001e e e seems like I just said that um I want to thank you for attending and I want to thank you for still being with us for our second goor round in this um if you want to address the board you need to fill out a form I have six so far so as long as we're under 10 of the five minutes is still a thing so let's begin with a pledge of allegiance um I want to thank you for attending I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mrs axley we do the roll call please I'm Miss Hamilton present Mrs Brown Mr does Mrs Mitchell here miss Acton present Miss
002hunt present and Mrs Fitzgerald here okay now I'd like to entertain a motion move approval of the agenda Madam CH second support discussion vote first all in favor oppose the same fald okay thank you motion passes okay now I'd like to entertain uh let's superintendent report uh there are two points of business uh both the same and I'm thrilled to be able to uh recognize shalanda hunt um actually she's being recognized by the Michigan Association of school boards for having completed the course requirements as a certified board member uh so I have a a certificate from masb to acknowledge that and then I have a second one because Miss hunt takes her role seriously and has done this the level two Award of Merit is awarded upon completion of certificate level one and a minimum
003of 45 education credits thank you very much Miss hunt for your service and for your [Applause] work level one and a minimum of 45 education credits thank you very much hunt years you know being a Schoolboard member is not easy um and there's no pay you know so for shalanda to have gone to this extent in her training is just absolutely amazing and I really appreciate it thank you very much Miss hunt and that concludes the superintendent report for the month of September you being a school board member is not Easy's no okay at this point I will adoption of the consent agenda mam president second support discussion app all in favor I I opposed okay motion passes okay at this point now we go to Citizens requesting to address the board we have Scott
004first yeah damage uhuh and then Chris Davis all in favor Scott you want to start thank you okay motion passes okay at this point now we go to Citizens request address the board gotta thank you Mr Bill Chris Davis Miss Vel and the rest of the board thank you for having me tonight let me speak publicly um I'm here tonight to announce officially to this board that I am running for an open position for the Board of Education this November's election um I think that I'm you I know I'm uniquely qualified for a position on the board and I say that for three reasons um first is my uh is my career dedication to Public Service I'm working through the Attorney General's office for the approximate 15 years um and passing up offers from larger
005larger law firms to focus on more um policy-driven issues as opposed to having more money um has proven that I'm dedicated to making sure the state is a better place to live and I intend to that transcend to this of course District as well um I also have the second reason is I have current board member experience I serve on um three current uh City boards the the Jackson Brownfield Rehabilitation board um The Parks and Recreation board and Ella Shar Park Board I'm also a co- incorporator um and the uh initial treasurer of people for the parks and shells of Jackson Michigan a local 501c3 organization I understand how to operate as a board member and that includes acting civil because without civility you don't get anything done and that's even as low as the
006501c3 companies that make this city as great as it is and people like myself want to stay here um I also for the third reason I've a vested interest I have two young boys that both attend cascad to Elementary Ezra and AAC damage um first a first grader and a third grader um and I'd be remissed and would be unfair for me to say that I don't have a vested interest in in what happens on the board because I of course care what happens to my children and more and of course their friends and fellow classmates um there's three priorities that I H would have if I elected as a board member um the first would be to strengthen our financial budget regardless of the disagreements tonight you all should be commended for where you're
007at right now financially um you came out of Co is one of the only districts that is financially stable and there's a lot of larger districts that receive higher level scoring from an academic level that are not in the same position as you and you should be proud of that thank you from from a stien standpoint thank you but also you're not flush with cash so there has to be other ways to figure out how do we make sure in in the event of a budget shortfall that we don't find ourselves cutting teacher salaries and more importantly our support staff salaries um and I a support staff ranges anywhere from a from a a a front desk secretary to a high school SCH counselor those are non those would be non-negotiable non-negotiables for me if
008there's ever a budget shortfalls to cut those individual salaries and in fact I would fight to make sure that their step increases stay in play we could find Revenue in other places we have three different uh collective bargaining agreements coming up for the next board to decide I believe that my legal experience of of um of handling thousands of cases negotiating um very complex settlements will uh performing depositions would make me an asset in negotiating those contracts and I also believe it could be an asset in your closed door sessions as well to ask pointed questions to get to the point and to make sure that everyone's represented in Co cooler heads prevail I do that at the state level between directors that are dug in on positions that meet with the other side and
009they don't like each other and it's it is quite the task to get them to agree um and while I'm proud of my appell record I'm even more proud of how many cases I've settled by being able to be bring people to the table and come to a reasonable agreement because there's bigger things that play like State policy now well how's that transcend to here there's bigger things to play that's our kids that's our student that's our teachers and that's our community and a cohesive Community not one that is that there filled with hate and I think the school is the one place where we could stop that um and so my first priority would be find strengthen the financial budget to then prioritize wage increases for those individual teachers that are there now um
010along with staff to make sure that we retain staff and we don't lose uh we don't lose people to other districts and the last is to restore order to the board um I again it's it's simple things it's it's it's the way we address each other as adults it's things like that that get reported to the news and make our district look it it looks unorganized and it's not it's not like I said when I started you did a fantastic job with the finances this year and for the attention to be focused on the way that you all address each other it's an embarrassment to the taxpayers of of this of this jurisdiction and I hope to be elected to help solve that problem um and thank you for your time and please feel free
