001e [Applause] e e sh sh good to see you to call the meeting of Board of Education and order if you join me in the [Music] pledge United States of America for stands one nation under God [Music] any motions before the roll call is taken like to make a motion to appoint Andrew as secretary for tonight's [Music] meeting moveed to supported any discussion all in favor say I I I any Forest I could do that uh Angelina Barnes here Han Carpenter here White H Spike here Jason Hanselman here John Tano and Brad here thank you oh and lucasi have a motion to adopt the agenda so move to support move to support discussion all fa please say I I we have an agenda first order of business is a presentation by Dave Moore from the
002Michigan Association School boards regarding a superintendent search up Dave the floor welcome thank you uh again my name is Dave War Association of school boards consultant and uh I'm here tonight to uh first of all talk about my role real quickly again with the board and also to update you on the search and then just to review the process try to keep you Bri as I can um as you have several other items first of all uh we talk about the search uh as I've talked to you about it before my role is mainly as a facilitator for this process uh represent the School Board Association I make recommendations to you but ultimately it is the board that makes all the final decisions the questions the candidates the selection process that is all up to
003the board um but will be facilitating the process and making recommendations and again we will make the decisions as far as an update goes I would like to just give you U just a few well more than a few updates um uh first of all I want to thank the board for the numerous emails phone calls that we've had over the last two three weeks uh with questions about process some of you have been through the process before some of you haven't and I appreciate uh those the contacts that you made with me both via email and phone calls first of all we've completed the the community survey really uh you had over 290 uh responses which is a pretty good response rate from the from my experience of doing this and by the way
004I've been doing it for six years uh for Michigan Association School boards I also uh we completed the community input meetings uh we had those meetings here at the school and there were several people that uh wrote some comments and uh you receive that summary again with their specific comments and uh recommendations you'll notice that there's no names no other than other than they were community members or staff members that attended those meetings um third thing is uh website um includes the timeline the search criteria uh timeline is the one that we've been working on and finalizing with regard to uh how long the search would be going on for the organization meeting we would have and then the um interview dates both first and second interviews the SE selection criteria as you know and
005I'm just going to repeat myself a little bit on this but the selection criteria was developed by you I gave you a rough draft it was used uh from the community survey and input from staff and each of the board members had an opportunity to provide some input um I gave you a draft we made changes and uh that's the one that is on the website that criteria is is uh another piece of input that you use in making your decision um thirdly the posting closes uh on May 16th which is this Thursday currently we have 15 applicants and as I told you before uh all of those uh applicants at this point are confidential until you have selected them to become an a part of the interview process and then they have accepted so
006again May 16th is our deadline you will receive all and I repeat all C materials with a little bit of confusion or question on that I do not remove any of the candidates uh that have applied and uh you will receive all of their materials sometime during the week of May to May 20th to 24th that's done by our office and I know with a memorial weekend coming up you'd like to have those as quickly as you can could so um with at least 15 applicants I anticipate that there will be uh additional applications uh there are other um search is going on and sometimes people wait for the last minute to um either get the materials or just wait till the last day to actually apply as usual I'll be doing a weekly update
007I have been doing that for the last three or four weeks for you giving you an update of what's Happening you'll be receiving one again this SE on the 17th and then on the 24th um you already will have hand materials put up and providing you with some sample questions for you to take a look at um again you will ultimately decide those questions and I'll be sending you the categories uh of which the questions are from um last time we did this a board revised developed their own questions as we went through that process but we will try to finalize those on the May 29th meeting that is the finalization of the cand finalization of the questions and also the selection of the planes we've also planned the June 4th 3rd and 4th if
008we end up having uh the need for two dates um we will do first round interviews on the 3rd and fourth and the second round interviews will be on June 11th and the goal that the board has directed me to try to do is to have a person on board uh by July 1 any questions on that update and then I'll just review the process real quickly talking to you all of you so many times I think you but uh just wanted to re that just a couple things with regard to process uh just to remind you that uh all of our meetings when we talk about um candidates questions so forth uh are open to the public and they are open for public to hear we will use the the method that you are
009using right now which means that we will stream and I will let the candidates know that they will have a microphone on as they're being interviewed so that will be something that would we follow the consistency of a court meeting as a former superintendent this is what you doing a regular board meeting it's what we should be doing this is still considered a board meeting um and you will still have public comment so I always get the question from uh people are we able to comment somewhere along the line there is that opportunity because again that's part of the board being set up so there will be an opportunity for the board comment uh I will continue to do individual emails as I've done so that we follow the open meetings act and I would
010again as you've done already respectfully you uh individually share your information with me and then I share that if there's a need I will share if there's an individual question or comment I will share that with the entire board any decisions and this is the final piece any decisions and any discussion are to be done an open meeting so we don't go into closed session we don't go behind closed doors uh when we when we come to that next week and we have to select candidates you're going to be verbally identifying which candidates you are at the top of your list and you do that by giving a numbering system each candidate will have a number I want 12 18 25 35 whatever the man number is uh you'll put the then you will know
011who those names are until we contact them and until they confirm that they are interested in completing the interview but those discussions will occur the voting will occur publicly so if we're narrowing it down from six from 25 candidates to five that's a public we're doing that in front of the public and we do the same thing when we narrow it from five after the first interviews or what are again three to six candidates to the top two we'll actually have a tally that be you'll have to publicly state it we're not doing it on a sheet of paper you're publicly stating who your candidates are and then uh in the selection process uh there'll be a motion to make that selection so again that's the process that we're following talk to all of you
