May 11, 2021 Reconvene RTSD Virtual Special Board Meeting

001good evening everyone I'd like to welcome you to the May 11th virtual reconvening of the special board meeting I'd like to begin by calling this meeting to order with 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 we will be reporting on Executive sessions uh we will be reporting on Executive sessions pardon me at the May 28th or the May 25th business meeting okay so at this time we have completed public comment on the original item on the agenda uh as of tonight we added item 4.1 which was updated today at 2:20 p.m. which is an approve approved changes to the rtsd health and safety plan so the recommended

002action is requesting that the board approve changes to the rtsd health and safety plan and I think at this time what I'd like to do is turn the meeting over to is Mr be oh Dr Bachelor is here if you'd like to just speak for a few minutes thank you y no we're good since this is a recess meeting um I do just the the added agenda item so thank you m Stern that we have on the agenda for tonight um is is I think very much procedural with the changes with the health and safety plan and with what the county has told us now we can do with uh taking masks off when in the midst of exercising in the midst of sports or in the midst of recess so that's why we want

003to talk about that tonight uh I also have breaking news from today that um we may have an opportunity to vaccinate our 12 13 and 14y olds as early as this Monday um so I was in a meeting today with Springfield Pharmacy um we are still working out the details CDC still needs to make approval for the 12 13 14 and 15 year olds um but we're tentatively planning Monday um starting at 1 in the afternoon to make that available we'll be sending out once it's confirmed tomorrow we'll be sending out uh signups hopefully by Thursday Friday it could mean that we could be doing a virtual day um at the high school um you know on Monday um we're still working out the details we've made it a priority to try to vaccinate our

004kids and have our building available and uh with this news just breaking literally yesterday and the fact that we may be able to turn around and have it available Monday is is pretty incredible so um more to come in the next few days I'll be sharing with the board and sharing with the community great thank you so at this time what I'd like to do is entertain a motion and a second on agenda item 4.1 do I have a motion a motion from Miss Goldman a second from Miss Monahan pardon me and I don't know if everyone's had an opportunity to read the changes but I glan through them this afternoon and basically it it gives the administration the ability to adjust the mask mandates as recommendations from the Chester County Board of Health come

005through and so when Dr Bachelor and I talked today uh or was that yesterday yesterday um we talked about that rather than wait until the monthly business meeting at the end of the month given that some changes have recently come through as they relate to asking uh would it make sense for us to go ahead and put this agenda Autumn on tonight's special board meeting since it was already scheduled because this item was not on the agenda as of last week although this is a reconvened meeting we will be accepting public comment on this item this evening before we vote on the item so I don't know if board members have questions or any comment and then be prior to our vote we will uh open the floor for public comment on this agenda item

006alone no just thank you for for being on top of this and realizing this was a great opportunity we were all together that we could focus on this I know people have been asking me about changes so I appreciate you being on top of that great you're welcome uh is there any other comments or questions I I oh yes Miss monan go ahead you're muted thank you um I had a quick question on on another one of the changes on the um health and safety plan the um exception permitting on a case-by Case basis uh for outdoor events at the discretion of building principle would this allow perhaps a and I know we haven't really heard anything about it but um would this allow perhaps for elementary and middle school transitioning students to have some

007kind of a celebration or their moving on ceremony in person as opposed to Virtual or should I not open that can of worm it's a it's a it's a good can of worms I'll let I'll let it's been it's been something we've been talking about um I'll let Shan Sean and Dan jump in as well because it's going to be different at each level yeah so this was put in place to allow um uh opportunities for endof Year events to take place and so I know that the building principles have been looking at how they can honor students um at the end of the school year with outdoor uh um events and this gives us the flexibility uh the previous language did not give us flexibility to consider items such as that that's great thank

008you very much following on that um question I know we've had I know there are limitations on the number of people who can attend graduation for each student and I know that's part of the arrangement with Villanova is it worth perhaps asking them whether they might revisit those guidelines based on the CDC updates I know that I know that limitation is a hard ship for some of our families we are we are reaching out to Villanova to talk about them so there's there's you know there's also obviously the changes that are coming which we're not really focused on tonight but the changes as of you know May 31st or June 1 um so we'll be talking to them about that as well uh you know we will probably be striking a balance moving forward as

009as as excited as we are to hear about the changes with um June 1 uh for us there are some things that are already in place that we may not be able to adjust in other cases we may be bble to adjust and and where we can believe me we would love to make adjustments where we can um so we are talking vova is a good example we've reached back out to them and honestly everybody's just trying to digest what it all means you know they're they're trying to digest it they're trying to digested in the context of what they've been doing for their own practice um and and you know and what we're doing as well so that that is a conversation that's going to happen in the next you know week between this

010this this week which already started and next week I'm sure and as soon as we have answers we'll let our families know great thank you I could just ask a quick question uh maybe best directed to Sean or Mr dich um will field day be on for elementary students thanks Andrew yeah excuse me the uh PE teachers have planned an outdoor modified uh field day will happen sometime in June it'll be a little different than previous years uh but it will be a modified outdoor version great thank you and um just while I have the floor real quick I just want to Echo um some earlier comments that um especially I think it's good that we're explicitly following the guidance of the Chester County Health Department I I like how that is very clearly worded

011um in these um edits thanks are there any other questions I do just want to before we take public comment do just want to make note M um Dr Bachelor what's not on the agenda is the athletic health and safety plan because we've previously had put some language in there that gave the administration the ability to make adjustments to attendance and masking and there were there was more flexibility so I want to acknowledge um Mr dich and Mr beckeld for the wording here I think is a nice balance where it does provide you with the the necessary wording to to have flexibility to make plans um you know as they potentially are able to be made so that's great rather than having to come back to the board um I I think that um you

012know and I think that we're probably going to be expecting some changes at this at the athletic level as right as well Mr B Dr Bach is that is that correct yes so we already we have already announced that our um following the guidance from the health department uh that students while in the midst of competing or practicing or in the physical EX excise and exerting themselves uh they no longer need to be masked outside um but they still need to be masked you know on the sideline or going to and from the events um so we've already put that into place starting um yesterday uh with our with with our athletes but we you're right Mr we did not need to uh formally make a change to our health and safety plan for athletics

013based on how we've worded that in the past and just one more follow-up question because we did receive some public comment last week uh from some students asking about attendance at athletic events and I know that the students were quite impassioned about that and I just you know I want to clarify for everyone who's listening that again those just because of the way the Athletics health and safety plan is written decisions about attendance at the games um you know and whether or not the students can attend is all able to be made administratively and I'm I'm thinking at this point right now we're actually uh you know just as hampered by the construction that's gone you know started up at the high school with the athletic with the uh accessibility and wellness project but if

014there are changes that can be made as it relates to students attending games that's something that you're going to be able to do administratively is that correct Dr Bachelor yes that is correct all right we didn't want to leave the students hanging there were a few students who had written to us last week so uh this is also a nice opportunity to be able to follow up on that all righty uh Miss gangle do we have public comment on this agenda item um I do have one great if you would read it um so it's Mark mcken rner High School student I am writing to you as I request you have a conversation and allow full attendance to Spring Sports I'm a varsity lacrosse captain and not seeing my fellow peers that I quite literally

015sit next to in school not be able to come to our games while our neighboring schools allow it is heartbreaking it confuses me how we can be put indoors as close as three feet to each other in school but we are not allowed to have our fellow peers as well as other members of the community come to our games and support us if you can say you care about the students and put the students first then you need to have this conversation now before it's too late if other schools are doing it and they are not having issues for example Koga then we should allow it too it is spring many of us are vaccinated and we are already in school together allow full attendence for spring Sports if you personally are uncomfortable being outside

016with other people then those individuals can stay home uh you should not punish the rest of the people that want to come and support allow full attendance thank you and that is the only comment we have here that references this okay well then my my question was preent so it's an administrative decision and um you know we look forward to the administration you know discussing that and making whatever decision they do regarding student attendance and then um you know we'll go from there so all righty if there's no further questions and no further public comment all those in favor of this motion you could raise your hands and say I and the motion passed is 9 to zero great thank you very much everyone okay so then moving on to I just have to close

017one window moving on to item number 4.2 which is the point at which we left off at our meeting the last time there is a motion which is to permit the Raider name as an option for consideration in the mascot selection and rebranding process with the following parameters a identify steps in the process that Empower students to evaluate names under the guiding principles with a goal of selecting two options for a final student body vote B provide information and promote dialogue of different perspectives among the students including education on conflict resolution Civility and social media etiquette C if the Raider is selected by students as an option that moves forward enlist the consultation of the National Congress of American Indians on the rebranding efforts to ensure that it meets with their approval D task the

018administration to one include an educational component to the new spirit gallery that tells the history of the Raider name and radner's decision to remove the Native American IM imagery from our branding and two identify opportunities in rodner schools for greater awareness and understanding of the history and struggles of Native Americans and provide recommendations for improvements and the recommended action is that the administration is requesting that the full board consider and discuss the above motion uh so at this time I would entertain a motion and a second on this item we have a motion from Mr jubiler and a second from Miss Duffy um all right so I think really this is the first time we've had a motion on our agenda since um well a motion on our agenda officially uh since we began this

019process last August so I want to thank everyone um I know that each of us has received many many emails around this topic over the last seven months and at this time I'd like to turn it over to any board member who would like to speak and and consider Mr jubiler thank you uh Miss Stern um Miss gangle would you be able to screen share the motion absolutely give me just a moment thank you the motion is long um I think it would be helpful for everyone our board as well as um public watching to be able to view the motion see see the elements of the motion while um at least I'm speaking I appreciate that are you able to see that okay I can zoom a B I am I know my eyes

020aren't so great but um yeah let me Zoom I'll zo there go thank you it's a lot there um so I appreciate this opportunity and thank our leadership and administration and my fellow board members for the opportunity to discuss this motion it is long um and obviously for anyone else on our board who chooses uh to discuss and talk about it I I appreciate all of us having that opportunity first um three of us miss Monahan Miss Duffy and myself put a lot of thought um into this this motion we talked with our fellow board members we talked with students who have opposing viewpoints on um the raer name in terms of whether it should remain retired or have an opportunity to be reconsidered we tried to include elements in our motion that spoke to

021wants and needs and concerns of of both sides September 2nd 2020 I voted um to remove the the Native American imagery associated with our name as did eight of my fellow board members I also voted at the time to retire to vote to retire the Raider name this was for me as probably many others an incredibly difficult decision I wrestled internally I still do but at the time my vote to retire the name was based off of what I had learned and heard from many members of our community including students alumni and a number of metoxen family members their points were and are first person or in the case of our students well researched and presented since that's time it's fair to say and I think we would all agree that we've heard from many

022additional voices on both sides of this matter with strong passionate points of view all legitimate every email public comment that has come from a student alumnist parent member of a well-respected and regarded Native American organization or just a resident of rner is valid everybody deserves to not only be heard but to be listened to what I said back in September when I watched the my uh my comments again on video is that I could not imagine truly understanding how the imagery and or the Raider name made someone else feel I can only try to walk in other people's shoes but they aren't my own I felt in my heart that I wanted to try and ensure that if possible no one no matter how few or how many would feel hurt likewise I'm not a

023student anymore nor a rner alumnist so I don't walk in these shoes either however I'm a parent of two children who attend Radner secondary schools I played on a division one college team and I understand a little bit of the camaraderie and feeling of strong identity and tradition that come with a long-standing name and brand I do not not discount anyone who feels strongly about the Raider name and who has valid reasons for advocating that we retain it with new imagy over the last several months The Divide I believe in our broader School Community has widened while a rebranding committee was formed and included many different viewpoints on the Raider name it has unfortunately in my opinion not worked the Divide has not only stood but I believe it's gotten worse I asked as well

024as a couple of my fellow board members at our January board meeting if our administrative leads on rebranding would let us know if things weren't working with the committee or if there were problems we've heard from many now it's May in my opinion with all due respect to our board in our Administration who has worked awfully hard it hasn't those who've advocated for including the Raider name as part of the committee's deliberations have felt that they have not been listened to despite the laid out guiding principles those who have been trying those who have been trying hard to move forward and come up with new names have felt frustrated and stifled in their ability to do their job I think it's okay to admit that the process the date could have been better I take

025my own responsibility as a member of the school board as well in that dialogue whether that be bya a student assembly a brown bag lunch social studies class conversations time in home room to hear different perspectives earlier in the school year would have been valuable but it's easy to say now that hindsight is 2020 so where are we now our motion's aim as we look at it on the screen is try is to try to begin to help solve what I believe is a problem to push for more dialogue rather than constrict it to put this into the hands of our most valuable stakeholders our students as I've seen before Radder is proud when it says Radner Prides itself on students thinking for themselves and listening to others let's honor that should the Raider name

026be a consideration it can only happen if there is fair and deliberative evaluation done first by a representative group of our high school students as to whether or not it can abide by the aforementioned guiding principles if it is deemed after the committee does its appropriate due diligence that it cannot and it will not be put forward to the larger rner middle school and high school student bodies and by enlisting the consultation of ncai we have put what I believe is a good and necessary step to ensure that after that to ensure that any reimagined Raider Meats with their approval after students have made their voices heard first after all NCI has been doing this work on evaluating reimagined or new names including Raider with a large number of other school districts across the country

027have ample experience and credibility on the matter I want to conclude by thanking all of you again for this opportunity for listening to me and to others and for leadership into scheduling this special meeting I know all of you have good intentions and all of you are making the decisions that you believe is based on what you believe excuse me is best for our entire community um I know Liz who seconded the motion has some related comments so I don't know if it's okay Miss Stern I'd love to pass the Baton to her if you are okay with that that's fine thank you well thank you um I'm gonna Echo some of what Jeff said but first I appreciate the opportunity to have this meeting and to have what I feel is a much needed

028public discussion um a lot has transpired testimony this summer and the board's September vote since that vote there have been a number of people including students who have advocated for a rebranded Raider name many of these people feel like they haven't been heard and they're frustrated that their opinions aren't be T aren't being taken into consideration tonight gives us a chance to acknowledge that we have heard their voices regardless of how we decide to move forward this is an emotionally charged issue and the process of change of any kind is hard work the rhetoric and overall climate has gotten ugly at times some have said that our decision created a divide I would suggest our decision exposed a divide either way it's not a place we want to be as a community or a school

029before I talk about the emotion let me be clear I do not feel people who support the Raider name are race racist any accusations of such is unacceptable we should be careful with such language I also do not think people who support a change are snowflakes or devoid of school spirit or Pride or as I have often heard just a tiny percentage of students we need to end the name calling and remember that we're all neighbors and friends who have different points of views I'm hoping we can end the outrage and find Solutions the motion is an attempt at a solution to me the key word in the motion is consideration my concern is that the current process has not allowed for a dialogue that I think is necessary to Foster better understanding from both

030perspectives dialogue helps breed awareness and understanding of different experiences dialogue builds empathy and empathy builds connection if we continue to move forward with our current rebranding plan without this necessary discussion especially among our students we are missing an opportunity to teach our kids how to come together from different points of view and find Solutions just like we need our future citizens and leaders to do time has passed since our September vote I do think there has been a palpable shift in our community in terms of the views on the appropriateness of Native American imery many who advocated for change during the summer did so because they did not believe we could unravel the name from the imagery because of our decades long misappropriation and incomplete past measures by our district to address imagery concerns I

031said so much in my comments on September 2nd especially given I had received a petition at the time chalk full of hash feathers forever I will say that since our vote and arguably because our vote we saw those sentiments change we have heard very few Arguments for Native American imagery and much more voice support and understanding for the need to sever it from our school identity going forward that progress is owed to the students who advanced who advocated thoughtfully and passionately for change these students love their school enough to put the time and energy during the summer to help it better represent its ideals of educational excellence it also is it is also owed to the community members and alumni who supported their efforts over the summer together they have raised the collective consciousness of

032our community by making sure we didn't look away any longer I want to make sure they are recognized for this accomplishment and want them to know that my call for discussion of the Raider name in no way diminishes my support for their efforts while I have read every email and petition from support for change to those arguing we are going too far Mr rosen's letter last week was particularly noteworthy to me Mr Rosen is a high school teacher he lives in the community he is a member of the rebranding committee and he made public comment in July in support of change what is unique to me about Mr rosen's comments is that he is the one voice we have heard who is advocating for both perspectives he supports the September 2nd decision and the students

033who help make it happen but he also recognizes that progress has been made in the community during the past eight months that has made the discussion of a rebranded Raider more of a possibility and hence is asking that we allow for its consideration recognizing this progress as well as the people in our community who appeal to us to include the Raider name I reached out to a few Native American groups to get their perspective on the Raider name over over the last few months while these group firmly opposed the name with any native references they did feel the name could and I stress could be rebranded given the right environment or the appropriate context so the question to me is do we have the right environment or context can we find a solution that could

034potentially make those who have felt hurt or disconnected or embarrassed about their school imagery feel more welcome and included the answer may still we know it may be better to have a fresh start with a new name but exploring the possibilities requires a dialogue this isn't a matter of who is right and who is wrong this is about creating an environment in which we listen to each other and we see if we can problem solve to find a path forward that can unite rather than us have Retreat to our separate camps I have heard people speak of the Raider name with sense of Pride and unity I have also heard people refer to it with a sense of embarrassment and disconnection both experiences are real personally I agree with the sentiments so beautifully stated by

035the hankle family last week like them I have thought this is an opportunity to create something new so like we are doing with our school campus we can be welcoming and inclusive to all our school to all our students and Community but I do think it's better if our students get to this conclusion together and on their own through a process that encourages dialogue builds empathy and takes all perspectives into account my fear is that if the Raider name does not go through the process we will continue to face obstacles as we move forward and the new name will be tainted by too many considering the process unfair I do support I do support this motion it was carefully crafted to take all perspectives into into account it encourages dialogue and puts decision-making in the

036hands of the students importantly if the Raider name should move forward Under The Guiding principles for consideration it enlists the consultation of the ncai additionally it looks at the name or imagery change holistically to include actually require a larger educational effort regarding indigenous people let me conclude by saying that regardless of what we decide tonight I hope our community I beg our community really that we do not vilify this Vote or question individual motives I know how heavily this has weighed on me and my fellow board members and this decision has definitely not been done in haste we look forward we need to look forward not backwards and recognize that we have another teachable moment in front of us resiliency I hope we can move forward in good faith and in a manner that can

037make us all rner proud thank you Miss stuffy is there anyone else who'd like to speak uh yes please if I could go um Mr Stern that would be great um and perhaps the screen share can be turned off too please thanks okay um I'll try not to repeat what's already been said by uh Jeff and Liz and uh I'll preface by saying I have a a lot to share hopefully it won't take too long but um generally I mean we all know A lot's happened over the last eight to nine months and I wanted to share my thoughts and position on what has occurred and kind of what has led to the motion on the table uh and my comments are my own um but to start obviously there's an issue although I believe

038we could have avoided some of this I do truly believe that we can fix this going forward um from a historic standpoint um I did some research looking back to the 2013 vote because I know that there was a lot of um information being posted or communicated and I think there's a misunderstanding that there was a vote to get rid of the Native American imagery and this isn't true on June 20th 2013 a press release titled rner High School says goodbye to costumed mascot maintains tradition with Radner Raiders nickname and logos it furthers states that quote students with the support of teachers and administrators share their decision to officially retire the school's physical costume mascot with the board's policy committee the nickname and logos such as the r in a circle with feathers and the

039signage at privo field will remain the student decision was reached after a dedicated review and strikes a balance between maintaining tradition and respecting all people end of quote this is important to understand for many believe that all the imagery was retired in 2013 and due to the link between the name and Raider uh the the name Raider and the Native American imagery that it returned this is not true the imagery was never re tired last summer in 2020 there was a wave across the country regarding the misuse of Native American imagery and names this didn't just happen in rner and I know that there are so many emotions flying um this is something the entire country undertook so like on behalf of me and my board members we all were dealing with this not only

040just within rner but everyone every school board was dealing with this who had any uh Indian name or Native American imagery I believe that the September 2nd votes were done with good intent and motives the Native American imagery vote was clear and the community eight months later now fully supports retirement of the Native American imagery that was not the case before the vote is I believe that Liz kind of uh shared the Raider name and vote was and is less clear to me I believed at the time that we could be rebranded and I still believe that at the end of the September 2nd meeting I also stated that I supported a positive path forward to rebranding efforts after both votes were taken and I truly did mean that however since September second a lot

041has happened there's been a lot of additional comment and communication in the fall from uh people who supported the Raider name that we hadn't heard of before and in retrospect timing was an ideal with the summer and P the pandemic plus it occurred over two meetings the first meeting on August 4th during which we heard four hours of oneway comment public comment is not a formalized review or process of problem solving Mutual learning and understanding from both sides to come to a mutual solution the second meeting was on September 2nd at which the board deliberated and voted within one hour to me a 90-year-old name deserves more than a more of a process than consisting of two meetings at the January 2021 presentation of the rebranding process I asked whether the raer would be considered

042one of the options if raised by the committee members and it was clear that it was not based on the September second vote I then requested Administration to keep us posted on potential issues resulting from not allowing the Raider name as an option so here we are there are issues and that's why I am was one of three requesting the special meeting the issue that I continue to have is the fact that the Raider name never had its day in court it never went through a process or review that per perap should have occurred back in August but given where we are today I believe that Raider needs to be allowed to be a part of the conversation as an option for consideration we talk about being inclusive with this decision but we have not

