Westerville Board of Education Meeting, September 26, 2022

001thank you [Music] welcome to this evening's meeting of the Westerville City Schools Board of Education we are delighted to have all of you this evening the agenda will be displayed on the screen in the front of the room there will be three opportunities this evening to address the board the first being agenda item 7.1 the first set of public comments is relative to agenda items 9.1 to 13 through 13.1 please State the agenda items you are referencing at the beginning of your comments the second opportunity is a agenda item 8.1 related to public hearing members of the public are invited to provide input to the board of an issue of re-employing Elaine Colma cafeteria recess Aid during her service retirement and the final opportunity is agenda item 14.1 there is a sign up sheet located

002on the table in the back of the room and each speaker will have five minutes to address the board and a timer will be shown on the screen and with that Miss Marshall will you please call the roll Mr Bell here Mrs Meyer here Dr Nestor Baker here Mrs Altman here Mrs Davidson here will you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all 3.1 is executive session negotiations may please have a motion so moved second Dr Nestor Baker yes Mrs Meyer yes Mr Bell yes Mrs Altman yes Mrs Davidson yes we're gonna step out for a couple of minutes and we'll come back when

003we're done if it's in members of the board want to spend a little bit of time tonight talking through the recent guidelines we sent out as a district to our staff and families regarding working with our lgbtq plus community members so I know that the written document that went out has generated discussion amongst some folks I've had some conversations as we try and decipher the written word and clarify what those written words mean in terms of practice so I thought I'd take a few minutes tonight to talk about that with the board as we go through and I just want to begin with the assurance that the underlying uh premise of everything we're trying to do in conjunction with the board has always been about supporting our students and protecting our students and that's really

004the underlying piece of what we're trying to put together here so um and we know that that's um important right now there are lots of other places where policy makers seem to be going in directions that don't seem consistent wholly consistent with that so with that I want to start with why we put anything at all um on paper and really what we put on paper is um clarification about policies and practices that have been in place for really two decades as we talked to our staff but given the current environment increasingly beginning last year we saw particularly from staff members requests for some clarification on what those practices are could we could we be clear so we we understand the staff members on what the expectations are so really putting it on paper was

005an effort to clarify with everybody and provide better consistency around what we're doing and again overarching goal here is to provide protection and support for for all students and in this case this particular group of students so I want to start with process how do we get to the document that we put out um so we really began um actually a lot of spring into the summer kind of going through current policies that are in place and how we act on those policies in the past with our students so there hasn't been any change in their policies we didn't make any policy changes if board doesn't vote in any there isn't any in front of them to vote on we really just looked at those as a grounding place for what does our policies say

006and how do we interpret that policy relative to this particular population of students and staff we reviewed that with legal counsel and collectively with our leadership team from all that that's where the that set of guidelines came from so again no policies or intended changes in in past practice more clarification so we can have some consistency and some awareness um so I want to look at some of that a little bit deeper so really we started working Equity several years ago actually with the hiring of Cynthia devise and the creation of that position eight years ago and have been building upon that Equity education work in our district for a while a lot of that has been focused more on race and ethnicity and increasingly we're seeing within our Equity work the need to open

007the aperture more to more groups including lgbtq Plus so that really began um looking at that last spring as we transitioned leadership in that Equity Department we engage with an external entity who works in this space and contract with them to provide some professional development and so that professional development was provided to all of our administrators our administrative Retreat as a means of building knowledge and understanding and their confidence the board itself and conducted in a work session with that same group along the same lines for the same purposes and then we've provided that training as an opportunity for our staff as we open up the school year and we continue to offer those opportunities through both our district Equity efforts and other building Equity team as we build our capacity to understand and have

008knowledge that we need so we've we've put that place in as part of our Equity work within our policy the board may recall that several years ago we made an adjustment to our non-discrimination policy and under our non-discrimination policy we explicit explicitly included gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes under Title IX that's baked into our policy but the fact that it's baked in our policy obligates us as a staff to provide those protections to those students under as a protected class so that's built in and I say that because right now as you look around other policy makers that little nugget seems to be a point of contention amongst policy makers about whether or not that's acceptable we have opt-in and did several years ago to put that in and interacting in accordance

009with that so that provides a protection uh for um uh that those individuals one of the other areas that people talk about um that we are keenly aware of and sensitive to is the mental health of our students and protections not just here at school but elsewhere and I I'm I'm reminded I remind ourselves that we have a mandatory reporting law and policy that provides protection under those cases where we're working with any students who we have concerns about abuse or neglect and there's a mandatory Court Reporting process that would be inclusive within this space so we have that piece as well if we see that concern as well as our our bullying and intimidation policies which are in place as well the last piece that says we we have um as I talk to

010folks in our district who have been working with families and students within this population for several years now um and talking about that where we've had strength in our efforts has been around our support and partnering with families and students in terms of working with them within the school environment to provide them the safety and the comfort and the sense of belonging in our school district that they deserve and so we've always done that and I would say the other thing I would do is continue to encourage families to have these conversations at home this is a hot button topic it's a lot of conversation a lot of spheres our students are hearing it they're motivated and active active around that and I would encourage our families to have those conversations at home as I'm

