001foreign meeting presiding as president president has uh being a thing he has a family emergency or ask please please privacy um so there's going to be a couple housekeeping items that I want to go over um before we get am I cutting out can everyone hear me foreign [Music] people signed up for public comment tonight our board policy 903 effectively says that we usually allow four minutes per participant to to engage in public comment with a total of 30 minutes and it's extremely important that the board hears from from everyone we want everyone to be able to participate in our meeting so as acting a president for this meeting I'm going to change the rules of this this meeting and we're going to give each participant two minutes and we're going to extend the time
002from 30 minutes to one hour so I think with the number of participants we should be able to get through public comment and I would ask everyone to please be respectful of everyone's time and everyone that signed up um and we'll go from there so I'm going to read the opening statement now the purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of the Gettysburg Area School District Board of Directors meetings committee meetings are open to the public but are not public meetings all School District residents they wish to make public comments should have signed up prior to the start of the meeting request a week during citizens participation School District residents wishing to speak to the boards they'll do so only during the season citizens participation section of this meeting the board will not
003tolerate any public outbursts or disruptions nor will it Tau tolerate comments made outside of the citizens partition participation public comment is welcome and all issues will be referred to the appropriate board committee or administrators comments will be summarized in the official board minutes and made available by contacting the business office and I would like to say that anyone that that may not get a chance to speak or those that do not want to speak publicly you can submit your comments in writing to the district will make sure that they're captured in the meeting minutes uh so roll call all members are present except for the exception of President hassinger who's attending to a family emergency can we please apply a raise stand for the Pledge of Allegiance [Music] thank you showed me um we have
004notices and Communications Dr Parent you want to just after that sure just a reminder school starts tomorrow yay so everybody say um so as we normally do with first day of school if you could if your child rides the school bus please be a little extra patient this first couple of days as the contractors get used to their routes um a little couple minutes early a couple minutes late especially those afternoon runs they tend to be a little bit later as as the drivers start to get settled in for those routes and we appreciate our drivers and their hard work up front um getting everybody to school safe a couple of other calendar items uh September 1st professional development day there's no school on that day and also September 4th Labor Day there's no school
005on that day as well thank you thank you Dr Pat section four is um citizens participation and before we get into that as I mentioned before we have we have 29 or 30 folks um they would like to address the board tonight and we welcome public comment we we encourage it and I I just want everyone in attendance everyone has an opinion I mean everyone's opinion is important but I ask you to please be respectful of any of our public speakers and refrain from any uncivil behavior I'm not saying that that will happen but it would be in the best interest of the board in the meeting tonight if we could all do that and something else um we just held a public uh executive session prior to the meeting and the board has been
006in discussion with the administration um a lot over over this the topic that most of you guys are here for this evening and at the recommendation of our solicitor and after discussing it with the administration I would like someone on the board like I would like to come on the board to make a motion to um regarding item number send another item 5.3 I would like a motion to remove a coach gate from the HR consideration that we have the opportunity to hear from everyone before we uh we make a photo okay so the motion is to remove coaches from 5.3 Human Resources recommendation um roll call we all right debate on that would that go directly to a roll call or would that be for for debate all right does anyone have any questions
007any board members have any questions all right hearing none heaven no Michelle yes Amy Beth no ow yes M Jeremy Brian yes and I vote Yes all right I'm moving into uh citizens participation Mr Dr Moyer would you please call our speaker again [Music] right away so you'll have two minutes at 90 seconds or 30 seconds left I will give you a heads up that you need to wrap things up that way we can hear from as possible during the allotted time our first Speaker Casey Zerg good evening everyone I am Casey Zurich I am a senior here at Gettysburg area high school I am I was here a few months ago foreign [Music] this year as the 2023 to 2024 Adams County alternate Dairy princess we have not had a promotion team in over
00820 years so we're still rebuilding and re um we're still rebuilding and redeveloping ourselves to get out in the community one of our biggest goals for this year is getting out into the community and promoting the dairy industry so some of our key Target audiences are Elementary School classrooms where we would like to get into getting start with Gettysburg school districts since we're but we're mainly all located there and get into the Elementary classrooms and get a little lesson about Dairy the dairy industry and then have a little lesson plan and a fun activity and then also some games about Dairy knowledge and then to also Target a larger more age broad audience we'd like to get into sports sport activities and athletics events and we would like to have a little table set up
009there have a little um announcement during halftime about some Dairy information Dairy knowledge promoting the dairy industry and then also I have a few little goodies we can hand out which I will have for each board member to look at and at the end of each game we'd like to give all the sports players Gettysburg team and the opposing team a serving of chocolate milk so they can rehydrate and refuel with hot chocolate milk that we will provide thank you thank you and on behalf of the board we appreciate your efforts and congratulations Dairy Queen [Laughter] thank you very much thank you honey hi there my name is Andrea wickerham and I reside in Gettysburg by way of background on my 1976 graduate of Gettysburg High School I was a high school and college student
