School Board 8/9/21

001okay all right good evening everyone we'll call the meeting to order and begin with the pledge of under allegiance indivisible with liberty and justice for all mrs mclean may i have a roll call please here mrs mcginnis here ms catalina here mrs egan here mrs crane here mr nead here mrs horst here this meeting is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public community hearing there is time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in agenda items three and nine item two is approval of the consent agenda may i have a motion please i move that the board of education approves the consent agenda as presented report mrs mclean may i have a roll call vote

002please mrs crane yes miss catalina yes mr nead yes mr heyer yes mrs mcginnis yes mrs egan yes mrs horst yes the motion carries item three is citizen's request to address the board you are given two opportunities to address the board under item 3.1 you can request to address the board thank you about any topic that is on tonight's agenda under item nine you are welcome to address the board on any topic when making comments please state your name and address and direct your comments to mrs kelly horst president each person may speak for up to two minutes per established procedures the board will not respond to questions or interact with the speaker during public comment we are happy to hear from everyone who is here tonight and wishes to address the board as long

003as our procedures are followed we have many new faces in the audience tonight and i have a feeling many issues on which you wish to speak to us so for those of you who may be new or here for the first time to address the board let me go over those very quickly and then mrs mclean will help us along with our procedures first and foremost you must sign in if you wish to address the board there is a sign-in table over here with a sheet you can see some of your fellow citizens signing in tonight you must sign in if you wish to address the board that is the way you get recognized by the chair there are certain things that are not allowed when you are making comments to the board profanity personal

004attacks or grievances against individuals will not be heard by the board please keep your attention and your comments directed up front and to us please and then finally for anyone who desires two-way communication or additional conversation the best way to do that is not here tonight but with direct content contact either with dr ryan for operational issues related to school or the district or with me related to board policy so those are our procedures again right now if you know you wish to address the board and want to sign in now mrs mclean is going to go ahead and make a copy so i can look and see if we have anyone who wishes to address the board on any of our agenda items which are mostly action items tonight so i can call on

005you when we get to that action item we will do this again at item nine so i have a list of whoever wishes to address the board when we get to item nine but again if you want to address the board you must sign in so mrs mclean it looks like we have a pause in the action if you would like to make a quick copy for me so once she takes this sheet another one will be put down and if you feel as though during while or while the meeting progresses if you wish to address us when we get to item nine that sheet will be there and you may certainly walk over and sign in and i will remind you when we get to item nine you will have another opportunity to sign

006up thank you mrs mclean great nothing on our action items tonight okay we'll move on to superintendent update item 4 dr ryan thank you president good evening everyone and i appreciate your attendance this evening as a superintendent of clarkson schools and as a parent in the district your engagement involvement as part of the school process is incredibly important if you look at the big picture clarkson community schools is a reflection of our community it is our it community educates our children becomes the center focal point of the majority of what we do in clarkston and we're tremendously proud of what our parents our families have brought to clarkston and our administrators our teachers our bus drivers and our board members everyone affiliated with clarkson schools knows this is really a bigger part of a community

007and this evening we're seeing that community in action and i've listened to dozens of parents over the last several days and taken emails from many dozen more in exchanges of sharing their viewpoints and although i published a return to school document i felt in light of the comments that i received some of them deserved at least an update looking at some of the thoughts i was able to kind of transpire and be able to share in front of public comment tonight so i wanted to kind of look at it from from the viewpoint vantage point of the superintendent and that i prepared a couple thoughts in advance to make sure i had everything clear this evening and now we are a year and a half into the pandemic and like most public school superintendents i

008know enough about kovid 19 to know that we aren't out of the woods yet superintendents are not medical professionals but lately important medical decisions have come to rest on school administrators michigan schools have been given broad recommendations about coba mitigation strategies from the health department agencies like the center of disease control and the michigan department of health and human services and i want to remind our community that both agencies including our local health department are responsible for evaluating and responding to threats in public health and both agencies have the authority to issue public health orders yet as of today they have stopped short of this some have asked why i did not issue a district level mandate specifically requiring mass for all students and staff i've read and responded most if not all the emails

009i've received at this point and i do not challenge the validity of the concerns our community has brought forth to me however school districts rely on public health authorities to evaluate public health issues and advise us with clear directives if they merit a universal mandate if the cdc mdhhs or the oakland county health division wanted everyone in masks at school they have the authority to make it so within their experience within their par view and within their scope as public health agencies but they have not done that at this time voluntary use of masks at school is encouraged but not mandated by health officials i communicated last week that in the absence of this clear directives we anticipate opening schools on august 30th with a mask optional policy this could change with new mandates from

010the county or state health departments and if it does we will enforce those mandates it goes without saying that the key strategy for staying in school in person achieving high levels of code 19 vaccination in our community is critical together with federal state and local health authorities i will continue to strongly recommend that eligible students teachers and staff and household members get the covid19 vaccine as soon as possible and supported by their medical advisor it is also important to remember that we can still incorporate things that we used in the last year like frequent hand washing outdoor learning opportunities and physical spacing wherever we can as always we will continue to monitor conditions and respond accordingly lastly i will say it again public schools belong to the public they belong to all of you sitting

011here tonight and the broader community they belong to this board of education and our staff most of all our public schools belong to the 7 100 unique and special students that we have instead of drawing lines of division within our community it is critically important that we respect one another's personal choices without mocking shaming or accusing those who think differently than we do as parents grandparents and community members we must model for our children a culture of kindness and understanding of the varying tolerances comfort levels and circumstances affecting this decision it's not easy right now to be a parent school administrator a public health official or anybody in our country i believe right now there are struggles at every level and i think we have to look at where schools are being placed is not

012in my at least desire to be in the middle of a community dissension between people who believe one way and people believe another i can assure you everyone that i spoke to over the last several weeks in this week believe that they are absolutely advocating for the best of their children they believe it's critical to the safety whether they feel like they should have or not have a mask they believe their child's life depends on it in their mind and i'm not in a position to tell them what they feel about their children i'm in a position to listen collectively to our community and i do have a doctorate it is not in public health and it's not medicine and i understand in a bigger political sense of this country the entire covid vaccine the