012extensively about it are there any other questions you have with regard to process thank you Public Communication for agenda e Danny herd maybe H EA public comment is 3 minutes we do have a timer tonight just for everyone's benefit you can stand at the podium if there's a timer going to keep track of your time I'll be thank you my name is Danny I been D um I'm an advocate and a member of the lgbtq plus community and I urge the board to do more to Foster an inclusive environment for all stud thank you thank you Hassan starts with an a for the last name good afternoon I'm a public activist live deor two hours here first of all I don't want to know nothing from the audience okay I respect everybody I want everybody
013to respect me I'm here because you guys have sex education what is sex education when I was growing up sex education was a male and female now we got a whole bunch of stuff going on and teaching our children that they can sit there and pick their own gender very sad what's going on today very sad you know what it is people think that you are control of children you want to be lesbian it's up to you you want to be whoever you want to be that's up to you when you're when you're old enough but when they're young their parents are in charge of them and that's ridiculous what's happening today what's happening today is because you guys are getting grants what's happening today you guys are not looking for the benefit of your
014children you guys want to take control of society and it's a shame because sex education you can't even tell me what sex education anymore what are you guys teaching people sex education are you teaching them what is it okay to have sense what is it you know I can criticize every single one of you there in my 3 minutes did you guys know this did you or did you not a federal judge as rule that I can criticize every single one of you and nobody can say nothing to me they are my three minutes as long as I'm not interrupted but it's sad just to look at you guys today and knowing that you are here not for the children you're here just to listen to the rubber stamp rubber stamping everything just because you
015guys have your own agenda I'm a lebanes person I got my own faith I sit there talk to Jewish people Christian people I don't discriminate and I don't discriminate against anybody but don't put this for children it's a very sad situation I get the superintendent the other day when I came and she goes oh there's no meeting today you know what she tells me you don't understand this I said I don't understand what totally understand and I promise you I understand I don't think you understand and you're smart and over there thinking it's funny but it's not funny it's really not funny it's a shame they have to come up and drive two hours with people call me and say can you come speak because people are scared to speak but I'm not scared to
016speak for nothing this is America hey I'm a Lebanese person you don't see me putting my Lebanese way you don't sit there what I I represent the American flag something that you guys don't know about and when you guys want to sit there and say the Pledge of Allegiance respect the Pledge of Allegiance that's all I have to say to you [Applause] Tom Underwood good evening all I'm here to talk about a letter that went up to parents last month about an allegedly elected course for one thing I want to say is that the tone of the letter up until the very end was very authoritative and said we will teach us you will like it with the little asteris at the bottom that said oh and by the way you can't elect your students
017out of this this raises many concerns and questions my first concern is isn't this material a little Advanced for elementary age students also what about the reading and writing comprehension are they on par right now or at least are the majority of the kids on par we live in a country where there I believe the statistic is one in six students are graduating illiterate do we really have time to be teaching such an elective course the other concerns come to the fact that when it comes to pronouns it opens a Pandora's Box that I'm unsure if you're aware of what it is you're getting into the Pandora's Box being that it requires self-identification in order to establish one's pronouns the concern with this is It's not just about respecting people who are different from yourself
018it is the fact that there have been many cases that have resulted in very dire situations and very costly consequences for those who self-identify what's interesting is that this wasn't even an issue until gender dysphoria and transgenderism was removed from the DSM in around the year [Music] 2013 and the reason this is cast possibly catastrophic is the fact that the self ID comes well how do I know what my pronouns are and the reason that's also catastrophic is the fact that what if we get it wrong there's also a lot of bad faith actors out there who might cons who might convince a child that this is right for them as a matter of fact some examples are Brianna iy shape shifter and hornal hover on X who are all the result of coercion into
019transitioning and realizing a little too late that this isn't what's right for me this is after in some cases taking hormone blockers puberty blockers such as in the case of jazz JIS who surger who has been monetized and televised since she was was 7 years old to me that is atrocious in and of itself but the fact that she was administered puberty blockers and then cross set four months and this is being broadcasted to the entire nation is disturbing what does this have to do with the issue sir simple one thing leaves time sir your time is ended our next two there's two tap together Derek G and Melissa D I'm not sure if that means they want together your te [Music] together good evening all um good evening everybody thanks for spending time coming
020out here uh my name is Eric gy and I'm Rio our she her hers am and we are co-chairs for the dit Community Partnership for diversity equity and inclusion and we're here to speak today on the item relating to the revised evaluation of the superintendent we'd like specifically um to address that in 2017 um the uh the former um superintendent of do it uh Dr John Deer created an advisory Council as well as created infrastructure within the school to help the school and the district address matters of change today that group continues to evolve as the diversity group that you see in front of you along with who we represent as well as our blind spots because we have them too and to learn our community shout out to we'd like to specifically ask that
021the future superintendent be on their past history as well as their future plans and their present engagement and intention to interact with different identities and we'd like as well to continue partnering with the school in The District in any way that we can or any community members that are interested in as well in the same movement that we are head [Applause] here next up is our dit High School Board representative Lucas for your last report I think right it is my last report I'm going to try to be quick this still a bigger crab than I'm used to so fa with um starting off with just miscellaneous items uh APS AP test taking started on May 6th and continue to May 17th the dit High School annual Pops concert is being held on May 17th
