001I'll set Lord I'd entertain a motion to accept the February 8th 2024 Schoolboard meeting minutes Robin and Elaine any errors of missions seeing none roll call please yes yes yes so moved entertain a motion to accept the February 15 2024 school board meeting minutes Phoebe and Elaine any errors or missions seeing none roll call please yes and the public comment section I'm actually going to move um to the new business section uh because most of them are about the book so we're going to just do that at that point and what I'll do is there's one on there that's not talking about the book I'll have them go first and board members any comments questions Andrew I just received the mail this week the uh Adult Ed catalog that Robin Raymond and her group have
002put together and once again it's a beautifully done nice color well laid out good presentation by her and her students and I want to thank her and her group for all that they've done and promoting further education in the area she has a great number of students and they are doing very well thank you very much Robin thank you Andrew anyone else Phoebe at this point I'm going to sound like a broken record but we do know the weather is changing particularly this past week um with it dipping from warm to cold warm to cold windy please be careful on the roads uh we want everyone to be safe uh particularly keep a close eye out for our school buses the flashing lights are not a suggestion please stop when you see those to keep
003our kids safe our staff safe and yourselves safe um I definitely greatly appreciate everyone who has done that so far and continues to do so um the other thing I would like to bring up of course is to thank our teaching staff um for everything that they've done so far this year um we greatly appreciate our Educators for helping our kids to learn as well as um communicate with parents and everyone else in the community we do have some very dedicated teachers in our district and I do want to give them um my deepest respect and appreciation for all that they've done well said Thank you anyone else okay superintendent report good evening this will be a short one because we had vacation week last week uh I met with Ken Vining Scott Holmes from
004Main School management and chemical hygiene officer Rob Taylor to go over safety rules in the schools that need to be adhered to and we'll be sharing that information with staff to work on those issues also the last two weeks I met with the hall and strong group to discuss the bid that we received also met with the association presidents for our monthly meeting we discussed the wave days seniority list and next year's calendar questions comments for Scott okay administrative reports TJ good evening everyone um my board report is going to start with our enrollment our enrollment for the high school right now is 408 our Winter Carnival if if you get a chance I'm going to tell you go down through our hallways here before you leave check out what our kids did they did
005a an outstanding job tomorrow is a big day tomorrow is our day of fun it's it's a lot going on tomorrow so uh um I hope all of our kids have a really good time pretty happy for it uh the and this is our first winter carniv winter carnival dance that we've had in quite a few years um our dances have been been doing really well and the kids are being very uh they really want this to happen and uh so it's going to be a nice night Saturday night 7 to 10 it's always a fun time prom this year next time that we come our uh junior class president will'll come in and talk about prom for uh uh where we're going to have it they're going to request Us in town so it's
006not really a big big travel time but it'll be in town and I want them to share where that's going to be and it's on May 18th I believe it is so um this year the 20124 main principal award recipient for Spruce Mountain high school is going to be Faith Moray um she will be represented uh uh she'll be getting her award in Bangor uh in early May and she will uh get an award get a picture get have a big luncheon up there um it'll be a nice event uh our 2024 senior top 10 students I'm going to read them off they are they're in alphabetical order they're not in the order of which what they uh place they got uh Aubrey kovich Brendan Vu Brooklyn Kemp Connor Roy Faith Mor who is our
007valedictorian Jonah Moore Casey Burns Leah Burgess who's our salutatorian Mary Hamlin and Megan Craig uh just give them a real big round of applause they've done an outstanding job and that is my report questions or comments for TJ Phoebe um for the winter carnival are you gonna post any of the pictures on the school website um for the ones who filled out the form saying it's okay to post their picture of course yeah yeah so we will be taking picture pictures and and we'll be putting it on Twitter as well as Facebook so very good anyone else thank you Chris all right good evening um I'm gonna start with our rment we're at 325 students that's four less than what we had a month ago um on February 14th we had our staff versus 8th
008grade basketball game uh students won uh on Thursday the 15th nobody on the staff could walk uh that including me that that one hurt um on February 15th uh there was a Franklin County Spelling Bee uh Lily bellarose tied for third place and our own Huck duie won the Franklin County Spelling be and we will be representing uh us at USM at the end of the March for the state competition yeah so um on February 16th we had a schoolwide phoenix Derby race um little obstacle course they build the little cars uh based on a theme of empathy uh Mr hartford's Phoenix group one they finished in first uh the kids absolutely love it it's a great time um Stephen Moore andage Stewart to of our Middle School wrestlers qualified for the New England middle
009school wrestling uh meeting will be headed to Massachusetts I believe this weekend for the new englands um currently our eighth graders are raising funds for their eighth grade trip to Boston where I'm really proud of the eighth graders they've taken this a Pawn on themselves because they want to make a better trip um this Sunday they're going to be conducting a toll booth be collecting donations on April 5th they're going to have a spring basket silent auction and at the moment they're uh soliciting donations from local business so if anybody like to donate any items uh please reach out to the middle school on February 5th I know I spoke about the mlti and stem program coming in previously it was a really successful experience for our sixth graders uh they ended up learning programs
010like canva tinkercad uh c-pace which is a coding program and Google slide animations at the end mlti uh program presented every one of our sixth graders with virtual reality glasses and then presented me with a drone so which was really a big surprise um on March 21st and 22nd the Middle School play Little Mermaid Jr will be performed at 7 pm both nights and March is famous women in history month and where we will be having an assembly on March 27th where US senator Susan Collins will be speak Dess in a body that's it questions or comments for Chris thank you Michael good evening um real quick one for me tonight where I just presented at our last one um enrollment we are at students um this coming week we have our um for read