011sure they are so that they and their children can understand each other as well which helps us in our partnership with them and that that's an important piece of this so all those pieces are in place and more there's a history the board took action last spring in opposition to some of the legislative efforts that were going on around um what I'd say styming the way we present history and talk about race in this country and that's been part of it as well we have uh been very active in the curriculum instruction space to continue to broaden the materials that we bring into our classrooms so that there's representation for our students and that includes within this context as well so that's kind of a setting so I'm gonna touch on the specific components and

012the guidelines that went out and I would say this the the ones that were presented in that document were ones is we talked to our building administrators are out on the front lines and having conversations with folks and with our with our families we asked what what are the areas where you think we need the greatest clarification and that's where these came from obviously one is pronouns there's a big one's a big topic um so I reference our non-discrimination policy there's a second policy that's applicable to this particular question of whether or not teachers staff not just teachers staff adults in our building who represent authority figures can or cannot ask students for their pronouns preferred pronouns and there's as we talked to legal and this makes sense to us as we looked at two

013policies a non-discrimination policy he's a protected class therefore that information is perfect protected information as well as 2416 which is a long-standing policy and law around student privacy and parental access which restricts not restricts which requires us to proactively get parent permission student permission if they're 18 to ask them specific questions about specific topics including anything that has to do with sex or sexual orientation it's it's baked in there that's a long-standing piece so those two pieces provide a policy framework around this question of whether or not staff should ask those questions and as we talk to our attorneys talk to Legal the answer would be no it's not appropriate for us to ask that because we're asking a young person to reveal protected information staff represent people of authority within a building and as

014we always work with our students and our families tell our students when you go to school to what you're asked to do so we're asking protected information from a protected class take that same scenario and put in any kind of other question around protected information and you have the same problem so it's not that we don't want an environment inviting environment it's not that we don't want a welcoming environment it's not that we don't want our teachers receptive to talking to kids about who they are and what they want to be it's not that we're not receptive to buildings or relationships and trust it's not that we're not even receptive to students saying to us this is what I prefer we'll respond to that and act accordingly to what the child has asked us to

015do we're just not going to be the ones initiating the request um the other piece of this and I'll go back to family pieces we will honor a family's request if one is made to us regarding how they would like us to address their child as relates to pronouns I'm not asking staff to pick up the phone and ask parent permission we will honor that if we're asked that's baked into the communication without the families we've had a handful reach out to us and already tell us what their preference is which is helpful to us and to them and to the families if we're all on the same page so that's the pronoun piece names are a little bit different we've been asking students to Preferred name for years and years and years you know

016as I said in the letter my name is William call me Bill um so we've been doing that for years I've been talking illegal it doesn't get into that same area around um disclosing privilege information and I understand for some people there's some gray Air in there always a good idea to lean on your legal counsel again student gives us a name that prefers to use that's okay to ask that on paper whatever it is teachers have been doing that for hundreds of years it's fine but again if a parent makes a particular request we'll we'll honor that as well and again we're not going to obligate our staff to start picking up the phone and letting parents know um restroom access I think in the handful of people I've talked to has been the

017one that seems the language we wrote seems to have been interpreted in a way that that uh people feel would be becoming more restrictive to what we've been doing again the intent was to communicate this is the same practice we've been doing for years for years we've had students and families come to us on this question and we've worked with them to find a satisfying solution and we'll continue to do that there's no change in any Arrangements anybody has already in the system um going to the restroom in elementary school is a very different experience than going to the restroom in a secondary school and elementary school it's a very typically very organized activity where everybody kind of knows what's going on as secondary every time the Bell Rings there's people going to the restroom

018uh with a lot less supervision so uh we we um we put the phrase in there about working with staff as an intent to remind students and families that if this question is something that is sensitive to you and needs protections around it because in doing so a student may be saying I would prefer not to use this particular restroom but I still would prefer not to be in a public restroom because I still prefer to keep my status to myself again it's privileged information so we want to be available to people in that space as any other so we're not denying access we're not changing practice we'll continue working with people um frankly if someone goes in the bathroom there's lots there's we'd be fools not to think that there aren't bad things that

019happen in our bathrooms outside of this all the time if you want my experience on it right now vaping in our bathrooms is the big problem so bathroom supervision what goes on in bathrooms is a long-standing history and pattern of problems that we have to deal with this has traditionally not been a problem for us and so we're not going to make it seemingly become one so really no change in status there no change in practice we'll work with families and students to make sure they have appropriate access and we want our staff to know if that's the case so it doesn't become an issue between a staff member and a student I think this is the case where we talked about and you mentioned being curious rather than or Staffing to be curious about