022and 18th members of our band choir will be performing seniors will pick up their caps and gowns after school on May 14th um May 15th there will be a CLT half day for all students May 17th will be senior last day May 22nd will be the W High School uh senior award night and May 31st seniors will be attending a senior breakfast as well as commencement commcial commencement will be on June 2nd final exams for all other students will be held on June 5th and June 6th and the last day for all the students will be June 6th uh moving on to clubs and extracurriculars student government held their Executive Board elections today during seminar where six members of student government assume new roles in the organization uh student government is also hosting a color
023run with do gives back on May 15th after school from 11:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. students are allowed to donate money they be given to D gives back and in return We given a T-shirt and other incentives to donate uh last Club on today earlier this morning members of dwit high school sustainability club travel to dwit Middle School to inform our younger students about sustainable practices and help recruit incoming freshman about joining the club in the future so that is my report I just want to give this small farewell since this is my last meeting extend my gratitude to all of you um I'm very appreciative for the opportunity you given me uh growing up I I had a lot of confidence taken from me due to uh being bullied and being teased uh just
024as a kid and it wasn't until about two years ago two two to three years ago when I joined leadership and I got this position that I got a lot of that confidence back so I am from the bottom of my heart I'm forever grateful to you thank you so luas you've been with us for two years and you've done an outstanding job representing the the students and um bringing perspective and opinions um to the to the board keeping us informed of that student voice we do have a small token of appreciation there um for for you go [Music] green just want to thank you yeah thank you Lucas big shoes to fill out can I just I also want to thank Lucas's parents I think they've been to every single meeting that Lucas has
025been to so thanks to Lucas but also thanks to his parents for supporting him so we really all right we're on to the consent agenda my microphone is having some problems so I'm going to try to go without it it's the recommendation by superintendent sh sper that the Board of Education approve adopt and accept following items for immediate implementation and action has presented approval of April 8 2024 meeting minutes Treasures report for the month of April 2024 three professional hires Julie farmer Abby vanura and Taylor Vel we have recognizing teacher tenure for the following Miranda Brunner Whitney big biger Abby Nash Wendy Smith Kelsey Brothers Dan Hy Amber Moody Caitlyn Murray Michael Snider Megan pass K as well as consideration of an out of Feld coup out of ffield trips the middle school is going
026to a trip to Washington DC in Gettysburg and the high school Spanish students are going to pan we have a motion support move to support any discussion add on any of those all in favor please say I I any oppos motion carries it's the recommendation by superintendent sh sper to the Board of Education establish the annual budget hearing take place on Monday June 10th 2024 at 6 p.m. in the board do we have a motion so moved support move to supported any discussion all in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries recommendation by superintendent sha spiger the Board of Education award the contract with Chartwells School Dining Services to provide food service management for the school district for the 2024 2025 school year do we have a motion some moving support move to
027supported any discussion add all in favor please say I I any oppos motion carried it's a recommendation by superintendent Sean scker to the Board of Education approve the resolution to authorize the issuance of the installment purchase agreement as presented this is for purchase of 18 buses do we have a motion so move be supported any further discussion no just in line what was previously discussed with questions all in favor please say I I oppos motion carries it's the recommendation by Rob spagnulo assistant superintendent for finance and operations Board of Education approve the educational assistance program section 127 plan document as presented do we have a motion support move to supported discussion all in favor please say I I any oppos motion carries recommendation by superintendent Shan sper that the Board of Education approved the 2024
0282025 Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency general fund operating budget resolution has presented do we have a motion some move is supported any more discussion all in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries it's a recommendation by the board policy committee the Board of Education adopt the following policies for second reading as presented policy 1240 2410 2414 248 18 3220 6320 6325 6350 6520 7450 and 8800 do we have a motion Some Mo supported any discussion anything to add from the policy discipline committee no I just wanted thank everybody on the committee I think we're doing good work we had a very vibrant discussion over all of these once again so thanks to everybody on the committee yeah I agree thank that because I put a lot of time into these policies so
029I appreciate it all favor please say I I any oppos motion carries public Communications it not on the agenda oh of course uh Will Thompson [Music] thank you and good evening I'd like to address the board on the subject of uh teaching pronouns that recently came up um this issue is a controversial issue which is why we moov the meeting here and we definitely have different sides that have different opinions and there's a number of controversial issues out there that deserve a discussion with game but the question is where's that for for an open discussion certainly not near I mean at 5'4 I'm staring at everybody's feet this is not a communication this is me talking to you with no response I know sitting down with folks in the community and discussing challenging subjects is
030time consuming and certainly not fun but what's the alternative I don't think anyone likes our controversial issues making the news and news here being on lits of Tik Tock I have people asking me what's going on in my school that aren't even close to this area and it's quite frankly a little embarrassing we live in a world where people are afraid to speak because every time they say something hate filled people troll them on the Internet and we know that's all true on both sides many many people are afraid to talk at these meetings why wouldn't they be I'm on film Nobody wants to be on film but many people have a voice and want to be heard dit is committed to inclusion and that means seeking out and respecting very diverse opinions so let's
031do that let's have a few board members with diverse opinions meet with a handful of parents on different sides of controversial issues and let's talk about these issues before they blow up and become an embarrassment for a community let's make a forum for that where we respect other people's opinions something we don't see around here I think we could do way better it really sickens me to see what's going on in this world and it doesn't have to be that way we can sit down with very diverse people have different opinions have a discussion and find a way there is absolutely Common Ground here everyone wants their child to have the best learning experience possible and be free of bullying I didn't appreciate being bullied when I was a kid I didn't appreciate my kids