011across America week we have our we're kicking off for our um reading is sweet challenge um that we'll be doing um so for our celebrate reading week next week we're going to have um different I guess called spirit days for each day so like Monday's is going to be our um reading will knock your socks off so crazy socks um reading for our future is one of our days um where they get to dress up um kind know what they want to be when they get older um I'll probably come come as Mr Albert that's my goal for thing um then we'll be doing um in it will also kick off the challenge for our reading a suite where we're challenging the students to read 5,000 books in the month if they complete that um
012they're going to turn me into a human Sunday um so what they will do is I'll be sitting in a big kitty pool um all the kids will come around and I wanted something that all students can participate in so each student will get a topping or ice cream flavor or something to put on me as they go around um being sticky is one of my biggest fears so we'll see how uh it goes um but that's going to start next week um and similar to what TJ mentioned um I invite anyone to come over to the primary school the teachers right now in their classrooms are competing in a door decorating contest um that's book themed um and we have some uh pretty amazing ones so far that's uh all I have for this
013week any comments questions for Michael PB yeah yes we will yeah yeah anyone else thank you thank you Sherry hello in special education we currently have 363 students across our district this is including 16 students who are currently in the the referral process excuse me that's a decrease of one from last month and we've processed um completed and closed out three referrals since January uh at the primary school there are currently 72 students who have IEPs that's up one at the elementary school there are 83 students which is up six which grade three is a very um popular year to start seeing that different in Reading especially um in the Middle School 97 students which is down seven and the high school has 111 students with IEPs which is down one we currently have 14
014students out of district and special purpose schools for day treatment this is the same number as last month and for the first time I can tell you 100% we have nobody waiting on a placement um something I don't get to report very often though is that one of our teachers went to one of those schools this week to start um the process of returning one of our students back to the RSU 73 schools so that special purpose School felt they have met their goals there and we begin the transition process with our staff visiting that student um in their successful program so that we can put as many supports in place as possible here um since the last board meeting last week when Jenna presented about the access to accommodations for teachers Chris has worked
015with Chris and the tech team have explored the current setup and found out why it's not successful it was a it was something that was trying to be customized just for us by previous tech people um but Chris has found a company that creates plugins for power school and will meet our needs um Jenna and I have both explored that online walkthrough that's provided and Chris has set up um a meeting with the rep to continue working with that so we are definitely appreciative of that and it will just really streamline the process for us and finally I want to thank Ken Brian and Wayne Ken mentioned at his last report he was doing some construction for special education at the middle school and that was complete over vacation and put to use right away
016so we needed a an additional small space for student and we had it after one week of the students being away so that was awesome questions comments phbe all right uh first of all I want to say um that is absolutely wonderful news um just all the work that you're doing everything that's happening is fantastic and I know um it's a lot of work having um a student go from one school to another um but that is a huge huge milestone and I just want to applaud the Guardians of that child as well as the teaching staff and everyone who work together I do not know who the individual is nor should I know um but I I think they deserve a round of applause for hitting such a huge milestone thank you anyone else
017thank you thank I the only thing I have is I attended my first Jay limore limore Falls Chamber of Commerce economic development committee meeting uh this past week um really not a lot to talk about as we really didn't get into how uh the schools can be involved um we'll be working with the towns on uh plans uh coming up so at that point when we when I have more to say I will say it and on to the budget review Scott does the board have any questions because remember the last meeting we were at at we at 6.1% Improvement uh over last year's budget um the wet cement amounts for each Town um Remember Jay will be if the budget passes away it has been presented Jay would get back $728,000 70 uh the
018town of Livermore would have to pay $179,700 have to pay $189,000 $553 remember it's based on evaluations and with the town of Jay's being in sudden and severe um their valuation dropped quite a bit and what they had to raise for money had dropped quite a bit so that's why they're receiving money back whereas the other two towns are not board members any questions comments okay so under new business uh we have the appeal of the book library book Rick um basically what we're going to do is this is where uh the people who signed up will get a chance to talk I'm gonna have uh just a second John I'm gonna have John benad come up he didn't put the book on he said other things so just to for quickness here and at
019that point uh after that's done then we will have uh the book committee do their presentation and then the uh complaintant who's can't be here tonight but as a representative here is going to do their presentation okay because you you you wrote down here book so iow well if you want to talk about something something else completely okay yeah yeah yeah we can do that Sherry long minutes as long as you're within the three minutes yep okay so let's have uh uh John better um remember say that your town of residents and what you're going to be speaking about John benedetto Livermore Falls um first I want to thank the members of the board you may be surprised and I think what you guys don't realize in all of this Dei nonsense that you guys
