001okay so we should officially call our to order y um Mr gr here and mrar here okay so we are here discussing the um Hospital 214 and how that fits in um and Pat you sent us a a template of a possible policy um and I I guess I I have some questions as to how um this new policy does or doesn't have any disruption to the Mayfield way Focus forward and some of those things that we um are all agreeing as a positive direction for us to move forward did you want me to get that over two 214 wasn't passed in a vacuum as you know they also passed uh 206 which was a discipline bill they passed a house bill eight parents Rights bill earlier they passed a c Bill 104 bathroom Bill
002trans and then finally earlier House Bill 68 yet leather Bill all of these were the previous General Assembly uh we have a new general simply and word out of Columbus is they're going to be just as active so we're looking at 214 not in a vacuum but kind of incorporating into how we're going to be operating in Li of all the legislation coming which why not quite a common thing seems to be focused in a general direction so when we go through this 214 if you have questions about how do you think this is going to interplay just in general let us know we're we may not have the answers as a group we're trying to figure that out and some of these things are going to need a little bit more of interpretation uh
003but I think generally speaking we can expect more of the same coming very quickly as a matter of fact not to mention what could occur at the federal level so again just as an overview I'm trying not to look at 214 in a vacuum but just in terms of how it's going to interact with what we currently are doing yes so I guess we'd like to turn youat to kind of walk through this policy give us a little bit of a background based on what you're aware of and there were a lot of questions that the board had when it was first considered on December 18th so maybe a walk through and some general comments on I'm really because it's kind of confusing when you look at the title and then you look at the
004language so absolutely um House Bill 214 had two major components one of the components uh we issued earlier on as a part of the regular update in October and that had to do with religious expression days and the reason it had somewhat of a delayed impact is that the governor didn't sign it until October 24th and when he did there was another key component that has some some timely effect and that is this prohibition that we have for you with a new policy 2265 the reason we didn't issue it sooner is the governor hadn't signed it and we have uh an internal policy that we will issue no policy before it's time and to get out in front of a legislative initiative or get out in front of an action like this before the governor
005signs it would have us pulling things back far too often and adding to the confusion so once the governor signed it we issued a special update to you uh along with somewhat of an explanation as to what this was all about the bottom line is House Bill 214 requires each board to adopt a policy like we have presented to you honor before January 22nd 2025 so uh let's walk through through it and see what questions you have as we do that um and I'll just take it uh one paragraph at a time the first paragraph I don't think should prompt too many questions because it simply States you're committed to establishing a school and and work environment that supports the free exchange of ideas and allows both students and employees to maintain their own beliefs
006without interference by the employer or the school district is there a question that no CU I think this is what your current practice is yes and has been for quite some time if we go to the second paragraph again I don't think this is anything other than what you currently do I don't think you solicit or require employees or applicants for employment to ascribe to specific opinions principles beliefs or ideologies I don't think you use those principles as a part of any criteria for employment nor do you use it in the evaluation process or for promotion or or transfer okay in an abundance of caution we've uh we talked about this internally uh making sh Eddie fet our director of HR and the Committees who do in review applicants are aware you know of the
007extra criteria here now and if necessary we may actually look at some standard sort of questions uh to avoid uh just in case people not only should we not be asking they should be bringing these issues up also you know and how to handle those so spending some time with our personnel office just to make sure we there's no traps in here excellent we have covered those in in employment policies as well as administrative guidelines but I think it's always worth reviewing that with staff espe those who that have responsibility for screening interviewing and participating in the selection process well I I think that's that is part of um where some of our questions came up because words can be interpreted a lot of different ways and how to be careful um and mindful that
008we're continuing to do the right thing that's why as a a former HR person I always felt it was extremely important you better script your questions and work from that script um I was always very uncomfortable with anybody participating in the process just shooting from the hip or add living in that process while it is important that it is a structured process in this day and age it is a very litigious process as well if we can move to then the third paragraph uh like the second one this just applies to students students who are enrolling in the district or or current students you apply the same criteria you don't expect them to ascribe to profess or adopt certain certain beliefs ideologies and you don't use that in terms of assigning them grading them assessing
