Stafford School Board 12 11 18

001here mr. Kator yeah busy here miss hazard yeah miss Healy here mr. McClosky here this young she's presenting alright would you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance do we have a motion for approval of the agenda motion second is young second by dr. chase all in favor say aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously that brings us to awards and recognition the first Awards we'd like to recognize Carrie Neely chief elementary officer for presentation of awards the evening madam chair school board members and dr. kistner the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Council on an interstate compact on the educational opportunity for military children recently recognized 59 Virginia schools as purple star schools the purple star designation is awarded to military friendly schools that has demonstrated their commitment to the needs of military-connected students

002and families to qualify for the purple star designation schools must have a trained staff member assigned as a primary point of contact for military families and students the point of contact also serves as a liaison between the school and local military communities schools must also demonstrate their commitment to meeting the needs of military students by providing resources and programming on issues important military families such as transitions and academic planning this is the first year me DoD and the Virginia Council have designated purple star schools it is my honor to announce the Stafford County Public Schools to earn this designation audience please hold your applause until the end at this time we'd like to recognize colonial forage high school Conway elementary school Jr sporting his very patriotic tie Kate while a bear at elementary school Park

003Ridge Elementary School and last but not least rocky run elementary school special thanks to our principals to come out and represent your schools tonight we're really proud of you thank you we next like to recognize Anna Marie Bellino fine and Performing Arts facilitator for presentation of awards good evening madam chair school board members dr. casler I would like to recognize ten fabulous singers this evening these talented and hardworking singers auditioned among over 700 students in the Commonwealth all were high school seniors and were selected for the 2018 Virginia Music Educators Association honors choir the amazing accomplishments of these students are not possible without the instruction guidance and encouragement from our extraordinary high school choir directors and I'd like to invite them to come forward to join me dr. Jordan Davidson at Burke Point High School

004barbara Perry at Colonial Forge High School Bonita Akina Mountain View High School and Joey vu from Stafford high school students as I call your name please come forward to receive your recognition from Brooke Point High School Triana Ferrand and Johan Leal from Colonial forge High School Clara Brown Kirsten Chesley and Nell Hatton from Mountain View High School Sarah Reed from Stafford High School Henry dispersed Oreo Malcolm paja raised Christian stakes and Alison Yablonski we are so proud of these students for their accomplishments the event was in November and our very own mr. eviler is actually the chair of the entire event so he had quite a large responsibility in terms of being at the event and ho ding all of the students from across the Commonwealth I was at the performance along with other music

005educators from around the state it was probably one of the most wonderful performances that I have really encountered would you all agree the conductor was pretty amazing right so I would love to recognize our students if I could have the audience join me and congratulating these singers and there's a bonus around here right there is a bonus round miss Healy so tonight we are going to delight you with a song and the song was performed during their event back in November the song is called words and it was written by an der Zanden Roth who is a swedish singer-songwriter he started a professional acapella vocal jazz ensemble in Sweden and so the song is very jazzy and it's pretty fabulous when we heard it at the concert so I think that you'll enjoy it too

006we're going to do it in the middle so that everyone can thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well that's got to be the highlight of the evening right thank you all so much and thank you mrs. Pollino for sharing the talent of our our students and thank you to the families that support all our arts that brings us to the end of the awards and we're back to a special presentation of the FY 18 annual budget report and comprehensive annual financial report oh sorry mr. follmer that you have to follow that outstanding luckily I didn't nonverbal performance with this report luckily luckily I do not have to follow that instead I'm just introduced ting miss Krista Ito from Terri Becker she's going to come down and give you guys an update on

007the auditing nursing good evening I don't think you want me singing for you when I try to pull up this presentation momentarily all right good evening chairman ladies and gentlemen of the school board and all others present in attendance tonight I am pleased to be here to report the preliminary audit results for the June 30 2018 audit of the financial statements so our audit is part of a larger contract with the Stafford County and so the school board's financial statements are included within the county's financial statements because they are considered to be a component unit of the county's reporting however the school does issue their own separate financial statements and while we were engaged to conduct a volume of services as you might see on the screen I am really going to focus on specifically

