SMFCSD Board Meeting 2021-06-21

001[Music] bob if you could just let us know when we're live [Music] i would like to call to order the june 21st regular board meeting of the stone monroe falls board of education at 5 00 pm uh mr whitaker is unexpectedly delayed but will be joining us shortly um roll call please jerry bettio here nancy brown here lisa johnson-bowers here jessica wright here noted for the record jason currently absent if you all please stand for the pledge all right prior to adopting tonight's agenda we are going to have a presentation uh from our chiefs regarding district collaboration with local law enforcement including dei efforts and i'm going to turn it over to ms brown for a quick introduction thank you mrs wright so at our last meeting we we discussed the possibility at our work

002sessions of having some updates from the dei committee and we don't have another work session scheduled until august so we included it tonight given that the focus last month at our last meeting we talked about how a lot of families are not feeling safe it seemed appropriate to bring in our safety forces i've been part of the community subcommittee on which the chiefs of police of both monroe falls jerry hughes and stowe jeff film our members and i've asked them to come tonight just to give a brief presentation about how they came to be involved with the dei committee steps they've taken in their own departments since the murder of george floyd last summer and just some things they think we as a community can be doing in partnership with the schools and vice versa

003so i introduced chief film and chief hughes thank you good evening everybody my name is jerry hughes and i'm the chief of police for monroe falls police department just to give a little background here i think it's important to address recent events as a background when i started as chief from monroe falls police department i sat down with every officer individually i had a list one side what i expect from my officers one side what they can expect from me at the top of that list was we all practice the golden rule is to treat each other like we would want to be treated that's how we start off with every officer i when i was first got there i was a little concerned with our policy manual it seemed just a little bit outdated

004they've done a good job with making up their own policy manual but i saw room for improvement i took it to the mayor that i wanted to bring in lexapool and uh they cost a little bit of uh out of the budget but alexa pool if you're not familiar with it is a nationwide company that writes policies and procedures for police departments and a good good percentage of police departments use lexapool for their professional expertise every policy is written and reviewed by a battery of attorneys that they have to make sure they comply with federal state and local laws and are constantly reviewed and updated as part of that package we get 30 what we call daily training bulletins a month so officers have to log in and they have to do a daily training

005bulletin and it has some section of a policy that they go over and then they have to answer the question at the end of the policy so it's constantly reviewed and it's constantly in everybody's mind it's constantly updating we're also a member of the ohio collaborative and that is a a group in ohio that kind of over looks over police departments and looks for certain areas to be covered our use of force policy that includes deadly force is tested on every year during our in-service training and our unit our use of force policy also includes the duty to intercede to prevent the use of unreasonable force and report it to a supervisor if you observe it so we served lexical back in 2019 and i'm sure chief film has lexical too and and it's a

006great component of your training and you're in service as far as our use of force policy goes we review every single use of force first the sergeant reviews it he does an investigation he makes his findings he brings it to me we sit down review it together and then we talk the officers luckily i can say in monroe falls we don't have a whole lot of uses of force but they do happen and when they do happen we examine exactly what took place and i will tell you the use of force in my experience the great majority of them are because of either the person being arrested is on drugs or alcohol or both and or is having a mental illness type episode that makes up the majority of our use of force i was

007president of the summit county chiefs of police when this happened jeff is on the executive board and we discussed this from the summit county chiefs of police perspective and we put out a letter addressed to the akron beacon journal and other newspapers shortly after the george floyd that tragedy on where we stood as a county because we thought it was important that everybody in summit county knows that they can trust their police officers and we're all operating from the same page that was placed the beacon ran it rather quickly and i was appreciative of that in fact it was in the june 5th at the vegan journal 2020. during our in-service training every year there are certain things that we discussed and useful force is one of them and in our 2020 we concentrated on

008the george floyd incident with an emphasis of how we would prevent that from ever happening in monroe falls and through our training and our policy the most important through our ethics we would not have that situation happen in monroe falls our use of force policy if anybody's injured says they're injured feels like they're injured the officer thinks maybe they're injured if there's any possibility that they're injured we have our paramedics to check them out also in 19 or in 2020 i had our guys take training with the akron police department i retired from american police department i still have connections there and i had our officers take implicit bias police training with the akron police department and there was a reason for that i wanted them to take this course one because it's next of

009course i know the instructor and two because they would be in there with a more diverse class of students and diverse instructors than what i can supply in monroe falls and i think that training been excellent i got positive feedback from both our guys and from the akron police department training bureau so i was very happy with that training the bottom line is when bad incidents like this occur we talked to every one of our officers i personally as soon as i saw the video i told our mayor i said mayor this is bad and we're going to have to discuss this with each and every officer and that's exactly what i did i talked to every officer that we have and then we review it in in service so i know that we're all

010on the same page now officers whether the public understands this or not the objective is to avoid or minimize injury during the use of force and everybody says well you need to de-escalate well to de-escalate it's a two-sided street and you have to be able to get some acceptance from from this subject that you're dealing with sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't it really depends mostly on do they have alcohol or drugs on board can they understand what we're trying to do or are they in a mental state where they're really unable to comprehend what we're trying to do but we use force when we have to we don't go out to look to use force but sometimes it happens and when it does happen it's reviewed checked and double checked so with that

011i'll turn it over to the chief film uh good evening i apologize ahead of time for my voice with the cold or the hot weather and my allergies i'm losing my voice but my name is jeff film i am the chief of police for the city of stowe police department and i've been with the city of stowe for 30 years and i just started my eighth year as chief last summer the mayor asked that i had to put these on now with the older parents in the room understand why but last summer the mayor asked me to be part of a dei committee uh with the stove city schools i wasn't really sure what that meant i was a little apprehensive with all the stuff that was going on in our society with the as

012far as uh the police shootings and um i i won't lie i was pretty nervous going to the first the first zoom meeting here i am sitting in my office um you know with all my securities and i'm on a video camera for you know with the uh with the computer and uh my gut's turning inside out because i'm not sure what's going to be said and how people are going to react to my comments or my thoughts um i can tell you that i'm very proud to be part of this committee it's been a very rewarding uh environment and to be part of a of a process to come up with to make sure our kids are safe in the schools is is paramount because i know the better that the kids do in

013school the less likely chances i'm going to see them or my officers are going to see them out in the streets i've been asked by many residents of the community and community leaders about what we are doing as a law enforcement agency to train and educate our officers on the proper use of force diversity and police accountability bestow police department holds ourselves to the highest here are a few a few other protocols that we have in place first and foremost uh we have a very uh strict hiring process um right now actually i just had a great conversation with judy hill from naacp the president of the summit county chapter a couple weeks ago about getting her help to help to get more diversity in our workforce diversity in the law enforcement workforce across the

014united states is very very low and it's very tough to get people of color to join our ranks so i reached out to her a couple weeks ago because we are at a point where i have to have a new test and i'm excited to have her input and her help in moving forward with that second of all all our officers have received racial discrimination training in fact in august of this year we'll be doing a four-hour block on implicit bias we have a multitude of policies and procedures that that prohibit discrimination in the workplace that encourage and require de-escalation techniques as uh chief hughes has spoken uh in 2020 we uh we started with a national policy procedure manual called lexipol it's one that's been approved by the ohio association of chiefs of police

015and clea which is the commission of accreditation for law enforcement agencies we also uh the city of still also meets the ohio collaborative standards and just for those that do not know the ohio collaborative is a 12-person panel of law enforcement experts and community leaders throughout the state of ohio that was established to have state standards for law enforcement officers this began by the governor in august 28 2015 and these policies include the use of force bias-free policing body-worn camera systems employee recruiting and hiring practices community engagement and agency wellness and the city of stowe is one of many agencies in ohio that meet those collaborative standards as far as our use of forced policies and reporting as chief hughes said every incident where forces use are offered are required to document that force um

016then it was reviewed by a supervisor and after that that report goes to the use of force committee which is reviewed to make sure that the standards that the and the procedures that the officer used after that it was sent to our law department for an independent review to make sure that all laws and procedures were followed in cases where we use lethal force or are forced to cause a serious physical harm we have elected to see if those elected to call in bci which is a bureau of criminal identification and investigation um to do our investigation for us an outside agency and we also call in the summit county prosecutor's office from the scene to come out and handle all legal aspects so that's an outside another outside agency to look to make sure

017that we were in compliance with our rules regulations in the state of ohio i'm very proud to tell you that we've had body cameras since 2015 we were one of the first uh departments in summit county to have department-wide body cameras and we've had crews or cameras or we call mobile cameras in our cruisers since the year 2000. not a lot of departments around here can say that and it's a very good tool for our officers it mandates it requires them to be more professional it mandates that they they follow rules and regulations and i can say that um uh the the uh the camera system that we have what i really like about it is when the office is pulling the back lock the mobiles automatically download um and when they put their cameras

018in to be charged those automatically download the officers have no ability to get to those videos and change anything so it's really a police accountability for that part as far as community involvement we hold open houses every year we didn't lash it because of kovid we also have a national night out where we invite our families to come see what we're about at our station we usually have some kid rides and um for the children and just to make them feel more welcome and to let them know you know our police department's here to serve you the community our police department we are not to be feared we are to be sought after we hold a citizens academy uh with tiger falls monroe falls talmadge and silver lake um once a year it's a six-week

019academy where any citizen can could uh sign up for the academy you meet once a week and we have officers come in and they actually give you training that we go through so you can get the same perspective that what our officers are going through the city is still we do uh citizen ride-along so if you ever want to come out and ride with an officer i ask you to contact my department and i'd be happy to set that up for you this year we're finally bringing back our neighborhood watch program which we used to have for many years but instead of having it at the station uh what we want to do and what we are doing is we're going to go out into the community and we're going to go to your your