020what a student's uh why they might be accessing a particular bathroom rather than being in that disciplinary mode so really no change teaching and learning we have board adopted curriculum materials those are all vetted they all have opportunity for public scrutiny they're going to go through the process all of our curriculum material stuff is online anybody can see it you can see what we're using teachers do have a professional judgment we have policy that allows for that for them to take opportunity to talk about other pieces that may not be directly rated to their specific curriculum we have a policy on controversial issues in the classroom that provide teachers guidance and how to do that appropriately I've seen some of our teachers do some really outstanding proactive work with informing their parents about something they're

021going to do or discuss in the classroom which may fall into that zone of being something a parent would be concerned about that proactive stance allows for communication and and confidence building and Trust building right off the bat rather than when the child comes home and explains what's already happened and so I would encourage our teachers to use that good professional judgment along the way when they're doing something in the classroom to say um I need some help in this and then along the way and then um want to be sure part of what we're trying to do through the communication and ongoing professional development in our district is to build the confidence and knowledge for our staff across the board to be able to make these decisions and work with families and students without

022having to look over their shoulder and worry and have to ask us all the time what's acceptable and what's not we want them to have that professional integrity and professional judgment there are logical places for family members students and then our staff to go with questions of course your classroom teacher is always a good starting place as is the school counselor as is the building principal for our school staff we have all kinds of support really three big buckets we have our Equity education department it has got a coordinator it's got a teacher on special assignment and we have all of our equity facilitators in our buildings or all have been part of our knowledge building and understanding around this those are great go-to people for our staff for support River student wellness office with

023Tammy santon a team of mental health she also works with the school counselors they are a great resource for specific kinds of questions as well and then for our our uh particular administrators when you get into policy questions I'm not sure what this one means I have a tough one in my hands we have our executive directors of Elementary Michelle relford our executive director of secondary and Baldwin they have a direct link into our executive team we have legal counsel we can always talk to so there are places for people to go get help get support there's policies in place to to protect our students there's practices in place that we think makes sense there's opportunity for our parents to communicate and work with us and we just want to continue encouraging the conversation moving

024forward so that we can ensure that all of our students all of our students have equal access to our school feel welcome feel supported um and feel protected like they should be at school last thing I tell you so everybody knows those guidelines that we put out are also on our district intranet which is accessible only to our internal staff to have direct access to that document at any point we've done talking listening sessions with um Elementary counselors we have secondary counselors this week we've done Equity facilitators um social workers and we've met with all of our administrators so we continue having the conversations and making sure everybody understands what is it we're trying to do in this space so I appreciate all the support the boards had the questions you've had the thinking you've

025added to where we're at to all of our staffers contributed this and has been many people this wasn't a John Kellogg authored this by himself this was a lot of different people had opportunity for those who read it and felt that the wording isn't reflective of what I'm saying now I apologize I hope that this clarifies for some folks and we'll continue having the conversations and understanding as as this evolves so happy to take any questions from the board at this time so um I got a question over the weekend about whether or not students are able to still go talk to the counselors about how they feel about their sexual identity or gender identity and get support in that circumstance absolutely that's what our school counselors is part of what their background experience is

026um we also have we have a that would be a great starting point and from the school counselors depending on the child and what they're presenting to them like anything if it's out of their skill set domain we have places to elevate it to to make sure we can support that child best we can but yes we would encourage those conversations all the time we want to build those relationships um thanks for for doing that for summarizing that again so I have a couple of questions um one is regarding so giving guidance to staff in terms of their ability to share their own pronouns right no restrictions there's again it's their own personal privilege information if that's something I want to share I think that's appropriate I would always advise our staff presenting yourself and

027building relationship with their students is important but as we all know there's there are spaces in there that you just have to be thoughtful too as well right so as a professional I think if you viewed that as a way of building relationship with those students I think it makes sense but there's lots of information about ourselves that we hold professionally as well and a reminder that you're presenting information to a group of people you've just presented privileged information a group of people who now have that at their hands and that you should think that through not I'm not saying I'm not discouraging to anybody I would just my own self would be thoughtful about where I'm sharing that and making sure I'm comfortable and feel safe in doing so there's nothing that stops stuff

028from sharing that information if they want to I there's nothing in our policy at this point that would require us to say to staff they can't do those things there are places that have done that I know of private organizations businesses that have restricted what people can put on their sign offs Etc we're we have not gone down that path um thank you and and then in terms of protected information you know alluded to that that um there's all kinds of protected information that we don't ask students for and that the legal advice um you know that we've been given and what's risen through these conversations is that proactively asking students for pronouns is delving into that protected information area so can you just I'm sure we can all think of something but give us

029an example of something that isn't related to gender that's protected information that we would not proactively ask for first one comes to mind is health status asking a particular student if they have a particular health issue in front of all their other students would be in that place asking about their family status parental status I mean there's there's information in there asking their financial circumstances and their family are you free and reduced lunch these are examples of things that are restricted to people who need to know for whatever reason and so those are spaces and our teachers do a good job of that they understand that and this would fall under that umbrella at least as it looks at this time and so part of that is yes I'm speaking to you about the protection

