challenging process for for us for our community for our schools but it's it's important to have this process and I just want to reflect on on that for a moment and again thank um the previous boards for their work on this policy and certainly our our librarian Librarians and and Review Committee that that got us to this point tonight um it it's important for the district to have this process for parents to challenge the the selection of Education materials

165and one of the reasons I'm I'm sitting here on this board is because of how much I trust this district with my children and the experience that they had have had in this District uh at that point when I got elected was through the middle school level um I'll be voting to accept the recommendation of the Review Committee um I so value how much care are teachers administrators and Librarians and everyone else in this district has taken for children and I and I know what it takes as a parent to have your child leave the house every day and and know that they're going to a place where they feel seen um my children have feel very seen in this District um and I so appreciate the voice voices of of students who have spoken

166tonight and I think that's such The Shining Light that we see the critical thinking that they've they've built um and grown in in this district and one of our board goals this year was to be able to actively involve and integrate student perspectives insights and feedback into our decisions policies and decision making and so having their voices not only on the board but during public comment is so important um I I believe that this book in no way warrants exclusion from our high School library and while explicit and sometimes even shocking at points I I know I was uncomfortable the first time I read it the book is also a touching Memoir about the author's struggle with their gender identity relationship with family growth as a young adult and their Coming of Age the the

167mere existence of sexual activity in the book is my opinion not a valy reason to remove it and overturn the decision of the high school librarians in the Review Committee in fact upon rereading the book the scenes involving sexual activity were also those scenes that encourage the re reader to dive into issues of consent communication with partners and having bodily agency and the such important lessons for our teens including mine um it really actually helped me think about conversations I probably should be having that I I hadn't really thought about yet as as my kids get older um the the content is it's not included to be salacious or timating but to to Really Advance the story um and I it's just so important for parents to believe that they're part they are Partners in

168their students education and the the barrier to challenging materials is actually pretty low and the process of review is appropriately thorough and designed to gather multiple opinions and make reasonable and informed decisions I I approached this challenge with an open mind and and a commitment to seeing the process through fairly and openly while adhering to our policy and unfortunately as we end this process I fear we have simply taken it's taken it on as a political stunt that is taken up the time of our Librarians our board our teachers and administrators in our community and boy I know we have a lot that needs to get done every single day from sidewalks being iced to kids getting their lunches to Librarians reviewing new books to go into our future hands of our the Next Generation

169and um I just really want again to to thank the board um for their time for the community and for our Administration for moving us through this process um so we're able to be here tonight um at at hopefully the end of this [Applause] appeal so I would like to call for a vote so the motion on the table is to accept the recommendation for the from the Review Committee that the book gender query remains in the high school library all in favor so where unanimous thank [Applause] you [Applause] all right vote on we get to talk about the school again I know nobody nobody's saying for the architect what if the architect is the most controversial part of this meeting appreciate you doing we don't need to don't live was I love the little

170con I know just got a text from too bad we couldn't have this governmental process standing close I've just never seen her it's a good social studies study I mean an example of direct democracy get up first all right all right so I think we're ready to resume just took a brief Break um is it on yeah we noted mine's on oh yours is just mine okay so we're gonna move to a vote on the architect selection I'm going to ask for a motion I move that the board select Steven BL Architects for the concept design of the proposed Elementary project to be located on the district's property acquired from William D Wyatt and on the district's adjoining main campus and authorize the superintendent of schools in consultation with the district's legal council to negotiate

171execute and deliver that contract on such items as the superintendent deems in the interest of the district I'll second thanks Megan any questions great oh um I was just curious um so I know that we were uh choosing between two possible vendors Steven blat Architects but then also Oak Point who has designed the building at 8 Grey Road and had previously designed a building for on campus I'm wondering um if you could share any information that they gave regarding that previous oncampus um rendering and if it'd be possible to use that concept design again in terms of just trying to think this through to be the most fiscally responsible for the district I'll start off and you can follow he did um Oak Point did um bring up the uh 2020 plan is that what

172you're referencing um the initial interview request was to to address the acquired land um he uh he they um chose not to recommend that site um so we other than an initial preliminary sketch he didn't um elaborate on that site much um he did talk about the traffic flow otherwise um and then he did go over to discussing the 2020 plan um it was challenging because not all the committee members um um had been on the board um and had myself included and had not thorough information about that except for what he was presenting right then on the spot um yeah I can I can add to that just a little bit um just with the the couple of acres of land 2. three acres for this property and then there was um a similar

