001e e Cindy me get this party started I'd like to call to order the April 1st 2025 school committee meeting for foster Gloucester can I get a roll call please yes sorry still microphone uh hold on I don't know you all by heart yet miss cook here miss Joyce Mr Mara here Mr D here miss Keeling Mr Joyce here miss pezza miss ferera here Mr Rizzo he is here but he went to the restro oh he's here okay um can we all please stand for the pledge allegiance a pledge Alle 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 and we're on to student and staff recognition tonight we're going to address um the ponaganset Middle
002School production of Shrek the Musical um ma Kennedy the Rhode Island history teacher of the year and state champions Esports High School cheerleading girls high school basketball there is so much to celebrate hi brid there's so much to celebrate tonight first up pansit middle school's production of Shrek and Musical Jr this is ponaganset Middle School's sixth musical production directed by Miss Hurley again this year she was assisted by Miss Quanto is that correct how is say Quanto in the fall the musical was announced and the call went out for cast and crew it didn't take long for the students to come together as a tight-knit cast and crew and by the end of December the production was underway with students learning the story and the songs and the dance numbers that make up the entertaining
003Shrek the Musical Jr by February the show was ready for the stage Shrek the Musical is one-of-a-kind hilarious fairy tale in which curses are reversed monsters get the girls donkeys and Dragons find love and princesses are beautiful in all shapes and size sizes with dazzling sets Whimsical puppetry high energy dance numbers and laughs by the minute the cast and crew transformed the Contemporary children's book and popular animated feature film into a stage Musical that entertained and made the audience believe in happy endings for all Bravo to the casting crew of Shrek the Musical and a special thank you to Miss Hurley Miss Quant tronto for enhancing our musical arts program Miss markart is going to call you up and we have first of all I want every student here to have Miss fretz can you
004please stand up for a minute sure we're gonna clap for her because wait till you see the certificates he made you they're gorgeous oh you did that Olivia BMA I don't know if the whole cast is here tonight so I'll read kind of quickly until you stand up how's that Sophia beton Court Nick broer Riley Bru J AO Violet karco McKenzie Karen Eliana Chandler scyla Colette Grace Celli oh was here congratulations Y come on up GNA get a certificate Skyler oh uh l lily C Lily kff Mila kff Sophie Valentine will [Applause] Warren oh well think we're missing some missing some names here okay how about if we do it this way well can you just go sit for a second Sam dalquist Zoe Dempsey Ava Delino Tean Divine jovia Dixon I did see [Applause]
005jovia Donovan dorville Delilah errel Emily Faber Bridget finina I know [Applause] you Anna fecto Isa goodro I did see Isa yes Adriana giorgie Skyla green jalu Grimshaw see her Kaye Haynes Harper Haynes Joshua Henderson ranne Hugh there she is Reagan Jeffrey Ethan laier Mr Shrek himself Kayla [Applause] Lorent there she is Sara macki NOP Harper mcauliff Harper Kyla mccroy Emily Maguire Zach Moody Gian Mullen there she is Oran peshy Siana Pard Victoria ready she's here Eliana regali Raina Renay I saw Raina there we go lurel Riley Avery rubbe AA SLE Dan santui Gabrielle savater Eva sers Hazel sailor Avery Shields Matilda Shippy I think yes there she [Applause] is Anastasia sedik Josie Silva sarapo spaziano Kyla saier there she is Magnolia Sullivan will Thorne jce Traer Sophie Valentine will Warren you are there he is
006Will Wyatt Westgate there he is David Young jasine zakus and Cheyenne Ziggler I don't think I saw Cheyenne right that's it thank you take those to school yeah cool thank you thank you congratulations Middle School [Applause] is Mrs mave Kennedy here whoops everybody this is Mrs May Kennedy she's Rhode Island history teacher of the year for the whole [Applause] state each year the Gilder lurman Institute of American History recognizes and celebrates an educator from each state of excellence in teaching history those chosen have shown to passionately support students in Works towards creating a richer understanding of History one of the reasons Mrs Kennedy was recognized is because she strives to cultivate important critical thinking skills in the Next Generation congratulations Mrs Kennedy what [Applause] oh next up the newest coolest sport we have here at
007ponaganset high school is mar um Esports so let me see where did I put that paper here we go Pagan sit High School Esports team made it to the state championship for the second consecutive year after going undefeated throughout this season it was a rematch of last year's championship versus Cho High School unlike last year the team came out on top all four of the players are in their senior year so it was a good cap off to the students to be able to win the championship two of our players made all state this year Aaliyah made first team all state where is she awesome and Josh made second Team all state the team we went with this year had two rookie players both Andrew and Kylie were in the first year competing in eorts
008this is only the second year of us running Mario Kart as an esport and the third year of Esports as a whole at Pagan so we'd like to call up Joshua Tucker [Applause] nice when you get down Andrew kav cavalo [Applause] cavalo Aaliyah rainy [Applause] and Kylie what's her last name Bor Bor Kylie [Applause] Bor okay everybody esport [Applause] next up cheerleading ponan said 2025 competitive cheer team made history this season by securing their fifth Rhode Island inter Scholastic League state championship title and for the first time ever placing in the top three teams in the region at the New England Championship on March [Applause] 22nd this group of Lady Chieftain started the season strong with taking home second at the first competition of the Season against Regional level Massachusetts teams at Bela Memorial high
