001foreign good afternoon I would like to begin the special board meeting for Wednesday April 12 2023 uh can we please start with the moment of science if you can please rise foreign now we would like to begin the Pledge of Allegiance if you would like to participate please stand one nation thank you I like to turn it now over to Dr Duran to recite the mission and vision the priority graduate where rigorous curriculum across our grade level by implementing Ohio learning standards for Fidelity our business statements strive to be an a-rated School District through graduates of our College and Career ready thank you thank you Dr Duran um tonight's purpose of tonight's meeting tonight's purpose like tonight's purpose for this meeting um is a special board meeting uh to address uh the growing frustrations uh
002across the country uh attacks on public education and as we are elected officials that you voted for we are doing our job and this is one way we are doing that by making sure we protect TPS and protect our staff students in public education um as some may know we have several bills that are attacking not only our students our teachers our curriculum that is already approved by the state but also now uh and been doing so attacking funding um and actually trying to defund public education and so we feel is our duty to our parents and our constituents to share an open overview of some of the state legislations that is currently being considered and want our community to understand the negative implications of these bills and understand our reasons for fastening our reasons
003for passing the resolutions we will tonight so with that being said I will now read the resolution that Encompass um details very uh brief details we do have some packages on the table over there and we will also upload them to our website for viewing um in a timely manner so now I read a resolution and opposition to pending legislative legislation that seeks to undermine dismantle and defund public education whereas Toledo Public Schools mission is to produce competitive college and career-ready graduates through our rigorous curriculum across all grades Levels by implementing Ohio new Ohio's new leader standards with Fidelity our core commitment includes being student-centered and building strong relationships among our students staff and community whereas the Ohio General Assembly has introduced a significant number of bills that will defund public education observe local control
004from Boards of Education from the Board of Education attack and harm members of our community and or interfere with our students right to receive a quality education whereas recent legislation interjects partisan politics into the nonpartisan system of public education in the state of Ohio ignores Common Sense education policies and would have long-lasting negative impacts on our students across the states whereas the Board of Education of the Toledo City School District the board is resoluted opposed res resolutely opposed to any legislating that seeks to interfere with Public Schools curriculum instruction the funding public education or devalue members of our school Community whereas the vote the board opposed to the following legislation House Bill one which makes numerous changes to the Ohio tax laws and will result in significant revenue losses to TPS and public school districts
005across the state should Hospital one become law TPS could lose between 1 million and 4 million in fiscal in fiscal year 2024 and between 3 million and 9 million in fiscal year 2025. House Bill 6 would would require school districts to designate separate Single Sex teams and prohibit prohibit transgender students for participating in sports consistent with their gender identity House Bill 8 which is shamelessly attacking lgbtq plus students and endangering their mental and physical health by requiring Schools staff to disclose a student sexual orientation or gender identity against the student's wishes House Bill 11 house school 33 and Senate field 11 which would expand the air Choice scholarship program or establish a universal Voucher Program across the state costing the state over one billion dollars per year and decreasing state aid to public schools by
006approximately 68.5 million in 2024 and 66.5 5 million in 2025. House Bill 12 incentive Bill 1 which would shift educational oversight from elected members of the State Board of Education to partisan political appointee depriving local communities the right to shape education policy House Bill 40 House Bill 48 which seeks to revive so-called divisive Concepts legislation that sought to restrict open and honest classroom discussions House Bill 68 which would ban gender affirming Health Care to minors contrary to generally accepting medical guidance and ethics and with subject Health Care Professionals including School psychologists to potential discipline House Bill 103 will require a partisan group of political authorities to adopt academic standards and social studies for graduate for grades K-12 which experts say would have damaging and lasting effects on the Civil knowledge of students in their capacity
007to engage in civil reasoning and deliberation House Bill 113 which would declare March 12th as the trans awareness day and represent another piece of legislation that promotes misconceptions about the lgbtq plus students fear uh this LGBT students fear intelligence and Hate House Bill 127 which will loosen or eliminate regulations for home education removing accountability and resulting in worse learning outcomes for students receiving home education Senate bill 14 which would permit school districts to hire unlicensed individuals to teach core subjects failing to adequately address the growing teachers or shortage brought on by the Ohio legislator continue a thought on public Educators and public education in Senate Bill 17 which would enroche on equal I'm sorry undermine the authority of State Board of Education and local Boards of education and seeking to update curriculum without consulting necessarily
