School Board Meeting - April 6, 2023

001foreign because good evening and welcome to the Thursday April 6 2023 Scarborough Board of Education business meeting um Diane can we have the attendance please sure miss Gammon here Mr Kelleher here miss Leong here Mrs Lindstrom here Mr Mayor Reno here Mr pinion here Mr piniha here miss bertulia here and Mr Shumway here perfect thank you um would everybody please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you to see the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for London stands one named them individual human Liberty thank you um agenda item 4.0 or adjustments to the agenda are there any adjustments this evening no adjustments okay an agenda item 5.0 is public comment on agenda item if there's anybody wishing to make public comment this evening we can line up over

002here in front of the or behind the podium area foreign all right so what we'll do is we'll um just have you come up um one at a time and the um the lights that you see in front of you the green yellow red knobs um the green means that you're good to start talking the yellow means you're almost out of time and then the red means that um comment would be done so you everybody would be would have three minutes for a public comment so if you can just come up and state your name um your full your full legal name and then I'll recognize you and we'll get started [Music] yeah go ahead awesome Okay so uh you know this policy right I I support it and I think it's it's important because

003for the protection of trans students right uh I think teachers need to be obligated to protect their rights because the consequences if not uh could be disastrous for students right outing trans kids to their parents could lead to being kicked out uh disowned along with a mental and physical abuse right there's a lot of examples of this and it's really bad so it's really important right that we protect trans kids and like make it a safe space for them uh you know especially uh on top of like all the stuff that could happen if they're out at there's a wide scale uh you know attacks on queer people in general and just in general in the US right honestly it's a genocide and I don't use that word lightly uh you know politicians across the

004U.S are advocating for the complete abolition of trans people from all aspects of society right uh look at Florida Rhonda Sanchez this proposed an expanding expanding but don't say Gable to uh high schools right completely outlawing talking about gay people or queer people in general for any of those just in schools right uh like there's anti-drag bills which are so broad that they just they are you if you look at them slightly differently you can completely just ban trans people from just being outside in public like those currently right now there's 451 anti-trans bills being proposed across the US right all of this creates massive stress on trans people obviously because like you have all these people that just don't want them to exist at all and that just creates a massive like Stress and

005Anxiety on these people and that's why we need more inclusive spaces and more just inclusive policies that help these people make them feel safe and seen right and protected which is why I uh support this policy uh thank you hello my name is Owen Keller um we're good to go yeah go ahead wonderful um hello like I already said my name is Owen Keller I am a junior at Scarborough High School I'm here to support the adoption of the new transgender and gender expansive student policy policy will help further support and project I'm sorry protect the transgender students of Scarborough school system transgender students are friends artists thespians leaders and Incredibly valuable valuable members of the student body the clear language of this updated policy will serve to help preserve privacy as well as the

006safety of these transgender students in our community it is our duty as this community to support each of its members no matter their gender identification this updated policy will move us further towards doing so hence I'm here to voice my support for its adoption as an ally of friends artists thespians leaders and some I would call my second family I implore the adoption of the updated policy thank you thank you good evening school board members my name is Alex Wu I am a sophomore at Scarborough high school and I'm speaking in the affirmation of the new proposed transgender student policy the current transgender student policy while a good step in the right direction is not concrete enough in its protection of trans students this is not to say that a transgender student policy is not

007necessary nor that it is a bad idea but rather the opposite a new proposed policy effectively must be strong in its language in order to effectively protect trans students the new proposed policy effectively does this by moving subjunctive verbs such as should or code into the indicative with verbs like will or shall subjunctive verbs are words that can indicate what is wished or imagined to be possible the problem with this sort of language in our policy is that it is not definitive we need to be definitive in protecting our students it must be done it should not be up for grabs one such example directly in our current policy is quote a meeting should be selected to discuss the student's particular circumstances and needs end quote this part of the procedure while inherently good for

008the students needs will be all null if somebody interprets the should as not requiring further action as a policy supposedly suggests if our policy does not definitively define what it intends to do it fails to protect our students if our policy is flimsy we allow trans students rights to be obstructed if we do not Implement our new policy we fail to protect our students as a student who is non-binary I understand there is a discrepancy between what parents want and what students want however I asked that the board not take any message of unity to dissuade from passing the policy being united in goals is not always the best way to move forward and sometimes there is a fundamental need to make a stark sometimes polarizing decision in order to pave the way for a

009better future we must be together we must have Unity but having Unity is not a goal it is not definite it does not address the wants and needs of students how can we establish Unity when we question identity when we let our speak or we when we let ourselves speak for individuality I am me handsome is she pretty is he beautifully uncompromising are we because that is us that is our identity no matter what is done no matter what is done it is ours to say we are the only ones able to Define our own selves we must be imperative and not be wishes but the present rights of our students I ask of you not whether or not this policy should be put in place but rather if students have the right to Define

010their identity I ask of you that if students explore that identity do they have the right to a protection in that exploration I acknowledge that it is a hard decision to make but I ask is it your place to make that decision or is it your responsibility to protect our students and let our students decide for themselves if we decide now that we are fighting for a better safer future for all of our trans students we are setting a precedent not only for caring for our trans students but putting up precedent on students rights opinions and identities I ask of you please put students our students above all thank you for the time or thank you for your time okay hello my name is Michelle my pronouns are she her hers and I am a

011teacher parent and resident of Scarborough the views I expressed today do not represent the views of my school district but rather they are reflections of my own I speak in support of adopting the updated transgender and gender expansive student policy listen support affirm I've been a teacher for 22 years I trust children they have a capacity for understanding and empathy that is incomparable this capacity is buoyed by access to facts resources and Trust it is lifted up by their flexible thinking the renowned social activist Dr Angela Davis sums it up perfectly people often say that the youth stand on the shoulders of their elders but I say if they're standing on our shoulders they can see farther than we can it is hard for us as adults to relinquish control I know I'm a parent

012I have three children each of them has their own path and their own spirit my guiding question has always been what can I do to help kids be safe and grow in their skills toward the independence of adulthood the CDC states that the benefits of student autonomy are as such when students feel their teachers are open to their ideas and allow them to make choices regarding their learning and schoolwork they are more engaged in school less disruptive in class and Report feeling a stronger sense of belonging and connectedness to their school end quote school board members I implore us to listen students have the vision the students have the passion I am also a parent of three gender expansive children in the Scarborough schools each of them has their own path and their own Spirit

013parents I implore us to listen our kids have the vision as much as it pains me I acknowledge that my primary directive as a parent is to provide my children with the tools to leave me someday that means that I can support them by trusting them with facts resources and love where they go from there is their choice it is their responsibility knowing that as long as we are alive mom and dad will be there to support them if Things Fall Apart for 22 years I've tried to support students my first openly transgender expansive student came out to me in 2006. since then I've tried to be there for my students as a trusted adult to let them know that their value is not shaped by what Society demands of them let us provide them

014with a clear policy and enable them to give informed consent School Board let us support them the students have the vision the students long for their adults to be brave I promise I'm skipping to the last paragraph do I fear for my children yes a 2011 study by the U.S department of justice has shown that one in two transgender individuals will be the victim of assault in their lives those numbers are higher higher than one and two for transgender youth transgender people of color transgender individuals living with disabilities and unhoused transgender people do I fear for my students yes the world is often not a kind place do I fear for our youth in community with one another no because I know your integrity your passion and your wisdom you know who you are adults

015we not only listen support and affirm youth I will leave you with this poem by Andrea Gibson they them your name is a gift you can return it if it doesn't fit hello can I go yeah just go and share your name first awesome uh my name is Richard I'm pronouns um High School um when I emailed my teachers to come out about two years ago I was sort of scared what if my teachers didn't approve of this change what if the refuse what if they refused to call me by my new name and pronouns what if they call home about it well I'm still not out to my parents what would happen it went well um my teachers accepted me and took the changes in stride they even made gave me a moment of

016class time to come out to my peers it was a wonderful end of my sophomore year when I came out to my teachers at the beginning of my junior year I was sort of scared what if my teachers refused to respect me what if they ridicule or a voice flat out ignore me what would happen everything went fine my new teachers actively worked to accommodate me and I got to come out to the rest of my to more of my classmates what a wonderful junior year at the beginning of this year I was sort of scared even with my new support system what would I do if my teachers refused to accept me who would I turn to if these people would not support me success um but what if I was rejected I was

017very lucky to have supportive teachers all three years of my high school career as an out non-binary person but the whole time I did not know what would happen if something went wrong and my teachers did not know exactly what to do this new policy makes clear what is to be done when students come out I do not support this policy for me I'm a graduating senior but for the future trans and gender expansive students who who will enter the school system I encourage the adoption of this policy because it clarifies the future of transgender students and that is a safety that many of us really need to have so thank you very much before I start may I just commend the speakers that just stood up here in front of you that took a

018lot of Courage I'd just like to say that especially especially as you my name is Chip Howe I'm a 20-year resident of Scarborough I have three daughters one in middle school one in college and my oldest friend is 29 on Saturday as you can tell from my hair and my wrinkles I've been at this for a while all of them went through Scarborough schools and I've had many interactions with teachers and administrators I also teach at smcc I own my own business I coach little league softball and I'm an Air Force veteran being a parent for 29 years I'm here tonight very concerned regarding the school policies under consideration and currently regarding the transgender policy I have spoken to many parents and they all feel the school board is setting policies that circumvent parents and

019not and and none of the parents I've spoken with agree with that this culture this creates a culture which is driving a wedge between parents and teachers teachers and parents need to partner for the kids education which requires honesty and trust not secrets the belief and feeling in the community is that each of you on the board are on the board with good intentions that is why Scarborough voted you onto the board however we want you to work on improving our kids education while at school and leave the parenting decisions to the parents unless there is a safety concern in which for those cases there are policies to include the Department of Health and Human Services as part of my review of the current transgender policy changes it came to my attention the current policy