043been inclusive in allowing the name Raider to be discussed or considered with any conflict it is solved with civil discussion dialogue and I believe at this point that's what's needed Raider has had not had its due diligence or vetting process and I believe that until it does until it is allowed to be an option for consideration it will continue to be an issue and may even be brought up again seven months from now I don't think any of us want that to happen this motion allows for the conversation to occur with parameters to make sure that it is done with consideration for both sides I've heard from varying polarizing views on the one hand parents and children who want to retain the tradition of the Raider name and rner and alumni who claim that their

044High School identity is being taken away from them alumni and students who have had Radner Raider will always have Raider um no one's trying to erase their past um their memories their experiences in fact I know the board has had a lot of discussions about the new spirit Gallery that's going to be in place with the accessibility and wellness initiative and it will proudly feature radner's history over the past 90 years including the Raiders on the other hand I've heard the students who are ashamed of what they believe the Raider name stands for the many parents who sent the board thank you notes for not only getting rid of the imagery but also the Raider name and its Association to Native American imagery and terms such as Raider Nation it is their belief that the

045imagery and names will forever be linked that a vote was made in 2013 that didn't work and the imagery returned as I shared before that is not true we never retired the Native American imagery until September 2nd 2020 I've heard from varying positions from Native American organizations that Liz uh refer to in terms of having the right environment with keeping the Raider name I've heard from rebranding Committee Member Carl Rosen again Liz referred to comments that he shared and that's I I believe that's a very unique position that he is taking understanding that there is dialogue that's needed to find a solution I've seen social media received emails overheard public comments as we all have what we've seen on these platforms is not what any of us want rner to um it's dangerous to label

046name call and site misinformation I've heard from many viewpoints on the raer name and all are valid they are just different I truly do see both sides there's no right or wrong these points need to be shared in a structured respectful process what's been missing is this reasonable discourse uh this Mutual understanding uh understanding or agreeable disagreements by not allowing Raider into the discussion as a possible option for consideration we have suppressed this dialogue and will continue to unless this motion is passed I'm almost done please bear with me thank you for your patience uh the Raider Name by definition has no association to Native American Indians Raider is not racist if it were I doubt the many organizations or schools who have maintained the Raider name would keep them such as the Las Vegas

047Raiders colleges and universities and the many high schools who have retained Raider and re branded a lot of arguments raise that rner cannot disassociate the Raider name with the north Native American imagery and therefore needs to remain retired the imagery has been finally retired and for the first time on September 2nd there has never been an opportunity for a new mascot a newly defined Raider many high schools and colleges has have successfully achieved this and should the Raider name be allowed to to move forward for consideration if we find ourselves with a proposed Raider name and new mascot I do believe that we can successfully Rebrand with a new imagery and mascot we can Define what Raider is we just haven't done it yet and that's why we can't disassociate from the Native American imagery

048so in closing I support this motion to permit the Raider name as an option for consideration in the rebranding process it allows raid name due process it allows genuine dialogue and conversations to help understand other points of view to Comm positions and to arrive at a solution together and to my fellow board members this motion is not one that approves the Raider name it only permits the name as an option to be discussed among students for consideration in the rebranding process the board has the final vote on the name at the end of the process process so why not allow Raider to be considered in Foster this healthy I ask that you permit the Raider name as an option for consideration for bidding Raider as an option is not the answer as we've seen over

049the last eight months allow its due diligence allows students to openly discuss and determine whether the Raider name is a viable option our students continue to impress and amaze me let's listen to their voices and trust them moving forward thanks a lot for the opportunity to share my thoughts anyone else would like to speak no other board comment Mr Mo I I have a number of questions uh would the board members who in Mr Moore I think you're Frozen all right so the first question is uh sorry my internet is a little choppy can you all hear me all right colleagues thank you yes all right so um Mrs manahan referred to this uh but we also have the you know the superintendent here in the meeting um and I believe even our solicitor uh

050I have heard a lot of questions and references to the idea that the vote to retire the Raider um did not preclude the Raider from being an option um on the committee and so just you know once and for all so that that uh misconception is cleared up um you know and I I apologize for not highlighting this as much before I think we had we actually had a cqu with superintendent in our November GRCC meeting which was shortly after the October regular business meeting um where there was a lot of public comment about the decision then you know well couldn't couldn't the nickname have been an option moving forward um you know did did our did our September 2nd vote in fact preclude the nickname from being an option moving forward without further board

051action so yes our our vote on September second precluded the Raider name from being an option moving forward and when we assembled the committee one of the slides they saw that first night of the committee meeting was that the purpose of the committee was to guide and select a new name and new mascot because the September 2nd removed it thanks um and another question and and really any board member can take this and and we all have our views on it but um you know this motion has been put forward as a as a solution to a problem at at something that's not working and I've heard from a little bit of this from you know Mr jubiler and Mrs uh Duffy and Mrs Monahan um but but what is not working you know you

052know what precludes us from moving forward with the process that was already set up in January what is not working about that process and and and really this is a question for board members or from the administrators um you know that have been you know working on that um the idea is this motion is put forward as a solution to a problem what is the problem uh that that this uh motion is solving well I would just jump in just to follow up on the previous question I think it also goes with this question Mr Moore so one of the discussions we had as a board in January was the hopes of bringing together the community in this selection process and bringing together those who felt strongly about why the name and the imagery needed

053to be removed and bring together together those who felt strongly that the name should be retained I don't think there was really anyone or any discussion uh about keeping the Indian imagery and I haven't seen any of that uh it was people who wanted to keep the name uh being part of that committee uh and also those who felt strongly that the name uh should be removed as well as the imagery and in bringing both those groups together and even in the second meeting having each group talk about walking in each other's shoes and trying to understand why the two sides felt the same way the the side that wanted the Raider name those half 15 out of 35 people roughly 15 to 16 people who were on the committee and the hopes of bringing

054the community together I think came to the committee with the idea of this is our chance to talk about raider this is this is our opportunity and I think it was hard for them to then hear that this was not their opportunity you know this that the committee was not the vehicle in reality even though we did want to talk about how we arrived at the vote we arrived at in September the reality was it wasn't an option so I don't that I think that answers your question about you know the your second part about what is the the problem that we had well we purposely created a committee that was not necessarily just a random group of people we purposely created a committee to try to bring the community together and we brought strong

055voices on both sides to try to bring the community together and I think the one side you know felt strongly that they were there because the name is gone and the imagery's gone and let's pick a new name and then the other side was there feeling this is our our our this is our chance to talk about raider and it wasn't their opportunity excuse me thank you and that you know that dovetails with another another question I have and and this might be might be more directed at the uh the board members who who've introduced this motion um and and and and by the way these questions are not meant to be um challenging in the sense of confrontational they're the meant to be um they're offered in the spirit of inquiry to really you

056know figure out what is the right way forward and so you know if if if part of the problem was um we didn't provide that opportunity whether it was an opportunity we provided to adults in our community uh alumni teachers students if we didn't provide that opportunity um to talk about uh the Raider name if if if people showed up to that committee uh feeling frustration uh and and use that as the venue to process how they were feeling um you know why isn't the solution more to provide some venue for that uh now is it too late um do we need to put the Raider name back on in order to do that you know why isn't more dialogue and discussion what whether it's student to student um you know alumni to alumni um

057part of what we do first at this stage I guess I'll I'll start and please pick it up and I appreciate Mr Moore and being the noble attorney that you are being a friendly Noble attorney um a few of them on this board um the uh as I said in my comments I you know I wish we did I I mean I wish that you know all of us are smart I believe all of us are smart people with Insight at we didn't have an opportunity as a community with those different stakeholders to go through I I my nomenclature was brown bag lunches Social Studies classes um Town Hall quote unquote not literally in covid but something it seemed like the the chronology of of this was a little backwards in hindsight I believe um

058that those important discussions in hindsight in my opinion I own what I by votes and what have you um should and should have taken place before perhaps that second vote and I don't regret my vote on September 2nd I don't I'm not blaming anybody at all um I just feel now that we missed that opportunity and we have to now only think of things we can do moving forward but if we were to in my opinion move forward with those steps but not include the the Raider cannot be mention for example but have these dialogues have these the hurt the pain the anger will just remain in my opinion so that's that's what I believe I completely agree with what Jeff said me too yeah and that that that raises another question on my mind

059too um as kind of two questions jump out of that um so one question is while we have seen incredible progress on the idea that um people are willing to listen to those who have said that the um imagery was uh harmful to them um because of who they were um that that progress is uh tentative to some extent it's it's been incredible progress uh it's it's fresh progress over the last um eight months uh and I'd like to think that there would be more progress along those lines uh but you know the fact remains that there are still um some who say that they have um considered the imagery a tri tribute and part of their tradition um and in fact uh I think we've all made clear you know if if that is

060how you viewed the imagery at the time um you know that is no judgment on you um because you know we all come from the time we come from uh and and are the products of our environment uh but with that in mind with the fact that there is you know and and you know some some of this you know literally has popped up today you know there have people people talking about how you know advocating for know we could bring the imagery back or you know that it it happens I've seen it it's it's it's gone down so much and that's so encouraging but with the idea that that is still out there um you know how much how much does the fact that the processing that we haven't had about the decision to

061retire the nickname how much does set apply to our decision to retire the imagery as well um you know whatever you feel about whether our process uh you know fellow board members was adequate in August and September or not we had the same process for the decision to retire the imagery as we had for the decision to retire the name um you know M maybe it doesn't technically have to be part of the motion but why why don't we need to um examine our process for the first motion in in September just as much as we did uh or or or as much as people are advocating now for reexamining our process for the second motion can I just jump in for one thing um to respond to an earlier question that Mr Moore asked

062about the process that was missed um I you know hindsight is 2020 but I want to remember that that I want everybody to just remember that at the time you know we were navigating just unprecedented experiences in terms of the pandemic you know this was something that was um all across the country multiple things were happening at the same time and it was unchartered teritory for everybody to deal with these massive issues um you know education was one of the institutions probably hit harder than anything else in America and so I just you know I don't want to to speak extensively I have some remarks to make a little bit later but I do want to add in there at the risk of feeling like anybody was responsible for a flawed process that it's my

063recollection that in the midst of you know all hands on deck and navigating just completely unchartered territory that I believe that the administration and the board were doing their best to try to navigate two massive issues simultaneously and we did our level best to try to give all issues their due it's easy I think sometimes seven or eight months later to look back and say well would have could have should have and perhaps you know would have could have should have but I do think it's important that we remind ourselves and the community that we were sitting in very different shoes back then and we were trying to handle two massive and unprecedented issues simultaneously and trying to support the administration with moving forward um in in their first and foremost priority which was to

064prepare for an educational season starting in the fall 2020 21 school year I'll just briefly I'm sorry why don't you go Miss mon nany I I went first last time um no I was just um thanks for that comment Amy I I agree we were going through a lot at the time um but going back to Bradley's question regarding you know why why are we just questioning the name why aren't we questioning the vote of the imagery am I did I in interpret that question correctly that yeah that's that's a fair interpretation it's just you know whatever we think of our process before it was the same process that led us to each vote correct okay well I mean to start off I I think there's been no intent by anybody any pre you know

065current student any alumni to think that the Raider name or the imagery it was it was a I don't think there was bad intent in in and you know enjoying being a part of that culture if you're talking about the imagery um and it referencing the ncai um statement on Sports mascots you know Indian mascots and stereotypes present a misleading image presenting a misleading image of Indian people and feed the historic myths that have been used to whitewash a history of Oppression the arrow the feathers the tomahawk they are directly correlating to Native American imagery um and it uses it in an athletic setting that the NCI and other organizations deem as not respecting their culture so they have initiated this whole campaign to try and encourage schools and you know professional sports teams to

066change that the Raider name is not one of the names identified as their top Target list for um Native American correlation you know it's more like the Indians the Cherokees the arkans and other names like that that are directly correlated to Native Americans and as I mentioned before Raider is not directly defined as having any correlation it's only in it it's only deemed a correlation because we've had that imagery and you know we haven't had something to replace it you know like other schools and I I you know again I this motion isn't to bring back the name it's to allow the name to be an option for consideration does that answer your question Bradley yeah and there there no there no perfect complete answers to any of this you know we're all I was

067just sure it's just it just occurred to me that um you know again uh you know what what brought us here brought you know was the same path in August and September for both votes so is something I was puzzling over so that you know that's that is a helpful answer and and Mr Moore I I would just chime in too that um I think it speaks to our students and it speaks to our community um that the near well I'll just give ex an example you know when our students who chose to do the walk out I was very impressed to find out afterwards that they said make sure you don't have any Indian imagery on so I think that it speaks to our community and the understanding of where we are in this

068time with the imagery and some of that has been lost in newspaper articles you know I I get frustrated when I read newspaper articles that suggest um you know people in Radner are trying to bring back or students are bringing back the Indian imagery and that is not what I hear from our students um that's not what I'm hearing from alumni and community members so I think it speaks to our community that they there they have on that issue of the Indian imagery um that they feel it needs to be retired and that they have separated that another question about this you know about what we're doing for our students involves uh a discussion and I think the members of GRC will remember this from that same November GRCC meeting we had heard all of

069that public comment um and it was it was veryu it was very centered among the students um and a lot of the public we comment we've heard more recently between January and and may um had a lot more adults involved but that was something that I I really noted and observed about that October regular business meeting commenting on our September vote and you know I think we we started talking about something in that meeting and we haven't really answered satisfactorily this is a lot this is probably more about our board procedures or as much about our board procedures as this particular motion but if this motion were to pass we would again have a situation where you know a lot of people have submitted public comment and then we've we've made a decision you know

070we we've heard more more public comment but the process is also you know similar to what we did in in August and September uh and I think the adults you know know that are are are more accustomed to using that as their Forum but if you're a student and you bother to write the school board about something you care about whether it's about this issue or something not um you know how do we make sure that students are heard and whatever decision we make uh tonight we want to make sure students are heard but there are going to be students who aren't getting what they want you know the advocates for us sticking to our vote to retire the Raider um will uh will not be getting what they want if we accept this motion

071if we deny this motion the students who are advocating for Raider being an option uh will not get that what they want um how do we let a student know that they've that that we've listened um because I hear that a lot I hear that a lot uh in the community um the board isn't listening to the students um whatever our decision is one way or the other how do we make sure that they they know that other than saying it right now but you know there's a few hundred people watching uh how do how do we answer that well one of the things and and that's something that I think think that falls on the collaboration of the administration you know that when we have students especially when it comes to our students but

072I would say our public in general uh but especially with our students whatever the issue is um you know i' i' I've made a note about making sure somebody follows up you know with with Mark mcken who spoke today about you know wrote in a comment about uh attendance at games and Mark if you're watching I know you've emailed me as well and I haven't had a chance to get back to you so we need to be responsive to our kids our students and our community and one of the ways we do that is when they do submit things to us that whether it's the board or the administration on behalf of the board we reach out and we talk to them uh we set up opportunities for them to meet um sometimes that extension

073is through me sometimes that extension is through the building principal if it's an issue at the middle school or the elementary level it can be something that the principal can then gather the students and meet with them uh and talk to them and make sure the students are being heard and I think we always just have to continue to be purposeful that when we have issues that are involving our students um that there is followup whether it's through a building principal or administrator or or somebody through the district office that we follow up with the students and one other question about the students and and I want to thank you Dr Bachelor for what you said at the uh commencement of the um first part of this meeting before we recessed about the level of

074discourse and of avoiding name calling um just because you're advocating for reimagining the Raider name around new imagery you know doesn't make you a racist um but you know we are a public body that um uh deliberates in public and we receive public comment we're required to receive public comment and that's the right way to do things we need to hear from the public um before we take action um how do we you know what are the guardrails you know how do we balance U making this um public body a safe place and a welcoming place for discourse um where anyone can come and exercise their first amendment rights and advocate for what they believe in but also maintain a level of Civility um and the ability to get our discourse done so you know

075maybe that's an hourlong lecture to answer that question but what are what are the key you know what are what are the highlights you know what what is our ability to constrain free speech in the interest of safety um or civility um or do we have no such limits uh you know what what are the possibilities um so that someone who comes to these meetings knows that they'll be able to speak freely and speak for the heart what they believe in but also that um people in our community uh will not feel attacked by the the discourse that occurs yeah and and how do we deal with it we deal with it by discussions like this we deal with it um you know with age appropriate discussions I think we've probably created you know there

076there are many times that I I I wish I was back in the classroom for for many reasons but I I miss when especially there are issues that are controversial I missed that opportunity with high school students to be in a classroom uh debating a topic um you know discussing that and I think that our board meetings and what has happened has provided and I've seen actually some of um a parent sent me actually which I thought was really incredible uh something one of our high school teachers wrote to the student uh after a dialogue they had about this topic in the high school social studies class and how the teacher was able to say you know to the student I I don't agree with your opinion on this however I got to tell you

077I admire how you argued for this in class today and and and you really did it well um and we are you know freedom of of of speech uh and and people have that and we don't necessarily agree with what people say sometime but I'll tell you that we will fight for people to have that freedom to say um what it is they want to say uh and have their opinions uh that being said what are the limits that you were asking specifically when it comes to a school board we do have board policy that does dictate uh public comment um and when it becomes personal attacks uh when people start personally attacking an individual um you know we will step in um it is difficult for us to step in when somebody is sharing

078their opinion when somebody is sharing their opinion and as much as that opinion we may individually disagree with um but people have a right to their opinion but when that opinion you know they decide they're going to personally attack somebody within the school um or personally attack them then we do have the ability to step in and that's why we have our solicitor with us at our meetings uh he is always uh just a a quick mik to turn on to uh pardon the pun uh but Mike kristofco there is to turn on his mic and he willay step in uh when people violate that board policy uh but it is difficult for all of us to uh and and depending where you stand on things to hear things we don't agree with and to

079have people come to public com comment and and I will share with you too as as superintendent you know you know there is personal attacks and there's also the opinion uh that you know I I think you know Dr Bachelor is doing a bad job that's not necessarily a personal attack if somebody comes and says that that's that's their opinion and you know I have to be able to deal with that um and you know I think sometimes we all hear things that's hard to hear uh and that's part of U of of our you know freedom of speech that we have but at the same time I think we can set a tone for what we expect in rner and I really appreciated uh the responses from my message last week uh the responses

080from uh people all and I and you know when I send out an email and it goes out to you know over 3,000 you know people um I get a lot of responses back and uh but overwhelming those responses were people appreciated um that we are one rner and we do disagree on this but we want to do it with with a civil discourse and we need to reset uh and and I I was very pleased to see where where so many were and and I think what has happened too just if I I'm on my soap box I'm sorry but I think what has happened through yes it's my fault I know and I get going I apologize but uh I I think through covid what has happened also is it it you know

081it's really easy to write an email and say things and then when you meet with the person oneone you regret it or you didn't really mean it of that nature you didn't have the conversation maybe there's also something this distance of not being face Toof face not to say that we didn't get asked tough questions or have difficult meetings when we're back in person um you know and and those things happen uh but at the same time we've also lost a little bit through covid of our ability to have uh you know some dialogue that I think will will help us as a community moving forward you know to reset about what is needed and what is expected about our discourse and it's something I think we just have to keep at I don't know

082that there's something we can just fix um you know we're we're we're we're we're a school district and we're dealing with kids and there is nothing that will get people more passionate than talking about their children uh so you know we we we will always have topics that will generate a great deal of passion uh I have a another question about that passion we saw that passion emerge in the um you know in the renaming committee when people were upset about the um board vote from September um some who wanted to move forward someone who didn't want to move forward and uh one of my fears about that uh committee was if if uh folks um you know showed up in the committee and and you know didn't necessarily um you know understand or have

083the expectation that the Raider name would not be an option um how would they feel about that and and would there be you know a negative reaction if as the Comm committee continued um you know Raider wasn't put back on um as an option for renaming um I think some of those fears were were potentially realized by that and so um I was most worried you know uh I worry about everyone I worry about the adults in our community but I'm always worry most about our students and especially for a student who would show up for um something expecting one thing and then having something else happen that's um you know we're all you know I wasn't I I I wasn't on the uh committee and we all do our best but you know we

084we on the school board are all accountable for that ultimately you know it's it's you know we we have to um set the tone and empower the people um who work for the district to have the best most successful process going forward for students and if that's something that wasn't um happening that's that's hard to hear um one idea behind this motion from what what I think I heard um and I forget which board member brought this up was the idea that this this just makes uh the Raider name an option but there's still the board approval at the end of the process um there's there's still a chance you know the board will still have the opportunity to vote at the end of the process and uh you know how does how does that

085concern with how we saw the rebranding committee go you know without any you know judgment or blame about how it went it went how it went um and people feeling like there was an opportunity for something maybe to go their way and then it didn't go their way um you know what does it look like if we pass this motion and um there the the the name is back as an option and then there's this additional process that happens um at the conclusion of that process if it's still the board vote is required and it doesn't um go the way people want one way or the other um you know ha have we set ourselves up for something similar yeah I mean it we're accountable right I mean we I believe this is a question

086for maybe Miss Stern or for Mr kristofco I I believe we would have to literally we take retake a vote or have another vote on just playing this out that the Raider name because we voted to retire it so I don't know literally how it would would come to be um but I think what we were hoping I can only speak for myself is that if it went through this iterative process with um credible consultation and deliberation that the board might feel inclined should it big should it come forward there' be maybe in gender more confidence that we have truly and to the community um made a clean break with the association with the Native American imagery that's how I would foresee this if it were to work out um in a satisfactory manner yeah