008and relevant to stakeholders whereas our our Educators students and community members will endure significant harm in these bills becoming law the board recognizes responsibility to speak out against uh speak out against and oppose these bills and others that seek to harm public education whereas the board and District leader remain commit to defending against all forms of discrimination on the base of the basis of race color age national origin sexual orientation gender identity religion or disability and will continue to provide all students a safe place where they feel comfortable to learn and engage in with their Community whereas the board demands the legislator comply with this constitutional duties to secure a thorough and efficiency system of common school by committing to fully fund public education in the state of Ohio a commitment that will improve educational
009opportunities and outcomes for Ohio students whereas the board believes that it that it in the State Board of Education and Consulting with professionals education Educators excuse me and community members are in the best position to determine curriculum not partisan politicians whereas the board encouraged the general General Assembly to introduce legislation that support Educators instead of fields that impose harsh penalties discourage careers in education and impede Ohio's ability to attract well-qualified candidates to build open positions now there therefore be resolved by the Board of Education of Toledo City School District at section one the board formerly opposed and rejects House Bill one house school six Hospital eight house built 11 House Bill 12 House Bill 33 House Bill 48 House Bill 68 House Bill 103 House Bill 113 House Bill 127 Senate Bill 1 Senate Bill
01011 Senate bill 14 in Senate Bill 17 of the 135th uh General Assembly as they seek to undermine dismantle and defund public education in the state of Ohio section 2 the board reaffirms its commitment to provide all students with access to high quality public education Section 3 the treasurer is authorized to deliver or cause to deliver a certified copy of its resolution to the commit the community leaders so members of Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio State Senate into the office of Governor Mike dewine section four this bullet resolution shall be in full force in effective form and immediately after is adopted and shall supersede any prior resolutions or act of this board which may be inconsistent with the provision provisions of this resolution and section five is hereby found and determined that all
011form formal actions of this board concerning and relating to the passage of this resolution were taken in an open meeting of this board and that all deliberations of this board and of any of its committees that resulted in such formal action were in the meetings open to public in compliance with with all legal requirements include infection 121 dashed up 0.22 of the Ohio Revised Code who that was what I'll make that motion thank you second move to the discussion board member former Vasquez Madam president the uh I just have to tell you that inside I feel on emptiness uh because I just I just don't understand uh always what's happening with the bills that we have in front of us uh it's overwhelming it's an overwhelming attack on public education um some of the areas
012that um are involved in their curriculum funding healthy and healthy environment for our students local control uh for just a few there are so many that I find it overwhelming to be able to address this to me is like calculated systematic dismantling of public education and what I don't understand because I know that this entire board and administration is looking for bipartisan support for public education and and what what I'm struggling with is why a group of legislators would make these kind of proposals and especially in light of a philosophy of taking government out of controlling people's lives this is an insertion of more government than I've ever seen in people's lives and I do find this problem I'm trying to understand why this is happening but when I look at it I can't come
013to any other conclusion that is purposeful and has a goal in mind and that goal is to dismantle public education we need to do everything that we can as you said in the beginning of advocating for our students their families our staff and the future of public education so I will support this wholeheartedly thank you board member Barwick it's like where do you begin so when I ran first ran for the Board of Education back in 2013. um which is it's crazy to think about but you know I'm a parent and I wanted to do good for our schools I want to do good for our students and create opportunities and I think along the way we've been able to do some of those things never in my wildest dreams did I think at that