020are pushing you are creating one of the larg divides in the Society of the United States and what you're going to do is you are allowing those of us that do not align or agree to follow with this these insane policies to raise our children in a way that will allow them to far exceed anything that these other students are going to be crushed under so I want to thank you for that because in the future our children will be able to flourish and thrive far beyond what these systems are trying to force on our children and now aside from that I do find it interesting that certain board members are able to threaten us break our knees laugh when people die push policies of covid based on what they're telling the experts are advising
021on yet others were saying that this those are are not good policies for our children history and the data is showing yes you guys were wrong but nobody is admitting it and what we're seeing is the same type of mentality and following the experts with things like this diversity and inclusion and all of this stuff in the books you're taking this top down approach and forcing it down people's throats a republic a school a small community we're supposed to have the freedom to choose and have the options Don't Force these things upon us now you tell us we don't like this right well let's go homeschool I don't have the choice to not pay my taxes 67 63% of my property tax goes to this school let me have that money back and I'll use
022that towards educating my child elsewhere so no there isn't a choice I'm start paying regardless if my child comes here or not so that excuse or that argument of you have a choice well no we don't really so I just want maybe some of you that are maybe on the fence or whatever when you take this top down approach and force these things on everybody it negatively impacts everyone not just those that you disagree with and it's just I don't know the idea that the board allows members to say the things that they're doing in public to me is a terrible representation of the board itself so that's all I have thank you okay Roger and this will be the a three minute more Falls um I just want to say since I've come here
023not before I've been called a racist a homophobe and a trans fobe and all sorts of things along those lines that is hateful to hear can you move your mic up please and I'm being called those things because I come here and I speak out against mass or books or things like that uh my first roommate's name was Tyrell Walden he wasn't as pale as me so for you people or not necessarily people here a few people here have um and your friends to call me racist that's hateful and hurtful and does offend me very deeply um my second set of roommates were two lesbians who had their their gay male friend that lived on our couch who I paid to support his meals his showers and all that stuff so I would ask you
024guys to please stop saying that and you might understand why I make some comments that I do and have the tone I do when I come see you guys uh and lastly I last time I was here I did say that there are some staff in this school that I get downright emotional about how great they've been uh Mrs Mitchell in third grade when I had some personal stuff in my family was an absolute godsend for my family and my children Mrs Hamlin has created a step in my child that occupational therapist psychologist um every specialty out there could not get accomplished and Mrs Hamlin did that and I absolutely love her for it TJ PL I know I can call at any moment and have a reasonable conversation with I also know that man
025would put his life in front of any of our children to save them and I love those people the vast majority of this district is people like that and and I I disagree with the narrative about who I am and how I feel about this district and I I hope you'll understand some of those things are not correct thank you Sherry Sherry will at Town of J uh taxpayer for the town of livmore Falls uh business owner livmore Falls so I just want to Echo um a couple of the things that were mentioned uh regarding board conduct um some of the members that are currently sitting with you up here have violated board policies the one regarding standard of comment uh standards of ethical and responsible behavior adaa and use of social media by School
026Employees gcsb have been violated by members of the board I urge you to talk to one another and to get this to stop as I said last meeting we better than that we don't need to be laughing at people that are killed in car accidents we don't need to be calling people names that's that's not us and we shouldn't be doing that my other comment is on the school budget I realize that this is the first year that we are going to be without um funds from covid and I urge you to please look at cutting more not um um because I live in the town of J but because my business is in the town of Lio Falls and the older people in our in our area they're on fixed budgets they can't go
027and say okay budget went up 6.1% well where am I going to get 61 6.1% more money that's not how it works your budget has got to go lower so I urge you to please take a look at programs that we have place that aren't being used classes that have too few kids in them sports that don't have any kids playing partner with other districts find a better way to lower our budget I urge you before this budget goes before the town because I don't want to see it fail I don't want to see you all fail but it needs to go lower we need to do better uh can I talk about the book or you want me to wait you you've got 50 seconds so I've said it before this is not politics
028this is not religion this is about our kids and what they should be reading in school I've heard many times people say that they can see worse on the internet not at school we block certain States here at school for a reason why are we not doing the same thing for our kids why do they have to see SE acts in a book at school if their parents want to show that to them at home that's fine go to the public library they don't need to see that in school thank you thank you and Ann Weatherby good evening I'm an wetherby I'm from Jay uh I have been a teacher of English English for 37 years 25 of those years here in this district and I am deeply concerned about the movement to restrict the
029availability of information for all students um it establishes a dangerous precedent it doesn't does it stop with a library book or do we take it into the social studies classroom into the science classroom into health I urge you please to continue to support and trust your Educators thank you sorry Megan Craig um I'm Megan Craig I live in limore um it's currently the high school winter carnival week it's been going great lots of fun I'm graduating this year too class of 2024 I'm in the top four of my class I'm student body and National Honor Society president I have a lot going for me I should be ecstatic in a great mood excited but I'm not what's keeping me from my excitement what's keeping me so sour is the fact that in the past two
030years I have stood in front of you twice to talk about books and to defend them what doesn't excite me is the knowledge that I'm leaving this school district and will no longer be able to to preserve the esteem of our Librarians our libraries and the novels within them what doesn't excite me is that I have to fight for the right of representation that I have to argue against censorship now I'm sure you're asking yourself why in the world does a senior care about the libraries of an elementary school why does she care about something that won't be her issue in a few short months the answer is simply because I care about this District about our community and about the kids I love this District District I love this community and I love our