011to reach out whatever um Scott damage and I hope to earn your vote thank you thank you very much and for the attention that we focused on the way that you all address and Chris Davis to May of this of this jurisdiction and I hope to be elected to help solve that problem um thank you for your time and please feel free to reach out whatever um Scott damage and hope to earn your vote thank you thank you very much there you go um over the past few months I've spent 99% of my spare time in the evenings and on the weekends knocking on doors and being in community events hoping to um reach the community and have a seat on that side of the table come January um I spent a lot of time
012talking to parents some of them very emotional Tears In Your Eyes visibly upset and frustrated with the lack of response that they get from the district and from the school board currently and really just overwhelmed at a district that could be their Ally is not being their Ally and I want to uh just make clear that when I started to run for the district I ran because I have kids in the district and I thought I could make a difference here I never wanted to run to bash JPS or that I think JPS is failing as a district we have done really good things and we are on a good path Ally um and as I spoke to the community it really hit home for me in a way that I didn't expect because some
013of the things that I hear parents talking about our special education IEPs and alternative educations and I was a student that went to Amy fth toml TA Wilson I had IEPs and so that really hit home for me um that these parents and these kids are struggling getting these resources um some of these things that some parents have told me um I want to share with you and it's it's it's gut-wrenching to watch my child struggle while feeling completely ignored by JPS when we reach out for help every time I ask for support it's like my child's needs are an inconvenience nothing is more painful than seeing my child fall behind because the system meant to help them refuses to listen I've cried after meetings where our concerns were brushed aside feeling helpless I felt
014like a nuisance when all all I wanted was the best chance for my child's Future IT tears me apart to fight for my child's basic needs to and be met with cold stairs when I finally had a meeting I sat there and ugly face cried asking why no one will listen answer an email or even call me back I work at least 40 hours per week and this is an addition to meetings or appointments for my child the only answer was that the principal had left the building and apparently no one else in the school was available to assist St so we can talk about winning awards for Designing of the pool or building the First new school in 50 years securing grants for electric buses which are really great achievements that are worth recognizing
015but under this leadership our school system has failed our students and parents and we seem to care more about the new buildings and shiny achievements than the well-being and academic success of our atrisk youth in it's time we address these issues and put our Focus um back where it belongs which is on the students and the families who need our support the most um again like I said this this journey has showed me um something that I didn't even think was even when when I decided to run I didn't even know this was an issue and as I'm talking to the community this is what the community is telling me that they care about that they're experiencing and it's really sparked um a new passion in me and and one that I didn't even realize
016that I had um when I started relating to my youth and my journey through the district and again um our children deserve a system that recognizes their wellbeing and their success and I'm committed to making that a reality thank you didn't Jose Rodriguez and then Cheryl simti in my journey through the district and again um our children deserve a system that recognizes their well-being and their success and I'm committed to making that a reality thank you hi my name is H rodri um and I often uh find myself on your side of the de um I too am a proud School Board member um serving the Grand Rapids Public School District so today I drove all the way from Grand Rapids Michigan to be at this meeting um and as a board member I understand
017the hard work that goes into this position um the thankless hours that we spend discussing how to improve our Educational Systems I also understand the ways that one must maneuver the messiness of local politics um especially as a queer person of color with tattoos and piercings in West Michigan um it was not easy for me to get to get elected on the school board um but you know here I am today uh again proudly serving like like uh many of you here in front of me um but one thing that I understand about education whether here in Jackson or in Grand Rapids is the the way that we must model to our students how we are to treat one another and more importantly we we must show our children whether white black or brown that
018we stand against racist rhetoric and hateful and incendiary comments such comments should never be tolerated so when I heard that truste Hamilton was a target of racial remarks that brought up brought into question her intelligence I knew that I needed to come and speak in support of trusty Hamilton and the black students in Jackson Public Schools tonight I've traveled over an hour and a half to express my disdain for superintendent Beal and I'm asking the board to truly take a hard look into what would mean to separate from one another and um and what it would mean to offer him a penny not even one penny in return if you were to receive Severance it would communicate to our communities of color that regardless of racist rhetoric the wrongdoer will come out on toppr and
019while I watched last week last the last meeting and superintendent Beal's uh apology I do believe that the only way someone who has already cost your District hundreds of thousands of dollars and is comfortable sharing disgusting texts uh degrading trusty Hamilton is to part ways um and not offer him a penny in return um I really am very disappointed in the comments that I that I've heard uh the text that I've read um something that that I will always stand for is Justice and uh I hope you do the same thank you um and offer him a penny in return um I really am very disappointed in the comments that i' that I've heard the text that I've read hi I'm Cheryl Simonetti I have been actively involved in Jackson Public Schools for over 17
020years I have two kids who graduated from Jackson high school and are successful adults I live in the district I work in the district I play in the district and I spend my money in the district I'm running for election in November for Jackson Public Schools Board of Education if you follow Jackson Public Schools on social media you may have noticed recent discussions about reading and math scores unfortunately not a lot of solutions and for me I don't know how to get two parents in a home every night I don't know how to assure that there's an adult at the kitchen table looking over your child's shoulder to make sure their homework gets done I don't know how to make sure that there's an adult and home reading to preschoolers and tlers but do know
021that these things make a difference food and shelter make a difference and I think that Jackson Public Schools does a lot to get food home with kids and feed them at school our community does a lot to get food to families and shelter and support we do know that these things make a difference when but when there's fighting in the household before you go to bed and there's fighting in the household when you wake up in the morning we know that that's not good for kids this is a bigger issue than JPS it takes a community and I know there are a lot of people out there in our community doing the work nonprofits volunteering donating and we can't give up and we have to do more with permission I would challenge anyone in this