010athlete a college coach and a college athletics department administrator in addition I am a lawyer with work experience in employment law contracts Human Resources Administration including leading athletic department employment related investigation I attended the school board meeting on Monday August 7th I was shocked by the motion not to renew the supplemental contract for the Head tennis court the board's deadlock vote of three to three with one abstention told me that this was not truly a serious Personnel matter I have come to learn that the head coach very well respected held in high regard by both teams by many parents and by members of the Gettysburg tennis community I also have come to learn that board member Michelle smyers the individual who made the motion to not renew the contract has made hateful and biased comments
011about the lgbtq plus community specifically those who are transgender 30 seconds I have seen some of those posts with my own eyes I believe her desire to not renew the Head tennis coach's contract is based on transphobia rather than on a legitimate non-discriminatory work performance reason if there had been a legitimate work related reason for not renewing the head coach's contract the athletic director and the principal the professionals who know this coach who know her employment record who know her students and work most closely would they would have done just that they would have not renewed the contract thank you I urge you to vote to renew the contract thank you foreign [Music] yeah thank you for letting me speak my name is John wig I live in Gettysburg a couple things to say I
012see you as a on the Helm of a ship you just have a little part to play to try to steer a little Rudder and I see a not a problem here tonight but a challenge and then Challenger is always opportunity you have a lot of people with passion and belief here and everyone's seeking a solution we hope you can help to put that together now you have two things one is the singular aspect of this one individual's employment that is really what's on discussion tonight but it's really touching onto a much larger issue which can't be solved tonight I did note that in your board policy established in February 6 2006 number 404 the superintendent or designee shall seek candidates of good moral character for employment that's that's an aspect that would be considered
013for this particular individual a couple things bringing up on the larger issue the American Academy of Pediatrics volume 144 Issue 5 November 219 to 2019 said there's an emerging evidence indicates transgender adolescence exhibited elevated rates of suicidal ideation and attempt to compare with cisgender adolescence set suicides the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S and Adolescent suicide rates have increased over the past two decades it's emerging evidence that transgendered adolescents have they're they're quoting about 34 percent report experiencing suicidal ideation during the past year and 61 percent report experiencing suicidal ideation during their lifetime another from the Journal of interpersonal violence quotes data that indicates up to 80 percent of transgender individuals have considered killing itself 40 have attempted to inside now I commend you on the aspect this year putting in
014place a police department but but the biggest danger may not be bullets the biggest wounds would not be the physical ones on the outside there's other injuries to people could be silent things that are unseen but I would recommend and just seeing from this is looking not just at this individual case tonight because this will come and it will go but the keeping in mind that the individual right does not allow you to really uh infringe upon the penny and I think that's an issue here for the people protecting everyone this is a public institution not a not a private special Institution and in that I would like to say that on looking at the bigger picture really putting in place some things that's going to help prevent suicides from people that may have some
015real challenges like I would say Embrace everyone in the community and looking at these things on a much bigger scale but again do not allow individual rights to be exerted or bullied to the point of infringing on the on the right to the many thank you thank you Mr Steve Carmel foreign ER who attends gainesburg senior high school she's 16 year old I would see I would highly recommend the board not bring Mr David Yates back as a tennis coach not due to hate such as most most are portraying this to be it's due with Mr yates's actions on April the 12th of 2023 at approximately 1 50 in the afternoon my daughter was in the bathroom across from the gymnasium in the senior high school going to the restroom before one of her sporting
016events which was held at home while she exited the bathroom stall she ran into Mr David Yates in a female bathroom imagine at a 16 year old female running into a full-grown adult in the bathroom of her High School I put my the custody of my child in your hands during the day and it's my job as a parent to protect my child and this Administration has not done that there's no reason that a 16 year old girl should feel uncomfortable going to the bathroom Community text her coach told her what transpired at that point the coach and the assistant coach spoke about it I was informed that evening of such on the morning of April the 13th our report is to principal Jeremy Lusk at 7 30 in the morning he seemed very unknowledgeable
017about this incident whatsoever [Music] call my daughter to the office he interviewed her her story became the same as what mine was which is what I was told by her that evening he said that he would have to speak their superintendent and solicitor and that he would get back to me after a long conversation with principal lost including another incident which occurred apparently in a girl's locker room with the varsity soccer team coach Mr Yates changed his clothes with the girls in that locker room at that point in time he acknowledged the incident happened he reprimanded him and he said that he would have to make sure that he would go over the guidelines with Mr Yates one more time and that they would be followed thank you thank you next time Benjamin Kennedy foreign