087that's that's very helpful um and I think that's that's a big part of If This Were approved what what could go well about it uh I guess a related way to put it is if you know I'll just put this in terms of a hypothetical board member if a hypothetical board member has a very high bar for um the Raider name rebranded eventually being the identity um for the school uh and uh and has serious reservations um should those reservations come out tonight or W in the spirit of let's give this uh you know you know we shouldn't set ourselves up on a path where um at the end of the process well you know we we had a lot more process but ultimately it wasn't enough um uh Raider name will not be approved

088or uh you know or should the board member you know hold back you know what is what is the right way for a board member to think of this and so you know I don't know the answer to that I'm truly struggling with that um you know is is is now the time to Hash it out or is it if this motion's approved see how it goes but then if at the end of the process it's not um successful um you know is is that taking something away that was implicitly uh promised to to the community and the student body um because that's a bad feeling to be told that um a student was thinking something uh we had one expectation about a process and then that expectation um isn't what they um perceived or

089encountered Mr Moore can I ask you a question could I piggyback on that question slightly differently if you don't mind so if the way I heard your question what I hear you asking is you know if the Raider name is allowed as an option for consideration and then if it makes if that were to happen tonight and then if it were to make its way through the through the vetting process by the students and then be one of the two final names if that's how I recall the motion is written then there's really only one of two options it's either going to be selected as a name by the student body and then it would need to be up for approval by this board or not selected as a name um and then the other

090name would be up for approval by this board and so what I think I hear you asking is if it is if it were to go make its way all through that process and at the end not get approved by the board did we should is that what we should hash out tonight is that what your question is that's the question right otherwise I mean there's a board vote at the end of the process what's the point of that board vote what role does it play in the process um should it be part of the process if it must be part of the process um you know how should we think about our role of board as board members if we're required to take a vote at the end of the process how much do

091we need to hash out what that looks like tonight versus waiting until the end of the process I have some questions and comments but I don't want to somebody else wants to go that's fine I don't know I don't know if you were directing that question to the board members who brought forth the motion Mr I mean I think it goes back to um Jeff in answering your question previously I think that it's I think there's an understanding that there has to be a dialogue that takes place and in an Ideal World it should have taken place before vote and we feel that that process by allowing this motion to pass it that process can finally happen so is there a chance that the name can move forward and we would be taking a vote

092at the end of June or July depending on when it is yes that's probably yes to answer your question that could happen um will the students or you know others involved in the process have learned from each other I think the goal is we hope that they will um and you know whatever is learned you know we don't know what the outcome is going to be um you know we've heard from a lot of voices we've heard a lot of public comment but for this to be genuine uh we would need to have it be a part of consideration be be considered as an option um which is why we propose this motion so does that I mean there is a risk there that you the board would take another vote but I think we'll

093learn a lot not just the students but I think I think we as a board will learn a lot and you know as a business person anyone who presents a recommendation you need to have a case you need to build your case you need to have a transition plan if it is rid or name like how is this going to transition how can you assure this board that this can succeed and I think that should all be a part of it if if it gets that far yeah so let this is my last question and I'll ask it a different way um I promised myself I'd take fewer times with questions tonight than I did July 28th when I took 50 minutes with questions so uh why not craft this motion as do the work

094first and then if the work is successful the Raider name can be an option for the student vote so there's a lot of interesting ideas in this motion um why not pass a motion that puts forth all of those ideas uh sets up additional process for dialogue um and then at the conclusion of that U we decide if if it can go on the board or not do do do the work first um you know why why isn't that what was brought before us tonight instead of the Raider name is an option and then here's some um additional process that happens after we've made it an option again can you elaborate on what you mean exactly by do the work first uh you know the the proposal for consultation The Proposal well I can get

095out the motion you know just the some of the particular things in the motion about steps that are happening my papers are all over the place so uh consultation with the National Congress uh um you know Empower students to evaluate names so their guiding principles provide information and promote dialogue at different perspectives um you know educational um component opportunities for greater awareness and history and struggles of Native Americans um and plus just some other ideas that we've heard a little bit in the colloquy about like you know what are the um M Mr jiler got to this you know things we that maybe we wish we had done before um that we haven't done yet about you know students talking to students um uh you know assemblies you know whatever it is in your social

096studies class why not do all of that first essentially you know why not have the motion um except for the first sentence of the motion you do all of you know a through d That's the motion that passes and then after all that work is done the board could come back and decide whether um if that work was successful um the Raider name could be uh an option for the rebranding process so it's a question it's a question about sequence um and uh and there's some substance behind the question but I want I genuinely want to hear your your views about you know why you would you know have it sequenced this way um as opposed to you know another way I don't want to speak for Jeff or Liz but I think the rationale

097behind it is that in order for the dialogue to occur you have to have a discussion on the Raider name as a potential name that moves forward I'm I'm yeah I I appreciate this question Mr Mo very much because I I think we're closer than I hope than we think I guess it's perhaps all in the The Words the the language of what you're considering and how that could be crafted if it was a different motion or an amended motion because it has to be discussed you know and and to me what I I feel like you're you're expressing is show me show me don't just tell me um and so I I I'm intrigued I I don't know that they're that different um maybe it's just a matter of you know like you said

098it's a Cadence in a sequence um but if we're going to go through this I'm thinking of the NC aai involvement um engagement between students in different um mediums um just looking at the motion um education that I think that's important anyway I think we'd all agree on that I I hope um but I feel like we have to have an open discussion that that students can't feel constricted that this is not a possibility they're almost like not that it's a threat not not way shape or form but a a test you know if you pass the test will think about reconsidering it maybe it's just a matter of um I don't know I'm sorry I'm sort of blabbering but um I guess I guess what's behind the question is we heard um eloquently from

099many people who um advocated for retiring the name not just the energy and some of those people articulated how um they believe the name was harmful uh to them because of how they were um we we heard that we can't unhear that um there are many who have who have said the opposite that um that that um isn't the answer but if that's the case if that's the you know for for those uh um who have articulated that to us you know why isn't it a safer approach to um do this work of dialogue and Reconciliation first and then um have a decide whether the name goes back on the table that's another way to put the the question and I think you've already answered it Mr Mr jubile well and it may be in

100the matter of getting down to the nitty-gritty which is does that mean literally you pause you know there's mechanics associated the action that comes out of your suggestion is you know what is it literally um is which is you know that the administrate of like what are they going to do um so I you know it's you know let others share their perspectives I yeah and I think the question implies a pause in if because how could you do the work first right and have a new um identity by June right that'd be impressive so and that I promis that was my last question I will think and listen for a while now thank you thank you I don't is anyone onone else like to speak now can I just say one thing to M

101to Mr Moore's comments um you know I hear you when you say what do we do about the people who said they were hurt and um by the name and they felt embarrassed and you know that was part of my comments it's like you know we've heard that but we don't without the dialogue we don't know what what could make them feel better like would all these other elements would knowing that the NCI could potentially support it and would be part of it and that and that there was a robust educational component with it that's why that's why we put the parameters on it because it it we couldn't look at it in a vacuum and and we don't know because we haven't had that discussion and I agree totally like I think it's intriguing

102you know we' we've discussed this at different points like you know could you do that first we just didn't do it and we didn't do it for months so I guess why this this particular Motion in place maybe being practical maybe trying to keep the process moving forward and saying we were trying to do something this year you know we were trying not to take a pause kind of like we're in it you know let's what can we do now but but but you know as much as we don't know you know I will say that you know I didn't I didn't put this on the table L like I didn't just say oh I don't care about all the people that have spoken up and said they wanted change I mean that I I

103mean I lost sleep over that part you know but I also know that every single person that I talk to about it every single time that I reached out to someone who was advocating for change because I did in the last several days and I talked to them I was I was astounded by their openness to to to recognize that there were they totally empathized with the frustration of people who who thought hey we could do this they totally recognized that that they felt that they were unheard and how frustrating that would be so I'm I'm just giving you know and these were students and and some community members and I'm just giving a a lot of I just have faith in the kids I do think that they can have this discussion and I

104do think that they can put forward you know why and listen and you know I'm not no it's there's not you can't make everyone happy but I think you could you could certainly be in a much better place than we are now without dialogue so you know uh none and and and the I just that's why I keep saying you can't look at this just like we're oh all of a sudden we're reversing and permitting no we're having a discussion to find out what's possible and and you have to look at all the other components because the people the people didn't believe we could you know there are people who don't believe we can do it and and what kind of what kind of program could we put together what kind of solutions could we

105create together to prove that we could do it if that's what what they want you know maybe they'll say hey like no we we'd rather have Chang we'd rather do be something new you know this this is actually better you know I mean yes we had a number of people walk out but we also had a number of students who didn't walk out maybe some of it was for indifference maybe maybe it was maybe it was because they really wanted change there's a number of different points of view but without a dialogue we don't even know what's possible so is there anyone else who'd like to speak uh Lydia Andrew Amy Sarah we haven't heard from any of you tonight I think Amy was next oh Amy go ahead I I'm Sarah if you want

106to go it's fine I um I just had a question a question and then some comments but um in terms of this motion the way it's um reading it it says Identify next steps in the process that empowers students to evaluate names under the guiding principles with the goal of selecting two options for a spal student body vote that was a role that was originally supposed to be played by the existing committee is that something that you believe should happen regardless of whether or not Raider is considered is an option for consideration in the mascot selection and rebranding process I I personally feel that it should be a new committee that our current committee should be disbanded um that it should be a committee of students led by administrative uh Liaisons um I do feel

107that it it but it that the process would be that this new representative group would evaluate names and come up with two that's how I Vision this um but I'll let Nancy and Liz if you have different thoughts or or extrapolate no I I think there should be a more student Centric committee uh in regard to the existing committee I think that there have been learnings from that committee and I think that it warrants continuing in some capacity with that committee um in the process and you know I think we would rely on the administration to determine kind of what those next steps are if we do get a student committee and then with the existing committee because there are valuable voices on that committee um and I don't I personally wouldn't say disband them

108necessarily but I think that they've done a lot of work thus far and you know I I think understanding whatever tonight's vote is the seriousness of our next steps is going to be important for everyone to get behind so those are my thoughts I would I would I would agree with Nancy I think that we need to be more student Centric um whether it's committee I would look to the administration for ideas um you know we at one point as many of you know had a much more detailed motion we're trying to like push back and say let's let's figure out what those details are are you know like we can write the blueprint for moving forward with the guidelines that it's more student Centric um I would agree with Nancy that you know Mrs

109Manan that um that you know there's a lot of people who put time in in um on these committies in good faith and there was some good work I know Dr Bachelor said you know there was a there's some good work that has been done in that in the committee so I I think maybe um convening to to identify key learnings and and key takeaways so that we make sure that we um we share that information as we move to a more student Centric approach but that we we talk about the discussions I don't think it's I don't think the time was all wasted by any means so I I would I would never want to just um disband it and and not take into consideration the good work that was done yeah I I

110apologize sorry M Goldman before your next question I I certainly didn't mean to intimate that the work was worthless or anything of that nature should be disbanded without learnings um I agree and I apologize if my comments came off as um not not not being grateful uh and and and not that some of the committee members and again more student Centric would also be the ones students who are involved in the next committee no Jud no judgment at all it was simply a a clarification of what's written there because I do think that it's maybe it's just me but I didn't think it was entirely clear and the other thing that I don't think is entirely clear is this uh statement about um the you know when you talk about establishing a student committee and

111have all of these other parameters there that go along with that is that just for this select committee or how do the rest of the how does the rest of the student body um regardless of what span of students that is have a chance to participate in what you are are proposing can I just make a clarification didn't we isn't the current motion does not talk about establishing a current a student committee correct no it doesn't that's what I it's but what it does say to say that that that you know we purposely said okay let's leave it to the administration to decide is that committee work is that is that brown bag lunches is that you know is that discussions that happen in Home Room We Really Leave It to the administration to figure

112out how do we make how how do we move forward knowing that we want to um to just make the focus on the students and and and encourage the dialogue there so you know I I hear what you're saying but you know if there's a motion on the floor that needs to be voted on then you know there are some parts of any motion that comes before us that may need some clarification to inform any potential vote and for me those were two questions which is it looks like it's moving solely to a and I you know I have my own opinions on this and I'm not trying to put them into the mix but I'm just trying to clarify what this motion is saying and is it move everything to students and is it

113moving to a subgroup of students to do the rest of the work or is it going to allow for all students to do the work it was a two-part question in terms of how this motion is written that was not clear to me and I I think Susan you wanted to weigh in before it sounds like yeah I did want to weigh in because I I do I just want to kind of get get us back a little bit on track here you know this was a motion that was put forth um by you know Nancy Jeff and Liz they requested the meeting but this is for the board to decide this isn't you know Nancy Jeff and Liz get to to to say how the whole process is going to be and we're just

114asking questions and it what what do they think I mean we are going to have to look at this motion consider it so I I appreciate the questions but you know kind of the more we go down a rabbit hole of any one individual board member explaining their of this motion the good the bad the you know the pros and cons of it um you know kind of gives the impression that three board members are going to you know are dictating the process it's going to be up for our they've put forth a a motion for consideration we're going to have to vote on that motion um you know we still have board members who have not even yet had a chance to to speak yet so uh you know I want to make sure

115that that those who want to either make you know would like to make comment have an opportunity um and then you know you know and then we're going to have to kind of start to talk about the motion it itself I mean I I have thoughts and questions on a whole host of things here I'm I'm trying to make sure I you know let the rest of you speak first but I'm I'm trying to just get us back on track of the process here is not you know that three board members get to to to say what the process is or is not but I do appreciate um Miss Goldman you were asking clarifying questions so was written and thank you because I do think it's it's um you know all the contributions tonight are

116important I do have some thoughts to share but I don't want to if there's somebody else who has something they wanted to say before I get to that I'm it's I'm in no hurry so sure miss dun um so I have been through in my lifetime two branding processes my high school I went to Shipley we did not have a mascot until I want to say I was in eth or ninth grade I confess I did not go back and look up the years um and we decided the the school decided we needed a mascot and there were names and the students got to pick and it was campaigning and it was really really exciting I I actually remember really feeling proud of getting I'm still proud I don't go to Shipley my anymore my

117kids don't go to Shipley but I'm still really proud that I got to help pick the gator as the name that is something I will always own no matter what else happens to that school if they ever changed their mascot I got to be part of a student movement to pick that mascot and it was really empowering I went to ammer college we were the Lord Jeff's we were pretty cynical about it when I was there he was not somebody you want to Aspire to he was not a good person and we just made fun of him when I was there Generations before me were very proud to be Lord Jeff's I was proud to be an ammer student and by extension of Lord Jeff and for my last College reunion it was actually that

118year uh they picked a new mascot we picked a new mascot as a community and um there were certainly the S the other people who said this is kind of ridiculous nobody takes it seriously like who cares you know don't don't get rid of a mascot don't throw out 200 years of ammer History because we have some uncomfortable students on campus they need to learn to get over it they applied they knew what the mascot was they knew what they were getting they knew what this College's history was and if they didn't like it they shouldn't have come here and that really hurt me because I realized I don't want to tell people they don't belong because of a mascot and I felt bad for the alums who were really hurt by it and and

119it was a tough year as a reunion the The Gatherings there were people who wore Lord Jeff forever there were people who openly threatened in public meetings they were never going to give money again to this college and probably people with the means to make that a real threat and it was sad and it really hurt me to watch that and watch them go through that pain not because I thought they were right because ultimately what I came to see was look I I'm I'm always going to be an Amorous graduate nobody takes that away from me nobody touches that a part of my identity you can burn my college graduation paperwork you can burn every paper I ever wrote but you can't take away the work I did and who I am as a

120result of that education so now I'm a mammoth I'm a purple Mammoth and you know what I don't walk around thinking of myself as a purple Mammoth but I'm still Proud To Be An Amoro so I see both sides of this I really really do I also I'm I'm really sad about how this community has reacted to this and I'm sad about both sides let anybody tell you otherwise please don't I I have corrected people when they call people who defend the Raider name they have called them racists they have called them Nazis to my face and I have said please don't say that please don't say that you don't know these people to really you use that word and it's lazy it is but you know what I have also received really really nasty

121emails calling anyone who supports the name change completely vile in all caps you all got that email you know who I'm talking about and I have been told I don't care about children because I would take this vote I have been told I don't do all the other work of the board because I'm wasting time on this mascot issue that I should have left alone I've been told I don't listen and that I don't care that I'm corrupt and that's bullying on both sides and what I want to say to the board members who are thinking about putting this on the backs of our children our children who have valiantly made it through a global pandemic nothing any of us ever had to do as high school students those children have gone through school in

122a pandemic they have done it remotely they have done it hybrid they have done it in person with masks on and they have done it because they don't really have a choice right we tell them they've got to go to school that's not an option now we're going to tell them you need to solve the problems of a community of adults that can't agree a very very articulate well-reasoned group of students came to us last summer they called us all they asked us about this they said would you consider it we had it up we had over four hours I went back and looked it was over 140 board comments and pretty much the main two options were get rid of all of it keep all of it none of it's offensive and there were

123some few voices that said you know what we could probably Rebrand the name and Mrs Monahan was one of them but most people if you remember back then did not say that we could Rebrand it because they thought it was offense we would even consider changing it so what I want to ask you when you talk about this being a chance for Community conversation that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about pushing this community conversation which has been to date pretty nasty into our schools we are asking students who are about to take AP tests next week who are looking down the barrel at the end of the school year we are asking them to make a decision and have a conversation that we have adult have as adults not me personally I

124think I've been pretty rational but that the adults in this community can't have with a nice tone so now I want to ask every board member to pause and think about which email you got which board comment you listen to that made your stomach sick the ones you got that you couldn't eat lunch that day because you made the mistake of reading your email the social media post you saw that questioned whether your children Were Somehow involved in this whether people should show up at your homes I want you to think about that and ask yourself if it's fair to put that on the children because I agree with Mr bachelor I believe in our teachers and I believe those classroom conversations will be well moderated they will be well thought out and they will

125be respectful because I believe our teachers and our students will demand that in a setting like that but I'm sorry I just am not convinced that the social media posts will be as respectful on either side but but they've been pretty nasty I'm not convinced there won't be emails I'm not convinced there won't be I'll call it lobbying but I don't think that's what we'd call it I think we'd call it bullying because I think that's what has been happening this year and I want to ask you why you would wish that on our children I think this is a decision the board has to make and it's not a comfortable we've made a lot of uncomfortable decisions this year we've had heated discussions about why when we don't have medical degrees we have to

126decide whether Co is dangerous and whether kids can be three feet spaced or has to be six feet can they even be in the building this board is capable of making very very difficult decisions and I I just feel it's really wrong Dr Goldstein called in last week maybe she called in maybe she wrote in but she's a child psychologist and she said to usou the adult you need to make this decision I I think they are excellent parts of this resolution I do think our community could use conflict resolution but I think it wouldn't hurt to be in this classroom I do think you know Steps A and B are are great ideas I I think we've already agreed on D1 tasking the administration to include an educational Community component in the spirit Gallery

127we talked about that last October we've already voted on that we spent extra money for anybody who's wondering we spent extra money for a spirit gallery that was specifically supposed to honor our history I just I and I don't I never object to Greater awareness and greater education I I just I have trouble asking children to do what we as adults are having trouble doing ourselves and I think we owe it to them to give them options that they can be proud of and and while I'm on it I love the Raptor name it's a bird of prey for people who don't know because I've heard some people are confused about that one I think it would be a great overarching mascot and that each Elementary School can pick a bird of pray that they

128want to be theirs that's my pitch thank you Miss dunis uh Dr Babson were you leaning in before to speak okay Miss Solomon Miss Goldman sure I'll I'll go ahead um and offer my thoughts um and I'm going to take this in a slightly different direction to MISD done um only because um this is how I'm you know sort of conceptualizing the issue so first of all I I want to acknowledge it's important to me to say that I have listened to the people who took the time to reach out to us and and there have been hundreds um and I'm only speaking for myself I have listened and I have heard you however that doesn't mean that I necessar necessarily agree with you those are really two different things um I am going to

129State the obvious there are strong feelings on all sides of this issue you and for me I really can understand I'm going to repeat can I understand this issue from all sides I really do I can see the different arguments and I think that the values that are expressed and I I think that these are core values that we've touched on that have made this such a heated conversation I think that these are all valid um um core values that people hold so to me the people who wish to keep the Raider name I think that they're expressing the value of Pride we hear that a lot a nod to history and tradition um for many of them I also think it represents achievement accomplishment Victory but also a work ethic determination um self-determination okay

130so these are all wonderful values nobody is taking that away from anybody you know I I I sense in this that there's a fear that somehow taking a name away takes away those things so I really want to stress that changing this in no way changes someone's history or experience of Pride that they had on the sports field or in their school or a past achievement um and I also want to stress this has come up before too about the cost and Dr Bachelor has said and I believe he said 80% of the cost um is going to be born either way because it is to get rid of the Native American imagery so the cost of this I and I'm not saying it's not relevant of course it's relevant but it's going to be

131born either way all right so let's get back to the core values of the people who want to remove the name and the imagery that want both to happen and they are also expressing precious core values and what I hear from them I hear inclusivity I hear kindness I hear a desire to be in the world and not offend people and I hear a remarkable social awareness that you know I'm not sure most of us had as teenagers um and I'm speaking to the girls not girls excuse me to the students who you know originally um brought forth a survey um and what amazing self-awareness they had okay so these are also wonderful values that we all want our students to have all right so I'm framing this so I also want to say at

