001uh good evening everybody we'd like to welcome you to the august 12th 2021 regular meeting of the enlarged city school district of middletown i call that meeting to order at this time i'm going to ask mr purino would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance uh thank you if you could just i'm sorry if you could just remain standing for one moment for a moment of silence mr perrino if you would is your mic on sir the moment of silence this evening is for greta maria still this is still the mother of jennifer youngs a very respected instructor of history at the middletown high school and she also is the co-advisor to the national honor society mrs still served her community she was a health care professional at orange regional medical center garnett center
002and before that horton hospital she spent many hours she spent many extra hours caring for patients there was a great outpouring of support and love for her at the visitation today so please remember mr sill in your thoughts and prayers thank you so much [Music] thank you mr perino mission of the enlarged city school district of middletown mr gomez [Music] we strive to provide fiscally sound educational opportunities in a safe environment that continuously support our diverse student body population we will enable all students to graduate to reach their full potential to become lifelong learners and to be competitive productive members of society thank you sir roll call mrs clark [Music] here thank you uh i need a motion for the approval of our agenda tonight please moved and seconded any discussion all in favor aye
003opposed it so passes motion for the approval of our july 22nd 2021 minutes please second moved and seconded any discussion all in favor so passes approval of our minutes from our august 5th 2021 meeting moved and seconded any discussion all in favor it so passes moving on personal action items there's no objection we will pull we will pull out individually personnel memorandum 3a administrative i need a motion for that please move then seconded discussion i'm sorry yeah i can't hear you this thing causes an echo um i i think this is the wrong time for this particular change thank you mr thank you mrs houston any other discussion all in favor opposed let's do a let's do a roll call let's do a roll call mrs mrs clark [Music] i'm sorry the motion is for
004uh personnel memorandum 3a administrative are you asking no it's no i mean to separate it as do we always do the motion is to separate it from the other personnel um items i misunderstood thank you i'm sorry [Music] as we do as we do we're separating this and not voting in a lump in a lump with other personnel items uh so uh is there so let me let me let me rewind let me rewind again we we had motion we have a second discussion now now now my question again my question was all in favor oh and opposed and so uh mrs clark now asked for asked um for a roll call okay so we will go to a roll call mrs clark for the approval of the motion [Music] confused i'm sorry because because
005there are no there are there are those that are there are those that are are are opposing our nays and and in order for clarity's sake because i hear i hear eyes and i hear nays but i can't distinguish okay but can we start from the beginning what exactly are we voting i'm sorry i just we are voting on pulling this as a separate item yes yes that's all that's all let's all do this as a separate item i got it now and you need a roll call for that at this point the reason mrs clark asked for a roll call was because she could not distinguish got it she could not distinguish the eyes from the nays and so we're so we're asking for a roll call so that so that we can distinguish
006the eyes from the nays in this particular instance please that's all [Music] yes no the approval of this period because we always we always separate this does everybody understand we always separate the administrators let me make sure let me make it clear we just voted to separate it but it's already no no [Music] we've we remember this we always separate administrative um personnel memorandums right agendas we always separate that and we all and we and and traditionally what we do is we vote on instructional okay and non-instructional together correct what i always ask for and what was traditionally been asked for is a motion to vote on this separate from the other personnel memorandums that's what we've traditionally done right correct but it's already separated it's by itself nothing different nothing different than anything we've
007done in the past it's already separated [Music] maybe maybe let's go backwards may i have a motion am i am i am i in order i just want to make sure i'm in order may have a motion for the approval of personnel memorandum 3a administrative please some more it's been moved it's been seconded is there any discussion yes i don't think this is the right time for this change in our district thank you any other discussion all in favor opposed may i request a roll call and now and and thank you and now now now we now we can request we request a roll call and we will do a roll call thank you hi [Music] opposed [Music] opposed say that again please motion [Music] the motion so passes with five five to three with
008one extension with one extension thank you i i know this is out of order but if i understood uh mrs hugheson the change that we're requesting with this vote is to create a position at truman moon as a dean and to abolish the assistant principal job at truman moon that's all we're voting on that was very clear and i was saying that i don't feel it's the time for that mr crescenzo thank you all right let's move on now i want to entertain emotion to combine to combine personnel memorandum 3b and approval of personnel memorandum 3c non-instructional [Music] opposed that so passes is there any introduction to personnel tonight no no all right that's uh moving on recognition announcements and community reports um who's going to be handling the recognition for um it's in front
009of you right here so what we want to do yeah [Music] of autistic achievement is a special award we received notification um about this several weeks ago and of course we wanted to get into the next board of education meeting and what's what's special about this is that we have a student faith howard at monegan middle school who has really demonstrated beyond i believe one's expectations at this developmental age level in terms of artistic talent very very unique talent whereby her artistry skill which there are several of our students in this school district who have exemplified their artistic skills but faith is at a level in which she was able to display down in new york city at exposition her creative and personal take on certain portraits and and landscapes things that she has done
010and people have purchased these at that level of artistic talent i think needed to be recognized not only here at the board table we put it on our facebook page our district facebook page as well as our website it doesn't happen very often although each year we see through the scholastic art awards and i am sure that faith will be a member representing not only herself of course not only representing her family of course not only represent the monegan middle school but being displayed here we'll see it on well we'll hopefully won't be here we'll be in the new media center where our board meetings are what will be displayed at our board of education meeting when we move in there because that program is in mid to late winter whereby she will be displaying
011her artistic talents not only in a regional state and could move forward to a national and then even global competition but tonight is not about what could be tonight is what is been accomplished it is with great pleasure and honor and humbly we must say that we are so proud to have you faith as i spoke to you previously and to mom the recipient of this first and hopefully not last certificate artistic achievement welcome up to the board and let's congratulate [Music] [Applause] hey would you like to say something um um i thank you for i think the school district and the school advisory for my accomplishments thank you i'm very nervous artistic achievement congratulations to you from the town city school district board of education congratulations you're a rock come on over here congratulations
012let everybody gather around friendship thank you so much [Applause] right so so mrs howard i also i'm going to be recruiting faith to do some of the illustrations for me about what we talked about and so she's uh she is an outstanding young lady and um we're very very proud of her oh absolutely but know it before before we finish before we finish we'll get a chance to get a chance to look at everything but but just so you know faith everybody was following you we were following your every movement when you were in new york city and we congratulate you honey great job let's move on um rick i'm getting old and can't see recognition announcements and community reports do we have uh i'll start down i'll start down with uh mr c thank
013you uh last tuesday i attended the common council meeting and gave them a very very very brief uh accounting of our twin towers project because it wasn't really not a lot to talk about at this stage and they were very excited about it they they greeted it warmly they understand where we're coming from that the building needs tremendous renovation and we're going to do that and dr johnson alderman johnson gave a very nice a very brief accounting of the progress as far as infrastructure goes that the district has experienced in the last 15 20 years and to hear him say that and out loud outline each part it was very impressive because you kind of forget you come here and you've been here for a while you know and you forget this building's about five
014six seven years old um so yeah so we're gonna do that we're gonna as progress moves forward i'll give a brief um accounting of where we are and maybe as things really take off they could come down and have take a visit thank you um thank you mr crescenzo let me move down to the um to my brothers to williamses because we got they got we got big things going on so [Music] mitch why don't we start with you a couple of days ago i went to the gimmick the middletown parks and rec and they had the middletown football team with the middletown um police department and they were showing them as far as day in the life of a police officer giving them education on maybe possibly as a job opportunity and just taking