018[Music] thank you I have already written the board on my own behalf with My Views that coach Yates should be retained uh since she is a capable and supportive coach I'm here to read a statement from my older son Spencer Kennedy uh Gettysburg Area High School class of 2023 who could not be here this evening So reading for my son Spencer my name is Spencer Kennedy I have been working with Sasha Yates at Gettysburg area high school for four years four years as a player three years as a manager and one year as a captain I have worked mostly with Sasha in every one of these positions as a coach Sasha is fair kind and unafraid to help us improve as a person she is humorous generous and deeply empathetic during the 2021-2022 school year
019we won our division in a truly wonderful upset we have had unbelievable wins tragic losses and all the standards triumphs and pitfalls of high school sports my memories of the tennis team are some of my fondest from the entirety of high school Sasha has always respected boundaries helped the struggling and made the team a welcoming place for all she is a highly qualified coach and coaches because of her love of the sport and the camaraderie within the team there is no valid reason for Sasha's position to be terminated Sasha is a woman over the past four years I have watched her realize this and have watched as she has transitioned into her true self it has been a privilege to see someone as talented caring and funny as she is blossom into her own to
020persecute her for being herself is against every moral code the school stands for I hope for the sake of those who are seeking Sasha's termination that they repair their hearts I hope for Sasha's sake that the board retains her as coach I hope for students sake that she decides to return to coaching thank you Kennedy of any relationship hello my name is Paul Kennedy and I am currently and I will be a sophomore at gainesburg area high school this fall I I am also a member of the tenant team the tennis team are the people that this is truly affecting and I believe that there is no person in Gettysburg more qualified to coach both the boys and the girls tennis teams of gatesburg area high school and Coach Sasha Yates under assassin's coaching I
021have not only developed a profound love for the sport of tanith but my skills as a player have improved dramatically Sasha is a very accomplished and passionate coach she comes every day smiling ready ready to ready to make us work but also allow us to have fun Sasha is a very important part of my high school experience as my coach and I believe that that terminating her would be wrong and if and be wrong in the eyes of all the tennis players the ones who this decision really affects thank you thank you Paul next week [Music] is that okay I have two daughters my eldest tiger bird cow and my youngest winter the high school Diana [Music] tiger was on this tennis team for Junior and senior years winter started with the tennis team as
022a freshman as no one varsity and she plans to play on on the tennis team throughout High School coach Yates has been a positive supportive influence my girl she was always on the court for practice preparing before the team arrived and remains into the last player has either been picked up or has departed in their own transportation when the girls have matches at other schools I have witnessed coach without being overbearing make sure she knows where the students are at all times our family places have very high value on academics anytime there's been a conflict between necessary study time and either a tennis practice or game coach Yates has always respected their decisions very important my family this program has been successfully led by the same coach since 2018. as a parent of two daughters
023who have enjoyed being a part of this team it is difficult for me to understand for change thank you tiger foreign foreign [Music] ette I am speaking on behalf of my sister winter frenet who um cannot afford unfortunately cannot attend tonight because of school starting early tomorrow my sister is a member of the gatesburg High School tennis team and I was also on the Gettysburg tents team I am now in college and I am speaking on behalf of both of us it is easy to see that coach Yates enjoys tennis she brings enthusiasm to the team which increases by enjoyment of the sport and motivates me to continue to work harder between summer practices and the School tennis season I am becoming a significantly better I hope this can be worked out because the tennis
024team is about to start and I would like to have my coach there working with us and supporting us okay [Music] thank you tiger next we have Melissa Rosenberger good evening and thank you board members for giving us our time this evening I sent a message earlier today and hopefully you all got an opportunity to read it I've been a parent of Gettysburg school athletes for I believe the past eight to ten years I am thankful to have a daughter who's on the tennis team and I'd like to just recognize for a moment any of you tennis kids can you please stand up for a moment [Music] tomorrow these kids are going to school for their first day and I'd like you all to be thinking about the decisions that you make collectively on behalf
025of our community on behalf of our school and on behalf of our children and please please start taking time to think about how this has a ripple effect I'm a social worker in this community I did a field placement with Gettysburg School District a couple years ago I'm on numerous boards in this community and I know when I make a vote it's on behalf of the community I'm not and not on my personal interests so please find it in your heart to start making really really thoughtful decisions and look at all the people here today that you had an impact on thank you Melissa Matthews good evening I'm Nell Matthews as you just heard I have known coach Yates for six years my husband and I started quick start tennis at the Lincoln after school