032being bullied someday I hope kids don't have to live with bullying but there's many ways to work on that we have a great opportunity here but it requires action by the board to form some type of community Advisory Group whatever you want to call it and really engage with the community we've done it before we have one for Co we have the curriculum committee we have forums where we can actually have a discussion instead of just have people come as always time has I'm happy to help and I don't like getting shouted down iish up I don't appreciate that that is not appreciated thank you k Bo hi there I'm Kaitlyn boom I live in I have a fourth grader and a St to be kindergartner um and I'm also an advocate for the lgbtq
033community I urge the board to more to Foster an inclusive environment for all Ds students I just wanted to give a example my kid when he was in first grade I think he decided that he didn't want to he help Tom and his first grade teacher let him like went around the classroom it was remot was like during um when in the classroom each of the students asked like what name do you want to be called and they just talked about like respecting their PE and I think that's like a really age appropriate way to talk about the way that we talk to other kids and the way that we call people by the Nam that they want to be called pronouns be called by and it was just like totally not an issue for
034my he 6 years old and I don't think that it is a very big deal to any children who are 6 years old at this time I think it is probably a much bigger deal in their parents' Minds than it is those children so I just think that kids want to be inclusive they want to be respectful to each other and they um want to be nice friends to each other I don't think that this is a big scary issue thank you TI ran evening my name is Jan one I could tell you lots of statistics about Chron matters tell my story I I one of those parents didn't allow my kids to use a I called a lot of your staff when they were school here and said don't you dare call my daughter
035he don't you dare use that name that is not permitted that is not okay this is a fat this is a phase it's going to go away this is ridiculous you don't have my permission well guess what happened to my kid he pulled up in an ambulance for trying to take his life because I was not on board of that so there's a time and a place where we have to say it doesn't matter what we think it doesn't matter if we think it's weird for my then daughter to shop in the boys Department it doesn't matter if we think it's weird that they're calling the kids they them it doesn't matter what we think it matters to keep our kids alive at this point 45% of transgender kids will try to take their life
036and it took four hospital visits from my kid for me to get my head out of my you knoww to realize what I was doing as a parent wasn't working I used to think like the gentleman here in the front row address the chair don't address me address the chair I agre I agreed with the fact that this is you know this is not okay we have to be this way it's always been this way I used to think that way so I get it it's weird it's different it doesn't seem like it's the normal I'm using air quotes thing to do but it doesn't matter what we think it doesn't matter what we think it was either I do what I need my kid needed to be done at the moment which is use
037his name and his pronouns or I was going to visit him in the grave way your house could you imagine did you imagine child because of a choice that you could have made just people say well what if they change your mind who cares if they do you love them through it you use the heat pronoun the worst they're going to do is say oh never mind that's not for me you go oh well your kids have you're going to love your kids regardless of what they do I have been on both sides of that when you see your kid try to end their life with pills because they don't feel valid because their parents don't you know are not supportive of what they're doing that is a huge huge huge burden to put on
038yourself we have got someone to love our kids where they are little 5-year-old little girls can call themselves a girl and that's okay right but if a little 5-year-old boy who says he's a girl says he's a girl it's not okay so why is it you can say they're not C enough to make that decision if that's the case then no 5-year-old kid should use any pronouns period it's all their n right it's all or n we have to be able to embrace our children where they are in their lived experience and we have to let our kids guide us with who they are the worst that's going to happen is they're going to say no they're going to go never mind I change your mind I know we go okay I love you anyway
039I wish I would have done that when my kid was little because I have so many awful memories of my kid because of things that I cause the the trauma that I caused my child that I regret every single day thank you cmy Jones I'm John from dit I have children who go to dit and I also teach in dit and I just wanted to support the efforts of what you've already heard tonight uh regarding seeing our curriculum as let's all children be seen no matter what their identity is because that's how they learn that's how they read That's How man that's how they learn when they feel safe and seen and it's not really our choice it's our job the law of our job too I just want to let you know that I
040support all the efforts we're making in that direction I hope for more Community dialogue but at the Days end we don't get to choose to who we see and who we don't they all come to us for a public school and to work at a public school he sees that thank you Thompson dearra Thompson hi thank you for the opportunity to speak to it's been a while since I've been here um one of the repeated arguments I have heard regarding this issue is you can out your child out but the truth of the matter is you cannot opt your child out with any lesson ever you may choose for your child not to attend that lesson that day however the way the microcosm of any classroom works is that that those children that were in
041attendance that we'll be like hey you were at the lesson you want to know what we learned this is what we learned this is what happened so your child will end up learning whatever it is is at that lesson even if you and your family choose not for your child not to time that lesson in addition there will be shaming that goes on if your child does not use the proper pronouns if you feel that that's not right for your that it's not right for your belief system Bing goes on on all ofs on both sides whether it's the dock picking on the nerd or any other situation it goes on from very early Elementary were bulli I was bully my husband was bullied we've all been there unless you were the person so whatever
042you decide as a board as a community we need bring people together to talk about this because you cannot op out of this lesson in addition I I wanted to talk about policy 2410 that previously prohibited the referral of assistance and this is in regards to um Pregnancy Services or uh possibly abortion and I hope this for will bring the community together because this has been taken away what happens when a Min minor comes to a teacher what happens when they go are you going to involve parents are you going to take away parental rights you need to involve the parents thank you Erica Engle hi good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak I'll be brief I'm new to dit I moved here seven years ago with my second grader son who attends