132this point um to my colleagues that brought forth this um proposal or this um motion I I really commend you because it is in my nature to want to see compromise as well and so I appreciate that um and so I think it is through compromise that we move forward and I also really want to highlight the idea of positive communication between the groups uh it's important to me that there is true understanding between the different groups on what the other one is saying because they are all valid positions really I so a real understanding of what this issue is about though with regard to marginalized minority students is is critical to me because I think at the end of the day it's our job to make sure no one is harmed and we have

133been informed that marginalized minority students minority students are harmed by this Native American imagery so that's also a factor to put out there all right so at this point and lots of thought um serious thought on the part of this board I'm going to draw on my experience on this board from the past all right so I was on this board in 2013 when this issue came before the board my recollection was that it was brought up through the curriculum committee which I was a member of um and then it went from there to the full board now in my mind what occurred back then was that we tried to broker a compromised position and Miss malahan is right it did not come up as a vote it was a conversation now interestingly enough the

134various positions on both sides of the argument haven't really changed that much in eight years but for my observation one thing that has definitely changed is the student awareness around this issue and that more students came to us this time than last time to ask us to please change both the name and the mascot that was very different to me I also think it's important to note that ragner right now is different than it was eight years ago um and I think nationally the culture has changed a lot in the last eight years and it is certainly a different rner than in 1970 you know we've received a lot of letters from alumni from long ago a and it's just a fact that Radner is a different Community now than in 1970 and that is

135not to say though that in any way we want to erase the things that made Radner great I almost want to say if you if if people that are take pride in the Raider could think of it that the people who want everyone included in it who want to change the imagery and the name in a sense are actually paying you the highest compliment because they're saying Radner is is such an incredible place that they want to be sure that everyone who's here now feels included in it that it's so valuable to them that they want it to be fully inclusive that everyone feels part of it that that everyone feels that they can identify with that all right so back to what in my understanding occurred or transpired back in 2013 we had it

136was a conversation we were going to remove quote negative American imagery from the Radner schools that was the discussion and the goal all right and again my understanding and there were conversations that included this that the Indian head would be removed from the high school that the students dressed up as Indians would not be a part of football games any longer that the Indian chop cheer was not going to be a part of our tradition and that the Indian head with the feathers would be removed from school uniforms and you know other um items sports apparel or whatever we were still going to be the Raiders but with no negative reference to American Indians all right well it's clear that that is not what happened okay some of those things happened um the student dressed

137as an Indian did not the caricature did not occur on the fields but the other things that I mentioned didn't change there were discussions that people proposed them that oh yes that should change but it didn't happen now it's no one's fault that it didn't happen it didn't happen because there wasn't sufficient understanding I believe on why it should happen that people fell back into the old ways because maybe they never even heard about the conversation or they didn't agree with it or you know they didn't understand Maybe okay so that was then I've already said it's different now eight years later all right so to me though this this um motion is really trying the same compromise that we tried before now I can't predict the future like I don't know um if the

138Raider would be voted on um I just feel a bit like what Mr Moore said I kind of think I want to know that there's understanding on why some people feel the name should change and but I also want the people that want the name to change to understand the Legacy and the tradition of rner that people are it seems fearful is going to be lost in this and so I want to know there's more education and discussion around this for me before I'm willing to try what I tried in the past like I feel like I I tried the compromis position and it it didn't work then so um here's a little bit of of foreshadowing I don't know what's gonna happen tonight but if this motion doesn't pass I am considering making a

139motion to basically halt this thing right where we are so we would not be the Raiders we've already voted on that we would not continue with rebranding because we seem stuck and I personally am distraught by um putting this in the high school I want students in the high school right now to come out of the pandemic to enjoy their last few months of school and so there's just too many more important things right now and and not to say for those that really care about the Raider that it's not important I think what the Raider symbolizes to you is important I don't really think adults fighting about a high school mascot is the right way to conduct our community so so what I would propose if and I don't know what'll happen but if

140this motion doesn't fail doesn't pass rather I would propose a motion where we just halt the whole thing so we're not the Raiders we're not the Raptors we're not the roosters we're not are we are just Radner for a year and then once temperatures have you know temper have cooled and people are you know we've come through a trauma people we've come through a pandemic once we're all back you know to normal in our game or whatever normal might be for people then we we pick it up again um and that's not to say that we would put the Raider back on or that we wouldn't I would just propose that we call I I guess I'm hearkening back to Patty Lee's comment um or one aspect of it which is just this has become

141too heated and um I don't think it's healthy and I definitely agree with Miss Dunn I do not want to put this hot potato back on our students at the end of the year like oh we can't you know this community can't respectfully talk to each other so let's put it back in the high school I don't agree with that either so um I'm again all for trying to find a compromise trying to um you know Encompass as many of the good things that that people are expressing um but I think most importantly what's always guided me on Schoolboard is trying to do what's best for students and I I just don't think it's best for students to put this back on them so um that's not to say you know what could happen in

142the future I I think I would just like to say let's just halt this for now that that's foreshadowing of of what may happen I don't know where everybody is on this so those are my thoughts at the moment thank you Miss Solomon so okay in yeah let me just share few remarks that I I've been thinking about I had quite a few and I think we all expressed ourselves pretty thoughtfully back on September second but given that it's been quite some time since then and we've had more in information to consider and time to reflect I wanted to take a chance to share some of those thoughts again um starting last spring our board faced situations that were not part of any of the Schoolboard trainings I had taken as a candidate or have

143had over the past six years I've been on this board and as I said earlier tonight education was likely among the most disrupted of American institutions by the pandemic and under the guidance of a tremendously dedicated administrative team I'm sorry a baby picture just came through and support oh congratulations thank you oh sorry and under the guidance of a forgive me if I'm stuttering at the moment and under the guidance of a tremendously dedicated administrative team and supported by our great faculty staff parents and students we all tried our very best to navigate the inconceivable while each having to absorb the pandemic the impact of the pandemic on our own lives too but there was something else of significance that happened last year and that was a national Reckoning that brought our mascot issue which

144we've since learned through documentation has been around in this community for at least 20 years back to our inboxes many American schools colleges professional sports organizations public and private companies and more intrinsically and extrinsically were prompted to engage in similar institutional self-reflection and examination that still is going on as we speak I I've lived in rner for almost 20 years and have raised and educated my children in this community and have spent almost every moment of my free time in all kinds of volunteer capacities big and small for all of our rner schools including as a member of the rner school board and I know my colleagues have as well I believe I am a listener and a learner and I both listened and learned last summer when students staff parents alumni and other community

145members raised the mascot concerns again there were also people who did not share those concerns and I've listened to and learned from those perspectives as well there are people in this community who have a long standing and deep connection to being a Raider and that identity is often multigenerational and I have come to appreciate how embedded that feeling is it is associated with accomplishments memories traditions and pride which has been mentioned by several other board members tonight but what I also learned is that there are many of those who live work and learn Among Us for whom it is not positive and engenders quite negative feelings both sets of feelings are authentic to those who hold them and hundreds of forms of communication in meetings and across other platforms I've heard over the past eight

146months illustrates that there is no absolute agreement on this debate so deciding what to do about the Raider name was an agonizing decision for me and I think some of my fellow board members have expressed the same but whether or not the positive or negative feelings are my personal experience doesn't matter in this role I feel I have a responsibility and obligation to acknowledge and respond to them it is really frustrating that some people are characterizing the decision to evolve the mascot into a more inclusive identity as a preset agenda or as a capricious and thoughtless decision nothing could be further from the truth this was one of those decisions that I never anticipated having to make and literally has kept me up at night because I know that there are deeply passionate and vastly

147different views and I know that no matter what I decided I was going to let some numbers of people down but my soulle searching reminded me that I have always striven in the volunteer work I have done for Radner to expand the sense of connection and belonging in our community it is among my most firmly held values and it comes from an intensely personal place and upon learning that the Raider has had not by intention but by impact a marginalizing and painful effect on members of our community regardless of how many people that is I could not ignore that I was also concerned about this remaining as a persistent issue for rner when we have so many other things that we need to address established in 1959 Lowden County High School in Virginia removed the

148Confederate imagery associated with its rner nickname in 1980 but this summer another 40 years later the controversy returned and the school board unanimously retired the Raider name in June too I really believe there is so much to appreciate about the Great Schools we have in this special rner community and remain hopeful that we can evolve together into a more incl inclusive identity that can be enjoyed throughout the process and the outcome by one and all and speaking of identity I wanted to take a moment to talk about that as I said previously I have devoted almost all of my free time to volunteer in the rner schools I have come to work with and know many students in this district and they are kind they are curious they are smart they are hardworking they are

149generous they are creative they are thoughtful they are persistent and they are multifaceted and unique human beings who inspire me each and every day to keep volunteering to support their well-rounded educational experiences in my view these are the characteristics that form our children's identities and make each and every one of them the very special students that they are just watching and listening on the lawn to to the rner high school band play a couple of Friday nights ago was another of the many reminders to me of how lucky we are to offer our students so many incredible experiences that Define who they are and what they can be our children count on all of us as adults to believe in them and Inspire their ability to be resilient to show them that we all have

150the capacity to cope and recover from whatever disappointment and worse that life will inevitably bring our way I learned this from Dr Ken Ginsburg one of the first speakers we had as part of the rner speaker series that I was honored to initiate many years ago these are teachable moments he said and our children take their cues from how we as adults conduct ourselves in the face of challenges and respond I ask the community to help our students have the confidence to know that disappointments are surmountable and will not Define them and that evolving into a more inclusive identity is actually a gift to give their fellow classmates and others to come last I would appreciate everyone remembering that we're not just a school board yes we ran for this volunteer office and absolutely have

151a responsibility to do our best to serve each and every one of our constituents to the best extent we can 1 and we're doing that we've hired a fantastic superintendent we've delayed our high school start times for the health and wellbe of our students we've put resources behind augmented academic programming we just heard more about today in our curriculum committee meeting and mental health supports to Aid in our recovery from the pandemic just to name a few recent initiatives with many more to come we've also just Broken Ground on rebuilding almost all all of our High School athletics and wellness infrastructure because we truly value the pride and traditions that our rner Athletics and other extracurriculars generate for our students and community that project includes the building of a dedicated Spirit gallery to honor our

152history as we move forward to make Radner as accessible safe and inclusive a school district for one and all but we are also your peers your friends your neighbors customers parents of our children's friends and taxpaying Radner residents sharing together the same 13 square miles of this Township we will not always see eye to eye but I truly hope that we can believe in the best in one another and commit ourselves for the sake of our children and Community to being civil and respectful to one another even when we disagree [Applause] Mrs Goldman thank you uh Dr Babson did you want to speak tough act to follow there say follow that I know um well good evening everyone and um first of all I want to thank uh three members of our board for opening

153up uh this conversation a little bit giving us a chance to um to discuss things a little bit further um and I think your um motion is very well crafted um I would only say really that the that I agree with it all except for the part under um section c where you say if the the name Raider is selected by students as an option that moves forward everything else I agree verbatim word for word um you've put forward as um Miss dun said a lot of excellent ideas is here that I think we should be doing regardless some things we've already done um there was also talk earlier about inclusivity and for those of us who could make the um groundbreaking last week for our accessibility and wellness project at the high school uh

154that was a theme from everyone involved that inclusivity is extremely important when we talk about Dei we talk about diversity equity and inclusion and um so I think inclusivity is a key here so um going forward I've got some points here I'll try to be uh try to be brief but um you know Mr Moore brought up some issues earlier that I think were um questions earlier that were of interest um the original purpose of the rebranding committee As I understood it was to choose a new name in other words um the kind of backsliding into discussions about the Raider were not really intended um by that particular committee because we had already voted very strong votes 90 and 8 to one uh to move forward in a specific Direction um so just a couple

155of things to recap first you know I I spent a lot of my youth in the midwest uh in Columbus Ohio area also in an arbor for those of you who are football fans you're probably wondering Chi uh kind of a whiplash there Columbus to an arbor but if you've ever been to a buckeye game or a Wolverines game um Michigan Stadium Ohio stadium you know that Sports is more than just sports that it is a powerful vehicle for belonging it really is especially in our country um and so uh as a former athlete uh in high school and in college I really understand this I really really do and and for those people who say it's just a mascot um you know Silly issue no I I can see and I really empathize um

156with many of you who have who have used the word Raider as a resource for belonging um but uh oh one one other thing also the timing of this you know this has been a year of loss and some of us have lost a tremendous amount uh lost family members uh some of us have lost routines and little habits of our lives our daily lives so all loss is important um I'm not a psychologist but I'm just putting it out there um that I I want to empathize with that but you know our students um did something really remarkable last year which is that they spurred us on to revisit an issue that as Miss Goldman said that we've been dealing with for a long time in this community okay um so to construe this

157as a kind of uh woke Trend or something like that uh or that we're riding the wave of some kind of really new fangled thing is just not true um advocacy organizations have been really pushing for eliminating mascots and the names for decades um so I just want to really underline that um so it's not a flash in the pan a reference is made to the National Congress of American indiia um and they were formed in 1944 and um so they have been fighting against U the use of mascots in Native American names and imagery uh since then um just also Eman tanell our local Hero has been mentioned a few times he joined the NFL in 1948 which was two years after a 133-year ban on allowing African-Americans to play play in the NFL

158uh took took uh hold and that was led by no less than the founder of the Washington Redskins so I'm I'm just saying that there there is some history here to be kind of unpacking and to just look at the big picture um of these issues um so I have spoken um as some of our other uh board members have spoken with uh members of the NCI or staff members there um and I've also spok spoken with a representative from the Lenny laap tribe of Pennsylvania who is actually watching this uh video tonight um and she has offered to provide our school our district with some education about uh the history of their tribe Etc um but I thought it was poignant that she uh copied and pasted in our messages the diversity equity and

159inclusion statement from our own website um and I thought that that was significant um it is our job in my opinion not the students to be handling this issue and a number of board members have said that I just want to say it um right so I also wanted to mention this is point number six of 10 so uh thank you for for letting me speak here but um you know I I delved into um this approach from the NCI National Congress of American Indians um of guiding districts to Rebrand a name and what I would call a semantically open name like Warriors or Raiders I.E kind of what um what Nancy mm manahan was saying earlier that Raider doesn't necessarily have to be tied in with Native American imagery and that is true um

160but um I think okay I did speak with uh Jeff and I spoke with Liz um about some of the work that ncia have done in rebranding names and there is a little bit of excitement there in those conversations um first of all I really appreciate those conversations because I thought maybe there would be a way um for us to to forge a compromise that that would work um but actually digging deeper further into um how NCI have engaged with communities um I to I spoke with two representatives from MCI um two of them emailed us as a board and one works for the other I'm not going to mention them by name because I they didn't give me express permission to do so but one of them is leading the national initiative on uh

161helping school districts to Rebrand and get rid of mascots and names and imagery and they both said that while it is possible it is generally extremely difficult that they've done this with many districts and that it it is generally extremely difficult and it's a delicate Balancing Act of uh rebranding uh a good buddy of mine is uh in Global Marketing for IBM and he has said the same thing he works on rebranding campaigns and sort of is done with saying that it's extremely hard to Rebrand an name especially when these connections have been forged over decades it's extremely hard also I think what I what I wanted to do is I wanted to dig back into the emails that we've gotten the public Communications the meetings and so doing all that and then the meeting

162last week I really came full circle to what I uh decided last year so last year I understood on a logical level um I'm trained as an anthropologist my Subs specialty is semiotic and linguistic anthropology which studies uh images and words words and and so forth um my research was initially on um English language learning among South African Youth and also ethnic and tribal identification and the the tension a little bit between those things so in some ways I'm fairly prepared to talk about this on a theoretical level and so last SE September I was thinking yeah you know it's too difficult to separate semiotically the images in the word but now I understand it Contex I think that in this community the association is too strong and it has been uh around for too

163long and going back to what Miss Goldman said um you know this is not something that has happened overnight this is an issue that has been going on for many years here and as Miss uh Solomon said this is something that she directly participated in several years ago um on this particular issue um and so couple final points here I got a few more points you can be a proud radite without referencing the name Raider I think as many of our school board members have said tonight there are many qualities of being a person from rner living in Radner um that you can identify with without referencing the word Raider and so I think that that is a very important Point um and I think it's important for us to think about what unites us

164in rner and one key many things but one key thing is that many people move here because of the quality of the schools many people move here because of the quality of our schools and so that is something that really strongly unites many people in rer and I would argue uh many people that have moved here over the past generation or so um people that have moved here fairly recently I count myself and my family um in that category we moved here from West Philly because of the quality of the schools here and so I think that that is something that we can unite around and I heard Miss Goldman referred to those qualities um in our students so I really want to um well I put down a side note Sarah my uncle is

165a a 1965 alumnist of AMR college and I asked him about this and he said yeah the Lord Jeff yeah whatever in other words um you know the the representative of the NCI one of them told me that it is often people that have been around the community for a long time that have the hardest time letting go and on a human level how could you not understand that I I totally get that um but it was funny you know talking with my uncle he's like no I I I think I'm good with the purple Mammoth um but back to what I'm saying here so I think moving forward I think we can choose a new mascot in name that can unite us as a community that can comprise those values that we want to

166see in our students um and that are mirrored in the community in an name now look you you take the example of the Ohio State Buck guys or the Michigan Wolverines and you know the the qualities of the mascot are not really thought of that much perhaps like the quality of a of a buckeye or a quality of a wolverine so for some people it's a source of real identification and for others it isn't um but I think that in as much as we have a chance now we can unite around a new mascot and image that is aligned with how we think of ourselves as a community now you know my vote is for the Griffin for many reasons um it's already part of our local imagery um it embodies qualities that I think

167are interesting and could be relevant um it's also not specific to one particular geographic region of the world if simple Wikipedia search will show you that the the Griffin shows up in many forms of Mythology around the world so um just something to think about let's think about what we gain let's think more positively um let's think of the possibilities here about what we gain um and then finally I just want to highlight again that looking at our Dei statement on our website that how are we being how are we honoring diversity recognizing it um and the flip side of that Unity what unites us as human beings Equity treating people fairly and inclusiveness making sure that we don't have any names or images or aspects of of our identity that divide or exclude um

168so I think we have a real chance here um in this year of loss to move forward in a New Direction we've got this beautiful new project at the high school I think it's an excellent time for us to move forward with um with a new name and mascot so thanks thank you Dr bson Mr Moore um miss m just a moment Mr Moore you asked questions earlier and I didn't know if you wanted to make um some board comment and then uh you know I didn't know if you had comment you wanted to make before we delve into the motion I I have a few short remarks but not much uh I could say a little more was was Mrs manahan gonna make a point first though I think Dr bson wanted to say

169yeah I just I just wanted um I think there were some valid points that the board members made regarding empa like our statement in the motion of empowering students um I I get the fact that the students have gone through a lot this year I can speak for myself that the intent of the wording is of that was not to burden the students but to have more of a um like empowering them to uh it was vague actually to be honest and I I think that in response to Amy's question perhaps we got too much into the weeds like just trying to think off of our feet um it was vague for a reason so that the administration could then take that and move forward with it whatever process they recommended would work best within

170the existing process but I want to just recognize the comments that were made by the board members the intent was not to burden the students and I just want to make sure that that's very clear no and I I apologize if it if it felt like I thought that was your intent I know that you guys asked for this meeting purely out of a sense that the board hadn't fully vetted this and that you felt there needed to be more conversation so I under I absolutely believe that your motives in having this conversation were good it it that's my perspective on unfortunately the potential downside to it and it was thank you for asking for the convers ation okay thanks M Mr Moore so in some ways I've had the most time to think about

171this issue it's it's not a new issue uh it didn't emerge this year although it certainly um was was brought to us with with more energy than usual um over the course of the over the summer um and uh I think I think there's nothing wrong in saying candidly I don't know for sure what the best path is forward and I um and I and this is the first time we've had an opportunity as a whole board to debate this publicly because um C certainly someone could have made a motion at another meeting but this is the first time that's that's happened um you know under our rules of procedure we don't just have you know free discussion time um and so you know we're we're having a conversation now that I think we we

172could have and should have had earlier um and we didn't uh we we we and I think there were good reasons for that I think um Mr jubiler and Mrs Duffy articulated this you know after the presentation in January from the administration the idea was out there let's let's um we've heard a lot of concerns but let's let's see how this goes keep us posted and um and and so you know Wan wanting to give that uh the best chance to move forward I think that's why we're having this conversation for the first time now there may you know there may be other reasons but um there in retrospect I think there were some missed uh opportunities I also think candidly though it's I don't know the best way forward as I said it's it's

173uh it's a puzzle I haven't quite uh heard satisfying answers too and that's a tough position to be in uh in September I can say how I felt at the time I uh you know not not knowing what was the best path forward I used the best heris available to me at the time or what I thought would be which was um to listen to and prioritize the voices of those who were you know most um impacted by the harmful Association that the name had taken on um over many decades and I I voted based on that not because I thought I knew better but I thought listening um would be the best way to guide my decision it's in September at the time uh and you know as I said in the meeting we

174can't unhear what we heard then or what we've heard since then um it's not um you know a handful of students or a handful of people who have been targeted on the basis of their race who advocated for the retirement of the name um I mean there were hundreds of people who signed the Radner for reform open uh letter you know current students uh alumni other members of our community um we have continued to hear from many of those people um we have Contin to hear from alumni um I think we can all say honestly that there is a divide that the alumni whose whose time at Radner um preceded the strong association with the Native American imagery were have been more in favor um and generally speaking the the alumni who graduated earlier have

