001[Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign meeting to order please and begin with the Pledge of Allegiance 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 ladies and gentlemen our uh Treasurer is delayed at an airport unexpectedly so our Pro tem established at the beginning of the year she lets me to Lori is you just in case you didn't remember that oh yeah lucky you yes so you will be our Treasurer Pro tem and um handling the minutes for us this evening thank you so much for handling that let's begin with roll call please well I'm here so Miss spear too here miss Laird here Miss Lewis here and Mr Price may you have a
002motion to approve or amend the minutes please it's almost second so moved by Mrs Espiritu second by Mrs Bloom any discussion no roll call please me or Mrs spiritu yes me and Mrs Laird yes Mrs Lewis yes Mr Prince okay um there is no legislative report this evening are there any walk-on items no ma'am all right ladies and gentlemen my name is Chantel Laird and I'm the vice president of the school board I'll be facilitating the meeting this evening and Tom's absence he's enjoying some great time with his family and we wish him safe travels for that um before we begin the community involvement I'd like to I'd like to provide some information um for those of you who are here last meeting I was not I was Ill that evening I'd get an opportunity
003to watch the video and like the other board members I've received Communications and I've read your emails and so on what I'm observing is I I think there is um some misunderstanding and there's a few things procedurally so to open it up I want to go over that and um as all of you know this is an important Community conversation and uh it's it's gotten out there we've had a lot of involvement a lot of participation people from all the way in Columbus that know me have called and said hey what's going on up there so what you have is a packet that Mr Detwiler has put together for everyone included in your agenda we have people watching at home tonight who are new to the conversation and some of you have been involved from
004the beginning so I'm going to first get us all on the same page chronologically with the facts in the order of events as they've happened so let's begin with that so the first one and on the overhead here John do we have the release time for religious institution yes ma'am okay you'll notice the adoptive date on the policy that you have is 2016. so there's been some question as did our school district um start a new policy the answer to that is no the policy has been in place since 2016. so policy is not new um some are wondering what the policy means and the policy in a nutshell which is right in front of you says that with parental permission and at parental discretion the school May dismiss a student to participate in religious
005education of their parents choice um for one class period of the week not to miss a core class um there are a couple other things in there as far as providing uh written permission and so forth so I think that's one of the main misconceptions that's out there in the community one is that the religious instruction is taking place here on school campus so to begin with there it is not the the law of Ohio allows school districts to provide parents a choice for their students to participate in this if they wish to do that it cannot be held on school property and it is not it cannot be provided with tax dollars used to fund the school and it is not these are private organizations that put programs together for students to attend should
006their parent choose to allow them to participate so up to this point the policy in place as of the beginning of this meeting just bringing everybody to where we're at right now as of right now as we sit this policy is in place it does allow parents to make that particular choice so next order of events I want to have you turn to the distribution of materials in schools I think this is one of the areas where some confusion um happened a flyer was distributed and I think the words coming to Fremont City Schools created a vision that some misinterpreted so as I stated earlier um this is not happening within the school this is off school premise students are dismissed should their parents want to allow them to participate in that I will tell
007you that um Mr Detweiler is in charge of procedure school boards are in charge of policy administrators are in charge of procedure and implementing those policies um upon hearing some of the concerns and confusion that was created with some of the language of the flyer Mr Detweiler did have a change to procedure now change in procedure does not require a vote of the board it is not a change of policy procedural change is to include a non-endorsement disclaimer something that lets community members know the difference between programs that are sponsored by the school and happening on school campus and are under the vetting Authority and responsibility of the school versus programs that are not that are at the parental discretion and outside of the vetting authority of the school board so um I commend you
008John on that adjustment and here in the community and responding with an adjustment in that procedure if you take a look at flyer this is I'd like to point out that metal disclaimer there this is all literature brochures flares must contain the following disclaimer distribution of this material through the school does not constitute or imply the Fremont City School District's endorsement or approval of any product service message point of view organization or activity now as we move on in the meeting a little bit later I do have some thoughts that I want to share with my colleagues on that particular policy the distribution of materials and some thoughts on that disclaimer but just to let you know the next order of events that happened as a result of communication with the community um and then
009I think that brings us to where is the board right now on the position and procedurally what needs to happen um for the board to act on what we've been asked to do so I just want to review I believe there are three asks those in favor of the policy have asked that it be retained as is but in hearing some of you in the community I I think the conversation has left some uncertainty on that side who have maybe made some investment into programs and are unsure if they're able to continue um on the other side there are two asks one is to either repeal or modify the policy and there's also been a request for the board to have public discussion on the policy so those are the three asks that we have
010on the table I want to explain procedurally where we're at with each so what you have is a copy of the policy that says what we have to do if we suspend a policy there are different options that the board can take here we can keep the policy as is we can repeal it we can respend it or we can um suspend it or we could modify it if we keep it as is procedurally nothing official needs to happen and I think that's a misunderstanding um with the community and board procedurally when a policy is in place no vote needs to be taken to keep it procedurally it stands or a change to be made a board member needs to make a motion for the change so where we're at as of right now in
011this moment of the meeting there is no motion of record that anyone has made to make a change so as of this moment the policy stays the same procedurally if a board member decides that they want to suspend the policy that's what's in front of you here the actions that would need to be taken for that um one uh upon a majority vote of the board present and voting at a meeting in which the proposed suspension has been described in writing in this case none of the members have provided um any motion to do that in writing so that leaves us to number two which means it would require a unanimous vote unanimous vote of members of the board present if no notice has been given so to suspend it it would require a unanimous
012vote of us together if we're going to repeal a policy that follows standard operating procedure someone makes a motion um if there is a second it goes to the floor just for discussion and vote and at that point it would be based on the majority vote so for those who are at home new to the conversation those who have been a little confused on what brought us here and where are we and what are the next steps procedurally I think that brings everybody up to date um as far as that any voting goes when it comes to the request to have open discussion um keep in mind if a board member wants the policy to stay there is no official action that they do take by procedure so with discussion there have been a few