043Scott Elementary we're proud to be new members of the DT community and um and I'm excited to be part of a community that is clearly as close-nit and cool and fun as group is and I really would like to show my support for everyone I support alley ship I support inclusivity I support diversity equity and inclusion efforts and um I'm here because I really think about that one student who was being maybe bullied in school and I think about the opportunity to kind of educate their peers and then that opportunity was taken away and I feel like that child was left standing Island all by themselves and that's not the impression that I've gotten of dit since I moved here seven years ago or 7 months ago I feel like this is a very inclusive
044community and I'm here to show that child that I support them and I certainly hope you take that child and all of our children into consideration and your decisions going forward thank you [Applause] hello good evening I am Barb groom and I am I've lived in dit for 25 years um I'm a proud parent of two do Brads and I'm also a psychologist that works in this community um I am strongly encouraging this board to consider continue to consider um and support an inclusive curricul all kids into wind across all ages thank you Lucas Kramer hi um my name is Lucas I am a senior in high school at St John's um I am very proud to say that I am nonbinary I am actually raised in Fowler so different part of Clinton County but
045I had to leave Fowler because of the lack of inclusive protection for the students I was facing harassment to a level that I can't even put into words how devastating it was since the age of 14 I've been in and out of different mental health facilities because I couldn't imagine a world where I could grow into the adult I am now because there was no support in the school system that I was raised and how many more kids have to be in that situation I'm in St John's doing School of Choice which was an option I shouldn't have had to deal with as a freshman because I just wanted to get through high school and I couldn't have imagined getting to graduation and at this point as some other people have said it's not about
046if you're accepting of controversial issues or what side you lie on it's about how many more kids have to to die how many of them have to take their life and wonder if they can just make it to 18 make it to graduation I had to look my mother in the eyes after I had done so many things that I regret now because I see a future for myself and I want that future for the kids of the way I I I understand what it's like living in a small town I understand what it's like having to go through that school system I mean I'm I'm just like any other kid I I love theater I am a huge part of the choir program I mean if you ask my teachers I'm a really good
047student I I do everything I can just because I want to do something in this world why aren't these other kids getting that opportunity they they get the chance to express themselves because they they know when they're young people s they're going to dad and daughter dances as kids and they they celebrate all of these things that put them into binary Concepts but if they know at that age that they're their daughter then how is someone who was raised as a little boy not to know the same I don't think that people are so hateful as they seem to be I think it's more raised out of they just aren't aware they don't have that exposure and that's okay i' I've I've understood and come to understand so many people because they came off hateful
048they were calling me slur they were telling me to take my own life and at this point I've forgiven them because I know that it wasn't out of hatred it was out of the fact that they've never been faced with this before but there's going to be a life outside of Bor outside of St John's outside of dit outside of County and that that is the life that we want these people to grow into we don't want to just take over thank you so you're gonna have to forgive me this Stuart uh sfer safer oh thank you steuart w um St shaer I'm from the Whip and I can't be nearly as articulate as the person who just spoke and I you know I don't really understand the issue uh that much uh somebody said
049you can't Dr out but you can op out and freedom I think goes in two directions you know if you don't want your child to participate in something then opt out of it but because of your beliefs and your feelings that are opposed to that don't prevent my child or my case my from participating same thing as in Banning books you know you may not like a book it you want a fan but then you prevent me from reading them Freedom CES both ways uh I support the school I support the diversity I'm sorry that this has become so controversy thank you Mike Lee hello thank you for the the opportunity to speak I originally wanted to speak on the first agenda um Taylor Viller is being hired as a teacher I don't know if
050she's here tonight but I'll just do it through video I wanted to apologize to take uh about 13 years ago I think she was about 11 or 12 I was a you 12 softball coach and I was going to take these girls to the National u12 Championship you know such a path never existed was kind of a typ a personality her parents came to me as did Taylor and they wanted me to put her in as a pitcher well we already had two pretty good pitchers that had a good fast ball and everything I said no I I don't think we need to do it t and so just wanted to sorry about that but what I learned from that was being a type P you want to go for Championship whatever it was we
051ended up six and four or whatever I put her in and she had the skill wasn't a fast CL she got the ball across the plate opposing team was able to hit the ball grounders maybe a few outfielders and all the girls were able to participate because I was not trying because you know I wanted to give her a chance and so she performed well but also so did the other so I just wanted to say I went from a type eight personality who knew nothing about coaching to a guy that would be a great coach today but I don't have the young kids in in the program and it is about participation it is about going and life is going to be rough and so on the second half of the agenda here I
052want came to offer a possible solution Dei is extremely controversial is not very well defined uh my son is gay so I understand you know a gay community I don't understand the letters that are constantly being added or the stripes that are constantly being added to the flag but that's my own ignorance I'm not saying it's good or bad the resolution or the pathway through this is about respect and resilience you are never going to get rid of bullying just as by not putting her in as a picture could have been Perce bullying if I was her age there were many things that happened in many different times she overcame it she was allowed to pitch and I learned a lot from it but bullying is never going to go extinct so teach the kids
053resilience figure out ways to get resilience whatever they are I was 10 years old in 1965 I look I'm Chinese that's why I looked Asia but only 10 years after the Great War and many of the kids parents have gone through the Great War and I experienced a little bully but I was told the people didn't know they didn't understand that was it so understand respect resilience yeah my handw is terrible my name is Alex and I [Laughter] am hello my name is oin I'm currently a senior high school and first I want to thank you guys for the opportunity to speak I'm here to speak like many other people about on lesson that was proposed at shap buau uh that was then canel while I do understand that this was necessary for the sake