013entire covet pandemic and our response to it has been pretty much completely transformed into a political issue as your local school board and school district we're simply asking to provide choice for the families that we have here until we get the guidance that we desire from our local health department and it's more than just directives you should all know the last year that we had a major presence by oakland county health division in our schools we had epidemiological nurses that were assigned to our schools those nurses have been pulled there's no funding or lack of desire to continue them from the health department in our in our hallways nora in a way that they can support us in our day-to-day working of our school district we need better than that as a community we need

014better than that as a county and as a state in my mind not being political at all we need a cohesive collective strategy not one that relies on local school boards and superintendents to have to pull the trigger to make these decisions in a way for everybody's public health after i presented laid out what i was presented with i'm fully able to be able to cooperate with our families in clarkston and our public health division i look forward to their continued involvement but i am not going to be put in a position where we're at the last stage last draw nationwide of making public health decisions i don't think it's fair to anyone in this audience i don't think it's fair to our community our favorite state we should demand that public health decisions are

015provided in that kind of language to public schools so that's where we stand this evening i felt whether you agree or disagree with me with the issue with at hand i wanted to be very clear where i stood and where we're standing as a school district as we approached the start of school so i appreciate your attendance i would very much appreciate your comments in regards to this and we will continue to move forward as i outlined in my communication last week at this time thank you president horse trustees any questions or comments for dr ryan okay thank you we'll move on uh there are no presentation items tonight we'll move on to six action items six point one is approval of personnel changes may i have a motion please the board of education approves

016the personnel changes as listed on the attach sheets support any questions or comments from the board saying none all in favor say aye aye any opposed that motion carries item 6.2 is approval of the resolution authorizing the open enrollment of waitlisted kindergarten and young five students for the 2021 2021-22 school year may i have a motion please i move that the board of education approves the resolution authorizing the open enrollment of waitlisted kindergarten and young five students for the 2021-22 school year as presented support any questions or comments from the board seeing none mrs mclean may i have a roll call vote please mr need yes mrs egan yes mrs crane yes mr heyer yes ms catalina yes mrs mcginnis yes mrs horst yes the motion carries item 6.3 is approval of the school loan

017revolving fund resolution may i have a motion please i move the board of education approves a resolution for participation in the school bond qualification and loan program as presented any questions or comments from the board seeing none mrs mclean may i have a roll call vote please mrs crane yes mrs mcginnis yes mr nead yes mrs egan yes ms catalina yes mr heyer yes mrs horst yes the motion carries item 6.4 is approval of textbook purchase for the forensic science course may i have a motion please i move that the board of education approves the purchase of 210 forensic science in introduction textbooks for the forensic science course at chs for a total of thirty three thousand twenty four dollars and sixteen cents as presented support any questions or comments from the board noting that

018this is just an update of the current edition needed and we are approving it because of the amount all in favor say aye aye any opposed the motion carries 6.5 is approval of ocsba resolutions and bylaw amendments may i have a motion please sorry sorry about that i move that the board of education votes to approve the recommended ocsba resolution bylaws amendments as presented support i know mrs mcginnis had something she wanted to bring up regarding the documentation as the previous ocsba board member from clarkson and past 13 years i'm familiar with the um background which is what they were using to need to change the bylaws here and basically it's just not necessary the um what they're trying to do is because nobody applied for my position before the deadline but after the deadline

019they did they want to eliminate the position so because there is a person out there and i have confirmed with that person today that they are still interested in the position i see the rev um the amendment to this bylaw unnecessary because their attempt was to reduce the board of directors and that's not necessary any other comments or discussion i agree with you i think that narrowing it is a mistake i think that i would say we do not pass this do you would you be able to relay back our concerns to the board yes i'd be more than happy to i have had dialogue with many of them today regarding this and um waiting for some additional background information from them i am i'm very um concerned of the message that this elimination of

020the board of director positions tells the county in um i think that i that our representation of how we stand on this is something that they need to hear i appreciate uh mrs mcginnis your service to the ocsba board i think you know i i i think i was involved when the first round of bylaws came about um i think you've been involved in the incorporation process and subsequent bylaws i'm not familiar with another non-profit organization that has a variability in their board size and i think unfortunately that could be used to say let's shrink the board if we don't want somebody you know that person you know coming on board and while it's not written exactly like that i have i share the same concern that you brought up as i go through this

021i wonder that the chief mission in my mind of ocs ba is to provide professional development to us as local school districts in oakland county and i wonder why we need positions you know we don't have a lobbyist as ocsba we don't inform a lobbyist as ocsba we are more than capable and our 28 school districts are coming up with our own positions we already have formal process to adopt positions as school districts so i really feel like we're complicating matters to to just host some professional development opportunities here and and i think we might need to just take a breath and take a step back and and think about you know the extra work which was a rationale of why maybe people didn't want to do it i don't know that that's the case

022um i think it it makes sense to communicate that back and maybe start a dialogue because as far as i know we've elected these board members and they've run with it and and we haven't had the chance obviously in the last year and a half to have a dialogue um and now might be the time i appreciate those comments mr hyer i i actually also really feel that this um this type of bylaw change is far more appropriate at an in-person meeting than just saying yes to a piece of paper and having it done without as much eyes on it i think and i think that unfortunately i think too many boards will look at this and just go yeah you know and pass it and not really look at in fact i had i

023had a conversation with a board member in another district today who didn't even receive the email and some of the other implications of the 25 percent quorum for the subcommittees directly affected the work that he does with ocsba as a non-board of director member and as a committee chair so i just think that some of the work that they're doing is getting a little bit too complicated and i think they're kind of setting themselves up for exactly the problem that they think that they have that they really don't have because there are candidates out there is it your recommendation that we vote no yes it would be my recommendation to not support this proposed resolution any other questions from the board okay so this is a roll call vote because it is a resolution and

024so a yes vote would approve all of the proposed amendments and resolutions and a no vote would not approve it all right mrs mclean may i have a roll call vote please mrs egan no mr heyer no mr need no mrs crane no miss catalina no mrs mcginnis no mrs horst no the motion fails item seven is report items there are none item eight is discussion items there are none item nine is citizens comments citizens are welcome to address the board on any topic at this point on the agenda so i have one full sheet of citizens who wish to address the board and now would be a good time if you are not on this sheet and you would like to address the board at this point on the agenda to go ahead and