013Community discussions on the matter and in some of those cases board members have commented and then others they have it so um that that has and taken place I think some perhaps are hoping that board members will simply State their position so I may be feeling like there there's been an ask and then you're waiting and waiting so I will tell you this I have listened to the board meeting comments where I was not present I was present for some I've read all the emails that we've received I personally after hearing what all of you have to share this evening we'll provide you I I will decide where I stand and I will state that publicly so that you know I I think that that's fair if we're gonna make a choice a part of
014transparency is that you hear from us what we think of it rather than leaving uncertain that I want to make something clear that's my personal choice of how to participate in the board meeting as a board member none of the board members are required to do so if they choose to let it stand they don't have to say anything I will open the floor after public comment to allow for that should they choose please don't make an assumption if they choose to let it stand without action that um they've not participated you know sometimes inaction is is stating your action in this case if that makes sense all right the last thing I want to go over before we begin is your policy on public participation at a board meeting there's been some questions on
015this I want to state two if you notice there this policy that we're going to follow tonight was adopted in 2016 so what I'm going to require in the meeting is not new um each person will be required to come to the podium state your name and your address you'll be given five minutes there is also a limit of public participation of 30 minutes if you take a look here that's mentioned in the first sentence and then in that middle paragraph if we exceed 30 minutes by policy that requires a majority of vote of the board to do that so we have to follow policy this evening that's what I'll be implementing so I'm going to ask two things Mr Detweiler yes ma'am will you be our five minute timer I will somebody else have
016a cell phone that they can do the 30 are you able to do the 30 for us tonight Lori okay we'll have one person speaking as Robert's Rules of Order guides us to do one floor one uh piece of information on the floor discussed at a time one person speaking at a time and if I may I'd like to ask that whomever has not had an opportunity to speak yet maybe get a chance to go first since we do have a limit of time on this so people have a chance to be heard if there's anyone that has not had an opportunity to take the podium yet and would like to tonight would you raise your hand please okay so we have three I'd like to begin with you if you'd like to come up
017this evening and state your name and address for record please and help me not forget you over there we got two there thank you good evening my name is Adrian Robertson actually Dr Adrian Robertson now I'm still getting used to that just finished my PhD um I am a graduate of Fremont City schools and a concern advocate for kids um 812 Vargas court is the address um so tonight I'll be reading a letter um that myself and some other concerned citizens have written up regarding the life-wise academy dear Fremont City school board members we are writing this letter to express our concerns regarding life-wise Academy as concerned parents community members and advocates for our students we do not believe this program should be offered during the school day and ask that you vote against excusing
018students from school to attend the academy while we have many apprehensions about the program here are some of our most Salient concerns the impact on the school day and the disruption of classes the priority of not missing core classes is critical but the special subjects are also critical to students as a former school counselor I've worked with a lot of kids pour into music art gym and anyone who understands that understands how critical it can be for those kids to participate in those classes these courses are offered on specific days of the week and not all grades have their special classes simultaneously according to a Fremont Elementary School schedule that was obtained it designates 45 minutes for courses such as art music and Wellness um I we were able to obtain a lesson um curriculum
019from life-wise and from the minimal time that was added it was about 40 minutes this does not include Transportation times or potential issues such as Behavioral or weather teachers already manage multiple disruptions on a typical school day and adding another disruption does not benefit anyone from our schools especially with our current Mental Health crisis and the struggles that our kids are having in returning back to school the credentials of the teachers facilitating the program the population of Fremont city school district is almost 50 percent students of color will the teachers consist of people of different races within the Fremont community will there be background checks and will the teachers have previous experience working with Elementary age children step 8 in lifewise's 10-step launch plan says that the team will receive training for two to six
020weeks we are questioning the length of this training will the training include working with diverse student populations race ability SES lack of transparency to the community students received a flyer on the last day of school regarding life-wise Academy many parents may not have received the flyer and many parents that I have spoke with have not received were unable to discuss the fire and some of those saw it and essentially tossed it because there was no contact information or no other details it was vague and there was also limited advertisement for the information meeting at Grace Community Church in late June it makes the leaders of this program appear secretive and increases concern surrounding transparency and parent communication our last is white nationalism and politics this appears to be very political in nature Republicans have tried
021for decades to impose Christian nationalism in the United States life-wise is a part of a nationalist movement that in part is rooted in white supremacy they wish to impose their views on everyone and the goal is to take away the rights of certain groups of people in an effort to maintain male white male Supremacy this effort appears to be Republicans latest effort to groom young people to be part of that movement so along with this letter we also have signed petitions from members of the community and concerned parents we ask that you consider all students staff and parents in this decision because it impacts all stakeholders of Fremont City School District especially those of marginalized populations again almost 50 percent of the students in the school district thank you thank you there were two over
022here that raised her hand that hadn't had a chance to speak yet you sir hi my name is Brandon Reinhardt my address is 1422 Clinton Street I'm going to be speaking briefly I just would like to voice my support for the Pledge of Allegiance and for the life-wise I know that these will be good things for the community and the children will benefit I don't believe there will be any negative impacts it will be all good so I would just like to support it and that's my that's my voice thank you thank you there was one other person hi good evening my name is Brianne Wilkie I live at 2646 Oak Harbor Road in Fremont I am a 2007 graduate of Fremont Ross high school as my husband is as well 2004. um I am
023an RN for my job and most importantly the mother to four young daughters three of whom are currently enrolled in Fremont City Schools and I just wanted to come up here and speak to the board as a mom of children in this district and voice my support for the policy that allows for release time for Religious Education I watched the last board meeting and I was encouraged by the many members of our community that are in support of this program specifically I myself had never heard of life-wise until a couple of months ago I did do some of my own research and I do think that it is a good thing for our community with the emphasis on it being completely optional every child is welcome no tax dollars are being used all of the
024funds and donors will be from this community I know that there were some concerns raised about disruptions with kids leaving and returning to the classroom this program as has been stated doesn't take any time away from core classes and the program administrators have stated they would work with the school principals to find the time that would work best for their day and least disruptive working around the school's schedule some might have concerns about children missing specialist time and I understand that but that is the parents choice to decide if that's worth it or not for their child on another note I graduated high school in 2007 and and I do remember many things being scheduled during the school day such as leaving early for sports competitions off-site Club functions non-educational trips even missing core classes