031schools but I just don't love the anger and the hate that comes with it another thing that I love is my job I work in the elementary school at the after school program I want to go into education and that's because of the people that I work with they're an inspiration while working with kids I see them struggling with our identities and who they are I see kids need the representation that they deserve the representation that this book gives them I see kids get bullied by others their age for being who they are but most importantly I see the people and materials like this book that are available to them and I see it helps share the love and help make that hate disappear this book is safe it was deemed safe by our trusted
032Librarians by the officials trained specifically to ensure the safety of our children I ask that you trust them they have never failed us before and I doubt that they ever will I beg you to understand the only people that have attempted to remove novels from our libraries are people trying to control the narrative our school adits people trying to um people trying to spread the love and understanding that they don't personally agree with they take quotes and pictures out of con out of context and shove it in our faces and scream it in our ears and put the bitter taste in our mouths our kids deserved to feel loved they deserve to know we are here for them they deserve a district that will say I love you no matter what Banning these books will
033just be the first step into doing the opposite just talking about the removal is telling the community and our lgbtq youth what we really think about them I'm begging you to listen I'm begging you to protect our kids and to show them that you care I'm begging you today show me that when I'm gone I can rest easy knowing that you don't just claim to care show me that you do thank you uh Jamie is it Carden or I'm sorry hi my name is actually Jamie Carden lenthal and I live in J and I'm a new um new mayor I've not lived in Jay for a whole year yet um I'm a product of the public school system my two kids are a product of the public school system not in Maine this is the
034very first meeting like this I've ever attended um this is something that I'm shocked that I feel that things need to be voiced here censorship once it starts where does it stop um if you list books that kids shouldn't read they're going to go and get them however they want to um that's common sense we should know that adults know if you tell kids they can't do something especially nowadays it just draws them to it if you start censoring things where do you stop um I always thought that New England was proud and Progressive and strong and when you start talking about censorship and banning books you start thinking about other eras of our history where this kind of nonsense started and it was horrendous we all know what I'm talking about banning books is
035never the way to go and if kids want to read They're going to read no matter what we say you can or can't read that's obvious we're just bringing all these books which I've read Rick and that's the book I believe we're all talking about today it's a wonderful book I wouldn't I wouldn't say don't read that to any of youngster and I don't think any youngster should be banned from reading that I don't understand what the problem is so I hope that everybody starts thinking about where this road will lead us if we start censoring things thank you draw yes I interrup ask the audience Tamara hope hello everyone uh my name is Tamara I'm the library director of the JS Memorial Library I want to speak about The Rook The Rook book Rick
036is a book about discovery about finding a place where one belongs it's a book about bravery and standing up to one's peers when something they are doing is not okay and is hurting others it's a book about being true to oneself as a librarian I believe in providing young people with books where they can see themselves seeing oneself represented in the pages of a book helps them not feel alone lgbtq plus young people are more than four times likely to attempt suicide than their peers additionally in case you think it doesn't affect young people suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people 10 to 14 years old let that sink in having a book like this on our library shelves is one small thing we can do to make lgbtq plus youth
037know there is a place for them removing this book sends the message that they don't matter I implore you to keep this book on the shelves Ates the child's life you might be saving might be your own thank you Jane Costa Jane Costa from J I guess I'm one of the people that is supposed to be banned I don't understand why we're here in a public school that is supposed to be educating everyone in the public and that does include people who are non-binary who may be transgender who may be gay who may be lesbian who maybe just whatever the spectrum is kids are trying to figure out who they are where they are in this world and having a simple nice book to read that is comforting to somebody in that situation who's being
038bullied is one small thing we can do to offer students it's in the library it is not required reading there are many books in the library that I would never read because they don't interest me and I choose not to read them but it's good to have books available for everybody and just have having it available for someone who wants to just learn about it well that's what it's all about school and education is about learning and sometimes it's about learning about things that you're afraid of or have been made to feel that you should be uncomfortable about um and it's a safe way to do it so I would implore you not to ban any book uh that is being uh questioned because it represents diversity because we are a public school we represent
039diversity we represent every human being thank you thank you okay that ends a public comment now we're going to move on to um the appeal and I'm going to start with uh Matt charland charland good evening is this on yeah um yeah so so I'm here to read a summary from the book challenge committee um fromes I have a question before I read it it references uh policy I JJ and I was just I don't have access to that right now it might be helpful to read it or maybe it's I haven't been to any of these meetings so I don't know if that's been read or uh but if if not um I could just read now like what do you prefer recently okay so I'll just read the statement okay um the book