009school they also competed at Shephard Hill Regional School against teams from all over New England and secured first place recognition in the division and the highest score of the day a day against over 60 teams from New England they went on to claim five first place titles two grand Championship Awards and two second place and two third place Awards wow with this work ethic determination and never give up Drive of these young ladies there is no S surprise the successes they have this season if you've never been to a cheerleading competition I sit that my kids played football and all kinds of attack things nothing is more dangerous than what they do I spent the whole time going oh God thinking they're all going to get dropped so can the coaches come on up Julie
010Dexter okay you you do their names yeah I'm G should I go past the ones that aren't here or just name everybody okay Laura LTI Scarlet Hall we have some athletes we have some girls on the lacrosse field right now as we speak Sarah [Applause] Brown Sydney [Applause] Estrella okay uh Briana annaldo she's on the lacrosse field Alexandria rockliffe on the lacrosse field Cheyenne [Applause] horde Happy Happy eve Dexter on the lacrosse field Macy Leon [Applause] great I don't know if she came in Franchesca rotundo uh Michaela yurig she's not here also Morgan Diner is not here also oh that's me Julie Dexter thank you very much and my assistant coach is not here either that's coach Laura Allard thank you yes thank you so much now are you gonna see them I'm gonna see
011them Friday we have our banquet thank you Mrs keing who's who's who's [Applause] thank you okay um and last but certainly not least um girls basketball G is Mr Martin Ali here well actually can all the coaches come up our ponic anet high school girls team finished the season with an impressive record of 25 wins and four losses they finished as the runner up in the division one tournament that was held at the am Pavilion the following week the girls won at URI Ryan centive for the Rhode Island girls basketball state champion it should also be noted this is division one jav javana is that how you say it okay St was named most valuable player for the state tournament Anastasia nerie was the recipient of the Ralph tuugo kug cugno Rhode Island basketball officials
012board 84 scholarship award girls congratulations we couldn't be more proud uh our c one of our captains Anastasia [Applause] Nery another Captain who's out on lacrosse field Kelsey laru another one of our seniors Marley [Applause] Haynes another senior who's not not here kayn koutu another senior who could not make it Lila bchi one of our Juniors who's at work Elena malown a sophore who could not be here Juliana bikini another one of our sophomores who's here tonight Marin Nery another soft vot could not be here Caitlyn [Applause] Simo one of our freshmen who was not here Jenny Bernardi uh freshman who is here Laya Briggs another freshman who was here tonight Malia Ellis [Applause] another freshman and the MVP of the state tournament javana [Applause] St another freshman who's here tonight Zoe Thorp our team
013manager who was not here tonight Joshua Stockwell you didn't get one okay is J here no he's not here we really missed that's me he missed and H how could I right my friend my freshman friend right here Miss Mara come [Applause] here and uh I I just wanted to mention to uh our assistant coaches uh jib field who's here hi Jim Charlie Stockwell who is coaching at a tennis match uh Franchesca corsetti and um who did I forget oh and Dave svy yes who could forget Dave he's been around the longest but thank you very much oh yeah it was uh it was quite a a great night and as you see we're not a very imposing looking group but they do play very very hard and and uh they represent the school very
014well thank you congratulations and that concludes the fun part of the night [Applause] so that concludes the fun portion of the meeting so if anybody would like to leave you don't have to stick around yeah um next um approval of meeting minutes March 4th 2025 Madam chair I make a motion to approve the minutes of the open meeting on March 4th 2025 can I get a second second any discussion all those in favor I I opposed extensions abstain wer Madam chair I make a motion to approve the minutes of the executive session on March 4th 2025 can I get a second please second all those in favor I oppose extensions abstain uh number six approval of financial town meeting minutes March 18th 2025 Madam chair I make a motion to approve the minutes of the
015financial town meeting on March 18th 2025 second all those in favor I opposed extensions um was that appr thank you uh number seven approval monthly bills Madam chair make a motion to approve the monthly bills dated March 1st 2025 to March 28th 2025 in the amount of 1, 86,7 second any discussion all those in favor opposed extensions approval of cell tower funds um to allow the seventh grade students to go on the end of the year field trip to Boston funds will be allocated to offset the cost of the trip matching funds requested are $3500 Madam chair I make a motion to approve the C Tower request of $3500 for the seventh graders to attend an End ofe Boston trip as presented in the packet second any discussion all those in favor I opposed abens
016oh sorry thank you she's putting it together so sure if would you want to give an overview I mean we just approved it but you can still share with us what your hi um I'm Kristen gold I teach seventh grade at the middle school um this is just an annual trip that we've done um in the past it is in alignment with the seventh grade curriculum and um we attend Blossom for the day we go on a 90-minute gued tour the Freedom Trail and um go to the Boston Tea Party Museum um have lunch at Fel Hall Quincy Market so it's a great day um we've done some fundraising some community service projects um and had some family donations so this just helps to offset some of the cost that's great thank you you appreciate