022room to walk a day in Julie Baker's Shoes and tell me that we are not working tirelessly to meet the needs of our kids emotionally physically and socially it takes a village on another note I believe that this board has done a pretty good job allowing people to speak their minds at the microphone but last month there was more than one person who stood up here and said some awful and nasty things we as a community and you as a board need to decide how much we're going to tolerate and just to be clear the $700,000 not a million $700,000 did come out of insurance money however the $111,000 that was spent on a baseless harassment investigation came out of the classroom thank you thank [Applause] you 00,000 okay we have Gina Hastings and then
023subba ready ,000 that was spent on a baseless harassment investigation came out of the classroom thank you thank you good evening the public comment portion at the last JPS meeting hit a new alltime low while a series of vicious and defamatory statements were hurled at the board and the administration the most abusive and vile comment was directed at board vice president shalanda hunt she was told and I quote stop pimping yourself out to whiteness to obtain political power the same speaker also called Pam Fitzgerald a racist there are seven sitting board members on the board there are 10 candidates competing for three open seats on the November ballot I am challenging all 17 of these people to make an unequivocal statement tonight condemning this abusive language no what bism no verbal acrobatics no Heming and
024ha let me start the attacks against shalanda hunt and Pam Fitzgerald were vile abusive and far beyond the pale they are corrosive and destructive to the power to the proper functioning of this board and this school district and I condemn them 100% board members and board com candidates it's your turn now any verbal evasion or silence on your part will be publicly noted it's been a full month now and it's time for you to take a public stand for B decency thank you thank [Applause] you any verbal evasion or silence on your part will be publicly noted it's been a full month now and it's time for you to take a public stand for basic decency thank you yep can everybody hear me yep okay um I I I I did find finally uh get
025to see some of the folks who are running for the board this November let me tell you something I'm excited and I am so proud that not one not two not three there are 10 people running that means a lot of people care about Jackson Public Schools I know uh this is my first time speaking in public I know I I I spoke in front of I I coached tennis at Jackson high for for last 15 years as a head coach for boys and girls and we did achieve quite a bit I mean Jackson coach never got a regional coach of the award this is first time in the history of Jackson Public School in tennis program and I received two of them in the same year for boys and girls that tells you guys
026a lot okay um we we are heading in the right direction not many people no um I'm a graduate of Jackson high school I graduated in 1998 I and when I came here to this country from India I can barely speak English are and whatever I say nobody could understand me but there were so many teachers at this school in the same building spending when I came an hour country maybe two every single day of my 11th and 12th grade to help me out not just no understand not just with English how to eat with the fork and I can name some of the teachers but I don't want to take a lot of time but one teacher Mrs Dee Cheryl Dee she was our English teacher she spent every single day after school with
027me and my brother to get up to speed that's the greatness about this school and I graduated in 1998 and then took a year off went to California to become a tennis player and I tried so hard for a year with the help of my uncle Dr readyy Who was financing me and after one year I decided I don't think I can I can get to the next level it's time for me to go back to college and I did uh Michigan State University I did my uh dual major go green go white that's right so I did I did I did finish my general management and finance dual major and minor in marketing from uh Michigan State in 2004 and worked for world's largest consulting company back then Accenture traveling every week flying out
028of Detroit Monday morning and flying back on Thursday for 8 years then I got under a car accident where I broke my arm my uh sternum my collar bone my ribs I was in the bed and I decided what am I doing with my LA with my life you know traveling every week staying at the hotel trying to help these big companies Fortune 500 companies you know trying to do better but I think I can do better in my own town so I decided okay let's take some time off started coaching tennis which I loved it a lot of people think we just coach sports but we do more than that with the kids we teach them you know how to succeed in their lives so um here I am last 28 years close to
029you know in Jackson you know trying to do trying to make a difference so uh come November I know you guys just came to know that I graduated from Jackson high you will know more about in next two months um but again I I am so proud that 10 people are running for Jackson board I am I have a lot of respect okay so let's work together as a team because remember we're all fighting for the same cause so let's not waste time on you know deviations just focus we'll get there and by the way before I leave my both kids 5-year-old and a 10-year-old both go to JPS and I and I am proud work together thank you for giving opportunity remember we're all fighting for the same Oh shot my bad like I
030said in next two months you'll know more about me my name is subba [Applause] ready proud thank you for giving OPP me jasn jelyn Joselyn cotton and Maisha Jones and then Nicholas thirst good evening my name is Joseline cotton and to be honest I wasn't really gonna say anything till I saw my other candidates saying something I said well I need to speak for myself so but I can't speak for like Scott does so I'm just going to keep it short and sweet but um again I um am a mother of one I've lived in Jackson all my life graduate of Jackson high school I have three grandchildren one is at Parkside he's 12 years old in the seventh grade and I have one at Northeast and he's 10 and then I have a granddaughter
031who goes to Michigan Center and she's um in the third grade but I've always had a passion to be around kids people I've worked in healthcare all my life I worked for Allegiance and marketing and community relations right now I'm in still in healthcare but I work for a Home Care Hospice agency which is called Yara caring used to be great lates here and locally in jackon but we're Nationwide and I'm a manager of our call center which is a call center that's based with um people all around like I said United States so I'm used to different things you know dealing with different attitudes different um cultures and um but what I've always taught my staff is let's all get along so when I first told people that I wanted to run for JPS