026program summer tennis and the Middle School tennis club all within the past 20 years our programs morphed into the feeder program for the High School tennis team coach Yates started volunteering her time to our tennis programs as soon as we met her I had been hoping someone would come along to take over because I had put my heart and soul into this tennis program for our local students at times we had 80 kids on the court ier has taken over the summer tennis practices and the Middle School tennis club which meets in the spring and fall when the high school team is done with their Seasons respectively tennis is a lifelong sport my goal as a tennis coach was to instill the Love of the Game so that our players can be a part of
027the tennis community throughout their lives just as I have been so fortunate to have in my life coach H is a passionate tennis player since the age of eight a tennis fan and coach if you do not have a coach who loves what they do the kids feel this it's hard to be on the court day after day making practice enjoyable and encouraging players without having a passion for what you do coach Yates has that passion she is always positive on both both on she is positive both on and off the court even now in this room her performance reviews have all been exemplary and she is still now the administration's Choice as had tennis coach how many of you have attended a tennis match or attendance practice on the board well two okay frankly
028I am appalled and flabbergasted that her contract is in Jeopardy because some of you feel uncomfortable I am closing with a quote from Billie Jean King thank you okay Billie Jean King said get comfortable with being uncomfortable [Applause] eventually have Dr Sonia how close was that pronunciation Del shredigy so my name is Sonia daltrettichi I'm the mom of Paul and Spencer Kennedy who you've heard from um I think our family has attended I estimated somewhere around 400 tennis practices as our older son is the manager of the women's team as well as a featured player on the men's team for four years and our younger son is on that team as well we have found coach Yates to mean nothing but um professional appropriate friendly and excellent coach teaching the boys to love the game
029in a professional supportive environment over the last four years that we have worked with her um I just want to put that out there I also would like to speak in my professional capacity I'm a physician in York I live here at Gettysburg but I work in York I'm the leader of our lgbtq health curriculum at York hospital I've worked with many patients who are both transgender or lgbtq um it does not hurt our children to be in the presence of trans people the existence of trans people does not hurt our children but hurts our children is discrimination against trans people and it particularly okay and this particularly hurts our most vulnerable students who are transgender themselves we have many students in the high school I know many many students who themselves are transgender they
030are very vulnerable to harassment bullying mental health issues depression and as one of our other speakers said sadly suicide so just to be very clear the presence of a transgender staff member at our high school does not hurt our students our students need support from the entire Community both gay and straight both transgender and cisgender and I speak not just from my personal experience but also from my expertise in this area of health so I just really want to say that and I really want to thank you guys for listening to these many public comments I know this is an issue that's dear to many of our hearts and I appreciate everybody being here tonight thank you King Matthews foreign kids in the Gettysburg School District together with my wife now we have been involved
031with teaching tennis here for about 20 years we started a middle school program several years several years ago to promote tennis and to act as a feeder program for the High School tennis team we had as many as 20 middle schoolers coming into the courts at the middle school twice a week in the fall and spring when coach Yates began as Head tennis coach five years ago she enthusiastically embraced our middle school program enthusiastic describes coach Yates perfectly we have watched her coach and coached with her since she came to Gettysburg I would describe Cochise as positive encouraging inclusionary fun and thoughtful in her approach to coaching positive and finding good in his students tennis game and in the student as a person encouraging and pushing them to be better players inclusionary and stressing that
032all players are important to the team fun coach Yates has many mantras but the one I like the most is it is vitally important that my athletes have fun and guess what if they are having fun and workouts and matches they tend to play better thoughtful and truly true thoughtful thoughtful and truly caring about how things are going in her athletes lives asking constantly how classes are going making sure no one is being bullied or feeling left out on the team promoting camaraderie and team spirit if she can in somewhat small way influence students positively the Gettysburg area school I'm reading from the bottom of the Gettysburg thing the gaysbury school district is prohibited from discriminating against individuals our groups on the basis of race color age credit six sexual orientation I want to stop
033this real fast I read that it is not permitted for any of you to discuss any any issue outside of the executive session when I walked in here tonight one of your spouses told me that there's a lot of things you don't know that you don't know thank you so one of you is telling your spouse once you have Sarah Zim [Music] foreign [Music] I'm Dr Sarah zip and I'm the mom of two girls at Gettysburg area high school and I want to just take a moment and say thank you to the students that are here I applaud you you make me proud of this community you make me proud to be a mom of two kids at the great School here in Getty [Music] [Applause] so um clearly coach AIDS have a lot of
034support from her students from past students from the community in general and I think that's really important and I want to highlight that because in my job I have spent nearly 20 years researching teaching and advocating for girls and women in sport and I what I can tell you is that this disruption is very precarious to a group of people namely adolescent girls who are almost twice as likely to drop out of sport as their boy counterparts and then they miss all those benefits so here we are creating this unnecessary disruption for all these students boys and girls but I think it's particularly important to point out that this is actually causing real harm to these students and causing real harm to the girls especially and maybe one of the reasons that they might choose