017it thank you um number nine CTE program update we're going to table until May uh number 10 Finance update uh we're at 79. 31 collected for revenues and expenses were at 64 um 0.55% uh tuition bills were issued this month so tuition we that's the the full number for the year um and that's it perfect any questions thank you an um facilities capital projects update Steve facilities and capital projects updates so obviously we're in a full transition uh getting up for spring Sports so lot's going on with uh field preparations and ultimately just capital projects the lighting efficiency projects uh and the intrusion and access control project both the rfps have been uh publicly posted uh the intent is to follow up with this uh April 25th capital projects team and make the decision on
018the next school committee meeting for May 8th to award that contract great thank you okay um approval bid for the Wi-Fi license that was handed out Madam chair I make a motion to approve the bid to questivity for 71,3 25 and. 76 C can I get a second second thank you any discussion all those in favor I opposed superintendent report okay great um the Northwest special education Fiscal Agent Madame chair I make a motion to approve Foster closser Regional School District being the fiscal agent for Northwest special education as of July 1st 2025 all those in favor I opposed extensions number 15 approval of the 2526 Foster glester Regional School calendar Madam chair I make a motion to approve the 2025 2026 Foster glosser Regional School calendar as presented in the packet second all those
019in favor just quick question just to confirm we've aligned with the state calendar right correct okay any other discussion all those in favor opposed exstension uh appointment of the budget subcommittee to provision for services for uh subcommittee Madam chair I make a motion to approve the members of the budget subcommittee Beth keing Brendan Mara Eileen cook and Mark Rizzo to oversee the provision of services by the region to local districts policy as presented in the packet second any discussion this is what we talked about last meeting all right that's all those in favor I opposed there's too many of you you don't have to obain um opposed abstention thank you uh policy subcommittee updates Madam chair I make a motion to approve the pagans at College and Career program application policy as a second reading
020as presented in the packet second thank you all those in favor I I opposed exensions signed I'll take that there's 10 so I'll call them up all right and just in an effort to make sure that everybody gets heard we're going to try and keep it down to about two minutes per person so that everybody gets a chance to talk and if you hear something and you feel you need to speak you can still come up and put your name on it's not off the table just because it's up here uh first person Tiffany Madrono from Foster hi um I'm a parent um in the school system and um I know during executive sessions later you're going to be talking about I don't know we don't know because you'll be in private um but it
021will be in regard to um uh Title Nine and I just want to it's okay take your time I want to make sure that whatever we have whatever policies we have in our school district that we include every single person okay every [Applause] person that's [Applause] it thank you uh the next person uh is it s men menabe ours close from Cumberland yes how's it going everyone um okay so I'm here to talk about sex and the definition of sex um my name is s meny I'm an educator in Rhode Island I'm getting my PhD in education at the University of Rhode Island um I would stand up here and say that the proposed definition of sex that Foster wants to go with isn't within ride guidance but ride already told y' all that so
022I don't need to stand up here and say that um I am going to stand up here though and give a small little Health lesson for y'all um because the definition proposed uh as a bind I just want to I just want you to I just want you to be clear this isn't the Foster school committee so I understand you're and I want you to speak I just don't want you to think you're speaking to a policy that's in Foster because that is separate from policies here at the region okay okay I just I I want to hear it is absolutely relevant I just don't want you to think we have a policy because just yeah yeah no no no I got you I got you thank you yeah yeah I appreciate it um okay
023so the definition of sex as a binary biological attribute male or female determined to birth um folks might say hey this is accurate science but what's interesting is you pick up literally any piece of research in the past decade in any pay review journal medical psychological or otherwise the research and science say two things one sex is not actually binary and two that gender and sex are two different things so let's break it down this is why I teach my students sex uh is made up of a variety of things biological it's biological sign of birth chromosomes internal sex characteristics external sex characteristics hormone production hormone response and secondary sex characteristics there's a large amount of variation within any of those categories um so as a society we may hold the belief that sex is
024binary um that's absolutely not true from a medical standpoint for instance folks are who are interex uh one in every 1500 to 2,000 people they're not determined to be either male or female um and gender is just how somebody identifies now one's gender May align with their sex that's called cisgender otherwise if someone's gender doesn't align with their sex it's transgender um pretty simple yes there is research too that points to the fact that we are born with both a biological sex and a gender identity um I think this is where most disagreement comes in because for whatever reason uh some people refuse to believe that transgender individuals exist even though there are again years and years of peer-reviewed research and science that defend their existence so if it's that simple it's as simple as