025please sign up on the sheet that is now over on that table uh and so we will close that sheet when we finish with this sheet and then mrs mclean will bring that sheet up to me so we will go ahead and begin and please remember our rules of decorum that you will have two minutes to address the board and um we are keeping it clean and we are keeping it respectful tonight thank you very much we will start with holly lorrigan and please when you get to the microphone state your name and address and you will have your two minutes hello my name is holly lorrigan and my address is 9164 kelly lake drive clarkson so mrs horse addressing you as president all of the members received a letter i sent to you early

026this morning and actually i'm very happy that i attended today and got to hear superintendent dr ryan speak because it made me realize that he is aware of what needs to be done but his hands are tied and so that tells me as a physician in the medical community i need to go to dr caldoon and make sure that we do the right things in the community because i feel like you know what should be done you know we know that we need to vaccinate we know we need to do contact tracing we know we need to do sanitizing and three feet distancing and mass mandates but until the medical community stops forth and puts the mandate i feel like that's what you guys are waiting for and i know that dr ryan's sheet that

027came out was the day before the actual mandates and revisions came from the cdc and the michigan department of human health services also the american academy of pediatrics all recommend the same thing so vaccination is going to be our main stay but if you look at our community and i compiled the data our community is very low vaccination rates so if we look at oakland county [Applause] i'm not really sure why that's a funny thing you know um physicians are working tirelessly to save your lives so i'm not really sure why that would be a clapping and exciting yeah please keep your attention up here so anyways the vaccination rate currently in oakland county is 56.23 percent and 60.70 first dose but then when we look at children it's even less so children 32.9 percent

028have initiated 27.4 completed the vaccination in the 12 to 15 year group so currently the ua eua has only recommended vaccination for 12 and above so all of those children less than 12 are basically at high high risk morgan thank you so much that's two minutes [Applause] next is desiree leon my name is desiree leon i live in clarkston michigan um i just wanted to make a statement we have been contacted by a whistleblower who is an official from another school district this past week districts across the state received an email that said more federal money is coming tens of millions of dollars even for the wealthier districts possibly 13 to 15 million for a district like clerkston but there are strings attached and those strings are to mandate masks for our kids this fall

029do you remember the american rescue plan from march it also had strings attached to embed crt dei into our existing curriculum in all classes even math and language arts do you see a pattern does this sound like transparency i'll repeat it more federal money is coming tens of millions of dollars but in order to receive it they have to mandate masks yeah i would just like to clarify clarkson schools has received no such communication i'm not aware of anything from the federal government that would involve mandates in any of the areas from crt or anything else was mentioned another school district had that i would hope i believe that would be on the news channels and that would be something that would be broader than individual school districts so not saying i've not that it

030couldn't exist but it has not been notified of part of clarkson schools or any other school district that i know of next is doug jenkins hello everyone my name is doug jenkins i live in oakhurst ridge in clarkston i've had four kids go through the system two clarkston schools and one presently going through um i'm going to start by saying i think every parent in clarkston everyone i've met at least wants equality everyone wants that however we want to also be fed proper information we don't want to be deceived and a lot of us believe the school board has deceived us as you know i've been in communication with some of you regarding this so with that said i did receive the playbook that goes to all schools all school board members who are going

031to participate in dei slash crt and they are one in the same and the playbook does state it which i do have here everybody if anyone wants a copy let me know i'll get it to you i received this from a school board member from another district um that district turned it down they believed the the um the training they had to go through they believe the programs that they were being taught were way too left this form as i stated i believe everybody wants equality but our kids need to be taught without an agenda okay um this is being presented through the michigan association of school boards a board member here tonight is the vice president of this and soon to be president i believe they have trainings if you decide to join on

032there's trainings these trainings i believe are in lansing and from what i've seen so far we have a lot more information but for my what i've read it's an indoctrination okay um i think being forthright is key anytime you have communication and you have disagreements communication is key but if one side is not being forthright if one side is not being candid it's going to go nowhere and with all due respect i don't believe i'm what i've been receiving and what a lot of parents have been receiving is being candid i'll leave everybody with this the last thing i'll state is thank you mr speaker disagrees with this is being called thank you mr jenkins right an extremist so this is their mindset thank you mr dinkins [Applause] next we have hillary kubler hillary coogler

0339244 lake ridge drive we don't need mandates to do what's right for kids in this community we didn't have a mandate for alice training we don't have a mandate for school bus transportation there are a lot of things that we do for the betterment of our students that are not mandates diversity and equity and inclusion are not just words to stamp on a shiny brochure and market because it's the next buzzword in education as a parent with two children who receive special education services in this district equity and inclusion are especially two things i have been advocating for for the last several years equity and reading instruction because to continue to leave two-thirds of our general population behind in reading by using instruction that doesn't follow the science of reading and inclusion for students with

034neurodiversity who are often left out whether socially or academically especially in our secondary buildings in fact i've met with almost every administrator at the secondary level including stacy pusio because of the how excluded my son has been the district has continually overlooked the largest sub-segment of population since i moved here 12 years ago and dr ryan your decision on thursday to forego any mitigation efforts to stem off what is the largest pandemic the world has seen in a century has me sickened your position like your position you position this like parents have a choice but many of us in fact don't have a choice students with learning challenges who require special education services overwhelmingly struggle in virtual instruction not only does this subgroup struggle in any type of virtual learning but many of them have

035complex medical comorbidities put them a high risk for covid so what choice are you leaving parents do i choose my child's health or do i choose their education we now have the know-how to mitigate this virus in our schools you bragged about it last year we have a way to keep most kids in person in school without virus spread and we are refusing to do it so once again the students who need face-to-face instruction the most are asked to be are the first to be excluded we have moved forward as we move forward with diversity equity and inclusion thank you mrs cooper please keep these students in mind because they have been historically excluded from our public education thank you [Applause] next we have erica gillette can you hear me yes okay currently oakland county