009them in any way also U we talked with Jeff lean today U as you know he coordinates new student enrollment making him aware of this he's going to take a look as well some of the forms that we have just to make sure there's nothing there that can any way appear to be in conflict with this as well so one of the advantages I think of bringing everything into the central office like Dr Barnes did is it's easier to maintain control over enrollment as opposed to each building secretary doing their own individual work the next paragraph simply states that that you the board maintain your authority to take disciplinary action against employees or students who violate state and federal laws including those that are anti-discrimination anti-harassment um and you have an option there to include
010a reference to your collective bargaining agreement and again we do have that already contained you see beginning yes that said there's nothing in this policy that infringes upon First Amendment rights academic fre Freedom or an employees ability to express themselves not as an agent of the district but as an individual as an agent of the district it's it's if they list themselves as a teacher at Mayfield high school if they simply author an article with their name on it whether you agree with the Viewpoint or not they have the ability to articulate that and publish it if anyone is willing to do so and as you alluded to earlier Pat that is part of our practice yeah this is academic dreat is such a we were talking is such a slippery slope we had an
011example we had a teacher who U really expressed her personal views s her name everyone in the area knew who she was or where she worked so the superintendent just got bombarded you know is this how we feel that sort of thing in a similar fashion academic freedom probably Mar I guess Define it by the secondary college level there are some courses where topics edgy topics can't be properly introduced uh you wouldn't expect for example social issues to be discussed in the algebra class but a current events class Sociology class you know some of those s things some of these topics may be approached in a different format so I know that one of the things that Mike and the staff are going to do is take another look uh some of the syllabuses in
012curriculum approved by the board in terms of course content so I think staff understands clearly in 2025 there are going to be topics that are off limits uh to be presented to students and you have policies in place that address controversial issues um religion in the curriculum and the selection of instructional materials and textbooks you already have those Protections in place and we've reminded folks please be sure to call your District administrator attention to these policies because they're going to be asked about them they need to know what they say and how they function so their academic freedom is basically on their time not using the school name or position the school or anything like that right you get that freedom but you also have all these other things that say you can't do this
013can't do that so where's that line then that's why I say it's a slippery slope the most of the the research and the the court cases that that we've been covered are getting at the college level you know here we pretty much Define course content pretty much defined curriculum and within those broad umbrella give a staff member the opportunity to to teach that any way that he or she thinks appropriate so academic freedom it might correct me if you have a different opinion at our secondary level primarily is creativity within a confined boundary as opposed to anything goals you know sort of subject it's actually the implementation of instruction so if you decide based on a particular topic to start with c and work backwards to a but I decided to start with a and
014work forward to Z that is the an expression of academic freedom within the boundaries of the CC that's an example one and two outside that right right right and so the board does have a policy dealing with course of study that the board must approve the courses of study and the curriculum program for the district if you go outside of that there are some repercussions so what happens with uh the discussion of current events in uh social science classes and and whatnot because that I mean that's that's where I can see I and I think that's why as I was reading this I said wait I need to understand more yeah there's a couple ways there's a court case a clever judge said you could tell a teacher what to teach just on how to
015teach it in a similar fashion you know if you've got a current event you could Define I think what those limits might be of topics for discussion uh it's how you would present that I think that that is more of the issue and U it's probably a case by case basis fortunately at Mayfield I don't think we've had a lot of issues where staff members have become too creative or too expressive in their opinions regarding current events yeah it's it's factual not persuasive yeah that's the key the term of the day seems to be Viewpoint neutral and if I espouse a particular position my personal position from my position of authority I'm off off base I must maintain a Viewpoint neutral position quite frankly as this policy does with regard to issue from either the