040committee was tasked with determining how the book Rick fit with our JJ selection policy as the policy says our opinion is based on the book as a whole not passages or portions pulled out of context we found that the book clearly fits the selection policy and should remain in the library according to the policy the library media program is responsible for providing a wide range of materials on all levels of difficulty this book is professionally reviewed to fit best for ages 8 to 12 which is the same age as our students the policy also says the library also needs to have books of diverse appeal that represent different viewpoints Rick has a unique perspective that is not in many other books The Professional reviews agree that it handles the topic in an age appropriate way
041books in our collection should provide information that will help students make ethical and Intelligent Decisions this is also part of our policy the character of Rick does this in many ways his ability to stand up to the bully Jeff is a great example for students he has a wonderful relationship with his grandfather and other family members he's kind to others and he shows that he can learn from his mistakes the policy states that we should collect books that are of quality writing from significant authors as the report shows the book Rick and its author Alex goino have earned many accolades the book has four starred reviews and is on numerous State recommended lists not many books and authors have received this many honors the committee acknowledges that the book Rick is not the right book
042for every student that is why our libraries have so many wonderful books for kids to choose from the SM es Library alone has over 11,000 books we have books on dogs and Pokemon and magic and baseball and many many other things that kids love no one has to read Rick or any book in the library who doesn't want to lastly the policy states that parents have the right to choose what their own child reads and Views it is very clear that this is that this right may not in any way restrict another parent's right to allow their children to reuse or view the same material we have parents who wish for their children to be able to read Rick and other books like it our policy says they should continue to have access thank you
043for your time and consideration thank you very much sir and Michael M who uh made the complaint couldn't be here tonight so Roger Molton will be representing him good evening bullies Epstein's Island North and the rest of the board in community watching my name is Roger Molton I reside in limore falls for the next 10 minutes I identify as your board chair and the head of the main Department of Education so I expect no interruptions I have to start by telling you it's disheartening coming here tonight knowing there is a super Sim slim chance that you'll do the right thing as a group unfortunately you have developed policies in an anti-c compromise attitude that makes it near impossible to actually have a say in our children's education the board is stacked with far-left liberals and
044your policies and directives are reflect that you can say it isn't due to political ideologies but anybody with a brain capable of critical thinking doesn't believe that your library policy doesn't filter out a pedophile illustration that Facebook and Google will filter out if not blurred so you can blame social media all you want but they won't allow images that you allow in your library for minors nowhere in your policy does it have any wording or action to filter age inappropriate materials out your policy allows for one staff member to decide what books are acceptable here the same staff member is on your book Review Committee now how on Earth can you look at us with a straight face and tell us that that is an unbiased review your policy quite literally wouldn't prevent Playboy Hustler
045or any other very adult oriented Magazine from being placed in the library but you don't have those books in here because you have developed a double standard it's funny that some absolute clowns will try to claim that this is an attack on one group of students when we are asking for the same standards for all students we aren't asking for sexual ideologies presented for one group but not for others that's you if you don't have a double standard where are the books for Muslim Students to navigate the sexuality of their culture why not books for Christian students to navigate dating and sexuality Waters of their own what books for cisgendered 8-year-olds do you have that helps them with these topics you don't have any because for some reason age appropriateness in this District only applies
046to straight cisgendered students so before you convince your students to give me the bird at student P pickup like last time we had a book review why didn't you tell them you are the ones with separate standards for them because it certainly isn't me that views them any differently and I'm tired of hearing that and tired of my peers not feeling comfortable asking for anything at these meetings because you'll do the same to them there are some very well-known respected members of our community that have reached out and agreed with the people against the sexual of children so young some of them have even said they would attend the next meeting to speak in agreement with us but then the date rolls around and they don't dare show up because they don't want the bullying
047they were received after doing so I would give you a few names and you'd be surprised but you'd only be surprised because you've made an atmosphere where people can't say how they feel if it doesn't match a far-left ideology a couple meetings back I pointed out how an illustration in the library was a pedophile act betrayed positively the following week we had an educator come defend that policy that allowed that image to slip through we also had a doctor show up and ask you to keep the book as he thought it was appropriate for middle school students exactly where we're asking the book to be put that same man had the courage to say that he doesn't think I have a right to say what my children read Within These Walls someone had the audacity
048to say that and many of you applaud that and have some false feeling that they are the majority no the majority doesn't dare speak here due to the harassment they are sure to receive following you are not the majority you are bullies who have silenced critics with ful and untrue statements just like you did to me after the first meeting I attended I did read the book Rick and didn't find it to be as bad as gender queer and some others surprisingly the author isn't interested in writing graphic no novels which I assumed and appreciate likely came from his own moral compass knowing that children don't need illustrations of sex acts I have to say that is where my admiration for Alex xino ends though I try to find his educational and training background to
049see why he thought it appropriate to speak to other people's children about sex and gender I found found that he attended a college but couldn't find anywhere that said he graduated or what his field of study was he's made statements in the past saying I hate parental rights because what about human rights as a parent it's disturbing to know the author thinks my 8-year-old's human rights outweigh my obligation as a parent to let my kid be a kid and to Shield her from things her developing mind isn't ready to comprehend Alex Gino wears shirts that says I write banned books so even the author of this book expects you to ban it and we aren't even asking for a band just for it to be moved up to the Middle School you say there are