025for those I have a lot of I'm sure we all do have a lot of family and friends in education and sometimes I hear about the behavioral challenges they face in the classroom today and so in my opinion a character building program like life-wise that offers students the opportunity to make connections have positive role models and learn biblical values such as honesty kindness respect for their teachers and fellow students and the benefits of working hard I think that that would be very beneficial and as we heard from some at the last meeting mental health challenges as we all know are increasingly prevalent in this program I believe would help those kids by teaching them that they are loved and they are valued so just from seeing the amount of people that have attended the last
026couple of board meetings we have a community here in Fremont that cares about our kids and that's a common ground and I think we can all be thankful for that not everyone is going to agree with Bible education in this program and that's their right thankfully we we live in a free country but at the end of the day when all this comes down to is that it's the parents decision to make if a parent doesn't feel that this is the right program for their child that's okay they won't sign them up but I would ask that they not keep me from being able to sign up my children I am grateful that there's a policy currently in place that our Supreme Court agrees we should have and that is that students with parental permission
027may be excused during school hours for off-site religious instruction in place of another extracurricular or specialist time I'm glad this option exists for my Fremont City Schools kids because I do believe that they could benefit from this so I ask you as board members who represent and serve our district in our community to consider all the benefits this program offers many of which we heard at the last board meeting and maintain the policy that currently honors the choice of the parents and maintains the option for religious instruction if they so choose the current policy that the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld gives parents the opportunity and the right to allow or not their child to participate in this just like any other club or extracurricular or any other program that could be introduced in the
028future thank you board for everything that you do to serve this community and I hope you continue to maintain this policy as it is to protect the religious freedoms of parents and children in our school district thank you thank you is there anyone else present that has not had a prior opportunity to speak my name is Rob Harmon 1720 select drive here in Fremont um I was at the last board meeting and I had this burning desire to say something but there were so many people that got up and spoke I decided not to but this time I just wanted to speak from an Educator's point of view I taught in the Fremont City schools for 30 years at Krogan Elementary School my my children went to the Fremont City Schools my grandchildren are now
029in the Fremont City Schools um I understand the concerns some people have about students being taken out the disruption for the classroom missing important things in school however as an elementary school teacher I taught fourth grade I know the elementary teachers in Fremont City Schools their priority are the children if the children would happen to miss something because they their parents and they chose to go to a life-wise Academy there is no elementary teacher that would let them fall behind I can guarantee you that they put the Children First the the children that choose to go to LifeWise Academy if it's implemented in the Fremont City Schools that's their choice not everybody has to do it I wish we could all understand that not it's a choice that the parents have and not everybody has
030to do it so if there are parents like free Wookie said if there are parents that want their kids to go they should have that choice to be able to do that if there are parents that don't want their children go they have that choice also but as an educator of Elementary children I don't think the the problem of students missing school at all should be a problem for us to implement this program and my wife and I both are in support of this program and I hope that you would would do that also I'd like to say if the students are learning to their learning religious things of course but they're also learning to love others and respect others and to be honest and to respect their teachers and as a classroom teacher one
031of the biggest problems that we have in elementary age is discipline with our students if there's something out there that can help the students to know that it's the right thing to do to follow the rules to respect their teacher to love the other kids you know respect the other kids in their class then why shouldn't we try it we did a lot of things in the 30 years that I taught in Fremont City Schools to help kids feel good about themselves to help us with classroom management all that that school district had to pay for this is something that the school district doesn't have to pay for at all it's a free uh service for those that want to choose to do it and I I just want you to know that there are
032a lot of us out there that support it thank you for your time sir good evening I'm Solomon Woodson I'm at 733 Nicholas Street says in Fremont I just got this and I don't understand it but I do have some questions pertaining to it it said call us at menu then I'm looking at say release time for religious students studies is that right yes sir is that something they can get outside of the school yes sir the school can't Supply that unfortunately for legal reasons the school itself cannot provide religious instruction in the school or using any school resources to do so the only way that students can obtain that during the school hour is if schools adopt the policy that allows parents to withdraw them from the school for one class period a week
033and then take them to the instruction of their choice then who pays for this the individual organizations that provide the education that's what I know what is that organization who is that any organization can put their program together so it's not specific to any religion Mr Woodson the policy is just religious instructions so any church any denomination any faith can't put their own program together and make that available to students to come to one period a week I don't have any kids in school but I can see that if you can transfer kids from the school to some other place that's been designated for them to go to to learn some religious or studies they could also do that here in the school could they make red well what I'm saying what I'm saying is
034that see I went to school and that you could pre in school I know that Andrew it now but couldn't we fight back sometime to get Priya back in school I mean we got everything going on in school now to tear down the school and nobody's saying nothing but now we've come in and get the little kids and train them up to what another respect to school we got kids coming to the school with all kind of material and all kind of weapons and everything and killing people and we're talking about taking their little kids transferring them all who paying for it that organization yes sir who's an organization whichever organization chooses to provide the program pardon me whichever organization wants to provide a program for students and then parents would choose which one their
035child would go to don't the school have anything to say about taking the kids out to another establishment when you as sanctioned here in the city well the state law this state law does allow it to happen so it's permissive and unfortunately Mr Woodson as I understand it now and John if I'm wrong please say so by law as a public school we are restricted from providing religious education here on campus the the law right now Mr Woodson doesn't allow us to do that um I I hear you point loud and clear though brother I don't see how the law would allow them to transfer someplace where where they could teach religious if they can't teach it here don't make sense I think part of that is their effort to keep the two things separate
036as much as possible because there are taxpayers who wouldn't really support the religious education so in order to keep the tax dollars very cleanly away from the religious education they asked them to go off school grounds that helps no sir doesn't I'm sorry all right I I don't understand how the school board wouldn't fight against this that's my problem if the school board wants to stick up for this the citizen of Fremont the kids we allow some other organizations to come in and take charge what are they going to teach them that you couldn't teach them here I I maybe you could petition the governor or the Congress or somebody else to give you the lead way to put a broom somewhere that outside of this building here that they could teach religious subjects I've