054of safety concerns this is not the first time that the school district has back down to a few loud voices and it certainly won't be the last one taking a look at history the school district claims to be prioritizing making a diverse and inclusive environment for all students but then situations like this occur where there is a refusal to take actual to actually take action in the 12 years of schooling I have done into it not once by felt supported by the administration of the schools or the district in the face of bullying or Haring the cancellation of this lesson truly serves as a slap in the face to people who are members of the lgbtq plus Community myself included not once have I or many other people in the community felt safe to be
055themselves in the school district and when I brought these issues up and proposed Solutions nothing was done I hope you take this feedback and make a change to the school district clearly this doesn't affect me but creating an inclusive environment is of the utmost importance so all students can express themselves how they want to and be free to explore who they are in the safe academic setting unfortunately this school district has not provided the environment that may you long for educating the younger students is on top of the ways to make a change to create the inclusive environment that you claim to strive for for all students and finally I want to address the controversial opinions that have been brought forth because of this lesson many of these people who have are against this lesson
056do not understand what it is like to be hated simply for your existence what members of the lgbtq pluss community do we are being demonized in the media for being who we are the school district took a small step to help future Generations prevent this from continuing but it was forced to end I want you to think about what you would do if your child came out in skay trans by or non by what would you do in that situation would you continue to love them like you have before they come out thank you KC Garcia hello thank you for the opportunity speak uh I probably serve as the president on the board of the Sal Center which is laning to ask uh lgbtq Resource Center um we provide education support groups support community and
057when we heard the news of this uh lesson being canel we were very dis um might get a little emotional for the people who don't understand that same connections between lessons like this being canell the violence M missu Campus Library where two young gay men were attacked simply for being who they are and of course the death of an next Benedict and all of those who take their lives are sorely mistaken I strongly urge us board to continue to put for policies that protect all of our children and to take into consideration all of the opinions that you have here today that are based on love and not thank you very much Andrea Ryan it's a long hi my name is Andrea Ryan she heard hers I'm a bu resident and also the co-founder of
058the St John's colge Coalition anyways um thank you all for just kind of being here and voicing your thoughts and opinions and and your stories I think those are really powerful um and a great way for people to kind of get a better understanding of the magnitude of um inclusivity you know and when we're kind of building communities and things it's really important to remember we're not all just one thing right like we're all made up of lots of different things and identities and it's very complex um we might have come up in a in a place where you know it's meant like we're meant to assimilate into one thing right that's kind of the history of our country but as we're evolving as people um people are finding Freedom into like another dimension of
059actually finding who they are truly and a lot of those things we might not understand all that well um but that doesn't mean that it's wrong either so I'm also a mental health therapist and a social worker in the state of Michigan um and so I work with people of all backr um and I see the the hurt and the pain when people aren't allowed to just simply exist and I understand that when you're creating change there's also going to be pushed back and that's normal right just like when you're starting out a workout program or whatever like you don't love how it feels in the beginning but as you like start seeing progress and you start seeing like results like oh wait like this is actually feels good I like it and it's healthier
060so um when we are creating more inclusive curriculum and um valuing each one of us as humans it's going to hurt a little bit and just remember like it's worth it because literally like people's lives are at right like it's it goes beyond the fear um yeah I feel had one more thing I don't know where it anyways thank you and I appreciate your [Applause] hardel so I've seen the announcement that Shannon is going to be leaving us and that she has mixed feelings about that and for the first time ever I think I agree with her part on the one hand how disappointing that another government employee who ravaged the lives of kids through insane political C restrictions and all of our other deac is going to slink off without any public acknowledgement of
061the harm for actions caused let alone an apology but on the other hand how nice to know that the prime engineer of all this is going to depart and shame after near three years of visit non leadership I'm sure many of you will praise and thank her for a job well done as you have in the past despite rampant learning loss and several self-inflicted negative stories in the press that make the W as a whole look like a clown Show recently we made the news again because Shan sent home a letter pretending to ask permission to teach a pronoun lesson that had actually already been ongoing for months she did a lot of posturing about kindness and inclusion but the truth is teaching seven-year-olds to lie at the command of an adult to protect someone
062else is abuse and when those lies and abuse are over a sexualized issue there's a word for that too groomy be careful though shanon calls the cop to people who dare to say that now if there are children having tough feelings everyone sympathizes with that but the solution is not can for a public school to tell other kids that they have to lie about it to anyone paying attention it isn't surprising that the final Scandal of shann's clown World tenure would involve teaching kids to lie lies mean nothing to her in case anyone needs a reminder Shana lied about who was issuing Co quarantines she lied about visitor policies she plotted with other administrators to twist a community survey to say what she wanted it to say she oversaw and then pretended to be shocked
063about the wasteful dumping of brand new books and teaching a song about winess to first graders and now here we are again you've canel the pronoun lessons that have been happening all along anyways but as usual you've taken no responsibility and offered no apology you hide behind Workshop buzzwords about caring and empathy but you are neither I have watched you sit in condescending silence as parents get up here and cry and beg for you to call or email or respond to them in any way parents dealing with medical issues mental health crises and plenty of other issues are Stonewall while you sit there and pretend to be the real Victim Because a few people called you names on the internet do it deserves better than this last month Shannon said she wanted to put DWI