035to step out between the ages of 11 and 17 girls drop out at almost twice the rate of boys and one key factor for the keeping them in sport is a good coach a coach they feel passionate about a coach that they feel supports them that treats them well and that keeps them engaged and interested in their Sport and we have that person sitting right here please I beg you do not let her go thank you next we have Jennifer Noll right when you go this far down in the track a lot of people have already said some of what I want to say I'm a nurse by trade I am from the Deep South by my accent I moved up here because I didn't like the way things are going where I was from
036a move to Gettysburg because this is the home of emancipation not discrimination foreign I am deeply concerned that by all accounts this is a wonderful coach the wonderful teacher a wonderful leader so I'm confused while we're even having to have this discussion the principal was okay with Mrs Yates coming with Ms Yates coming back superintendent was and yet it turns out that one or more of the board members have a personal agenda have made some very derogatory and frankly concerning remarks about transgender and the lifestyle and I'm concerned that they're not having to recuse themselves from any vote because it is a personal thing when you are elected as a board member you represent all of us even this stupid little Southern kid from South Carolina you represent their children what is best for them
037you represent their parents you are not there to espouse your own personal agenda and that is concerning to me liberty it's a state of being free within Society from oppressive restrictions imposed by Authority a one-way one's way of life Behavior or political views and since I'm a mom I guess I'm one of the true moms of Liberty good evening my name is Peter shepler I am living here in Gettysburg my stepson is a Anna Jordan girls tennis team and a captain of the boys to this team my wife and I first met Miss Sashi Yates from our son he was a freshman at the Gettysburg area high school her son came home one day and he told us that uh coach had invited him to join the boys tennis team at the high school our
038son felt plattered that the teacher already somehow knew that he played tennis and recognized him in February 2022 we ran into Sasha while shopping with our son at the time our son was still suffering from various difficulties caused by the pandemic and we were worried about it but meeting Sasha again changed and brighten his life for this we feel extremely lucky to have met Sasha and Albert a great debt of that gratitude we had not succeeded in convincing our son to join the tennis team the previous year but in the short meeting in the store Sasha succeeded in convincing him to join the tennis team and play that year every day after school her son told us about the wonderful time he had with the teammates and the coaches Sasha Yates and Mr Hauser our
039son quickly restored his health positive and healthy happy life it was such a pleasure for us to observe the activities of the amazing teams that Sasha has been coaching Sasha is talented in teaching young team players especially valuable asset that shot Sasha has exhibited is how to stay positive no matter how tough and difficult things are Sasha teaches the team members to focus on the positive side of all things instead of complaining about them sasa's sense of humor always lightens up the atmosphere but she gets strict when the players do something inappropriate our son told us that even though Sasha can be strict stream remains friendly and all senior members based on what we have observed we are convinced that our children need to be around good and talented coaches like Sasha she has an
040excellent role model who treats everyone with fairness and positivity we strongly believe that the members of both the girls and the boys tennis team benefit from working with Sasha and learn many important things from her about how to approach life and how to treat others as they can that they can take with them beyond the tennis court [Music] thank you [Music] I would just like to remind everyone it is super important that we hear from everyone we have 13 more speakers about 15 minutes so if you could please hold your applause and give the speakers time to speak I would really appreciate it thank you president next we have long [Music] bye I'm my name is Lauren Jean griffune I'm here with my two children and my spouse we moved to Gettysburg two and a
041half years ago in the midst of the pandemic and it was certainly different than my first impression visiting in eighth grade when I learned for the first time I heard the term states rights and the war of Northern aggression when I got a job offer here I wasn't sure if I would ever take it or maybe I'd just come for a little while and then leave get a promotion and move on but when I visited with my family while we looked for our home which we hope to be our forever forever home I saw signs that said this battle was fought because black lives matter I saw Martin Luther King quotes all over the town in everybody's yards and it wasn't even MLK Day and I was walking down the street and a rainbow flag
042was flying and just brushed the top of my head and I thought this might be a different place than I thought it was as we walked in here today I saw a sign that said something like you are all welcome here here as you are I how can the students be welcomed as they truly are if the adults are not welcomed as they are when the board could possibly be attacking that environment and setting the stage for a hostile unwelcoming environment but I also want to pause and say that the human and me he's the human and you each of you in the board and each of you people here I see you all as human beings and I hope that you also see coach Yates as a human being that deserves dignity not to
043be misgendered out of fear and um My Hope Is that when my children come to this High School it is a safe place for them when the when the most marginalized people are safe to walk free without bullying then everyone is safe and I know my children will be safe if coach Yates is safe and if other people marginalized in our community are safe so thank you for your time [Music] [Applause] good evening I am not a tennis player my kids are not tennis players I don't know coach Yates personally but I do happen to be the chair of Gettysburg borough's human relations Commission and this moment has really grabbed my attention I was away on vacation just came back last night dashed off a note to the school board about this issue but I