036is i'm sorry please state your name and address and then you have your two minutes thank you gillette 8459 peaceful valley thank you currently oakland county is at substantial risk for covid19 transmission i'm here today to speak specifically about elementary school students in the district as you know the entirety of these students are unvaccinated because of this i believe that the districts are stopped strongly be in line with the strong recommendations of the cdc aap michigan health department oakland health department and these in it so these students should universally wear masks until the option of full vaccination becomes available for this subset of students what i'm asking for is a proactive decision instead of a reactive decision after some individuals may get second as the district board of education and superintendent i believe it is

037your responsibility to keep these children safe as you did last year which seemed to work for those not wanting to wear masks the virtual option is open to them i realize that everyone is getting tired during this pandemic but it now is not the time to put our guard down and the other lady made a good point there are students out there that have comorbidities that need to go to school you should be wearing a mask until everyone has the option of vaccination thank you for your comments [Applause] i'm pausing it if people are disrespectful and interrupt i'm pausing the clock next we have mary hers and steele hi i'm mary herzenstein i live at 118444 big lake road davisburg president horace board members and dr ryan i'm here tonight to tell you that i

038support diversity equity and inclusion in our schools please let me explain why the past four years i've been going on admission tours of universities in our state with my kids as we set foot on each campus i noticed there are more people of color than in clarkston there are more ways of dressing from types of pants dresses and shirts to headwear and jewelry and then i noticed that most everyone who gets up to speak to us tells us their pronouns there's just a lot of diversity and respect for diversity in michigan i noticed people in wheelchairs are wearing glasses or hearing aids then i noticed students and staff with assistive technology and adaptive equipment my son has a fine motor delay and his university has given him a computer program to assist him with recording

039lectures and highlighting passages for notes writing labs and math labs with tutors are already included in tuition that's called equity or leveling the playing field to use special ed speak there are countless reports and articles about diversity in the workplace too people find inclusion and equity at their job through the 1973 passage of section 504 which is now part of the americans with disabilities act that's called equity or leveling the playing field basically no matter where our kids go after high school they will encounter diversity in people culture and thought they will be expected to be inclusive of the students in their classrooms of their co-workers on their job or the soldier training next to them therefore it is also appropriate that we would focus on diversity equity and inclusion in our k-12 schools to

040get them ready for the world we live train study and work in a global society our group will be hosting an education and information session on diversity equity and inclusion soon thank you thank you for your comments [Applause] next we have finley molina something here my name is finley molina 10136 horseshoe circle clarkson i'm here to do something different for you tonight i want to thank you for what you're doing i think that um um i agree with what uh dei or diversity equity in um diversity equity and inclusion recently i was asked why should we you know spend resources on kids that are probably not going to amount to much of anything my answer to that was can we afford not to i want to thank the board for mr molina i need people

041to please stay quiet in the audience when everyone is speaking please please be respectful of others in the audience others are speaker everyone is getting their turn everyone is getting their two minutes so please go ahead mr molina i apologize all right like i was saying uh my answer to him was uh can we afford not to um give these kids a chance do we want to take care of can we invest in on them a little bit right now a little bit more right now just making sure that they become proficient adults later on so again i just would like to thank the board members for making sure that all clarkson's children are given the chance to reach their full potential thank you thank you for your comments [Applause] [Music] [Applause] next we have

042adrian molina my name is adriana molina i live on horseshoe circle um i graduated this year from clarkson high school so i'm speaking not as a parent but as a student who was in this school who witnessed racial incidents my first day at clarkston which was not even a full year that i got to complete because of covid i walked into one of my classrooms and i sat down next to a boy and as everyone was rushing to get to their seats and talk to their friends a black girl and an asian girl walked in and he turned to me and the boy sitting next to me and said oh my gosh we already need more white people in this classroom there were almost 30 students in that classroom myself and those two girls included

043were the only non-white kids following that i was walking down a hall probably about a month into the school year i was walking next a group of boys all of whom were black and a woman came and stopped us she stopped them not me and she said what are you doing where are you going and they said we are going to the lunchroom because it was time to go to the cafeteria and she said no you're not you're getting into trouble and they said they were walking right next to me and she stopped them not me she let me keep walking as she started to berate them with questions and she began to threaten to punish them when they were doing absolutely nothing then she rounded them up and made them all walk to the

044cafeteria which was literally to the right of us they did not need her to escort them to the cafeteria the entire time threatening that if she caught them outside of the cafeteria again they would be punished we were just walking from our class to the cafeteria i ended up becoming friends with one of those boys after the incident and he was probably one of the sweetest kids i ever got to meet at that school following that i was in a classroom with some of my students some of my classmates and one of them made a terrible joke about jewish students and he looked at me and then one of my friends told him that i was jewish and he said i won't make those jokes whenever you're around again but the problem is not that

045you're not making them around those students it's that you make them in general it's that these kids don't realize that this stuff is hurtful because they've never had someone to tell them how it makes another student feel the point is that we make students have a feeling of safety in these schools and if we can't do that then what what exactly is the point thank you miss molina thank you very much [Applause] next we have rebel molina i got a pretty cool family my name is rebel molina i live on horseshoe circle in clarkson michigan i've heard many parents talking about clarkson as a great community that it's colorblind and that measures to ensure diversity equity and inclusion are unnecessary i have a diverse household my immediate family is made up of several different cultures

046races and ethnicities i have seven children four of which have special needs i moved to clarkston because i thought i was coming to a great community i wanted to provide my children with special needs with an opportunity for a quality education i would like to share with you some of the experiences of one of my african-american children he was once told by his classmate get away from me i don't play with black people and don't talk to me because i don't speak black speak some of you insist that clarkson is colorblind and that we do not need to learn about diversity or be sensitive about what we say during a class my son asked a question and a student interrupted my son and said there is a dumb african-american over there and there is another

047one of them over there as he proceeded to point to the only other african-american student in the classroom my son's question was never answered so he wasn't given the tools he needed to complete his assignment but some of you insist that the people in clarkston don't see color and that there is no need for education about equity on a school bus ride home two children told him that black people couldn't ride the bus because it was for white people only and that white people were better than black people and then proceeded to become physically aggressive toward him some of you say that we do not have an issue with racism in clarksville and that measures do not need to be taken to ensure inclusion for all on all of these occasions adult staff members were