015them through the drills and everything and just building a camaraderie in a community so i just definitely you know want to shout out rayleigh and the the city uh for that it was just big as well as um the middletown police department another thing is on august 21st we have uh uh this it takes a village is doing a a big barbecue out there david park uh from one to five it's for just the community to just come together there's gonna be bouncy houses and popcorn and just different things like that events for the kids to have a good time um because i like because it matters 24 7 sponsored it as well as 6west and 845. but it's a lot of other sponsors it's just to get the community together and that's you know
016what it's about and i'm very excited about things that's going on in the community right now thank you sir mr freddie williams you're good um mr uh well no there's there's paula you're good mrs houston this morning and um involving a chicken of all things so i don't know if any of you drove by and saw the chicken but um i'll add a little humor to our evening but uh they were just so professional and courteous it was both an officer i believe his name is officer marita as well as the animal control officer top of the line excellent people and just wanted to give them a thank you and also just i wanted to mention that i had the pleasure of attending the um mount hope and otisville night out against crime last week
017and just it was a great opportunity to do i guess i'll call it fellowship with our neighboring communities and what a what a great job they did um with demonstrations and it was live music and i'm just looking forward to the events that are similar that mr williams just spoke of so thank you thank you mr gomez thank you very much i had the opportunity on july 31st attending at the village of florida but i was open for the whole orange county center for cultivating healing the non-profit that focuses on prostate cancer particularly in the minority communities whereas very high among men it's like breast cancer for women it's one of the leading cancers that could harm men and it was a beautiful activity it was part of a car show and the goal is
018to get the message of awareness the important for testing uh nothing to be ashamed of uh and to so that because a test could save a life just like the mammograms could save a life i know that the organization is looking forward to having a food pantry within the city of middletown and hopefully that will serve the greater community here they do have from time to time they invite doctors from either uh garnett or other institutions that deal with with the dangers of prostate cancer for their for their zoom meetings they're open to anybody who's interested and and answer questions and i think it's important because again one test could save a life and we want all the men of our community to be able to live long and the words of mr spock live
019long and profitable [Music] thank you sir mr farino thank you bishop williams you know we've had many reports on the construction projects going on in this district there they're ongoing we pride ourselves in keeping our buildings in the best possible condition mr barnett superintendent of buildings and grounds has given us reports on this numerous occasions but there's one construction project that perhaps isn't given the best uh uh the best kind of uh public recognition and that's the projects done by our buildings and grounds staff example and they did a great project this summer was all done in-house they remodeled the food service building that's the building across from the central office building that's where sales people come menus are prepared people are interviewed for positions that building was constructed in 1980. uh tommy eltz not
020tommy eltz jr who works first now that tommy l troy went to school with uh did the work on that he was a member an outstanding member of the buildings and ground staff so i want to recognize these people firstly matt urig craig wagner al valente who coordinated the project nick lens mike kosh billy kilken here's some of the things they did they moved and gutted the office down to the cement blocks they moved the air conditioning from the blocks and repaired the wall they removed and installed new windows and trims painted outside of the building framed all new walls added all new electric insulated walls sheet rock walls and stored new doors from the office to warehouse installed ramp at warehouse door to eliminate tripping hazard added a coat closet and store new cabinets
021for small kitchenette area and store new job ceilings on and on and on it just shows the skill of our the people in this district our buildings and grounds staff as i said many times before and i really believe this having worked in this district many many decades you can't operate a district without a excellent support staff whether it be buildings and grounds custodial staff secretarial staff food service staff on on and on so congratulations to these guys and congratulations to our support staff and we have support staff here tonight our technology department couldn't hold the meetings without you guys thank you guys and gals thank you i'm done thanks thank you sir i think i got within the four minutes too i hope they didn't put the clock up so i don't know but
022you i think you did good okay good mr bison i was going to say nothing pastor but i just want to give um some kudos to uh all the members of the code of conduct team who's been working very very hard this summer and a special thanks to our assistant superintendent amy for her dedication and her leadership in this important role thank you um yeah is my mic on yeah i have the uh there's a run for downtown that happens also on the 21st uh that's next saturday that precedes the uh it takes a village event that's right down downtown in middletown begins on north street i believe around 8 8 15 a.m so that's uh that's happening from 8 to 12 i believe so that's a good nice another event for the city yes
023it is i was going to run me too with you you could you can you can take it from anywhere you want there when i said i was gonna run but you can take it anywhere you want to go from there um john and i are gonna walk uh i'm not even walking um but uh it's a good event there's so many different things that's going on this summer last tuesday was the national night out against crime and although middletown did not have the program i uh town of rockhill did and some of our a lot of the neighboring neighboring community communities and um and uh police agencies that i i have the privilege of being able to work with um through chaplaincy and so uh those were some wonderful events as well as we
024have some of this camps that have been going on this summer from the district that have been really wonderful music camp the art camp and this week the stem camp which which is a very popular camp uh and and many of parents are very grateful for its return after covet uh the return of the stem camp so that's been going on at um at maple hill so i want to congratulate all of the staff the teams that have been working in those camps over the summer i believe that they have been very successful and uh the kids have enjoyed them very much and the parents have enjoyed them very much so uh again congratulations to everybody in that respect i forgot something yes ma'am tomorrow night six o'clock is it or 5 30. summer school
025graduation six o'clock six o'clock okay i didn't have my little book out pastor check that time i understand i understand six o'clock so uh if there's nothing else we're going to move on this is our opportunity to address the board uh as as we as we remind everybody you can come you can come to the podium you can sign in and you have four minutes the we adopted a few weeks ago uh the timer which will be up on on this screen here the timer so that way none of us are standing around holding holding up signs and so we open up the floor now there's a sheet there's a sheet at the at that then you can sign sign and put your name there and uh and please feel free to address the board
026at this time uh good evening board my name is william lewis i have been a member of this community for my entire life which is 35 years my mother just turned 65 today she's been a member of this community so i would like to give my time to mr omar perez my four minutes so he can go ahead and say whatever he has to say thank you for this time and opportunity and thank you mr lewis for that my name is omar perez for anybody who does not know me omar j harian perez and i'm an administrator currently at middletown high school i want to just read a letter because i have a lot of words usually so i want to be make i want to make sure that i'm as precise as possible in
027the words that i use and very specific on june 17th just 56 days ago i became before you and accepted tenure i expressed how humbled and grateful i felt and how much satisfaction it brings me to serve the students and families of this community each and every day on august 9th i was asked to meet with our district head the following morning on august 10th at 11 a.m just 54 days since receiving my tenure i was notified that he this his that he had the decision and he made the decision for me to be transferred from my position as dean of students at middletown high school to the current assistant principal position that recently became vacant at truman moon maple hill annex assistant principal position that recently became vacant at truman moon maple hill annex
028our high school building houses 2497 students as of yesterday august 11th truman moon has a student population of approximately 18 as of yesterday as well during my meeting with the district head i was informed that the decision was made and my input was not welcomed nor necessary i was complimented and touted for my experience in special education and bilingual enl in this meeting i was told at length about how my leadership qualities would be an asset at truman moon i stand before you today because i would not be the person i described during my tenure night speech 54 days ago if i did not make sure you heard it directly from me from me omar j perez i stand before you to let you know of this change that has been imposed on me and