050children that need this book but realistically how many third to fifth graders do you think need this book maybe one to three every year or two sounds like it could be easily checked out of the middle school for those few students with parents permission without accidentally being picked up by an 8-year-old who likes rainbows but nobody is willing to compromise with us and put in a tool that easy easily allows us to set limitations for our children we're told the library staff doesn't have time to implement rating system systems but we as parents are expected to review every book in the library to decide what is appropriate for our children a task we used to trust you all with unfortunately over the last 5 to 10 years you've proven we can't have that trust you
051send out notices about surveys for our students but can't take the extra step to include the survey questions or even have the survey posted to a link we can all access you're about as transparent as a slab of granite that's why we are at the point you have hundreds of books that most parents wouldn't approve of might I recommend using some of the time that is supposedly used by Librarians for crocheting and helping students make cosplay costumes to instead help menend the relationship with parents and have some transparency so that maybe we can trust you again even though I think a very small amount of students May benefit from this book I think it creates too much confusion for eight nine and 10 year olds it discusses discusses a fifth grader wanting to see other
052children naked talks about being sexually sexually attracted to other people talks about doing the deed tingling in the main character's pants Even Rick at one point says he's too young for that stuff there were some other parts I found disturbing most of the heterosexual male characters are portrayed as awful beings that only speak of objectifying women when they are brought up I don't know if any of you have hung out with a group of women or a group of lgbtq I AP plus people but I have and they objectify each other just as much as the rest of us it also had a part that called parents ridiculous which is funny because it's the same thing that was said to my child when she got gender queer for me to read it also makes it
053seem that if you are in the rainbow spectrum that is the only place for you and and that only those kinds only those kids are accepting in kind it's kind of teaching kids to segregate themselves based on their gender and sexuality it also teach them to hang out with other people that affirm their identities here's where I'll lose the weirdos but I must explain that many of us while not wanting transgender students harmed or bullied don't agree with affirming a real a reality that isn't factual you are affirming to affirming to these children as one of the books available to 5-year-olds on your campus says that their physician with 8 years plus of college makes mistakes when sexing babies and that they can biologically become something they are not gender dysphoria is a form of
054body dysphoria just as anorexia and bulimia does anyone in this audience think that we should affirm those people's feelings and call them skinny hold puking or fasting parties with them or tell them that those feelings are normal and they should run with them your ideologies are raising children to segregate themselves based on sexuality and gender and raising them to play the victim card at all times possible just last year we saw a student come speak here who was darn near in tears because she was I quote dripping in privilege do you think that mentality will benefit student going uh benefit students going forward do you think teaching them that the general public needs to affirm them and their ideologies prepares them for the real world when people don't have to affirm anything for them the
055clowns have called us several things that uh called us scared several times there is a sliver of Truth to that we are scared that suicide rates in transgender teens are far far higher than other students we are afraid that studies don't show a decrease in suicide rates by affirming these feelings we're afraid that you're causing lifelong confusion for eight-year-olds who haven't contemplated any of this and you hide it in the friends family and school section of the library where it can be accidentally grabbed by a student not interested in that material we are afraid that your agenda will create more suicidal confused kids and that doesn't mean that we hate anybody but we do hate your lack of transparency your lack of accountability and your lack of desire to work with parents rather than pointing
056to policies that can't be challenged successfully you can say you don't have an agenda and push these push these ideologies but my personal experience just doesn't agree with that narrative my daughter had a friend who we always knew as a girl that wanted to use they them pronouns but also as fine was she her I of course said that's fine but I I just don't understand can you explain why she wants to do this the response I got was Dad if you went to school in the same time period I do you would understand that's right my child didn't learn this stuff from Facebook Instagram YouTube or cable TV she learned it here at school we are fully on board with teaching acceptance you can teach acceptance without agreement but it appears you have no
057interest in that we are begging you to move this up to the Middle School library where it belongs above and beyond that we are asking that you rewrite your library policy to be able to filter out age inappropriate materials and especially pedophilia shown positively we ask that you Institute one of the many already established rating systems that will make it easier for parents to work with the Librarians opposed to having to read every book in your library and get resistance from your staff thanks for your time have the night you deserve thank you okay in order to have discussion here we need to have a motion I'll make a motion that we uphold the decision of the Review Committee we have a motion do we have a second we have a second Robin any discussion
058go with Tina then Phoebe and Holly the educational mission of the school recognizes that all children must be provided equal but not identical learning opportunities it stresses the importance of creating an environment that allows all students to develop positive attitudes towards themselves and genuine respect for others the policy does not suggest that we should Shield children from uncomfortable ideas but rather that they need our opportunities to explore unfamiliar ideas the policy we have in place for selecting library books supports this belief and the policy is clear at no time will the wishes of one child's parents to restrict his or her reading of a particular item infringe on the other parents rights to permit their children to read the same material engaging with diverse viewpoints is sometimes uncomfortable and that people have different feelings about