030of the student and their privilege information you're asking a young person in front of classmates who may or may not receive that information the right way to reveal that on the second side of that is as a person in a position of authority asking that question you now might be construed as being in violation of our policy in Title IX and I so this is about our staff being the right place too so that if there's an issue presented about them we've positioned them to be defended the way we want to defend them around policy in our legal guidance so that's part of it as well thank you um so I just have one question uh I think we've given teachers and staff the opportunity to create safe spaces that let our students know that

031they're welcome to talk about what they need to talk about can you give us some examples of those there's all kinds of things students will come to they may come to us talking up to us about self-harm which is been increasingly an alarming part of what we have to do right their own mental health status they may come to us with disclosing issues they're having in relationships teenage relationships right so boyfriend girlfriend relationships they may come to us with concerns or revealing to us issues they're having with drugs and alcohol so there's all kinds of things that our students come to us for years and years and years and this is one of them that have and I think what we're seeing is in this environment we're increasingly there's a uh a call for greater

032protections we're seeing more and more students present to us that they identify with this community are looking for those same opportunities for protection so yeah there are all kinds of things our kids will come talk to us about that are sensitive pieces that you know our adults are work with and are trained with to deal with and I I think when you when you alter the context of what we're talking about and you put in these other places it starts to line up more about okay that's how schools should look and should feel um when I went to conferences there was one thing I noticed overwhelmingly that I hadn't noticed before but there were lots of signs and stickers and you know just different forms of communication to let kids know they were loved and

033welcomed and I really appreciated that I looked at some of Eli's paperwork that he didn't fill out and turn in but on there it was like is there anything else you would like to share so I think there are lots of opportunities that our staff is trying to give to students to talk and feel safe so I really appreciated those things I I noticed that too when you walk our hallways you go in our schools you go by classrooms there's lots of messages about support our staff is just um particularly post covet has really taken this part to Art we know that we're not getting their minds if we don't have the Heart and souls and so our kids come to us with things that are on their mind and it's hard to start talking

034about Pythagorean theorem when what's on your mind is something much more impactful right this is the old taxonomy of of of how we work work with them so um I'm always proud of the way our staff do that and again not like you Miss Davidson as I walk the buildings I see lots of those messages across the system we're not going to shut that down that's a part of the belonging part of what we're trying to do so and we will continue to monitor what's going on with policy makers and make our voices heard as the board has done in the past and we'll continue to do I just want to thank you John for um the in-depth discussion of this and for the context placement as well um the district has been involved for

035many years and you mentioned 20 years on some of the pieces that we've worked on has been involved for 20 years and putting these structural pieces in place to help protect our children and to partner with families and to provide the kind of guidance that the adults need in working with the families and this is as you said a a very important hot button Topic at this point in time as it should be but there are always issues of great concern to students issues that when you are young feel like it is your entire life and you as you said you can't deal with Pythagorean theorem if you are looking at your whole life as creating a situation that you don't feel you're supported in whatever the reason may be so what we try to

036do you know at this particular table is to create that kind of framework that allows our students to grow and to thrive and that lets us put forward the type of resources the type of guidance that our staff our children and young people and our families need and it is always a function of looking at the whole and that is where we're most likely to achieve success as if we look at the whole as we look at children and their development as we look at families and their role in that development as we look at staff and their important role in that development as well so thank you for bringing that clarification it's one of those those pieces that even though the I certainly agree that it was necessary to send the piece out because

037there were there were questions and people wanted guidance and it doesn't help to say well read your policy manual so I appreciate that but I also know that immediately there were questions and concerns and rumors and I appreciate the information that hopefully will help put some of those rumors to rest and answer some of those questions thank you Dr Mr Baker on that one I should mention that on Friday um after several questions about the rest room piece we sent out a clarification again I sent out a specific email to our principals our school counselors and our record facilitators ran it by a couple people that I really trust and said yep that's clear which and that that email to those groups is consistent with what I said this evening so hopefully whatever dust up

038we're starting to work through that and I would encourage people to have those conversations directly with our folks um that's the best source of information in terms of what we're trying to do and trying to accomplish I think if you have those conversations you'll see that the hearts are in the right place of what we're trying to do um just to follow up on that this is really just a comment and I I never would speak for the board and just say this for myself but um you know I think for any families or any students who have questions please go and talk to your building administrators your counselors you know I have only seen people wanting to make every make these schools welcoming for all students and it's not always done you know we

039do things we write things up we send out emails sometimes they're not clear sometimes they have to be clarified through comments like this or a follow-up email um but truly truly every student whether they're a member of lgbtq plus population especially in the context of this conversation or another population of students um that understands themselves to maybe be um oh I don't know what the word is but um wanting or needing some special attention or special um consideration I think I've only seen people want all of our students to succeed and be welcomed and loved and so as a board member if I can be helpful in that please please reach out to me um happy to have a conversation thanks okay thank you so much John we appreciate it moving on 6.1 approved the