029that i did not ask for and that i am not in favor of please ask yourselves and try and make sense of how all these qualities would better serve a student population of 18 as opposed to 2 490 during my four years at mhs i've worked diligently and passionately to do right by my students families the community as well as staff and colleagues to ensure a safe and positive work environment i can't help but believe that this reassignment is in response to some of that work i've worked through less than ideal working conditions one in which i'm sometimes ignored decisions are made in a vacuum with no input or knowledge one in which i've been subjected to at times offensive and inappropriate racially charged language and yet i've shown up every day every single day
030and given 110 percent of myself to every student parent staff member and colleague i've come in contact with during my meeting with the district leader i expressed how i didn't believe the community would be on board with this change the response i received was that that was simply in quotes my opinion please know that this is in no way a criticism of truman moon but what can the rationale be for my reassignment when i am being removed from the place i've called home for four years the place where i form bonds and relationships with students and families and where i've served all students i came into contact with regardless of my house designation or the letter of their last name in which it begins with the place where after four years i feel i've only
031barely scratched the surface of the impact i'm confident i could make and would want to continue to make the place again where we house 2 487 students as of yesterday not 18. so i stand before you today to plead to the middletown community to the parents grandparents aunts uncles guardians mentors our amazing students our loving students our scholars who i call my kids mpd staff nsros local business owners those that may not know because i've helped them in some way those that perhaps have been unable to help when they've been ignored or dismissed those that may not know me well but have interacted with me in some way at the school that i work at or at a community event those that may not know me personally but know someone who does and who has
032had a positive experience those who have been brave and speaking up publicly or via email yet ignored warranted in your concerns expressed but dismissed uncomfortable with the silence but made felt like you are irrational and or overreacting i ask you to please come out to our next board meeting on august 26 to show your support publicly whether you stand here in silence or speak up i ask you to please do so because contrary to what i was told during my meeting with our district leader i don't believe that it is just my opinion in my heart i believe you've been able to see my commitment to my position and to the students of this district help prove them and him wrong emmy right please tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a neighbor
033to tell a classmate to tell anyone who loves our kids and may not agree with my reassignment that potentially will be happening please attend our next board meeting on august 26th unless it's changed i humbly ask that you stand in solidarity with me and supporting what is best for our kids sorry not students or scholars i call them my kids to the district employees and all of my colleagues and by that i mean former and current employees who like me show up at each day for our students to our custodians lunch staff support staff administrators clerical staff bus drivers or technology department and all those who have witnessed me trying to do what is right or who they themselves have tried yet been ostracized ignored or retaliated against and those that love our children and
034community as i do please understand that i empathize and sympathize with some of the stories you have been forced to be silent about because of the culture of intimidation and silence that we are forced to fear and accept whether it be due to workplace harassment racially charged and insensitive comments or other inappropriate actions taking place in our district if you are familiar with the feelings of frustration from not being allowed to just do your job and be happy while doing it if you've reached out to me privately on my cell phone or in person due to hesitance to address things in an email i thank you for your trust in me as i hope you remember that i have spoken up for you not because i am special or because you are my friend but
035because it is the right thing to do and what i feel other people tell me i'm wrong is my professional obligation i pride myself on being a man of integrity both personally and professionally i want to apologize for the results i cannot always deliver as i too have been reminded of the limitations i have as a supposed leader and how concerns and improprieties are swept under the rug and how some are protected no matter what their behavior is i want you to know that i get it and i understand if you aren't able to stand with me i don't blame you i can't help but feel like i've been made into a pariah and while it's not a comfortable place to be i have to continue to stand by what is right and lastly to
036the boe those who are elected and represent the beautiful and diverse constituents of this district i want to remind you that as i thank the community on the evening of june 17th when i received tenure only 44 days ago i was also thanking all of you i want to thank you for the compliments many of you have given me via email in person and on my personal cell phone i was thinking excuse me i was thanking you for your encouragement and asking me to apply certain position excuse me i was thanking you for your encouragement while you asked me to apply for certain positions for validating the personal opinions and concerns you have shared privately the positive things you let me know you would hear about me from parents scholars community members and people in
037the district that i was never privy to or seeking i want you to know that i'm still appreciative for all those things you have shared not because they were compliments based on our relationship but the lack thereof they were not for photo ops of recognition but solely based on my work ethic dedication and commitment to the middletown community and those of you who approved my appointment four years ago and who four years later were part of the decision to approve my tenure on that evening just 54 days ago board members i kindly ask that if the community speaks simply please just listen the community has spoken for a very long time and i have sat and watched with discomfort as i have heard them speak and at times be ignored i have heard them being
038told quote unquote practice patience yet nothing ever changing i have witnessed them come before you with legitimate concerns about certain members of this district simply to have their concerns ignored and those staff members rewarded i ask you that if the community speaks and tells you what they want please just listen to the middletown community please hold me accountable as i asked you to do on june 17th just 54 days ago hold me and every district employee accountable regardless of title and ask more questions on what is going on in your district seek out truths and transparent responses ask multiple employees of the district and don't trust the message don't trust the message if it only is coming from one individual i thank you all for your time and i hope you attend in person or
039virtually on august 26th because i don't need people to stand with me today i didn't recruit people and i see some people here because they might have heard what's going on and i'm crying inside because i thank you so much but i'm not crying for a show or a photo i don't need to cry now and i'm an emotional person but i don't need to so thank you who are here today but you shouldn't have been i need people here in august 26 for the community please feel encouraged and tell others to watch the recording of tonight's board meeting once up on youtube as i know we normally do not have more than 20 to 30 people watch these board meetings when live also for context feel free to watch the 10-year speeches from the
040june 17th meeting again this is not about me or as i expressed to our district leader an indictment on the position at truman moon i just know and feel it in my veins that my impact will be much greater if allowed to stay in my current position serving a larger number of students if i am alone on the 26th of august here at presidential park i will humbly and gracefully take the position that i have been instructed i must i must take because i will understand then that our district leader was correct when he stated in our one-on-one meeting that his decision is based on my leadership skills and therefore would be in quote-unquote the best interest of the district i promised the community that i will work for the 18 students enrolled in their
041parents with the same quote-unquote commitment passion and love as i told our district leader in an email that i have served since i started working here four years ago all i've wanted is to give all of me to our scholars and to this community do my job and do what is right by you who granted me tenure please stand with me in showing our district leader that that is what you want too and that it wasn't just my opinion i would also like to quickly recap for our spanish-speaking parents and community members and it is a very brief recap i don't need a translator les quiero di silatoros los padres i thank you for your time and for listening to how much i love your district and our children [Applause] thank you mr perez thank
042you ms perez anybody else would like to address the signature you sign you just signed the paper and signed paper yawn and then and then and then they'll give you four minutes okay uh so similarly to mr perez i'm going to read from my phone but anyone who knows me knows i'm not a script reader so i'm purely reading from my phone this evening for both the time constraint and for the precision of the message i hope to convey good evening middletown community mr del morro mrs creeden president pastor williams vice president mrs tobiason and members of the board for those of you that may not know me my name is yaya catherine whaley williams say that fast twice or more affectionately yah squared w squared while my title as an employee of this district