048present on all of these occasions however my son is the one who informed me of the incident nothing was said to correct the other student's behavior in fact the only direct response by any staff member with regards to any of these instances was to separate my son and make him sit at the front of the bus away from all of his classmates now my son is a minority 10 year old student with a severe social and emotional impairment who receives level four basic plus services from the district he was like thank you to navigate through these situations thank you mrs molina thank you thank you for your comments [Applause] next we have jc rothrock clarkson michigan um i'm speaking on behalf of students because i'm a 2019 graduate about two years ago and i would

049like to address an experience that has not rubbed me right since then so during my senior year of high school i was in a musical called hairspring if you are unfamiliar with the plot of it it's centered around themes of beauty standards and it's the civil rights movement during the process it was clear beforehand that we would not have enough people for a diverse cast therefore members of the drama club were asked to sit out during lunch periods to try and recruit people of color for auditions in a school where the population of students are predominantly white it should have been clear we do not have we could not do a show that strives to teach an audience about erasing the idea of segregation if we didn't have enough diversity within a cast to accurately

050portray its message alongside this there are many other underlying issues that occurred during the creation of this show to name just one there was a performer who was casted as a caucasian character and moments before we had our show they had gotten a tan from a vacation but because their complexion had changed the director saw fit to cast said person as both a caucasian character and as a person of color in the show double casting them for both races two years later to this day my castmates and i still talk about this situation so it's not something that has just dissipated into non-existence it still weighs on our conscience especially mine i remember feeling terribly wrong about the situation yet i had a fear about bringing it up to my superiors who were in control

051of directing this musical um i have come to realize that i and i would like to think that other students that partake part took in this musical that we were unable to educate a teacher because we are merely seen as learners inferiors to superiors in my mind that's how i see it when in reality every person is constantly learning and growing as a human being no matter what their title holds over another human being as a means of change i think that implementing a mindset where everyone can agree to learn from each other respectfully could create a more comfortable environment that provides an opportunity to make this district better and i wish i had had this mindset wake back one because maybe i could have changed the outcome at the time instead of coming up

052here to stand today and explain why that situation was wrong thank you for your comments [Applause] next we have andrea johnson thank you andrea johnson i live in the oh cursed community good evening board members and dr ryan this time last year i stood before this board albeit virtually begging you not to move or to virtual schooling for the 2020 school year we were told that the guidance told us it was best the safety of our children was paramount and we believed in you so we transitioned in october we came back to school we believed that you would help keep our kids as safe as possible while coming back to school you told us that the guidelines set out by the school district mirrored those by the cdc by mdhhs and that was because this

053was necessary to keep our children safe and so we believed in you and we came back to school in november we were told again that it was time to transition back to virtual learning for nearly three months once again this is what the science required and so we transitioned my family was luckily lucky enough not to experience covet but i had many friends who did and they had people who died friends family members who died i have had a sister-in-law who contracted coven and is still dealing with the side effects of coven the pandemic is still here we've now had a year of experience clarkson schools was lucky not to experience outbreaks like others and that's likely due to the enactment of the safety protocols that you all put in place and yet now while

054the pandemic is raging the decision moving forward is to remove all of those safety protocols that were put in place and instead of learning from last year and keeping those protocols in place that worked for us we're operating as if nothing had happened because there's no orders but there were never any orders last year to transition us to do any of those safety protocols that was all because it was recommended and clarkson life is back to normal it's just as it was in 2019 there's no masking no quarantining no screening we're having parties and field trips but the thing is it's not and as much as you pretend it is it's not now you say i don't like it i can isolate my kids and school them at home virtually but as we know that

055is not the answer there is no study out there that says isolation and and schooling by two non-educator parents will work enter is the same but there's plenty of guidance out there saying that precautions recommended by pretty much thank you very much public health guidance is important thank you [Applause] next we have anna anderson anna anderson sasha ball road clarkson michigan i want to applaud you on the fall return to school plans which allow parents the choice regarding mass wearing and following and following the overreaching covet protocols from the last school year thank you for taking a stand and showing our kids leadership in the face of adversity i want to remind you of a few things should you waver in your decision to allow choice in clerks in schools article 8 section 1 of

056the michigan constitution religion morality knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind schools on the means of education shall forever be encouraged section 2 every school district shall provide for the education of its pupils without discrimination as to religion creed race color or national origin as noted in the michigan constitution the purpose of school is education not mandating health choices mandating mass quarantines testings or vaccine vaccinations is making a health decision for my child this is not your job it's mine stay in your lane education additionally i want to remind you of the revised school code act 451 of 1976. the state policy under 1037a shall include a clear statement that all of the following practices are prohibited for school personnel in the public schools of the state under all circumstances including

057emergency situations prohibited practices be deprivation of basic needs oxygen is a basic need in order to live and thrive e intentional application of an axis substance or stimulus that results in physical pain or extreme discomfort discomfort a nexus substance or stimulus is prohibited prohibited whether it is generally acknowledged or specific to the pupil h any restraint that negatively impacts breathing thus giving parents the right to choose if our child wears a restraint that negatively impacts breathing is the right choice and truly the only choice as stated in the revised school code act thank you for your time thank you for your comments [Applause] next we have john burgess my name is john burgess i live on pine knob road i sincerely want to thank the entire board and dr ryan for all the work that

058you've put on over the last 18 months on what are obviously very difficult decisions and i mean that sincerely i want to address regarding masks and the new um the guidance that was set forth last week i appreciate the choice i appreciate the the choice as to whether or not to mask our children i i i don't know if anybody really knows exactly what the way forward is at this point but i know one thing that that path does not involve force masking on children it doesn't it does not involve tracing every move that they make where they go over the holidays to to ensure that they can come back to school um there was some discussion a while ago from dr ryan um that you know this is something that we have to take

059up with the the health department if we want these mandates and i'd ask do we want these mandates do we do we want the health department permanent are we talking is the idea permanent here i mean from the american academy of pediatrics august 6 2021 the hospitalizations of pediatric covet patients range from 0.1 to 1.9 per 1000 these are virtually identical numbers to the seasonal flu the oakland county health department has not recorded a single death on his dashboard from kovitson's shooting july 14 2021 that i looked at this today the death by andrew category does not even have a section for people younger than 20. there is a lot of talk about curriculum that i've heard today but if we are teaching children maladaptive responses as the basic response to life conditions the curriculum