173amount of land in the 2020 or 212 plan 2021 plan um the difference is that U the superintendent's office was going to be moved at that time if we recall and that land that parking lot next to the soup's office was all going to be included um as part of the um Land part and then there was also a house in the front that was part of that um piece so that design was was really developed for that that parcel of land um so the difference would be you there's I don't think there was any way to take the design um from 2021 and put it onto the site that is now being considered um and like Christina said that was discussed that there were parts of that plan that were discussed parking and things

174that have to be done to the campus to upgrade in order to make this work um but that was I think that was really the the gist behind why this wouldn't work the design they had wouldn't work in the spot prek through that's true it was a that's true it was a prek through two as well it's a bigger space that's true y yep thank you I mean I figured it would have been hard anyway but I just wanted um to have that out there so thank you for I have a process question so in comparing the two responses was there like um any kind of rating system or an evaluation that was somewhat more objective than just like yeah I have a gut feeling that this is the the right choice to go with

175um it's I so unfortunate that I missed that meeting I wish I could have uh been there and Christina thank you for sending that the follow-up email um but I'm just kind of just curious about process about how we landed um where you guys landed so clearly three to zero so I I couldn't hear all that but the question is basically what our process was yeah so we interviewed both of them as you know um um asked them the same questions they had the questions ahead of time and set their responses ahead of time and then I had asked um board members that week like did you all want offer any other questions as long as we asked both of them same questions um that was fair so we did that and they they some

176were yours that we hadn't already asked um the the overall there were a lot of very detailed questions questions and we got more detailed answers from one than another um it wasn't based on feeling so much um that was certainly one of the questions um what's our comfort level with how much they're going to stay in contact with us how available will they be um there was a distinction there as well but that was one of many detailed answers and was unanimous all three of us and I did not know how the others were going to be I didn't know how I was going to be voting before I went into it but came away very confident um that the choice we made is the correct one there was there was definitely criteria that was

177utilized in that section process it wasn't who we felt the best about there was actually there was actually criteria um no rating sheet like a one through 10 or anything like that it was basically uh criteria that the be used in terms of a selection process um for the architect in the on campus uh for the oncampus verion um knowing well that the 80 gr Road property is still at play until we come up with Concept design Megan or Denny did you want to add anything to I no process but but um I will Echo that the the vote was unanimous and it was relatively um brisk just because I think we we from what we heard there was one choice that really seemed better so there wasn't a lot of deliberation there one choice

178sort of stood out for some a variety of reasons I just want to be clear the the objection of the question was not was more centered on um what I'm familiar with with like an R P which is my understanding that we don't really follow the P part of it um but it sounds like the criteria I don't know if it's where you can really measure if we have written like oh okay this performed better in price this performed better in terms of responsiveness or timeline and stuff like that so I was just curious for the public is there something available of how they measured against that for the public to be able to see why we chose one architect over the other that was that was that well it's not an RFP process it's

179an RFQ process which is a request for qualifications and I think the committee as a whole felt that the more qualified uh architect for this process based on the criteria that we had there is no other than the questions that we had and the responses to the written questions along with what we answered in the notes that we have there's no rating sheet but there is a um certainly a full committee that felt that the more qualified uh architect while both very qualified AR Architects they more qualified for the on campus version because of SE bl's past experience with our campus four successful referendum projects on our campus with Mr blat uh St blat Architects and also his experience and knowledge of the campus uh were all uh factors that really led to him being

180the architect of choice so that would be the criteria that I would have you know looked at Hanging a hat on and I was I was able to attend I'm not on the facilities committee but um Kim and I were able to also attend the the meeting on Friday and I would say that um they both presented sort of draft proposals of what the on campus design would look like and the one that was presented by Stephen blat really looked like it was going to meet some of the needs that we've expressed as a board um and through the facilities committee process so while I think as we said there's a list of questions and I think those proposals they were all they all shared um as well from both Architects and the one that

181was presented by Stephen blat as as the draft addressed parking um some of the concerns around traffic flow and the design of the building seemed to be really fit nicely in that spot of land and of course this is all very draft we're voting to have them uh move forward with an actual concept design but even the work that they put into getting ready for that meeting was impressive iive I also would add you asked about the public you know access I just want to point out that it was a public meeting it was announced agenda everything whoever could have come board our public um and I also want to note that before we deliberated facilities committee I did invite those in the room those who did attend um what they their Impressions were what