064on the map well you did that people I know from across the country have seen stories and ask me what the heck is going on around here Shan's going to slink off into the sunset but I hope the board learns from this and H doesn't just tweet about leadership all day and then hide and blame the moment hide and blame the moment a leader is needed do better operate like a public body is supposed to and take some gain responsibility amen amen [Applause] Moren Oberman my name isman I live into it and I teach into it and I'm proud to do so I am an advocate for the lgbtqia plus community and I urge this support to do more Closter and inclusive environment in a safe environment for all of our students thank youa vinger
065hi my name is Felicia ringer and we are new we've been here a year I'm a retired teacher so controversy is not new to me what is surprising is we're still talking about issues that have taken place throughout our entire life thought we got a little bit further than that a little bit than that so I'm going to use diversity and inclusion the same way because we need to accept both diversity is real and it matters we teach tolerance of people who are different than us whether it's race culture health issues mental issues different family types we don't ask parents permission so why now on this lesson are we asking it isn't any different than any other diversity acceptance kindness just being a good human being that's all we're asking of everybody do at Board
066of Education you have left a few who are you have a few who are intolerant and likely don't live in this community dictate what they want you to teach shame on you you have failed and you've made a mockery of your own has you matter you are better than that so show how caring you you are and how responsible human beings you are and do the right thing thank [Applause] you Sam Overman good evening here about 12 years now had a couple kids in the district as well and my wife was just up here I an advocate for the lgbq plus Community I think it's important that our schools provide not only an opportunity for inclusivity but also a safe place students just like a hospital doctors provide services to Pati regardless of their background
067regardless of their religion that's the way I our school system we should be treating everybody as equal and do our best toost that safe environment for them please do all you can to [Applause] enforce Jacob Lipper speak tonight my name is j I live in I was born and raised in went High School wrestled at high school he coach um and uh when I had a daughter with my lovely partner um I can think of nowhere else one I have I I live in I'm an advocate of the lgbtqia community and I urge the board to do more to Foster an inclusive environment for all Ds students thank you very much Lori legal hello I'm laor FAL and I'm a proud parent of three D graduates as well as an extremely proud educator for 15
068years um in this district and I'm actually going to speak to you um you were faced with some very difficult choices and I know um there's disappointment on the side of being an ally cheers um you know from some opponents and I just want to say thank you you are all doing hard work I remember when Dr Peter started diversity and inclusion education I think it was back in like 200 only here a few years our district has come so far and I look at what we've done and where we're continuing to go and I hope that the board will look at um the future of sorry my brain I teach third grade so I um I I hope that moving forward you continue to look at things that you have been doing so thank
069you um to you um as you are aware and you know and maybe people the outside of Education aren aware we have a duty and a responsibility it is the law to teach every child that walks through our door to love them to teach them to support them and to help guide them to be amazing awesome humans and again as an educator here we have amazing students and I'm Proud to be an employee and I can't wait to see um some of the decisions that you make in the future for our kids thank you Melle Adams good evening U my name is Michelle Adams I live in D and half for the last 10 years I also have two children in the public school system um thank you for letting me be here and for
070being here yourselves um I'm an advocate for the lgbtq plus community and I would like to urge this board to do more to Foster inclusive and safe environment for all Ds students thank you Jennifer K hi I'm Jennifer and I have three kids in this District like others have said I urge you to actually put policies and initiatives and support in place for all students of difference all the children that need an inclusive welcoming safe educational environment that is that they're legally allowed expected [Applause] to Stephanie Stanley hi there my name is Stephanie Stanley I hers I'm a resident of dit and an advocate for the lgbtqia plus Community as a parent in this District as a mental health therapist as a social worker and as a resident I urge this board to do more
071to Foster an inclusive and safe environment for all students thank you Kelly C hi my name is Kelly Cook I live in dit I work in dit I have two kids who go to dit schools I am an advocate for the lgbtqi plus Community I urge this board to do more to Foster inclusive and environment for all DPS students thank you Miranda Brunner Miranda Brunner thank you everyone who is spoken here today um my name is Miranda Bronner I am a resident here in dit I'm also a mother of two students here in I'm also a proud graduate D High School just like today and um I also teach here in bu at Middle School um I'm also an advocate for the lgbtq community and as everybody's kind of stated I urge you as the
072D Board of Education to really Foster an inclusive environment that's safe for all PPS [Applause] students Katie ker Katie Ker good evening thank you all for being here and listening to uh all the members of the community my name is Katie ker I live in to with my husband and two children who attend with public schools and we've lived here for 15 years I am an advocate for the lgbtqia plus community and I urge the sport to do more to Foster an inclusive and safe environment for all GPS students including but not limited to adopting Common Sense policies that protect and that protect our amazing students teachers and sta thank you Sandra I think it's iress thank you good evening uh my name is Sandra Gonzalez Ares I have Liv in the bid for over
07320 years I have the mom of two the graduates one of which was bully in the school because of the color of his skin um I wanted to say that when I heard the efforts of this board um on increasing diversity and inclusion I was so proud small steps make a difference uh it is sad that the anger of a small group is jeering um or derailing this effort I urge the board to continue with the pronoun um class it's a class about respect thank you Brook Liber hi everyone thanks for letting everybody talk tonight my name is Brook libert I am a parent to an 11-year-old here in dit school we have lived here for the last 5 years I'm an advocate for the lgbtq plus Community I urge this board to do more
074to Foster an inclusive environment for thank you Alex hman hi y' uh I'm Alex hman uh I'm a resident of this city and as an can now confirm my handwriting is terrible I my lives here I'm a taxpayer I'm AER but more importantly I have two kids that go to school here at the DWI Public Schools they're at the elementary age they're one in herbon and one in Scott School uh I'm an advocate for the lgbtqia community and I urge this board to do more to Foster an inclusive environment for all DPS students thank you Amanda wol did you not want to speak that's fine okay um Doug Broner good evening my name is DG Runner um I'm a resident here of wit lived here with my family for about 10 years that was my