014point or any point along the way that I was going to have to continue to fight the state just to be able to accomplish good things for our students it makes absolutely no sense to me um from a community perspective from a business standpoint from um just an economic driver point I mean I I think this attack and all avenues um is complete government overeat and just like you said Mr mask has never did I think that the government was going to intrude so much um that's just not uh what we should be doing right that's not what the state should be doing there's so many bills here um you know I I kept looking at and I thought I could count on on one hand over the quarter course of 10 years how many
015times we've supported a bill with the state of Ohio that they've brought forward that's unbelievable that that is the case it should not be happening we should be working in tandem together to build our communities to build um on opportunities for our students to connect our businesses with our Public Schools the attack on curriculum the attack on specified groups of students I who does that what adult does that you don't have to agree with how students or families live their lives but you don't need to attack them at the same time so there are a few talking points I do want to point out with regard to the lgbtq plus community these bills would Place students in extremely stressful and potentially dangerous situations and force Educators to breach their ethical and professional obligations they promote
016misconceptions about lgbtq plus students fear intolerance and Heat TPS considers parents a resource in providing its students the best educational outcome possible I ran on parent power I was a parent in this District I would never in my wildest dreams think to Target children in this way or in any way but especially from the state level um unfortunately it may not always be safe to discuss a student's sexual orientation or gender identity with a parent or Guardian lgbtq plus students often do not seek mental health support for fear they will be outed to family and friends suicide is the second leading cause of death among our youth might I add gun violence would be the first and could we just have the state legislature focus on maybe that one as opposed to attacking our students
017while over 80 percent of lgbtq plus youth want Mental Health Care sixty percent are not able to get it concerns regarding the need to obtain parent permission or the fear of being outed are significant causes of lgbtq plus youth being able to receive proper care now those are just some of the talking points I wanted to bring to fruition regarding those particular bills attacking our children I'd also like to point out though our state board of education is our voice at the state level regarding education and curriculum and now the governor's office wants to take that away and have it under his arm here's the problem with that that's our Voice once the government takes our voice away what are we left with where is the control where is the local control that the state
018of Ohio should be focusing on instead they want to take it for power so they can make their own decisions on what we should and should not be doing one of the things that I have found crossing the state and talking to different school districts is that each one wants to have their local control they want their voice because what works in Toledo may not work in Marietta it may not work in different regions of the state but it works for us and what works for them is not going to work for us these bills attack that they attack our voice and we need to fight back against it and I know my colleagues are going to talk about some other of the issues and some of these other bills but I didn't want to
019bring up about the vouchers just for a moment some of the boards that you see up here these were from um a slideshow that I wound up doing back in fy20 so that the numbers are actually have grown that 70 million that was just from 14 to 20. and so we're going to wind up adding to those slideshows unfortunately um the amount of money if you look at the vouchers alone the 1.12 billion with a B if you look at that compared to what the state spends on our total budget for public Ed is 9 billion that is asinine to bring a bill forward that is going to cost taxpayers without any accountability and that is the problem is the accountability piece and I want to bring forward recently there was an article on the
020blade and I thank you for doing that piece um and it was about trying to find donors for students each year this has been an ongoing problem we're just bringing it because we're sick of it being um in the dark we want it in the light but our students and I say our students don't because that's what they are we recently had students that were at Central Catholic for three and a half years they were kicked out for whatever reason Central Catholic got their money they come back to TPS with no transcript because they owe money to the private school here's the problem is that we now have students that are going to graduate where are the student-centered decisions being made at the state level for our students where are they I don't see them
021in any one of these bills on top of that TPS along with other districts will get dinged on the flawed state report card for those students that are not going to graduate where's the economic impact that's going to have on those students lives because they don't have they don't have a degree where are they going to go what are they going to do I get impassioned about this because it impacts our students our children in this community I love our kids I love our city I love public education we offer them the true school choice and most educational opportunities anybody can go to church on Any Given Sunday that's all I have to say thank you Morgan mcgurkin these attacks are coming at us Fast and Furious uh and we're spending a lot of time