182their thoughts were whatever including um Don Foster who um you know on the ground has to L name certain name Don Foster everyone shifted like wait um yeah so to see what his prior experience was with the two different Architects um and I thought that was very valuable to hear from him as well so like I said I had a lot of confidence in how we where we landed and just one of the items that was highlighted on the um list of of questions too was around costs and I think that we can we might be able to address that uh with the designs that were discussed with st black so that was I think a good reassurance from those conversations and we you know have been thrilled with Oak Point we're happy that we

183still have the option with what they've designed on 80 gry road so this is nothing to say that we haven't been happy with the work that we've done with them um just looking at the new parcel of land on campus it just the the experience that Stephen Blatz had on campus and his Innovative way of of looking at that space was really I was I love looking at overhead Maps um and so the ones that he presented just a really nice way to Envision what could be happening in that little corner with the new land yeah um Oak Point's still going to be working with us on the revolving renovation fund projects that we have um in will works right now so so we'll still be working with them they've done a great job for

184that spent as well so so um it's not uh one better than the other in my mind it was who was the best fit for this particular uh concept design on that particular particular piece of property yeah I would just add to that that I I had skipped over the part that I was going to say in my little speaker notes that I think I skipped over that we were're very fortunate to have two excellent firms to work with kind of like first order problem here um but for this particular project it really seems a a good fit any other questions all right call for a vote to approve the selection of Stephen blad Architects great all in favor thank you yeah we're very thrilled to take this next step and really be able to

185dig into the the details on what um building on on campus could look like so thank you so can I get a motion for the approval of the lease purchase of two School bands I'd like to take this one because I'd like to move with an amendment um so um I move that the resolution entitled resolution to authorize lease purchase of two 2024 Chevy trucks in the principal amount of 86,500 uh dollarars be adopted in the form presented to this meeting uh and I'd like this amend amended to replace Chevy trucks with Vans both in the in the motion and in the supporting document was a little confusion there you didn't buy some trucks there were no there were no trucks there were student Vans can I get a second second thanks Christina any questions

186ANUK well I just wanted to quickly say because um not all board members were engaged with this but I did have some communication with um Jeff and Scott I had asked uh when we first found out about the need for the Vans about an electric option and whether that had been explored um and it sounded like that was not you know given the timeline of this need and the availability of electric options um at the time that that was not able to be Ed upon in this circumstance um and so had also just wondered at that point what our plan is in terms of you know I know we have short and long-term facilities plans and uh whether we might have similar short and long-term um transportation plans that would involve electrifying our transportation um

187so that if the need were to arise again how we might be in a better position to make a easy purchase at that time um sure yeah we're very interested in electrifying our bus fleet um in fact we've applied for funds um excuse me State funds to do so um but he didn't receive those funds um so previously we've done that and I believe Denny you had helped us at one point with looking at um electrifying our bus fleet if I recall am I recalling that correctly a couple years ago I remember anyway um I think you know these Vans will be um very important we would have liked to get electric buses and I think there will be more State funds down the road so we're hoping to tap into those um only I

188think 10 or 11 districts were funded uh in the state when that uh application went through before they are very prohibitive cost prohibitive right now to do that until the price comes down or there's more funding um that's available I it's it's very difficult to do that right now we did pursue looking for electric BS that was my first choice when when I talked with uh Phil and Rachel at the bus garage uh we do have a Improvement plan and a replacement schedule for our bus fleet and our vans as well and I think what you'll see going forward is um the 10 passenger vans that we are looking at now we're going to start those are now starting to age we've had them for some time and we'll be looking to replace those with

189electric options and if we have that lead time available to us to be able to order those get them in place and we can look at doing that as well um as you mentioned um in this particular case because of bus driver shortage um not being able to uh get students to pass unless you know because we were sending a bus so we needed to convert over to 14 passenger vans two of them and it's also been very helpful for athletics so um you know that's that's really why we had to jump on them when we did and we were fortunate to find at least two vans that were available absolutely I appreciate that I have a question um for Jeff and scottt so um I ran I crossed paths with a bus driver who