020location with your organizations and we're going to talk to you to find out what we can do to better serve you and one of the most important things is we have a still youth division uh we have three youth workers one's a licensed social worker and what they do is it's a diversion program that was implemented in 1980s i think 84 85 and it was one of the first ones in the state of ohio and what we do for our youth offenders instead of sending them down to juvenile court we go through our programs where we can drug test them we give them life skills we can work with their parents help the parents with some parenting skills and some advice and i think it's a lot more productive and rewarding both for the children

021and parents and lastly i have been chief like i said since june i've been working with the superintendent since then our department has a great working relationship with this uh stonewall falls school system we have two full-time officers one's a dare officer and the other one's an sro in the schools every day on top of that since 2012 we've had two officers and sometimes three uh patrolling the schools eight hours a day every day the school is open all year long and the reason that they're there is not and i once had a parent ask me has there has a crime rate going up if they made more arrests in the schools because these officers are out in the schools and i said you know you misunderstand what the program's for they're not there to

022go out make arrests they're there to protect and they're there to let the kids know that we are part of the community just as they are and we are there for them we're there to break down the walls and you know those those biases that come along that uh the kids see and you know try to break down some of the fears that they have about what law enforcements are what we are about what we are here for and the number one thing we are here for is service i think we as a law enforcement agency are headed in the right direction we have a great working relationship with our citizens our schools and our businesses we continue to assess and work with our community leaders to bring the highest level of service to those

023that we serve our current protocols far exceed the currently discussed mandates by many community reform leaders across the country but we are always looking to evolve we are always looking to perform to improve our performance we are always looking to be better being part of this dei committee the subcommittee has been very rewarding and we look forward to working with the members and to make our community that much better thank you [Applause] thank you both for being here this evening okay okay moving on to the adoption of tonight's agenda uh may have motion to adopt tonight's agenda please so moved second any discussion okay roll call when you're ready whitaker hi betty oh bro hi johnson bowers aye right aye okay the first item on our agenda is comments from the audience um we'll remind

024those in attendance that this is a meeting of the board of education conducted in the view of the public any person while being heard at the board of education meeting may be called to order by the board president or any member of the board for failure to be relevant to the business of the board for vulgarity or for personal attacks of persons or institutions at this time citizens will have an opportunity to bring their concerns before the board of education all comments should be directed to the board individuals presenting concerns and or questions to the board may not receive complete answers the same evening the board will study and consider your concerns and will either have a board member or central office administrator contact you as soon as the information you require is available because

025of the size of our audience and the expected number of comments we will have we are going to limit to three minutes i will endeavor to give you a 30 minute i'm sorry a 30 second warning but please give me a little grace if i happen to miss it okay so at this time if anybody okay hello i have a statement on behalf of the akron chapter of the naacp okay i'm sorry i'm before i'm gonna oh bro um when you come up to the microphone if you please give your name and your address for the minute got it my name is gwyneth jones i live at 190 gaylord drive in monroe falls oh please go ahead all right the naacp of akron believes all schools must embed the principles and practices of diversity equity

026and inclusion and transformative social emotional learning into education and strongly condemns any efforts that impede or ban these principles such as ohio house bills 322 and 327. the naacp akron is committed to advocating and supporting equitable local state and federal policies that establish education standards allocated resources and practices for a high quality education which include great teaching safe learning environments and experiences that maximize each student's potential the naacp of akron believes that public education must be grounded in principles of truth justice critical thinking and social emotional well-being therefore the naacp of akron supports approaches to education that integrate diverse perspectives critical thinking social justice root cause analysis and student agency additionally the naacp akron believes that these approaches must be done in authentic partnerships with families and communities the evidence supports a strong commitment to

027diversity equity and inclusion and transformative social emotional learning is essential to creating conditions for learning that are safe nurturing academically rigorous and meaningful in which students develop a resilient sense of belonging and pardon me efficacy and agency to their community in contrast inequity discrimination intolerance and exclusion perpetuate complex trauma toxic stress insecure and fragile identities and hinder achievement therefore the naacp of akron strongly condemns any efforts that impede or ban these principles such as ohio house bills 322 and 327 along with misinformation campaigns for example the misrepresentation of critical race theory the naacp akron recognizes the current efforts to limit the critical examination of u.s history as an assault to undermine civil rights and liberation gains throughout history our nation has been in a constant battle for equal access to quality equitable and culturally responsive

028education dating back to the criminalization of enslaved africans learning to read and write the 1954 ruling by the u.s supreme court that school segregation was unconstitutional in the brown versus border education of topeka the civil rights act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination in public schools based on race color religion sex or national origin and the desegregation of school busing throughout the 1990s the battle is not over we must ensure that the policies and practices of diversity equity and inclusion are foundational to curriculum policies and procedures teaching practices and social emotional support structures the naacp of akron supports stone monroe falls school district efforts to build the diversity equity and inclusion capacity of staff and integrate equity social emotional learning and critical thinking into the educational and experience in the educational experiences and curriculum with students okay

029i'm i'm gonna have to ask everyone to please limit it to three minutes as you can see we do have a lot of people who would like to speak this evening antoinette east jenkins 160 north river road monroe falls dei is critical to the lives of the still monroe falls school kids i'm not sure how we got here how is it a bad thing to celebrate diversity of all students how is it a bad thing to make sure all students have an equitable experience how is wanting all students to feel valued and included a bad thing it's not pie including all does not take away from any one group critical race theory and diversity equity and inclusion are not the same thing this worry about teaching children critical race theory in k-12 students is absurd

030first of all the chairs of dei committee have made very clear that there is no intention of changing the curriculum to include it secondly it is a concept being studied by law professors and academics across the country about how policy and laws intersect with race not something that children or most adults have the ability to understand the one thing that crt discusses that we must do is stop teaching lies and have truths and adopt a curriculum that is truthful inclusive of other races and ethnicities the history of this country is dark slavery the trail of tears the japanese internment camps the jim crow years were brutal and we should be ashamed but oppres omission does not make these things any less true there's a famous quote those who don't know history are doomed to repeat

031it and we are here kids in cages at our borders are reminiscent of the internment camps we must teach truths we must call out wrongs and we must not allow racism and discrimination anywhere near our children words like propaganda should never be used to describe dei initiatives we cannot allow the mental well-being of our children to suffer because we are politicizing things that are not political i have been an advocate for underrepresented children for 20 years and i will make it my mission to ensure that every student no matter their gender gender identity race ethnicity religion or sexual orientation or ability feel safe welcome and valued in our school dei saves lives [Applause] my name is david jenkins 160 north river road tonight i am going to be talking about my experiences in stowe schools

032and why dei is necessary to start off stokes i've been in schools my entire life and i've seen too many cases of racism microaggressions and biases all of this started happening at lakeview for instance i was called a racial slur and instead of it being handled correctly in the kid being punished correctly he got off with a warning like he just said a swear word they're not the same thing racial slurs and swear words are not the same thing and they should not be confused another thing we are not us people of color are not taught our history we've only been taught slavery in the most popular um social justice people workers we don't we are not taught latin culture we're not taught asian culture we're only taught white-washed culture that you guys seem to

033spew out and have no problem with the reason we need dei is to fix these issues in the and the fact that you guys are even considering getting rid of it shows your ignorance and privilege people that look like me are do not feel welcome in your schools you should care about that [Applause] i almost hate to talk after that my name is doug robinson i'm at 4035 red wing trail i'm a husband of 35 years a father of five two of which are black and a grandfather to five we're the proud parents of a 2021 graduate from stone monroe falls and have recently withdrawn our two youngest black sons from this district i had an epiphany kind of an aha moment several years ago that informs everything i understand about parenting my boys in

034the culture in which we live when we adopted our sons from ethiopia they were just boys typical boys bringing them here to the us to stow their black boys that distinction though probably lost on many of us here it was lost on me is profound and it informs everything about our lives together and here in stowe i'm here reluctantly to speak to the issue of diversity equity and inclusion within still monroe falls school district specifically and within the community in general i say reluctantly please don't misunderstand that i'm not reluctant to speak because i'm not convinced that there are significant issues in stowe particularly racial inequalities and inclusivity that much is undeniable i'm not reluctant to speak because i'm i am conflict diverse i love a good fight just ask my wife i'm reluctantly speaking

035because despite my life experiences parenting for 32 years 11 of which of parenting black boys from hard places i need i believe i need to be a listener and a learner first rather than expressing my thoughts or opinions and that is what i've been doing in the past several years listening and trying to actually hear what others experience people different than me different race races ethnicity sexual orientations religious beliefs trying to understand what is like for others from mother's perspectives in our community in our schools and i've had a front row seat with our boys and seen everything from racial biases to outright hostile racism levied toward them racial injustice and inequality have come to the forefront in our country in our community not seen since the civil rights movement and in that climate i

036have observed this school board attempt to minimize sidestep and downplay the scope and magnitude of these issues black lives matter as a statement of value and inclusivity is still problematic for some on this board some still think that these are political issues rather than civil rights issues and continue to push forward the idea that these are not issues that the school board should be addressing did you say 30 seconds thank you recently i reviewed a mis video that in which ms johnson bowers encouraged mr feldman on the issue of sports coaching leadership development i want to make sure you feel free to really reach mediocre is not okay and even though it seems like pie in the sky if we don't aim incredibly high then we're not going anywhere and that's not acceptable for us