020regarding bathroom and locker room use I was shocked as were my fellow Scarborough parents that I have many parents that I have spoken with to know that the policy was for restrooms and locker rooms quote the student is permitted to use the restrooms and locker rooms that most closely match their gender identity the students shall not be required to use a separate non-communal facility over their objection my question is my daughter and her fellow athletes want their privacy and feel safe and to change clothing with only their biological sex teammates in the locker room or bathroom where there are separate facility are where are the separate facilities ensuring their privacy because also in your policy it says privacy all students have a right to privacy so that's a question every policy you develop or revise

021needs to have the wording will include the parents you nor the teachers are these kids parents or ultimate decision makers we the parents are I'd like to ask each of you on the board on the record if you as parents and I know you were all parents and you all have school students in the school system with the exception of it from what I understand one whose will have students in the school system here shortly another year or two um if you're comfortable with the administration making decisions about your children without your input I'm going to take that as a no this policy is a change in it is an example of the schools believing they know more and are better decision makers for our kids than the parents these must this must change is

022what is next that's going to be kept secret the child has a drug or alcohol problem don't tell the parents the child is suffering from depression don't have don't tell the parents let's keep them in the dark the child has made suicidal comments don't tell the parents everything having to do with a child must include their parents last item is your communication as a board with the community goes right along with all of this honestly it is currently terrible terrible you're the way you communicate with the community is awful you don't we and Scarborough need to be updated on exactly what you are working on with a direct communication after each meeting and or change you are considering or proposing this is a request that goes right along with the newsletters that are sent from

023the administration and from each school at the end of the day on Friday expecting tired parents to look into this long repetitive email and find the changes the changes should be upfront new information and then you can have the rest of it behind it it's a very poor way of doing it I'm asking you to please work on improving our students academics there's plenty to do in that area of the last three years at covid I think we all can agree with that and let us be our kid and let us be our kids parents we don't need these meetings to turn into the meetings and lawsuits as of yesterday we see in other main communities such as Falmouth Windham Bonnie eagle and Wiscasset but I can assure you Scarborough parents are watching and they're

024energized as our neighboring communities have already become thank you for your time happy to take any questions too um actually we we don't um okay public comments just to me as the word gender we don't it's not a back and forth okay so thank you thank you very much it's just one one size fits all here I think Cheryl Lindstrom and esteemed members of the Scarborough school board thank you for the opportunity to share for you my few remarks this evening my name is Stacy Brenner and I represent most of Scarborough and Olive Gorham in the Maine State Senate but tonight I am not here as a senator I'm here as the loving and proud aunt to a transgender niece she is a freshman at an Ivy League College as the result of acceptance love

025and most importantly her hard work I want to commend all of you for the work you have put forward to develop an appropriate and inclusive respectful policy for transgender youth here in the Scarborough school system your courage to do the right thing for our students and recognize the importance of meeting our transitioning students in the place that they are on their Journey is courageous and most importantly it is the right path forward you are all familiar with the statistics and challenges that transgender children experienced so I won't take your time up with that review instead I just want to take a minute to celebrate your proposed policy it sends a clear message throughout the district that our students are welcome that we are committed to their needs we hear their voices we legitimize their choices

026we acknowledge them for who they are and most importantly we are committed to their safety and their well-being thank you for your empathy your courage and conviction and your willingness to acknowledge all of Scarborough's children I look forward to a forthcoming unanimous vote on the transgender student policy proposal and as always I'm here to support all of your good work at the state level whenever needed thank you for making time to hear from me tonight and from the public thank you for your service to the students of Scarborough and thank you to the students of Scarborough hi everyone my name is Ananda and I am a senior at Scarborough high school I just wanted to address um the analogy that was bought up earlier about depression alcoholism and whatever with the Privacy thing with with

027things of issues like that that actually bring health issues or mental health issues again any type of um any type of things that are related to that needs to be addressed obviously but being trans is not a major alert to your or an alert at all to your health or your mental health or anything this policy is to help kids feel safe this policy is not to keep parents in the dark because if you are kept in the dark maybe your kid actually doesn't feel comfortable telling you it's not about it's really not about um keeping parents in the dark it's more about keeping the kids safe thank you um is there anybody online wishing to make public comment if so if you could um please raise your your hand in the zoom function seeing

028none I will go ahead and help those public comment this evening thank you um agenda item 6.0 is a new school building project update so on with this if we could move to the slide deck I actually um have the I think I as I'm now thinking I think the slide is in the wrong place it's under my chairs report you want to switch a room [Music] [Laughter] but one more there it is okay on um Thursday eight uh April 13th which is next week we are having a community Forum where we will discuss um the new k-3 um proposed School solution and this will include um discussion about the site selection process how the building uh steering committee has worked to get to the place where they are now the things that they considered

029um while narrowing down the scope of um of buildings that they are sites excuse me that they were looking at so they'll this will be an entire overview of the process leading up to what we um as a board and Town Council hope to announce as a potential site soon right is there any questions for me or did you want to add anything Jillian or Brian bring it all right perfect um agenda item 7.0 is the superintendent report so I'll turn this over to Jeff all right I got a musical slide this evening so um I wanted I just wanted to take a little time or my time this evening with the superintendent's report to um just recap uh a first in Scarborough Public Schools history uh which was an all district choral concert so

030you guys see uh the picture here and then we're gonna have a little bit of a video here too for for the last number but there are students from second grade all the way up through 12th grade on the stage together singing for the first time in the district's history and this this took on a little special significance I think um Jeff Mosher who was hired in in 2020 which was probably or maybe it was the fall of of 2020 probably the worst possible time for a choral director to be hired when you're hired for a job that your students can't currently do there was no singing as part of some of the covid restrictions and and social distancing and all those things so starting as a choral director um in the middle of that

031presents his challenges I will say uh since that time the size of the High School chorus has over tripled in size um in part because he he gave his time and came up with a pretty creative solution to work together with uh Kathy Terrell to also um uh start in uh during the school day program with the eighth grade so really um pushing down into the into the middle school and then starting to grow the program and then collaborating with Yvonne Wentz at the middle school and Kristen Goodall at Wentworth they put together and planned this all district-wide chorus and I had the pleasure to introduce and get that started um the video is all all of them and and so third fourth and fifth performed and then middle school and then high school and

032then in a surprise a lot of second graders who were in attendance got called up on the stage because they had been working on the same song I've it that was like the highlight of the whole night was it like 30 of second graders just bombing down the aisles you know so that they could get up on stage and join the big kids so if we have a opportunity to play that video a little clip there [Music] my expert videography skills on my iPhone right there at work but um it was just it was a really special night um and you can't obviously tell from my video but the the house was packed I mean there are there were very few empty seats so it was a it was a really fun night and that

033was March 28th that's all I got oh thank you sorry yes thank you very much are there any questions for Jeff right um agenda item 8.0 is a chairs report I have a very brief um a couple of things to talk about the first is that we are hiring currently in the district um we have um quite a few positions um out available for anybody who's interested or if you know of somebody who is interested in working for a district um these include things like custodians bus drivers educational technicians substitute teachers Food Service workers so really um positions across quite you know quite a few positions across the board so if you are interested in working for um what I would think would say we would all think is the best District in the state

034of Maine then we would really encourage you to apply or consider passing along the word if someone you know may be interested in working um I I don't want to steal Carolyn Sunder she's going to talk about this but were you going to talk about the updated schedule to the potential potential schedule to the budget process okay so um the Town Council um sorry to put you on the spot um the Town Council um discussed it there at our board Workshop we had a um not a bird Workshop but their workshop Town Council Workshop budget Workshop um there is a potential for a change in the in the budgetary process this year they um do not have audit results yet so um there is a potential that everything and when I say everything I mean

035the first readings of the budget will be pushed back by two weeks so if that is something that is approved um that would mean that would incur include the referendum that would also be pushed back two weeks too so closer to the end of the June timeline time frame um so we are closely watching that and working with Town Council and once we hear more and we know more we can update um the board in the community at that point just to clarify we have no control over that schedule they do not that's a great question also we don't know exactly we don't have like a window date like within a couple days or anything no no I I believe that they have to vote on it and I think from what I could gather

036was that your impression too that they have to vote on that the Town Council being they have to vote on that decision yeah so I I don't I don't know when we would hear I think they're still waiting on to hear about the audit first and so they're trying to make it work within the parameters of when they think that they'll have them they seem to think that a two-week window would buy them the time they need and what is the process typically like with the uh tampons I probably should ask you this privately oh no uh but do they accept it I'm or I'm assuming that they give feedback and say hey this is great or hey add a little here or hey probably take off a little here just maybe the more the

037way it goes but but is that what's the typical process yeah that's a great question um they have a goal the Town Council has a goal to keep the overall budget within a three percent increase so if the number comes above that falls above the three percent they do ask both the town and the school to cut to make cuts to make it work within their prescribed um goal so the problem or the difficulty is is of course as you know with inflation with um increased pricing it has made contracts um you know a little bit more expensive um we were fortunate with our fuel contract the town um just recently increased there so or just signed there so they not as fortunate we were we're kind of locked into one so um there there

038are some changes that have made the increases um I guess necessary would be the right the right verbiage um we still have items in motion as you know and so does the town side as well um so the um Insurance um the things that we just don't have clear hard firm numbers on the town is in the same boat so um as those kind of get finalized throughout the process that will help as well um and then as we discussed um among among the board members and the Town Council at the workshop um we did get a surprise with State subsidy so that was that was um okay I'm not gonna say that at all I'm gonna leave that for you that was great news and we will hear about it in a moment but

039yeah so that is really their prescribed process to kind of really stay at that three percenter or less there any other questions for me hmm all right so agenda item 9.0 are committee reports um so first we'll oh look at this we'll go we'll go to you Carolyn I wrote so small I think I need my reading glasses to read that uh so uh finance committee we were we were busy in the month of March we met three times and uh also attended um a Town Council uh commit uh Workshop as well in addition to those meetings so uh we covered a lot of ground uh the first one was we agreed to utilize um some budgeted funds that were slated for the Consolidated School pre-work uh to hire consultant that's going to help us

040more effectively educate the public about the new school project uh we also discussed about the phase two of the track and turf project and we because we're the track and turf currently lies it was under consideration at one point in time for a site for the new school and so we ended up replacing the turf and left the track for a later date because the turf could be picked up and moved whereas the track couldn't uh so we had a lot of discussions and actually a a second meeting to discuss that because we were talking about you know do we forego the bid process and go this Co-op route and so we had Kate and her team look into that a little more closely as to what does that mean and uh we decided to