175been more in favor um overwhelmingly so I would say in in uh in attempt in in saying we should Rebrand the uh Raider name around a new uh imagery I think we should concede that and the younger alumni have uh a strong majority of them have been in favor of us standing by our decision to uh retire the Raider name so you know what do we do with that what's the way what's the way out of it um I I haven't said what my personal preference is in a way I think it's um irrelevant even though I'm I'm an Alum and uh I I owe an apology to the board and to the community for something that happened in the first part of this meeting a week ago um and this is not to be

176critical of the person who did it but you know somebody said oh who on the board is an Alam and I raised my hand and that was during public comment but that's you that was out of order at that point of the meeting you know there's a time for us to deliberate and and straw Poes during public uh comment aren't part of our process um I I am here to listen and make the best judgment call based on what we see in front of us and my role as an Alum isn't dispositive of that one way or another um so you know and so what my per personal preference is I'm not saying um I don't think it's the most I don't think it's important um all I can do is rely on my experience

177and the main thing my experience tells me is that this is not a not a new issue uh and I'd also like to apologize for something that happened in our September 2nd meeting where um I expressed a positive vision of rner Pride and how I thought the best way to move forward if um someone was unhappy with the decision ision to retire um the imagery and the name at that time would be to focus on rner pride and not Raider Pride um I still believe that but I um I went back and listened to it and the way it came off I I it sounded like I didn't have empathy for those who have felt that Raider P Pride as part of their identity um and I wish I had done a better job of

178that because I didn't mean to imply that it would be easy to to move on uh and as someone who's an Alum who has kids in the schools you know I can I can think of some other analogies you know I I volunteer for the Garrett uh Hill parade where I grew up I got to participate in that parade and my kids get to participate in that parade and if someone were saying to me you know that's that's not an option anymore or it's going to change in some way that's not how you envisioned it um you know that's that would be upsetting to me and so I I wish I had had more empathy for that um that feeling um I I don't know what the right answer is out of this but a

179principle I apply to it is that um we have to make a decision moving forward for um that that isn't just caught up in the moment of whatever we're we're facing now um you know we are the we are the stewards of this school district you know we have an obligation not to act on um you know what you know what we want personally but what will be best for the community moving forward so I'm trying to apply that to this um decision you know at the time in September I think the main thing I was thinking about was uh um you know how people have so much pride in their Community we could refresh that Pride with something moving forward that is inclusive of all um say what you want uh about the Raider

180name but it's it's hard to describe it as inclusive given the division that we've been um observing over decades that that accelerated this year so the idea of saying that as the motion is written per the greater name as an option for consideration you know the you know you you knew where I was going with this you know the question I asked earlier can can we do that now I don't think we've done enough work to do that now and that's not to say that it can't ever be done uh but I don't think we've put in the work to do that yet um and you know what what I want to see is uh something that will move us forward in rner in a way that um is inclusive of all and you know

181an analogy I thought of uh you know just a just a little earlier this week when I was thinking about this in my in my front yard I used to have this giant oak tree and I L that oak tree so much it was beautiful and it provided incredible uh shade uh but over time it it it was it became dangerous it became dangerous and um it had to be taken down um and now I have two little saplings uh in the front yard thanks to the U Township you know our our our our uh government unit with the the same borders uh in Radner they have program where you can get saplings in your yard and and that will be something that's beautiful that will grow moving forward for the future U so I

182don't know if those saplings can be more like uh a completely new identity or more like a rebranded um Raider name with uh new imagery um but I I don't I don't think we're ready for that from what everything we've seen over the course of this past year so as as structured permit the Raider name as an option for consideration um I'm not there yet um and I admit I um don't know exactly what the best option is moving forward uh I won't I won't pretend to say that I that I do thank you Mr Moore um back in September when we voted I remember um you know know as is generally my practice I let board members make a motion and a second and then we discussed and every board member weighed in on

183this decision and at the end I found I had very little to say because I was so moved by the eloquence and the thoughtful words of my fellow board members and I feel that way again now um I want to thank you for um requesting this meeting uh the constraints of doing our work means we have to do it in the public and to Mr Moore's point we can't just sit down and have a discussion that's not how this procedure works I I suppose we could talk about changing that but the fact of the matter is you know we needed a public meeting and we needed a motion and this is the meeting and this is the night and I'm I'm grateful um because one of the things I've been left with for the last

184seven months is that people want to feel heard and you know we heard from many over the summer and then we heard from you know over 140 in August and then we heard through the month of August from people we didn't stop getting comments I didn't stop getting comments in the month of August um when we recessed that meeting um and then we reconvened in September and we voted in a relatively short meeting it was less than an hour this one's now pushing three um and I think each of you has shared comments and Reflections that indicate that you have deeply considered comments that we've heard the last 7 months on both sides of the issue and we you know watched a process unfold with the committee and have considered how that went and how

185that didn't go and I think it was Mr Moore's comment earlier he said it went how it went however well or not well we think the uh rebranding committee work went you know I I I'm so grateful to the administrators who ran it Mr Beck told and Mr petiti but it went how it went um personally I think that committee's work is done you know they brought us to a point of they they gave us a list and um I'm not sure they gave us a list of eight names and depending on how tonight's motion goes and how we discuss it you know I think perhaps that that work is done and we're going to have to figure out how to move forward um I do have a couple of thoughts on just I I

186did not take notes I mean I did not write comments for tonight I was really committed to wanting to listen to what every one of you said and every one of you gave gave me something to think about I I want you to know that and and I know that the the emails and the comments the board comments we've heard over the last seven seven months have also been running through my mind tonight and and certain themes and have come to mind um but I want to revisit something um this conversation has been around for a long time to Dr babson's point we did not create this and we did not ask for this uh this year I think to miss Duffy's point when she said uh you know we've we we have received emails

187saying that we divided this community and I would I would agree with Miss Duffy and ask people to consider we didn't divide the community we we revealed a divide there are different perspectives on this name and there were different perspectives even on the imagery you know we've seen that conversation evolve over the last seven months um petitions that said feathers forever have now evolved um so perhaps we've moved the ball forward on some conversations around the understanding that the imagery is harmful perhaps not but perhaps um but one of the things that Miss Solomon shared when she was recapping the uh work or maybe it was Miss Monahan said that the 2013 conversation which was the last time the district really actively took a look at this this conversation about the Raider and the mascot

188and the name and the imagery that the decision that was that came out of uh I think it was actually the policy committee it was announced in the policy committee not curriculum was that the decision to remove the um the Native American uh costumed mascot on the field you know was a decision that strikes a balance of respecting all people that was the statement back in and I guess what I would say now eight years later you know our community and our world has continued to evolve and when I think about some of the comments that we've received you know on this issue over all these months is that I don't think that it's true any longer that we can say the Native American imagery that we're using and the name keeping the name strike

189a balance of respecting all people I can't unhear some of the comments that we heard around the impact that this name in the imagery have and I know that as a board we're not even really considering the imagery tonight that is already a done deal but to Mr Moore's Point um you know we we utilized the exact same process for both votes and I think the fact that largely as a community we are not struggling with the decision to retire the imagery um but we are with the name I think that just reflects that we have a community with a lot of different opinions different views people who hold dear their memories of what it means to them to be a rad narrator and shortly after we took our vote I heard from a constituent

190who was very um very angry uh that would be putting it mildly very angry over this decision and the impact that they felt it would have on their their child and I asked them to consider you know really focusing and and focusing on supporting their child in moving through the process of grief and loss and and moving on I don't know if that family has done that or not um but as I think about the lessons that are here to be learned over what we've experienced the last seven months um you know I will always be regret regretful and I will always wish that it would have occurred to one of us uh I bear the responsibility personally that one of us would have said oh maybe we should table this motion and you know

191and and consider it for a month but we didn't do that we we to miss Goldman's point you know we were intending to try to move forward on something that was brought to us at a very intense time and I know that we sincerely believed that the right thing to do was given how strongly we all felt was to take a vote and move on and I am a person who believes in taking a vote and moving on even when the votes don't go my way so regardless of how tonight's vote goes you know I will respect a board a you know a board vote and um and I know that we all we all feel that way but it but right now seven months later I can assure the entire community that that any

192vote I take on this you know I have listened I've read the emails I heard the public comment I've spoken to many many many people on the phone I've I've given my phone number out to people offering to speak with them whether or not they took me up on the offer I know friends who I have friends and neighbors who fully support the decision we made I have friends and neighbors who do not support the decision we made um you know they are all dear to me and um and and I know tonight you know we are in a situation with no matter what we do to miss Goldman's point we will be disappointing somebody somebody will be left disappointed with what we do tonight and I hope in time they will you know they

193will accept that but I can I can say from the bottom of my heart I'm doing it fully informed of how many many many many many hundreds hundreds of people feel having reached out to us um and so uh I tried to think last week what what you know generally I try to think what is the good that comes from a tough situation and Dr Bachelor and I had a conversation because I had an epiphany about uh what what could come from this situation and I've tried to you know share the perspective at this point that we grown-ups the nine of us on the board Dr Bachelor the administration the teachers the parents in our community we all have a responsibility to assure the children the students that no matter how this goes they will

194be okay they have already shown us remarkable resiliency in what they've gone through this year here you know learning under the conditions of a pandemic they've they've shown us that already Grace and grit and resilience and however this goes they will be okay and the grownups in the room need to reassure them I I find myself after all these months having listened to everything and knowing how strongly and intensely people feel on both sides and I share them as onahan and Miss Goldman and every board member's you know feeling that that believing and and loving being a Raider does not mean that you are racist and the the two do not go hand inand and I don't believe that and I won't believe that um but I do believe that there's been harm unintended harm

195uh done and it doesn't mean that anyone is wrong or bad here it just doesn't um so I hope that we can show the community and I hope the community will will take on the notion of having differences without Division I was so struck uh at the opening last week when we did the groundbreaking for the accessibility and Wellness Center I was I was quite moved uh there were two members of the committee there who we heard public comment from last week one really strongly believes we should keep the Raider name one strongly gave you know uh a moving moving words on why it was time to move on and move forward and what I was struck by seeing these two people together is that they clearly had a difference we heard it Tuesday night

196and they clearly respect one another and we nothing but cordial and congenial and they even referenced each other as being dear friends so I know in this community it is possible for us to have these differences without division we just have to decide to be that way and it's my hope that we will decide to be that way um so that's really all I wanted to share um we have a motion I don't know if uh if anyone else has anything further if we want to just take uh a vote on the motion as written uh oh yes Mr Mr Moore I have a question for the uh board president and potentially the solicitor we're not required to take public comment um is it possible for the president to allow public comment on the motion

197nonetheless um is it possible for the board to vote to allow public comment on the motion nonetheless I I comment we might need to ask Mr CHR AFCO yeah under the board policy uh the decision about public comment uh and how to manage and control public comment is left to the board president so it would be your decision as to whether to um uh open up to permit additional public comment at this point in time on the motion got it well I certainly want to um it's not a decision I want to make on my own so Mr Moore I don't know if you had a thought behind that um in terms of and and see where that if there's a kind of a consensus of the board at this time on that on that

198topic it's not required this isn't going to be the last conversation about this um so it's not our only opportunity one way or the other this motion passes or fails there's there's there's going to have to be more to come to see it through one way the other but um board members talked about how they thought it was an impactful decision um even if it's not required if the board feels there's value in hearing it for maybe just some period of time some you know if if it's not required the board president could set some time parameter uh you know hear 20 minutes of comment something like that um for anyone who's watching who wants to chime in uh it's it's an idea uh I think I agree with you uh Mrs Stern that there's

199value in seeing if the board would would like this to go forward or not uh uh even if it's not required uh so I wanted to pose the question okay I mean it with the consent of the board uh I would be I would be willing to see if there's you know 15 or 20 minutes of public comment that will put us a little bit after 11 Miss uh Mr petiti Andor Miss gangle is there any public comment in the queue um on the I'm sorry on this topic yeah I'm seeing um two okay well why don't we do this we can entertain public comment for 15 minutes that will put us at 10: after 11: maybe maybe board members are kind of oh yes Miss Miss Don M Stern just because four minutes is

200a long time if you're only going to allow 15 minutes could we limit the length of public comment to a minute and a half or two minutes given that I'm sure there are a lot of people watching if everybody's either trying to text something email something now or call I think you know we with 15 minutes we're only going to three people no that's that's fair so uh let me just hear what Miss Monahan had to say yes the only the only um as far as additional public comment I I welcome that but I know that we haven't heard from the administration either and I don't know if they have any thoughts or input or insights that they would like to share you know as a board member would be interesting to hear what their

201thoughts are on this motion as well or any learnings they have uh knowing that they are the ones closer to what's going on in the schools got it well why don't we do the 15 minutes of public comment and then we can let them um you know form their thoughts if there is anything and but but Mr petiti if the comments look to be to miss dun's Point Let's do short comment and um you know an abbreviation a comment and and so that if there are several we can hear you know as many as may come in okay I um the first I I mentioned looks to me like it's I don't see an address here so we only have one currently okay actually let me look here because there look some some things are

202flagged um I have one from David wood and we know that he U is a teacher and do you have his address I don't have his address okay well because I don't know that he's I you know here I do I have it I'm sorry he sent it in a later email um David wood 716 South Roberts Road binmar I like to make two important points tonight focusing on children which is where most would agree that that focus should be a lot has been said over the last week or so about the harm that has been caused to R children by the elimination of the raiter name and imagery i instead view this as an opportunity for students to learn and grow students have taken on leadership roles students have been able to develop Arguments

203for their positions students have learned how to advocate for a position that they care about students have had the opportunity to reflect on their positions and listen to to the positions of their fellow students students have learned that it can be difficult to support and advocate for a position I'm going to ask you to consider the children that may not be right in front of you and have voices that are seldom heard we have heard from native communities many Native organizations and people have stepped forward and ask rner to stop using the name and imagery we need to help them protect their children we are hurting children it is undeniable that harm is caused to all children by using Native American names and images the peer reviewed research is conclusive please consider the following statistics

204a third of native children live in poverty 20% of native youth attempt suicide each year only 79% of native students graduate from high school only 19% of native enroll in Co College these statistics are sad to me and our use of Rader contributes to them I have carefully listened to the arguments of others during this debate if I were assigned to write a five paragraph essay in support of keeping the Raider I don't know that I could the main point that I have heard is that tradition dictates the continued use Traditions that are hurtful need to be discontinued the ra the use of raider is hurtful the only conclusion that can be reached is to discontinue the use of the Rader and develop a new mascot and team name we need a clear and Define

205separation this isn't cancel culture I am not virtue signaling rner needs to move forward in a positive direction the only way to do this is to select a new mascot and a new nickname okay thank you Mr yes M I just had someone text me they they weren't they weren't prepared for public comment and they wanted to know how they how they you just email board questions or board comments at rsd.org okay can they come on live I mean if they don't have something already written because that would be like can they yes you know what this is this is the downside no offense I mean this was the downside of entertaining any public comment No Good Deed don't say that Dr Bachelor the intention was to see if there was any additional comment and

206I assure you there will be people frustrated that we didn't announce there would be public comment so I apologize in advance I don't know if they want to send an email or if maybe you want to miss Monahan had a question maybe we'll that will give people a few minutes to wait you know to write in if they want I don't know that we had a registration Zoom link Miss that's question I didn't know the answer I think we can we normally can allow people to zoom in so I'll let Mr bti respond if we're able to do that at this point I think Mr sterm was on to something with the the the lack of a a link that's been created to allow registrations to happen to have people come on I I know

207that Miss gangle creates those links I don't know what goes into having to develop that link and and and such so I'd have to actually defer to miss gangle for how that could be possible right now now may I make a suggestion to the board president sure that we could also just you know pause I've seen other school boards do this when they take public comment they pause for a minute or two so that people have a chance to email uh we've still got the 20 minute limit so we could wait we don't if if there's nothing right this second um that I have a couple coming in as we speak so that the people are watching and writing in so we could just get started I can start reading them if that's this is

208the problem with not being in person you know in person you if you're in the meeting you walk up um so I look forward you know when the capacity limits are re relaxed that will be a potential Boon in many ways when we're in person most people don't wait around till 11 o'clock for this they might Mrs Stern to answer your question this is Allison speaking um we would have needed to set up the registration link ahead of time um and since we weren't allowing public Comet and the meeting was scheduled um we don't currently have that option that's what I was I thought that might be the case so that's why I mentioned it thank you would you like me to continue reading um the comments have come in sure that'd be great thank

209you okay um Justin Henry class of 98 Overhill Road Wayne School Board member of rer alumni are part of a rich history and tradition a community a fabric that binds us all together one that is difficult to explain or describe in words to those who have not attended rner schools for those who have just graduated to those who graduated decades and centuries ago this is a tie that binds this alumni together for the rest of our lives as such I fully believe that the sun body and or alumni should decide the future of the nickname to those past and present students we lived it we breathed it we earned the pride of Being A rad and raater the prefix red has already been dropped from the name although it had no reference to any one

210group of people rather a reference to the designated school colors designated red and white in 1897 without any reference to a color or specific mascot representing a group of people there appear appears to be no reason that the name Raider has to be eliminated as well I urge the entire School Board to allow the Raider name to be considered as a choice by the students which has been evidenced quite loud and clear in addition to the alumni input and the community as a whole thank you for your consider ation uh Kelly Martin 771 Conestoga Road please ask Administration for their recommendation the ncai is excited to work with rner in re branding the Raider and helping to set up community outreach and education please consider not only the Native American families Like Us in the

211community but also the ncai um Kate Hart 320 met Circle Wayne I want you to please ask the administration to discuss the call with ncai today that occurred at 9:00 am today thank you alexopoulos 15 Braxton Road brimar I would like to Echo the comments of board member Sarah dun and fellow resident Lisa Goldstein if adults cannot conduct this discussion politely punting the issue to the T children is not the correct response please take clear and decisive action tonight class of 1990 Chris Lawson 1744 Mountain Heights Drive Salem Virginia please just please just the young adults vote democracy that's all we're asking it should not be up to the board let a vote happen and the chips fall how they may Kyle Addis 511 asken road why are we forgetting the fact that 22 current

212students are on the committee that put puts them in the majority of the committee I am offended by that idea of disbanding the committee which includes all stakeholders students alumni parents community members who have put hours of their time into this process pausing this process will help changing members of the committee will not barbar Barnes 217 Pine Tree Road many of you have admitted tonight that you made a decision in September in a rush fashion without sufficient time to fully evaluate the issue as a result the vote should be set aside from September and the name Raider should be placed on the ballot to be voted upon thank you Liz Jeff and Nancy for their motion which should be voted upon in the affirmative I disagree with those tonight who vo the opinion that the

213Raider cannot be rebranded I submit that if you place a red hawk in costume as a new raider any relationship to Indian imagery will quickly be forgotten Ellie Davis rner High School Jr thank you all for your time discussing this topic tonight I look forward to a time when rner students can be excited to be a part of the rebranding process as Mrs Dunn mentioned about Shipley and I am confident the students will be able to move forward with a new name in a positive manner that's all for this moment okay we're at 11:09 so that's the 15 minutes uh so there we go Al righty thank you and thank you Mr Moore for putting that out there um okay so we were um Miss Monahan you were somewhere I forget I apologize yeah I

214I was saying I was making a comment about hearing public comment um in addition to maybe hearing from the administration and I had coincidentally heard some comments raised of information the administration may have of a conversation but I don't know I as a board member I would be interested in hearing um you know given that the administration is kind of close to the students or closer to the students aside from my own two kids you know what their thoughts or insights are on what's going on and everything that we talked about I would be interested in their comments okay I'm happy to jump in thank you uh Mrs Monahan um I want to start off by just thanking the board um I can tell by all of your comments that this is something that has

215weighed heavy on you and that that you've taken the input from many of our stakeholders on both sides I don't envy your positions and I know that um all of you are volunteers here and we appreciate the time and effort you put into hearing uh from constituents in our community uh that we're very passionate about it uh a group of Administrators knowing that this conversation was going to take place tonight uh reached out to get uh have a conversation with the National Congress of American Indians to discuss with them uh what um what their guidance would be and what their feedback would be um and I I Echo what uh Dr Babson said uh they said that um it is possible but it would be a challenge um they gave us examples of other districts

216and schools that have done it successfully there are some that are currently in process um as we spoke about uh their experiences and what they could offer uh they gave a local example of something successful the the Golden State Warriors and I say a local example because the Golden State Warriors previously were the San Francisco Warriors and before that there were the Philadelphia Warriors where Will Chamberlain played for them scored 100 points and their their mascot was a Native American and they said that um for us uh we asked a lot of questions about um thinking about the the kids about how how can you um bring a community together is it possible to overcome um students that feel that they've been harmed by a Dame and their questions really were what are you going

217to do to go over and above and this kind of goes to Mr Moore's point about um what's the plan um you know what are people going to wear to events what are your chance are you gonna what are the the songs and the signage and and the culture and they did say um it is possible um they said there's certain names that are non-negotiable U they said that they've got a database of names that are automatically disqualified like Indians and Braves and the RW that's associated with the Washington football team but they also said that they've had successes with names such as Raiders and warriors they said it's truly a gray area it's dependent upon the community um and so um you know as uh as the NCI aai said um uh they have