037here in stowe i say to that i agree wholeheartedly mediocre is not okay and in the area of race equality diversity and inclusivity we're not mediocre here in stowe we're failing thank you for your comments thank you hi my name is marcus strankowski i currently reside at 2529 white law street in cuyahoga falls and i am a former graduate of stone monroe falls i came here today to show my support for the dei and kind of go through like some of my personal times here over the years starting from kindergarten i've noticed that kids used to make fun of me and point out like ask me questions such as are you adopted because i came from all white household i t i personally was not adopted but i didn't know the term back then and

038i'd say yes because i just wanted to fit in i think it was a good thing but at the end of the day they would just laugh at me fast forward to kimpton i had a teacher there call me brillo pad because of my long hair at that time and then once i came to the high school i just kept my head down at that time because there was multiple fights at still high school because a white student called a black student the n-word and or just directed that phrase towards them and at one point there was a group of white kids right after 9 11 went up to a muslim kid and told him another kid called him a terrorist just for their amusement and i tried to and back then that like really

039irked me because it's just like why would you do that and then throughout my four years there there was two suicides of two black students and they were in that mostly that was because they were being bullied and i feel if there was some sort of curriculum like this back then this could have saved them and it and that's what it really does i'm sorry i'm not good at speeches much but at the end of the day i came here in support of those that have kids of color in this community currently like my friends that moved here a year and a half ago that are going to have two kids hopefully here in the future even when it's time to maybe get a better house i'm here to just show my support for those

040that have been helping push this forward like miss nancy brown and aisha collier and at the end of the day i would like to call an action to the board because i know there's people on here that are silently for dei but they're too afraid to be vocal out loud because of the backlash and at the end of the day silence is compliance and then you are now falling in line with the words that were spoken last month and if you are truly scared or not understanding what dei is for i think it's time that you take a look at yourself and see if you should be removed from this board by yourself or by the voters because at this time there's nothing else that's going to do to help this community without this education

041because at home hate is bred and if it's not broken there through education when will it be because then you just start to foster this and find others with that same kind of hate in their heart and at the end of the day i just want to say thank you for this time i am anidra jones 1809 b higbee drive still ohio dei is critical to the lives of stone monroe falls kids it is a committee aimed at embracing diversity while providing a sustained commitment to equity and inclusion by building meaningful relationships with everyone in the bulldog community i repeat everyone in the bulldog community as you have heard from people who spoke before me many black students particularly black boys are suffering through their days at smf school because of their racial identity they

042do not feel safe welcomed or included in the school community and to avoid the fate of the student or students that we lost in the early 2000s to suicide their parents would rather remove them from our district this is unacceptable it is the responsibility of all of us as members of the bulldog community school board members administrators faculty staff parents and residents to ensure that such a tragedy does not befall another smf student anyone sitting on this board who does not believe the protection of my children of all of our children is not part of their duty should resign today what is happening in our schools is no laughing matter this board and its members should individually and collectively support the work of the di committee to celebrate the diversity that exists in our community

043and world to create pathways to understanding through curriculum and professional development and to generate an equitable environment that will hold staff and students accountable for bringing necessary changes to the district the curricular changes are not intended to indoctrinate the students or the teachers but to tell the truth about the history of this country and its founding and the biases that exist in all subject areas because of the white supremacist lens through which education has been filtered the aim is to create educated and informed alumni who can think critically about the world around them and who can become tomorrow's engaged for these reasons you all should support the dei dei saves lives uh faith robinson 4035 red wing trail i'm reading a letter from my friend melissa good evening in 2003 my friend george took his

044own life he was 14. one of the reasons we know george took his life at was a bullying he faced at still high school he was relentlessly bullied for being black let me say this again he was only 14. the school did nothing in 2003 to protect my friend if they had maybe he would be here in the summer of 2020 george's friend wrote a letter to the school regarding their shared experience in stowe this is where lisa johnson bowers is caught laughing countless times she was caught laughing while friends who knew and love you it has to be to the board as a whole it can't be with regard to an individual thank you in 15 years still has not changed black children are still suffering at the hands of our district george had

045an amazing smile and personality he was so smart and talented he had an amazing sense of humor he was simply amazing he should still be here today stoney is a diversity inclusity inclusivity and equity committee because racism still plagues these halls like it did in 2003 by supporting dei we can save lives thank you hi i'm monica robinson and my address is 4035 red wing trail i am reading a letter from an alumni she's a teacher and didn't want to give out her address i just want to thank you nancy i listened to your speech at the board meeting and i cried i really appreciate the work that you do and for fighting what for what is right i was a stow graduate i am half chinese and although i had amazing teachers and had

046a really good education i was bullied all throughout i was called derogatory names i was asked if i ate dog in the third grade there was a little girl in my class who told the other girls in the class not to be friends with me because i was a on the bus there was an older boy who bullied me relentlessly he spit in my face told me he was going to kill me and pulled a gun on my sister when she was playing outside every day on the bus i had to deal with this i lived in fear my sister lived in fear i was afraid to tell anyone as i was threatened by the bullies i never told my parents while in school because i did not want them to worry about my safety

047on the school bus and while at school this is why i think including diversity in the school is needed bullying stopped when i got home in my safe place this generation has social media texting etc these kids cannot escape bullying it's a 24 hours a day seven days a week i can't imagine even with my experiences what these students of color are going through my daughter goes to stowe i love how diverse her classes have been she is able to be friends and be in class with all different nationalities and races it warms my heart and although i am grateful for diversity i am saddened that students are being bullied to not feel included we need to educate our children our future on diversity and how to be accepting of others shame on the school

048board members who are against educating our students on diversity and inclusion our country is a melting pot and we need to love and accept everyone's differences i'd also like to know why june of 2020s youtube videos were down i'd like to know who gave that approval does anybody know is that a question that can be answered why those were removed we'll look into it and get back to you i would like an answer to that thank you [Applause] i'm pastor ginger bakos and i live at 544 fairchild avenue in kent i have a son in stoneman row fall schools and i'm the associate pastor of youth and family life at the bath church dei is critical to the lives of still monroe falls schools kids until such a time that it is not mandatory for

049children to be in school six hours a day five days a week their lives and well-being are absolutely the responsibility of the schools between 1991 and 2017 suicide attempts among black adolescents increased by 73 percent while attempts by white students decreased according to the american psychological association black youth faced increased depression anxiety and ptsd that is significantly increased by exposure to racial discrimination racially motivated verbal abuse and physical violence lgbt youth are five times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual and cisgender peers having just one adult who affirms and accepts them decreases their risk of suicide by 40 percent suicide preventions like you matter are pointless if they do not ever adequately address youth suicide prevention that addresses the disparity in suicide attempts among black brown and lgbtq youth it is your job

050on that board to not just give lip service to the work of dei but accept the responsibility of what the consequences will be for bigoted action and espousing bigoted ideas that harm our kids this board has to reckon with the things that they've done that signal unwillingness to support the dei and our students we can't thank board or school members who are forced to resign over racist tirades we can't be unwilling to pay attention when people are telling gut-wrenching stories of racism in smf schools we can't be people who make space or support people who call muslims terrorists and mexicans drug dealers we can't as board members say blatantly racist things whether it's to other board members privately or publicly this board must decide where it stands these kids lives are literally at stake 30

051seconds make a commitment to discuss dei every board meeting make a commitment to actively outline consequences for espousing racism sexism homophobia transphobia and hate or get out of the way and make space for people who are willing to step in and do it because dei saves lives i'm not sure i want to go after that my name is pamela wind i reside at 4558 chatwood drive in stowe dei is critically important to the lives of stone monroe falls students during the last meeting one board member invited the other members of the board to express that black lives do in fact matter in smf schools and to take direct action to support the broader inclusion mission of our dei committee such as including dei related metrics on the superintendent's evaluation and working on dei at monthly

052board work meetings sadly the response of this board was to side track the conversation into defense of themselves and other irrelevant items rather than make this commitment to the actual work of inclusion one board member who did not meet with the chairs of the dei committee even called discussing bias in the classroom propaganda to the press immediately after the meeting we have heard throughout the last year about the negative mental health consequences of race-based and other biases in our schools and we have continued to hear tonight about students who do not feel safe attending our schools let me be clear it is this board's job to do their best to ensure that students feel safe and included do your job support diversity equity and inclusion through your words and your actions do your job dei

053saves lives [Applause] hello uh terry ayonetta cardinal circle and i'm using my time to talk about critical race theory increasing numbers of americans are not acknowledging the fact that critical race theory is dangerous and if allowed to continue to infest our institutions especially our schools it will rip america to pieces america will become a place destroyed by this obsessive focus on racial distinct distinctions which is divisive demeaning and proposes lasting damage to both children and communities this can no longer stay under the radar and in the shadows as our children are being led and instructed to acknowledge their white privilege we all have flaws that can be embellished to destroy each of us and critical race theory is even more destructive as you can be destroyed for sins you never committed this is a radical

054agenda upending basic norms of the american culture karl marx believed in class conflict and primary characteristic of industrial societies was the imbalance of power between capitalists and workers the oppressors and the oppressed during the 20th century a number of regimes underwent marxist-style revolutions and each ended in disaster socialist governments in the soviet union china cambodia cuba rwanda and elsewhere racked up a body count of nearly 100 million of their own people it has been injected into government agencies public school systems teacher training programs and corporate human resource departments under the guise of diversity training human resources modules public policy frameworks and school curricula curricula equity sounds non-threatening and is easily confused with equality equality the principled principle defined in the declaration of independence defended in the civil war and codified into law with the 14th