040minutes of the Board of Education meeting held September 12th 2022 as presented may have a motion please so moved second any questions or comments here hearing none Mr Bell yes Mrs ottman yes Mrs Meyer yes Dr Nashville Baker yes Mrs Davidson yes 7.1 public comments we do not have any 8.1 public hearing Elaine coina we do not have any public comments Nicole do you want to talk to us a little bit about this um yes so this is uh a employee who retired through the School Employees Retirement System and Ohio law requires that we hold a public hearing prior to re-employing anyone that's retired under an Ohio public retirement system so she's looking at returning back to the CRA position cafeteria recess Aid position so the mic is open if anyone wants to make comments

041okay hearing none moving on 9.1 a resolution to approve the purchases no purchases in accordance with orc 5705.41 and board policy 6320 they have a motion so moved second talk to us a little bit about that okay okay yes thank you president Davidson members of the board so this is what we affectionately caller than a now purchase orders so this is where we have a purchase order that is not was dated after the invoice date for a purchase so this is for a summer cheer camp with the marriage here Incorporated and this was just a case of where the parents were meant to pay a marriage here but they paid us instead so we're in turn writing a check to them so we do have the money that was budgeted and we will pay this

042with your approval okay Mr Bell yes Mrs Meyer yes Dr Dexter Baker yes Mrs Altman yes Mrs Davidson yes 9.2 approved the financial report and Investments for August 2022 may have a motion please so moved second and whenever you're ready Miss Marshall thank you so yes we are going over August 31st month end financial report so August would be the second month of the fiscal year just keep in mind our fiscal year begins July 1st so for the general fund we had year-to-date receipts of 79.7 million dollars year-to-date expenditures of 34.7 million just a reminder we do receive our August property tax settlement in August so which is why revenues are so high we ended with a general fund unencumbered fund balance of 190.3 million dollars and for all funds we had year-to-date receipts of

04397.1 million year-to-date expenditures of 58.8 million and we ended with unencumbered funds for all funds at 256.7 million dollars that's all I have any questions here hearing none Dr nesterbreaker yes Mrs Altman yes Mr Bell yes Mrs Meyer yes Mrs Davidson yes would it be okay with everyone if we took the Personnel consent agenda as one yes okay Personnel consent agenda 10.1 [Music] through I think it goes down to 10.1 that's supposed to be 10.15 right 10.16. oh there it's not it was up there all right yay 10.16. they have a motion so moved second and Carrie Dennis is with us welcome this evening thank you and good evening president Davidson members of the board Dr Kellogg and Miss Marshall I would like to present for you I'm sorry for your consideration tonight's personal consent

044agenda this evening we are asking the board to consider and approve the following we have our usual array of resignations and change of assignments there are fall and year-long supplementals on the consent agenda along with welcoming nine classified employees to our district the board will also see an MOA with WEA for the Raptor application within the Safety and Security Department and an mou with WEA related to the phase out of professional development increments per the bargain current bargain agreement we have three retirements to recognize this evening Willie Smith will retire from his current role as a custodian at Hanby Elementary School with 10 years of service Victoria weisenberger will retire from her current role as a secretary in our transportation department after a total of 30 years of service for our students Lucy Raider Brown

045will be retiring as the district's El coordinator with 22 years of dedicated service to Westerville City Schools a lot to be thankful and grateful for in Washington well of special interest the board will have for its consideration the collective bargaining agreement for the OPC local 138 along with that are the guidelines for the administrative approved staff I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have questions here no no questions but I just want to say thank you to the teams who work so hard on the contract that is up for approval now thanks to you thanks to the employee side as well really appreciate that work thank you I agree thank you so much thank you thank you hearing none thank you so much thank you this is Meyer yes Dr Nestor Baker yes

046Mr Bell yes Mrs hotman yes Mrs Davidson yes we do not have any old business this evening we do not have any new business this evening but we do have recommended action 13.1 donations may have a motion here so moved second and would anyone like to speak about this or a question or comment thank you it's pretty remarkable yeah yeah it's amazing I know it really is I'm in awe yeah just a we always say it but always mean it um thank you to everybody who has participated in making these donations um from I'm just gonna read off a couple since maybe not everybody can see these right at this moment we have donations from the Westerville rotary Ohio District of Kiwanis International music boosters theater boosters uh Church in Messiah Methodist individuals various ptas

047just on and on and on so businesses and individuals in the community too so totaling I have to get back down there 72 648.27 so thank you all Mr Bell yes Mrs Altman yes Mrs Meyer yes Dr Esther Baker yes Mrs Davidson yes moving on to our agenda we have some public comments this evening just a friendly reminder that you will have five minutes um sorry there will be a timer shown on the screen and Mr Hershiser will call time when five minutes has elapsed and our first Speaker this evening is Lori Jones so before you start that timer I gotta educate you guys on something gender identity is not sexual orientation it is who they are as people it's not protected it's not secret it's it's at our core that's that's my comment to