060doesn't matter there has to be a foundational trust from educators to kids putting masks on their face will not bring that about kids do not bear the burden of the health of this entire country these kids need school they need to see faces they need to see your faces they need to see teachers faces they need to socialize in school without fear of being sent home when they are sick thank you mr burgess appreciate your comments thank you very much [Music] [Applause] christy giampatroni you said my last name so well i'm trying up here i can't always read the writing hi my name is christy jim patroni in 15 walden road in clarkston um we the people clarkson parents united have put forth a resolution to request clarkson community school board members superintendents staff and

061teachers banned and refrained from teaching or programming crt equity and dei diversity equity inclusion in our schools superintendent sean ryan announced at the july 28 school board meeting that cccs will not support promote or teach crt we are requesting further clarification in the form of a written resolution whereas dei diversity equity inclusion is rooted in crt crt and dei are academic disciplines that state that america's foundation is rooted in white supremacy and systemic racism crt and dei teach that whites are oppressors and bypoc black indigenous and people of color and other minorities are oppressed crt and dei promote in students the internalization of past historical events to experience white guilt and black minority victimization and oppression crt and dei together both are anti-american and are rooted in race-based neo-marxism marxism states that there is an

062imbalance of power between groups which seeks to divide students into groups or subgroups based on race poverty social economic status so therefore we would like for it to be resolved in a written resolution that ccs will not use or promote crt or dei it will not use it to coach other teachers ccs will not use any curriculum supported by the 16-19 project ccs will not use crt or dei and social emotional learning we will not we will also ensure that these false ideologies are not being promoted on the classroom level lastly we'd like that our superintendent would conduct classroom level audits to ensure that teachers adhere to this resolution thank you thank you for your comments [Applause] and finally we have jessica and i'm sorry i can't read your last name thank you i know

063you'll state it for me all thank you yeah sorry my handwriting is not the best sorry jessica thank you dr ryan i noticed that you asked for basically a nationwide or statewide mandate of mass before you were willing to take action and i just it seems a little disingenuous to me because you know that's not going to happen there's not going to be a nationwide mandate of mass so what we have though is guidance from the cdc and the ndhhs and they've given us directions for what to do yet we are not doing so instead we're actively removing protocols that have been in place and have been shown to work we're not taking a hands-off approach we're not stepping back and not doing nothing this is an active decision to remove protocols we have five

064tools to combat the disease and we know that these work masking vaccines ventilation tracing and quarantining and social distancing the protocols that were emailed out last week removed these tools several of these tools from our toolbox and it's not clear why um we know that vaccines are on track to being approved for the school younger school-aged children within the coming months i urge you to take action now before the children return to school and you do have the authority to do so you don't have to wait for mandates that aren't going to come i guarantee there are others like me who feel this way but did not feel comfortable coming here today because of the ongoing pandemic they did not have the option to give their voices here live because there was no virtual option

065and i hope you take that into account as well um i didn't come here to talk about dei but i hope that my children learn about our past present and ways to better our future thank you thank you for your comments mrs mclean that's the end of my first sheet if you would like to collect the other sheet ladies and gentlemen this is the last call for folks to sign up who wish to address the board here under item 9. thank you very much mrs mclean great okay we'll continue with terry duconic hi i'm terry d koenig building clarkson michigan members of the board and dr ryan you have a tough job and we appreciate that you sometimes have to make difficult decisions as parents all of us have had to make difficult decisions in

066my opinion the current state of direction for the new school year a return to normalcy is the right decision while some parents may disagree you are choosing a direction our country is founded upon free will life liberty and the pursuit of happiness free of government mandates a direction that will allow our children to heal and be kids again physically mentally and emotionally copernicus real thing i know over a dozen people have had it some serious some asymptomatic and a couple other relatives who have died with it unfortunately our median politicians have hyped it and they continually point out the number of cases number of deaths unfortunately they don't perform basic journalistic investigations and look into the numbers they hype fear i'm an engineer i love math and data i believe in science however if you

067dig into the data as i have since the beginning you'll soon wonder why much of this data is either not covered or it is when it is discussed publicly is censored here are some facts based upon oakland county's own coveted website since the beginning oakland county has recorded zero zero covered deaths for those under the age of 19. how many have died of cancer or car accidents or kidney disease more than zero well what about the hospitalizations they'll say looking at state-wide hospitalizations from a couple days ago there were a total of seven pediatric hospital beds in use with patients who tested positive for covid in state region 2n which encompasses oakland macomb and sinclair counties a single one pediatric hospital bed was in use with a covet positive pediatric patient the media hype is

068a dreaded delta variant they tell you it's more contagious which may be true what they don't tell you is also less deadly and less serious it's more like a common cold for many many people where oakland county has an average of seven deaths a day in late april they recorded a total of seven deaths in the entire month of july there's so much more to the data if you look thank you very much both sides of this issue to dig into the data thank you so much jamie downes hi i'm jamie downes 5074 tohara boulevard um i'm here in support tonight of your guys's decision um and also my five kids um i want to thank you for um i hate public speaking so i'm sorry um i want to thank you guys tonight for

069the opportunity for my children to return back to school normally um i wrote a whole speech but i don't think i'm really going to read it i'm just going to fly off the cuff my main reason is [Music] all of my kids very strongly noted that they did not want to return to school if they had to wear masks specifically my youngest to receive iep services through clarkson schools one of those being speech which is very challenging to do with a mask the other child that i have is going in first grade and last year we did do virtual simply because i didn't want my kids in and out of school with inconsistency i wanted them to get a continual education that was just set so he we couldn't manage his iep at home online

070so we sent him back to bailey lake they accommodated us accommodated us wonderfully he was very very excited at first but one of his issues that he has actually that's in his iep is he has trouble recognizing facial expressions so very quickly his excitement turned to dread because he thought that everybody hated him he was afraid of people he thought that people were whispering about him when no one was so his experience by the end of the school year was anxiety he also has asthma the mask was restrictive so in short notice i mean i've done all of the research and stuff too that people are in support of all of this choice as well but i just want to thank you for allowing them i mean i literally cried when i read the email