055and 15 amendments the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965 is explicitly rejected by critical race theorists in contrast to equality equity is little more than reformulated marxism it proposes suspending private property rights individual rights federalism 30 seconds freedom of speech seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines a proposed federal department of anti-racism would be unaccountable to the elected branches of government and would have the power to nullify veto or abolish any law at any level of govern government and curtail the speech of political leaders and others who are deemed insufficiently anti-racist history has what has happened in the past it cannot be changed good bad or indifferent we learn it accept it and teach it genuine american history is rich and with stories of achievements and

056i'm sorry that's three minutes okay thank you before we move on uh i have a a point of order and emotion our board policy limits public comments 15 minutes i would ask the board in a motion to extend that time period to allow all of the people currently standing but no one else um i would ask that as a motion at this time any second second any discussion okay roll call please uh betty oh hi brown hi johnson bowers hi whittaker aye right aye thank you okay go ahead please hi my name is sonny matthews i live in cuyahoga falls i'm here today because i'm a diversity inclusion trainer who has been doing your job for way too long you see diversity equity and inclusion say will save the lives of students in stone monroe

057falls i know it because your lack of care to these students has forced me to pick up your slack i have to help those here dealing with the trauma and pain caused by insensitive comments extra aggression and general of physical attacks in your school system every student should feel safe and be heard race class gender and sexuality should not make you a target but if it does then the adults who care for you including this board should step up and protect you there is a simple solution to a very hard problem do your job encourage and support teachers support the diversity and equity work happening here in stowe if we are not actively teaching students to appreciate then we are allowing them to hate take a moment to think about the students of colors the

058girls and the lgbtq students in your district you cannot ignore this truth these students their parents and the teachers have been very vocal still has a problem being a student is hard enough we should shower love and support on the kids in this district this is not about home training take off your rose-colored glasses look outside of yourself think about others kids are in danger because you failed to act and i am tired of picking up your slack i have to sit with the parents as they decide whether to tell the school that the n-word was thrown at their kids on the football field i have to sit with p kids as they send me emails and i have to listen to them on the phone as they discuss that all they know about themselves

059as black people is that they were once enslaved i have to listen i have to listen to people lgbtq students who have been pushed into lockers by simply because they wore a pride flag i am listening to the trauma of teachers and students on a weekly basis in your school system their pain and their trauma is injuring them and this community and all you have to do is respond and act and you will allow these students to thrive let's be honest with ourselves because i'm sick and tired of doing the work for you you can do this all we are asking you to do is to attend a diversity and equity event yourself before you doubt it try it then after you try it and you sit down and you talk to us because i'm

060not a big bad wolf but then after you try it and you you sit down and you think about it and work with it i'm sure you will understand this is not a big bad wolf because i promise you two things today i am sick and tired of doing your job but i will continue to do it most importantly i will do everything in my power to make sure people vote you out if you don't do the right thing you see diversity equity and inclusion it saves lives [Applause] my name is sarah ashley cook i live at tallmadge road ravenna ohio 44266. my son gavin lee harris is a student in open enrollment at stowe monroe falls high school will be entering the eleventh grade let me start off my statement with one very important

061thing i fully believe that d is critical to the lives of stone monroe falls students that it can in fact save their lives when we moved to stowe i fully believed that this school understood and was committed to that belief so much so that when we moved to broomfield it was one of the reasons we kept him in this district we are beyond upset and angry to discover that is not the case a realization that came at the expense of the life of a 14 year old boy a boy who was left completely unprotected by this district along with other children who are still left unprotected by this district as you can see i'm assured as the word ignorance and that word has been crossed out i choose this word because i fully believe that

062ignorance is the right of hate discrimination and racism that has always been my belief that a school is where you go to turn ignorance into knowledge that through the gaining of knowledge you can destroy ignorance hate racism and discrimination that there is no better place to learn these lessons and at school where you will be with other children who are not like you however that is not going to happen if you were not given the knowledge that these things are wrong something that can only happen if schools make an effort to have a place for everyone where all voices are given a chance to be heard for that knowledge schools must have diversity equality and inclusion for all of the students this includes if they are male female transgendered or non-binary part of the lgbtqa

063community it includes the students of different races ethnicities religions abilities and countries of origin they all need a voice and a place they all need to feel safe in school this is how you teach empathy compassion and understanding lessons that can be uncomfortable that discomfort serves a purpose very important one that discomfort is understanding with understanding comes empathy with empathy comes compassion 30 seconds these are the types of knowledge that defeat ignorance racism hate and discrimination as to the question of whether children are too young to learn these lessons let me make something perfectly clear if there are children who are born old enough to bear the burden of racism discrimination ignorance and hate then other children are enough old enough to learn why it is wrong they are old enough to learn the history

064of the struggle of minorities in women to know what has been done to them to learn so that they can have empathy compassion and understanding and so they can stand with their fellow students to change the world i'm sorry that's three minutes thank you josh case 315 east grant street kent dei is critical to the lives of our stone monroe falls school kids hello my name is josh case i grew up in stowe and graduated from stonemonroe falls high school in 1998. i grew up in a very religious home the kind where we went to church on sundays and wednesdays and we didn't have much choice in the matter uh when i was about 10 years old my parents made the choice to start going to a new church this church was in akron and

065its demographics were about 95 percent african-american growing up in stowe and up to that point only attending white churches the transition felt uncomfortable to me i didn't know it at the time but my parents decision would be a gift to me at first some of my discomfort was due to the fact that i had never been in a situation where i was a racial minority this ended up being a gift i had to adjust to different cultural customs this was a gift i had to adjust to another culture's music this was a gift in the pastor's sermons i got to experience a different perspective on issues of the day that and those perspectives did not center me or my comfort this was a gift i received love acceptance and plenty of hugs this was a

066gift i had an opportunity to see the humanity of my brothers and sisters of color and what makes us exactly the same and yet i saw how society was structured in a way that made us live very different lives this was a gift when another white kid inevitably made a racial joke or racial slur which i heard often growing up in stowe my time spent with another culture helped me helped give me the strength to push back this was a gift i had the opportunity opportunity to see tears fall from the eyes of people i respected as they recalled their racial trauma this was a gift i am a better man because of the diversity i've had in my life now there may be those in the stone monroe falls community that feel that emphasizing

067diversity equity inclusion might make white kids uncomfortable that having students think about race might be awkward or a burden but you are not giving students a burden you are giving them a gift dei is a gift to our students and dei saves lives i'm sarah herron 2631 lermitage place i'm reading this letter on behalf of kerry suledolnik at 4263 meadowlark trail in stowe i regret that i could not attend in person but i thought it was important that my voice be heard i thank the dei committee for their work thus far while i stand shoulder to shoulder with my black peers and peers of color as an ally in the fight against systemic racism i also want to bring attention to some other aspects of dei my household is a diverse household we are interfaith

068we are neurodiverse we are members of the lgbtq community we are persons with disabilities these are all things that i may have shied away from publicly stating as recently as last year but i have found my voice and i no longer wish to remain in the periphery all students deserve a safe place to learn grow and be authentic all students deserve to have educators and administrators who understand that sound dei policies practices and resources correlate with effective teaching and learning environments all students deserve a community that understands that fostering an environment of acceptance and opportunity creates positive student outcomes i implore you as members of this board of education as administrators as community members to not only continue the work that you have begun but to expand it's not always obvious who is in need

069of being told they are welcomed loved and included inclusion is the best way to teach acceptance and to empower all students to celebrate their diversity thank you i'm claudia keating 4038 leewood road in stowe my comment is primarily in response to those including some of our own board members who may believe it's not the place of teachers to educate children on diversity equity and inclusion our public education system as we know it owes a debt to john dewey it was his belief that schools should mirror a social environment and that children learn best in natural social settings he was a staunch supporter of participation in meaningful activity as well as democracy within the classroom as opposed to authoritarian teachers and rote learning if you peek in any snowmonroe falls classroom you will see the influence

070of his principles alive and well our schools should be preparing our children to be good humane inclusive members of society and most of the time they already are doing that from what i've seen from my children's six years in the school district in stowe classrooms their teachers are trying their very best to do just that they're including all of the children they're they're doing their best school is so much more than the three r's because society that we are so determined to prepare our little kids for is so much more than that to quote teacher tom hobson an early childhood educator in international speaker and education consultant the purpose of education in a democracy ought to be to prepare children for their role as citizens and that means they learn to think for themselves that

071they ask a lot of questions that they question authority that they stand up for what they believe in and that they understand that their contribution to the world cannot be measured in money [Applause] good evening my name is ross widener i live at 540 belmont park drive in monroe falls and i'm here to speak my support for the deni committee i think that we don't often talk enough about the benefits of the e and i to everyone not just people who are within minority groups excuse me in a study published in the journal child development showed that students felt safer less victimized less lonely and more fairly treated not only within minority groups but across all the students and i think we don't talk about those things enough also a study in the from the

072university of geneva has shown improved math and reading scores where there's more diverse student population after controlling for other uh predicting factors not just within the minority groups but across all of the students businesses are also recognizing the value of diversity according to consult consulting firm clover pop diverse teams make better business decisions 87 percent of the time and according to mckenzie and company companies are 25 percent more likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance when they have diverse leadership given that fact would be doing students a great disservice to not properly prepare them to participate in a diverse workforce and society so not only does the eni save lives it makes lives better for everybody thank you name is kevin clark 2291 east gillwood drive the most important thing that our

073kids can learn in the beginning doesn't come from schools it comes from us parents respect self-respect and self-confidence i was raised in a very diverse family my family's diverse my four kids i don't look at anybody's children and say oh those are your black children i don't do that those are your children i'm sorry your comments should be directed to the point okay thank you those are your children you know i heard the gentleman say his black sons those are his sons period simple as that you know but when you teach your children to respect you teach them to respect everyone no matter what they look like and then have self-respect when they look when they when they when they look at themselves they can say hey i'm fair to everybody you know i live