048start now I will read and I'll start that timer my name is Lori Jones my pronouns are they them let me introduce myself I am an out and proud member of westerville's queer Community I like all of you work for the Westerville City Schools I'm a lunch lady at Heritage Middle School the best middle school in the district I invite you all to come down spend a day with me in the cafeteria we have the best most amazing kids they are smart and worldly we have students from 20 plus Nations speaking Over 20 Languages we have queer kids and their straight friends who walk our hallways we have kids who understand better than you or I how hard it is growing up in a world where adults are using their skin color and sexual orientation

049and gender as ammunition to attack the fabric of public education children are being used as Pawns in a very dangerous game I cannot decide I cannot decide if you sending out this letter is Will for ignorance to the fact of to that fact or if it comes from transphobia I guess your future actions will answer that question we can discuss politics all you want hell I will even take you guys for coffee on a cup and a cocktail to do so but here in front of this body I want to say to you nope I'm sorry I'm I'm going to ask you all to seek courage stop this ridiculous pacifying of the far right and their war on queers if you do not reevaluate how you are handling this several things are going to happen

050the first vulnerable young people who don't have families to talk to uh who are in your charge in your schools are going to take matters into their own hands and they will think that the only way they can make it through this is to end their life I would hope in the position you all are in that that is the very last thing you want to have happen but by the directives of this letter you wrote I can only imagine that you have weighed this possibility and you are okay with upping the ante on queer kids lives you will have the blood of dead children on your hands are you all ready for that queer kids who are supported seen and heard are 40 less likely to harm themselves why do you all choose to

051be anything but a positive light in a queer child's life secondly every one of you sitting up there knows this is not going to stop with the Tennessee decision you know they will come for queer teachers and queer Lunch Ladies next they already are in other parts of the country we have already had candidates and sitting politicians here in Ohio call for not only our jobs but our deaths wrap your head around that for a second they want me dead it's amazing to me amazing I will then ask if you don't take a stand now when will you please stop writing letters to pacify people who thus far don't outwardly exist in this district and if they do are you really telling me you would rather stand with them versus standing with your queer students

052and staff will you continue to Cave to lawyers and ignorance while helping those that wish us harm the Tennessee case is harmful it was designed to be harmful and you trying to wiggle into rocking the boat to not rocking the boat with all of this policy stuff is harmful I want you to please take a long hard look at me understand when I say there is no way on God's green or if this queer is getting put back in a closet I am 54 years old I have zero cares left to give about myself I have been fighting since the days day of AIDS the ignorance that comes with what is happening now in many ways is worse than anything we faced in the early 90s my God we know better now start acting like

053it do not think for a second we will stop fighting now what you should also know is that queer kids today are not my generation they do not hide they do not believe in closets if you have been paying attention they kick the hinges off those doors and have not had have not been living in the dark why would you expect them to shrink and shrivel at these four Preposterous items that you have set forth in your addressing of the Tennessee lawsuit and I understand their policy I get it maybe it's time we change policy you are going to see the young people of this city and state rise up you may think you're ideally with me but I can assure you you are dealing with a bunch of kids who know exactly who they

054are and they are queer and queer allies who are sick and tired of adults like you and I and the board playing games with their identities I heard when I started working for the school how Progressive we are as a district two of you who ran this last time who are now sitting in front of me said they would fight for queer kids this letter was not fighting this letter was a start to aligning with the rights insistence that queer people are less than we are seeing it over and over again there you even said so there are times in our all our histories that we have to plant the flag and rally around it and fight I've been fighting for years now it is your time because if you don't fight for queer kids

055then what in the hell are you doing in the education system as Leaders thank you thank you Lori up next Valerie Cummings welcome hi thank you my name is Valerie coming and my pronouns are she her and tonight I'm sharing a letter that was written from a concerned mother who couldn't be here tonight and wishes to keep her child's identity Anonymous so I'll be reading um her letter on her behalf dear Dr Kellogg and board members I am the parent of a young transgender child in this school district up until now we have never felt uncared for targeted harmed or discriminated against admin staff and students within our elementary schools have been supportive attentive and inclusive to our child over the last five years staff and students have always used her correct name and pronouns

056this has been life-changing and life affirming for her she has always used the girls restroom with no issue at all if she was prohibited from doing so she would not be able to attend Westerville City Schools it would not only be discriminatory but traumatic and would most certainly out her to other students and staff your recent email filled with restrictions for staff and restrictions for genderqueer youth has put a Target on the back of my child of my family your email promotes transphobia and ignorance towards transgen transgender people it is in alignment with all the other attacks coming at trans youth from the Ohio State Legislature and the Ohio Department of Education board in conversations post email you have stated firmly that your email was meant to be inclusive and supportive of trans Youth and

057their families will you explain and state your position now on the record will you send another email to all families in the district expressing your apologies and commitment to protect support and uplift trans students in every way possible will you choose courage over fear our kids lives depend on it your email has already caused harm and Trauma to many families so much so that I could never ever read what you wrote to my child and the guidelines proposed will continue to put the lives and experiences of trans kids at risk do better be better lead by example right your wrongs make Westerville City Schools a beacon of light and a place of Refuge support and celebration for our lgbtqia students we are trusting you with our babies sincerely the mother of an elementary aged Westerville