071my kids were jumping up and down screaming um i am not losing all of my words because i'm nervous okay thank you very much appreciate it thank you [Applause] jamie johnson uh jamie johnson brook finds dry clarkston um i came here tonight not expecting to speak so it may be a little coherent or incoherent and apologize for that but i wanted to start by saying uh dr ryan in your opening statements you decried the politici the politicalization of mask wearing and i totally agree with you because individual liberty and freedom of choice can never be politicized we have to have the choice if you need a mask wear a mask wear an n95 if that mask works for you there's no concern over me wearing a mask but when it comes to politicalization you've also

072introduced programs into our schools that have created a huge divide and it is absolutely along a political line because i think i'm up here representing a good portion of our community and i will say majority of our community on the conservative side and none of us want dei or crt in our schools i would like to know what prompted the change to bring this into our schools what did we do prior to this to educate our children and why now is there a money trail that we need to follow i don't know but i would like to know why now what what is causing this out other than the social movements in this country that are becoming extremely political our country is being pulled apart politically and it's because the left is lurching farther to

073the left i'm not becoming more conservative the ideas in this country are becoming much more socialist and dei is one of those ideas and if you introduce it into our schools it is going to create havoc and it's going to destroy a lot of kids because all the people that got up here and talked about the racist incidents that happened to their children or to them in school and they think dei is the solution for this they're sadly mistaken it's going to be just the opposite and it is the problem and that's all i have [Music] [Applause] thank you for your comments [Music] [Applause] and finally we have mary yes okay i'm sorry say your last name for me uh mcnally mcnally yeah so i'm keegan mcnally megan mcnally okay yeah i can't read the

074mary so i apologize that's what i was going with okay i get called megan i get called everything thank you um i didn't plan on speaking either but after listening to everybody i was taking notes and my son is just under three um so he'll be in preschool soon do me a favor state your full name and address keegan alley um greenhaven drive clarkston thank you yep um i was born in frankenmuth a predominantly white community we only had two black students in our school um i don't feel that it's on the schools to teach this crt or dei it's on the parents i mean there was no racism in franklin there there may be racist people there may be racist families and they're teaching it to their children in my home i regularly have

075gay men black people white women transgender my son does not know the difference that's because i don't teach it to him but if we bring this into the school you're going to be teaching it to them this is on the parents it's not on the schools but if this comes in here my poor child did not choose to be born white and he will be made to feel that he needs to hate himself and that he is the problem in america and it was not his choice just like it was not anybody else's choice to be born any race that they were born but i think this is a horrible thing to bring in here because you're just going to make kind of flip the racism and you're going to make it a very diverse

076horrible situation for these young children i'm already afraid for my child and he's only two and a half and i'm worried what guilt he's gonna carry from these schools teaching him that he's a bad white man and he has no choice in that and that is you know and i won't take him anywhere either because of the mask thing so i'm glad you guys decided not to do that we've traveled the world the entire time this pandemic was happening no mask no vaccines and we've been fine so i'm just saying i'm really glad you're not forcing these children to wear these masks so thank you for that as well thank you for your comments tonight all right those are all of the citizens who have signed up to address us tonight dr ryan is there

077something you wanted to clarify no just why we have our community representation here and i'll keep saying it again and again first of all we are going to stand behind the proposal we had to go back to school that's where we are right now until we get other further direction that's one two and i keep hearing it again and again and again clarkston schools does not have a crt or dei student curriculum there has never been one there's not one on the table there's not a secret playbook to bring it in wait please do not interrupt this there is not a secret playbook to bring anything there might be a an idea out there in a broader public as this gentleman has i do not have a secret playbook of anything related to these things

078so let me be clear again there's not a dei or crt curriculum out there that's being evaluated that's being reviewed that is being looked for implementation in clarkson community schools at all there hasn't been and there wasn't and there won't be looking at least why the current board at least i feel like the tenure is where i diverge in terms of opinions out what i heard in the audience is that i do see a big divide again respectfully between crt and dei maybe it's definition of terms but to me diversity equity inclusion has to do with the idea that we make sure that we reach all of our students in clarkston it is not a student driven thing it's not a classroom driven curriculum it is an awareness by an almost exclusively white staff that

079we have here in clarkston that's the reality that we live in our student population is more diverse it's critical and that's where the only area that i see our dei work right now is is to make sure that we can address the needs of all kids that we can understand the students that we have in our schools that our teachers can address situations as you heard tonight where there are problems i hate to break it to the audience clarkson is not perfect we have challenges like this like every community but it's not something we're going to be indoctrinating students far from it i see no benefit introducing any of this information to our students i'm glad we have moms and dads here tonight but for the predominantly white staff we're making sure along the way

080and we don't even have a specific plan as it is of yet we're noticing this as an increasing problem we want to make sure that our staff in a way of cultural proficiency understanding can address the needs and it's not just race it has to do with our lack of understanding the broader perspective of religion it has to do with special education status there's even gender opens the door for ways that we can teach better to reach more students and we're not going to fall victim to that that pitfall of over generalization either i mean there's danger when you start to label entire groups of people under one i don't believe in that subgroup look and that's not how our schools are staffed or our support systems work so i believe in taking healthy criticism

081from any crowd or through email or through social media but if there's not anything in your schools related in your classroom and i agree with you that i don't see a place for that that's for moms and dads at home but don't vilify your school district for something that they're not doing we do need to do a better job of making sure that we're meet reaching the needs of all kids but it's not a curriculum it's not an indoctrination it's not not something we tend to bring in if that was brought up as a curriculum there's a very clear process out there that the district would have to go to you would all have an opportunity to see it in bright lights behind me and i'm sure some of the audience think that we probably

082should do something like that well disappointing to those people in our audience to think that should be in the classroom we don't see it right now in clarkston but that doesn't leave us off the hook as a staff or as a community to reach a more diverse student population we have i just don't want to leave anybody behind i don't believe in mediocrity i don't believe in everybody being the same if you look at the basic service model that i proposed it's not communism or socialism the basic service model for post coved when that we reach that is to have a math a literacy coach to have interventionists that are trained as a base model in every building as we go into this fall the only differential i'm going to say this really slow and