074in a very diverse neighborhood i love it my neighbors are great i know them all a lot of them know me maybe not by name but by sight school system has a job to do too is to educate our children teach them math and science and all the things that go along with it i feel sorry for children that come to school and they're bullied i was bullied a little bit in school too i was the smallest kid in school you know i was also a year younger than most kids might you know in my class but that's where the self-confidence comes in i knew i i i knew that if if if i worked at it as i made myself better and and my friends and pick and choose your friends wisely you know

075um but like i said at the it comes down to uh respecting everybody it shouldn't matter what you're which because i don't i don't say my black friends my asian friends my gay friends they're my friends they're my friends and they'll always be my friends and people here we like i said teach your children to respect everybody respect everybody no matter what they look like where they come from that's the most important thing it starts at home with the parents we're never going to be able to rely on the school to do everything for our children there's just no way it's it's impossible it starts at home starts with the parents so all of us parents here you need to teach your children to respect everybody else even if somebody has a different opinion i

076can agree to disagree with anybody as long as you're telling me how you feel honestly from your from your heart i can i can understand that i you know we growing up by our my family belonged to a thing called friendly town where we would bring kids into the city out to our house in the summer and it was great because to me it was just more people to play ball with it didn't matter if they looked like me or not it was just somebody to play ball with you know it was great my parents taught a service and i continue that with myself with what i do and so does my family and like i said i come from a very diverse family anyway i'll be done i'll just uh say thank you very

077much for letting me speak thank you hello my name is miguel carvalho i'm a 2005 graduate from stowe and i used to do senior and junior class plays right from this very stage a year ago i wrote a letter to the school board demanding the acknowledgement of the black lives matter movement a year ago fellow alumni also began to make their voices heard as our nation's traumatic summer of 2020 and the continuation of abuse and murder of black lives reminded us of our time as students of color at stowe high school a year ago you read those letters and said they were moving touching and even made you second guess if everything is actually as accepting and kind in the schools as you may think it is a year ago i began hearing the same

078story from my fellow alumni still sucked and i couldn't wait to get out i know very few proud bulldogs that bleed maroon and gold i know many people who have their time at stowe schools be tied to their identities in ways they wish were different ways that were less cruel and dehumanizing i want to be proud of what my hometown is doing to be actively anti-racist and inclusive and that's why i joined the stowe dei general assembly the community needs to know that what they are doing is exactly what i wished we had when i attended school here a multifaceted black history month celebration hosting book clubs on race with parents students and staff updating elementary libraries with books that deliberately celebrate diversity and inclusion all students can benefit from widening their perspectives on race

079and confronting the ugliness that can stalk these hallways stow dei is canvas families and students and the experiences of families of color show there is a real need for their work to be applied in all of stowe schools the members of the dei are your pastors your mayor your teachers your coaches and your police officers to think that the efforts of the dei are supported by these community members in itself is wonderful and a great start to real change stowe needs to be a safe place for its students especially students of color to feel seen valued and respected stow dei is making steps to ensure that that happens and i hope that leads to a new generation of graduates that don't want to just leave and never look back but can feel like these schools

080and the young people they produce are open-minded example setters change makers and not continue to be embroiled in racial divisiveness i couldn't tell you where my high school diploma is is probably in a box next to a stack of board games and dress-up clothes but what i can tell you is my very first tattoo it's about the size of that clock right there and it's right here in the center of my back it shows a picture of an angel on his knees crying and it was drawn by my best friend brian on the back of a funeral pamphlet from my friend george it ends with us and black lives matter thank you hello my name is dina weber i'm at 2907 east celeste view drive in stowe i'd like to i'm against this training this

081dei first let me say that bullying of any kind whether a person is targeted because of their race religion sexuality disability or anything else is abhorrent bullying is never okay in our student conduct codes we have rules against bullying discrimination and harassment are these rules not being followed what will this training teach our students will it teach that the color of their skin defines them does it teach white students that they are inbred with a systemic racism that they never knew about and that they should feel ashamed does it teach people of color that they will be forever victims will it and always be oppressed will this create a divisive atmosphere thank you will this training be injected into the curriculum and what is the content of the information taught to our students who will

082be teaching these programs and will they be properly trained in february of this year coca-cola came under fire for these types of trainings the training that was conducted was not in line with the original purpose or intent of the program the trainers took material out of context they made accusatory statements towards white people even urging them to be less white less white this training that was supposed to bridge understanding between the races instead caused people to feel targeted embarrassed and angry this training caused more division this was adults in this training is this what we want for our children do you want our children to feel these things i already had a teacher at this school tell my child that it was unfortunate that he was being raised by constitutional conservatives we have a board

083member that made snide comments about people who fly a gadsden flag and republicans on social media and i'm supposed to trust these types of people that teach diversity and inclusion how about focus on education teach them to read teach them math teach them unedited history yes sir there are parts of history that are horrible uncomfortable but we need to teach these things with an understanding that it was horrible and that it should never happen again i need teachers to teach subjects so that these kids can be contributing members of our society i don't need them to teach morals that's my job as a parent tammy weaver 1925 maple road i'm here today because i'm appalled by the lack of transparency by this board to inform parents of the hidden agenda that has been transpiring behind

084closed doors which they have not been made privy to concerning the education or should i say the indoctrination of their children into marxism call it crt call it dei call it whatever you want spade is a spade the teachings of marxism do one thing they divide and it doesn't matter what terms you use proletariat versus bourgeoisie oppressed versus oppressor black versus white collectivism versus individualism division is a goal i absolutely have no doubt that you believe what you're saying it's not a mistake nor misunderstanding of course you will never ever concede that your theory is marxist you're smarter than that and we all expect your full repudiation of that fact in the declaration of independence how many how did our forefathers oppose invasions of the rights of the people with manly firmness how many citizens

085of this district are willing to oppose with manly firmness this abomination that's disguised itself as an innocuous and offensive and enlightening theory how many parents here will stand up and oppose the indoctrination of our children with manly firmness the way our founders founding fathers oppose the tyranny of england in conclusion to the parents my advice is in this district if at all possible until those within this board that promote marxism are replaced or crt dei or whatever other deceptive description of marxism is defeated by house bill 227 remove your children from the public school system send them to private schools whose curriculum does not include the indoctrination of marxism or home school if that is all possible but do something to eliminate the destruction of the american ideals of opportunity equality and limitless success through

086personal responsibility and struggle in conclusion to the board those of you promoting marxism you should be removed and hopefully never allowed to hold any position in the education of children again you will be stopped now because you're raping the minds of our youth from the innocence of kindergarten through the emotional turbulence of the teen years there is no saving you your indoctrination is complete you hate the ideals of this country and that manifests itself in your actions and your bitter lows and tirades on social media against the good citizens of this district and the parents of the children whom you wanted to victimize you have taken the honor and privilege of trust in the education of our children and twisted it into the hate-filled power that you want to wield as you wish these parents

087will oppose you with every breath left in them you have become like a political parasitic disease but now the body is awake these parents see you for what you are and will act like the body's immune system coming to attack and annihilate that which endangers the health in the future your promotion of marxism will be your political undoing god be with us all even you for the sleeping lion is awake uh mary mumper 4242 heil roadstow dei diversity equity inclusion is critical race theory critical race theory arose in germany as a marxist position at the frankfurt school in 1933 members of the frankfurt school came to the united states many of these marxists formed their headquarters at columbia university the critical race theories components of diversity equity not equality and inclusion are teaching our children

088to examine themselves to see if they are tainted with whitism they are being taught to despise their country their race their upbringing in addition some people advocating crt are also advocating for black lives matter black lives matter founder patrice colliers is a self-described marcus marcus you know what we need to teach our children history critical race theory is divisive undermines our constitution and freedom our children should be taught about the declaration of independence and the constitution which is codified in the 14th and 15th amendment these uphold equality not equity which is redistribution of wealth equality was advocated by martin luther king jr and upheld the voting rights and civil rights act of 1964. by advocating dei you are advocating to teach our children a communist doctrine when you should be advocating teaching american history civics

089uh critical race theory is clearly unconstitutional harmful to all children and the future of america any person that advocates teaching critical race theory to our children is violating our constitution and the oath that you took to uphold the constitution in addition if you are violating if you are supporting this you are violating the civil rights act of 1964 our children need to learn their history and so do you because anyone who doesn't know their history you will come back to regret it just as happened in germany and every other communist country thank you [Applause] rebecca alexander 187 fox run drive motor falls ohio i want to start by saying good evening thank you for taking this time to hear from us we have heard powerful and incredible stories from students and alums of color and

090i i can't offer anything nearly as powerful so based on some of the things that that i've heard in the past few minutes i'm making some quick edits to what i was going to say and i want i want to address the people on the board and the people in the room who are afraid of this curriculum and i want to do that by addressing how my my own education failed me by not learning this i want to start out by saying i'm grateful for so much of my education i really am i learned a latin under mr mccaffrey how many people can say that i learned how to write effectively under mrs colligan a skill that not only took me to college but helped me become an author i learned from mr putka how

091to be confident how to be myself how to be dramatic how to stand in front of a room full of people who may not like what i have to say and say it confidently but there were also gaps in my education there were ways that my education failed me and i'm saying this to all the parents in the room who are so afraid of learning this when i got a scholarship to go to brazil and people asked me how i was going to wash my clothes i couldn't answer because i hadn't learned literally anything about latin america it was embarrassing quite frankly to show up to one of the third largest city in the world with a subway system uh comparative comparable to new york city not knowing how i was going to wash my