022dodging these attacks this tyranny coming from the state but you know they were uh they were proceeded with a long and deliberate effort to undermine the Public's Trust The public's trust in the media the Public's trust in government and now the lowest level they could possibly stoop to is undermining The public's trust in education we have highly trained professional Educators and mental health professionals we have very rigorous licensure systems in place I believe that we are still very much capable of deciding an appropriate curriculum I think we're very much capable of teaching the truth I think we are very much capable of seeing to the actual safety of certain students without having to punish mental health professionals if they don't react a certain way to students coming out to them I also believe that our
023community here in Toledo the our community does still trust us I believe that they really do have our back and I believe that they they think that as a district under Dr Durant's leadership and the governance of this board that we are looking out for their children and I hope that they understand this constant distraction of time that we're spending dodging today 14 different bullets coming our way to the point that we really can't continue to dodge them some of these things are never going to come out the way we want them to in the legislature specifically you know expanded or Universal vouchers which is why the district is now part of a lawsuit that hundreds of districts across the state have had to join to just to declare those voucher systems is actually unconstitutional
024so we'll see where that takes us with the Ohio Supreme Court when it finally gets there I I am really disheartened by the punishment mentioned for educators particularly mental health professionals in one particular bill they name school psychologist I'm a licensed school psychologist and I wonder what's going to happen you talk about an Educator's shortage and that we don't have enough teachers we also have a shortage in all of these other professionals how are we going to get people to come into these professions to meet the needs of our students and families when there's a threat of punishment for doing the very thing that your own ethical obligations in your own training in your own license your boards expect you to do which is to keep children safe and sometimes keeping children safe means helping
025them delay some decisions about when and where and to whom to come out when it comes to their gender oriented sexual orientation or gender identity four of these 14 bills are specifically targeting that the lgbtq plus population that's no that's no accident that has nothing to do with keeping people safe that has to do with with imposing a value system on the entire State that's not appropriate I mentioned the um the the bills that interfere with our ability to teach and put forward an appropriate rigorous curriculum that teaches the truth there's also a bill here that's interfering with our ability to oversee students receiving home instruction we I understand the choice of home instruction is a very rich and valuable choice for some families I've known many young people who've come up home instruction and
026gone on to college if they chose or are returned to a traditional education during high school and just flourished but if we don't have any ability to oversee that or at least make sure that the parents are supported by actual rigorous curriculum to to present to their students or or at least making sure that students are making adequate progress the same way the state requires us to make adequate progress with the faulty report card why wouldn't we expect there to be some local oversight into those students who are in home instruction it still allows parents to have a very rich amount of choice but we if we're if we're being forced to make sure our students under our care reach certain Milestones why would we not have that same oversight whether it's home instruction or
027students receiving vouchers or students in charter schools it's always been about attacking public education diverting those resources to Charter and non-public schools with no oversight whether it's oversight for the money or oversight for the outcomes for students we don't get to just put a kid out ever we have to we have to see it through we have to try everything the other other uh systems do not so these attacks are not only on the system at large with their uh with their edicts and their in their funding they're on Educators and they're on students themselves so this attack is coming from every level of the system and I really just can't rip my brain around the end game here I appreciate my colleagues and I appreciate the leadership of this district for standing up to
028the Tyranny from the state of Ohio thank you vice president Parker thank you madam president hearing my colleagues we all are on the same page and I think for me I feel just an overall sense of frustration I love public education because I'm a product of public education not only that but I'm an active parent of students of public education and the frustration comes because I can't wrap my mind around how with students that struggle to wonder if they're even going to come home daily to have to deal with what I believe is a strategic but sneaky systematic oppressive mindset that tries to combat against the efforts uh having public education and existence I think that they have a work perception of what is right um Miss varwig spoke on it as well as students