016left or the right I can certainly present the the facets in the context of the question but I can't tell you but this is the right one that's right based on my personal opinion but on my own time if I've got a Tik Tok account and I don't identify my employer and I'm simply espousing My First Amendment rights I can do that within reason I I think the answer to that question is within reason reason yes so there's the slippery part of that SL yeah just as we having this conversation I think because sometimes are you uh still that person in a in a a power position so to speak well sure having influence we've got issues here at Facebook posted by staff members and fairly Redline to be perfectly honest and so you have
017to deal with those on indidual a lot of this students are captive audiences MH you know if you're out there on a typical Sil boox out the coronor if I don't like what you're saying I can walk away I don't have to listen when you have to sit there for 45 minutes everything changes so and the Adent of Tik Tok and my electronic device I can actually bring your comments right back into the classroom yeah and their a slipp your slip as well gets back to your your question about on school time well where is school time end we look at the next paragraph of the policy it it does not prohibit limit or restricts the board's Authority uh to consider an applicant scholarship teaching her subject matter expertise experience in making a selection it
018also does not prohibit the board from offering an established character education program and Scott questioned me this morning on that particular item what does that include and the department of Ed has has provided some suggested providers or some constructs of the character education program which typically include several Concepts or what they are calling pillars that include trustworthiness respect responsibility fairness caring and citizenship those seem to be the common constructs of a citizenship program and if the district were to offer one of those programs you would have to approve the content of that program before it is put forth and so the final paragraph of the policy simply extends yes establ established means that it is something that is produced and and has been in existence for a while or can it be newly published it
019can be newly published but again you would have to review it before it moves forward in your district there are some established programs there certainly are a number of emerging ones that I'm sure we we'll be taking a look at yeah and the final uh paragraph simply says that uh you have the authority to make policy um this policy shall shall not shall not impact the guidance that the district provides or the training materials that you use for students and employees so therefore the training programs that the District offers must also be Viewpoint neutral and cannot require somebody to embrace a span or or a opt a certain Ideology Now one of the questions that I asked as we sorted through this legislation was well an example because people were going to want what what
020all do you mean and that wasn't clearly articulated by the legislature but I said well one example might be considered the pledge of allegiance that is an ideology and you do have a policy that speaks to Pledge of Allegiance you're required by state law to have a policy that speaks to Pledge of Allegiance but you don't require any student or employee either to recite it or embrace it or or follow it it's simply a recitation that occurs uh in accordance with your policy and there's an OP out available just as there should be with whether it be um conservative or Progressive ideologies and there are an abundance of them on all sides of of most issues this is simply Viewpoint neutral you can't require students or employees to adopt one side or the other and
021I think this pretty well reflects where Mayfield has been for quite some time in terms of the employment process the selection process staff development student uh education programs courses of study and so on one thing that's uh in the statute that's not in the policy I want to call your attention to in the last paragraph it talks about District guidance I was concerned as that mean my legal opinions uh guiding the district it specifically says of the statute of quote nothing in this section shall be construed to require school districts to make protected legal Communications or guidance publicly available I was concerned that as we go through this there may be some things that we have to answer formally in terms of legal opinions and what it says legal guidance or guidance so the statute
022actually exempts still attorney client confidentiality and privilege does this impact any of our any of our clubs like we do have that uh it's a cultural and an impacts not necessarily means any change but yeah I mean your policies are going to cover your clubs okay so you know to said that I think a case in point might be you know Fellowship of Chris do you force anyone to go there no no uh you will for them to meet as you allow many groups to meet using school facilities and you are neutral and we yeah well what if you have a club that a teacher is ahead of I don't kind of think bring their own personal views or whatever into that talking about a discussion I don't know but it's not but are are