037been vote for that and if I could take my tax dollars back I would take my tax dollars back that's how I feel about this thank you thank you thank you okay I yes sir in the back okay I'll go to you next sorry I didn't know if I was in the back or only halfway that's okay if you could just state your name and address you can fire away all right my name is Tim Hillier my address is 712 Tucker Road here in Fremont I have three adult children all of whom are graduates of the Fremont City schools and I worked as a substitute teacher in the Fremont City schools for 13 years between the age between the years of 2004 and 2017 and I would just like to publicly State my support for
038the life-wise program uh being a substitute teacher as most of you realize can be the most challenging of positions I have seen the types of benefits that might be gleaned from this type of program and I would also like to re-emphasize the point that was made by Mrs Wookie and by Mr Harmon that this program is totally optional and is at the discretion of the parents this is not something that will be imposed upon all of the students without the will and wishes of the people who are in the most influential decision making position when it comes to young lives so thank you very much for your time and uh have a good evening thank you gentlemen in the back my name is Forrest kirchenbauer I live at 224 Saint Paul drive here in Fremont
039and thank you very much for all that you do and how you serve the students the families in our community we did submit 350 signatures last time and have an additional 50 that I can share tonight with you I just want to just say a couple things just from some of the experience of my life that addresses um the decision that is on on the table I wasn't brought up in a Christian home um somewhere there in the later part of my youth I decided to go to a Christian college and later that allowed me to go to a Christian Camp and this Camp had a slogan that I didn't really give a lot of thought to in understanding the depth and how it would direct my life but the slogan was it is easier
040to build boys and girls than to repair men and women and at that time being young and trying to figure out life I I felt a calling I felt a real urge and desire to help students help kids and so spent time in youth pastor work and then also 20 years in private religious education as a teacher and principal and just working with families and just helping young people try to get their life in order give them a foundation and a Direction and so for years even with that slogan it's easier to build boys and girls my experience with that is it's it's pretty hard it's pretty hard there's so much that goes into that and I think being here at the last meeting listening to so many Educators and just people in our community
041I think we know that it's become very difficult extremely difficult and so that slogan still holds some things that I think is powerful as hard as it is think it's easier I didn't know that my later part of my career would involve me being in pastoral work where a portion of that does involve being with people being with men and women who need repair in their life and I have the privilege to sit down work with them sit down and communicate and and coordinate with institutions organizations here secular not religious based but working together to try to see can we help repair their lives and though there's hope and though there's a lot of Victory and help it is way harder than it is to build boys and girls and when you talk to people
042who have come through maybe got help got on their feet they often will tell you that their life may be on track they have such regret a wish that there were things if it was from their family or from their school or organization that could have been there to build a foundation in them and so when I think of all that I just wanna compel and encourage you as board members to be thinking is there a way that we can work together with what limitations restrictions that we have as far as religion is concerned but then what opportunities we have as well that we could work together and or the same goal that we all have the kids could have a foundation I think all the things that LifeWise tries to build in kids in
043their character and their treatment of others is something that we all want want for the kids and would benefit Society and I hope that that's what we'll look at if anything has already been said it's optional There's an opportunity with a program that is already proven you can measure you can go look and investigate beliefs systems procedures you can do that and you'll see there's some success and not only that you'll see a great interest of parents and teachers who mutually want to have a program offered that can help kids last meeting there were several things shared by Educators shared by those who study the data and are in prevention areas this is full of heartbreak that our kids are dealing with some of the things they're dealing with in their young parts of their
044life it's just heartbreaking so I think we're at a time whereas there's more desperation the need is big and therefore an opportunity could we do this could we partner together and work together all these goals have nothing to do with race or politics I'm sorry sir we've reached time thank you but thank you thank you very much and I appreciate the opportunity to speak thank you would anyone else like to address the board [Music] hello I am K Monique Cox Dr K Mooney Cox um 2327 County Road 241 Fremont I am a cross graduate went all the way through Fremont schools as did my husband I again urge you to reject the LifeWise Academy in the Fremont school system to reverse the policy that you created and therefore you have the authority to reverse two
045meetings ago there were about 15 people here in opposition to LifeWise Academy so uh Justin Smith an important Republican in this area came in along with Kevin Pinkerton the pastor at Grace Community Church Mr Pinkerton said I can bring 200 people so he did at the most recent meeting also Gary click our Republican state representative came and made a statement in favor of likewise the person who originally brought the idea to Fremont is a Republican state official this is not an innocent desire of the Christian right to acquaint children with Christianity it is a political move by the Christian right to establish Christian nationalism the big pitch last time was that the uh this would help to make the kids less depressed and less suicidal quite a few people said that this is going to
046be a curriculum of biblical literalism which is going to take every Bible verse as objective history so it will be in opposition to the science and history that Earth is taught in the public schools this will only make kids more conflicted it will be anti-lgbtq there are kids even in grade school who have gender issues and what about the kids who says I have two mommies the answer they will get is that their mothers are sinful when I lived in Idaho which is overwhelmingly Mormon I saw numerous obituaries of young people who I believe simply could not live with the non-acceptance of their sexuality by their community and why assume that the teachers and other school Personnel are not trying to help children who are depressed so these unprudentialed teachers half an hour a week
047are going to solve kids emotional issues and the schools are teaching character education no this is an effort by the Christian right to grow their own movement there are lots of Mainline Protestants Catholics other Christians and non-christians who are not in favor of religious right indoctrination through the public schools let them offer their after-school activities on their own not through the public schools thank you are we on time for 30 minutes only two minutes we have two minutes left may I ask how many more would like to address the board would you raise your hand you have one two three okay um but I'm gonna make a motion to allow an extension of 15 minutes to the 30 minutes that allows the remaining persons to to speak each may I have a second second any
048discussion roll call please Mr spiritu yes and Miss yes Louis yes okay motion carried so Josie I think you were next please thank you I'm Josie setzler 918 Cleveland Avenue in Fremont I just heard a couple of things that I wanted to answer um some a gentleman talked about how teachers will certainly want to help students make up any missed work should that happen and I do believe that teachers love their students and have their best interests at heart but this policy does say that students assume responsibility for any missed schoolwork that stands in the policy that everyone was handed tonight and the issue is not just whether the teachers are moved to do this it is that they don't have time to do it it without perhaps taking time away from those who stay