043is coordinator of mathematics k-12 my work and what i'm most passionate about is equity and service to the community especially those filled with scholars and families that look like me but first and foremost i'm a black woman and a mother to kobe mia and aj williams all of whom are future alumni of this district i come to you all tonight for a public mask break i am fully aware that while no one has ever gotten fired for speaking up what has been the experience i have witnessed and lived to date includes cultural violations microaggressions macro aggressions gas lighting exclusionary behavior and workplace retaliation some may say me coming to speak tonight makes me fearless but it is actually quite the opposite i am filled with fear in this moment but have decided that speaking truth
044to power deserves the stage speaking up and speaking truth should not be a revolutionary or self-sacrificing act so my mass break this evening is not from covet precautions but the mask i wear as a woman of color as many people of color have worn and continue to wear professionally it describes any circumstance in which marginalized people are forced to present a brave and pleasant face in order to survive unsympathetic and for some willfully ignorant society luvia jai has taught me that being fearless is committing to not doing less because of your fear so i choose to come before you all tonight to shed a mask and shed some light in hopes of true transparency because i am preferably unheard at work please do not confuse my honesty for a lack of commitment or love from
045middletown because similarly to james baldwin's words about his love for america i love middletown i am a resident and an employee of this district and it is precisely for this reason that i insist on the right to criticize her for some my words this evening may be tagged as manufacturing chaos but i understand that chaos can come from being honest and authentic and going against the tide because in a world that insists on our cooperation even in the face of perpetual turmoil not standing for it makes you a rebel we have much conflict in our district but contrary to popular belief conflict is not inherently harmful i recently read and subscribed to the notion that conflict is the meaning of difference conflict is the contradiction that emerges within ourselves when our attitude and assumptions are
046met with behavior that does not align with our values or needs and when that difference is met in the context of power there is always a choice to either address it harmfully or creatively so ask yourself when you encounter difference are you responding with oppression or domination when you encounter divergent thinking or have members of the team speaking up are you responding with decisions to silence them if so that is violent if we truly want to be better together then i respectfully ask us to consider the following why are we advertising prioritizing and encouraging the recruitment of more people of color without ensuring that the environment is truly safe and welcoming for those of color who are already employed why are we inviting select members onto district committees but not empowering them to lead the
047work why are admin participating in courageous conversation pd's but never participating in a courageous conversation to unpack with one another and truly build team why are the brave testimonies by our scholars teachers parents and administrators treated as isolated events to resolve quickly and not a symptom of a larger cultural problem that exists why is my perception that as a resident and a central office admin of color that i'm seen as a liability and someone who is quote unquote dangerous instead of an asset to be utilized dr amos wilson says if you want to understand any problem you need to focus on who profits from that problem not who suffers from it i believe this to be true and that the best solutions come from those impacted by the problem so what are we doing to
048amplify the voices of those most impacted how are we addressing our conflicts creatively and not harmfully our superintendent at this year's graduation where we had the highest graduation rate in middletown's history during a pandemic is quoted as saying through open and honest discussions we can foster new relationships and what we absolutely need more of is real people with genuine honest intentions to do good and improve your community end quote i challenge us to truly be better together to be the real people and create the inclusive environments we are promoting in our words to resist performative allyship and resolutions so we can have those open and honest discussions to stop isolating staff who are courageous enough to speak up about real issues until then our work will continue in the community where the work is genuinely
049accepted and collaborative in nature because it matters 24 7. [Applause] you anybody anybody else please come please come sign hello my name is maria blonde you all know me i'm just going to say that i'm in support of mr perez and mrs mrs williams and i'm just wondering when the board is going to wake up and start really listening to these stories and these things that have been happening in the district and uh a question is whether when people leave like administrators who have been when the district for a long time have coached football in the district and they leave for another school district are board members asking them why they're leaving were they empowered when they were here were their voices heard did they matter so to go back to the the educators that
050have left the district and ask them why and look back a couple years and find out the reason how do people feel under this administration how do students feel how do educators feel because it does matter the truth matters respecting people matters thank you mrs blind anybody else please good evening mr del moro mrs creta mr tuttle pastor williams and members of the board of ed i am wendy mannis i'm a registered nurse employed by the enlarged city school district of middletown and i'm beginning my 16th year i earned a master's degree in nursing and i'm a national board certified school nurse i'm also the president of the middletown school nurses association the 2020 excuse me the 20 20 21 school year was an unprecedented and challenging year for everyone however i will focus on
051what you employ your school nurses to do we are charged with keeping our students healthy last school year we had to overcome many obstacles to achieve this i will not focus on that but rather how you helped us do our jobs to the best of our ability the middletown school district implemented protocols that helped mitigate the spread of the coronavirus within our schools i thought our schools were clean before i didn't know what clean was until last year guidelines were followed for masks to be worn and social distancing was made possible even when it seemed impossible hand centers hand sanitizer stations were placed throughout the schools i'm here to represent what the district nurses do best we advocate for the health and safety of our students in our school community the american academy of pediatrics
052has stated quote it is critical to use science and data to guide decisions about the pandemic and school kovid 19 plans all school coving 19 policies should consider the following key principles and remember that cov19 policies are intended to mitigate not eliminate risk all students older than two years and all school staff should wear face masks at school unless medical or developmental conditions prohibit use they cite the following reason quote a significant portion of the student population is not eligible for vaccination and continued concerns for variants that are most easily spread among children adolescents and adults the american academy of pediatrics goes on to state school policy should be guided by supporting the overall health and well-being of all children adolescents their families and their communities and should also look to create safe working environments
053for educators and school staff this focus on overall health and well-being includes addressing the behavioral and mental health needs of students and staff the american academy of pediatrics sorry i think i stapled them excuse me yep the american academy of pediatrics strongly advocates advocates that all policy considerations for school covenant 19 plans should start with the goal of keeping students safe and physically present in school the cdc recommends universal indoor masking for all the teachers staff students and visitors to k-12 schools regardless of vaccination status children should return to full-time in-person learning in the fall with layered prevention strategies in place due to the circulating and highly contagious delta variant cdc recommends universal indoor masking regardless of vaccination status they also continue to recommend to recommend maintaining at least three feet of physical distance the
054national association of school nurses quote strongly encourages school districts to leverage the public health expertise of their school nurses when determining the appropriate covit 19 prevention protocols as outlined by the cdc by now everyone is aware that this virus is mutating and is now affecting our children more than ever in the united states from july 22nd to august 5th there was a four percent increase in the accumulated number of child-covered 19 cases that is a hundred and sixty-five thousand five hundred fifty added to the already four million one hundred twenty six thousand five hundred and seventy bringing the total to 4 million 120. this data was taken from a report by the american academy of pediatrics in association with the children's hospital association orange county just put out today that the county itself has seen