032board well I've always wanted to do this but with my son and me being a single parent I really didn't have that time because I want to let him do what he needs to do I want to give that time for him so I always put myself on a back burner but now that I just have my grandkids and I see what they're doing and actively involved in sports and different activities in the schools I um said well maybe this is my time and it just happened there be three seats available so I said oh this might be my time so um so it just kind of took me a back when I would tell people yeah I'm running for the JPS board and they was like really why are you doing that and I
033didn't really pay attention to all what was going on until I got more involved and it kind of bothers me that adults just kind of can't cohesively get along and I think when you're a board and you're a group of people that's what is supposed to happen because when there's negativity from the higher up that trickles down to the lowers and kids shouldn't see this we should have one agreement is working for the children working for the administration making sure that they are doing what is right for the kids I mean as you can see I'm a African-American woman and I wasn't born with a silver spoon but I didn't have problems when I went to school my son really didn't have problems he had great teachers and I can't say anything bad about the
034teachers my grandkids had so it's kind of giv me an eyeopener to see what is actually going on in the school because all kids are they're different I mean it's kind of sad the different ways that kids are growing up nowadays but I would love to get in the trenches and help I want to help the students the teachers Administration and that's I feel like that's my calling so anyway my name is Jocelyn coton I'm interested in in the board and I hope to see you guys soon thank [Applause] you help Misha and Nicholas stud Administration that's I feel like that's my call so anyway but is it the truth is how I want to start off my comments I hadn't planned on speaking about the comments that I had made at the last board
035meeting but since the opportunity presented itself and I have time today I think I'll address it if we look at this um the root cause of every disparity the disparities that we see in our students and how they show up how their behaviors show up how the the things that are happening at home and pack them at school the root cause of every disparity is racism that is not my thoughts that is not my opinion that is factual racism is the root cause to every disparity so if we as Leaders don't understand anti-racism how can we make sound decisions be able to provide resources to students if we don't understand and operate in the lens of anti-racism we cannot when we use words like abusive language acting civil being professional saying awful things those are
036excuses that we make up to perpetuate the system of white supremacy which directly correlates to racism behavior and attributes that we continuously see when we say it's not about racism why are we talking about that what else are we talking about when we have black and brown students struggling and and and students of color struggling there's a racism component in all of that struggle in the comments that I made last week everybody here who knows me and had interaction which I'm sure is 99% of these people know how I show up hey how you doing hugging on you we chitting and we chatting I have a master's degree in strategic Comm communication and Leadership I know how to talk and I'm a woman of God I'm a Praying Woman if we had had a one-on-one
037conversation I probably spoke life into you I hugged you I ask you some challenging questions I've never I don't lie I come with straight truth and facts but everyone is so bothered by my comments on last board meeting but not one person in this room came up and said Misha can you help me understand why you said that why you use the language but we're so personally impacted by how you that made me feel terrible and and therefore it's terrible to show up in that way but is it the truth if you don't know whether it's a truth or not you should ask more questions to find out instead of inserting yourself in topics you don't know about perpetuating the system of white suprem suprem supremacy that's holding us back from where we need to
038be if someone raises their voice in passion uses language that is civil or direct or whatever type of language that you want to use does it mean that that language it might feel harmful but if it's the truth is the language harmful I would encourage this community specifically this board to ask more question because it is apparent that the level of Education around equity and anti-racism is not at this level besides Kesha we thank you for your work that you've been doing about anti racism if we don't talk about it if we don't bring it up if we don't insert it in every decision that we make there's going to be a population of students left behind and whether we want to acknowledge it or not racism is real it impacts our students experiences at
039school it impacts how we interact with them it's impacting how this board is behaving someone said it's sad that people can't get along this ain't about people not getting along I don't get along with lot of people I don't care about that we have work to do this is about racism being uplifted and perpetuated in this board this is not about getting along but that's the problem why we can't get the work done cuz everybody buddies dang that's my buddy I know he ain't mean it I know he a mean to harass or or do this I know he ain't mean it he says sorry cuz we all buddy buddies and it's all about getting along I don't have to get along with you to do work that really is Meaningful I don't have to
040like you this ain't about like or don't like about all this Philly stuff this is about the outcomes that our student are receiving at the root cause of racism before you just go out and start tarnishing my name and my character integrity why don't you have a conversation with me so I can give you the facts of why the comments I made make sense so then you can stop perpetuating racism and then we can all get to the root cause and start really being able to help our students racis before you go out and start fishing my name and my character integrity why don't you have a conversation with me so I can give you the facts of why the comments I made Nicholas and then you can stop perpetuating racism and then we can
041all get to the root cause and start really being able to help our students uh hello my name is Nicholas thirston I live here in Jackson Michigan I was a JPS student my whole life and um so a lot of the stuff that she just said is totally false if everything comes down to white supremacy then explain uh disparities of poverty and wealth in Latin America or Central America that have uh significant number of illegal immigrants pouring into our country every single day why are they coming here um explain uh disparities in China everybody in China is Chinese is there not poverty or disparity in China uh what about other parts of Asia what about the African continent itself can we blame all that disparity and poverty on white supremacy so a lot of this
042stuff doesn't add up and it's totally fallacy the stuff she's coming up with is not based in truth or reality when we zoom out we look at the bigger picture of the planet Earth and um you know USA is the I believe the greatest country in Earth I'm proud to say that I'm American and I wouldn't trade it for anything right now we're using more electricity in this room than entire countries in Africa have access to um there's what 700 million people in Africa that don't have clean water electricity even more developed parts of Africa might only have electricity for maybe three to four hours per day if they're lucky um so I mean just this building alone is consuming more energy than some parts of entire countries in Africa right now so a lot