059some of those viewpoints is no surprise in fact it's the point one student's trash is another students treasure we've given the librarian guidelines and the authority to select materials that are likely to be treasured by the various members of thees student body and respect for that professional responsibility requires that we contradict that decision only if there's clear evidence that it was made in error our RSU 73's policy manual in outlining how the school operates respects professional Educators who work for the school as having the responsibility and the expertise to select appropriate reading materials to offer to our students the Review Committee the school principal two teachers the librarian and a Community member agree that this book's selection is in line with both the spirit and the letter of the policies that we put in place
060their report describes how the book aligns with a pertinent criteria in the in the materials selection policy it provides professional outside reviews of the challenged book The book's reviews from the kinds of organizations that our policy manual spe specifies also agree that this book is a good fit in an elementary school library therefore I would need to be able to point to some part of our policy that's failing Us in order to overturn the committee's decision I cannot the educational Mission philosophy and detailed procedures for the materials selection process are in Harmony and they're in line with modern best practices for public schools if I were to vote not to support the committee's decision I feel I would be undermining both the policy process and the vested Authority that we give the professional staff in
061approach that they would no doubt find demoralizing I feel certain that reversing this decision with no evidence of harm is not in the best interest of the student body or the overall functioning of the school the language in the book while a little course is Tamer than what a kid might hear on the bus or on the radio I can understand that some parents might be uncomfortable but our policy is clear they have a right to keep this book from their child but they cannot infringe on the right of others to read it thank you phbi there are times where I have to sit with myself for a while and stop and really think about decisions fortunately I've been given um quite a bit of time to sit with this book Rick I read in
062one day um it's a children's book it was a fairly easy read um and while this might surprise some people I found it so dry it it was a struggle for me to finish it because it was so dry for me I was like okay I H I have to read this I can't make a decision unless I've read this book it's not right of me to just say well I don't like it therefore I don't I the first chapter I was like why not my taste to someone else is might be their favorite book to me um I was not a fan um it just wasn't my preference just like how if I go to a restaurant I might order spaghetti and meatballs one of my favorite meals and then I might have a
063friend with me who's vegan who does not eat meat at all my ability to order spaghetti and meatballs does not stop them from ordering a salad any more than them ordering a salad stops me from being able to order what I want to eat when it comes to a library we need diversity in it if we kept every book the same subject the same principle everything matching the same the same the same how are we going to teach our kids to think critically how are we going to address those kids that don't like it because if I had been given this as a kid and this was my only option was books written just like this I don't think I would have been become obsessed with reading as much as I am but that's my
064personal preference there are lots of other books that I would prefer over this one any day of the week but I cannot fathom why my dislike of the book justifies removing it from someone else who will whether it's one kid out of over 300 students that like this one book don't they deserve to have a book that represents them don't they deserve to have a book that they enjoy reading again parents have the right to say I do not want my kid reading XYZ that is I will fully support that that isn't our policy for a reason that more power to the parents for doing that you know your kid best you know who you're in charge of you know who you're taking care of because you live with them you're around them you know
065what your kid can and cannot handle and our job as a school is to make sure that all the kids have an opportunity to look at a library and find something that resonates with them this book Rick does topic some course materials but so does Grim's fairy tales Grim's fairy tales is significantly darker um I don't know if anybody's read it most likely most of us as kids we kind of gloss over that cuz we love the Happy Endings not all of them were happy in Grims but and this one in particular I can understand why people would be uncomfortable with this book I was uncomfortable reading it mostly because I only saw one character develop through the book I felt like okay this is a kid who went to from fifth grade to middle
066school he's still growing up okay totally understandable there's going to be that that awkwardness where some kids are more developed than others we have kids who hit puberty significantly earlier or later in life and I thought that highlighted that fairly well in the first half of the book now knowing that knowing our policy knowing that the parents still have the right to decide what they want their children to do or not do I don't think I can justify saying I don't want you to have the ability to take a book away from your child anymore than I can say I don't think you should be able to give your book your kid a book that is not what we're based on that is not what a library is meant to do a library is for
067everyone not just the stuff that we agree with there are books in the library that I personally do not agree with but I address that with my child just like how other parents address it with their children as well well that is my right and that is your right I cannot morally say I know your child better than I know my own that'd be wrong and that's where I stand on it thank you Holly first of all I want to thank everybody that came tonight I have read the book Rick the subject matter is pretty heavy for the elementary age students there are multiple references to sexuality in this book multiple types of sexuality and described in this book this is shameful for this to be available for the elementary school age group how confusing