041go forward with the co-op route we went with the two co-ops and basically getting a bid from them and it's basically almost doing the bid process in a quicker time and with better or as good results um so we decided to move forward with that and the goal is getting it done more quickly getting it done um in time for fall Sports and getting a really a fair price as well so we have uh initially we had initial budget 1.9 for the project track and Turf and we have 1.15 million left to spend on uh doing the track so um we review the 24 budget and we along with net savings that have been found since we put together the internet or I shouldn't say we that was not a week the Leadership Council uh

042put together they've been there's been about ninety thousand dollars of savings found and in addition to that Shannon stole my funder and ah I know uh we have also received word from the state maybe I can thank you Stacy for maybe you found the uh maybe you found the error I don't know um but anyway Scarborough should be receiving about an additional one and a half million dollars in funding which uh truly helps truly helps the town um we participated in two budget workshops along with the school Leadership Council everybody was able to attend those um and we attended the Town Council workshop on the 29th uh where the draft budget was presented at a 4.59 increase over FY 2020 2023 our next meeting is on the 24th of April at 3 30. come and

043join happy to have you right Jillian absolutely absolutely well and and not just steal Kate's Thunder but at that meeting we'll also have some more good news to share with the health and health insurance numbers coming in at a little over three percent even though we budgeted for eight that's huge so that that is going to drive that number down even further wow that's really exciting is wow that's great news thank you yeah that's wonderful well I will all act surprised when Kate presents it's not like this is on tapering yeah um one more thing I wanted to add to Carolyn's um we there is a lot that has happened so first thank you to everybody who's attended I know this is a lot um there's a lot that happens during this time typically um

044so thank you for everybody for being willing to to come and attend and be a part of all of the things that we have been doing related to the budget we do have um two upcoming um round tables with Town Council that we are going to participate in yeah so one is going to be Monday night from five to seven and the other one um I believe 24th thank you is the 24th um from five to seven so that'll be two opportunities for the public to come in and really talk with counselors and school board members about what their concerns are or what they they agree with in the budget any answer any questions they have um and move forward the one on the Monday night will be here the one on the 24th is

045in the library are there any questions for Carolyn afrayla the policy committee also had some extra meetings this month we had two one on March 6th onto March 20th we were really trying to work on that transgender generations of students policy I'm not going to talk about it now because we're going to talk about it later um the next meeting is Monday on April 10th it's going to be a little bit of a marathon session from 4 to 6 30. it's a hybrid meeting held in central office the agenda items I didn't list them all it's all of the legally required policies um since the state laws have changed in the last year to get us completely up to date so that all of our policies are in order and enlightened but the state requires

046us to do and those are posted so you're welcome to read them at your leisure and then after that sort of determining the order um there Diane I have to thank created a policy creation flow chart that I was hoping to send to Kelly this afternoon to get up there it's not there but I'm going to ask her to post it on the website later it is extremely helpful and it goes through step-by-step how policies are created for this through um through this board and so everybody in the community can read it and really understand the process that it undergoes and where they can sort of um if they want to participate the levels of participation they're welcome to to be uh be involved with um and Diana took it on her own it was

047very helpful for me because I'm new to policy to really have it laid out in a step-by-step process so thank you we'll get that on the website I'll give up Kelly tomorrow and um and I hope that people find it as informative as I did thank you are there any questions for free love all right Brian all right uh so our last meeting was March 8th uh we discussed a handful of different things a lot of them were based around the curriculum Improvement and um approval process uh there was quite a bit of exciting news that I think was shared during the meeting uh which hopefully before the end of the school year we'll be able to update you and maybe even um kind of put on display for you one of those is the

048fact that we've had requests from the public many of you have seen them before to get our curriculum out front and in the open and how can you know parents and anybody really coming to town be able to access that and so this is something that is being worked on behind the scenes there's a landing page that's um it's my third bullet down there but it's probably the most significant of things that I believe that we spoke about just because it's something that has been a big desire in the community and it's something that uh Monique gave us a little bit of a sneak peek at and I think a lot of us were very impressed with how it's coming out and um just you know how uh they're really making sure to be as

049detailed as possible to make sure that the public is is aware of that um jumping back a second at the curriculum internal guide I also think is interesting and I mentioned to Monique it might be interesting to share that with us because this is actually what the teachers on the inside and the staff are using so this is private to them but it's how they actually go about staying organized and it is as a former teacher I wish I had that and I said that to her um I I really think that it it speaks volumes as to why Scarborough's school district has the reputation it has and you know just the flow that we have from grade to grade making sure that kids are learning something new each year and we're not being repetitive

050but we're touching on those points um it is just very very organized behind the scenes to see how that how things flow from K all the way up to our seniors um we talked about what the vetting process was like for curriculum materials to be reviewed so that was also something that some we've had some questions about it's a two-step process that she had explained to us they vet for quality but um I also found it interesting to know that they actually take um what they're thinking about putting into place implementing and they're getting the schools they're getting teachers input they're also going to other schools as well and getting the input to see how is this curriculum how might it look elsewhere um and you know is it worthwhile and implementing so um it

051was in general I think the last meeting was very educational for a lot of us the one of the other notes that we've had a lot of questions about was the Civil Rights club and the curriculum um what basically we talked about what it is and how it's a club that happens afterwards and the approval process that goes into that um without spending an extensive amount of time here I would encourage a lot of the public to go back and actually view our meeting about that and the reason for that is because we've had a number of questions on it and I think that it would be important for people to actually hear from Monique exactly how it's worded because I didn't want to go through the process and say something necessarily wrong when she

052is the person who who I think she put it very eloquently as to how she explained the entire process and how it goes through but it we all I feel like walked away asked our questions and I feel like we had a good understanding of comfort as to how the club gets approved to go work with um some of our students in the district and there is an extensive process that goes into that which I think was great to be able to see and just to learn about so uh our upcoming meetings were going to be debriefing And discussing questions about uh some of our previous curriculum committee meetings so things like some of the topics I just discussed if anybody has follow-up questions as well as the curriculum budget and the recent SEL Workshop

053and then um Monique wanted to cover the Essa process and application process as well so our next meeting if anybody would like to join is via zoom and it's always our second Wednesday of every month or be April 12th next week perfect thank you are there any questions for Brian all right thank you um Jillian your nuts all right so we we met uh March 9th we are um still developing a plan for our first round table uh we were in the process of getting a space um we continue to look for spotlight Awards um looking forward to reading some of those nominations um and then we're going to be ramping up with more budget communication we'll see we'll see what that looks like our next meeting is April 13th at 4 30 on by

054Zoom perfect thank you are there any questions for Jillian right John long range planning yes we had our last meeting was on the fourth Tuesday um we'll give a shout out to Diane for uh taking fantastic notes and uh she's a great job so I stole most of them uh we reviewed um the capital projects outlined um the most recent recent budget book uh if you go into the uh agenda they're all listed there you didn't miss anything um and you know we were talking about how we have a uh a finite window of opportunity to complete any of the projects that come up you know it's weekends any breaks summer vacation whenever nobody's in the school so that they have the time to to get things done uh so that will limit what projects

055we can and can't take on because you know can't take on too many or you know you might have to make sure that you can get them done um uh a lot of the credit that that we have for how great our schools uh what shape that they're in has got to go to Todd and his crew um he was saying that he was out at another school in in uh where was it Windham and uh he was he said that school was built uh one year or at least you know remodeled a year after uh the high school and he said just the high school looks but our high school looks like it's it's just you can tell the difference so whatever he's doing I don't know if he has magic dust or whatever

056it's uh it's working and he deserves a lot of credit um we discussed uh some projects uh first you know the big one uh Middle School Portables are well beyond their uh their life expectancy and uh and of course the cost to repair to replace them has gone up uh dramatically I think he said a couple of years ago was about 350 000 each and now they're at about 500 000 per and we have 12 so that would cost uh in the town six million dollars just to just to replace those for for sixth grade so and yeah I mean I'm willing to get into any more of that um and then we have uh security risks at uh you know different schools that you know that going in through the uh the entrances making

057sure that you know there's we have to have the proper safety measures in place and they're not all like that so we would at some point need to figure that out possibly so we'll we'll see what happens with that um then we discussed um what we need to focus on what the committee can do moving forward and uh we're looking at that project um items that are within our Five-Year Plan and uh how to make them fit on a year-to-year basis in a balanced way so it works like what can what can we get done what do we have with the money for what we have the time for and you know what needs to be done so there's uh there's a lot to figure out but because you know we got a lot of

058facilities and but uh again Todd's doing a great job and uh and he's got my vote keep his job forever um but if you want to go look at any of this information uh like I said Diane took great notes and they're on the agenda uh on the website perfect thank you and our next meeting is TBD are there any questions for John Franklin I'm happy to do it um the DI committee had a phenomenal meeting on March 21st it was our only meeting in March we meet every three weeks and we started Drafting and outlining the Strategic plan which was extremely exciting for me if you've ever heard me talk about the Dei Committee in the past um on one hand and I think there's some really concrete ideas about how we move forward

059um in a way that we can then come back to this board and sort of demonstrate what the plan is because that's what I would like to see happen um the thing that is still something that we need to work on in a challenge is uh the Quorum issue we haven't made Forum this year so if we had any ideas to actually move forward on such as changing our schedule so it might be more friendly for people because every three weeks is hard for most people to track um we can't do that without more board members there so I know there's a plan to bring forward the seats that are empty to fill them with people to try to get to a quorum so that we can do that and I think that at our

060next meeting I expect the membership to be increased we've had a number of applicants both all Community from students and also from Educators so we're excited about bulking activity up and hopefully get some new energy in there so that we have more productive meetings but it wasn't it wasn't an exciting meeting for me probably anyone's perspective other than like let's actually outline how we're going to do this work which again you all know we have a process either I found it very exciting um but it wasn't full of interesting information it was like how do we vote things forward but um but I was it was it was a good productive meeting are there any questions for Jillian or brayla I'm excited to see them get um some uh concrete into their fee right to