092clothes i remember actually my friends making jokes if i'd wash my clothes in the river because we didn't know we didn't understand how developed brazil was and when i met people from other countries i learned that my midwest midwestern education at stone monroe falls left me behind my peers in terms of global knowledge and i'm saying this to the parents in the room you don't want your children to go out in the world and be ignorant it's embarrassing it's failing them when i returned from brazil i went to kent state my roommate was black and again i realized the gap in my education when i didn't know what june 10th was i had never even heard of 18th actually one of the most important days in black history in american history and i couldn't have

093told you anything about black history it was embarrassing it was again a reminder that my education had failed me i didn't go out in the world and say that i was proud of my education i was embarrassed and i had to educate myself so in summation i support diversity curriculum all of the parents in the room should support support diversity curriculum if you want your children to be successful and the people on the board if you want to raise citizens that are compassionate and kind and smart and can walk in the world and be good people we have to have diversity curriculum by keeping this knowledge from them you are failing them end of story thank you rachel jameson uh 2187 west 95th street cleveland ohio 44102 last year the board of education put out

094a statement in support of the work that the dei is doing in the district the board acknowledged that as a predominantly white school district they had not been sufficiently mindful of the discrimination both intentional and unintentional that non-white students and staff face on a daily basis the board stated that this was a priority for them the board committed to protecting staff students and families from discrimination and producing real change for them the board stated they would avoid becoming embroiled in divisiveness well here we are a year later what happened what happened to the support you expressed last year what happened to acknowledging the discrimination that non-white students and staff face on a daily basis now it's we're all americans 99.9 of people are good now it's time now that it's time for the work to

095be done for the action plans to go into place where is your support the dei initiative has done the work they've collected the data they have listened to the community and they've put together the action plans now there are people on the board who are questioning their work who think their work and their plans are not necessary where did the support that you publicly announced last year go you said in your statement last year that words without action are meaningless well it's time now for the action and what we're getting are words you said you would avoid being embroiled in divisiveness but you're dividing the board by withdrawing the support you pledged now is not the time to remain silent neutral or complacent last year you embraced the opportunity to support your student population well

096this is your opportunity supporting the work of the dei is supporting your student population i'm a still monroe falls alumni and i lived in stowe for the first 22 years of my life so much has remained unchanged i remember as a child attending the funeral of one of the boys in my brother's boy scout troop who has failed in the worst way by the stoneman falls school district he took his life after being bullied relentlessly for being black i remember watching my brother being ridiculed for being hispanic constantly being referred to as mexican having teachers refuse to call him by his name because it sounded hispanic watching my own teachers single out students of color in my classrooms and i hear stories from parents and community members today about experiencing these same interactions and these

097same inequalities which have these same potentially deadly consequences the racism hasn't stopped the bullying hasn't stopped the suicide attempts and long-term mental health consequences of being a student of color in this district haven't stopped what has changed now there's a capable group of people who have the expertise who have put the work in and want to continue to put the work in who are trying to bring diversity equity and inclusion to this district and community miss betio has signaled clearly that she does not value their work to make all students feel accepted respected valued and safe in this district and miss brown has been the lone voice on the board i'm sorry your comments need to be to the board to actively support the dei in a meaningful way last year we had your support

098what happened i'm just going to remind those who who remain to speak please address the entire board thank you neil hess 4113 osage street it's clear to me that there are efforts aimed at indoctrinating still school children with some of the most toxic and anti-american theories ever conceived pushing a vision of america that casts our history culture traditions and founding documents in the most negative possible light and now it's in our great community they will sit here and tell you that dei is not critical race theory in the same way they insist that democratic socialism isn't communism with sprinkles on top allow me to decode some of the rhetoric when they say diversity what they mean is an identity-based approach to society which is a violation of individual identity enforced political conformity an attack on

099merit and a soft form of bigotry when they say inclusion what they mean is attacking freedoms of association and speech by banning anything they find offensive excuse me i'm sorry if we could have something to quorum in the audience please and finally the big one equity not equality equity when they say equity what they mean is equality of outcomes which is a violation of equality before the law a dismantling of the foundations of a free society and a state management of society including reparations to quote president donald trump instead of advancing the beautiful dream of reverend martin luther king jr that our children should not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character the left's new theory preaches that by judging people to by the color of their

100skin it's actually a good idea teaching these divisive messages verge on psychological abuse indoctrinating generations of children with these extreme ideas is not just a moral it's a program for national suicide and of course that is what the chardonnay antifa and our board of education have endorsed i speak here today on behalf of the parents too frightened to say anything publicly out of fear of being doxed harassed suffering repercussions their children's grades and of course the left's old standby of accusing anyone who disagrees with their anti-americanism as racist this is how mediocre people control societies with the demand go along or we'll punish you and speaking of mediocre people one of the most vocal of our school board was quoted in a stowe century saying people had better get used to saying black lives matter

101again we need to decode this as a phrase absolutely black lives matter all lives do as a corporation however blm inc stated they are a group that is openly marxist we are trained marxist what is marxism marxism is the political philosophy that focuses on class struggle and various ways to use the power to state to force equality of outcome for all people sound familiar i for one will not stand for this type indoctrination my kids are not your social experiment if you need absolution for feeling some sort of guilt for an immutable characteristic of your body that god gave you go see a therapist leave our kids out of it um ma'am before you begin sir at the back of the line i'm sorry we closed we closed comments with the two ladies so that

102we could continue yeah thank you um again and i'll please remind everybody no sir i'm sorry um and i'm we'll remind everybody in line to please address the board as a whole and not individuals let's go ahead my name is linda picarillo smith i live at 175 silver valley in monroe falls my children were students of monroe stone monroe falls schools and i'm an educator at kent state where i have actually taught a lot of monroe falls stone monroe falls students there are there's been a lot of information being shared i think it's important my my recommendation to the board is to be able to separate facts from not facts facts from opinion and as critical thinkers which we're all encouraging our students to be um regardless of who we are we want our students

103to be critical thinkers in the 21st century there's no real other way to be successful is to look up and find out what are the facts from what are people's distortion of the facts critical race theory is never going to be taught to kindergarteners it's knocking out to 12 year olds it's not going to be taught to accept probably a very small percentage of high school students it's rarely even taught in college i could tell you that there was probably 80 percent of kent state university faculty who could not define critical race theory for you so this is not a threat it's just jargon it's just rhetoric to make people be afraid if you really want to know where critical race theory comes from it you know that's that's a process that should happen in

104an academic setting because that's the kinds of discussions that's the kind of place where these kinds of discussions take place i also think it's important when you're looking at the issue of diversity equity inclusion to look at what those words actually mean because they're they they have impact and they have import and so anyone who who does not accept that we live in a diverse community is really paying attention to what's going around you know watch a television show anybody who doesn't understand the difference between equality and equity needs to also do some some investigation it has nothing to do with the political ideology it has to do with bringing people to the level that they haven't been afforded before and so there are real important those words are used for for a reason and

105they're important they become you know dei and people just kind of pass on and and then you know if you want to demonize it you can inclusion is about making sure everybody has a seat at the table and equity is about making sure that that seat at the table is just as good as everyone else's seat at that table and that's important when you're when you're talking about history 30 seconds some people saying that um you know teaching there's no time for teachers to teach about race well i agree that teachers are overworked and underpaid and so their time they're forced to put in a lot of work into a little amount of time but racism is part of our history and you can't teach american history without discussing race if you think you can

106you you've missed out on a large part of education about the united states that we live in mac avenue 4052 osage street uh what i wanted to say actually changed quite a bit while i was way back there in line i didn't realize how awful and terrible and racist a community in a school system this is i mean if i would have known this 15 years ago when i moved out here i never would have moved out especially with my oldest daughter who's biracial there's no way i would have moved out here this place is deplorable i mean it is the most incredible thing i've ever seen my daughter came into this school district back in 2006 made it all the way through high school until she was 17 years old when she had a

107massive stroke and before that senior year she had that stroke in the spring it must have been a different school system or something because my biracial daughter who had a stroke who lost mobility lost vision out of her eye lost the ability to speak she got all the support and everything that she needed from school staff from administration and she graduated among the top of her class here at stoneman row falls i think it was still monroe falls wasn't it i came from nordonia that's where we moved from and you guys are making nordonia look like a diamond in the rough and if you know anything about nordonia in the 80s it's far from it but you know what when i was a kid we were taught as far back as third grade all the

108way through high school we were taught about racism bigotry we were taught about slavery we were taught about civil rights we were taught about the role that black americans played in not only building this country but in the creation of it we were taught that in nordonia and i'm hearing people say that they weren't taught anything either stone monroe falls is the worst school district on the face of the earth or all these people that didn't apparently learn anything is because they weren't paying attention because they didn't care so i'm sorry guys you include dei and keep putting that pressure on these children's shoulders like we've been doing for the last 20 years right now we have a record suicide rate when it comes to teens depression rate when it comes to teens you allow

109this dei to go through you're going to be sweeping these kids bodies off the floor just to get out of the school building [Applause] sorry my name is shannon keeling i live at 403 treeside drive here in stowe i didn't prepare anything because i don't have to this is my life this is what my children live so i am the mother of three students in stowe high school and on down and my students are black and my boys are black so i say they're black because they don't have a choice in that that's what they are that's how people see them i've heard some people say oh just teach you know not to see race and not to see the color but the truth is we do so that being said i diversity is important