049back so that if you want to have real Equity so that everyone is treated the same you do run into a problem if there's disruptions and teachers have to take time away from other instruction to make up even to a um this explained to a student what will have to be made up that is going to be a problem for those students who do not take part in this curriculum so I just wanted to make that clear since we have the policy in front of us and then I also I I do believe that everyone wants the best for students that have emotional problems in our school I do want to point out that this particular program life-wise Academy on its website does State under its frequently asked questions section that children who have who
050exhibit a behavioral problem when they go out to the program will be returned to the school during that period so I would just like to make that clear that those that perhaps have some very difficult emotional problems may actually have them compounded by being separated from that opportunity and sent back to the school where the school will then have to take care of that issue when they are returned so that's part of the policy that I saw and uh lastly I do believe we have different understandings of religious freedom and we are all sincere about that I do believe that because of the diversity of religious views in a public institution our freedom is best served by doing religious instruction outside the school day especially because there will be extensive peer pressure I believe from
051child to child when there's opportunity to um leave the school and it's perceived as something that their friends are doing that does impact parents religious freedom and that's why I speak when I say religious freedom I think of taking it out of a place where there's this diversity and doing it in the um after school and on weekends I think that best respects parents religious freedom thank you and made delic I think you were next I'm not going to take much of your time my name is maidel leak and I am a graduate 1976 graduate of Fremont Ross high school as you see my shirt I turned 65 this year I had three kids graduate from Fremont Ross um and went on to college they had very good teachers throughout their career at Fremont City
052School District and they did very well in college and moved on to real very good careers um however it didn't come their experience didn't come with without bumps and bruises okay so we're living in the real world here we're not living where everything that is glitter is gold okay looks like gold um basically I am reminded of my favorite um author um Jane what James Baldwin Baldwin once said he said that um I can't believe what you say because I see what you do okay I did do some research since my last board meeting I wasn't here in the previous board meeting but I was here at the board meeting before so I did do some research on life-wise and what I did see is is part of the Evangelical movement okay and whether we
053want to take a historical perspective of the Evangelical movement and the impact on enslaved people or we want to look at what's going on currently today and I won't do that because it will take up too much time um but I do want to say that whether you vote for this to remove um this or not you know if you leave things like I personally have had extensive extensive experience in working with all kids in this District thousands of kids I've heard what they've had to say I've expressed some of the concerns to the superintendent he's aware of what and this is before life-wise ever came about so there are some real concerns culturally and we know how Peer Pressure Works no program for use ever Works without peer pressure I mean we can recruit
054all we want but until students go back and tell their friends how it works tell their parents how then that's how we get the students in the door and if life-wise is not prepared to deal with students of color in Fremont City Schools district because I really don't see anybody out there that reflects who looks like me I guess except the people in my role that I brought here um it kind of concerns me so I'm not here to object to what people believe who's God they believe in I'm not here to you know cast my dispersions on the Bible or anything else like that I mean people have a right to feel and and worship the way they want to worship but my concern is that kids of color has so much to deal
055with right now adults have so much to deal with right now this Evangelical movement poses a threat to our voting rights so that's why it's political because I'm pretty sure no one's going to raise their hand here but if I ask the question about who you really voted for or who these four churches or three churches that are gonna um you know take part in this you know it's not gonna the the the it's not going to be in favor of my voting rights kids of colors voting rights um you know um what was the Supreme Court just passed um um voted against affirmative action right and now colleges are looking at getting rid of um African-American uh uh scholarships and so you know I don't really hear who you worship what you do but
056I do care about these kids and I have that experience in knowing what these kids have said to me personally I know some members my own my one of these churches my nieces and nephews attend you know out on Smith Road so it they go out there so it's not like I'm here talking against a particular church I'm here because of the kids and I know the way when kids are in certain situations because when my kids were in certain situations in the public schools and they went outside of there there was racism and discrimination in those organizations and I know that and I see some teachers in the audience who know that too because we've had conversations about that you know did the teachers do it some teachers did did the organizations do it
057yes they did okay I'm afraid we have time thank you though that's okay thank you there was a yes Smith foreign Avenue here in Fremont I had no intention of speaking tonight but since my name was rudely brought up by a previous commentator I'm speaking to let you know that I have attended several school board meetings for the last 21 to 22 years going back to when I was a student at Fremont West High School so being here tonight or being at the last few board meetings have nothing to do with the Republican party or nothing to do with politics I truly do care about the Youth of the community serving as a city as a city councilman and having a bachelor's degree in myself in social studies education I have been a teacher substitute
058teacher in Fremont schools and several districts throughout the county so I can honestly say there is no Republican conspiracy in Sandusky County that supports this I do personally support life-wise economy but it is not no political conspiracy that is uh the fouest thing from the truth I support life eyes economy because I believe we need to teach children to have the values that we out share the values of treating people with respect and treating people with kindness and I believe that the covid lockdowns and how the school closings have kind of negatively impacted education in the last few years and I think it's our kids are suffering the Youth of Fremont is suffering and I think this is a great thing and it has nothing to do with the Republican party and I I take
059great offense to that because I have been coming to these board meetings for years whether they're as controversy or not and you uh most of you do know that as well so I I express my support for LifeWise economy as an individual but not anything to do with the Republican party thank you okay I think that takes us up to yeah yeah about there okay thank you um like I said there's been a great deal of community participation in the conversation some present some through email some through phone call um clearly people care very much on all sides of this I want to clarify the question brought to the board at hand I think there is a distinction that needs to be made between does Fremont City Schools support LifeWise Academy produce Fremont City Schools
060support appearance choice to dismiss their child for Religious Education that they're two different questions the one officially on the table tonight is the policy being that as of now the board allows a parent to choose for their child to be dismissed one class a week to attend the religious education of their choice so I think it's very important to make that distinction I'd like to remind everybody that should the board continue with policy it's not specific to any one religious organization any religious organization would have the opportunity to put their program together and students would be allowed to participate in theirs should their parent choose to allow that so just very important to to make that distinction um with that I'm going to share my thoughts on the matter like I mentioned at the beginning
061I think that that's part of part of what people are wanting to hear what what does the board choosing to do or not do and why and I think for myself that that's a fair request of me to ask me where I stand so I I will do that um when I think about this I've listened very closely to the credential Educators on both sides um and and they've spoken from both sides equally credentialed I I've listened to parents from both sides and um you know the students perspective themselves I've had a chance to talk to some students and and think what and hear what they have to think on the matter if the ask is to repeal the policy for me where that lands is repealing a Parent's Choice it is not the question