043of stuff they're saying doesn't add up there's nothing that prevents those people you know from digging a well to get clean water they're just not doing it there's nothing that prevents those people from using modern technology to establish an efficient energy grid a lot of the materials in the USA are actually sourced from uh minerals that are mined in Africa and then transported here into other parts of the world so a lot of the resources those people need are actually literally right beneath their feet they're just not harvesting I don't know what the deal is really but it shows you know American capitalism it is the best system that anybody is able to come up with and we have more opportunity here in the USA than a lot of parts of the world if we
044put our minds to it we believe in ourselves there's a lot of things that we can do are there challenges absolutely are the things that we have to overcome in life absolutely but to blame everything on white people or this uh superstitious white supremacy um anti- Dei or de Dei anti-racism thing that is really uh hyper racism and Hyper discrimination all the supporters of Kesha Hamilton are many the most racist people they're the ones that keep bringing up their own races and skin colors and sexualities uh St uh superintendent Beal's comments we're not racially oriented in any way there was no racial context he just said I don't think she understands what she's doing in this position and I agree I think a lot of other people agree and uh the performance of the school
045the Personnel uh kind of are demonstrating that personally I think that uh you know I don't agree with all the decisions that be has made I believe he has been the glue that has held the district together for uh many years and has steered the district into a at least a healthy Financial uh position for the future long term and that Dei would actually collapse all that hard work um and be fighting against something that's not there an imaginary enemy that nobody can really tangibly produce so which one of the teachers are raises which department which classroom um you know the Dei Advocates never say that they say that we're supposed to change all these policies so that the white personnel and the white customers of this organization bent over backwards for people that hate
046them that's on anti-racism um yeah I mean a lot of the the just the the subject of the Dei or Equity policies or whatever it just doesn't add up you know and I know Derek does you are one of the authors or supporters of the racial Equity policy that you've uh proposed here was it racial Equity when you Tred to rob me while I was eating my dinner downtown you try to charge your meals onto my credit card and you convinced the manager of the restaurant that it was okay for them to do that because they came over to me in a panic yelling hey hey hey are you okay with this because a very drunk Derek does is sitting at the other end of the room saying that it's okay for me to charge
047his meals onto your bill are you okay with this so thank you for your time I had something completely different planned but uh I think it was important that we address the reality for a minute thank you heyy hey are you okay with this it's okay for me to charge his meals onto your bill are you okay with this so thank you for your time hi everyone Joie Orel again and Jackson and I wasn't going to speak a second time but there's some things that I've been made aware of and I think you guys should be made aware of first I have a serious concern about some of the teachers feeling like we're against the teachers we're not we're asking for the board to work together I was just recently I think two weeks ago
048at the my response to hate conference that was hosted by a coalition including the Michigan attorney general Dana nessle I got to hear her speak about oppression and things that she has witnessed throughout the state um I have concerns about the board not hearing parents not listening I have the opportunity in my multiple roles and I've been doing Special Education mediation and facilitations since 2011 so I've been doing this for a long time I've been fighting for my oldest daughter with this board for a board policy to change for over two years now and I was informed by a parent that they emailed the same principle who was sitting in the audience wearing one of the shirts saying I stand for our students um that her daughter wouldn't be able to walk either if she
049doesn't finish her courses because she has a 504 plan because that board policy is still in place so we're not fighting against teachers we're asking the school board and the school administration to do what's right to to change the policies before the students another thing that was brought to my attention is that they feel the board should focus on the students and our comments are distracting we are asking for you to support the students we are asking for you to listen to the parents not everyone has the same experience but if 10% of the student population is feeling like they're being discriminated against or excluded or whatever does that 10% not matter they matter my daughter having a disability I have two daughters with disability and my youngest is being evaluated for autism my one
050daughter that's still in school I took her out of JPS District because I am not going to have her experience what my oldest daughter experienced and just so you know these meetings are traumatizing to people who have that experience the woman that came up here and spoke and she was kind of aggressive in the way that she spoke walked out balling her eyes out because it triggered her if you don't know about those types of experiences I invite you to learn because as a white woman I know that I don't understand the same things that Shela you go through and it's different than what Kesha you go through I don't understand them but I'm willing to listen to learn and it feels like a lot of times you guys are not triggered and you know
051I'm I have friends on the board I have respect for people who are on the board I'm is disappointed in how this board is conducting business and it's not when they say oh put the board back in order and it's making JPS look bad it's not kha making the JPS look bad it's the whole board not listening to her not taking her serious not making her feel safe not making her feel heard you guys are supposed to work together so if one member is being excluded that's not working together and it's not just her fault it's all of your faults and I think accountability needs to be helding JPS look it's the whole board not listening to her not making her feel safe our last speaker Tabitha Williams to work together so if one member
052is being excluded that's not working together and it's not just her fault it's all of your fault and I think accountability needs to be held um good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Tabitha Williams um I am currently the labor vaison with the United Way I have been a Jackson count County resident for my entire life I have three children currently attending JPS two at Sharp Park and one uh doing remote learning through scmv um I am also one of the candidates running for one of the open school board seats um I was not prepared to make a statement or speak or introduce myself at all this evening and even after seeing the initial group of candidates come up before you and introduce themselves I still chose to take this