025picking up a piece of research and reading it to understand what the science actually says um why are they adopting this definition all over the country in executive orders um because they are not interested in research and science they're interested in bigotry making sure that any student who doesn't fall precisely in within this strict binary uh in quite frankly the outdated sex categories is not accepted or protected I believe we should not penalize students for not forming to society's gender roles all kids deserve a place to grow play socialize and learn that accepts them for who they are protects them and allows them to flurish thank [Applause] you thank you uh next Joanne Rich from Providence please I got my you want to sign in hi um so I am a retired educator uh concerned
026and I drove all the way from Providence because I want to tell you that when I was 13 I knew that I was queer um I didn't have anywhere to look and see what that meant I wasn't confused about what it meant as some people who think that there are only male and female I knew that what I was I just didn't see anywhere so when I got into my career as an educator um I was the adviser for the GSA I was the safe person where the kids knew that they could come and I taught in Elite schools in uh New York City I taught at the International School of Amsterdam I uh was in the Caribbean for a while I was at Community prep which is a school for low-income kids and I
027can tell you that lgbtq plus kids are in every school they're in your Schools they're in Foster they're in Gloucester and if they don't see people if they are not validated they suffer sometimes they suffer so bad that they'd rather be dead and sometimes they succeeded and the kid that you might save might be your own so it's important that the kids are protected it's important that they're safe and you have the power to make the right choices Foster is not here I guess but Foster and Gloucester um I always thought that they were the same place because they were the snow cancellations Foster cluster anyway um I just hope that you all can do the right thing and I can stop shaking on their behalf thank you thank you Christina deevi cheva from Foster
028diara thank you um I'm a foster resident and a parent I am here to ask you to maintain the current language of the Rhode Island Department of of education for Title Nine uh protecting students rights free from discrimination based on sex gender sexual orientation gender identity or gender expression um I personally have very close personal relationships with many people who are transgender who are gender nonconforming or are gender non-binary it just happens to be part of my life I have relatives and dear close friends who have those identities and so I feel like I'm here really on their behalf and on the behalf of students like them um these are people who are uh brilliant kind productive members of society people who have fantastic job jobs people who have supportive and loving uh romantic relationships
029and deep and close personal friendships in communities that support them these are people who are productive members of society but the challenge that they face today is being uh is the Deep anxiety and fear that they have due to political persecution policy persecution and vilification um and so I would like to remind this body um whether it's now or in the future whether it's an executive session or in all other work that you do um that your job is to protect and respect the rights of all students including trans trans and N non-binary students who at this moment are some of the most vulnerable and under attack in our system thank [Applause] you thank you John douly from Gloucester hello uh my name is John duly I live in Gloucester I've been here for 20
030something years and both of my kids raised and went from K through 12 in the system and pagans it uh one of the things I was always really proud of out here is that there was a lot of talk and a lot of things having to do with bullying which I think a lot of us a little bit older we remember what things were like back in the 70s in the time time I mean you had to have broken bones and blood before the authority figures in a school or anywhere would do anything and I was really proud of that uh and the way they talk about that in this place this is a group whether it's by their you know their ethnicity or their gender or their sexual orientation or anything else I'm really
031worried that with all this talk and a lot of things that are going on it's going to encourage a lot of people who you know don't understand it and think that now they're being endorsed that it's okay to give a hard time and to bully and and and to and to be you know hard on kids that are different and stuff through my kids friends I've known a lot of these kids since they were babies literally running around in diapers and they are who they are nobody you know uh coached them or made them this what they are what I have seen in my experience with a lot of these kids kids is in the growing up and a lot of times when they start hitting around puberty a lot of them start kind of
032shutting down because that's when they really start realizing wait a minute I'm not what I'm supposed to be and stuff and then luckily I've seen a lot of them be able to as they've gotten older and in high school or and they get out of high school be able to really be much more comfortable in their own skin and I've just watched these kids BL awesome and the the difference is unbelievable so we need to take care of all the kids make sure everybody is safe in the schools there's so much going on in the media and everything this the current president brought in somebody talking on with a Title Nine thing a young lady who said she was injured and so she's sitting there in Congress had like a career-ending injury in volleyball I'm