055a hundred and fifteen percent increase in covid 19 cases in the last week let's talk about our numbers let's talk about our vulnerable population as of august 10th middletown high school's population was 2495. four students excuse me 473 of those students are diagnosed with asthma twin towers middle school has a population of 972 with 185 with asthma monhagen 803 with 179 maple hill 902 with 146 presidential park 1225 with 149 william a carter 822 with 98 or annex 15 with two these numbers only represent the students that we know of that have medical documented diagnoses of asthma it does not include the excuse me it does not include those that we aren't aware of nor does it include our students that live with autoimmune diseases diabetes cancer seizure disorders cardiac anomalies and other serious health
056issues this data did not include the diagnosis of many of our faculty and staff that live with comorbidities that would put them at risk as well during the 2020-21 school year we documented 394 scholars and 126 staff that were confirmed positive for covid19 i can't even imagine what the numbers would have been if we had not had the protocols in place that we did to mitigate the transmission we can debate the extent of the illness that cov19 will cause our children however i will tell you we have had children in the last school year whose health status was affected by covid i know of a 17 year old student in another local school district who contracted covid and ended up with multiple blood clots that traveled to the brain and caused multiple strokes this young
057person was in a coma for several weeks and now has extensive rehab ahead of them among other long-term issues students lost parents and other caregivers we cannot forget that our community goes far beyond the walls of our buildings as our communities making attempts to resume some normalcy we must remember that people have lives outside of the school there will be exposures i'm not saying if because i truly believe there will be exposures and positive cases within the school our job is to mitigate the exposure town of wall hill is again in the red zone and the city of middletown is now in the orange zone only four cases away from being in the red the middletown school nurses association of the enlarged city school district of middletown are in agreement with the guidance from the
058cdc the aap and now our commissioner of hell of orange county's commissioner of health dr gellman and support protocols that would require everyone regardless of vaccination status to wear a face mask and to mean three feet of social distance thank you for your time and consideration thank you is anybody else at this time if not uh you get just stepped it just step and and so we blew up the the four minute the four-minute rule tonight uh i don't come with a speech so you don't have to worry about just sign just sign yeah you can sign honey okay i'll help you so in consideration of everything that she has said this socialist and mass and everything i also want you to take in consideration of the other parents that don't think that way if
059i had to sign a waiver for my child to know where i'm at i'm willing to do that okay that's all i have to say take consideration we can do social distance we can do everything that you want but also it's my child my choice i wanna send him to school i don't wanna i don't want him to wear a mask and he's i'm gonna take care of everything that i have to take care if he gets any little call i will get him home so he doesn't spread anything to anybody okay i think kobe 19 is real everything that you want to say just take everybody's opinions that's russell thank you huh thank you thank you yes sir just sign now i understand what you're saying about masks and i agree with her that
060i don't consider uh like doctors say in 95 if i look around the room here i see one person wearing an n95 mask this is the best mask mess these kids slobber in their masks all day everybody around town goes like this pull their mask up pull their mask down no one just because you have a mask on doesn't mean you can touch your face doesn't mean you can slobber in it all day doesn't mean you could wear the same mask day after day after day there's mass breaks but if they're going to be have to wear masks how come the school doesn't provide masks to be changed out hourly every half hour the germs that get on these masks from the sweating on it i've been sitting here not even talking sweating having to
061pull down like this everything else then the kids come back i see the my son face mask when he comes from his school's dirt dirty he takes it flies it around in the air falls on the ground falls here takes that puts the same ass back on so how is it keeping them safe from germs if it's going like this back on going that's my question so someone proved to me that them wearing the same mask every day is healthy the masculine like disc the mask falling on the floor don't touch in the face more because they're like playing with the mask is healthy then i'll understand that's my question that's all i gotta say thank you going once going twice come on daryl all right good evening i had originally just wanted to address
062the board on two topics the reopening of school and dr martin luther king jr but after you know hearing what mr perez had said in miss williams um you know where there's smoke there's fire and clearly there are things that are going on here that need immediate attention and to me it is very upsetting to hear um you know those types of things publicly about how administrators are being treated because we know that there are things going on in the school district that students have experienced and the students have felt ignored clearly staff have experienced and feel ignored and they wouldn't risk coming up here because i've been in the education business now for over 20 years you know getting not only exiled to a building with 18 students but you know could be exiled
063elsewhere counting the proverbial paper clips in an attempt to basically get people to leave and that is going to do a lot of harm not only to the individuals who are impacted but to students to the community how do you attract and retain good quality people if that is how they are going to be treated because that will get out the middle town is not a place where people can come especially people of color um and you know very clearly i think we we've talked a lot about the idea that you know students need to be represented they need to see people who look like them and if we have a district where people feel they can't work here because of that because of some unwelcoming environment and disregard and disrespect that is problematic and
064and frankly uh you know now i understand why there was such a to do earlier today i didn't quite put together all the pieces because i didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle but now i understand why there was uh some dissension on that earlier board agenda item over the administrators as to the reopening of school sed released guidance today that i think will help return our students and staff to in-person learning as in as safe a way as possible i urge the adoption of universal masking for everyone in indoor spaces i only have anecdotal evidence here's the number of times that my family had an upper respiratory illness this year i have two children who go to school they attended school in person for the second half of the school year essentially i
065taught in a school building all year my wife taught in a school building all year and this is the number of times we had an upper respiratory infection and in case you can't read it there's nothing on the paper because masks work when they're properly worn masks work and in the state guidance the school district has to provide masks to the staff to the students and perhaps we can make a greater effort to make sure the students are getting those things on a more regular basis so that they can be clean because i hear you you know we all have kids we know how they can get and how they can be right but this delta variant has thrown us for a loop i certainly appreciate the concern that i've heard about parents have it
066within personal learning because i have one child who cannot be vaccinated she's not old enough and one who is fully vaccinated um so i would urge the district to also consider providing a remote option for those students who are medically fragile because i don't know that forcing them to come back to school with a virus that is now not quite as contagious as chickenpox but almost as and everybody who's here old enough to have had chickenpox my kids were lucky they had a vaccine for it i wish i had had a vaccine for it but um you know how contagious that is and like um this like mrs mannis said it's not a question of when or if it's when i would also encourage my fellow parents who have kids who are 12 and older
067to vaccinate them vaccination is going to be the fastest way we can get to normalcy and we have really stumbled as a nation in doing that i would encourage staff members especially those who are working with our k5 and 6th grade students to get vaccinated if we are going to be in front of children we have to do everything we can to keep them safe masking is good but vaccination is better and make sure that you're wearing your mask properly the students are going to do what we expect of them if we do and model good behavior they're going to do it because especially younger kids they want to please right they aim to please um and even older kids i can count here i'll show you my piece of paper there's a number of
068times i had a fight over a mask in my classroom last year again nothing on the paper because if they respect you and they know you are there for them and you care for them they will do what you want them to do it's not hard there's more of them than there are of us if they wanted to overtake the whole thing they could i don't want to tell to give them that idea though so i hope they didn't watch that part we want this to be over but we need to pull together as a community and if we do these things together then we can have kids in school safely with minimal disruptions to in-person learning the alternative is to basically accept that a lot of people are just going to get sick or
069worse um we're going to have quarantines unending and then maybe fully remote learning for everyone if we don't want those things if we want our kids in school which is what i hear a lot of community members saying then we have to do the basic mitigation things that are being asked of us that it is not a loss of freedom we are not living in a communist state we are just asking for people to do things that are simple effective respectful of each other because i don't know my child who's nine could go to school and be asymptomatic and still spread it to other people and i would feel horrible if i had missed some of the signs because i couldn't even observe them and sent her to school but at least if she goes