068this must be for a student in the third grade if anybody was presenting this content to a third grade student I would say they are a groomer at the very least I understand this book is fiction this is a confusing subject for many people how confusing it must be when you're in elementary school people can dress in any fashion that they want that does not change their gender people can M can mutilate their bodies to look the way they feel this does not change their gender gender is not assigned at Birth by a doctor a midwife a nurse or anyone else there is a lot of reference about genders and the number of genders that exist make no mistake there are two genders these two genders were given to us by God male and female
069anyone that tries to contradict that truth is a liar this is not book Banning this is common sense age appropriate monitoring of material offered in the elementary school please do not be swayed by the people that want you to believe this is book Banning our children need strong people to protect their innocence thank you very much thank [Applause] you Phoebe you nailed it um in in part on the way I look at it I I started reading the book and yeah it was a little dry in the beginning um so I'm thinking third graders probably going to pick that up and after a page or two are like you know um fourth and fifth grade honestly I had the pleasure of working with these kids when I was in Ed Tech 3 at the school
070system um yeah they're talking about dating they have boyfriends and girlfriends if you don't think so you're in denial they really do um what really nailed me for this book was this guy really understood Middle School age kids kids and what they're going through those hormone Peaks and troughs the bullies which sometimes Never Grow Up we have fourth and fifth graders that are Advanced readers that will probably want to read this and they'll probably get it and they'll understand and maybe when they get up to the middle school or maybe in the fifth grade they will be able to walk away from that bully and tell them no no you're not making me do that anymore thank you Andrew just for purpose of discussion this is book what we're talking about is removing this book
071from the elementary school library but not eliminating it from the district correct okay I don't have a lot of prepared remarks but I got about three points I do want to make in reviewing the book I looked at the reviews that the book had and someone said oh gee I wish no I never talked about this stuff until I was in college well that probably is a good age to talk about it when it's more age appropriate another thing that struck me was the last we had a person here who said that parents really shouldn't be involved in the subject matter of their schools and I think that was a very arrogant position to take I think it is appropriate for parents that have input and a say and how they the material their children
072have access to and how they're being used and also I can I read the book also but I don't think it's age appropriate for for children that young and can cause a lot of confusion and problem when they can't decide whether they want a pop your a kitty to take home from the shelter I know that's a bad analogy I'm sorry if if it offends people but I don't think this is an appropriate book to have in the elementary school thank you anyone else where I I'll allow it but I'm not sure we're gonna answer go ahead want to talk about that I about always this is only the second time good question I I wanted to bring up because someone had mentioned um connected to that concerned about the committee makeup um one everybody
073has an JJ policy um um but I wanted to look around they're not all exact same wording but I wanted to look into because I have to put a committee together and why was the librarian put on the committee why was the principal put on the committee that's part of our language but I also looked up the language in other districts that say the exact same thing Lewiston Auburn Lisbon winthrip rsu4 RSU 9 RSU 10 RSU 16 RSU 38 RSU 52 RSU 56 RSU 44 RSU 58 RSU 74 all our neighbors all in Western Maine that's the exact language that is used for how I have to pick or the superintendent has to pick the committee when it comes to library media specialist principal at that grade level um so it isn't just RSU 73
074is saying we're doing it a special way all these other districts are doing it as well um um all I have to say because we have we have to have a li we have to have a media specialist we only have one we're not a big District we don't have multiple media Specialists we have one so that person has to be on that committee right and and and I don't disagree with you Roger on that I I just wanted to bring out the point that it isn't just RSU 73 saying this is what we're doing I I I heard you that question from you earlier and that's why I looked into it and wanted to say it's not just us it is but anybody can anybody can change it though that's the thing and it
075was I'm just saying we do it this way and the reason we've done it this way is because it's policy I as a superintendent have to follow the policy but it's like the question was asked and it's like okay is our policy different than everybody else is around us if it is why is that but it's not different than everybody else around us so we're kind of on the same path for a reason I guess any other board members want us talk Mike yeah don't know 20 times it's been checked out okay she just said 20 how many times in the last month I mean quite a bit more oh okay any okay so when I first when I first looked at the right so when I first read the book I was a little
076uncomfortable with with some of the language for the younger kids um and as I read it and I and it I felt it quite dry myself but um I did like the message about walk away from bullies that's that's huge I I taught this this age group I taught third fourth fifth part of the time that I taught I taught all levels and uh the message about walking away from bullies is huge me my initial thought was yeah let's take it out of the elementary school it is already at the middle school it's fine there and I got thinking you know we have a vehicle for parents to say no if a parent doesn't want that book to be taken out they can say no and and some people are going to say well gee
077how do how do we know what books there that's that's true I get that I have a feeling that uh if anybody reads a newspaper they'll find out now but that's where I'm at anyone else um would you reread the motion please okay last chance to yep last chance for any comments board members roll call please yes no yes no yes yes I have a count of seven yes five no okay moving on um have a discussion uh it says tentative discussion on the hall and strong uh cour courts bid we did get a bid but we are not ready to bring it to the board um we had a meeting with our lawyer and people from the state Grant on that and we'll be meeting hopefully by Zoom meeting with the people who gave
078us the bid um so we can have a discussion to make sure that all works out before the board would approve any bids okay um there aren't any moving on we have a our next board meeting is March 14th here at the high school um and March 28th with the finance committee meeting motion to adjourn Chantel and Tasha roll call please yes yes yes