062of do we support LifeWise Academy the answer that's no pretty much any schools as a board does not support or endorse any one specific religion or religious organization that is for the citizens to choose for themselves policy does allow for a parent to make a choice on behalf of their child to participate in the religious education of their choice so I I am I'm choosing not to make a motion to repeal or modify the policy for that reason um if my children were still in school if I had one struggling I would absolutely keep them in their academic education and and take care of their religious instruction outside um I would make those choices but again I I would make that choice as their parent um so a lot of very good points made on
063both sides for me that's where I'm landing and honoring A Parent's Choice I want to make it very clear um in discussion with life-wise um got to make a point earlier that I want to Circle back to I with the vetting process because you bring up some good points you know I I do not know LifeWise um myself I have not vetted it personally so I can't speak um in favor or against of but as a parent that is something you need to research any organization outside of the school does not get the school's vetting it's outside of our legal authority to ask LifeWise what's your insurance what's the credentials of your teachers that's outside of our legal right to do that they are an outside organization I think it is a good question to
064ask no matter what the organization is and there are plenty people available representing lifeways that can answer those questions for you and can provide that information so um I think there was some Exchange in the last meeting and then the one before about insurances and some questions answered about credentialing and I think that that was specific to life-wise um itself but as a board and board members when we're sitting in these seats during the meetings we can only answer what we know as a school right so for me I am choosing not to make a motion to repeal the policy and choosing to let it stand with A Parent's Choice with that I'm going to open it up and if any other board members would like to respond to the discussion tonight or share your
065thoughts there's certainly the opportunity to do that you weren't you are not required to just simply making that available so if we start blooms or anything that you'd like to say if not you can leave a policy stand and that's it I won't make a motion to repeal it's a choice between parents and the families and I do have grandchildren in the school system I have three and I have two that go to one church but they went to another denomination for their uh preschool and the one still in preschool and there's no there's no confusion between them if you talk to them they're learning the same thing theirs they learn in their Church so I'm I'm not gonna repeal make emotion Mary Ellis you're welcome to share thoughts you don't have to but if
066you'd like to address the audience you may um uh that some comments I'm gonna make I made before in the previous uh meetings but I just like to say uh I think that uh uh the life-wise or any other program I think it's beneficial for some families and some students uh do I think it's for all families and it's a bit awe no there's a lot of different faiths religions out there dominations uh that different families believe in um having the policy I do agree that it gives the parents options but I also think that it takes opportunities away from the students from having to give up an art music gym Library time um I think it does take that opportunity away from them to be able to do something else um I ask and
067wonder and think uh is there an option for it to get offered after school any type of religious thing it uh and the students would be able to participate in their school day and and something else and won't have to miss out on anything um I mean the school day I think it's important for the students to take the opportunity to take advantage of the teachers the staff uh the opportunity that they're there to receive that the help that they need of its uh educational if it's other needs I know we have counseling and different things I think during the school days the opportunity for them to to do that and if other things can be offered outside of the school I think that would be a better option um I do not think that
068the uh religious times should be done during the school day in Sierra if you'd like to share anything you may you're not required um I I just I would just share right now that at this time I stressed at this time I would not choose to repeal um the reason I say at this time um I am here in place to serve the public and I am still getting emails um almost daily from people and I don't feel like I've heard from everybody who this will impact and I don't want to make a decision at this point um when I know I haven't heard from people who will truly be impacted by this and I want to make sure um that I have that opportunity to hear from people um again who this would impact
069greatly um I as a parent um would not have my child participate um because it's my duty to take care of her um our religious beliefs as a as a family um I concur that there's a lot of um conflict um with what's on the table right now that I do have some strong thoughts in and feelings about I don't think we can just sweep under the rug that there would be no impact to the school day I don't think that's realistic to um to say um I do have emails from teachers um that have expressed concern about that um I do work in the field um I work as uh the assistant director of our Detention Center here so I am 100 no stranger to the um issues that plague our children in our
070community um and and work hard every day to to help those children and and families um so this is something that's very important to me to make sure that I take the time and responsibility to to do well and that's my intention thank you board members I thank you for sharing your thoughts I think that's an important part of uh Community discussion that is this broad as elected officials they've asked us to be their voice and they want to know where we stand and I think that's helped bring some clarity to next steps for everyone so we know procedurally what needed to happen to change the policy um and uh we're moving forward with it as it is as Sarah said for now Community discussions and policy reviews are always ongoing so with that um
071there's a few takeaways that I'd like to to move into that I think are appropriate at this time in the agenda I'd like to talk about the policy of circulation of materials I just think organically given the conversation we just had colleagues I'm going to ask you to consider something and this is not a voting matter at this time um I'm going to ask that we modify the language look at modifying the language and the distribution of materials in school is that was a point of contention and understandably so and my request after some discussion on that before Mr Detweiler to put some drafts together for us and then bring that back in the form of discussion so no action needed for this one because we're not looking at anything to take action on but
072for Mr detweather to consider some things so Mr Detweiler it says if we if we take a look at um in not-for-profit outside organization we request that literature promoting an event activity or program Open to students in the district be distributed directly to students and or that information literature not related to the event activities be made available in school buildings for students to take um I guess what are our feelings on that because there there's a difference between in my mind between distribution of materials making them available to take so that's one area that I I would like to see what other districts have specifically with the actual physical distribution so if you could research for us absolutely yeah maybe even just just rest the county and do the whole state just rest the county
073how do they have that language there and then maybe some discussion on that um and as of this time John you've put together in your procedure that you manage the um the disclaimer the non-endorsement disclaimer I think that for me procedures modify and change over time as they need to but I think the distinction of making community members very clear of what is a school-sponsored activity that the school has vetted is insurance and is insuring right versus a non-school um program that does not have school vetting and relies on Parental discretion to to make that a requirement I think that's best housing policy I would like to see us require that disclaimer in policy and then the language of that would be up to your implementation as that needs modified from time to time I