070with a mask we can mitigate some of that if we have some distancing we can mitigate some of that and not to mention we've seen across the country right black and brown communities suffering more from covet 19 and again not to belabor the point we have a very diverse community here and i think we need to take that seriously too i'm going to not be too long on this last thing because i appreciate the indulgence of the board tonight for everybody else but um so i will try not to to go too long on this thing but the other topic i wanted to address and this is me as a history teacher was regarding the constant misuse of about 35 words from dr king's i have a dream speech because to me they're being used
071in a way that do not resemble the substance of dr king's fight for social justice economic justice and racial equity in a way using his words to try to prevent students from learning an accurate history of race in america is a perfect illustration of why students need to learn a more accurate history of race in america on some level i don't fault those who use his words in that way because they like me are a product of an educational system that whitewashed dr king dr king well revered today throughout much of the united states was himself a victim of government investigation and abuse the fbi going after him trying to bust up his marriage calling him all sorts of heinous things including a marxist that sounds familiar he was jailed countless times wrote perhaps one
072of his most poignant anti-racist works from that birmingham jail in the spring of 1963 and he eloquently called out white moderates who stand by and allow discrimination to continue saying quote i must confess over the past few years i've been gravely disappointed with the white moderate i have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the great negroes great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the ku klux klaner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice unquote and that as i was listening earlier to remarks um that miss williams was making you know kind of makes me think about you know how here in the community we might
073do let's say have a juneteenth celebration in the district which is great we should but that's performative allyship that's not actually doing the work right we have to do better we can do better um you know i would further just add you know after the voting rights victory that dr king and john lewis and diane nash and countless others achieved in selma in 1965 which was not without blood and lives lost and by the way when we're talking about dr king we talk about how you know much we respect and appreciate his non-violent non-cooperation he was assassinated right because it doesn't matter in this country if you look at the long history of this country how black americans have demanded justice they could do it through non-violent civil disobedience they could do it by more
074violent acts they could take a knee it doesn't matter because it's not wanted the power structure doesn't want to hear that there's a problem and that they're somehow responsible for the problem and in 1967 dr king could have been talking today in a speech called the three evils talked about how as the new phase of the civil rights movement toward economic justice was coming about that there would be a white backlash to this call for economic justice i think this is illustrative where he says you see the gains in the first period or the first year of struggle were obtained from the power structure at bargain rates it didn't cost the nation anything to integrate lunch counters it didn't cost the nation anything to integrate hotels and motels didn't cost the nation a penny to
075guarantee the right to vote now we are in a period where it will cost the nation billions of dollars to get rid of poverty to get rid of slums to make quality integrated in education a reality this is where we are now now we're going to lose some friends in this period the allies who are with us and selma will not all stay with us during this period we've got to understand what's happening they often call this the white backlash but it's really just a new name for an old phenomenon fact is there's never been any single solid determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white americans to genuine equality for negroes there's always been ambivalence in 1863 that negroes granted freedom from physical slavery through the emancipation proclamation but he was
076not given land to make that freedom meaningful at the same time the government was giving away millions of acres of land i'm going to add in here that was stolen from native americans in the midwest and west which meant that the nation was willing to undergird his white peasants from europe with an economic floor while refusing to do it for its black peasants from africa who were held in slavery 240 years he said that in 1967 he was assassinated in the spring of 1968. and when you reflect upon you know what will paint black lives matter on a street it's nice it doesn't do anything in the grand scheme of things we'll have black lives matter plaza in washington dc again it's fine it's nice it doesn't actually shift or change things um and like
077i said before i'm sorry for the little history lesson but i just couldn't help myself and i apologize now that i am taking more time but um you know here's a billboard from the south where dr king is being called a communist right um not too dissimilar from the types of things that were said about president barack obama who also coincidentally happened to be black in case people missed it i've got some other billboards i've got another billboard here help fight communism and integration join and support the united clans of america right this rhetoric that we're hearing nowadays is not new but if you don't teach kids accurate history they wouldn't know what's really going on and last here's a picture of some folks race mixing right is communism stop the race mixing these are
078not doctored photographs these are like actual things it didn't take long in a google search to find them and this is why kids need to learn accurate history it's uncomfortable i'm sure some people sitting here listening to this and watching it on tv are a little uncomfortable makes me uncomfortable too but that's okay and my concern is that when we have all this information around crt and then using dr king's name in that way to try to use him as a shield is abhorrent to me and my ultimate concern here is that we're going to use this boogeyman to silence any discussion about the uncomfortable history of the united states that kids will not learn about the true origins and impacts of chattel slavery that the reason why the civil war was fought was because
079one half of the country wanted to keep people enslaved that there were limits to the amendments that were passed in the wake of the civil war that we won't teach kids the accurate history about segregation redlining the impacts of great mike the great migration mass incarceration how all of those things together still impact people today and i will say this right america has done a lot of good and made a lot of progress there's no question about that but we'd be kidding ourselves if we did not think that racism has no impacts today we heard it before just a short while ago and if children are old enough to experience racism not just the adults but if children are old enough to experience it and that unfortunately still occurs in this district and in districts
080around the county that's not you know just a thing here then the kids are old enough to learn about it too because a lot of americans don't get to pretend that we're living in a post-racial society they have to day in and day out deal with the indignities and we owe it to all of the kids to teach them to have empathy to have compassion to know why we are at the point at which we're at and what we can do to make it better this is not about teaching kids to hate america it's about loving america so much that you want to fix it and make it better for everyone so that people don't have to endure this kind of stuff anymore nobody's trying to get kids to be indoctrinated i mean i'm a
081teacher i've said that before i would be grateful if they would just turn their homework in if i were successful at indoctrinating them i would have 100 percent homework turned in last year would have all the cameras on kids would put away their cell phones i don't know how powerful people think teachers are yeah we have some we have some influence i get it it's a captive audience but if we move in a direction where we silence teachers and we make it so difficult for them that they cannot even teach what went on in this country we will have done a disservice to those professionals who we entrust with our kids seven hours a day and a disservice to the kids who will not actually learn what happened they'll learn some fantasized non-real american history
082about george washington washington chopping down cherry trees which ps didn't happen and that would be a real shame and with that i'm going to conclude and hopefully not take anything that doesn't belong to me thank you very much thank you daryl thank you thank you daryl let me uh so let me say this and we'll move on um we blew up we blew up the four-minute rule tonight i blew it up and if anybody wants to be upset they can be upset with me um that's fine i'll i'll i'll take it um i'll take it we blew up the four minute rule but i thought that as we were as we were progressing through this through this moment it's a very somber moment and i think that it was necessary and prudent for for these
083voices to be heard i will add this this is not going to be the norm i want to make sure that that the blowing up of the four minute rule is not going to be the norm um because this was necessary but but but we as we as we progress forward we have the clock and so i want to make sure that we that we uh abide by that in our future meetings and so we as board members are going to abide by that as well but thank you everybody um everybody that talked tonight and commented tonight we we greatly appreciate you coming to the mic let's move on to our superintendent's report turn you into the hands of superintendent tomorrow this time of the board of education members of the board of education i