190was concerned about this um and I I understand um and sold on the flexibility that this offers you guys like we talked about we don't you know bus driver shortage but their perspective was that it actually took away opportunities for them to take roots to earn you know potential more money in that sense so just wondering if you guys could comment on that and how these things get scheduled and by doing something like this and giving it to let's say a coach have we now have have we taken an opportunity from you know paying or keeping good bus drivers because we're worried about that retention in that area well there's due to where we're sitting right now there are no opportunities um uh other than what we have available and uh it's it's we're not

191going to remove regular bus drivers from their regular bus runs to give them trips because that wouldn't be the safest thing to do uh drivers aren't in their collective bargaining agreement aren't entitled to additional runs so that it would exceed 40 hours in a given week we try to keep all drivers up to that 40 hours if we can uh but at this point we're in a triage stage of just trying to get students to and from school every day and just trying to meet the demands of Athletics um I don't see this as a way in which we're trying to take trips away from drivers just trying to fill a basic need at this moment a lot of times there'll be um you know trips that some of our activities go during the daytime

192that we wouldn't send a driver or a a large you know 66 passenger bus in any case we use Vans and have been using bands for some period of time whether it's for our special needs runs in the morning uh or it's for Midday you know activities that um staff members might want to use to go out into the community with students to work in the community those types things so so this isn't a way to try and diminish opportunity for drivers it's a way to finish fill a need right now and certainly we want our drivers to get those extra trips when get back to being fully staff I understand that and and um and and I get it operationally I just hope that the bus drivers understand that as well this could have

193just been one person you know um or it could be a generalized kind of feeling so I just want be aare of that and you know when things like this happen big decisions like this happen within that department um you know it's thinking about how we communicate this to them and how this is a benefit I think will go a long way for morale from at least more I heard from this one person I cross path with I've uh I met with the drivers on Friday um we had a conversation of a number of different things and uh certainly if anybody had a concern about that they're more than welcome to bring it to you know my attention um during those uh kind of meetings or I'm available in the office somebody can stop it

194and see me if they have concerns but uh but again it's uh no intent to try to diminish the number of trips for drivers it's filling a basic need that we have now um you know districts around us are running double bus runs and we've been able to avoid that at this point just because of some of the um you know Creative Solutions that we've had in the district any other questions all right I'll call a vote all in favor of the approval of the lease purchase of the two School FS thank you on to the superintendence report oh look you got yours up yes ready like no no problems there I don't know what's going on I think once you put it up there you haven't been in this space for a while the

195thing comes right to the top is what happened with this case nothing to do do you want to rerun your presentation Let's Do It um anyway at Mabel ey Wilson school first grader Forest Bogner Williams got to be principal for an hour believe this is in concert with a PTO should put that in there they had recess and lunch duty got to talk to and visit um his kindergarten teacher and explored the school is all in charge someday maybe Forest you can be the Principal also it may I welon school a lot of art has been done I love to um look at the art that students have been doing when I go into the um the school um this was a second grade Leaf art project that they had done a lot of creative

196creative art all over the school um love seeing these in the display cabinets at GMS 68 um the Middle School drama club held a video call with Nathan gayan who is a an owner and CEO of Showtown theatricals in Broadway and a Tony Award um that's Broadway New York he shared with students what it's like to manage and produce Broadway shows we've had a lot of these um where we have artists um who will do a virtual call with students um we've had a number of these over the last couple of years and it's really exciting whether it's a um well-known author um we've also had well-known authors come in person um but for um students have opportunities to actually dialogue um with um you know folks that might not be able to come in

197person this has been a really great experience I know our Librarians actually do a lot of that too with students and doing virtual calls um also at GMS 68 um eighth graders studied the Revolutionary War I was walking by this the other day with Mari trelock and I said what is this I love history I always workk up what's this outside of the eighth grade uh actually Pete gillingham's 8th grade uh classroom where he teaches history um and this was um a lot of the um um actual titles on these uh replica newspapers were about the Battle of Bunker Hill which um obviously very exciting because we live nearby it and drive by it many times at the high school I'm I'm sure that Tommy and Sophia will want to talk about this so I

198am not going to steal your thunder I really won't but there were some images and if you want me to put these back up when you're talking I will I know that they were a lot of students were very excited about the extended advisory activities last week um and also uh Mr Francis and I were in a classroom uh not too long ago um we just walking around and an Emily Banks Emily Banks's science course one of her science courses students were learning um how to use light to illuminate fingerprints I'm probably not saying this right um but it was all around forensics and DNA um and they were using um a certain technology to look at and I actually looked through the I don't even know what it was called maybe Tommy and sopia