218uh it's a unique um group because they're truly a congress uh there are a um they're comprised of sovereign uh Native American tribes that all send representatives and the representatives pass resolutions um and they um work together with the executive arm which is who we were talking to um to try to advance uh the um Native American americ um issues um we did ask about partnering with them and they said that they would work with us that they would give us guidance they would connect us with other school districts they also offered to connect us with uh Native American tribes uh we talked specifically about uh the Onida that was connection from Wisconsin from Chief mxin um so we asked a lot of questions uh knowing that this board was grappling with a with a

219very challenging decision um I do I did hear Mrs Solomon um I I do think the temperature is really high in the community and uh um I I appreciate all of you for having this conversation um I want to let you know that whatever the decision is the administration's going to work really hard to make sure that our students have uh a positive um experience and that that we move forward forward as a community um I I do think that uh um should the board want to move forward with seeing if it could happen um Administration would work to put together and lay out a plan uh as Mr Moore asked um to say what how can we move forward with this so um well thank you Mr be and one of the things administratively

220you know I think Mr Moore summed it up pretty well tonight that you know uh there isn't right or wrong um with this there's there's opinions with both of us and you know the administrative team has has stood behind the decision that was made on September 2nd and as we talked about tonight and I thank the board you know for the this discussion tonight taking the time to have this discussion tonight uh I think was needed it was needed as we went through the process that we've had so far one of the questions we haven't asked tonight with the motion is when would we get it done um and really it's when would we get the motion done and also even moving forward our process that we had has been you know even delayed and

221where is the time so I do think we have some questions that we need to answer about how do we move forward um based on the time with whatever this outcome is tonight with the vote uh admin atively you know we came tonight and we had opportunities to talk um opportunities to look at uh how do we move forward um we came prepared to support the motion um tonight that was put forward um from the perspective um for a lot of the reasons that were shared tonight a lot of the reasons that were shared about giving the kids the opportunity and Mr rosen's comments it's actually two weeks ago now I think not one week ago but two weeks ago um Mr rosen's comments um were had an impact had an impact and had an

222impact from also looking at um how do we move forward with our kids and that's been our Focus um how do we move forward with our our students at the same time tonight there are some things that were said that have struck me um you know that have struck me that I haven't thought about as much uh Miss Miss Solomon uh your comments about do we need to take a pause um you know and and not that others haven't suggested it um but do we need to take a pause I guess maybe that's part of the part of part of the the reality of me sitting here in May going what what are we going to do what are we going to get done between now and uh the end of of of the school

223year um I do believe and Mr Bradley you were getting to this point a little bit before and I feel strongly and this would be the question I would have with the resolution on this table tonight um would be my concern of the board has to be open to you know yes this motion tonight is to allow the possibility but I would worry about the possibility and then uh you know uh if if if the board knows it's the Raider name is not going to be an option down the road I I wouldn't want to put our kids through that I wouldn't want to put our students through a process uh where there isn't support among the board for it as an option so I think that's something we all need to think about uh

224as we move forward with it um so those are the thoughts that you know administratively we have um that I think are important uh as we move forward and as I said I think this conversation tonight and this board's ability know I often say it's you know people get maybe tired of me hearing it's nine individuals on the board they think the school board is this one organization that moves as one and and through budget votes through uh votes on on very difficult covid discussions uh we have nine individuals on this board and nine individuals um who often um you know will disagree without being divisive um and who can disagree without being disagreeable and you know we have that tonight as well as we move forward um but those are the administrative thoughts right

225now and the the I think the administrative team they shared with me just today there's been a lot of conversations with the uh NCA I we've had a lot of community members a lot of board members have been reaching out of them there's a lot of uh I think you know miscommunication on who was reaching out to them who was having them call who and uh so there was some conversation today to just try to understand where and that's one organization um there there's many organizations out there we can look to but that's just one organization uh you know to understand their guidance based on a lot of the information that has been out there so Dr Bachelor I just want to clarify just I clarified something earlier with um something Mr Moore asked so

226I hear you saying all that and I appreciate your focus on the kids but what I also hear you I just want to clarify that what you were saying toward the end there you know if ultimately this board isn't going to approve the name Raider that that then what I just wanted to clarify well my concern would be that this motion this motion would put give it as an option moving forward it leaves open exactly the process so I don't know timing if we approve this motion would this be completed between now in June I I don't believe so um you know just looking at the time of year I think we'd have to re-evaluate if you know when we would accomplish the conversations and the pieces that are part of this motion um in

227that I think making approving this motion I think board members need to also be open to the possibility that Raider will could be selected it may or may not be selected and if it is selected I think board members also need to be open to you can't decide right now how you're going to vote but need to be open to the reality of that it could be a rebranded Raider and what I would just say is I wouldn't want to see us go through that process um knowing that you know there is a majority of the board that isn't open to that Poss possibility we already voted I'm I'm sorry I'm just trying to clarify I want to cut to the chase because it's now 11:20 we already voted to to retire the Raider so

228if we were going to move forward with Raider as an option what we would have to be willing to do is overturn the vote to retire the Raider name no you don't have to overturn the vote to retire the Raider name you don't have to overturn the vote but you you can take separate votes you know this is a this is a continuation of an issue so it's not a there doesn't need to be a motion to overturn there's a continuation so the motion tonight that's in front of the board is a motion to allow it as an option for the students as set out in the parameters for the students to select moving forward right but ultimately if I if I weren't going to vote to approve the name this is what you started

229to say and I just wanted to clarify that earlier you were saying if I weren't going to vote to approve the name then it wouldn't really make sense to to put Raider in there as an option yeah I I think it would be unfair to our kids and unfair to the you know and I mean I'm more focused on the kids but I think it would be unfair to the kids in this process to move it forward as an option knowing that and I guess this gets to Mr Moore's questions before under no circumstances does that name pass for a majority of the board got it thank you clarify so ultimately the motion is essentially asking the board to throw out a vote that we took last September or because it would be disingenuous to

230let the kids vote on something and vote at put Raider as an option if any of us still stands by the vote we took last September or if a majority of us still stands by that right yeah yes Mr Moore I'd say another way to think about it is the way this motion is phrased it requires board action um administratively the administration based on the September 2nd vote cannot make Raider an option because it was retired as of September 2 in order to make it an option um a new vote is required a new and it would have to be a majority vote to do that um so it doesn't I I I hear Dr Bachelor saying it doesn't have to be styled as a motion to overturn um but I also hear uh Mrs

231Dunn's you know of course that's the implication that you know we're you know we would be un retiring it for the purpose of considering it um and again as as I think Mr jubiler and Mrs manahan emphasized it's a a motion to put it through a process um that involves a lot of work and at the conclusion of that process there's still a a board vote um that's that's what I heard kind of articulate as a reason uh in favor of this motion and I think Dr bachelor's off offering the caveat be careful about um putting kids through a situation where they some think something is a serious possibility where we we don't know you what the outcome of that board vote would be at the end of the process um is that is that

232a fair summary to uh either I guess the board president or Dr Bachelor as the you know parliamentarians here yeah I would just say what I was trying to say is that I think that it I think the board is if I you know I don't have a vote on this if I was a board member voting I believe I would have to be voting that I am open to that possibility now is it possible that you you know there you I cannot predict what that will look like when that comes about and when it happens but that there is a recognition that you're open to that possibility got that that's thank you that's what I was trying to just clarify Mr Mor thank you you were much more eloquent about it than I at

23311 can can I ask a procedural question sure um I mean I think we've all talked about this motion sufficiently and I'm I'm inclined to call the vote but I'm not specifically doing that because I have a question and that is I know Mrs Solomon was talking about making a different motion to delay things I sounds like other people might have amendments or other motions if there are other motions so first of all if I were to call the vote and we vote on this one way or the other can other motions be made or is this a special meeting and you can't make other motions because it wasn't advertised that's my first question okay second question is if another motion is made and we take action on it do we have to hear public

234comment before and after we make that we deal with that motion that's great Mr kristofco if you could weigh in on that thank you sure um this is the only motion that's that's on on the agenda but there is uh after this motion uh the opportunity for new business for other motions to be made that could be made uh however there weren't any other motions advertised so uh to the extent that any other new motions would be made the board would be required to take public comment on those motions before a vote um since the public wasn't given an advanced opportunity to to comment on those items because they weren't uh given any notice that they would be coming before the board uh that they that would have to be opened up for that possibility

235and comment on that motion would follow our standard policy but have but we could limit it to that specific motion but we could be here another couple hours listening to public comment well I mean depending I mean I my question is we have to listen to it for the they have to be four we have to allow for four minutes per public comment on whatever subsequent motions are made before we take them a period of a public comment has to be uh um offered for new matters that come before the board however the as far as the total amount of time of public comment and those those circumstances um there is a discretion to the board president to limit public comment to a certain periods of time and and that's been exercised in the past

236and and done differently so uh so it could be you know it it when you say hours it doesn't necessarily have to be ours it you know could be whatever the board president would would deem to be appropriate um you know given the given the topic and the the comments being presented no and my apologies if I sound cranky I we started at five o'clock this evening and we have another meeting tomorrow evening and I believe we may have one Thursday so I'm just mindful of everybody Sarah um I just throwing this out there procedurally if there's something I don't know what's on your mind but the possibility of an amendment to a motion that's what I was thinking too was I don't know if that's something that uh answers whatever is on your mind

237but that might be some a procedure to consider not really I think I'd just like to call the vote but hold on before you do that because amendments do they require public comment Mr kristofco I mean the the the motion that's been presented uh an amendment would have to just uh tweak the substance of the motion that's presented I mean you couldn't make an amendment that's completely different subject uh it would it would have to tweak the uh the motion that's been presented so that wouldn't require separate public comment because the Public's already seen the you know the subject matter of this motion that's been presented they know what's what's coming down so amendment of of the of the language is just part of the normal parliamentary process okay thank you well if you know

238Sarah's not making I you're not going forward with an amendment Sarah Sarah what were we saying I would like to call the vote got it okay so all those in favor of the motion as presented uh please say I and raise your hand so I can see everybody one two three and all those opposed one two three the motion fails three to six right I have to pull up the agenda just a moment uh let's see we do not have a consent agenda tonight so at this time we have new business is there any new business tonight yes I have some new business I would like to make a motion that um in light of all that's transpired that we put this process on hold for a year and so we are Solomon could I

239add a friendly Amendment before you even finish and say until January and I say that because I don't because I I for till January because next right because the year from now is is the summer time okay so till January in other words to let temper cool to let people Ponder what's transpired and to let people communicate about their different positions on this um a and I we would so make it very clear we are Radner nothing else we're not Raiders we're not Raptors we're not are we're just ragner and um basically just to give the community time to unwind about this a little bit so I'm looking would your I'm sorry Mrs Salen just to clarify would your motion require the removal of all the Raider names across the district we're not going to

240be Raider all of our school boards still say Raider the scoreboards say Raider you you're asking for removal of the greater name even though we haven't made a decision necessarily officially that the name wouldn't be considered I'm saying yes I'm saying for now it is gone because that is the vote we took in September but that doesn't say what could transpire in the future it means it's gone for now but other than that the process holds that that there's no more you know pushing forward you know okay so I just wanted just for just for the sake of clarity for our our uh the person who will do the minutes of this meeting you're putting forth a motion to put this can I insert the name rebranding process or re REM mascot process oning process

241yeah on hold until January of 2022 that we will we will be known as Radner the Raider is still re tired and that we will have the removal of the Raider name throughout the district right and that then this is picked up at a future point in time well January of 2022 January correct okay got it so that is the motion is there a second I'm going to put a second on that one and do we have any board comment yes Mr Moore if the board does not take further action in new business um how does the administration proceed from here the purpose of the question is understanding uh whether this motion is necessary in order for the process to pause number one and uh number the rebranding process to pause and number two um

242if if the motion does not pass I think it's relevant for board members to know what the what action the administration will take or will not take if they would choose to pause on their own or recommend something else so Min is um you know but prior to the scheduling of this meeting we had a process that was moving forward so that process would continue to move forward um so we have a committee that we've established that committee is at a point where we've selected eight potential names that would go for to focus groups with students I think the only question we'd have moving forward right now is timing you know it it is you know we're already we're in a pretty tight timeline um you know we're we're we're in May right now we're

243looking at potentially you know uh closing school Monday again at the high school possibly not closing going um going virtual um if we can hopefully get vaccinated our our 12 13 14 and 15y old so there's a lot going on so whether we would complete the process so what's the administrative right now we have a committee we have a committee that has a plan that committee would continue to move forward um might maybe some of the work would continue in into June July I mean we we haven't really discussed that um you know so if if this motion that was that Miss Solomon just made doesn't pass the administrative team would look to continue to move move forward and really that's under the direction of the board that we've been directed to move forward with

244yes Miss Coleman this is not related to miss Solomon's motion but I have a question so when would the appropriate time be to ask that well I don't know we're talking about the motion and and it piggybacks on Mr bachelor's comment about process so you let me know when to ask it now because that might impact a board the vote on this motion is it within the board's jurisdiction to be able to address process um similar to what was in the motion that was just voted down if there were elements of that motion that had process that the board would like to see enacted how would that uh most effectively be expressed so some of the things that are in the mo motion right now that were in this previous motion that failed were were

245things that we were looking to do um you know were things that already were so I think those some of those things that we we will move forward with other pieces of it um I think the board could make a different a separate motion uh to direct the administration um to move forward with those pieces uh we can have a discussion of those items in a in a separate motion um Andrew just a moment Nancy had her hand up first and then you sure um I just had a clarification on the motion Lydia you say um I know I I heard you say no R however a lot of uniforms have are everywhere um because that's it's been that way so I the only and I I may be going beyond my my clarification question

246is that kind of what you are inferring um no yeah no R because some of them still have r with the featherhead so no R Radner I question lyia just go I'm sorry just with that as well so the motion on the floor is I wrote down is rebranding process on hold until January known as rner Raider will be retired and removed from anything Indian imagery is removed name removed from everything um the r without we have r that exists without feathers on places so but what we just need to know are we removing that as well are we're removing that's well that hang on that wasn't in her motion whatevered it wasn't what was in the motion so corre I'm I'm going to take M Dr babson's um uh comment uh whatever you wanted

247to weigh in sure thanks I just wanted to Echo um what Miss Goldman had asked about um as I said earlier um the the previous motion um that we voted down um I said that I agreed with uh all of it except for the first part of c and of course the first sentence but um so there's a lot there that we could still use that's all I wanted to say about that got it all righty do we have any more board comment on this I'm not going to be supporting this motion but I wanted to be able to put this sometimes there's value in having a motion on the floor so that there can be discussion even if we don't even if I don't support it so um yes Miss I'm sorry I I

248did not get um an answer to my question um so or I didn't understand it so so Lydia's motion did not make any me mention of not allowing the r with the circle imagery she did not make mention of that Lydia I thought I did I thought I said you did too r no Radner no Raptor no rooster no we're Radner R rner I'm just asking for CLA I'm asking for the clarification because if that is in Lydia's motion a lot of athletic teams currently have are with the circle and so we're just talking about another new rebranding initiative which I don't think is appropriate but I respect Lydia's I respect Lydia's like motion to maybe take a pause but if we're talking about limitations on what we have now without imagery um it would

249be it's just concerning for me so I just wanted to clarify it Lydia confirmed that she did include the circle r as one of the statements in the motion as not being allowed correct okay I just wanted Mr Moore I heard Mrs Solomon make those comments when we were in the priority action item as an idea that she would introduce a new business the motion as read I did not hear are in there um so if the board president could clarify what the motion says that would I would be grateful if the motion you know if if Mrs Solon doesn't support her own motion without the arant that's fine if we need to amend it that's fine what what is the motion as as recorded uh um board president or or our solicitor if needed

250well that's why I read it back so I'll read back when and she confirmed it was that the put this rebranding process on hold until January of 22 we will be known as R Radner Raiders are still retired and removal of raider name throughout the the District that's what I said when I confirmed that that because I wanted to write it down and that's I hear it again yeah I did not hear that because there were a couple of other people chiming in so I appreciate you reading that back sure so now we would take uh public comment Mr petiti do we have any comments um I'm not sure if we have comments related specific to that um well the com to be for this motion um we have we have some comments have come

251in no comment Mr batita the comments would just be for this for this motion nothing for this motion specifically then okay then let's call the vote all those in favor all those uh that's one all those opposed and the motion fails one to eight all right thank you so do we have any other motions for new business I could put out a motion about uh some of the other steps that were in the previous motion if that's what the administration needs I I don't know I'd like to Second the but that that's not a motion she's saying that she'd like to put out some ideas is not a motion I mean this is like this is where it gets really specific about yeah motions um so do you have a motion Miss Goldman yes I'd

252like to make a motion to um take from the previous motion a which is identifying next step in steps in the process that empowers students to evaluate names under the guiding principles with the goal of selecting two options for spinal student body vote okay B provide information and promote dialogue of different perspectives among the students including education on conflict resolution Civility and social media etiquette okay um D to ask the administration to include an educational component in the to the new spear gallery that tells the history of the Raider name in radner's decision to remove Native American imagery from my branding and two D2 identify opportunities in rner schools for greater awareness and understanding of the history and struggles of Native Americans and provide recommendations for improvements okay do we have a second so a

253motion from Miss Goldman and a second from Dr Babson great do we have any board comment can I ask a question sure Dr Bachelor you were asked about the rebranding process do you I mean it I guess I'm not clear what's still left for that committee to do I think they've done a lot of work in terms of reviewing types of names and options for names it seems to me that I'm not sure it's clear that that's necessarily needed in this motion so I guess I would just want to understand if we if if this motion passed whether that rebranding committee specifically has a role in that NE going forward yeah I'm not sure either so it says determine the next steps is my understanding so I don't know what that means the The Next

254Step so the committee's next steps you know would be to we would have focus groups with the eight names that are out there those information from the focus groups goes back to the committee right now um the committee then takes the feedback and you know I'll let Mr Beck told to Mr petiti jump in if I'm not summarizing the next steps properly but they take the feedback from those focus groups and then the committee's job was to produce two options uh for the student body to then vote on is there a reason that that needs to go back to the committee and that the students can't narrow the eight to two by you know voting you know one through eight these are my choices and then you do the math you know in a schoolo

255Agy vote so only everybody only gets to vote once Miss Dunn just for the record that's what I assume that was my interpretation what you're saying is my interpretation of what that motion says that this moves directly to the students to carry out the process from here on out now I'm may be Mis understanding that but that is that is how I read this and asked the question about that earlier okay so that's that's I think we need that kind of clarification about what's intended by the motion I mean if I since I made the motion that's my intention now if I'm misunderstanding how it was originally designed that's that was my for this current motion that's my intention that this moves to the student body for the rest of the process so so U

256and I guess that's ask a couple questions here or comments please sure um so um help me out on the procedure here I'm not I'm sorry I'm not that's right I'm but um I would I would say uh from Miss Goldman I would actually I would actually like to add uh as I've been saying um the second part of of sub subpart c of the motion that we voted down uh which says that we would enlist the consultation of the NCI on the reining efforts to ensure that it meets with their approval um the other part that I wanted to mention again I'm sorry if I'm being kind of sloppy here with this but to endorse what uh Miss dun said um you know why don't we disband the committee as it is and then

257reform it with students that go forward with the with the names as Miss Dunn said and as Miss Goldman assumed could we put that in the motion you you'd have to offer it as an amendment okay proed procedurally and then here's what would have to happen procedurally you would have to offer it as an amendment it would have to be seconded we would have to have board comment I think Mr kristofco is going to have to weigh in we may or may not have to have public comment on that before we can just vote on just the amendment and then we would go back to the original motion okay yes Mr Moore Point of order isn't it also an option for the person who made the motion and the person who seconded the motion to

258agree to a friendly Amendment um without instead having a board member move an amendment the board votes on yeah friendly Amendment would also be an option yes okay great so Goldman I'm wondering if uh could consider a friendly amendment to add the second part of subpart C of uh item 4.2 on our agenda and list the consultation of the NCI Etc and also perhaps add some language about disbanding the current committee and reforming uh for the purposes of carrying out what is laid out in 4.2 um as you've mentioned um yes to the latter I don't understand the previous one if you could just repeat that for me um so the the former one that I said is just add the enlist the consultation of the NCI Etc it's under under C so um as

259I was saying I the part of that that I disagree with is is if the name Raider is selected by students as an option so cut that from C and just put in list the consultation of the NCI Etc include that in your in your sure okay I ask a question if sure if R Raider in your motion Raider is not being permitted to be discussed or as an option for consideration I'm confused a little by why we would enlist NCI to help with the rebranding that was going to be without raer being considered agreed yeah that was gonna be my question there might be something behind it I don't know good questions Dr Babson no I I think that even even as um communities move forward after um in the words of the person

260that I spoke with this morning the clean break uh that many communities up for the NCI helps the community make that clean break in any kind of you know um because as we talked about tonight we want to hear the community we want to uh understand different points of view and there's going to be um some opportunity for dialogue around this and NCI could help that Dr bson just a point of clarification I'm starting to I'm like I'm writing all this down because I'm trying to make sure that the motion is then now clear so you miss no Miss Goldman agreed to the friendly Amendment of the the subpart C that began with enlist NCI but what did you say about disbanding the committee Miss geman did you agree to that that friendly Amendment as