033not sure what that cuz they they said that the the girl they wasn't really a girl that had done whatever that hurt her and they but the other team says no she is she is a girl but the bottom line is that same young lady managed to let her in two other sports that same year so I don't think she had a career inning injury I played a lot of sports soccer and different things I had a lot of injuries I played coed and different things there are sometimes some injuries in sports but we don't want to overblow the problem I think the real problem is making sure that every kid feel safe and is able to have a good experience when they're in school thank you thank you Annie dly gler hi I'm Annie
034dly I'm John's daughter I am a pagans alumni class of 2019 um when I was 14 I realized I was bisexual and sorry I don't mean to get choked up my friends started the gay straight Alliance in this school I painted the inclusion mural every message I got about this school is that we choose to include and that means everybody so I felt the need to come out to this meeting tonight because I want to make sure that all of my trans friends who I grew up with in this school district and all the kids who will come after us will have the same opportunities that we did I want them to be able to use the bathroom I want them to be able to play sports I want them to be able to focus
035on school and learning and being a young person this is just who they are and I just think it's really important to maintain anti-discrimination policies for transgender and queer youth so I hope that I hope that can appeal to you anyways have a great [Applause] day thank you Jenifer wood Providence hi folks Back Again Jennifer Wood from the Rhode Island Center for justice and and now I think I'm on the right agenda um I am here to address the title 9ine item that you have in your executive session and I have before I became the director at the center for justice I've been practicing law on Rhode Island for over 40 years um throughout that time I have focused a lot of my work in public education and education law including 10 years as Chief
036legal counsel at the Department of Education so this has been kind of my life's work actually and this evening I just wanted to briefly focus on the duties of school committees um and also on the obligations about how School committees do their work uh in the in the Rhode Island general laws enumerating the duties of school committees it sets forth that school committees must provide for and Ensure Ure the implementation of federal and state law the regulations of the Council on Elementary and secondary education and local school policies programs and directives so you really are the entity that enforces state and federal law in this context and that's kind of the what in terms of how that is done in the code of management principles and ethical School standards for school committees I want to
037focus on a couple of the exhortations about how you do your work promoting communication and understanding between the school system and the community acting on legislative and policy-making matters only after examining pertinent facts and always focusing on the greatest concern as the educational welfare of students attending the schools I know you all know this school committee work is hard work you're here night after night long grueling meetings subcommittees and you all have the pleasure of getting to do it twice in one night given the unique structure of your system I made a careful review of your existing policies because I saw Title 9 on your executive session agenda and in fact the Regional School District which is your body has in place a currently valid Title 9 policy and a currently valid uh policy for
038transgender students prohib discrimination as is required by the department of Ed the only reason that I had some consternation was that on the Foster website not in the policy Arena but on the Foster school committee website there was an announcement of a title 9 and civil rights policy which has also been changed in the last 24 hours so I take this to not be a pro policy promulgation of any of your three School committees when the meeting your next Foster meeting so our foster school committee meets on the last Tuesday of each month and I can speak just as one Committee Member to that I I don't think that that should have been posted I don't think it was intentional and it's since been rescinded um if it wants to come up it would be
039on OPP posted agenda and yeah I checked all your agendas and I was very confident that that was the case but when something shows up on the official um website of a school committee uh I I agree with you and as a one person I apologize for any distress that caused anyone I was not aware I really don't think we should be having it so I'm not trying to engage in a colloquy I just wanted to close by say you know you know the rules Jennifer absolutely I just wanted to close by saying that this the Foster Gloucester Regional school committee should stay the course with the duly enacted policies that you have you will hear that there are is a lot of information about the fact that presidential executive orders or other things may
040change existing statutes regulations and policies but they really may not only Congress and the general assembly and in Rhode Island the commissioner of Education can do that you all know your charge which is to uphold those laws and regulations and I'm confident that you'll do so thank you for your [Applause] time thank you Paul passo from W did I pronounce that it's piss it's all good um hey folks uh my name is Paul paba and I'm a Rhode Island educator teaching math and serving as co-coordinator of my school's gender and sexual sexuality Alliance or GSA I'm here today because I want to stand up for the rights of transgender and gender diverse youth I'm not from your District as I teach in Pucket however the recent decision to change the definition of sex listed on