110because we are diverse i mean america we tout ourselves on being diverse people want to be you know we want things to be equitable for all of us we want to be included so dei is important i'm going to talk about some of the experiences of my kids and i'm going to ask some of you to ask yourselves can you say these are your kids experiences i don't know there's a lot of parents in the room i'm sure so when your kids friends get mad at them is the first word they call them a racial slur because my my kids get it a lot you're the n word or whatever these are kids that stay the night at my house play football with my kids basketball whatever okay and i love you know love my

111kids supposedly but when they get mad the n word is the first word that spit out of their mouth um i my kids have been called a my kids have been told they look like a slave so speaking of slavery and teaching and most of these kids i'm not even mad at them because i don't think that they truly understand what they're saying why because they're not being taught as a school system it is the job we need to educate our children help them understand why that word is so offensive or why any racial slur i don't care if it's you know toward any or or toward toward any like toward anybody i wouldn't let my kid if my my kid called somebody a white kid a cracker or something it'd be an issue for

112me like it's not okay so it's funny that the police chief was here today and we talked about that because uh my 11 year old son he was in fifth grade in 2019 so he's going into eighth grade and i want to shout out mike love because that man i know i can trust him i wish all my kids could stay in kempton he's amazing and i wish all of you would take a page out of his book because he cares he gives a dang he really does and i love mike love he has the perfect last name that being said 30 seconds okay so my son was pulled off the bus uh by the police because a girl attacked him he never did anything to her all he did was scream at her and

113asked her to stop hitting he was 11 years old barely 11. okay the two students involved were black they knew there were problems on this bus my is the head of transportation at ravenna so the head of transportation at stowe spilled the beans to me oh supposedly there were cameras there were no cameras my son was put through stowy service at 11 years old never had been in trouble in his life i mean he's been in trouble like but not trouble with the police not trouble like he's a kid he's a boy with some adhd issues right long story short my son was pulled off of the bus put through soyuz services and um basically put something that he should have never been through the bus driver said she would speak up the board of

114education didn't want to speak up nobody everybody because they were afraid to be sued i'm not a sewer i didn't do that simply because he was black at the end of the day that is what happened you could finish your thoughts okay the last thought the police officer that brought him home his words to me were ma'am your son was very respectful he seems like an amazing kid i wasn't the arresting officer this wasn't my choice charging an 11 year old kid with disorderly conduct it's insane thank you my name is marilyn hudson i live at 1698 bob white trail diversity equity and inclusion are noble sounding words but behind such noble sounding words lie meanings very different from that of the average person thinks of at first glance let's look at equity it sounds

115so much like equality we all want equality of opportunity and the equality of each individual under the law however equity as promoted here means a quality of outcome so to achieve equality of outcome you can't take into consideration a person's character qualifications work ethic or abilities you're judging people based on skin color or ethnicity implementing these noble sounding ideas has led in other schools to putting first graders into groups and label some as oppressors and others as oppressed there has been mandatory curricula that requires teaching that all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism i've lived in stowe for almost 35 years most of them people in stowe are busy working raising their families paying their bills going to their kids and grandkids soccer games and trying to get their grass mowed before

116the next rain shower they are not for the most part racists or oppressors and should not be treated or accused of being such this school board should be busy encouraging the hiring and promoting of the best teachers coaches and administrators that can be found and not be obsessed with the color of skin we should be helping students in our schools to be the very best they can be not to be labeling them or bring more division to our city by dividing people along racial ethnic or eco socio-economic lines stow is not a perfect city but it's a good city if instances of racism pop up then they need to be dealt with through proper legal channels but let's not implement radical policies that are dividing communities around this country let's instead remind our children and

117ourselves to live by the tried and true rule to treat others as we would like to be treated good evening i didn't come here with the intent of having something to say i came to listen today but after listening you can see him towards the end of the line for a reason i felt that i had to say something i'm sorry if you could please give us your name and your address my name is charlene ramos chesnas 4451 newcomer road stowe ohio i'm a mother of students that attended stowe monroe falls high school and middle school a grandmother who has a granddaughter that is attending so schools today i'm the education chair for naacp portage county and i say this because i'm going to i wrote things down because i want to keep my thoughts

118straight because there's so much i have to say but the first thing i'm going to say is the last thing i was going to say is looking at this board i don't understand how you have these conversations because i serve on many boards and i put myself on these boards so i can be included in that conversation so that you can understand where i'm coming from i'm a hispanic woman and if i were on your board we'd have that conversation about inclusivity and what that means and what does the ei mean and dei really what at the end of the day what it means it gives us a voice you know when my older children were here and i'm going to say that 2005 year could have been may 4th because as you hear all

119the students that were in the school district during and they talk about george and i didn't hear miss kellum's name miss kellum was a teacher here the only minority teacher here a band instructor who also took her life in that year and that lives with this class forever and we don't talk about it but we need to talk about it we need to have a board that reflects today what the school district looks like we need to have a city council and still it reflects what the city of stowe looks like we moved here when my children were in seventh grade and in fourth grade and today i haven't seen much change but i'm glad that we're able to have a conversation and if that voice is taken away that is detrimental to this city

120i think we've made great strides and we should continue with that you know i support rocks which gives voice to the young ladies and a black and brown conversation and a colleague of mine dr brown doctor i'm sorry dr nelson uh and i uh i went to kent state way back and we've been having this black and brown conversation ever since and it's important to have a conversation because if we don't talk about what issues are we'll be divided so talking about it doesn't divide people they're not talking about it excuse me divides people i was a foreign language teacher and it was really important to teach culture because you can't learn a language without a culture right and so i always tell people i don't want you to see me as anything but who

121i am i want you to ask me about where i come from because you can learn a lot about my country by talking to me you know not just to go to the restaurant and eat food and by the way i am not mexican i'm puerto rican you know but everybody i would start my class by telling the students i don't make tacos do you know why you know because caribbean people don't make tacos so learn from each other thank you and please diversify your board i'm sorry before you begin ma'am at the end of the line i believe we closed comments after excuse me i understand we we closed okay thank you ma'am go ahead my name is bernie moxley i live at 2591 progress park drive in stowe i'm the parent of one

122current smf student and two recent still graduates one of my children was diagnosed with autism when he was two years old my family moved from california to ohio in 2012. my husband was hired by a company in kent so we began researching schools nearby that would be the best fit for our children who were in first third and fifth grade we chose to live in stowe because of the school district last year when i learned about the dei group i was excited to learn about what they would be doing for our schools for years i had been discussing the need for some staff development on how to support students with autism spectrum disorders as i began to read the subcommittee one to three year plans it became clear to me that the dei was not

123at all focused on inclusion for students who have disabilities after reading the information available online i wrote to the dei leadership and to the school board to express some concerns the language used the one to three year plan and the books being used for staff development seemed biased and political i was assured by the dei that there was no political agenda and i was assured that the group was transparent i would like to ask for more transparency parents should have access to the list of books titles that that will teach certain aspects of dei parent should have access to the material used for the training of all staff on dei the dei group claims that they are not political yet the three books used for the book studies are written by political activists the dei

124group claims that they are not promoting critical race theory yet the language and ideas of crt are evident throughout the subcommittee plans do not mistake the concerns of parents like my like myself with a lack of commitment to addressing issues of racism in our schools i affirm that racism remains a problem in society and needs to be addressed i deny that critical race theory and intersectionality are useful tools to address racial issues i contend that racism is defined as prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory behavior against individuals or groups on the grounds of race and can be addressed as such i deny that racism is part of a systemic problem that is everywhere always and pervasive i do contend that each individual can choose not to hold racist views and should be expected to do so i

125believe that we can work towards shared goals and a common vision that the principles of not discriminating by race should be universally upheld in closing i'd like to share some positive experiences with stowe schools in our school district we have teachers who meet with students during summer breaks to help them with transitioning to new buildings we have administrators who attend sporting events and cheer on each child by name we have coaches who create a climate of inclusion that enable students who struggle socially to fit in we have teachers who email parents to let them know their child who has an iep raised his hand and participated in class discussion for the first time we have teachers that call a parent to let them know their child did not sit alone at lunch i'm sorry that's

126that day i want to thank the sms school district staff and students who work to create an inclusive environment i'm sorry sir that she will be our last comment for the evening i'm sorry no yes sir you said the same thing and you're letting her go the lady in front of her gave up her spot right okay it's just three minutes i don't know i'm sorry if we allow you then we have to allow everyone i want you to know that my heart goes out to every one of them had a student that has been discriminated about in any way shape or form it hurts my heart that anything like like that happened if my children they i had three that went through you could give us your name please your name is barbara welsh

127i live in monroe falls okay if any of my kids would have done that there would have been so much hell to be had it would've been unreal anyhow i want you to know that i'm speaking for three friends of mine that came from communist countries they were children when critical race theory started and it is nothing but a cover for marxism they each told me that on an individual basis when it started that is when marxism came in it was a cover for it i just that's all i wanted to say uh probably for new business yeah okay um we're gonna go ahead and take a ten minute break um we've been here for almost two hours so if we need um go ahead and use restroom or anything we will reconvene in about

128ten minutes yes yeah i'll explain that later because is know okay all righty um he doesn't cry there's a lot of people in here just say we're now live okay as soon as we are live on youtube we're going to gavel back in we're good okay we are back in session the next item on our agenda is hey can i uh can i say something or you want to get new new business it'll be under new business you want it at the end got it number one uh the next one on our agenda is our consent agenda i'm going to go ahead and pass it over to mr bratton for any comments at this time i would like to recommend the board of education approve the consent agenda items b through s also this time