023clubs in a different category than classrooms we they are but you also approve certain clubs to function right and I think you always look at their purpose statement and at their under underlying um methodologies and and ideolog do we have a u I used to be these are called a gay club nothing LBGTQ I think we still have I think we do that's an example here as well the you know the the person who's uh our our advisor for example may fall into that category and you know working with the club we have to be careful about I guess enforcement have to be careful about recruitment some of those sort of things but again I pass that's not new you know we've been kind of working with those sensitive clubs and those issues for for
024some time and for the moment at least I think we're navigating through this is codified I think what we are already doing to a large extent those folks meet before or after school not normally during the school day some of them are student L not necessarily District sponsor and we do and they're voluntary with the staff uh they want to meet and discuss them not all but those in which that we've been approved embedded and we have a supplemental committee that specifically looks and makes recommendations for clubs uh and all the clubs that we like Star Wars we got Star Wars Club Star Wars Club if you can believe it I believe and students can walk out captive I mean like in the classroom technically you can't walk out right it's not part of the
025district curriculum corre there's no grades you're not count so they view neutral but there St left St next first so a lot of this we've already do from what I'm looking at what we talked about we already do this so this is bringing in L for us I mean what is this it's making it more difficult for us compliance it's comp with the law it's and bringing other districts maybe into the fold that aren't doing what we're doing set of parents and members of your community if they choose something to point to regarding adherence you know are you doing this are you doing that sometimes it's easier to say we're we're doing it now it's we have to do it so we can show them that and again uh these policies that that P putting
026together will continue to put together there's still some missing pieces this all this is going to fit together some inconsistent pieces in my opinion that we're going to have to sort through so I like the one at a time approach in terms of an analysis recognizing they'll have to kind of fit fit together I don't think housefield 214 was aimed at Mayfield I think it was aimed at some practices that others were utilizing that some folks may have felt coerced into taking on positions with which they were uncomfortable I think it reinforces the position that you have maintained over a long period of time it enables you to comply with the new state law and and I think you're your diligence in questioning and and studying this issue um will go a long way toward
027analyzing and and dissecting and understanding um some of the legislative actions that have occurred and we will be bringing to you with some policy suggestions within the next couple of weeks so I suspect we'll be getting back together again before too long I'll right are we going to get together for that one you picked a good year to be committee on policy br's just waiting for the next pandemic other questions for me know to ask I don't think so good okay thanks fat hey thing beat that cold weather oh we H 80 today here don't rub it in you're okay I won't you're protecting that southern border for us huh is that right someone's got to keep an eye on it all right thank you Pat bye P good take care see you soon District
028one one by one yeah I'm assuming we will get together for like and all that other likely I think and probably 206 as well you could give you one on that that's one about the expansion of student discipline okay mhm they added a provision now for that threats and things on those lines very significant exposion penalties which didn't exist before you were still camp at 80 days for The Hit List and the dead threats now you can go up almost indefinitely 180 days and another 90 Bas in circumstances the problem of John and I were trying to reconcile this it doesn't speak to disabilities at the federal level you know they still have caps on the number of days so we'll kind of sorting through some of that but for a regular student who does
029the death threats and that's sort ofam it's a weapon you know sort of dress proect but I think you'd be fine think got a lot of good things we can do on that there's a couple others that are pending too that you know plus new one's being introduced it's just going to be an interest in spring so so we'll ask I guess we'll present at the next on 2 seconds yes the tabled action will need the first remove it from the table motion second vote then we go back to the original action of a document's emergency and it'll go in effect on January 22 to comp the law so and we've got this uh whole conversation videotaped Sean is going to um work his editing maget not not editing on content but maybe some of
030the gaps we're going to post it on the YouTube uh meeting link so if anybody questions or has concerns we're going to make it this readily available for them care of this this conversation you already passed a religious belief policy oh past conf was was in the end was you asked the question this was designed not for M this is designed to remind FY of neutral and other districts I'm sure we just get it by the same broad broad brush yes when you operate at the limb of the hard assembly so second yes Mr