083three times to make sure that it reaches everybody the only differential between buildings is on the sheer number of students that cannot read or write in that building it's a service model i mean equity in that terms in clarkston does not mean stealing from one to give to another equity just means like you would do in most industries if you have a hundred students that need help with reading and math at one building you're not going to staff it with the same number if you have 10 in another building i'm just being smart in how we apply our resources but i'm certainly not moving around i see no building in clarkson whether it be in elementary or high school that has everything it needs and is ready to go that's not reality either all of

084our buildings need an increased level of support for next year all of our children every single building needs greater supports the only differential that when i use the word equity means that when i apply those resources it needs to match the reality of number of kids that can't read it and write and do math or they're doing it well and they're not challenged enough and we need to have a team around it we need a team at every one of our buildings that can address this again equity is not having everybody being the same we want excellence and i want more kids in advanced programs you know we have more advanced program offerings in clarkson schools okay if you look through our high school more advanced offerings than any other school district in oakland county

085that i know of and i'll put a challenge up everything from our in school clarkston technical programs to our construction programs to our id programs to our ap programs we have more than you can shake a stick at what i don't have is the number of kids in the seats and butts and seats that i want in those classes doing those that kind of advanced work whether it's pipe fitting or calculus i want more kids in those advanced classes and we're trying to build that with that base of support up from the bottom so a couple things just to reiterate clearly as a parent as your superintendent whether i disappoint you or that you think there's something else going on follow it from your teachers our teachers know they need to follow the curriculum that's

086why you have administrators principles and entire team up here if you see what you fear then report it to me and make it public because i'm putting that challenge out there i mean i think that's fair i put it out made sure my teachers as we go back to school are not making their personal opinions go back into the classroom you know we have a wonderful we have a wonderful please we have a wonderful teaching staff that brings their expertise their passion and their energies every day to your children they're not trying to trip up nothing's changed in clarkston the idea that we're bringing a base level of support should be something that we're celebrating that we're applying in a way that is matching with the student need in terms of just numbers because human

087beings can only work a certain number of students at a time that's not some sort of deep dark socialist mentality that's just a basic service model if i was running a hospital and i had one floor 10 sick patients on it and another floor to 100 i'm probably not going to put the same number of nurses or doctors on those floors and again i'm not in the medical as i established at my opening but the principle holds true and to put it behind as far as what is real and what is fantasy i encourage you guys are all in different schools talk to your principals talk to your teachers there's not a secret ask to see dr ryan's system of supports see if it matches the number of students that need help or need extra

088challenging in your building so that is the only version of equity that we have in clarkston some might challenge that is not enough because there are individuals there are school districts there are communities in america that believe that you need to move resources around to make sure everybody reaches a certain standard they don't believe in a certain standard for everybody that's where mind difference is and i think it needs to be clear to make sure that our board is behind it and understands it which they do in our community but to hear that we're going to institute or we've been somehow backdoor training our teachers to do some sort of curriculum that really relates to to racial diversity or that that is not what we have what we do have in clarkson schools is we

089want to teach our students to be kind right to be accepting of one another right to find joy in coming to school to learn about math reading to be able to chase their dreams so by the time that they leave clarkson schools they're ready to pursue anything they want many as parents as i've had two students graduate and two still in the system i'm proud to see what my kids are doing post clarkston and they're out in the real world i think many of us have that kind of story but if you have a fear make sure it's right if anything the criticism would be from the individuals here feel like we should be doing more and that's not happening well their understanding is we need to do more so that we have a staff

090that can build as many bridges as possible to the community we have and that's my whole heart as superintendent schools i'm superintendent of all kids and and my joy comes from getting past this covet of seeing students without masks i see a lot of the opinions and everything that i hear around there i mean we can't teach kids like we want to through that we did for cobit we can call it school but it really wasn't school in the way that we get things done and goodness gracious we're so lucky to have the right resource combination to move forward and if there are things out there if there's if there's money tied to things has been allegations or something that we're doing dark in the classroom by all means report it report it bring it

091out here in public let's examine and talk about it as a community because i for one think that it needs to be a bigger conversation about race and all those different items in our community i think that would be good for the understanding of our community but it's not starting with your superintendent this evening it's not starting with what we're doing in schools so conspiracies theories aside i challenge you because your children as you go off in all this all the schools that we have within clarkson will bring back that information so i have supreme faith in our our teachers and staff and everybody affiliated with our school district our school board we're here to support learning we're just for all the kids in clarkston we want to build those relationships we want you to

092be proud of your school district as well everybody and we're hoping that dialogues went out over rhetoric and that learning resonates higher than politics and all the things i hear nationally you know i watch the news i don't just watch one station i see the things going on across the country i know this is a bigger larger issue than clarkston our community but when did it stop being okay in clarkston to love the neighbor and to make sure that we're all here helping one another out to be the best that we can be at least as long as i lived in clarkson last 24 5 years that's the class i'm proud of that's the one that i want to be part of so i understand you might have different opinions and think wow we need

093not to have any any any work done in our teachers understanding our broader students as we heard from some or you might think that we absolutely have masks i won't be able to do anything to make sure that everybody has a hundred percent behind what they want but i think we need as much as we can to find those common ground points as we move forward together so i appreciate all the public comments and unfortunate superintendent and from our school board president i get the last word this evening but we'll be coming back in a couple weeks with more information we're going to continue to hit this home and if you have an opinion or you see things that you don't agree you see in your child's classroom or you think something needs to be

094there we're your community school i'm here to listen to you and although again i feel like we did our due diligence to listen as many individuals that signed up tonight we're going to continue to do that we're not afraid or going to shy away from any of it so i honestly it might be surprising i do really appreciate the dissension the opinions i like when it flows that people really put themselves in front of what they believe in for their kids i applaud everyone in this room so i wish you a great night i'll turn back to president horse if she had anything as a closing comment but god bless thank you [Applause] thank you very much dr ryan i appreciate your words item 10 is information items our next board meeting will be monday

095september 13th at 7 pm in this room which will be after the start of school item 11 is adjournment may i have a motion please i moved all in favor say aye aye we're adjourned