061get to I'm gonna just stop it um to get to get some um you know some momentum going in to be able to to get some some things accomplished so this will be exciting to watch uh you and I got I had limited ability to interact uh due to a slight home emergency but I what what I was able to hear you guys did a really great job I was really impressed and your leadership there is is uh huge all right um Jillian and Brian the building steering committee um I'll go all right so um supposed to silence we met we've met with Laura petrolino who's the pr consultant um she's helping us with our educational out at you know public Outreach um we have met with her a number of times uh to go

062over some strategies to get information about the building out into the community and as Shannon had already pointed out we are going to have a community Forum next Thursday at 6 pm at Pleasant Hill School um in in the uh what is it Kappa janitorium um and uh so and we're continuing to I say we again the professionals are continuing to develop a business case and our next meeting is the 25th at 6 30 and that is also available hybrid and all these meetings are recorded and available to watch on the website thank you question yes um I know when we last met with the Town Council for a workshop or or whatever that I can't remember what it was but it feels so long ago they had asked for updated numbers on some of

063the scenarios has that work been completed I know we were expecting that soon cheating on the progress of that it has not been fully completed yet they you know once they got their enrollment numbers um uh they are continuing to work that there's quite a bit of work so that goes into that um yeah looking at it it's overwhelming but um yes they're continuing to work on that yeah and can I just piggyback on that a little bit they um in addition to updating the numbers in the business case part of what they're doing is they're looking at what's called massing so it's like essentially the almost like if you were a drone looking down on the site of each school and they um are we imagining um the site based on what we have

064said we need for each school so think about like bus drop-offs and parent parent student drop-offs and play play space and parking spots and so once they have all of that outlined per building then really like drilling down to okay this is what's left over for an actual building size so they're doing that so that they can determine what what can actually fit on each site so that's part of this update as well so that's why they're they're really spending some time to to dig into Jillian's point yeah I was just gonna say the same thing and I've been thoroughly impressed with what they came out with they kind of gave us a preview of what that's starting to look like I believe they used uh the Pleasant Hill Elementary School as and it wasn't

065fully done but they gave us bits and pieces of it and I didn't even know honestly that they were working to that scale to show us um I knew they were working on something similar so I mean they're being incredibly thorough so I think the next meeting you know whether you tune in or you look at it afterwards or at least when we have our next uh report out we should have some some some pretty good info to share with you I think right um our liaison reports are next I know Brian has a couple so I was going to say do you want to just do yours back to back and then we can clean it up so uh for the district emergency management team um again just as a reminder so this is

066a lot of the police officers this has teachers administrators the fire department a little bit of everybody keep players in terms of safety within the town uh getting together so there's some really interesting stuff that's happening that I think um you know it just shows that we are keeping our students in the safety as at the Forefront of what we do here in the school district one of the biggest things that the technology department has been doing is they're partnering with the transportation department and they're coming out with these RFID cards which I I am thoroughly fascinated by where kids they're going to start to do a test run basically within the next couple weeks I don't know if it's has it is it next week okay so it's on Tuesday okay awesome so uh

067it's is it just one bus route or the two bus routes okay so kids are actually going to be able to log in basically with this key card they kind of scan it as if you go up to a door and kind of how it opens and whatnot um and on the screen of the bus that the bus driver will have it will show a picture of that child um so let's say they forget their key card it's kind of a way for the bus driver they can kind of plug them in look them up and say okay you know Johnny got on the school bus at this specific address so you can actually see where the kids are getting on and off of the bus um which I think from a safety standpoint especially

068this day and age is tremendous so at this point it's being rolled out slowly that's starting as a pilot to see how it goes um and then from there there is another phase where it could be um evolved into parents being able to see exactly where their kids are and if they got dropped off at what time what address things like that so um pretty crazy to see what technology has come out with these days so that's one thing that we had a pretty good discussion on I would say and uh in addition uh a bunch of the administrators have had mentioned the Raptor system which is what we use when parents or really anybody tries to check into our schools and they had mentioned that they've had a lot of really positive parental feedback

069on that and that they actually hadn't heard anything negative which I think is really good to see especially since that's been a big investment just town wide what was that remarkable yeah yeah so it was nice to hear that stuff that if we're using it and there's a lot of other elements to Raptor which they haven't we haven't gone into in depth but we've touched on them a little bit to say there are other things that can be tied into Raptor that could also help to keep our district safe and um our students and whatnot uh I thought you guys would also find it interesting to know what they're doing behind the scenes when we're sitting here what's happening during the daytime sometimes or during some of those PD days is uh they are having

070tables what do they call them table talk topics where they're running through emergency type scenarios of everything under the moon that you can think of and um teachers and administrators are getting a chance to kind of have a say and talk about how would you react in those particular circumstances so that includes the police department the fire department and we talked about making sure that cyber security is a big part of that as well so that's something that most likely will be a a topic moving forward but nice to know that that's kind of how they're preparing behind the scenes especially when we see a lot of scary things on the TV these days um that's one thing that we are trying to do as a district to be more proactive and it's nice to

071hear that so um our next meeting is May 24th and we are actually going to be meeting over in um dispatch around the corner in the police and fire building uh because if there was actually a major incident that is most likely where Jeff and Diane would end up being with um police and fire so they opened up the doors to us and that's where we're going to kind of have a little field trip next week which I think would be um really good for us to see what else is available in the district questions I just got a pretty sweet conference room over there that's a nice nice space foreign do you want to do your second one too so the vocational one uh we had a bit of a communication issue and at

072the last minute they swapped locations on me so um yeah Jeff and I are in communication now and we're making sure that if that gets swapped again I know where it goes so I showed up and they were like oh yeah that got moved like when um so Jeff was there if I don't know if you want to provide any insight there but other than an apology to you for not making you aware of the change in the location uh I'll stick with that no it was it was it was a very good meeting uh and not not a not a ton of things to to report in particular so Sports anybody has student reports all right so Jeff touched on it earlier but uh students at the Wentworth chorus Club as well as second

073graders through 12th graders participated in the district-wide all choral concert each age group performed their own sections and at the end of the concert every group performed together for the finale and it overall just shows a fun event that showcases all the talent within the schools through every age group and that looked really cool and then uh secondly also at Wentworth um Wentworth concluded its first ever Geography Bee on March 29th the top 10 finalists answered a very Demi answered very demanding geography questions in front of an audience of peers and here are the here's a picture of the three finalists thank you over at the middle school they're performing Into the Woods Junior and so they had two performances last weekend they have won Friday and one Saturday for this upcoming weekend I haven't

074been but it looks like they have some really cool props going on so definitely something to check out on the next slide uh we have as part of the developmental delay Awareness Month the buddy system sponsored an educational opportunity at Pleasant Hill blue point and eight Corners they had a lot of authors to come to visit teach school um sort of share stories of inclusion acceptance and friendship and the buddy system also participated in presentations sort of teaching the K2 students about the importance of inclusion for everyone on the next slide if it switches we have some art uh so in collaboration with uh the main art Education Association the Portland Museum of Art is presenting artwork made by Young Artists in our communities and so Scarborough has two students currently in that artwork display

075have a little link on the bottom if anyone wants to check out that whole display yeah and we have a cool thing going on at the high school so a fellow senior Anita Smith she's insane at drawing dragons that is the coolest thing ever to see and one day in the hallway to the art Department that black wall popped up and the next day there was a giant dragon and it's 28 feet long it's insane up close there's so much detail and it's really cool she went through an approval process in this catch so there's some school colors involved in there as well so we got a nice school spirit dragon in our hallways now I don't know um I don't have a slide for it but also we are starting to search for a

076new Junior rep um I'll be leaving soon and Colby will be coming senior reps so that's starting absolutely I don't want to talk about it but thank you are there any questions for either Yulia or Colby and I have a question but I have a comment um I think um we had some really good publicity but also I know my daughter was at eight corners and got to need the linsel family and the book um a dog and his boy came home to our family and that was a very meaningful experience for her so I think that was a really incredible opportunity for our district and it was very it was very touching for my family specifically thank you all right um 11.0 is new business um 11.1 is the first year being a policy

077a c a a transgender and gender expansive students so first do I have um a motion to approve the first reading second okay I'm going to open it up for discussion but before I do so I do want to invite Melissa up Melissa Huey um to answer some any questions we might have um uh just uh if you don't if you don't mind yeah or in the front row or wherever you feel the most comfortable but oh you have to be on the mic so yes please if you wouldn't mind coming up um maybe I'm in the motion to group 1.10 because they go together um yeah we could we can do that um so the question is can we amend um can we amend the vote the motion to and include the first reading

078of policy ACAA a and the first reading of policy ACAA e which is a transgender student support plan so do I have a motion to bundle those and approve both at first reading removed second okay so now we're going to open it up for any discussion um and to my earlier Point Melissa is here to answer um any questions we have as it relates to um our policy or any state laws that that would cover um students and parents um federal laws any anything we have as it really relates to this policy so I'll open it up are there any questions or discussion I don't uh probably have actually have 15 questions but let's do them one at a time at a time um but Shannon and I were talking earlier uh over the weekend

079I think it was um we were talking about do in the policy that we currently have or that we're looking at adopting um what aspects of it are like required by law and which ones are maybe above and beyond or so um that's a hard question to answer because the law doesn't require that you have a policy at all um the law requires that you don't discriminate against any student including transgender students um so technically your ACA policy probably covers you from a required policy standpoint so if that's what you're asking me the answer is nothing if you're asking me are there certain things in the policy that are um legally required and certain things that are not there are certain Provisions that in my view are legally required for example um the the provision

080of that transgender students should be permitted to use facilities and restrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with the gender with which they identify a lot of the rest of the policy is really as I understand it intended to be supportive of um students I don't um transgender students and all students I'm not sure I would say that's extra but it's not something that that there is any specific law that um that requires that and I ask a follow-up to that question so I think what you you said like by leaning into that is I understand the locker room and the restroom um portion which is in this has been established uh through a law Court decision which is main law and the main Human Rights Commission um but the other the rest of the