084do have just a few announcements to make we are you know coming to the end of our summer time uh and we're fast approaching september 2nd which is the first day of classes for all of our students and as one of the individuals that came to the board talked about the guidance we received late afternoon today from the state education department providing recommendations in many of the areas that we're all waiting to hear because there's been so much said and rhetoric in the newspapers over the last eight to ten weeks especially as we came a close to the end of the school term where things were looking very bright in terms of the spread of the virus it was decreasing immensely especially in our area in our community and certainly as one of the presenters
085mentioned that's not the case two of our individuals matter of fact one of our nurses indicated that the delta variant is really affecting not exclusively but predominantly young children and we're concerned about that was our stakeholders inside our schools our children our pumping hearts the ones we are been entrusted to as mr macro he said to care for them by parents so uh it'll take a few days for us to analyze through all of that we want to be very clear about all of the issues and mitigations mitigations are what strategies are you employing to curtail again not eliminate we know that and try to prevent as reasonably possible the spread of this virus i don't think anyone could disagree with me regarding that it was a very frustrating challenging school year for our children
086as well as our parents and the impact on families as we have mentioned i have mentioned at this board table on several occasions we're very sensitive to all of those issues and as we heard this evening it will be impossible yes that word is strong and very definitive impossible to please everyone's point of view on this matter you heard two diametrically opposed positions mask wearing universally whether one is vaccinated or not and then a plea to give parents choice not to wear masks one of the paramount reasons in what will come to be middletown's opening announcements which will come shortly will be how do we ensure continuance as best as possible for in-person learning i've said that i know i have some distractors to my position that i will never never compare in-person learning in
087terms of effectiveness to remote learning there is no way that that could be equal or higher effectiveness when a teacher is trying to teach duality individuals that are remote students that are remote that may or may not even be participating although you see their insignia or the effectiveness of the proximity of the connection inside the classroom the spontaneity that teachers have and the connection engagement it's very difficult when you are doing that in two different environments remote and in person so our plan and i'm not saying has been determined as i said we received it about it was about 3 30 quarter to four today that was sent to me it will take a few days to analyze it but in flipping through it very quickly before coming to this important meeting it mirrors very
088much what was said tonight following cdc guidelines american pediatrics and so on and so forth so um i realize and understand parents are waiting very patiently i thank them in advance for that but i understand the need to get this information out as soon as possible but again will be our paramount initiative to provide a plan that we believe as best as reasonably possible after conferring with our medical staff and so on and so forth and the analysis of what recommendations are coming from state education department to keep in-person learning as the main environment in the middletown school district matter of fact we received that message as well from the commission of dr roses from the state education department i would also like to inform the community that we're coming close to our two final
089camps that took place for richmond activities this friday our stem camp comes to a close this friday in our theater camp with a culminating performance of annie two performances on saturday 1 pm and 7 pm and the community is invited there will be no admission come on in enjoy it i saw a little bit of the rehearsal today and you can be assured it will be entertaining and very enjoyable our k jump start program begins next week it's a two week program parents so again all of this information and details up on our website facebook pages as well as was mentioned earlier our summer school high school graduations is tomorrow night we'll be in the theater at middletown high school starting at six o'clock and i in advance thank all of those hard-working individuals that
090need just a little extra time excuse me to receive all the requirements necessary to receive a high school diploma and we're very proud of them as well as all those those that graduated this past june very important health announcement as we are again working very collaboratively with our health staff in the community in terms of what everyone is saying is that please try to support vaccine clinics we are again we've done this a few times we'll continue to do it vaccina clinic this week very successful cornerstone is our partner the next clinic is august the 20th at mont hagen middle school so please look up the website for the times for you and that concludes the superintendent's report and i thank you for the opportunity pastor williams again oh first day of school september two
091september two mark that in your calendars write that down rose um uh i'm sorry i'm acting like i'm acting like john moving on to to action items uh i'd like to entertain a motion for the approval of financial memorandum number four please is there a second move to second to any discussion all in favor opposed so passes entertain a motion for approval of special services memorandum number three please removed and seconded any discussion all in favor imposed so passes approval of dignity act coordinators for the 2021-2022 year they have a motion please moved and seconded any discussion all in favor opposed so passes motion now entertain a motion for the approval of standard workday and reporting resolutions for elected and appointed officials moved and seconded any discussion all in favor opposed it so passes like
092to entertain a motion for the approval of change orders please good evening we have eight different work orders excuse me change orders to review tonight the first is to provide carpet in an office at truman moon in place of vinyl tile the next is to provide labor and materials to evade asbestos floor tiles and the teachers lounge at the william carter school there's also one to provide labor and materials to infill existing holes in the concrete slabs in eight classrooms at at twin towers there's a excuse me a change order to provide all labor and materials to remove existing asphalt material underneath the tile and mastic in 18 classrooms at twin tower another to provide labor and materials to repair holes in the plaster walls and eight classrooms at twin towers next is to provide
093labor and materials to remove unsuitable underlayment and restore the floors to their original height and 11 classrooms the next is to install concrete masonry walls in the trenches with concrete footings and to seal all openings in seven locations in the trenches at truman moon and the last is to remove the existing handrails and repave the walkways and provide additional asphalt walkways between the parking lot and the track at monhagen middle school thank you sir any questions no all in favor opposed so passes uh committee reports i know that there is a fair funding meeting coming can you please announce that date sir yes i'm very excited to do so on september 14th we will be having our fair funding committee meeting uh four o'clock or 4 30 4 o'clock at the district office i'm very
094excited because one of the things i want to see we could put together for the community it's like a community town hall uh in one of our auditoriums i mean the high school where uh members of our administration as well maybe some community leaders like our local assembly woman could join us and discuss with and share with the community a what is fair funding b how are schools funded c how has funding impacted our our our district positively as well as the challenges and and then e or c how we as a community how parents can make their difference how their influence counts how they could use their voices so i think it's good important that our parents especially new parents entering the district when the younger children know how funding impacts their district whether
095it be as taxpayers or homeowners or as parents with children or districts so we hope to be able to put something together and plan it out so i look forward to our meeting thank you thank you sir um when is the next audit committee meeting do we know september 21 29 okay so that's about as a ways off any other any other committee reports tonight all right if not moving on um round table anybody round table we can start down uh mr williams we'll start down at the end and we'll move our way up mr williams anything for round table tonight yeah i just had a thought that's been circling my mind especially the last couple of days is that um a little over a year ago i was sworn in to this state as
096a board member also known as the trustee and the word trustee kept it keeps circling my mind is priority should be with us right the having the trust of our students the parents and overall community and that's just something i want to reiterate to you know uh sometimes we lose focus on on you know things like that so that's just the thought i had thank you thank you mr william mr other mr williams nothing tonight sir mr c nothing tonight mrs miss plummer now i'm good mrs houston i do have some things um okay just to reiterate as i always say um these are my own personal opinions not the opinions of the board um but i want to make mention of some of the things that were that are floating around in our society