041the Foster District website has effects that will be felt beyond your borders the decisions you make here around title line will have effects that will be felt beyond your borders the message that the uh website change sends to transgender and gender diverse people in Rhode Island particularly young people is that their experiences and their identities don't matter moreover this this change sends the message that their lives don't matter a peer-reviewed study published in the Jour journal Nature last September found that states which passed anti-transgender laws aimed at minors saw Su suicide attempts by trans and gender diverse teenagers increased by as much as 70 72% in the following years queer and trans youth are already at a higher risk of suicide than their cisgender peers you were putting your own young people even more in
042danger as anyone from the lgbtq plus Community can tell you the increased risk risk of suicide our community experiences comes not from the inside but from without it comes from the isolation and marginalization that the world forces upon us while we are simply trying to live our lives as a gay educator I help lead my GSA first and foremost as an effort in suicide prevention and harm reduction my primary objective is that my students make it through the difficulties of adolescence to a happy and fulfilled adult life radical right Liars portray me and my fellow Educators as pedaling an agenda when in reality our primary concern is listening to young people and accepting them as they are as a committee you were in a really great position today you get to do the right thing
043and the smart thing all at the same time on February 28th of this year Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Elementary and secondary education and helica and Fon green and attorney general Peter neurona communicated with perfect clarity how you were supposed to proceed under a new presidential Administration commissioner commissioner infon green and AG narona instructed and I quote recent executive actions have prompted questions about the way schools support lgbtq lgbtq plus students as well as how schools continue with diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility programs until the legal effect of the aforementioned executive actions is settled Rhode Island schools should not change current practices and procedures involving the rights of lgbtq plus students and diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility programs end quote you've been instructed by our state's top attorney and the state's Chief public education officer
044not to make any changes to your inclusion policies under Rhode Island law since 2001 discrimination based both on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal adopting a policy that denies the existence of trans and gender diverse students goes against what we stand for as a state and what we have enshrined into law yesterday was transgender day of visibility stop trying to make trans kids invisible do the right thing do the smart thing protect trans lives thank you thank you Marcus saucy from Pasco hello is this thing on right yeah hi it's nice to see you all again um I went to school here graduated in 22 um I started my transition in 2019 quite young um slow and steady so the way that my plan was formulated at least with my mother we took things
045step byep step therapy the bare minimum amount of medication possible and I know that there's a lot of talk at the least right now going around majorly uned un my apologies uneducated um we have done so so much work in psychology and sociology as a whole and I although the overall environment right now is a little bit kind of it's quaky um I would hate to see those things take a step back because there is so much that we don't know even Beyond seeing the rights of the children um being accepted and not discriminated against which I know the teachers here and based on my experience which was lovely by the way let me add um I had no issues whatsoever in this school and I look forward to sending my own kids here which
046would be amazing that being said um if we allow ourselves to move in the opposite direction then this will have a cascading effect and it'll go past just that law changing these policies specifically as was said before will change the mindset of people in a deeper way than I think many people realize um the languages that we use in these documents I feel like probably should be quite a bit clearer up to date with the scientific research that's come out right now um currently I am in college uh working on my associates for psychology and Child Development so when I look at kids I am just so happy even if they're not what they're supposed to be you know what I mean the points that I was going to make about the difference between sex
047and gender already made which was amazing by the way I'm glad to hear it um but I just wanted to make make sure I was here at least to make an appearance and let you guys know that everything that we have done so far for this school I think has helped children to understand each other and communicate with their Educators and their parents a lot better on more topics than if they want their haircut or if they want to wear shorts instead of a skirt it's far past that goes beyond into what friends we make and what peers we grow up with so thank you for listening I appreciate it thank you Chris Kona from Richmond thank you my name is Chris Kona I'm from Richman ver Island I'm a parent of two high school