199have done this um but it was really it was really fascinating um and this is just talk about you know how is it related to something you might actually do someday they were talking about forensics and DNA and how you can um actually use fingerprint technology that we know about that exists today and uh how to use it um and it was it was really quite fascinating you could see Mr Francis was very excited about this and was trying to figure this out as well and students were looking at this um through the through um a tool that they had to look at the light obviously I'm not going to S anyone's Thunder as well I know that lean talked about this already Rangers Rock um addition this week is Alice and Wonderland um and

200uh unfortunately I did not was not able to um watch the play I was out of town all weekend but I've heard so many good things about it um and I can't wait to see the performance in March and in the superintendent's uh notebook this week um just want to just let people know if you haven't been reading the news uh newsletters the district newsletters past couple weeks that's okay you can catch up um I have been um putting a lot of school safety information in our newsletters um and we also have the archive ones that we've been putting at the end of each newsletter Edition so if you want to learn about our district school safety um I'm doing a multiart series and this week will be part four of I'm not sure how

201many there will be at this point probably five or six um parts to this until I'm I'm finished with this topic um and also in the superintendent's notebook um just want to say the foundation 51's annual Holiday Drive and one of our Community Partners they do a lot of work um along with the PTO Foundation 51 is working closely with social workers in our district to help make the holidays in Long Winter more Merry and bright for some families last year they were able to help 30 families in the district um with a record breing request and this year the request is slightly more than last and they're looking for your help um please go to their website www Foundation 51. org and um please um consider donating this season and uh any amount is

202tax deductible so um want to thank anyone that will do that and I thought it would be nice after we talked about the 14 passenger van um we did spot one out on the road and um had picture taken so I'm already in use that's the Chevy truck this is the this is the Chevy Chevy truck Gotta Love It I always think of Chevy Chase when I think of Chevy I don't know why I guess Christmas vacation or holiday what was the vacation one that he did a lot of movies but anyway um this is one of the two um 14 passenger bands already got our logo on it and um already being used so that's my report great thank you so moving on to the committee reports we're going to start with students okay

203so as Mr Porter mentioned this past enrichment advisory was last Thursday it was a hit um my choice was summer song Bingo and drinking tea I have to admit I was a little unsure of what I got myself into but I was pleasantly surprised it was actually a lot of fun the summer songs brought me back to Summer and the tea brought me to winter so it was really good um and then this Thursday we have an extra long advisory with Junior sophomores and freshmen where a guest speaker will be talking about how to live in a digital digital world um seniors I don't know what you're doing you guys are doing something different um unfortunately I'm not going to be able to go because the AP and IB Arts students will be on a

204field trip to Colby College Museum of Art um this is a really good opportunity for advanced art students to exper a new context of looking at art outside of the classroom um as an IB art student I'm really excited to be able to do this because taking art classes has really helped me understand how to actually look at Art and formulate thoughts about it so whenever I've been to art museums in the past I have been like okay cool art let's move on so I'm excited to have this like background to be able to actually have some thoughts about what I'm looking at um and then gy girls hockey team is having a really good start um they've had a little bit of a sticky past year or so because they lost some really key

205players but they won their last game game against Mount aat so that's very exciting three to one Sophia I have to jump in for a minute um so that's one of the places I was at as Colby College this weekend and I was able I've always I've been up there many times and thought got to go to that museum there's always like those banners and everything like that so I actually went I had a few minutes and I had 30 minutes and I was like I'm going to go over there and see it and there there's a Lincoln um there's a lot of interesting art in there but there was something on Abraham Lincoln that they had done a statue and I was just like I got to see that so but a lot of

206really neat rooms in there and I was very impressed got your history yes got a lot of history in there yeah so it's funny you said that and uh I also had a great time during my enrichment I played vol ball um but other activities as can be seen um on the presentation are gingerbread house making wreath making and there was also upcycling wrapping paper where um in time for the holidays students were able to make more sustainable um gift wrapping where they used potatoes to make stamps um and also with uh some plant matter and leftover ribbon so that was super cool um but also this past week weekend as also uh in the presentation was the play and it was really it was really amazing to see all all my peers and classmates