075wife that came up a few people before me um I had two wonderful children in this District my wife is a teacher here um I involved with the community choir here I lead the pack2 cup Scouts I coach my kids soccer teams and softball teams very involed in community um and I am here um to show my support for um this board and this community fostering a diverse and agal and inclusive environment here for our schools um the events that happened earlier this year to me uh it was you know it was it was hurtful to see right we we saw we saw hate intimidation and bullying step up to the plate and Shout they shouted loudly and what I heard from the board was silence let's let's stop what we're doing let's take some
076time let's think about it but then nothing happen but like when hate speak when when hate uh speaks up like that and the rest of us stay quiet and that's how Society falls back that's how we rest we need to speak up and we need to speak up louder we need to show the community we need to show our kids we need to show the families that we're here we're going to teach them how to navigate the complex world that they're going to they're going to um uh they're going to reach when they when they graduate from high school right we we know none of us are the same right that's why we that's why we have a Dei curriculum that's why we have Dei policies we want to we want our our students our
077children when they graduate we want them to successfully navigate the world successfully build uh strong social bonds with the people around them be able to successfully navigate some of those complex challenging conversations that we're having right now but if we hide the world from them if we hide differences we hide the diversity like they're not going to learn that they're going to enter a world and they're going to see people that are different than them and they're going to wonder well why are they different I didn't learn that in school or I've never I've never anything about that people don't tell me about that protected um in in my opinion it's the duty of the board to stand up to to Foster in diverse and Equitable inclusive environment in our schools set the example for
078the community so that we can make this community like the great place it is like once again I've been here for 10 years the dit's full of an amazing group of people here um we just need to show that put that on display we need to Foster an environment that gives everyone a voice makes everyone feel welcome especially here in our public Public Schools public schools that welcomes everybody everybody has a place everybody has a seat everybody's welcome to get a well-rounded education prepares them uh to navigate the challenging world that's beyond those walls thank you superintend report [Music] ano so so the updates that I have are congratulations to the DWI High School chamber choir and director Megan for for the selection of one of the top ensembles in Michigan by P listening panel
079and being named the 2024 msvma outstanding choir of the year they also had a very successful trip to New York City and a wonderful performance at Michigan State University I also would like like to recognize uh Rob spagnolo our assistant superintendent I don't know if he's up I'm going to call it the Eagles Nest versus The Crow's Nest out there he is he's down below um for getting the msbo distinguished service award mso's distinguished service award was established in 1987 and special tribute to extraordinary uh exemplary current or former members of msbo and it's given to members who provide inspirational service to msbo and school business management community so congrats Rob sorry like to be well deserved uh also I work with uh CC Risa at the end of April they had their strategic planning
080day and um they used the same MSB uh a or MSB sorry the Michigan school boards Association the same um strategic planning process that we used when we did ours so it's a whole day of stakeholders and I was able to participate that and talk about not only our district but County needs and priorities and then last Monday they had a team that came to our cabinet meeting to have um and talk about our district c-li and then last week was also staff appreciation week so huge thank you to our community and parents who did such a wonderful job recognizing our our staff and our teachers and all their hard work and then I did have some updates on the shavy road elementary coverage and this information that was fueled by anger and fear so
081here are some here are some updates the supportive pronoun lesson was not part of the Core Curriculum but was the purpose to create an understanding inclusive classroom Community we established a partnership with the community and in 2017 on issues related to diversity Equity inclusion and our vision is to equip students to create a better tomorrow our mission is providing the tools and environment for all Learners to succeed and our core values talk about uniqueness and inclusivity our mission and theme for this year is you matter investments in professional development to support our work around diversity Equity inclusion continue as talked about in several of our board meetings we've invested in and working and collaborating with the Jers leader leaders collaborative and have had over 30 administrators and teachers trained in this work we will continue
082to follow the law and make decisions that are best for kids currently both policy 2260 and 2266 prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex including gender identity furthermore lgbq students are entitled to a safe and supportive learning environment under Title Nine someone has a phone on can you please turn that off for me please yeah the Michigan civil rights laws and the United States Constitution we will continue to follow the law our students our students are excelling and they are doing a great job and there's a lot of false information about proficiency and graduation rates our graduations are in the high 90s our students are excelling at our Target of 80% being average or higher our proficiency scores are above State and County averages and competitive with peer State averages and are competitive
083with our peer districts our staff and students are excelling English is ever evolving APA MLA CMS and several dictionaries recognize the singular use of the day pronoun back in 2017 the board resolved that the superintendent maintain develop communicate and Implement board policies and administrative guidelines and procedures which Foster a culture that is safe inclusive welcoming and celebrates diversity found within our community this has stemmed a great deal of our diversity work and this is one of the reasons I came to the district this has become a part of our core values and our goals and our 2022 strategic plan unapologetically we will continue to accept staff and students for who they are [Applause] super violation that's the last time going say sir we're going to move you out of here okay you listen to you
084talk be quiet my support uh Angelina Barnes yes hna Carpenter yes Dwight handspike yes Jason hansman yes Brad St here John absent Brad here I mean yes we have ation motion carries we're going to retire to the Board Room for the Clos session and we'll come back here CL packag