081policy will not required if if a administrator or a staff member violated a student's constitutional rights that would be a problem and one of the things this policy does to provide guidance to avoid that exactly completely required and I will say that there are other things in the policy for example names and pronouns although that isn't specifically addressed in the law court case um the doe versus RSU 26 case um it is certainly um a a reasonable extension of that that also would be required by law um so that's that those certain there are certain things in there that are required but you're right the policy provides guidance to make sure that staff other students don't don't violate students rights so are you am I hearing that with regards to pronouns a a teacher it's

082not an infringement on their first amendment rights of free speech as to choosing whether or not they use the pronouns preferred by a student are you saying by potential law that's coming that they would have to so um it I don't think that that a teacher has a First Amendment right to um refer to anybody about anything in a classroom that's that's really not a part of the of the um the analysis here um the analysis is that schools are required not to discriminate against students and one way that you would discriminate against a transgender student would be treating them differently than other students who identify um as the same gender so um one one way the way that was dealt with in the in the law court case is in using bathrooms we allow

083all students who identify as one particular gender to use a bathroom so whether they're um that's consistent with their assigned gender it's sex or not is irrelevant it is what they identify with which what the Law Court looks at same thing with pronouns we call all students um with by the pronoun of the gender with which they identify regardless of their sex at Birth and that's I think what the um Law Court would require can I can follow up on that and as I want to be sure that we're all um and I think it's good for the community to hear as well um if we if we did not have this policy sitting in front of us we currently have a policy if we had no policy whatsoever regarding transgender students or gender expansive

084students the state law and the the the law case that has come before the state and has gone to the state supreme court and the guidance from the main Human Rights Commission would say that we have got to allow students to use a facility that matches the gender they identify with is that correct correct thank you that's 15 is a lot less than I thought man I thought I was bad at math um yeah so let's see I'll just start at the top and and this might be better served I I'm not sure the right way to do it because I don't want to take everybody's time and I'm sure everybody else has a bazillion or have their own questions um so I don't know if it's better if I email the I can't go

085ahead yeah we yeah you're this is they are absolutely you should have all your questions answered before yeah I apologize ahead no but it's just me my brain and how it works um so first of all I want to also commend the students who are here speaking they were extremely eloquent they did a fantastic job speaking and I know it's hard and it took a lot of bravery and I commend that and I want to make sure as well that every child here and every child that may be listening at home know that they you know no matter if we agree or disagree on certain issues they are loved and they are respected and um agreement or disagreement has nothing to do with love and respect um so I just want to put that out

086there as well um so question one uh is there any significance to I notice that this policy is like AC Triple A and the old one was J B what I I don't know if it's a question for you or for is there is there a distinction with that or is it just a new numbering lettering system does that mean anything it's it's where it falls within our policy guidelines so when it was a j policy it fell under um students now that it's an a policy it falls under foundations and basic commitments okay and just as an addition that is um consistent with like if you look at where our discrimination policies live ACAA um that is also in section A okay all right thank you um and so Shannon this might be a

087question for you I'm not 100 sure but based on the conversation we had the other day when we were talking about this policy is more um pertaining to students requesting a plan at least that was my understanding from when we've talked as opposed to um you know a a student who is socially transitioning but not requesting a plan is that when I was reading like through the purpose I didn't see that like defined but maybe it's more once you get to section c anyway it just wasn't clear to me when we were when reading through the through the policy that this is only specific to um children requesting a plan I think I cannot take that question yeah yeah all right so with the policy um the purpose section A is the purpose statement of

088the section which is pretty consistent with it and the policy is similar to the JB policy the language is different it's a little bit expanded but overall it's fairly similar overall it's in the details that the language was tightened up I think was one of the things that's somewhat definite and less recommended or guidance and more shawls and wills um there's a definition section that's fairly brief yeah and then the C is the addressing the needs of transgender engineer expansive students um the main the main part of this policy really focuses around when the when there's an issue that Services required Administration to become involved ability administrator to create a support plan to support our transgender and gender expansive students um and you know we meet them where they are yeah and so most of

089the plant focuses on what that looks like and that's what the that's why I asked to include 11.2 because the support plan form is attached that's the like the appended form that would be the guidance for how that meeting is conducted and that's what the main policy focuses around so if there's an issue at school that's identified by a parent um so there's no no secrets in this meeting a parent is part of this meeting the student can I can also request it or build an administrator if there's a problem that they identify with administering their school can also call a meeting um which apparent there are no secrets apparent will be informed and a student will be invited to everyone's invited to the table to address whatever the need is and that need can

090be as varied as our students whether it's an external issue or an internal student it's really intended to be a forum to address issues that are surfaced to the point where we require administrative intervention after that section D is really just general guidelines which has to do especially with the legal requirements um to ensure that staff are informed and understand if they have any questions they can be guided by the policy which they don't inadvertently um try to inadvertently or if they have questions about how they treat a student if they they don't know this policy is intended to give them clear guidance on how to do that and that's really what D is that's the Privacy statements the school record statements of the names the protons the facilities and all that then the last

091section is is really a minor it just it just it allows the superintendent and the administration to create training programs if one's required for that okay can I just jump in there and add one thing because I think one of the um questions you may have been asking is whether that meeting is always required or whether it has to be requested um and I know that there are a number of policies and it it used to be that most policies um that dealt with these issues required the meeting it has been our recommendation that that um that requirement be removed from the policies and there are a couple of reasons for that the first reason is really directed towards the students and the feeling that just because you're gender expansive you shouldn't be called to

092a meeting that should be your choice and that should be your family's choice if you want that that support is there um but we're not forcing you to do that and that's what we're hearing from experts is is a more supportive way of dealing with students the second thing is more of a legal legal consideration Mission and what um what I'm but I'm telling you and what the law court is telling us is we shouldn't be treating students differently because of their sexual identity and so if we require people who are gender expansive to go to meetings but we don't require other students to go to meetings like this then that seems a little bit discriminatory so what we're saying here exact as frail I guess I should be calling you a board member tarpinian

093said is um is that this is a support mechanism um straight out if that's what people feel is needed then it ought to happen if that's what not needed then we're not going to require people to do it and I think that that's a better policy both both from the student's perspective and from a legal perspective um do you mind if I jump in just a second Carolyn um because that's a really good point that you make because I we've had I know that there has been some discussion among community members and board members regarding um well aren't we aren't are we supposed to have policies that cover and protect all kids and my answer to that is we do have policies that protect and cover all of our children but this one in particular

094if we if we mandated I I guess that's new information so I just want to be sure I heard you clear um for me new for me if we mandated these support hearings then we could be potentially in violation of discrimination laws right because you're mandating it for for one type of student and not another and that's potentially discriminatory okay thank you thank you I just find that discouraging uh to be honest I I as a as a parent I I find it discouraging from a couple standpoints and I'm just going to speak um that there's no safer place for a child than their family and for a family not to be included on such a large uh important decision I'm not sure exactly what the right word is to to call it it to

095not have a meeting um so the family is brought in and kept in the loop and part of putting together a plan and being informed and I so can I just interrupt you for a minute because I think you're I think you're no I think you're misunderstanding okay good and that's that's why I wanna I wanna interrupt you um this isn't about um family versus school this is about who feels that an uh that a meeting is necessary and the way it's written as I understand it if the student feels they need the support of a meeting then the meeting will happen if the parent feels they need the support of a meeting the meeting will happen if an administrator feels that that this is um a necessary support the meeting will happen so this

096isn't about um any driving any wedge between anybody it's just saying anybody who has a stake in this um can reach out and ask for support and our policy and I don't mean our policy I mean your policy um says if you if you want it parents student anybody we're going to give it to you and we're telling you this so that you all know that this is available it's it's really not about any any keeping anybody out as I heard you say yeah we um and I can I mean I I shouldn't speak profile and Jillian but I'm going to say I'll speak for our committee um we spent you know a long time working on this to make sure and I'm going to be very transparent here I'm a little bit perplexed and

097so I'm trying to wrap my head around some of the comments this evening because we started this conversation four months ago saying parents absolutely should be at the table and we ended our conversation a week ago saying parents absolutely should be at the table so I'm I'm maybe I'm maybe to me it seems clear maybe we're missing something I mean we have gone through this document and added parents into every single conversation that should happen and this um if you read through our adjustment not you if anybody reads to our adjustments um that that is a really a big chunk of what what we have have worked on we absolutely in our conversations agree that parents absolutely should be part of the conversation and that parents belong to at the table when we are discussing

098their students um so um I'm struggling a little bit with with how we can be clearer on that I guess so if you have any feedback that that would be great and I think I hear you maybe asking what triggers what would trigger a meeting is is that like you're you're looking for that is that what I understand yeah that's a that's a good way to put it thank you okay do you have a good answer for that I will I am not no yeah I think um just to restate like what would trigger a meeting as an individual kind of a party to the situation in my my head so a student a family member a guardian parent parent Guardian um or an administrator staff member at the school who said who's stepping forward

099and saying there's an issue here that needs to be addressed that would trigger the meeting um and we did we systemically went through the policy and in the places where there was latitude given in terms of students rights to privacy which is a concern in parents rights to information we really did a very careful balancing task at each of those junctures and tried to be um have as much Fidelity to the law which to be really clear this policy is mostly tied up in law I mean there's not a lot of discretion here um in in my head there's a lot of like mechanics on exactly Health but there's not a lot of discussion in terms of what we can or can't do to support our students who would identify with this policy um and

100and without you know treading over the line again of just trading into discriminatory Behavior such as you know as soon as a student um manifests something that makes a staff member or or somebody at the school you know say maybe there's an issue here suddenly is required to go to the principal's office for a meeting um because that's not very supportive conduct and I don't think like I don't think it's legal just to be very clear but where we could build in the parents you know we didn't give you know we were urged by some um students especially to give students a right to consent to parental notification and we elected not to do that um one I think it would there be inherent conflict with FERPA eventually because any sort of documented conduct has