074would certainly give it more teeth for sure I think so I I think one thing that we understood especially at the very beginning was the misunderstanding of is this happening in school is this a school program you know what what is going on so I do think I'd like to see us provide more clarity of that in policy does anybody have any comments on that we're all right if John put some uh drafts together for us and and some research for us to consider okay are there any other comments before we move on to the remainder of the agenda right moving on to the superintendents report please oh any okay it's a good question um any Community member can bring any issue to the board at any time so um this is the way that
075the the board has chosen to you know I guess act by not acting allowing it stay based on the information that we have now but on any issue at any time community members can bring it to the board and the board can consider at that time so by saying that as of now no one's made emotion does not lock the board into a commitment for any time frame but that is true of any policy and that that's always been the case it's a um it's an open discussion or consideration with community on any policy is that answer or question okay maida I don't think that we're Bound by those I I think that there are some governing bodies that are but I I'm not aware that a school board is Bound By any restrictions on
076the frequency and timeline of discussion yeah there's one thing the board really has control of and that's policy yeah thank you Mrs Laird you when you uh responded to the question on the floor you said community members can um bring things up at any time but board members can as well oh yes thank you yes yes just wanted to make sure yes absolutely um that that is that is a given in the function of a board member um we have agendas that we go by and we follow Robert's Rules of Order um but any board member can bring up any concern and can you know put forth any suggestion or recommendation of any kind at any time very very open styled meeting yes I think this legitimate question let me hold on for one formality
077um whenever we have the public participation we are supposed to utilize the podium because maydale has already been on record and identified herself I think we're good zest are you good if this is just okay it might be useful too if you would restate the question for those at home in the microphone because they will never hear what she has said you want to come on up would you do that that'd be great I I think that's a great question my back is awful Buster johnson917 Bell Drive Number One graduate um from 1986. I got about 14 kids to help go through and my question was so if I want to take my child out or My Religion how do I do it that's a procedural question John I'm going to Define you this is
078my first time too Ms Johnson I promise you we're learning a lot through this but I think there'd be no distinction so I think if your church or your pastor or even maybe you wanted to pull that child out at the same time and give them religious instruction I can't imagine to be an issue with that I can't see anything in the policy or the law that would stop you from doing that so does it have to be that just a lot of time or can that be I don't know because I'm asking for a Muslim friend because you know they pray throughout the day what do they do yeah yeah I think they could do that now I think the the policies talks about it can't miss a court you have to miss all
079those criteria can't miss a core class can be during an elective class I think alone has met all those criteria it'd be no issue at all okay yeah and I also want to clarify too kids can always pray in school there's a misnomer that kids can't pray they can pray they have their own rights to pray they do so I just want to make sure that's really clear amen thank you good for you all right thank you okay anything else all right um moving on to the superintendent's report please all right thank you very much Gordon thank you for your uh diligent effort and work on this issue us July 10th anybody who knows schools knows what July 10th means that is the sort of the last day that a staff member can resign and
080still be covered by uh no retribution so we're kind of holding our breath to a midnight tonight that we don't have any surprise retirements or resignations um but we are almost fully staffed um real close um so I think um that's worth noting the only thing else I had tonight I didn't want to be labor because I know we'd have some other things on the agenda House Bill 33 passed last week and it was a doozy um there's a lot in there that we're going to get a lot more about and you'll be hearing a lot about it I can see an entire work session just on the content of House Bill 33 which is the governor's budget bill but the most significant two I want to mention tonight they have literally transformed the high
081Department of Education it is now been relegated to only be in charge of teacher discipline teacher licensure and and a couple other things almost managerial issues all of the instruction has gone into um called the Department of Education and Workforce which will be housed in the governor's office so um and that will be the primary and secondary education and that's all the division of Career and Technical education so there's a whole lot of questions I know Denise and I talked today what does this mean to us because we always have people we go to at the high Department of Ed and we have questions about procedures or laws or grants or whatever where are those people going what's going to happen now who's answering those questions um there's a lot to figure out with with
082this significant of a change um and we're also worried as I think I've shared before that what happens then if there's a shift in governorship how does that all change and what's that trickle down and is there a wave of changing how do we keep up and how do we manage but so a lot of questions to come I had eight pages printed out I promise you I won't do that but that was one I wanted to share that was huge um the other one is the Ed Choice scholarship program this is a needs base full Statewide funding source for parents who want to choose a different school for their child and it is needs based based on the Family's income up to six thousand dollars for kindergarten to eighth grade and over eight thousand
083dollars for high school age students um to qualify for that students need to be above the 450 percent of the federal Pottery level um to qualify and that's a big one and we'll see what the impact of that is I can I can really Envision a lot of startup schools and other uh ways that people will try to use that and I think it's going to mean that we just have to be more competitive and keep sharp and make sure we're offering the best product that we can um only other last one I wanted to make sure you knew about was on the table again is also a third grade reading guarantee so there are some major changes there so we'll be working with our families here in the next few weeks to make sure
084that we understand what the law means and what it means to our students the word is that there's it's taken that that hardcore retention element off the table but we sell those conversations with families to have and some guidance yet needed from the state so that those are the big things there's some more there but this will let you know there's a lot a lot to talk about with the new state budget uh good news is on the financial side just the school funding side which seem to fare pretty well um we'll get um Megan told me she called me Thursday I think when she heard um maybe about three million dollars more in this next budget so that would be it'd be good for us so some of the other scenarios had us flat
085or even up like two hundred thousand dollars so this is a that part was was very good for us that's that's kind of that on um House Bill 33 any questions on any of that that I can help you with okay for the permission uh Ms Laird I'll continue on with the agenda sure thank you very much um under staff then we have item one Amanda Nowak as a psychologist with your permission we will hire her this evening um following appointments we have Chase aren't at Atkinson uh Brittany Burmeister uh math here at the middle school and Devin citerson Fremont Middle School science I'd also like to point out right out there in the back row Brittany would you raise your hand Brittany came and sat through all of that to make sure that she
086watched herself be hired tonight Brittany welcome to Fremont City Schools we're very glad to have you you're welcome they're not all like this I promise or um uh then going on Michael ickes is Fremont Middle School uh custodian that's uh for in the OBC section item three on administrative appointment um we have our psychologist in our administrative um a portion of our organization so Heather Justin as a psychologist with your permission will be hired this evening as a school psychologist a supplemental Duty positions you see them down on the left Gerald binder Devon Churchill Christian Newman and Joshua Smith and various coaching positions with your approval item five on the next page special event workers you see um everyone that we hired has sort of helped us get our events taken care of I'd like