053as the opportunity to sit and listen to try to understand and learn however in the last 5 minutes of being in this meeting I have found issue with what goes on on this side of the table um I experienced along with josy the the constant question everybody says when I say I'm running for a board seat why do you want to do that are you sure you want to do that my thin my skin is very thick I have a loud voice I'm not afraid to talk I'm not afraid to share my perspective or where I come from or where I plan to go I am not afraid to Champion my children along with everybody else's children because they all deserve the opportunity to receive an amazing education and access to all that their little
054hearts desire however in the last let me back up sorry some of the previous comments about the way that your board meetings run range from everything to board members being on cell phones to being on computers to not being engaged to not being invested I can't speak to any other meeting prior to this evening because I have not attended any however in this meeting what I've seen are people very engaged you have provided time space and attention to hear from the community however as you are doing that and you are doing the job that we've asked you to do we have community members in the back of the room being disruptive arguing one of our candidates husbands along with another being is in the doorway with the police ushering them out of the room so
055I just would like to pose the question to the community as well as the board if we are asking these things from our board members we also need to ask them from our community members as well there's a level of respect and if we want to continue to talk about uh being appropriate and being professional and working together that has to be demonstrated inside the room and outside of it and in the doorway and down the hallway as well so in that I appreciate the opportunity um that was just kind of a rattling situation that if if we're talking about respect and what the responsibility and and the power that we hold in this room then we all need to get on board and and support that thank you very much situation that talking respect
056okay at this point we have board comments does anyone want to make a comment and we all need to get on board and and support that thank you thank you very much I'm just pulling up my notes okay at this point we have board comments does anyone want to make a comment so um always initially you know I always like to thank our community for um showing up you know coming out um you know being engaged um you know um you know we come out uh at least for me four years ago and said hey you know I really really really want your vote you know um and these are all the things I'm going to do um and beg you and and you know and and make promises that you know fortunately I've kept
057every last one um but seeing you all show up um thank you you know because we we you know like I said we beg you to put us here um and then when you come and choose to hold us accountable you know I appreciate that um because we can't do this job um well um I guess I won't say that um we do the job better when you all are holding us accountable I think so thank you um the other thing I I'll mention uh you know there's so much that could be said um and I'm not going to take a lot of time to say all the things that could be said because I've said a lot of things and I'm always be saying stuff because you know one thing that's not um taken
058as my voice but what I will say um is that sitting in this seat you know so I have six children some of you all may or may not know um I have three graduates of JPS um all of them graduated with honors I have one other student here um and two of them who are not here um I gr did not graduate through JPS but I came through here um up through my 11th grade year so you know so my commitment to this space ums is because I believe in not only um my children and your children but I really believe in the power of Education um and so my commitment to this space is is in that way the next thing I'm going to say is that um I didn't choose to run
059for JPS school board or sit here for the past four years um enduring the things that I have endured um because my children were um per se at stake like I said they were graduates honor graduates and those of you who have been paying attention for some time I'm a mama bear and you aren't confused about that I take care of my own I mean they've always been fine they were going to be fine whether I sat here and they going to be fine when I'm not sitting here but um I ran because there were students like me there are still students like me who went through JPS and are going through JPS currently whose parents for various non-judgmental reasons um cannot be as involved as I am um I didn't know when I started
060on this board um some of the things that I would experience um I'm a Survivor as well in other spaces that I won't name um that triggered um some experiences that I have had to do deal with um have triggered some things that I've experienced prior to but I didn't know that when I um stood up for myself because I'm always going to do that cuz I finally learned how to after some experiences I learned how to stand up for myself I didn't know that I was going to experience these things that was going to require that part of me to activate I also didn't know and this is the part that's super important to me that there were um that I was going to experience it and that there were so many other people
061who were experiencing as well I just didn't know that but what I refus to do sitting in this seat on this side of the table where um I'm one of the bosses so to speak and not even so to speak I'm actually one of the bosses um I sit on this side of the table I couldn't not let my voice be heard in the things that I was experiencing because I knew that if I was experiencing them somebody else was as well people whose voices couldn't be elevated so I had to elevate my voice for them so I just want the community to be aware and clear that I don't endure these things um because if I don't know what you might think but I do them because of U all youu all's voices um
062and you know whether it's your voice or not it might not be your voice and that's okay but there are hundreds of you and dozens of you and 450 of you who signed a petition and 22 of you who who sent emails and and that's just through this incident you know for the past four years there are dozens and dozens whose I whose voices are have been in my ear who I've talked to and who have um you know coached and who I've given you know the specific steps to take to get your voice be heard um I realize it I have to be here for you and that's why I'm here okay um our community is worth it our children are worth it our students are worth it it our teachers are worth it
063education is worth it um one of the things that I appreciate about uh being involved with residents in Action a a group that Tasha Carter started um is that during covid we had opportunity to uh figure out the um conditions that were impacting black and brown communities and then work to mitigate those things and so one of the first things we did was we handed out um thermometers because that was one of the first ways that you know people were acknowledging that people had Co get a fever right that was one of the first things we heard so we got thermometers to the community and and through a lot of efforts that we did we believe that we definitely impacted Co in a way that uh mitigated some of the effort or some of the