029not even having the opportunity to graduate because of the fact that there's a transcript that's being held up families deciding whether they're going to file for bankruptcy to make sure that that can be taken care of I mean students having the option of getting the GED as opposed to even having to walk for graduation or so that their family doesn't have to deal with that uh that financial burden it's disheartening it's sad it's frustrating these bills these bills all of these bills and the sad thing is if something doesn't work in one bill they'll add it to another bill and they'll add it to another bill and they won't stop they won't stop they'll keep going and and it's they're trying to really instill fear to those of us who will stand up for us
030right even as it relates to Senate bill 14 which is a distraction of the real issue of the growing teacher shortage our students deserve the best education and we strive to provide that and I believe that my colleagues this board is committed to hiring and retaining individuals to provide our students with the best educational outcome that Senate bill in particular only provides a short-term solution to a major problem that public education is facing and that's a growing teacher's shortage when you look at all of these pieces that are before you is an attempt to create solutions to problems that honestly do not exist and the board is in the best position to consider and regulate staff conduct we have done that we have we we are doing our part not just to make sure our
031students are safe but our staff is provided for and so every time these bills come up it literally twists my stomach because we're losing focus on the main thing and that's for our students to have the best education that is available to them thank you madam president thank you so uh all my board members excuse me all of my board uh fellow board members have expressed frustration and if I'm gonna be honest I'm beyond frustration I'm pissed when you have cowards they're not adults they're cowards attacking youth attacking kids how can they claim their leaders so they are cowards you can hashtag that I said it their cowards and the fact that they hide behind these resolutions these bills and pass them in the night and don't face our teachers don't face our students don't
032come to their neighborhoods to address the real issues I would love to have to spend the time that we've been spending on this energy of hate and bigotry to address issues like homelessness our youth homelessness population gun violence Mental Health things that is really hurting our school districts instead of these invisible issues as they try to make themselves look better politically their cowards you are attacking the most vulnerable population in our system and that's youth when you try to take away the adults that support them and love them and educate them you're a coward when you try to tell them who they are because you don't understand it and then you put them In Harm's Way You Are coward um and you are a lot of other things but I'll keep that to myself when
033we're talking about the vouchers and how they claim that is going to help those who are underserved um Attain high quality education guess what TPS is doing that already thanks to no help of you we are offering best career opportunities through trades we are partnering with our local community colleges and universities we are mentorships if you look at our schools if you are not scared to come to the hood to actually look and walk and meet our students and walk through our schools you will see what high quality education is and not keep thinking you know what it is just because the neighborhoods you choose that you think kids should go to for higher quality education have grocery stores have adequate funding for tutors have adequate funding for spaces that are safe if you really
034want to help the disadvantage underserved population youth population then let's talk about those things let's talk about the financial economic disadvantages um and stop making it a political one I mean pretty much what I'm saying do some real damn work um stand up for common sense gun laws our babies are dying every day um and I think my fellow board members I think the administration for showing up um as a mother to protect my babies education um my community babies education because 14 bills against everything that we're doing right is really robbing the community so I want people who are voters I want people who are not voters to get registrated I want parents grandparents aunties nephews if you're turning 18 these State officials are robbing you they are literally sitting in your face laughing
035while they rob your community and I don't like to get robbed so I need you to get frustrated with me and also pissed off and let's do something to stop this thank you uh to call the road please before we get started with that after Consulting our attorney we need to we'll do the resolution that you read as one vote and then we'll do a second vote for the consent agenda which technically will approve all those individually so I would like to uh make a motion for the first resolution please second nope uh Chris made the motion okay so we already have Mr Parker did the discussion so now we're to vote on that one then we have to do the concern Mr masquez yes Mr Parker yes Miss Barnes yes Mrs gherkin yes Mrs