058City Schools transgender student thank you thank you Valerie up next we have Reagan Lopez and I need a little help with the last name thank you welcome hello oh that's really loud uh my name is Regan Lopez D Victoria I've lived in Westerville for about eight years I have three children two of them attend Westerville City Schools um I come here today with concern about the disconnect between the language and the email statement and Dr Kellogg's statement of intent tonight if this statement was meant to comfort and provide clarification the opposite was achieved when I look at language like strives to be inclusive without mentioning how or maintains specific policies without naming those policies and I do understand that a full policy layout is not appropriate for a district-wide email but those words read like

059lip service purposefully opaque in order to avoid direct positive affirmation of the LGBT community so LGBT folks exist and most kids have loved ones somewhere along the lgbtq Spectrum and they know what's up like we aren't doing our kids any favors if we think that we can avert our Collective adult gaze from the existence of lgtb people and just call it a day in education if we want them to do their jobs well teachers staff and students have to be able to handle their own pronouns say gay say trans and know that the district has their back this email was the opposite of that vibe vague language in policy around pronouns or gender fluidity will have a chilling effect on the vulnerable members of our student body it will embolden the bullies and silence the

060bullied when Westerville City Schools makes a policy that allows a parent to veto a child's name preference or bathroom preference what I hear is that a parent's experience is valued over the students that more care is being given to the perception of legal vulnerability than the actual well-being of the children entrusted in your care is this school district operating for the benefit of children or to placate a few litigious adults so I want to talk about bathrooms for a minute this is from the email in general students should use the restroom that corresponds to the gender documented on the official School record staff should work with students who Express a need to use a restroom that is not consistent with the gender documented on the record so this one's super dangerous policies that allow interpretation

061on a case-by-case basis will lead to discrimination that cannot reliably be documented students will have to do the mental calculus of does this staff member understand my situation are they going to be open to discussing this are they going to make this worse for me we're asking children to advocate for themselves rather than creating school policy that advocates for them an example of affirmative policy language would be students should use the restroom of their preference full stop and then go to the map for those kids and another example of affirming policy would be to ensure that schools have a gender neutral option and thereby avoiding the issue entirely as a matter of fact all three High School gsas have submitted a statement of need and proposal regarding gender-neutral bathrooms way back in February to the

062district and I would love to hear a public response from the district and the board to that effect lots of LGBT kids don't have supportive families and with this email the already narrow channel between school policy and survival just got a lot more shallow I am worried about these kids language like we saw on the email attempt attempts the appearance of a backbone without all that messy backbone stuff and as a parent I would like to hear how the school district will be protecting our LGBT kids from discrimination not how they'll avoid it or a lawsuit with specific policies that prioritize student safety and health over the district's legal liability thank you so much for your time thank you very much and our last speaker this evening is Charity grooms welcome hello pronouns are she

063her thank you everyone for sharing them um just a few points in response to the statement from Dr Kellogg um first is if teachers are prohibited from asking students for their pronouns I wonder why the guidance was missing instructions telling the teachers they can only use gender-neutral pronouns such as they them second um I heard there are no restrictions on staff sharing their pronouns but that was also missing from the email as a Westfield graduate and a current parent of a Westerville student I'm incredibly disappointed and frankly outraged by the recent guidance that the district communicated regarding the treatment actually mistreatment of students that are part of the LGBT plus Community teachers now have many obstacles preventing them from creating a safe space for an extremely vulnerable student population school is the only safe space

064for some of these students but the district cares more about protecting itself from negligible legal risk than the fragile lives at stake the temporary injunction the district cites for their horrendous guidance does not change current law but puts a temporary hold on implementing guidance documents from the U.S Department of Education as a result the Department of Education was required to publish the guidance documents for a 60-day comment period which ended two days before the email went out I'm going to read a quote from the law firm of pebble and Wagner it's an ohio-based Law Firm that has locations in Cincinnati and Cleveland in response to the injunction the injunction does not prevent Ohio schools school districts from treating students consistent with their gender identity and any policies procedures or practices to that effect which are

065currently in place do not need to be changed Boards of Education are advised to review their policy manuals to determine whether any revisions concerning the scope and application of their Title IX policy will be necessary in the event that an injunction is lifted so peplum Wagner's not only saying that the schools have no legal need to change current policies and procedures or practices due to the injunction but they're actually saying you need to get prepared for when the injunction is lifted and make sure that your policies and procedures that are in place are adequately protecting students according to the draft of the Department of Education guidelines I understand that the district has legal counsel providing contrary guidance I understand the district is the client and the community and students are not I plead with the