101a parents have a right to that information by law so we they would have a right to access that information but also we don't we don't want the school doesn't have a place in the parent-child relationship very clear we the student does not have a place there a school has a plate has a required is is obligated and responsible for educating our students meeting them where they are and supporting them through that process so that we can deliver the highest quality education possible um we we don't want to nor should we be involved in any sort of disagreement between parents and and children like that's that that's up to the parents and children to deal with their relationship the school needs to educate them keep them safe and support them while they're at school and

102you know I there's a lot of language that I'm concerned about that sort of this like creating divides between parents and children Secrets hiding things from parents this policy does not do that in any level just be very clear there is no secrets the school does not keep secrets where a governmental organization or records are subject of foia and there's some statutory carve outs that we can't do anything about having to do the counseling records but I'll leave that fight to a completely different community at a different thing so um like our responsibility is to keep our students safe and make them feel supported um and part of that is also supporting their families let's be clear we we can't tilt that balance we don't want to be in that equation and that this that

103was The Guiding Spirit of this policy which is a new invite everyone to the table everywhere we can because everyone is Right parents and children working together with schools is the ideal whenever we have one of those you know for educational purposes for parenting purposes you're right we don't have a school doesn't have a right or obliga that shouldn't be involved in parenting children like that's not our job that's not our role but we do have an obligation to meet students at school to make sure that they feel safe and supported so that they can learn and so that we can create a vibrant environment here and then hopefully they take that home with them okay thank you um so maybe there's just maybe uh some tightening in the language that I found in a

104couple places um I think it's C2 um the second sentence where it says and or parents I'm wondering if we that should be and parents um I think it was also d1c the last sentence it said and or parents and it could be I might be reading them and reading it incorrectly or um misinterpreting it I'm wondering if that should say and parents at d1c um D2 the top of page four a four says uh the superintendent should be consulted and the matter resolved In Case by case basis and um I just wanted to make sure that that doesn't override C3 where parents are involved and sometimes I I think one of the students pointed out as well about the use of the word should versus I think in a lot of legalese we see

105shall I think should maybe leaves room for ambiguity maybe interpretation that's a good word um okay um can we go live like yeah I'll go backwards so I I wanna look can I ask you a question okay I think the first one you said was C2 is that right two second sentence yeah okay second sentence okay so this is who can request a meeting yes so so in addition to the student and or parents or Guardians so that might so it could be just my interpretation where I'm not interpreting it correctly oh I think that that um just made it sound like parents might be optional well parents um they're there there could be an instance where a student asks for a meeting and the parents of course are notified given our policy and then

106the parent elects to not come to the support meeting okay so that would be an instance in which it would be and or okay um uh in C before we get into the into the numbering uh the last uh net the last sentence in the first paragraph and so this involves more than a casual declaration is there a definition of what that more than a casual declaration and do we have like a sense of what that means yes this was actually something I asked Diane about at our very first meeting because what I said was how do you determine what a sincerely her belief is you know not to like not to be funny but like how does one determine that has that ever been a challenge um and sand was very clear that it's

107it's not it's not a question like it's not an issue where they have a trouble determining is this someone who's kind of like playing the system doing something that something that's not not sincere and sincere I'll just leave it at that sort of not characterizing what other people are doing but an insincere belief or doing something that's not genuine and authentic um and Diane says it's never happened in our district and that the administration is very well equipped to address students who come forward with this sincere and this policy goes beyond transgender students we we're kind of short-handed with transgender students but I would like to recognize that there's a lot more than uh than just a binary gender identity within our school Community right now so there's a gender fluid students there's non-binary students

108those are different identification and then there's a myriad of things and this policy really is intended to Encompass all of them it's really all-encompassing it so just to like it's a sincere Health belief about your gender identity is respected where you are that may not be on the binary so that may not be I'm identifying as a gender that I was not assigned at Birth that that would be a transgender identification it might be that I identify as both and that changes at times and so this It's Tricky right that's tricky it's hard to understand it's certainly something that's evolved in our culture and Society like for when I grew up this is not something that I grew up being oh informed about and and well at all um and so it's sort of trying

109to learn it and it's hard but that was something that I did question the administration pretty intently on which is you know how do we how do we guarantee parents that we know that that staff know what they're doing and I was very satisfied by the response which is it's not this isn't this is we've never had we never encountered this like we we would understand somebody who's not being authentic and being like uh having Fidelity to this policy and someone who's who's not being sincere that's just not something that they really struggle with but I don't think you can identify the line at which someone's sincere hope belief about their identity happens it's not a light switch it's just not yeah and I almost I would ask maybe differ to you Melissa if we

110tried to Define that could we potentially be in trouble um or in violation of discrimination laws if we try to Define what somebody sincerely held belief is well I don't think you can um it's it because as um as was said it's it's an individual thing what and what we're looking for is sincerity and I I think I completely agree with Diane and having worked with schools all over the state and in New Hampshire um understanding a sincerely held belief is not something that people who work with kids and know these kids day in and day out struggle with they may struggle with how to support them but they don't struggle with understanding whether that's sincere or not um and I think that that part of this is trusting as we've heard we heard over

111and over again I'm trusting these kids to to to be able to express what they're feeling and it is true and I think it's important um that we are talking about gender expansiveness not just transgender our firm put transgender into the name of the policy initially because we wanted that's something that people are more um uh they're more they understand that better so we wanted to say this is about transgender but it's really about gender expansiveness and it's about that whole universe of things that humans students adults everybody can go through and that we want to support it's so can I just jump in real quick if you don't mind um so I first off I wish that the student stayed um because I'd prefer to talk to them directly but um I I think

112we all kind of felt the same way but I can only speak for me that uh it takes a lot of guts to get up there especially in a time when people will judge who you are and what you think and how you visually possibly Show Yourself um possibly how you speak whatever it might be and and so um if those students are listening I just want to commend you and understand that when you go through difficult times this is a great test to show you that you know you guys have the ability to stand up you do have that that bravery to stand up and the courage to do what you feel is right regardless of what might happen right um and so I think that that's very important especially at your age when

113you're dealing with so much so um although they're not here I just want to make sure that I spoke to them hoping that they do actually hear that because I I think that that is something that's you know I as a former teacher and now as a parent and now sitting on the school board and listening to all these different perspectives I put myself in many different shoes as I'm listening to this conversation and there have been many times when I have been the dad when I was also the teacher right and those kids viewed me as their only true parent figure and so they would come to me and try to confide in me certain things and we had to have the conversation about you know in school and I assume it's the you

114know I didn't teach in the Scarborough School District but I taught in three different ones over 11 years that no school district was I ever a part of wasn't like okay we got to keep this a secret now so I I you know maybe this is a a big Assumption of mine but I'm assuming that that's not happening here either and we do have the best interest people don't get into you know education teachers don't get into education to want to honestly deal with these issues because they're challenging um and there is a lot of you know a question around did I handle that right and and whatnot and so you know I think we have to also give our teachers and our staff and our Administration a little more what do I want to

115say um Grace uh to deal with issues like this and quite honestly I think we deserve a little more grace for also having to deal with this because this is a new world for us and this is a new world for you know just uh individuals going through it realizing oh maybe that is how I identify I didn't realize that was an option for me but that's how I felt my whole life right so um I I wanted to speak to the students but I wanted to kind of speak to the Greater Community because I think that it is important to understand that as a board sometimes we we have to come up to the kind of come up to the start line of things that need to be addressed even if it's difficult to

116have this conversation or if we have differing opinions or things like that um so I commend us for at least having that conversation because I think that that's important and granted we do have a policy I also wanted to clarify that because I do feel like I've spoken to people in the community that don't quite understand that there's a policy that exists already it's not like we're recreating the wheel here so I think that is very very important to understand that and this policy was written right what was it like seven years ago um something like that so it's also not you know it's prior to me being here but this was a while ago so um and me reading through this I see a lot more detail to it that I think just to

117me protects the students but I do feel like I see the parents in here the one thing that I would like to see I think at the top of this just because I felt like I was hearing it tonight and it was my one big concern going through this is again the parent involvement um similar to what Carolyn was saying before too so I don't know if there's a place up at the beginning that literally says Our intention is um with this policy where it says this is a collaboration between family school and individual because you know or something similar to I I think fraila put it really eloquently before saying you know the whole intention here was to make sure that parents were included every single step of the way and so we want

118that right as a parent I want that um as a teacher honestly I want that support too right so I'm assume you know I I would assume that that's the case in the classroom as well you know and and I do believe that our counselors go through trainings and things like this and I think that that's where down at the bottom that's important to include as well I would say because I do think staff members need to be trained properly to understand how to have this conversation because when I got into education years ago and I'm not there anymore um there were plenty of topics over the years right like school safety and school shootings I was like this is not what I signed up for the same thing here like having these really hard

119conversations I didn't know that's what I was getting into so I think it's important with a policy like this that we do also have at the bottom e right and so I'm not saying anything needs to be changed there but I think that you know if anybody's questioning hey the vagueness like it's left up to the superintendent or something like that I think that it is important to do that because teachers don't go get their bachelor's and their master's degree Pro you know they don't go through those programs and take a class on how to have these difficult conversations so I think that it's important that if we're going to move forward with this that we genuinely think about what are some of those PD conversations that we can have to educate our teachers um

120and maybe we invite family in excuse me to be a part of that and that's a way to to kind of collaborate with the community and show that hey this isn't again a behind the scenes thing that is in no way shape or form Our intention of this that if we're going to have a PDS to how we talk to our you know our teachers and we would invite family to be a part of that potentially um I'm kind of just speaking freely but I think that you know there's a lot that I support here I would just like to really see it strongly affirmed early on that yes Our intention is to have parents involved throughout the process that's a way to get around the clarity that I'm I'm perplexed about so what if

121on the in the second paragraph of the purpose where it says administrators and School staff are expected to consider the needs of students on a case-by-case basis and to follow this policy and other available resources is appropriate What if after students are expected to consider the students needs on a Case by the case basis comma work in partnership with parents and Guardians and to follow this policy and other available resources then you're conveying the intention to be a partnership with family rather than anything else does that work that sounded good can you just repeat it again okay so work in Partnership right now it says administrators and School staff are expected to consider the needs of students on a case-by-case basis and to follow this policy and other available resources as appropriate the friendly Amendment