044doubt you've had a time to read it given the time constraints what I'd like to do is just read an excerpt from that I would like to think that you as school board members would not discriminate against anyone based on their sex sexual orientation gender identity or gender expression when making hiring decisions you may or may not be aware that the Gettysburg Borough has an anti-discrimination ordinance that specifically addresses such discrimination in the area of employment although the Gettysburg area school district reaches beyond the borough it seems to me that you would want your policies and practices to be consistent with that ordinance in addition the Pennsylvania human relations act prohibits discrimination and employment based on sex which includes gender identity and expression discrimination based on gender and identity could and should lead to a
045claim against the school district perhaps even more importantly I would hope that school board members would want to model fairness for the district students I trust that this would be a chief concern to all of you as individuals coach Cohen has served the district since 2018 and has been renewed each year until now the school district's Administration has brought their hiring recommendation to you I urge you to base your decision on the ability of the coach and on the recommendation that's come forward thank you very much for listening [Applause] [Music] hi I just had Mono sorry about that hi my name is Chelsea zimmen and I'm from the Gettysburg area class of 2021. I suffer with borderline personality disorder which is ape disorder which if you read my email 70 percent of students with pre-orderline
046personality disorder commit suicide or attempt to when I graduated in 2021 I crossed that stage crying not because I was sad to leave high school but because I could not believe I was alive to be there on that day coach Yates is one of the very very few people who got me through that High School experience and it wasn't just because of covid but because of the situations I was consistently placed in however at tennis practice over and over again I was encouraged to be myself to work through my problems and to figure out who I truly was coach Yates excels as a coach not only being there for tennis practice but also coming to other extracurricular events and supporting her students in every single way shape and form she provided us with things she
047did not need to when we won games she would buy us Donuts out of her own pocket money which the tennis team does not have a lot of money so it was a lot of devotion for her to do that and she always made sure that my favorite donut was there so I highly highly recommend you to retain coach's position as she is one of the most important people that have happened to me in my life and without her I may not be standing here today thank you [Applause] yes we have Angela Zen good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak I'm Dr Angela zimmen a resident of the Gettysburg area school district and mother of two alumni and a former NCAA Division One tennis player prior to relocating to Pennsylvania in 2014
048I had the privilege of serving as the president of a county-wide school board in Ohio and then being elected president of the Northwest region of the Ohio school boards Association encompassing 20 counties the role of a school board member is clear on the executive side board members are responsible for the hiring and if necessary the removal of one employee the superintendent and on the legislative side we bear responsibility for setting policy if we didn't approve lists of employees as presented in their interiority it would have been a reflection of our mistrust of the person we hired as superintendent and their ability to provide oversight to their employees particularly HR as far as recommendations were concerned the role of a board is to hire and fire a superintendent and and set policy and that's it anything
049else was and is egregious government overreach at the local level I urge you to trust those you have hired to make recommendations for Staffing let's keep coach Yates on the tennis courts and taxpayer dollars out of the legal courts which is where this unfortunate situation is likely headed if our directors regardless of their personal opinions to which you are entitled do not adhere to the limited government role in this situation thank you [Applause] hi my name is Lily hodemaker I am a pretty long-term resident of Gettysburg I just graduated in 2022. um I just want to say thank you to the board for listening to all of my peers community members very much appreciate your time and I want to give a big thank you to all of my peers who I see out here
050it's very brave of you to be here today um I won't take up much of your time I don't have much to say but I just want the board to realize that we are an ever-growing community and an ever-growing world we don't want to take a step back we want to step forward into the future so let's think about our actions thank you [Music] hi I'm Constance Tarbox um I did not prepare anything like all of the eloquent people so far have done because I wasn't planning on speaking because I have a trans kid and I was too scared to identify myself because this community scares me sometimes because I want my kid to feel safe and I don't want my kid to feel like when they go to school they have to hide who
051they are because a teacher or a coach didn't hide who they were and so it's really important to me to just say out loud that representation matters and that it needs to be more than just cisgenders represented because through the course of my time as a parent of students in this District many young people have come out to me as transgender there's a lot of kids that felt safe talking to me and haven't felt safe in general and I want this world to be a safer place for them and so they need to know that their school board is protecting them and a way to show that is to protect their teachers coaches thank you thank you we actually have Lance having trouble making out the last names hello my name is Lance Windish I