261well I don't I didn't catch what the wording was there um I think disband is a is kind of a harsh way to put it I I I prefer to say that this process now moves thanks to the work of this committee to the student body process would process moved the next steps in this process move to the the full student body would be that how is that in C that's not Inc that's why I'm trying to no no no Susan that is Miss M Stern um that is sort of a um rewarding of a so that's a different friendly that's a different friendly Amendment right sorry it's two okay so you're gonna have to say that again because really it's actually going to matter when this stuff needs to get typed up for the

262minutes so part in a would say what Dr Babson do you w to say what it is under a is that what you're saying yes okay yeah originally my idea was we move on from the committee as it is now and we move to a completely different process so the committee's work up to this point is done now we move to kind of handing it over to the students uh to vote on those I believe eight options right but what is that but procedurally what does that mean in terms of the friendly amendment that is part of a well not not eight options in two option not not eight a a he's yeah two options so okay I thought I thought Sarah mentioned something earlier about eight names or maybe I this this can I

263can try to clarify this let me take a stab at it um a would be um identify next steps in the process that um moves that um that moves to the student body to the rest of of a do you want me to read it out loud m to the student body to evaluate names right can I ask a question about that hold a second let me just finish writing okay I might not need to hear it back Mr please go ahead yes say evaluate names are you talking about exclusive to the eight names that have are currently on the table are you open to discussion of new names well that's a completely separate issue well I just want to be clear we have rain frogs on the table we have you know these are

264the names that we are going to put forth in good faith that could potentially be our names our our new branding I'm just asking that question I understand name good faith forward we believe those were put forward in good faith and they could be our branding we're okay with that that's that's what I just want people to consider well I mean if we empowered the committee to do that work and that that was a result of the committee then and we heard there were problems with you know with the committee so well let me yeah so Mr kristofco this is where I really need you to be paying attention of where we're where we're moving from the realm of friendly amendments and and and all of that um because I would offer a different F

265I would ask Miss Goldman to consider a different friendly Amendment to the end of sentence that sentence Miss stuffy uh which is which is to say I just jump in here for a second in my opinion where we are right now is is is very muddled I would suggest we just scrap everything that's on the table and start from scratch with a whole brand new motion that somebody actually takes a few minutes to sit down and write up in in you know clearly as to exactly what you want it to say and then move that uh uh uh motion uh uh forward and let somebody else second it because what we're doing right now I mean we're not doing friendly amendments we're sort of we're sort of drafting on the Fly and it's and it's

266creating just a a mess procedurally so I would suggest that we just take take a few minutes to sit down and write out something clearly make sure that it's exactly what you want it to be and then move it well I'm gonna make I'm gonna make a different suggestion and I Mr Christo by the way thank you that's kind of where I was going with the when I have to stop and keep doing notes and I can't keep track we we've gone off track I'm going going to call a a five minute recess some of our board members have been sitting since 5 o'clock yeah somebody you know whoever wants to make a friendly wants to draft a a a a motion here let's let's take those five minutes to you know grab a drink

267of water do whatever you need to do uh the question I was going to ask you leading into this uh miss that Miss Duff falling on falling on Miss Duffy is that there is the potential uh in a motion that the end of that first sentence of a could have some wording that allows for additional names to be considered um do I need a motion to reset to to call a quick recess Mr kristofco Right uh yeah you don't you can just say we're taking a five minute okay we're taking a five minute recess thank you thanks right okay um so I don't know how to tell um I don't know how to tell when we're back on live or how that works uh we we are we are right now so we've never left

268we've just recessed okay so we um you just have to you just have to announce I believe Mr krco Miss Stern just has to announce that we're reconvening the meeting and then we begin once she announced that the meeting is being reconvened thank you Ken that's correct me can you hear me because when I try to turn my video on it's saying it won't allow me because the host has turned it off should I try again yeah try again but we'll have able to start video you can't start your video because the host has stopped it okay let me see okay Michael maybe you can look at page nope she's back okay so we have all 10 of us back so I am uh ending the recess we're going to reconvene the meeting and before

269we move on Mr kristofco where we last left off I think what we have to officially do is ask uh Mrs Goldman and uh Dr Babson to agree to withdraw the motion that they put forth that had a bunch of friendly amendments is that correct that's correct all right so Mrs Goldman and Dr withdraw okay so that's withdrawn all righty thank you and now do we have any more new business I can make a motion I'm crying oops where' it Go yikes all right going to try to do this because I'm looking and not looking at the screen okay um let me write down keep going would it be easier if I sent it to you as opposed to write I'll read it out loud you gotta read it out loud and I'll just keep

270going as quick as I can okay the board directs the administration to a move the mascot rebranding process to the full student body for completion of the selection and rebranding process actually that's redundant forgive me to a move the rebranding process to the full student body for completion of the selection and rebranding process student body sorry we don't compose so well at midnight um B design a process that allows students to yep evaluate the current eight names under the guiding principles and with the Community Focus Group feedback okay semicolon allow the possibility of modifications to the list possibility of mod to list based on the vetted list from the Administration based on the vetted list what vetted list was there Administration narrowed down the submissions from the survey to I forget what the number was

271but it was 60 something names or [Music] whatever semicon okay have two rounds of voting student voting to re reduce the list from eight names to two for our final student body vote okay and C include an educational component to the new spirit gallery that tells the history of the Raider name and Rider's decision to remove the Native American imagery from our branding I'm taking this from the previous motion and identify opportunities in rner schools for greater awareness and understanding of the history and struggles of Native Americans and provide recommendations for improvements was the word in the motion at the beginning of this meeting and perhaps I'm not quite sure what the word I'm trying to honor what was originally uh put up as a motion tonight but I could use some clarification on what

272the word improvements means Nancy lizard Jeff perhaps could answer what the word what they meant by the word improvements I'm trying to capture what was the essence of their initial motion but I wasn't clear what was meant by improvements I think in Nancy and Liz can weigh in that this is an administrative and curriculum oriented um pill to talk about how we can best in the curriculum and extracurricular space um the education you know educating around Native American you know history and struggles it it is not anything I think deeper than that at its at its core thanks Jeff appreciate that okay Miss Mrs Goldman can I ask you referenced this going to the full student body my impression was that all along this was going to be sent to the 8th through 12th graders

273to me technically full student body would apply all the way down to kindergarten I didn't think that was the intention no you're you're correct Miss dun that that whatever the original I think you're right it was 8th through 12th I couldn't remember off the top of my head who the initial um collection of students was that was going to vote on this but as opposed to in contrast to a student committee all right well you guys are now discussing and we don't even have a motion can I propose a friendly Amendment and remove the Clause to the full student body and replace it with to the 8th through 12th grade students in rner school district or attending rner schools I don't know if she accepted it I accept okay all right so we have a

274a motion and now we need a second second a second from Dr Babson and let me just say if I may yeah I think taking out clause C is is fine I think we get at what we need to get at okay so do we have any board comment or discussion on this uh motion Miss Monahan I just have a clarifying question and again I know this is redundant but I just want to make this very clear um so when you state in your motion have two rounds oh sorry uh evaluating eight names under the guiding principles and allow possibility to add to the list from the fully vetted names that does not include radar correct correct okay I just wanted to I just wanted to make sure this is a new motion with a

275new wording so I just want to make it clear thank you so I want to just bring up another point we had some public comment last week about including sixth grade through 12 do we wanna um is there any interest in um discussing you know that idea I would be interested in discussing that if the in the correct procedural way would you accept a friendly amendment I I sure would through 12th grade it's procedurally correct I would accept that can I just point out I think that that proposed change in groupings was based on the assumption that the mascot was going to apply to the middle school as well as the high school I'm not aware that the board ever directed that and if you're going to do that yes did that was part of

276the original it was okay I could be wrong Middle School and High School from the gecko well I I misunderstood that and I think that then the question is do fifth graders have a right to I mean you're getting this really you're making this a very large group but I think fifth graders are going to be middle school students next year too so the the administration did have some if it's rationale when they set out the process and they set out the process to clude 8th through 12th grade uh there was rationale and the rationale was based on other districts who had gone through similar rebranding process based on the fact that it was predominantly a high school name and a high school mascot that yes the Middle School intended to adopt whatever selected so

277because the Middle School intended to adopt the eighth grade were invited as part of the the vote and also the process um but I believe and I let Mr Beck told you know uh to jump in if I'm wrong but I believe the the the rationale the administration had originally for only 8 to 12 was just the thought that it would could get skewed more easily um away from the high school um if you why did you start adding other grades in the middle school that's correct Mr bachelor so we uh we um the imagery and the nickname were um removed from the high school uh the middle school had the Raider name but did not have Associated imagery um and so when we talked about this as administrative team we wanted to uh Rebrand

278the high school and then the Middle School wanted to adopt the imagery we thought it was important so we included middle school students and teachers and parents on the committee uh specifically eighth grade students um but we didn't want to um we wanted to make sure that the high school students voice was accentuated since this was going to represent them uh we didn't want to have a situation where um you've got the the Middle School votes in in block and the there's less votes at the high school for what their mascot is so withdraw my friendly Amendment okay so do we have any other board comment on this motion had a question about timing originally I'm looking at the presentation that was given to the board back in January at our meeting and the dis

279the uh students were supposed to be voting um now they were supposed to be voting on Final designs but they were supposed to be voting May 18 or May 19th and 20th and I guess my question from a timing standpoint is is there a reason you couldn't at least start this process May 19th and 20th so that you could still meet the original deadline of giving a final mascot and team name to the board uh June 22nd and I'm I'm asking genuinely I want to understand I know there's a lot going on so I'm but I'm trying to understand what the timing will be associated with this type of proposal so so the question is can we move if this if the the motion that's on the table now uh and and maybe if we

280could have just a full reading of it I did take notes on it but it sounds like it is to move the the process to this to the student body for selection um the process has uh to of students to evaluate the eight names but to have two rounds of voting where the students vote on eight Nam names and they that initial vote reduces it to two and then there are two and then there's a second vote of Just The Two finalist names um the education component and those things don't necessarily uh obviously some of those pieces AR necess tied in the end of the school year um so could we complete this by June um yeah conceivably I think we could complete it by June Mr Beal what are your thoughts haven't thought you

281know I think we could that that what I just summarized I think we could complete we certainly could if we're not running focus groups uh for students if we would be just be doing a a boting process um I I um don't have the emotion in front of me but the we did get a lot of informative feedback from the parent Community focus groups um and rainf frogs and Ruckus um did not get a lot of love and had a lot lot of concerns that were associated with those um so I do think that that is informative feedback that we received from the from the community and and parents in alumni um that would also need to be taken into consideration and that was in the motion Mr Beck told I I did ask I

282I think Miss Stern can confirm that I put in there that to take into account the Community Focus Group feedback but maybe Miss Stern can confirm that that she got that thank you Mrs Goldman I'd like to request a full Susan you're muted you're talking but you're muted Susan it was under the guiding principles and uh I'm trying to read my handwriting and with feedback with the Community Focus Group feedback yes and that there was an allowance for the possibility of modif modifications to the list based on the vetted list from the administration sorry I was just saying could we have a full reading of the the motion yes all right are you ready her hand up a couple times can who Mrs Duffy I'm sorry Liz go ahead you can go ahead and read

283it first and then I'll are you sure okay I'm sorry I'm just I'm looking down at the writing and so I'm not looking at the screen the board directs the administration to a uh move the mascot rebranding process to the to the student body I'm going to take out the word full grades 8 through 12 for completion of the selection and rebranding process B design a process that allows students to evaluate the current eight names under the guiding principles and with the Community Focus Group feedback allow the possibility of modifications to the list based on the vetted list from the administration have two rounds of voting to reduce the list from eight names to two for a final student body vote C include an educational component to the new spirit gallery that tells the history

284of the Raider name and radner's decision to remove the Native American imagery from our branding and identify opportunities in Radner schools for greater awareness and understanding of the history of the strug and struggles of Native Americans and provide recommendations recommendations for improvements and then anecdotally you got feedback on what you meant by improvements but I'm not sure that that got in incorporated into the motion because I didn't quite understand it but miss Duffy what did you want to ask um maybe this is just me and maybe it's just the hour but I I'm having a hard time following um this and I my concern right now is that this is reactionary I mean we put emotion together be before us with time to digest and think about and you know it did not get support

285but now right now I feel I do not feel equipped to vote on something this important when we've had you know obstacles or troubles or or with the process to date I think that if we're going to vote on something we have to know that we've got it right moving forward and you know there's something about Mrs Solomon when she said take a pause I didn't support the the motion you put on the table for the time timing or you know with the parameters but and and I'm not necessarily advocating for a change but I guess I'm looking for procedurally you know every time someone's read this in the last read this motion you know in the last five minutes we've said oh but this is in there oh but this is in there I'm

286not comfortable voting on that I'm not comfortable saying that this is how we're moving forward it feels very reactionary to me so um uh and you know the question that you know Mr Beal said is that you know there were focus groups and focus groups are valuable and I know it says in this design a process maybe that includes focus groups I think that has to be thought I think we really have to think that out so I don't know what you know do are these just my comments I don't know or do I what do I have procedurally that I can do can I ask let me let me let me you want to know procedurally you shared your your Fe we have a motion on floor and a second so you just shared

287board comments completely valid I actually think a lot of it you know I agree with virtually everything you said um procedurally what you can do is vote against the motion that that's what you can procedurally do is vote against it um yeah I don't know if there's other board comment I I have some board comments just comes to you know to Bradley to Mr Moore's comment I don't know what the right process I don't know what the path forward I don't know what the solution is right now and I have to think about it you know you know I we put a few of us put a solution on the table it got voted down so now I have to think about what the right solution moving forward is and you know so I I

288just can't do this right on the fly like this and I feel right now this feels very reactionary so I just ask everyone to consider that because you know then we have an approved motion that you know that we need to stand by especially at this point in the game so yeah I I took I wrote down the motion that doesn't mean I'm voting for the motion I just to wrote it down yes Mr Moore I agree with all of that um I'll add that um we haven't thought through some of the so step back these are very operational level ideas that are going into this motion um and um I think that is happening because um three board members called for for a special meeting and offered a solution to a problem as um

289as we said I I think more than three board members um have felt that there have been some issues that we've had to Grapple with and I think you know more than three board members were all in favor of this special meeting for that reason this is our first opportunity to deliberate this since the process uh went underway in January we uh we have ideas about Solutions but we're not really qualified to tease out some of the implications of those Solutions I don't know if having two rounds of voting is better than rank Choice voting with automatic runoff um I am actually persuaded by the idea that if the middle school is going to adopt the mascot then middle school students should be included at some stage in the process maybe it's only the final

290vote not committees um but I think there's just a great deal more work that needs to go into this um before we start imposing these kind of operational decisions on the administration In fairness to the administration they set out a plan in January and they said we're going to follow this plan and so uh we're the ones who are accountable ultimately for for what happens for from here so uh that said there may well be some things in this motion that don't implicate those kinds of operational details and another thing I would like to hear from the administration before we vote on this or another motion is what is going on with getting our kids to talk to each other um um and that and I've emailed with Mr with Dr Bachelor about that but

291I came into this meeting earlier on when I was saying you know what is the problem we are trying to solve what is the solution we have a lot of issues going on with the level of discourse and people feeling safe about that level of discourse we're here we've we've we've recessed and reconvened this meeting I'd like to hear a little bit about that because that's a problem that means a lot to me and what the administration is already doing about that I think informs what we do with a vote in these next um you know whatever it's going to be 10 to 20 minutes or more thank you Mr uh Moore uh Dr Bachelor I don't know if you want to weigh in I I will'll see how this VOC goes we do need

292to take public comment before we vote on it but my comment on this particular motion and the one prior that I also voted down is um there's a level of detail and execution in these motions and specificity that um I don't well I certainly don't think to miss Duffy's point it makes sense to be writing at 12:30 at night um but I don't necessarily believe that we should be writing them at all um in all fairness to you know board members who who called this meeting they had a much longer motion that they paired back and you know my feedback was thank you for pairing it back I still think it's got a level of you know we're telling the administration to do something at an operational level that just can be problematic and I

293think one of the problems we're seeing right now is that you know we're all on the Fly trying to reach into that so um I don't you know we do need to take board comment I mean uh public comment SAR I will let you go in just a second but you know perhaps we want to consider just a broad motion if this one doesn't pass where we direct the administration to to craft next steps period end of story or something along those lines Miss uh Dunn I I appreciate that people feel rushed and I think that we're all trying to find a solution you know that we were called back here to do we have a lot of other things to get done this month we have two board budget meetings we have lots of

294other items on the agenda so I think we're all trying to the best we can to deal with this because months and months more of public comment aren't going to change it doesn't seem the vote um my concern from a purely practical one is the rebranding and I think Lydia part of this is why I had trouble with your motion um if you're going to strip All The Branding off things all the UN you know all those football helmets you got to take the little feathers off right you've got a lot of rebranding to do and we've got construction going on at the high school everyone's aware of that to take things away without having a plan for what you're going to replace it with is is problematic and why I while this was a

295long process that the administration planned and I think it was well thought out and well orchestrated unfortunately I think The Branding committee didn't necessarily have the same vision and and we're behind in our schedule and my concern is if we don't have the rebranding decisions made and look even if a if the board has a proposal with a name by June that's not all the artwork right that goes with it um the timing to have the fall sports teams properly outfitted with whatever the new logo is is is very limited and I pointed out last month in the me the board meeting that we approved The Branding contract we have six months under that contract which may mean they think it takes that long in some some ways so I think we just need to

296be mindful too that the board does not seem to be open to putting Raider back on the list Raider needs to come off the the it's it sounds to me like the board is instructing the administration the Raider name needs to come down but I have concerns about just leaving it empty I if it's not an R because we're not going to be an R name going forward that's relevant so why SC scratch all the little feathers off things if what we mean to do is take it all off and put a g i I don't have a problem with well it but I there are practical implications to all these things so Susan I see your point about asking the administration to have a process but I think it's important to start putting deadlines

297on these things because I think otherwise the community doesn't have closure and can't yeah no I I appreciate that all righty so we're going to take public comment now um Mr Mr petiti if you could uh do you have a sense of the number of public comments you have on this this latest motion that Miss Goldman and Dr Babson put forth um let me see um it's hard to tell M Stern I mean I have one here from a motion addressing a motion that I believe was voted down regarding putting this on pause um so that's not the motion at hand came in I think that came in after we voted because it must it must have yeah um uh I don't have one here I have we're just generally talking about the subject not

298about emotion um reading this um another one person saying that this they believe their message does does apply to a motion um regarding the committee potential uh changing the structure of the committee of the rebranding committee there a name and address yes okay why don't you read that one Kyle Addis 511 Askin Road was that one read earlier as well or is this a new comment this is a new one okay sending this in a second time as it applies to this motion we why are we forgetting the fact that 22 current students are on the committee that puts them in the majority of the committee comme I'm offended by the that idea of disbanding the committee which includes all stakeholders students alumni parents community members who have put hours and hours of their time

299into this process pausing this process will help changing members of the committee will not thank you all for proving to the community tonight that hundreds and hundreds of students support for the Raider's nickname does not matter to you and that you will not let a fair Democratic process play out we are disappointed but not surprised um another person writing about the committee addressing the committee khaki Martin 313 EDG Hill Road I along with 22 students and an additional 19 alumni community members are on the mascot rebranding committee I have canceled events tutors and meetings to attend rebranding committee meetings I have raised home from the river to sign into a meeting while tying trying to get a bite to eat this has been a sacrifice on my part and on the part of my fellow

300committee members I'm disappointed to hear that you are brushing us aside as though our work and our voices don't count this is not a compromise and it's not transparent I'm disappointed to hear what you're suggesting tonight please consider adding the Raider back to the options and keeping the mascot committee to do the work we committed to doing um this is another one regarding the pause another one regarding the potential pause Mr B just as a point of information so you know maybe tomorrow sometime you could forward all these comments to the board just so that we can review and be aware of everybody um you know who took the time to to write in tonight little Mis and I apologize it's difficult to go through these out what applies to you know I have a

301question about the pause were did they just not come in in time to be part of that conversation or how is okay got it yep we asked for public comment and there wasn't any at that time Mr petiti do you think that's the end of the comments that you have on this uh item um and I really appreciate this I know that what you're doing right now is really tough I appreciate it thank you Mr um I um Miss this is another one about this Banning the committee just came in 20 seconds ago um Kelly Martin 771 Conestoga Road you've thrown our students taxpayers alumni staff and administration into a process that you continue to manipulate this is corruption plain and simple our children and our community community deserves better dis baning the committee because

302a few of you don't like the results is the most transparently corrupt Next Step you could possibly take people have devoted time and energy to this process and kicking them to the curve because they don't parent your Viewpoint is not a good progress It's corruption the NCI is unwavering in the support of rer rebranding the Raider NCI is excited to work with the rer community to integrate the students in the rebranding process 100% of rers May of American students that have spoken to support rebranding the Raider and successful rebranding is under the purview of this board whether or not it's properly executed is 100% in your hands and by your process board Administration coaches rebrin the school students don't allowing stakeholders taxpayers students and alumni to have a voice is very important just as Sarah

303Dunn told us about her weighing in on the amher mascot alumni should have a voice students don't pay taxes they didn't purchase real estate they must have a voice in this process thank you um yeah there's a couple more coming in here now about this disbanding I think um okay well the did I'm not sure that the dis we we'll entertain comment until 12:40 and then that and then we'll get back to this okay I think um I can't say you know's something here regarding the rebranding committee um in the pause as well as the disbanding here from Amanda CA 22 204 West Wayne Avenue I'm disappointed in the current actions once again a new motion is being made at midnight with no valuable time for public comment this is what got us here in