097right now regarding the pandemic the virus covet 19 and unfortunately i'm not sure that everybody knows there's a lot of information out there we get a lot of arbitrary conflicting guidance from the many agencies as citizens of our country and i just found a very very good video that keeps getting censored and taking down off of youtube and it's it's simply a school board meeting in indiana and the name of the doctor who speaks to the school board is dr dan stockman and it was on august 6th of this year and i just found it to be very informative and i highly recommend that anybody watch it or everyone watch it if they they feel that the in the need or have the interest one of the thoughts that came across my mind is parental
098choice we are either free or we're not free and i will always and this is as a board member i will always stand for parental choice and then back to my own personal opinions again i want to say that we have to be careful that there's not a loss of freedom when it comes to the experimental covenant and voluntary covet 19 inoculation or shot i don't feel it should be referred to as a vaccine that's just my personal opinion i also want to address some going to another topic the topic of indoctrination children are not born with hate in their hearts it isn't until they're poisoned by adults that they become hateful some might grow into racists or whatever just they're poisoned and that is what i have taken a stance against in my own
099um in my own capacity here on the board when i spoke about it on june 17th the meeting on june 17th but some quotes from dr king came to my mind one was let us seek not to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred and i do not believe that crt teaches peace i believe it poisons children and our lives begin to end the day when we become silent about the things that matter and in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends those are just some of his quotes so there comes a time when silence is betrayal but i liked what one of my colleagues here on the board said and i wanted to add to him about
100having trust and i believe in consistency and stability for our children and that's all i have thank you thank you mr gomez i do uh want to express my uh as a board member as well as a parent my appreciation satisfaction that we are moving forward towards reopening our schools so allowing our students to return hopefully to regular in-class session i know our district has always given it a priority to put our children safety first and i will note that the american pediatric association which our our esteemed nurse met brought to the attention was one of the early proponents that the children need to be back in school that keeping them away from school was not necessarily good and we've known we are fully aware of the emotional harm many children suffered so uh in
101so doing i know there are many tough decisions ahead and uh i believe that we've gone to different hurdles we'll be able to make the wise choices whether it's insuring the children's safety through the wearing a mask or accommodating and giving choice to parents for children who may have medical conditions that that might not be the way to go i know that we will be looking at all those and our district will make the wise choices and i will note that at the beginning of the pandemic before the we went to the shadow of the valley of death in april our district began being proactive in march and getting making sure that we have the proper sanitary measures in place and i think it's important as a community we also be vocal and acknowledge that
102it's not the other issues besides vaccination and mass but also making sure medicaid that our our community have the appropriate have the equity medical equity that they're owed that the medical resources for treating people already with covert one of the issues that's been very relevant is that there are medicines out there that could treat it but for some reason doesn't reach all the communities uh we remember when uh our former president trump uh came down with covet he was able to get the fdc i believe to release their medicines to treat him then there were other medicines that were a little controversial there was a lot of debate but nonetheless many doctors would claim that it would say that they were affected i believe that that that medications that treat should be available choices should
103be between parent doctors and their patients and our communities should not be left online and i will know statistically orange county was among the last count well ranked at the bottom when it came to vaccinations being available when in the beginning and the city of middletown was way down now where is the equity there okay why okay so i i hope that our county government in the future will conduct hearings as to how we deal with this pandemic and how we could learn to prevent the mistakes from the past for the good of everyone okay so again i commend our district where the measures has taken him throughout the year and i believe and i'm confident they will address the different parents concerns and ensure kids safety and that's very important thank you thank you
104sir thank you so much president williams i'm going back to the board forums that we had before the election and there were a number of questions raised in this one of them was and i've raised this before the scores or the lack of progress on mathematics and english on the state exams we have two very competent people in charge of that mrs williams who is here tonight and this is baller who uh is our en english language arts coordinator so i would request uh what the uh i would request from the administration that we have these people in and have specific plans what are we going to do to improve these scores these are very very basic if the students do not get the the proper assistance in the elementary grades three through eight it
105follows them right through high school so although we've made some progress we haven't made enough progress we're always toward the bottom of the queue when it comes to these scores so i like to know what we are doing from our coordinators and what they plan to do thank you mr farino thank you uh no problem mr bison nothing sir thank you so i'll i'll close out uh with two quick things uh she didn't get siri didn't get that um thank you thank you for that thank you for that moment um i needed that uh so i will i will close out with two things for my for my a few minutes you can start that you can start it i've started um i won't even use it all uh uh first of all we we
106are preparing to go back to school and uh i am in in all facets of of this pandemic of this pandemic uh concerned this has been a a tragic year and and i will speak from experience i think all of you sitting at this table know that i've lost i have lost more than 56 close friends and relatives in this past year so it's no joke to me uh when we speak about the pandemic when we begin to look at the numbers the numbers of this current of this current uh variant uh if you look at the numbers 20 percent in the state of florida 20 of the infection rate is children under the age of 16. the question again that was posed by our nurse was not when it was not was not if
107but when and and i have no question that there is a win and so i think that whatever the guidelines might be that that that we should follow the necessary guidelines i'm not i'm not for taking away the freedom of people i don't think this is a freedom issue i think this is a health issue i think this is a a a compassion issue for one another and a concern for one another so i i say that and it will lead right into the next the next statement is that i will reiterate that crt is not being taught in this district nor in any other district because it's not a curriculum i really reiterate that the term crt has been used more at this table than it's been used in any other school district or
108in any in any classroom i will reiterate that i will be a black man longer than i will be a board member and my story and the story of any any person of color is a story that needs to be told not only does it need to be told but i i sincerely i sincerely will stand on this is that there is a truth out there that is not is not been taught and it's time for it to stop no one is teaching hate and i sincerely believe that what my what my colleagues said a little bit earlier is true children are not born with hate in their heart hatred racism all of those particular things are proclivities that have been taught down through the years they've been taught in homes they've been taught in
109communities and now it's time for it to stop because we perpetuate it when we do not when we do not allow the stories of those who have been disenfranchised to be told if i told the truth about my story and how i was raised and the things that i've experienced in my life it would shock many people because what you see now is you see now is a man who is 57 years old and holds holds uh uh ecclesiastical titles and and and whatever the case may be degrees and whatever the case may be but at the end of the day i was counted out those are the stories of men that have been pulled over because i was black been been been been handcuffed with a gun to my head because i was black
110we don't tell those stories and so i will stand and i will stand and continue to reiterate we are not teaching crt we're not teaching crt but we must teach equity we must teach the stories we must stand with each other and that is how we then will be able to judge each other on the content of our heart i think children need to learn the stories of what others have gone through so that they will not repeat the same behaviors nor the same actions and so that is my that is my statement for tonight my name is john williams and i approve these comments um thank you uh before we motion to adjourn i i want to motion uh uh that we go into a quick exec um one of our board members is
111asked for a quick after exec so i i would like to entertain a motion for us to adjourn this meeting and move into executive session and we will not be coming back our next board our board retreat will be next week um 8 19 our next meeting will be 8 26 at 6 30 p.m here in presidential park so did i have the motion and the second move the second all in favor aye thank you have a good evening you