052am a horrible tennis player um I am however a father and a teacher here in Gettysburg I have two children in this District I have yet to hear any legitimate reason or not renewing Miss Yates contract um what I have heard is testimonials of people whose lives she has touched and changed and strengthened as an educator and that's a big deal Miss Yates from what I've heard if I ever decided to up my game and want to get into tennis or encourage that my children to get into tennis what I've heard tonight has made me feel like I would want you to be their teacher and that's what we need we need a a community who's excited about the people that represent them in lieu of any legitimate reason for not renewing her contract that
053I just would like to point out two further things love thy neighbor as thyself and a tenant of the Warrior Way who I can't always say that I'm like go Warriors but uh attendant of the warrior way is to be kind so in in absence of any legitimate reason for not renewing the contract then look to your hearts 30 seconds thank you next we have Elizabeth foreign [Music] two years ago I hosted an exchange student from South Africa and she had the opportunity to play tennis I told her a little bit about what was going on and she forwarded to me a statement of support that she asked me to read coach Sasha is a remarkably talented coach who creates a welcoming environment for everyone who wishes to play tennis during my time on the
054team she was a supporting coach who really helped me improve my tennis skills she was always there with a joke and an encouraging Smile as she helped you perfect your backhand letting her go would be a great loss for GS Gast and the Tennessee it's a nikoi eletho babesse [Applause] foreign Borough three kids graduated two of whom played with Michelle's son soccer two grandchildren currently in District I think we all have one thing in common uh artists where we go on either side of the tissue the Oxford and I know that's true Michelle I know that's true of Kenny hassinger even though we disagree on some issues I've been coaching Gettysburg district for 20 years I believe that Athletics comes alongside the educational mission of the school which includes being good citizens which I'd suggest
055includes providing opportunity for students to learn to work and live with people who are different from them I also wonder frankly if I'm at risk because I teach at the college and I teach about critical race Theory it reminds me of a Time thankfully a long time ago when black people like were not allowed or jet places like this I'm also aware that many of my fellow members of the body of Christ is a and had followed Christ myself since I was 18 and I'm 61 now are very concerned about this issue if any of my grandkids play tennis and please God let them play soccer no offense to you tennis folks uh I'm frankly not worried about this if they come under coach yates's teaching and care because I trust God to take care
056of them to teach them to see all people first made in its image and therefore have incredible value we have this Christ we have nothing here I urge or to create this contract Berger my name is Janelle wertzberger I'm a gast resident and parent of two gahs graduates classes of 2023 and 2020 not a tennis player but frankly I'm kind of thinking of taking it up at this point because it sounds awesome I am writing to express strong concern about alleged employment discrimination against Head tennis coach Sasha Yates one of our school board members has been vocal about targeting this employee because she is transgender not only is this morally wrong it is actually illegal human relations act ma'am we're going to be respectful of speaker's time he will be quiet and let her speak
057go ahead Pennsylvania human relations act covers discrimination in employment among other things and prohibits discrimination based on sex among other things earlier this year the human the Pennsylvania human relations commission announced new regulations that expand and clarify the definition of sex among other things to bring it in line with how federal courts including the U.S Supreme Court Define sex Please be aware that sex as a protected class explicitly includes sex assigned at Birth and gender identity or expression not renewing coach yates's contract will open the district to expensive lawsuits which will ultimately be borne by the taxpayers but beyond considering this decision from a financial or legal perspective it is morally abhorrent and negligent to suggest that her gender identity is anything less than acceptable our LGBT plus students are hyper aware of the messages
058that our community sends them and this is one that may be irreversibly damaging please bear in mind the increased risk of suicide for Youth and how much higher that risk is for lgbtq plus youth our district suffered the ultimate loss of two treasured students who died by Suicide during the 2022-23 academic year gasd should be doing everything in its power to lower the risk sending the message that transgender people are not worthy of being part of this community is reckless thank you thank you good evening my name is Chad Alan Carr I am live in Gettysburg area school district for the last 15 years I'm originally from Texas so like the other speaker had spoke about coming from the south I left there for a reason because I would have been a teen suicide had
059I not met a mentor just like Sasha Yates who clearly the some of the students that are here tonight have clearly expressed what an incredible mentor and life-changing individual wonderful educator The Bullying that I have seen on Facebook ridiculous absurd keep your personal agendas out of it and vote for the community at large that's what you were elected for that type of bullying is the reason why people commit suicide at a young age especially lesbian gay bisexual transgender Plus unless there is something against policy and if there is point to that policy point to it if there's something illegal bring on something some charge there is nothing you have nothing it is clear discrimination I applaud the students that are here you are brave and I look up to you very much thank you [Applause]
060good evening good evening I'm Paul kellett I'm a proud graduate of Gettysburg Area High School class of 84. parent of two children uh my daughter graduated from here and my son is uh entering his sophomore year and I both of my children have dropped out of Athletics because of unsupportive coaches uh here at Gettysburg high school and it is a real shame to get rid of a coach who is a supportive coach my kids didn't have that experience and left it and I thought it was a real shame because I think Athletics are a major part of the experience I'm also a proud Uncle of two trans Youth and I think that there's been a lot of talk about suicide but one of the statistics you haven't heard is that the word suicide is produced