087to especially point out Christian Walker and how much she helps us you see her there she's listed five times she is she's just a worker bee we really appreciate everything that Crystal does for us I saw her here earlier she's still here item six uh some status changes Catherine Knight oh she is back there oh I was talking about her there she sits uh Catherine Knight um the status change uh Rebecca Herron and Samantha Griffin all saddest changes due to longevity or continued education those are personal items for this evening okay we have a motion to approve um items one through six please so moved motion by Mrs Bloom may I have a second second by Mrs Espiritu any discussion I think you said uh for item one I think you said higher it's listed
088under resignation thank you so just some clarity I appreciate that that would matter Amanda would be very surprised I think wouldn't you see it for you I heard that and I thought well maybe no I apologize thank good catch uh for the record uh item one is a resignation thank you anything else we'll call please Mrs spiritu yes Mrs Laird yes Mrs Lewis yes and I'm a yes all right thanks very much uh tonight board I like to and in your packet and I think you got an email to you that um was the administrative Compensation Plan and there's only a couple changes and I like to explain them to you so you know exactly what you're voting on most of them we just did a similar uh bump as we got through negotiations with
089our teachers we just just kind of did the same thing for our administrative staff except for a couple of things um our athletic director um was making less on our schedule was making less than an assistant principal at Ross high school and we just thought that that maybe with the time committed and the director level responsibilities and the credentials that are just as high as assistant principle so I've moved the athletic director line up to be equal the assistant principal line on the on the high school staff so I just want you know that's in there to make sure that we're transparent there and I think that's an appropriate thing to do considering the the schedule the hours and the responsibility um the elementary principles um with the um raised at the teachers got it
090it actually put some teachers Beyond principles so we did a little adjusting to try to give the principles a little bit more of a bump to keep that Gap similar to what we were getting in some other areas between teaching staff and Administration staff um I think we were we had a very generous negotiation with our teachers who will make sure then that we didn't pass principles um with that gain so um it's not a lot but a little bit to make sure there was still a gap um the other two then are the assistant Treasurer um Justin in our as our assistant Treasurer and emis coordinator Mandy Miller those two positions have grown in responsibility anybody that knows emus is that's everything that we do goes into the computer salaries Student Records um funding
091uh residents uh all of our Student Records it's a tremendous job and the assistant treasury job is always so um be pretty stressful too and we did a little comparison with those positions and other districts and we were low and we thought we have good people we want to make sure that we don't lose them so for Justin and Mandy um there's a little bit more than the others in that to make sure that they're staying competitive with other districts so I just want to make sure that you knew kind of where the the big changes were everything else is is corresponding to the um raises that we gave to teachers that's our administrative Compensation Plan they have a motion to approve item seven please so motion moved by Miss Lewis may have a second
092a second second by Mrs Espiritu any discussion roll call please Miss Lewis yes Mrs spiritu yes yes and Miss Laird yes thank you very much uh moving on item eight uh our handbook for a non-uh union classified staff that there weren't any particular lines changed we just did the same thing proportionally that we did with our OPC contract to make sure that that was um similar so there are no changes there no nothing to highlight just need your approval this evening you have a motion to approve item eight please motion by Mrs Bloom may you have a second second by Ms Lewis any discussion roll call please yes uh Mrs Lewis yes Mrs spiritu yes Miss Laird yes thank you very much um with Megan's absence this evening we'll move her report to the next
093meeting so let's close with board member communication and information Mrs boom well it's great to see a lot of people that come out and want to support children and families and put their opinion in and let everybody know how everybody's feeling and it's great to see the new teachers being hired congratulations to them and all the new uh um coaches and psychologists and other support staff that we get and um I think that's it yeah um I just like to mention I always uh thank the community for coming out and uh voicing their concerns their opinions uh their support um I mean it really means a lot to me to hear the different uh opinions I mean I get phone calls emails just like the rest of the board members do and it's a very
094important important to me to hear and I like when everybody comes in I mean sometimes it gets a little stressful a little hot in here but I mean it is very important to me to hear all sides and um and to hear what the community needs and uh their feelings on things so um so I always like to thank them thank you guys when you guys come in um I'm glad to hear about the doubt earlier that we're almost fully staffed yeah almost cross my fingers for you by midnight see yeah right but none of that changes so um middle summer getting ready to things happen yeah get uh get this school year started yeah sure um again congratulations to everybody coming on board um I think it is important to hear from the community
095and I take that piece of my responsibility here very seriously um I want to make sure um like I said I represent the community um and I want to make sure um that I do that well and I know that that is not singular to me I know that is all of us up here and I'm glad to have the opportunity to do so I'm going to continue to say for as long as we need to say it what a great problem we have that there's a lot of people in our community that care a lot about kids so much so that they want to have their voices heard um that's not always the case in every community so I'm glad that we have a community that cures hears deeply about our children and our
096voicing opinions I think we all take those thoughts and opinions very uh seriously we don't take any email lightly we don't take anybody who comes to the podium and their thoughts and feelings lately we take them all under consideration and I think that's very important to know no matter where we land um as a as a district so thank you all and thank you all um like everyone I want to thank all of you for participation and and um not just this meeting but the several meetings that we've had this is my eighth year as a school board member and through those years we've had several Hot Topics if that's what you want to call them you know the very same things that we see on the news play out right here in our hometown
097they mean a lot to us as well and I have always been so very impressed and proud of my hometown community in the way that we treat one another in the midst of conflict at least in our school board meetings um people for the most part for the most part have been respectful of one another they've listened to one another they've allowed each person speaking to have their time to say what's on their mind and the opportunity to be heard and you've all allowed the same of each of us as well I think the best thing you can do to teach your kids is model what it is you want them to perform and Fremont modeled this conversation and how to manage conflict resolution so very very well for our children and what things for
098certain no matter where you land on this particular question there is no question that Fremont cares about its children um we really did have equal representation of both sides advocating for what they felt was best for children here um in the city of Fremont if not present in the emails and in the phone calls and and so on um and uh Josie as you said it everybody is looking to try to do what they think is best for children so I want to thank you all for that that's all I have for this evening if there's any other business I'll entertain a motion to adjourn emouth motion by Mrs Bloom may I have a second second by Mrs his Spirit too any discussion or call please I guess for me Mr spiritu yes mislayered yes
099Miss Lewis yes okay motion carried Richard [Music] thank you