048kids and and it's been exciting to watch them grow into themselves as people but most interesting has been watching my younger non-binary kid and to see their story evolve they've been reclusive through Elementary School and Middle School they've been quiet doing their own thing and not really that excited about what's going on in school and it didn't spend a lot of time they didn't spend a lot of time with their friends outside of school and someone already said it you know they had a certain age and then they sort of just shut down uh at about that uh 12 and 13 so they didn't really get engaged though until they come out as non-binary last summer and once they did it's been fascinating to see them come out of their shell they started getting involved
049with all kinds of new programs at school they joined a career in Tech program they got fully engaged in the drama club I'm excited to see that you guys are also running your own show um and they're starting to take on roles and more responsibility they're trying all kinds of new things and they they've gained more confidence in themselves and what they can do is growing it's because the people around them started to beli in them for years they felt like everyone who had said to them you don't belong here here and last year we sat down with their school when they came out we talked about their identity with the school we changed their names in the databases we worked with the district to come up the plan for dealing with the logistics like
050bathrooms and like locker rooms that made everyone comfortable administrators teachers the other students and my kid it was such a powerful message coming from the school to say you do belong here and the policies are easy as as Jenna stated your froster Gloucester policies of note provide all the students all the structure that's needed to help students like my kid grow out of their shell in a way that doesn't infringe on other students all we need to do is to tell our kids you do belong here thank you Dina KO Foster hi thank you for your time um this isn't something I this is my first school committee meeting for forgive me I'm not entirely familiar with the rules never thought I'd see myself doing this nor did I ever think that I would feel
051the need the desire the urge to have to come up here and protect children who go to school with my child yes we're from Foster and I'm not clear on why this is posted as a foster gler school committee meeting but I'm hearing that if this doesn't affect Foster it most certainly does and even if you're saying that it it only affects Gloucester students Gloucester students graduate and go out into the world and affect everyone else yeah I'll I'll clarify quick you can just just so there's no misunderstanding we're not saying you know Foster is its own entity there are three three of the members that sit on Elementary School yeah the three of the members that sit on this committee sit on in that committee and then they're part of the region oh thank
052you I appreciate that very much for clearing that out so um uh my child is in eighth grader in middle school going on to high school I'm very fortunate my kid talks to me a lot doesn't tell me everything I don't want them to tell me everything I don't want to know everything but they might be telling me more than your kids are telling you and a lot of parents out there who are not comfortable with their kids going to school who are trans who don't like who who don't like the idea of queer kids guess what your kids probably queer too they go by a different name at school with their friends moms but not at home now I'm here because I'm seeing I'm seeing that we're considering changing some language on the school
053district website in response to an executive order which is not law it is merely Guidance the guidance may I tell you from the white house.gov web page as of 553 this evening States female means a person belonging at conception to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell male means a person belonging at conception to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell I was a Premed major I have just enough information to be a little bit dangerous still in my brain sir what sex do we all start out with at conception ladies thank you all for coming hello [Applause] ladies I apologize one moment that goes for everyone here for every human on this planet if you have a different argument for this tell someone else out of curiosity I would like you to
054just just internally reflect upon yourselves when there were uh when we were going through pandemic restrictions and mask mandates how pissed were you that people told you and children to wear masks how pissed were you when you were told that your kids had to be had to have covid vaccinations and prove it how dare they police your children's body keep your minds and hands off of my kids and their friends you're here to protect children look at these children they are coming up to tell you how they feel and if you looking at them with anything other than compassion take a good look inside these are children what are you afraid of I'm going think you're afraid I think that you're afraid that they see you for who you are think twice thank you for
055your time thank you how many more do we have um there's three more okay we have three more guests uh three more speakers and I just need to reiterate this because I think a lot of the hurt and a lot of the anger is coming from what you saw on a foster School website Foster Elementary Schools put out something that I I don't know I'm a gler resident but it was something retracted it and I think that's what this is sparking this and you're coming here Foster has another meeting when is the Foster meeting Brendan that's my only question sure so the Foster meeting is at the last Tuesday of the month okay so I respectfully because I know it won't stop there right I know but I'm just saying I think think that's where