064uh impacts here which I'm proud of um but what Co did for this community is kind of what Kesha unfortunately did for this board because she stood up and has continued to stand and will continue make no mistake um it exposed the um disparities and the gaps in our systems and me expressing the things that I'm experiencing me um taking the voices of the community and sitting at them at this table and governing from those voices um it exposed what um is occurring here in our system it's unfortunate and confusing that I would have to even state that I didn't cause this but for some reason and so for some people I actually do have to state that I don't know how little old me 5 foot2 we're not going to talk about the weight
065right now but 5 foot2 mom to six you know shy introverted person can you know come in here and cause all this Havoc all by myself I don't know how that occurs um you know Co some people said it was created wherever whatever but you know it it uh it did incredible damage to our communities um and and and and we blame all the different things and reasons you know and some of us only a couple of us cuz my community is strong thank you for all of you who are in red tonight I see you I appreciate you I'm grateful for you um but this community we're going to continue to experience these things for as long as we have individuals out there who want to look at one little 5 fo2 beautiful smart
066intelligent black woman um who is strong in her uh boundaries and aware of her selfworth and refusing to accept uh bad behavior from anyone as long as we continue to try to blame her and not ask those questions that I ask we're going to continue to see these issues when I made the accusation and revealed what I had exper experienced in 2022 I didn't know 3 months was going to follow with individuals recounting their experiences individuals who came back I wasn't here when they experienced those things when I talked about what I experienced in 2022 they came back and recounted stuff from way before then anyways though Community thank you all for being here um if if if there's one thing that this community does for me over and over again it is inspires my
067entire spirit you know um it pours into me and I'm so grateful for you I'm so grateful that we care enough about education I'm so grateful that we recognize all the issues that are occurring and how they impact education and are willing to stand up for them thank you for that um our educational Futures at stake our children are at stake our students our teachers our community um and without us being willing to one look at the real issue um not and it's not Kesha let's be clear one thing you ought to do is be thanking kha you know because clearly um you should be thanking kha right we should we should thank me anyways so but we should be looking at the real issues and then solving for those real issues um and if
068we keep on trying to blame um one person um or if we're too afraid to um not group everybody together you know versus call out the the real issues will never solve for them um I'm hopeful that we really want our community to turn in a different direction our educational Community I'm hopeful that we're willing to continue to fight I'm hopeful that we're going to continue showing up we all matter our students matter um thank you all again um like I said you know my voice has never been a small once I found it took me some time took a few years but I found it um nothing that has occurred thus far has stopped me and it's not going to not going to stop me you know I'm I'm always going to do what
069I do um and I appreciate you all that all keep showing up and holding my arms up so that I can um so thank Youk you small found that has occurred th far has stopped me and it's not GNA Not Gon to stop me you know I'm I'm always gonna do what I do um and I app I just like to thank um the community for coming out and being so interested in our school school's education throughout the community um I'd like to also thank the board for getting together and deciding on a difficult issue that um we were very concerned about and thank you schol educ thank you madam president um I was I was told this was a thankless job and uh principal lby thanked me earlier so I would like her to
070resend it um but uh I appreciate all of the uh faculty uh administrators and staff that uh showed up and turned out tonight um for the Jackson Education Association uh representing uh the Educators um and uh offering those comments tonight I think that has uh a tremendous impact in um you know raising uh some of the good work uh that uh this district has done uh that superintendent Beal has done um in the context of um some of the difficult conversations that we had uh that I appreciate all of this board tremend uh working through together and uh engaging in some uh thoughtful tough discussion and ultimately coming to a conclusion that will allow us to uh move forward and focus on on uh doing our job as uh board members um focused on uh
071doing what we can to better serve uh the students uh the parents and uh the Educators that are uh part of this District um so thank you guys um outside of that um uh hopeful that I know this kind of got uh delayed by uh the August meeting uh students uh events but uh would hope that uh at our June meeting we had po postponed conversations around the equity policy to the August meeting um I know that didn't happen would hope that we could add that to uh for discussion at our October meeting um and also um because I am a policy wonk and we're talking about getting back to focusing on students and uh issues I've been working on uh policy 8390 animals on District property um with the hopes of maybe having a
072conversation around uh therapy dogs um and some of the things that we can do in a district um that uh some other school boards uh across the state have um taken up and found great success with um so I've been doing uh in the background a bunch of research and um working on uh that policy um and engaging in uh some conversations uh with administrators in the district um but ultimately I report to the big boss my daughter who um asked me to work on it so she's been putting me to work on weekends um so look forward to bringing that policy in front of the board uh the policy committee um hopefully by October administrators in the district thank you Angela um I too would like to thank the administrators and teachers and staff
073who came tonight it's very appreciated um and I also would like to thank all of you for a great beginning of the school year um I have a son at Parkside and a daughter at the high school and they had a wonderful start to the year and I have you know friends um kids at different elementary schools around the um around JPS and the staff is definitely working um working hard to make sure everyone is starting off the year grade so it doesn't go un notice so thank you maryn so JPS is addressing student achievement and here are some of the actions we've taken we have purchased a new curriculum for K through five reading open court that specifically addresses foundational skills that we have found many students are missing mostly phonics and phic awareness