122would say administrators and School staff are expected to consider the needs of students on a case-by-case basis work in partnership with parents Guardians and to follow this policy and other available resources as appropriate yes [Laughter] yeah I think that gets that exactly what we're saying like you know it's I think the hard piece about this well really any policy is trying to find the line between what is the state law cover what is federal law cover what are we going to cover in our policy and then trying to make sure you come up with all of the applicable scenarios that could apply and I know one constituent wrote us and said this should hold up to the test of time right and B if it's not us sitting in these seats if it's not Jeff

123and Diane sitting in these seats would this would our intentions shine through in this policy and so I think when you work on something so much you feel like you're there and then it becomes perplexing when we're not quite there right and how do we fix that so that it's clear to everybody involved that if anybody picks up this policy that's not sitting at this table right now they can totally follow this with what we intended them to follow and I have to I I have to say I thank you for your suggestion I think that's wonderful um yeah and I know you guys have put in a ton of a ton of work and it's greatly appreciated because I know how it started and where it's evolved and I I I see that work

124having put into being brought forth and put that fruit coming to Bear here um and I think in my mind where my a lot of my questions come from is you know I'm I see the news and I hear the stories and it frightens me to to you know what is happening in other school districts and so I read this through that lens of I want to make sure it's so tight that that can't happen here can I speak to that because I I've definitely been thinking about this a lot I know there's um I I'm not happy that there's a lawsuit but I am excited the opportunity to see more clarification perhaps in a few years come from a lawsuit that was filed yesterday that has to do a lot with exactly the heart

125of the issue that I hear being debated um which I don't think really this policy is implicated but I we're having a conversation but it's not about this policy so I'm struggling with sort of that those two things but I was talking to someone about this exact case um and I'm in a reference to their muscata case uh that's on issue and um and sort of the actions that happened in that case and I said let's follow through what we know about what happened from reading the paper knowing that that's probably not 100 accurate but if School staff did something got involved in this situation parents were kept in the dark and then um you know some physical items were provided in support of the student that were maybe medically maybe not I think that'll

126be determined um but sort of like a secret was kept right that's a perception about what happened whatever the reality is will be flesh out in a different race but sort of that's the concern is that the staff member is taking a student by the hand don't tell like I'm not gonna tell your parents you don't have to tell your parents I know better than your parents about what you need to help you I'm going to give you material support on this journey I'm gonna do it like kind of on my own but what happened in that case is that that was not policy like that person wasn't following a policy and I don't think you can write a policy that'll cover every possible outcome that is unintended in that so like you can't possibly

127think of every everything that could go possibly wrong and write a policy for anomalous situations where people were likely breaching policy right like like I don't think that what happened there does not sound like it was appropriate not having personal knowledge reading it from the paper but it it is certainly as a parent frightening to think that a staff member out of school would take my child and actively encourage them to hide really important information there's no way to write a policy that would stop somebody from from doing something that they shouldn't do right like like it's a piece of paper they should follow it if you don't follow a policy their disciplinary actions a lot better to Diane and Jeff I think that process like we refer them and so if somebody is doing

128something that's wrong the pop that's you know that should be the policy but we can't draft a policy to think about every possible thing that could go wrong like that that's just not possible we have to draft a policy with the with the assumption that it'll be followed by staff members with some Fidelity right like that's we have to assume good intentions on the part of our staff I don't think we have to I think from what I've seen our staff is extremely dedicated and I think I can very very much infer good intentions from our staff members and so we we have to assume with our policies that they will be followed and they'll be put in practice I don't think we can write a policy that stops somebody from doing something like that's

129not intended by the policy and that's like my concern so I can't we can't fight the situation in Damariscotta through this policy like there's nothing we can draft in here that's good that that'll stop that situation from happening or many of the others I mean they're all over the country I've heard of them as well um and they are frightening like that is scary I don't think we can write a policy that'll that'll make people feel like and I don't want people to think that we can write a policy that will stop somebody who's intending on doing something wrong we can't do that with policy we can't do it with criminal laws I can tell you that much how much time do you have we can't do it with policy we have to write policy

130for what we want people to do we tighten up the language so it wasn't guidance it wasn't should it wasn't you know it it's intended to be you well you will do this and if you don't do this you are in violation of this policy go to the principal's office whatever the form that has been in this industry like that's that that's a disciplinary action and um and so that's what I'm struggling with when it got to the policy all of the fears that I've heard about that I share in some instances that I when I think about what I want for my children you know I want to know that if one of my children comes out um and is gender diverse um or gender expansive or whatever they identify with I want to

131make sure that they come into a school where they will be supported that if they're being harassed or bullied between no disproportionately happens to this vulnerable population that staff members have something to go to to make sure that they are supported you know I hope that I know that ahead of time one of the things that gave me great um comfort is when a conversation ahead of Diane where I just kept going after has this ever happened have you had a situation where you've encountered a student whose family had no idea and that you know we're struggling I that's not something that we can assume never happens like that that is something that this policy should should consider and does but but in reality our parents do know their kids parents know their kids they

132understand if their kids are going through through situations they might know exactly the ever workings of every teenage brain who does but like they know there's something going on and so that that relationship has to be built between parents and children and again the school is so supportive but we're not at that table we can't be um we just can support the students as they come and again invite invite parents in you know we would never have a meeting about any other topic at school that a parent wasn't invited to that was defining minute for this policy that was important to us parents were not optional they were in some of the other policies they're not optional parents are invited you can't force anyone to the table but you can invite everybody in investment policies

133intended we really do invited people in I just add that you know reading through the policy and you know I'm not part of the policy committee I'm not part of the Dei committee so I do commend you guys for putting in the hard work and getting the language as best as you can get it to um I think the way that it's written right now is actually worded in a way that supports parent involvement a lot better it opens up an opportunity for parents to get involved it's it's listing ways that we can we can say we're going to support the child as they go through we can't force them to do anything so we can support them in their Journey along this way so I I think the wording the time you guys put

134into this to get it where it is I think to Brian's point I think you know maybe we can tighten up the purpose a little bit more just to make it very clear that this is a partnership like um like you said up there and I think I think the way that it's written right now it is very supportive of both sides children's rights and parental rights do you do you you feel that there's pieces that are unclear though I wanted to go back to that there there were a couple of words that we could just I'd make into shell maybe we missed we our whole we really want to make sure that staff knew felt supported they knew what they were but anybody looking at it knew what exactly was going to happen so

135if it's not we're reading it we we definitely want to get there yeah absolutely I think there's just there's a couple places I noticed where there was should um instead of shall or will or you know whatever um the proper terminology is just to make it crystal crystal clear and away my away my fears you email those to us at the next policy meeting I'll make sure we get it all absolutely absolutely and just a quick question hopefully a quick question on C3 it talks about um uh notif notifying the parents um let me read it here again you familiarize myself is there is there any tightening up as to um you know how much time can elapse before a parent is is notified um it's just a question that popped into my mind while

136I was reading it I'm like well how long I'm just wondering how long it can take before a parent is notified I mean is it in my mind it should be like you know days or a week whatever but yeah so I think there's two different questions here okay under the policy um this is this is in the planned policy so it would be in time to invite them to the meeting which is okay a minute because this I mean this should be an issue that needs to be addressed so it wouldn't it shouldn't be long but again it's not triggered by it's this is triggered by a meeting so if a meeting is scheduled that's when a parent will be informed after the student is notified so it gives the students to write a

137notification okay is there any uh any statute that would say like oh you know I know with an IEP there's up to a certain amount of time I mean we would want to act on it right away I mean I think that's clear because it's a support no just to be clear there's no statute that requires the notification that's a local decision um so so that wouldn't I think um just from sort of a legal standpoint putting a time limit in a policy would be unworkable if the parents are in China or the parents are you know I I mean you can't you don't want to have people violating a policy because of things that aren't in their control um I I think what what you're saying here is and I think it's clear from

138the policy we're gonna the parents are part of this and so I think um anybody reading this policy knows we got to make that happen this part I think is just to make it clear that as a practical manner we're going to let the kid go home and tell tell his parents before we call and do that and we do that I think in education on a lot of other things um before you tell the parents you let the student talk to its parents first now that makes that makes sense and I was just yeah maybe it's just my accounting brain versus policy brain and in Conflict here um getting in the way uh to understanding that okay section c you know it does say support plans at the top but I guess I I

139think I'm muddying it with others other so I could think I need to focus more that c is really support plans but I had to do that too honestly Carolyn yeah and um I I think I said this at least 582 times in policy meetings what is the purpose of this section yeah what is the purpose of this section what is the purpose of the section because it's easy to kind of go down that road of okay well what if this then what you know what I mean yeah so if I went down that rabbit hole Yeah Yeah so I think it's I think it's totally understandable yeah I should have attended all those meetings and I could be totally caught up with you um okay um at the the last sentence on C6 where

140it talks about um the superintendent shall be consulted um so what does this mean it does it mean that the superintendent makes the final decision or it does okay and let me explain why okay so this we would like ideally for everybody at the table to come to consensus right like that's the goal if there's an element that there is not consensus this is a school plan okay for things that happen within the school and so it the person who makes the is the final Arbiter of what happens in the school as the superintendent so this would we don't anticipate this happening these plans have been drafted for quite a while so this is this is not this is not a new process that's going to start with this policy it's an ongoing process that

141we're really refining um and I don't believe this has ever been required to my knowledge I've actually asked if we've ever had this issue happen and we haven't the the people at the table hopefully centering the students needs have been able to reach consensus on what happens at the school but at the final person who has a final say of what happens within the School building on a school plan should be the superintendent not what happens with the student like the student is there's parents responsibility but what functionally happens within the school that's a superintendent's call um and then I think I had a few questions on what I was looking at the clean copy and when I'm comparing the clean copy to the strikethrough version on the support plan there was some things on