036marwick yes okay now now I moved to uh pass the consent agenda second okay yes thank you Barker yes Miss Barnes yes Mr yes Mrs Barwick yes any further comments by the board superintendent or treasurer yes Madam president please um I would just say that you can see the commitment by the TPS Board of Education we're here during spring break I plot our Administration for being here as well again during Spring Break um you know we don't take this lightly um I would implore the community a call to action pick up the phone and call your legislators go to the website for the state of Ohio look where the bills are at in the Committees call the committee chairs call your own legislatures here locally let them know how you feel about all of these
037bills we're going to put it out on social media we'll have it out on our website hopefully or so you can find it from this board um this board meeting please pick up the phone and make a call because public education is on the line thank you foreign regarding the um expansion of vouchers particularly the universal voucher movement to the public schools in partnership with the Toledo Federation of teachers so it'll administrative Personnel so being Education Association Sylvania School District Washington local school district Lucas County Commissioners Northwest Ohio friends of public education are hosting an emergency meeting to discuss Ed Choice vouchers which we have just reminded everyone our threat to the existence of the public common school system that event that informational event is being held on Tuesday May 9th at 6 pm at
038the downtown library we are just beginning to get the word out and and promote that event we plan to have board members from many of the surrounding school districts in the county so that they can learn more about how important it is to come on board with this lawsuit that I mentioned because we do not believe this is going to be solved at the legislature but we we do believe there is a very solid case for proving that the whole voucher system is unconstitutional so please plan on coming out for that informational meeting on May 9th thank you board member gergen Mr Vice President I just want to also say real quick before we move to adjourn when we're talking about the gun violence um with youth think about the money that the vouchers are
039taking how we can have social workers we can then do intervention teams and violence Interrupters on our campuses and therapists on our campuses so many things that we could use to prevent and intervene um just and that's just goals but learn provide the education that we need like buses and our bus drivers and Paras and things of that special needs um system so just think about what we're losing constantly um and and I always say once again I'm not against advocating for your child to have high quality education but ask yourself why do we have to foot the bill so with that I will ask for Mutual German so moved Tech Mr Vazquez yes Mr Parker yes Miss Barnes yes Mrs Griffin yes Mrs barley yes thank you and have a good night foreign um
040protect the public education um our students deserve it our teachers and staff deserve it and it's what's best for our community all right thank you thank you so much would you like to interview um board members yeah so [Music] I'm trying to put your feet keep your shoulders just half step this way thank you we're good all right the first thing we'll have you do if you want to sane spell your first and last name and give us your title Randall r-a-n-d-a-l-l Parker p-a-r-k-e-r third vice president of Toledo school so can we call you Reverend Harper yes just kind of give us your timeline thoughts about this legislation you spoke earlier and just going to give us a summary of your take on all this legislation and the board's opposition you have this Onslaught the
041bills that are going forth right now against public education is frustrating it's hard it's personal I think that is very important the attacks are personal strategies systematic oppression is personal against public education I'm a product of public education I'm a parent of active students of public education so there has to be a fight that goes on against this what perception of what they feel is a solution to a problem that actually doesn't even really exist why are Ohio legislators in the house and the Senate why do you think they're passing legislation like this I mean there's no other conclusion than they're trying to dismantle education what's your take on it I absolutely I agree with my confidence but this is a strategic attack to dismantle and defund public education I believe with all of my
042heart that it is a political move to really come against our public education frame and model that we have for previous generations parents what can other community members do in response to this what can they do sure so we we've done our part as the board with the resolution but it goes so much further than that parents Community leaders need to step up we need to speak up we need to make sure that we are sharing our voice and our displeasure with those who are in position those who are a part of the State House the representatives the Senate all of those final who your local legislator is and begin to express your dissatisfaction for the way that this Onslaught is going on with as it relates to the attack on public education anything else
043you want to do is say or share I don't think it's very important that we continue to fight because if we don't fight for the students they have no one that will fight absolutely thank you so much thank you appreciate it awesome it should be good I appreciate it thanks for coming out guys no problem take care you too just to make sure you have enough zero but yeah [Music] foreign [Music] it's not weird my goodness that's a good one