056the hurt and the anger is sparking sparked from is from what transpired on that website and again as a foster glaster school committee sitting before you I can't change title discussions alter or we review our policies as you've already addressed that you're happy with our policy you're really getting C we got to stop I just wanted to clarify that this is not the Foster school committee meeting but we have three more Cindy really I I have to insist we stop the interaction please Gian KO Foster hello everybody uh my name is Gianna Koo and I'm an eighth grader going into the middle school that was my mother and she's correct I am so happy that I am able to talk to her about stuff sorry I'm getting I'm about to be in the high school
057next year and if you pass this rule about how sex is what you were determined at Birth then there will be a number of people who will not be happy whatsoever including me I'm not affected by this but I know others will my friends people who I don't don't know people who I have yet to meet will be affected by what you decide right now so far there has been several anti-trans slurs that have been written on the bathroom walls at my school this has happened more times than I can count and I have been in the school for 3 years the message of pagans is to choose to include this is not inclusion this is disrespecting a group of people who have done nothing wrong but be themselves if you choose to pass this
058you are proving your entire mission statement I do not feel comfortable going to this school if I know that they will choose to make someone's decision about how they present the issue have a great day thank you Meredith Whittle from Gloucester hi I'm Meredith witty I am a parent here in Gloucester my kids go to Fogerty they're little of course actually my daughter was here last school committee meeting to talk about inclusion week Fogerty and I think um I think Fogerty does a really good job with inclusion and acceptance and I'm very happy with that and um I'm here because your agenda says that you're having a discussion about Title 9 something to do with Title 9 in executive session pretty sure that policy discussions can't happen in executive session legally so I'm hoping it
059won't be a policy discussion um those discussions belong out in the open but if you're going to have any discussion that has to do with um transgender kids or discrimination in general I would caution you to please not take the culture War to our little kids or our big kids the kids themselves aren't doing that sort of thing I know adults get all heated about issues um concerning transgender transgender issues and um other issues like that but you guys have already adopted a really good policy protecting transgender kids from the Department of Ed and I like those policies every protecting all kids really is your job and I would hope you wouldn't change those my kids have friends who are gender we'll just say something other than what was defined on Captain Isaac Payne's website
060until today um I'm not sticking a label on them because they're little and they don't stick labels on themselves and my kids and their friends don't have any problems with that they don't need labels they just accept those kids for who they are and they'll grow up that way if we like let them so I'm just asking that if you are considering any changes to that affect kids like that please don't it's good the way it is thanks thank you Lauren nidle [Applause] Gloucester hi I wasn't originally going to speak but somebody mentioned bullying this goes into the larger picture both my kids graduated went through pagans went through the whole GLA system from elementary all the way through High School both of them were impacted by anti-Semitism now bullying is bullying when you have
061a policy that becomes less inclusive it empowers those who feel more privileged to have that attitude that bullying is accepted that it is not only accepted for the lgbtqi group but for other minorities in this school being a Jewish child in this school is a major minority being a black child in this school is a major minority being a brown of any ethnic background is a minority when you allowed uh an inclusiveness to change the character of the school it can have an impact with other students other parents and it is just a very negative um it's a negative act it's a negative feeling it's a negative kind of um what's the best word of putting it the trickle down can occur and it's something that can have a um very very negative impact for
062learning for being being wanting to be part of sports for being involved in other um after school activities if children feel that they're impacted because of one because of a situation where inclusiveness is denied from one it can be denied to others so that's just something else to consider thank you Sophie benen Court from Foster our last one hi my name is Sophie I'm a eighth grader at the middle school um as far as I'm aware pwn against its message has always been to choose to include and that means everyone or at least I hope it does it's a part of the Pledge we say it's printed on the pond against it t-shirts were given there's even a there's a mural in the hallway out there um discrim discrimination sorry against trans students is not
063choosing to include it's quite the opposite this won't directly affect me but it will affect my friends and so many other people that I haven't met yet this matters to me and and to so many other people thank you thank you that's all the speakers we have thank you for the public comment um can I get a motion to convene to Executive session please Madam chair I make a motion to convene to Executive session to discuss and or vote on The Following matters per Ro Island general laws 42- 46-5 a privac of Student Records homeschool per Island general laws 42- 46-5 a grievance the nepon grievance 23 24-7 and knee upon grievance the second so um just the first one NE upon grievance 232 24-7 and per Island general laws 42-46 d5a number two pending
064litigation legal advice number one 24- number one take one off okay um the OM 259 pezza versus Foster glosser Regional School District om PR 25-18 Raymond V Foster gler Regional School District Title 9 in District policies and Northwest special education second all those in favor I opposed exensions thank you all