061by 40 is there somebody in that kid's life that they can turn to and care for and Coach Yates is one of those people if you're concerned about protecting your kids have role models that for them to look up to and you need to have a diverse Community because your youth are diverse you cannot look to uh change who people are you can only hope to support people as they are and I urge this board to be supportive of all of our kids not just the varsity athletes not just the excellent uh students and please take the recommendation of your superintendent and retain code Shades thank you [Music] thank you Alexandra escalera and I am ready um the bathroom that's what I understand about a little closer thank you yes the bathroom so I understand
062that it's what this is about I don't know this coach I don't know much about this other than what I've heard spoken here tonight the bathrooms and the children and this his child everybody matters the bathrooms is the problem nobody's arguing for qualification and I would suggest that maybe they think of something different that they can do but it was about the bathrooms foreign [Applause] [Music] hiya Eddie Fleming uh father turned citizen I'm really uh bravely concerned because there's been a lot of very well educated and very passionate people speaking tonight inflating the issue and making this a trans issue as the lady who just spoke for me said this is not about any of we are called to love all equally but what this is about there was an adult coach went into the
063student's bath when the student's locker room had changed there that's really what this is about and we have to protect our students by first protecting our students not protecting the coaches who are supposed to protect this board wants to protect all students trans okay straight you name it this is about students rights and the right to have a safe bathroom of a safe locker room it doesn't matter by what pronoun you go under he she they not the pronoun that's the problem it's when you have an adult that goes into a private space with minors and makes them unsafe so thank you and I firmly regard everyone to please be clear on that and to go to not pain thank you thank you Eddie and on behalf of the entire school board and the administration
064we appreciate everyone who came tonight and especially because the recircum will digest all that information at this time I'd like to turn things back over to president uh acting president Mike Pickers thank you Dr Boyer all right so we'll continue on with our with our meeting um if I could get please get emotion for items 5.1 through 5.3 and just would like to remind the board members that at the beginning of the meeting we did um make a motion to amend the agenda in and pull Chase's name from the approval list um I'd like to ask that we pull five three separate that you're gonna have to abstain that okay um could I please get a motion to include item 5.1 and 5.2 for a roll call vote [Music] separate Five Points we need to
065we need to separate 5.3 because the board member needs to abstain from 5.3 under HR [Music] ack okay question all right roll call Michelle yes Amy Beth no no yeah Tim Jeremy Ryan Yes Kevin yes can I vote Yes all right so look at uh [Music] we're gonna vote on 5.1 and 5.2 separately correct we have a motion to separate 5.3 so we'll just vote okay all right so can I get a motion for a vote on 5.1 and 5. question hey man yes Michelle yes Amy Beth yes Al yes Jeremy Brian yes and I vote Yes [Music] all right I'm gonna get a motion to move 5.3 forward so moved it [Music] I get a motion move all right 5.3 question Michelle Amy Beth yes now yes uh Tim Jeremy Brian yes timin nope
066and I vote Yes all right moving on uh to item number six items for board [Music] 6.1 is going to be the approval for the James Gettys Lincoln Elementary project maybe a discussion to take action to approve a pre-order for a long lead time equipment for the purchase of three million 685 853 dollars for the HVAC project to move forward I get a motion questions no questions hearing none I'm Kevin yes Michelle yes Amy both no now yes Tim Jeremy Brian yes and I vote Yes all right moving on to um item engine item number seven information item so Dr Parent you want to speak to the seven one or the director of students sure the informational items are two dollars done humans uh director of special education director of Student Center questions from the
067board information items hearing none a board committee report anything from facilities or anything from the legislative [Music] a little bit with our state reps I did do a wipf today regarding our resolution and the resolution of 490 school districts in Pennsylvania regarding uh Cyber Charter School Reform I just wanted to make uh the Molly have a pretty good Republic here we we and I'll speak for myself we are not against school choice at all the way that uh you know Mr Mal uh had insinuated but we are against being overcharged for services uh and and that's something uh we feel that needs to change it has passed the house house is now in the Senate education committee uh there's a strong group there that gets a lot of donations I think and for their campaigns
068so I'm not real optimistic that the bill will go through as it is currently stated but I am someone possible optimistic that we will eventually see some cities to the taxpayers of Gettysburg school district and across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and I'm going to keep banging away at that time thank you thank you Dr Boyer um from the policy committee side next meeting will be held December 12th Tuesday we'll get started and they'll be at 4 pm in the administration building and I'll kick it over to Dr parents for anything for program reports get a good night's sleep take lots of cool first day pictures that sound have a blast tomorrow [Music] thank you Dr Perrin um the calendar a board event and some upcoming dates our next school board meeting will be Tuesday maybe
069A Tuesday meeting on September 5th at the administration we plan on being back over at the admin building at 7 pm and with that can I get emotional adjourn this meeting is adjourned thank you [Music]