142the clean copy or on the strikethrough version that were stricken through but not stricken through on the clean copy as far as the support plan so I'm gonna assume [Music] that so it's the ACAA um so I'm going to assume that maybe the clean what was attached to the clean maybe just didn't have the stripe was the pre -clean maybe okay let me go look really quick so um it all protects and it could be my printing done um so you have the sample plan that that one that says um DSD I'm sorry dwm sample plan at the top that was on the website is that the one your timeout okay uh no I'm looking at a c a a e um yeah that's this one right draft on it yeah yeah so the Dr

143the draft is okay so that's I think that's the clean yes so on the strikethrough version um the changes are on the working yeah that's all yes I was just curious we um I have quite yeah honestly um due to strike through the no this has been a we made edits in our meeting okay that somehow didn't save and so we had to go back in and make edits a second time and I'm I'm guessing from I'm hearing from Diane they maybe didn't carry through again okay nope that's fine I just wanted to make sure because I I was pretty good with strikethrough version um so I just wanted to double check on that yeah I think if you go by the strikethrough version okay uh and then we can work through why those didn't

144carry over to the draft no that's yeah technology is great until it's not I get it and for clarification I guess that is uh the 2022 working policy for 6 23. okay um can I ask a question really quick um Melissa I think this is for you I want to go back to a question we were asked earlier um because I'm not clear I'm just mulling in in my head and I'm not I don't believe this is the place but this policy is the place but I want to get your your thoughts so I asked you the first question restroom in locker room use is protected by state law the the case has moved before The Supreme Court um I understand that piece and I appreciate you affirming that for me tonight my question is

145the question we were asked earlier what about students that um uh would not would prefer to not be in a locker room or a restroom with a trans a student who is transgender or gender expansive I don't I guess I'm unclear on what their rights are I don't know if I'm making sense I I think I I think you are and I think that um a lot of schools if somebody's not comfortable with that they'll they'll provide a a another place for someone who's not comfortable um but what the the way the law looks at this and I'm just going to tell tell you the legal way is that um if you can't discriminate you can't describe even if people aren't comfortable with the person who's different um you still can't discriminate so take it

146to a um something we would all understand if um back in the day maybe I was the only person alive um and maybe we were maybe I wasn't even alive then so let's go with that um so we're desegregating and so now we have um uh students of color using a bathroom and there might have been white kids who were not comfortable with that and the law says we don't care you need to either we're going to let everybody use the bathroom and if you're uncomfortable then we'll try to find someplace else for you or we won't but that's the way that a court and the Human Rights Commission would look at the same issue with a gen transgender or gender expansive student does that make sense that does okay undressing and changing clothes I'm

147sorry we can't take we can't engage in the back and forth yeah so maybe the question to ask is what do we do as Scarborough school to accommodate children who may be uncomfortable what what what amenities do we have for for children that don't want to share a bathroom or a locker room so I think to Melissa's point if a student was uncomfortable sharing a locker room that student who is uncomfortable could utilize a more private facility you know at the middle school for example like all of our most of the bathrooms there are unisex so you know there there aren't the group bathrooms it's just the way the school is built and organized and um you know but certainly if there was someone who said I feel awkward or uncomfortable then the school would

148make an accommodation for the person who felt uncomfortable not for the person that they feel uncomfortable with and there are special bathrooms is that correct that if a student needed a separate I believe that's in actually yeah we've identified unisex bathrooms across all of our buildings yeah so does unisex mean like single stall or what what does that mean yeah okay all right thank you and that's not just for I mean that's for students who are uncomfortable for a whole wide range so we're not treating um gender expansive students differently than anybody else if you're uncomfortable using a group um facility we're going to provide you some privacy that that will make you comfortable it's all about making people feel comfortable I can think yeah I would say that to me that and I can

149use my personal life you know you go to the gym and there are plenty of guys in an open locker room that literally just you know get naked and change themselves I have never been that person so I prefer to go get changed and installed because it's more comfortable to me now are they other men that are in there yeah you know but for me it's what's more comfortable so I do what makes me feel more comfortable and I honestly I think I had a similar question that was asked but I think your analogy of going back to segregation I mean I don't think there's a better analogy than that so I I think that's spot on in terms of the law are there any other questions discussion comments one more on the uh on

150the strike through version of the red line version of the support plan um on F I think it's f um where on number three and number six I just found it odd that we lump parents or Community together I just feel like they're two completely different but maybe it's just me getting fussy but two completely different um I don't believe that was in reference to this the parents of the student okay it is other parents in general or community members okay okay so should I think that you bring up a good clarification because it does say other students so maybe it should just say other parents yeah I don't know I'm still trying to get to the crust the new app in the section under dialogue okay okay so I'm sorry tell us one more

151time under up the parents yeah under F dialogue number three and number six um to Brian's point maybe add other parents it actually wasn't it was actually parents we had this discussion back and forth and the reason we the reason we wanted this was the parents are at the table so this isn't like happening in the secret this is not hiding anything but this is very clear so that the student knows and I think this might be more in so it's actually easier with change under students than it would be the gender fluid student because the way you refer to a gender fluid student would change perhaps um but this is an agreement with the student and the parent there ideally or at least invited to be there and the billing administrator about how stock

152will refer to this student um moving forward so how is this teacher stopping or how is the school going to talk to the student about the student to other students how are they going to talk about the students and staff members and how are they going to refer to this person in the community and with their parents but the parents they are it's not the parents not there the parent is part of that conversation um in the same way also the student is also going to as an identified it's going to be documented what the student says at that meeting how are they going to refer to themselves to other students how are they going to refer to themselves to other staff members and how are they going to refer to themselves to their parents

153in their Community because they may be different right like an example like a concert or something with theme the student may not want the wide community to know their what whatever may may they may have chosen so they may stick with something else for for something like that but no way this is behind the parents back this the parent is at the table and part of drafting of this plan so and they're entitled to a copy of it so the very first part of this plan says though our parents aware of the student's gender status and that seems confusing to me we took that out that was supposed to be stuck there oh okay I just have an old thing yeah okay you did the right thing yeah that's right that out yeah so if

154I go if I go back to the uh the new app the dialogue so just uh Carolyn does that does that seem to make sense or did you I I'm I think I missed what you asked to change it to you yeah no it just seemed like a broad a very broad lumping of parents or Community because parents and Community are two completely different things we could add another box that was actually my what I was thinking yeah because the thought was kids full community but we could certainly widen the Box yeah I would appreciate that I would just add that again this is a plan that we've been using even though it you know wasn't under policy and procedure and so in its current format it's been utilized with what I just described which

155is what will when other parents ask what will be the agreement as to what is said okay so you know that um I just wanted to point out that okay okay got those thank you do you have any other questions or or edits you made it through my list we did thank you absolutely yeah all right yeah are there any other questions or dialogue questions from Melissa well she's here any other comments all right thank you so should I sit down yes thank you for inviting us today Melissa we appreciate it all right so um we've had our discussion okay so let's um we are all in person so we can vote via hands um all in favor of the first reading um remember we bundled first reading a policy a c a a transgender

156and gender expansive students and the first reading of policy a c a a a e transgender student support plan um all in favor can I get clarity on that so because it sounds like there's some edits that still need to be made yeah so what happens is we are approving the first reading so then the edits will go back to the policy committee which is meeting the 10th 10th and then we will discuss in in and and put those edits in and when you get it at second reading it will have Incorporated um like I Incorporated the changes that's what I just want to make sure so we're just approving the first reading of it tonight okay so um all in favor in all opposed you can abstain yeah okay so one abstain okay perfect

157thank you okay and then I'm going to bundle 11.3 11.4 11.5 and 11.6 which is um the meeting minutes of March 13th 2023 FY 24 budget Workshop session one meeting minutes of March 15th 2023 FY 24 budget Workshop session number two the meeting minutes of March 16th 2023 the workshop in the meeting minutes of March 16 2023 business meeting do I have a motion to approve those as presented oh moved second any discussion all in favor perfect it's unanimous thank you um okay agenda item 11.7 is of appointments our appointments excuse me 11.7.1 is the director of curriculum and assessment uh first of all I'm I'm gonna actually turn this over to uh Diane and and thank her for her leadership and and leading up uh the search committee for our next curriculum director uh

158who is here this evening and um I wanted to give um her the opportunity to meet everyone and then also for for Diane to say a few words if you wouldn't mind absolutely so uh Katie vitro who is here this evening has been chosen to build this position due to retirement uh Katie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from E main Farmington and her master of science and teaching and learning from the University of Southern Maine she has been both a classroom teacher and instructional coach a Tech coach for nine years she's also served as a pre-k5 dean of students and uh an assistant principal for the last three years um Katie came really highly recommended to us for a variety of reasons um and I just want to highlight those here um

159things that were said about Katie was uh her very collaborative instructional leadership uh that she's demonstrated at at the building level uh her ability to serve as a resource and thinking partner to those around her and those people that she works with and her laser focus on meeting the needs of students and in talking with Katie over the last couple of uh interviews that we've had with her in our time in in both of our panels that participated in part of the committee it was very evident to both committees that Katie's heart is definitely with curriculum and instruction and so we are very excited to recommend her to all of you this evening and Katie if you would like to come up to the mic and say a couple of words that would be wonderful

160yeah thank you um as they said my name is Katie Beecher I've been in education for over 15 years now and most importantly when I think about what am I about educationally you'll certainly get to know that over time because I'm pretty outspoken about the things I'm passionate about but it always comes back to providing students with educational experiences from the first step in the door in kindergarten to when they graduate two thousand three hundred one days later um providing those educational experiences that lead to competence incompetence it's what I always go back to are are our students competent and confident to choose the pathways they want to pursue in life that's our job as Educators um so I'm excited to bring that passion to Scarborough and really get to dive into this district and

161work with you thank you Katie thank you all right so do I have a motion to approve the director of curriculum and assessment don't move second okay is there any discussion right well I will just say congratulations then welcome um so with that um all in favor all right it's unanimous thank you and congratulations thank you all right 11.7.2 is the Scarborough High School spring coaches yeah that would just uh bundle all of these names high school and middle school together for approval 11.7.3 because Scarborough middle school as spring coaches as presented so moved second is there any discussion all right all in favor perfect is unanimous thank you um agenda item 12.0 is adjournment do I have a motion to adjourn oh moved second is there any discussion all right all in favor thank

162you and have a good evening