129i'd like to read the names and information donate the donations listed in the consent agenda and personally thank them for what they do for our students the following donated to the rocks program lisa coates 150 dollars rose standish and the field of blooms 250 dollars kyle feldman 225 dollars great lakes honda donated two thousand dollars karen haynes fifty dollars saran whiskey forty dollars and tier ten marketing llc also two thousand dollars to the rocks program other donations dairy queen stowe they donated dilly bars to echo hills fish creek highland indian trail river view in woodland for field day mr and mrs ganum ten dollars to fish creek elementary the wence family foundation donated tickets to the jake owen concert to various snow monroe falls employees and virginia white donated a hundred dollars to riverview elementary

130for the paws program and lastly i would also like to recognize our speech and debate uh team and wish them luck as they are in fight or nationals and uh congratulate them for for that tremendous uh feat so we say kudos to them all right can i have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second any discussion okay roll call when you're ready please betty oh hi brown aye johnson bowers aye whitaker aye right aye all right the next item on our agenda is the treasurer's consent agenda mr gumry any comments uh once we have a first and second i can speak to the financial report but we have regular board meeting may 24th the special board of meeting may 25th and the june 7 board work session to approve also those minutes

131okay may i have a motion please so moved second any discussion uh looking at the board variance report a couple months ago we looked like we were going to be putting a positive i guess more days than anticipated from october 2020 forecast but we are trending right at october 2020 forecast which is uh which speaks to kind of working with the administration to understand exactly where our costs are and what they're going to be so that is it any comments from the board or questions okay roll call please brown aye johnson bowers aye whitaker hi fetio aye right aye a new item i asked every year the june meeting we have to approve the temporary appropriations to operate until we have permanent those are listed i asked the board for first and second so moved

132second this is normally we have to do this every year and it's typically going to be called gonna cover us through june july or july august and september where we'll have permanent appropriations in september's meeting any further discussion your roll call johnson mowers aye whitaker hi betty you hi brown aye right aye oh yes the board approved the uh as presented exact pay schedule for fiscal year 22 as outlined and presented you guys as an exhibit may have a motion please so moved any discussion okay roll call please whitaker i bettyo hi brown aye thompson bowers aye right aye all right next item is superintendent's recommendations mr bratton thank you i just have two quick ones here uh this is the the first one is uh board policy 5336. this was special update from march

1332021 care of students with diabetes this is the approval of the neola board policies that the policy can be reviewed on march 29th 2021 as well as on may 20th 2021. this policy deals with the care of students with diabetes and this policy is different simply because of statutory language changes copies are available for anyone after the meeting if they would like to review them but this is the final reading of this policy okay may i have a motion please so i moved second any discussion the only item for me is that if we could try to make sure on the futures like we it's helpful to know what reading it is before we come yeah that's kind of strange because usually she does that and i'm not sure just you know i apologize you're

134exactly right any other comments okay roll call please okay the next item on our agenda is new business i'm going to go ahead and pass it over to ms johnson bowers i believe she has something to add for new business it's time so it's important for me to to take a moment to say a few things because i have heard things and i've seen glances and stairs and snares and all that but no one person in the world has ever asked me my opinion of the dei committee or opinion of anything and so i just wanted to set the record straight that i agree with you i completely agree with you 100 it's appalling that anybody would be bullied the suicide rate is horrific and it is wrong and yes it is our job as

135the board to create a safe environment and that's our number one priority we should ensure that every single student who walks into any building in the stone monroe falls school district feels safe welcomed and loved that's the priority we should make sure every student understands that uniqueness is their superpower and they should embrace that and they should be able to take that with their creativity and do amazing things that is how i feel now we all need to understand is that systemic change is slow and not very fancy systemic change will not make newspapers because what we need to be governing up here as a board is change and that's hard because we need to embrace differing opinions we need to understand that just because somebody's not on the pedestal next to us doesn't mean

136they disagree and we need to give them time and give this time to evolve because we want systemic change we don't want just a poster on the wall we don't want just a 30 second video tape we want change that's permanent change that of course is going to start in the classroom but hopefully we'll trickle down and back to their homes but that's slow and we need to be patient with it and we need to all be patient that diversity means we need to embrace diverse opinions unity does not mean conformity it means we're unifying to the same principles so when i look at these things and i read things about people's opinions about what they think my opinion is i i'm always appalled and surprised but not surprised i am a stephen cubby highly

137effective teams trainer i have worked for years helping school districts create character education programs i've helped school districts create programs like the dei program i am all in on this but i'm not of the personality who's going to stand up on a pedestal and shout us out as i can or ridicule people who don't agree with me that's not who i am but i am the person who's going to say that every single student who walks in to stow monroe falls any of their buildings should feel safe they shall feel loved and they should have the greatest confidence i have been very quiet up here because i am astonished that people in this world did not know that black lives mattered before a year ago because i've always known that that's how i was raised

138that's how my children were raised it's not something i don't need to write it on a shirt that's what i know so i wanted to take this second to explain to you how i feel up here because i am supportive of the dei committee and i'm astonished that people think i wouldn't be because that is what i've been doing it's one of my missions but i'm not a person to wear a shirt because i just think we are all and we should all feel welcome we should all feel safe but i want to tell you it is very difficult up here because we're not safe because dare one of our board members say something that does not resonate 100 they will be crucified and that's not diversity that's not diversity so i am all in

139agreement with this it's very important but we need to give the ddi committee some time to develop this is not something that happens tomorrow this is something if you want sustained change is something that's going to take years to do but they can't make progress if somebody critiques every single step it's exhausting it's hard to make positive change any further comments just to kind of piggyback off of that a little bit through some of the public comments that are out there there's a there are people up here myself included who are not prone to um shout out from the rooftop shout out from the rafters um shout out rhetoric um i'm often criticized for being the i guess what dispassionate attorney i guess is probably the the appropriate thing and i try to choose to

140express myself in the way that i act the way that i vote uh the support that i give and so one of the things that i think has is maybe getting a little bit lost in the shuffle here is is i know there's there's a desire for change there's not there's a desire for immediate long-standing lasting change and there's sort of an acknowledgement that up here myself in particular on some of these issues i'm a relative idiot and so to ask that i somehow or the other board members push this matter to the forefront before the committee itself is ready to do that is a bit difficult in the sense that you know expectations are created of them that they're not they're they're working toward a solution and i think one of the things that

141if you look at the way that that committee is structured it's probably one of the more robust robustly structured committees that i think i've seen is that they are committed to regular progress um and some of the the back and forth has a lot to do with the fact that their information is constantly out there and so sometimes seeing how the sausage is made makes people really upset and really uncomfortable and that doesn't mean that that's the end product and so do i want to hear regular updates from them yes but i will say this that committee provides more updates uh to the community to the board than probably any of the other ones that we have in this school district and so it's not i guess for one board member it's not for me

142to demand that they do anything um at whatever interval that i deem appropriate i'm going to leave that to them they're doing a good job they know what they're doing and to be clear i think this board voted to create that committee or at least voted to acknowledge its existence or put it into place and i don't i'm not aware of any changes in that and personally i'm not changing the way that i have felt on that and so i voted to approve that committee i support that committee's work and will continue to support that committee's work um i will have questions for them when they bring it to us when they bring their changes to us but that's at this point that for them to do and not for again this this sort of

143soft-spoken idiot to do for them so that that's my piece on it i think we should all just let them do their job and address the things that they present when they actually present them i'd like to make a statement the committee itself has a meaningful purpose but how is it going to be implemented and it's not anything that's cut in stone but when i hear people talking about black lives matter i think of the marcus marxist content of it and i don't like that saying for all of you that say black lives matter you're entitled to your opinion but i'm going to tell you as a board member as a citizen of this country all lives matter i don't care if they're green purple pink or yellow all lives matter [Applause] you could put

144anything in writing but to implement it is a different story we have rules and regulations about discrimination bullying fighting that sort of thing and it's up to the administration the teachers and the students to say hey this is what's happening and then take it if there's no justification take it home to the parents and let the parents deal with it on their level with the administration but believe me black lives are not the only ones that matter every every person in this united states if i could please ask the audience to show a sense of decorum this is a meeting in public this is not a public meeting mrs bettiyo you can please finish yes i think i've said enough everybody knows where i stand i've taken a lot of criticism i've taken a lot

145of hate mail and people are entitled to their opinion but you know what if you can call meanings i can respond but i'm more professional than that mrs betty i don't mean this is criticism at all i just want to add maybe a little bit of context to this too um wearing my other hat the lawyer hat i often have clients who face some of the issues that we have been talking about i have clients who you know we don't have to embrace anything in particular to know that i have clients who people think they can take advantage of them because of their socioeconomic status i have clients who people think they can take advantage of them because they are black i have clients who think that um who get treated differently because they have

146homeowners insurance and their house happens to be in a district that had been redlined however long ago and so those things are real they have happened and they continue to be a problem and i don't think that that requires any kind of grand acceptance of anything one way or the other but i do think that there is a lot of room for discussion um between the sides that we've heard tonight if people would just allow themselves to do that well like i said you can put everything in writing and it looks perfect on paper but what do you do with it what do you do with it any further comments okay we are moving on to our next item on new business is a review of the inner district open enrollment policy mr bratton uh

147every year it's just uh presented before the board it's just to make the board aware and there's no action needed there's never action needed on this policy unless there was a change that the board was openly requesting so this is again just a policy making the board aware of what the current policy is and what the policy options are so no action needed okay the last item on our agenda is an executive session for the purpose of considering the employment of a public employee there will be no action after the executive session may i have a motion to go into executive session please so moved second any discussion roll call please aye johnson bowers whitaker aye video aye aye we are in executive session at 7 24 pm again there will be no action after

148the executive session here we go