074we purchased a new K through 5 math curriculum and new middle school math curriculum High School social studies curriculum K through 12 special education curriculum for reading and math as well as a new world language curriculum we have provided teachers with ongoing professional learning to allow them to teach the new curriculums we've hired additional social workers and behav Behavior interventionists to support students dealing with social emotional and behavioral issues that get in the way of learning we've hired additional instructional coaches to provide additional coaching and support to teachers in classrooms and to provide instruction to students requiring interventions we've developed and trained a district multi- systems of support implementation team last year which will lead the implementation of mtss districtwide mtss will help us identify the needs of each student apply interventions and monitor their
075progress over time adjusting interventions is needed the mtss structure will be applied to academic achievement Behavior through positive behavior intervention and supports attendance and social emotional needs we've hired an mts's coordinator to lead that implementation and training we provide an afterschool program at every school and a summer school program students who are performing low in reading or math are referred to these programs we employ retired teachers to work with small groups of students to provide additional support and instruction for those who have gaps in their reading or math skills so I I wanted to bring the Public's attention that we really are doing a great job thank you Julie Baker um she provided me with all these details um this morning actually and I thank you teachers for all coming out um I appreciate your
076work I hard work um but obviously I loved what subar ready said oh my gosh that was just such a great success story so thank you so much just for everyone coming out tonight she provided me with all these details um this morning good evening everyone thank you for being here tonight thank you for um presenting your voices on the issues that our current board is has been ex um experiencing over a period of time to our community um I would like to say personally I do not agree with the um the text message that Jeff superintendent Jeff sent to trustee Hamilton it was a gross display of leadership experiencing I understand that we are in these positions and as a leader we are required and have an obligation to lead with Integrity humility and
077take ownership I want to see our district move forward it saddens my heart for the children looking on to witness another distraction from student achievement humility when I ran for this position I said a vote for Hunt is a vote for you I have had many many conversations with parents concerned parents teachers current and former teachers as well as students and we all collectively want to get back to the job I have had many we're off track and we need to get back on track concerned I have an obligation as an elected official to do my job I will continue to do my job I will continue to be approachable I will continue to speak up I will continue to have those crucial conversations even when others feel and think otherwise my heart is in
078this I too a parent I'm alumni of JPS this is a community but we do have some gaps to close we have some gaps to close and it takes intentionality we should have this room filled every single month not just because we have issues everyone should continue to come those of you that are running for school board it is is a wonderful job when you know that you have impacted the lives of vulnerable children those teachers that have said thank you shalan for being that sounding board all of this that you see at the board it is it can be discouraging it can be discouraging but I'm here to stay my term is 2020 2026 is when I am up for reelection I have every intention on continuing my support for the families the children
079the teachers that live in this city that I call home I hope that after tonight's meeting that we as a board begin to reimagine what JPS Board of Education looks like support I ask that we all challenge ourselves let's just take a clear heit in the right direction and it starts internally how can I show up differently and I'm speaking for myself as well how can I shalanda hunt vice president of Board of Education show up differently I make a commitment to do something new and different be a little bit more responsive I have many conversations in the community I prefer phone calls just so you know I prefer phone calls I want to have those individual conversations so I can better understand the impact that those situations that you are having personally what that
080means for you so I hope that we as a board can walk away with the decisions that were made today being more transparent holding individuals accountable because when things go wrong personally there has to be consequences that means for you so I hope that we as a thank you community and I encourage you to continue to come and support the board the decisions as a member of the policy committee I feel inspired and compelled to move forward with considering a resolution a policy to focus on the board of education our cell phone usage at this governance table thank you community we need to be fully present when we're here decisions as a of fully present meaning listening to the voices of our community I don't take notes just because I reflect over these notes how
081can we make the necessary changes for our district so if you have questions comments concerns you want someone to speak to I invite those conversations I welcome those those um conversations so please feel free to reach out to me as a vice president for JPS Board of Education thank you everyone changes for our district so if you have questions comments what do I say after all that want someone to speak to I am the uh the board has always been in flux we have been in flux in a bad way in the last few months and as president I do take responsibility for not putting the ham down earlier I'm sorry bab um but I think what you're going to see from this point on is more cooperation between the board members more transparency um
082when things happen but I guess the most important thing I'm asking of you is that you do keep in touch with people when you have a question if you hear something please ask somebody else about it don't get all your information from One Source any more than when two little kids are fighting you can just ask one of them what happened um you can't so I would just like to let you know that I think every one of us here is committed to making it the kind of place it was several years ago where there's there's collaboration where there's a lot of give and take where there's we'll agree to disagree and not expect everybody to all feel the same way and that's what makes Jackson high so strong and Jackson Public so strong is
083our diversity our tradition of diversity we're all so different we have different experiences we have different hopes and dreams for the future so I ask that you stick with us please keep coming to meetings and if you do have a question please get an answer from more than one source so you have an idea where you can put something in perspective and say oh I see why that happened or oh wow that shouldn't happened you know whatever but thank you for coming I really really appreciate it okay the last thing we have on our agenda is the calendar September 24th is the Jackson County um school board annual dinner meeting and that's at the career center at 6m now how do they do we let you know if you want to if they want to
084go okay if you're able to go please let Michelle know and she can make sure that you're expected and the next meeting is October 15th our regular meeting in the JHS Media Center at 6:00 you are always on that why I'm here discussion all in favor iOS thank you very much e