207I've always enjoyed going to the gy plays even when I was um a little kid but seeing all the people that you spend all your time in school with is it's even cooler to see them really Shine On Stage so that was a that was a great production and speaking of Alice um we've been doing a lot of um uh a lot of things in in advisory recently and um this as you know this past Thursday we did um the extended enrichment and then today we um reviewed the Alice protocol um going over school safety and what to do in the case of an intruder and then um as Sophia said this upcoming Thursday will be an extended advisory with the suppos social media speaker the seniors will be having a class meeting and also

208on the senior's mind right now now is um College decisions that are rolling in um specifically early action and early decision that are rolling in any day now I know that a few of my classmates have already gotten their decisions back some very excited people who now know what college they're going to um and the rest will come throughout the rest of December so you don't have an update you're saying I don't have an update but maybe my next meeting okay fingers crossed great thank you um moving on to the community engagement committee we had a really productive meeting last weekend or last week not during the weekend definitely during the week um some things that we're working on are finalizing the FAQs in regards to the new school project finalizing the FAQs in regards

209to ad gray um starting work on the Schoolboard website more to come on that um and saying yes to more board updates um in different avenues like the superintendent newsletter at the town uh notes from town hall and the CER um and two new things um for this iteration of the board will be updating the Town Council and the select board in the upcoming weeks um in-person events are still very much on our mind none are materializing just yet but I'll keep you posted thanks May Finance uh Finance met last Thursday um we uh got an update on fiscal 24 and things are on track there if you want details um feel free to reach out um we also went through the 25 fiscal 25 budget schedule things are a little bit different this year

210because it's a more compressed timeline because of requirements for absentee ballots um so some key dates are the um uh around the beginning of March um uh Jeff will be presenting um the budget to the school board um at um our um at our meeting uh this is two weeks earlier than usually is um and then the school board uh budget Workshop where we go through all the different CA centers um on the big big printouts that will be on March 18th um uh the budget meeting will be on uh May 9th um and then we get to vote on it again as a public uh as uh as the public um at The Ballot Box on June 11th so that is our thank you policy um this evening we have uh first read for

211the board of policy B remote participation in school board meetings and this is a policy that was added during Co and um the biggest change um you'll see is in red regarding um language on subcommittee meetings being held remotely and our next meeting is tomorrow so for the first read um I think the does anyone have any questions for on the policy the remote participations Awards if people don't have questions at this moment either feel free just to um email them to me as well in between meetings great thank you and then fa we've had some updates so in interest of time um we met with the Architects last uh Friday for our meeting and came to a recommendation that the board has since accepted and our next meeting will be in January um need

212to check with some others I understand that January 12 is the date that the concept design will be done and we are to review it in facilities yeah I think we're going to have to negotiate that that was a 10 of date so we'll have to talk with um Stephen blat um and make sure that that works for him but that is what we're hoping happens okay and actually the facilities committee can just say it will happen but I'm sure he'll have to we'll have to do some uh negotiating with him on okay so our next meeting's in January sure which date yet Denny talk with Christina about I think Scott has plans to bring us up to date on the solar farm project that's a long is a long range plan I think it

213was interesting for not Mueller testified today he owns revision energy which is is the is the person we chosen in an RFQ to do this project um so there I guess there's some legal issues ass associated with msad and whatnot but yeah look forward to getting that update okay okay next is curriculum uh no update since last week since last week and then Equity we have a meeting this Wednesday uh Lawrence Alexander will be joining us uh remotely because I can't remember it's his son's birthday I can't remember there was something um but that will give us a chance to discuss with Lawrence uh the discussions that we've been having about the equity plan um I can assure the board that we really really are committed to getting this before all of you um we

214also want to hear an update from the district leadership team which Susie will be providing us um just on the the U responsibilities that the plan calls uh for from the district leadership team and uh just some other amendments we'll be making so it'll be a very busy meeting but um we are confident that we are really close great thanks we're all looking forward to that um and then we just have the ad hoc committee reports has there been any ad hoc committees I will just note that the wellness committee is having their first meeting tomorrow afternoon as well so tomorrow any other AD I guess along those lines so profile of a learner is having their second meeting next week great any other AD committee reports okay so Communications I don't think I had

215anything in particular I just want to just ask for the um for the books if you could return them to me because they actually belong to another school district um so I have to return them to the other District this is my copy that I have okay yeah put your copy only if you borrowed it okay thank you thank you I I have something for communication I just want to commend the chair for a really well-run meeting tonight this could have been very difficult and it went very smoothly so thank you I second I second thank you thank you I appreciate that um can I get a motion toour the meeting God yes iur that we move in the meeting second second all in favor