304the first place we're expected to be open-minded and changing the Raider name but as a school board member you don't feel it's your duty to be open-minded to let the Raider name back on the list as Dr Basher said if he were a board member he would be open-minded it's hurtful as rebranding Committee Member to disregard my time that has gone into the re search and trying to understand both sides and have all voices heard we must come together as a community I answer the entire process we put on hold do not move forward with the name change do not move forward with removing Raider pause everything moving forward to remove Raider further shows the lack of concern for our students alumni and Community please let us all focus on the end of the school

305year and let it be the best it can be for our students knowing that this has been one of the toughest years they've had to endure uh Mike Falcone 312 Joseph Drive Westchester he's Alum as a former member of the rebranding committee I'd like to voice my displeasure with the decision to be eliminated from the process going forward I along with 40 other people have devoted a significant amount of time working on this initiative I feel that the process has been sh that has been shared with the board by Dr Bachelor Mr Mr beckord and petiti has not been fully accurate and unfairly places the majority of the blame for the the failure of the committee to put forth a list of new names in a timely manner on Mrs Stern I'd like to interrupt

306this we have a board policy about not attacking people personally and I just want to make sure that you don't think that this policy runs as foul of that by criticizing Dr Bachelor and Mr patiti and Mr Beck told in the way that they've conducted themselves I'm concerned that it raises issues under our no personal attacks policy uh thank you Miss um done Mr petiti are you able to continue the comment without the personal nature directed towards our our uh administrators um yeah I'll just read it and we'll say I guess I don't see my name here again um so I'll just um keep going uh you wanted the committee to be comprised of a mix of current students Alum nine community members yet there seemed to be a specific path you wanted to follow

307regardless of how the committee voted it has been anything but a Democrat process I don't know how putting this on the students is going to get this done anytime sooner um point of order it's it's 12:40 Mr Stern did you want the comments to continue or Mr how many more comments did you have on the motion at hand um this one looks like it's about costs so that wouldn't yeah be and then here's one about disbanding uh Cameron arano azano excuse me this will be the last one 243 Willow Avenue so you are now displaying the current rebranding committee and now you are placing the burden on the student body as was previously suggested by Miss stun as an improper placement of responsibility as well as disregarding the clear fact that we as a community

308have not had the opportunity to discuss the Raider name that's it all right so that's it thank you all righty so what we do what we have on the floor is the motion from Miss Mrs Goldman and Dr Babson um and I'm um going to call the question all those in favor okay all those opposed and the motion fails zero to nothing Al righty i' can I make a simple motion yes please Miss D can we I I think there's a lot of other wonderful material in this resolution and and the the the board members who brought them forward were really thoughtful in that but I think to my point before about needing to just move things along may I make a motion that we direct the administration to prop to to come to the

309board but in our June 29th meeting with a proposed final mascot what wait with a proposed final mascot you I mean there's been back and forth about what the appropriate process is the public is up well members of the rebranding committee are upset about potentially being Miss Don can I can I ask you to withdraw that for withdraw your motion please okay thank you it's withdrawn yes great Dr Bachelor given the late hour given all the comments all the board consideration that you've heard tonight regarding motions do you have a a thought on uh how we could proceed in a way that works for the administration and takes into account all the various comments you've heard for us to then consider putting forth a motion yeah so what we could do is similar to what

310I guess you know what we're just hearing from Miss Dunn is uh administratively we could regroup develop a process take into account um some of the comments we've heard uh you know in these motions there was a lot of different uh viewpoints and perspectives put forward um we will take those into account and move forward with the process to complete this moving forward um so thank you so here's um you know and but to miss dun's point do you have a thought on the timeline because I think that that's really a critical component that she was sharing short just a few minutes ago yeah uh if I had you know again this are the you know the the pieces that concerned me tonight is timing how we get things done so and how do we

311get things done in time if if if if it is the consensus of the board that they'd like to have this done um you know by the end of June um you know uh so far let me just let me just take stock of what has happened tonight so we we made a decision in September all right we made a decision in December that decision was um you know moved forward in a process that met with you know then uh some discussion in January and some discussion over the last two weeks that resulted in three board members bringing together a motion we affirmed the decision to have essentially by rejecting the motion that there's no Indian imagery and no Raider name moving forward in the process now the question is we've had another vote to

312put this whole thing on hold for a year uh and people voted no to putting it on hold my understanding for people voting no to put it on hold the way I read that vote is people want it to get done by June I don't know if that's accurate or not but that the board would like this to get done by June so um why don't the administr ation can you know the problem is it's we're going to take a the next time we meet as a board to talk about this would be the May board meeting would be the next time we would talk about this and that's May 25th is the next board meeting we're all together but one option is the administration could take time between now and the May 25th board

313meeting and come forward with a plan for how we move forward well can I ask you a point a question Dr Bachelor because and I think Mr Moore touched on this oh about 45 minutes ago tonight's vote um to enter the the ra the Raider name into the process for consideration failed correct so absent that if if we if we had close the board the meeting at that point in the me in in in the night the process would be continuing you you have a process yes so you you have a process that was going to and I'm I'm not saying right or wrong here I'm just kind of following up on something Mr Moore pointed I think it was Mr Moore pointed out that if we had taken no further action tonight you would

314have continued with the process and there'd be a board there'd be a um a a and I think that process vot on June 22nd and June 22nd now the the there's kind of three main things that I heard tonight that um that came from this meeting one is there's a concern around some of the names that were put forth but I I think I heard Mr Beck TOS say that you guys had some good um feedback from the focus groups so perhaps you have something that you would suggest or that you would you would you would consider in the process as it relates to that focus group information that's one and then two the there were many points made in the motion that did not pass that seem to have board support around the notion

315of you know supporting and focusing on our kids as it relates to education as it relates to skills for conflict resolution as it relates to you know curriculum that that raises awareness around the um you know some of these decisions around the Native American imagery and its use and then you know the component where we do want to push forward with the um the piece around the the spirit Gallery things that we all you you know those are things all agreed upon but you don't necessarily need a motion to do that work is that accurate that is correct we don't need a motion to do that work and we don't need a motion to continue to move forward um you know there there there are members of the committee and members of the community that

316felt that the board um you know needed to address this request over the Raider and tonight that was done tonight there was uh rather y discussion uh a rather lengthy discussion about whether or not um the Raider name can be an option moving forward a decision has been made uh you know we could say a decision has been made again uh but a decision has been made uh under you know I would say new information under you know uh under the the duration of time from the previous decision to now and we'll move forward with the process so administratively we will continue to move forward with the process um you know and and look to meet the target of bringing a name forward um you know by June based on the process we've put forward

317okay so hearing that is there a board member who feels that we need a motion tonight um any particular motion that helps bring this conversation to conclusion to conclusion this evening I'm not sure yes Dr Babson so uh the the motion that Amy and I were working on there um I can see the point that there's a lot there that's a little bit um you know too detailed but I think the overall thrust of it is twofold number one you know the rebranding work the committee of the rebranding work having been completed um the student body will evaluate names under the guiding principles Etc um it because I think the the the more the clearer we can be about that committee's work being done and now we are moving to a process where where we

318are no longer considering the Raider and we are focusing on these eight names as choices to to discuss I think the better for everybody the clear we are about that but I I fair fair enough um is that do you feel Dr Bachelor is that clear enough with the board Direction you already have or not I'm not sure what you're ask is that clear enough with the board direction that if the board you know uh is is the board what I guess the takeaway here is what you're trying to say is it is is do we need a motion to just move forward and bring it to the students is that the the the is you know this last motion didn't pass um that the the board would like us to just bring this decision

319to the students and create a uh for the administration to create a process that brings this to the students and has this concluded by June correct now that's similar to the motion that just failed though correct but I think I think the the criticisms of of the motion that just failed were that it was too deep detailed maybe a little bit too um you know kind of directing the administration to do X Y and Z rather than just some general directive to go in a in a specific Direction so yeah let me miss Liz did you just have your hand raised I'm sorry I just I had my hand done looking at something I was written writing no okay so um yeah that's kind of my question you know Dr Bachelor if you got no

320no further direction from the board what would happen as it relates to the student Pro the student process the student piece for the re for the mascot selection I mean what we had planned was the we would finish out the student focus groups from the student focus groups that information would go to the committee the committee would use that information to then produce a list of two names to to to narrow the selection to two and then that two names would then go in front of the student body 8th through 12th grade uh for a vote so that's the pro that's the process that's left and that's the process that we certainly can continue with so I make a motion that we do exactly what Dr Bachelor just said no we don't need to make

321a motion to that point is ldia I my concern I I want to leave the process to the administration but my concern is that I feel that there have been inordinate delays I mean if the they were already supposed to be down to two to three designs and we've gotten sidetracked by issues that were resolved last September so my I guess what I would like from you Dr Bachelor is your your word that we will have a final mascot to propose provided to the board in our June 29th meeting I'd like to raise a point of order um I think that the board can make a motion and vote to give the administration a direction and the administration can say what its intentions are um but I don't I don't know what it means for

322the administration to make a commitment uh that's not something that's directed by the board um I'm not sure I I was trying to get around Mrs Stern didn't want us to make any more motions no no no it's not oh no Miss D let me clarify it wasn't that I didn't want you to make any more motions I wanted to give Dr Bachelor an opportunity to weigh in that was all I just please go forward with the motion now I just wanted to have an opportunity to have Dr Bachelor weigh in about kind of all the various motions he had heard tonight and and and that might inform a motion that please proceed if you have one I would like to move that the that the board direct the administration to conduct a process with

323student input to provide a final mascot to the board by our June 29 at our June 29th board meeting input wait a second crystal clear in the language that doesn't include Raider that does not include the Raider you don't you don't have you don't need to you don't need to but you can all right so Sarah can you say that again I'm sorry direct Administration to conduct a process with student input to can I a final mascot to the board at the June 29th board meeting meeting or no later than the June 29th board meeting they got to readd it early great all right could I would request that the language that does not include Raider be put in there I got it conduct all right um conduct a process with student input to provide

324a final mascot a final mascot select choice Choice oh well that's not the right word I don't know what word you want here Sarah a final mascot a final mascot and team name team name do you accept Dr babson's friendly Amendment yeah I don't think it's necessary but that's fine that does not include rider for uh for well we'll say for board consideration MH for board consideration no later than the June 29th no later than June 29 business meeting okay got it so let me just read this again the motion is to direct the administration to conduct a pro a process with student input to provide a final mascot and team name that does not include Raider for board consideration no later than the June 29th business meeting do you is that your motion that

325is my motion great do you have a second a second from Dr Babson all right so I have a question sorry folks but um does this preclude what Dr Bachelor said about five minutes ago that there were was another step that they wanted to do and then can they still continue with all of that does does that follow under your motion the way I'm reading Miss Dunn's motion it actually gives the S the superintendent and the admin team some flexibility to figure out how they feel it's the best way to proceed which may or may not okay which may or may not include some of the pieces that Dr Bachelor laid out a few minutes ago but doesn't so specifically constrain him which was some of the feedback from some of the earlier motions okay

326great thank that was exactly my intention that's that's the way I interpret it yep okay so do we have any board comment on this yes Mr Moore what I like best about this motion is the flexibility the administration can continue with the process they set out or they can adapt that process based on feedback they've received from the community from community members from uh this board tonight from public comment we've heard tonight personally I'm not particularly tied to any deadline it's not important to me I think I came to this meeting looking for solutions to problems that emerged about how our students are talking to each other and how the the way the conversation in the community has gone has impacted that and uh a question I asked earlier in the meeting uh of the

327administration that I would appreciate a little bit more comment on before we vote on this is you know what's already going on at the high school you know what what what has the administration started doing what have the principles and uh directors of instruction started doing to start to help students process what's been going on and and the way the the discourse has been going right now because that concerns me a great deal um in a lot of ways I thought that's what this meeting was about more than about whether Raider name is back on as a choice or or or not now it's not um that's one thing that emerged from this meeting but it's not the thing that concerned me the most in this meeting so uh and I think a vote on

328this motion is completely appropriate and it it is a way to move uh the rebranding process forward uh with with that flexibility but before we vote on this I'd like to hear just a little bit more about what else has been going on operationally pedagogically from the point of view of the administration about some of the things that I think have concerned a lot of uh board members and I the I know the high school administration has been reaching out uh first to some of the student leaders on both sides of uh this issue uh and been reaching out to talk to them to make sure that you know they understood that you know they're free to have their opinions and and and their opinions that they have on this um uh are are are

329reasonable and fair and how do we continue as we talked about in my letter to disagree without being disagreeable and without being divisive uh so they've been reaching out to the student leaders and talking to them uh talking to them to also just listen to hear where they are to hear where they're coming from uh trying to ensure that we can all continue to be one rner as we move forward um I think some of the pieces in the motion the original motion that was on the agenda tonight um you know had pieces in there about having a dialogue if it was an option I think it that that conversation is a little bit different when it's not an option in the sense that we now the dialogue is about a decision's you know the

330decision has been made how do we have that dialogue about why this decision you know has been made and the rationale for that I think that's a little bit different um than what was you know shared in the original motion but I think those are conversations that will continue thank you and nothing nothing in our motion precludes you from taking that which was very valuable and um helpful you know from tonight's motion which is was always the intention yeah the the pieas about the spirit Galley the piezas of looking moving forward into next school year and beyond our curriculum uh looking the the place of uh how we're going to in our spirit Gallery capture radner's history the place of how we um what is what is in our curriculum and our structural program when

331we look at uh Native Americans uh those are all pieces that will move forward from a teaching and learning perspective not between now and you know June uh but those are pieces that we will plan to move forward for as a school district uh incoming years okay so do we have any other board comment now all right I'm so sorry just if we don't vote on this we just basically go back to the plan that we had when the meeting started which is unless somebody else unless somebody makes another motion yes yep Al righty basically what what I'm hearing this motion is is this motion is saying to the to the administration that the board would like to have it have for consideration by June 29th consideration um of that final name and mascot and

332freeing the administration based on the feedback tonight to to whatever process We Believe needs to get done to have that happen gives you that flexibility that's how I heard it yes yes Miss stuffy I guess my question to the administration is are they comfortable with that timing I I just you know I I I'm concerned of putting a deadline we it's we have one shot to get this right in terms of branding and I I I'm very uncomfortable of saying we don't know what that process is yet we don't know what he is going you know what they're going to come forward when they digest all of this Rich discussion that's happened tonight and and and what's happened to dat and when they have to put that all together what that process entails in with

333a graduation with a problem with seniors leaving with you know with AP exams with final exams and and we're telling him that we're going to do all that properly um on by June I I'm very un personally I'm uncomfortable with that and I'd just like to hear from the administration how they feel well as I said I know I a couple hours ago I I I said that the the pause Miss Solomon suggested is something that I hadn't thought about that did resonate with me um and that that pause was something that I think administratively um you know again at what time and how we do it but you know I also support the decision of the board so I've I've shared you know perspective here on on you know what I think you know

334we could do at the same time um that motion failed uh and you know so decision's been made uh and the majority of the board is looking to move forward and looking to move forward by June um you know there's going to be this this decision um you know this whole topic has had a lot of pros and cons and this decision here is going to have have some additional obviously pros and cons as we move forward um you know can we do this yes I think we can complete this and we can have this we can have it by June 29th we can um you know move forward and complete this process um you know moving forward Mrs Stern you were muted I don't know if you were calling on me I was does

335this process preclude the administration from continuing to work with the National Congress on the retirement of the Native American IM imagery and other issues that may emerge from the rebranding process even though the Raider name has been retired um and if so uh you know is that something based on the it sounds like preliminary conversations that you had uh it sounds like this morning from what Mr Beck told reported is that something that they would potentially be offering and and is it something that you would find potentially valuable in the process even if Raider is not on the table sorry to cut across but I mean that was one reason why I was interested in having letter C in there I think um we could keep the spirit of that idea I I don't I

336don't see why we shouldn't at some point maybe you know uh come to that maybe at a at a later meeting but we don't necessarily need a motion for that folks I mean I I think that's the part that that's the question I asked exactly yeah the motion doesn't preclude that to to my understanding that's what I said that a few minutes ago I said you know there was lots of other things in the motion that failed that doesn't mean that they can't proceed with some of those I I would agree I don't I think we can reach out to the National Congress when we as we look at our curriculum moving forward we can reach out to the National Congress as we look to try to how we represent our history um and how

337we we we establish in the spirit Gallery um you know I I don't I don't necessarily see the the need as we talked about um uh you know that you know con you know that we need to necessarily consult with them with our um whatever the name or mascot is it's certainly something that administratively we were not be precluded from doing as well something that we can consider as we move forward with this process thank you okay great we're going to um Mr petiti do you have public comment on the um latest motion um I have another one from Kyle Addis 511 Asin Road okay why is such an important decision being rushed in less than 6 weeks in the last 6 weeks of the school year no less you were only digging the hole

338deeper take a pause as Lydia recommended and that is the only one concerning that motion okay thank you so much uh is I have a qu I have a question whenever it's here um is it I I may have lost something here but there's nothing fundamentally different in terms of a timetable between what Miss Dunn proposed and what the administration had initially laid out is that correct exactly I'm just ask exactly this there's no difference it's an extra week because the administration's orig original proposal was to have us a mascot by May by June 22nd but our board meeting has moved back a week so it's actually a week longer than originally proposed in January and right and you're giving the the freedom of the administration to adjust the process to complete it uh in

339time okay so I just want to repeat again this is this motion by Miss Dunn is no different from what the administration had already laid out and advertised to the community except it gives the administration an extra week to be able to complete the process and you know whatever they whatever elements of the process they may need to tweak in order to take into account all of the feedback that's been given tonight is that correctly summarized thank you can I just make one point I I I I app appreciate that point but we're also not on schedule for many parts of the process that we were supposed to be we haven't had the focus groups with the students we delayed those so you know we're not on the original timeline that he that the administration

340laid out we're not on we're not currently on we are delayed so we're we have a delayed process but we we are I appreciate that we're giving them flexibility to adjust that process but but we are not we are already not on on on the timeline because we've made we're behind so now we're asking him to rush the end the end piece but again giving him I appreciate flexibility to change the process yeah I I wouldn't characterize it as as rushing I think the flexibility actually is is you know is is pretty pretty key let to let them proceed at this point um okay do we have any more further board comment I I I just want to be careful that we don't get too much into deliberation because we might then have to take

341more public comment um I'll wait I'll have Mr Kristoff go weigh in on that yes Mr jubiler you just quickly I it's hard you know it's May 12th um I think it was Miss Duffy who mentioned the five or six seminal events coming up and Mr Moore expressing um that overall getting it done right is more important important than the deadline so um I think we're I I I I I don't support this I think we are making a mistake this is too important and we need to do this right and um so that's all I want to say okay thank you very much yes Mr Moore one question I have is uh is this much different from what happened in January where um you know ENT you know essentially we have kind of an

342interim reset and you know the the administration you know again has the opportunity to come back to us with updates on their on their process um their changes to their process what's what's working in what's not working um so you know we're if if this motion passes it sets a a goalpost um but in we we must and should always be open to new information that comes forward uh that's what brought us here right um so that's that's one question I have and and then another question I have is uh you know to what extent um is is our work complete um whether or not this motion uh passes is this a meeting that that should you know recess again for further continuation or or is this are we only focused on you know future

343regular business meetings for um you know how this comes up or or future GRCC meetings and you know to to and I so I'd value you know input from the board or or the administration on that question question to tip my own hand um I I appreciate that we came to this point through a special meeting that three board members requested I think other board members as I said wanted to make sure we had the opportunity to talk about this but we do have a GRCC committee that meets and you know an an option is for updates to continue to go there so I I I just feel like we should be clear about not just um you know the fact that there's a goal of June 29th that has been set but also you

344know what are the administration's intentions and or what are the board's preferences about what updates and further deliberation between now and June 29th uh look like as H chair as chair of GRCC I'd like to weigh in on that um I think our role in GRCC has been uh kind of a clearing house for updates from Mr petiti and there's always been time in the meeting for comment on those updates uh I don't see how that would change from from here to June and yeah Mr Moore let me just weigh in I would not support recessing this meeting again and the reason I would not is that the structure would preclude um public comment and I think we've we've now talked for over five hours and we've had a number of motions and you know

345just the nature of motions in new business you know make it more challenging for anyone to consider the motion and weigh in and give public comment so you know recessing this meeting would would prevent additional prob comment and I I just don't think that that would be the right way to proceed you know if there's more work for this board to do on this topic I don't happen to think so but you know until June 29th but but if there is then you know we should do that in a new in my opinion we should do that in a newly formed meeting not a recessed meeting of this meeting no I I actually with that and as as we have discussed Mrs St I voted against recessing last time I just wanted to move I

346wanted to move forward with eyes open about what the process looks like for this board between now and June 29th as did I alrighty so um I think at this point I'm going to call the vote um all those in favor of the motion uh please say I one two three four all those opposed one two 2 3 four five the motion fails four to five okay so is there any other motions tonight all righty seeing none uh let me just go back to the agenda uh we have board announcements uh tonight at 7 pm we will be continuing the Valley Forge Military Charter School application hearing at 700 p.m. and then we have our regular business meeting on Tuesday May 25th also at 700 p.m. at this time I would entertain a motion and

347a second to adjourn a motion from Miss Solomon and a second from Miss [Music] dun all those in favor and we are adjourned good night everyone thank you all very so much