066district to seek new legal counsel that has more expertise in these issues I plead with the district to reach out to an organization such as trans Ohio or equality Ohio for a second opinion I plead with the district to better understand this community by engaging your LGBT plus families this will be critical and life-saving as these students are being used as political pawns you we all need to band together and protect our students do better Westerville and retain new legal counsel thank you thank you charity to board comments to see if you would like to go first yes sure um thank you for speaking um really everything you say taking to heart um there are things I would like to say um but will refrain because of loved ones in my own family that I

067shouldn't speak about in this setting but please know that I hear you okay so thank you for coming to speak tonight [Applause] I would like to thank you all for coming to speak tonight too and if I might have said um sexual identity or sexual orientation um I know the distinct difference and I want to say thank you Lori for correcting me um and uh thank you for bringing your concerns forward and I'm always open to listening and to understanding and talking so um please reach out thank you um I did have a quick legislative update um thankfully not much has moved on these horrendous bills that we were talking about a little bit earlier in the general assembly House Bill 616 327 and 322 have not moved since last year uh House Bill 616

068has not moved since this year earlier this year and so I'm really thankful for that another bill that um has been brought to my attention is House Bill 123 it was introduced by a republican Mark Frazier from Newark and Republican John Cross from Kenton and it's in the Senate Ways and Means on committee um since uh June of 21 so I doubt it's going to get much traction but if it does move it would modify the community reinvestment areas and the terms which property tax can be Exempted from taxation which will reduce revenues for school districts amongst other entities so that's all I have in terms of legislative updates I want to thank Kerry I know Carrie and local 137 and um AAS worked really hard to to come to an agreement it's been a

069long time I'm just really thankful for all of your service thank you I would just like to um take a few moments to extend a few thank yous I would first like to thank the Westerville Education Foundation for the outstanding event that they hosted at Minerva France Elementary grow and glow glow yes it was an outstanding event with great attendance many area organizations were represented to be able to share information with members of our community and we were also fortunate and blessed to be able to have some members of Minerva France's family that were present to be a part of that celebration as well so just want to thank the Education Foundation for their partnership and working with the district working with us on that event um I would also um like to take a

070moment uh to again thank our negotiation teams uh that arrived at an agreement um and this day in age we are seeing where there are many different groups that are not able to use the negotiation process to arrive at a mutually agreeable place so thank you for the hard work that I know went into the agreement that we now have in place and with that that's it I also wanted to offer a couple of thanks as well the Education Foundation the girl and glow I've heard wonderful things I didn't take my crutch to the event but everyone said it was absolutely delightful and if you haven't been able to get to Minerva France I hope you will go it is uh it is an uplifting experience just to walk in the door it's a beautiful

071school and I'm so thankful that it's joined the the other siblings that we have within the district our schools and Amherst had such an incredible they call it the 50-ish uh commemoration Because the actual 50th birthday happened during covid and so they waited until we could all be there as a community the turnout was wonderful the the people who came who were you know are currently students there currently staff members there parents they're people who used to work their people who went to school there people who live within the neighborhood it was a a true celebration of the Amherst Community as much as it was that school and it's interesting to think about the the life of annehurst Elementary over the years when Amherst opened people came from all over the world to see this

072amazing open concept School and we have spent the last how many years finding ways to put that behind us and listening to people as they walked through Amherst and they saw the changes in Amherst and what it looks like now and the the light that flows into Amherst and the color that is now endemic in Amherst and people I didn't hear a single negative comment about the beauty of Amherst and the wonderful educational environment it is now and the 50 years of wonder that annehurst has been so it was just it was such a joy to be there and to be there with them and to hear all the memories and hear all the great things that are going to be happening at Amherst so congratulations to everyone who did that and the educated Westerville

073education challenge those of you who are involved in that I know will probably want to say more about it what a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and work toward betterment of all that we do around our children's mental health so I'll let you take care of that because that's something I know that's very dear to your heart that you're deeply engaged in so I guess my thank you is kind of an overall thank you yeah there are things always things that cause division that need discussion that require our deep attention always there are also always things that should draw us back together and things that should cause us to say thank you just for being part of it all and the things that have been going on in the district the events that have gone on

074the events of Happiness the events of concern it all comes around to a big thank you because that is who this community is so we'll keep we'll keep working at what we need to work at and we'll keep celebrating the things that are worth celebrating so thank you this community thank you Nancy that was very nice um I Echo all of my colleagues comments I just want to make one comment so that this is the comment to me that is of most importance um the speakers tonight were very thought-provoking and I want to say thank you to all of the speakers I want to make it really clear that I stand with lgbtq plus Community um so I'm saying it out loud it's on the record I want all children to feel loved and valued

075and heard and safe so I just wanted to leave it with that tonight and with that we're going to move on to 16.1 dates times and locations of the next meeting the board will meet in regular session on Monday October 10 2022 at 6 PM right here at the Early Learning Center and with that may I have a motion to adjourn so moved second Mr Bell yes Dr nestabaker yes Mrs Meyer yes Mrs Altman yes Mrs Davidson yes and with that we're adjourned thank you so much