008the school board's financial audit so as part of our audit we are engaged to conduct an audit on the basic financial statements so the school division does issue a full comprehensive annual financial report and that's a fairly large document that includes not only the basic financial statements but just some additional information including management's discussion and analysis which gives a summarized Word version of the financial highlights and overall summary of the financials and maybe some of the significant financial highlights that occurred throughout the schools during the current year and so I would encourage you to read the management's discussion and analysis however that is an unmanaged uhz provide specifically related to the financial statements themselves there are a few additional other items built into that copper the statistical section which does give a ten-year overview of

009financial and other significant information again that's unaudited information but is included in this document so our audit again is specifically focused on the basic financial statements and the notes that supplement those basic financial statements so in addition to the school's audit we were also engaged to audit the school activity funds and so those are the cash held essentially by each school for the different activities that the students participate in so in addition to the financial piece of the audit we are required to conduct an audit over a compliance and this is really twofold so your overall compliance with certain laws and regulations really prescribed by the Commonwealth of Virginia's auditor of Public Accounts and then the second piece of compliance relates to your compliance with the federal grants that you receive in making sure you're

010just spending that money in accordance with the grant pieces and so in compass and those audits of compliance we're also responsible for examining the internal control environment associated with that compliance and so if any matters in internal controls were to be brought out during the audit we would be required to report those to you in a separate report called a schedule of findings in question costs additionally any matters of non-compliance whether it be state requirements or federal requirements if we identify any matters in our audit we're also required to report those in that schedule of findings and question costs so we do issue essentially three audit reports the one on the financials and then these two specifically on compliance in addition to our financial audit there are some additional services that we provide one is

011the examination over the information that you provide to the Virginia Retirement System as part of participation in the state's overall pension plan and then at the end of the audit we do certify information related to your federal grants in an electronic format that is specifically required and so those are all the service deliverables that we provide as part of the audit so as far as an audit results go we do anticipate wrapping up our audit in the next couple weeks we're just in the final phases I'm doing some housekeeping items reviewing the finalized document of that Kaffir and then it will be issued in just a matter of a few weeks we do anticipate issuing an unmodified opinion that is a clean opinion on the financial statements so one area of note in the financials

012this year there was a significant new standard required to be adopted by the school board this year and that relates to the accounting and financial reporting for other post-employment benefits this is primarily the retirees health care that they receive once they retire and as you saw with pensions several years ago that information was brought on to the face of the financial statements where historically it had just been a disclosure the same thing has happened with the other post-employment benefits that liability for the future retirees health care is now brought on into the face of the financial statement so you will see a significant impact with that liability being brought on so if you try to compare the current year's financial statements to prior year they're really not going to be that comparative because of that

013new change in the standards so as far as our audit on school activity funds again we expect to issue an unmodified opinion on that and it's a clean opinion so with regards to our report on compliance specifically with government auditing standards in your state compliance we also anticipate issuing an unmodified opinion so I told you if there were any matters where we had identified deficiencies internal control or if we had identified any matters of non-compliance we would be required to report those to you I am pleased to tell you that to date we have not identified any matters of non-compliance in that testing over state requirements also we have not identified any material weaknesses in internal control that need to be reported in this report so with our report over the single audit again we

014anticipate an unmodified opinion again there's also no material weaknesses in internal control to date and we did have one finding that we consider to be non material non-compliance with regards to the Medicaid program and that was just an instance where an item was coded incorrectly and so you received payment which you really shouldn't have received and so management is required to put a response together just to make sure that instance doesn't happen again as far as the internal control environment while we had no material weaknesses especially during our audit of the school activity funds we do identify matters where management could improve the control environment over processing and recording transactions especially when we get into the school activity funds there tends to be an overall segregation of duties matter where you just have a limited

015number of staffing who's involved in the processing and recording so we do make recommendations to management to try to improve overall those processes when it comes to recording and handling cash and other transactions so our report on the Virginia Retirement System was a clean report also except we had one deviation where some information that VRS had recorded didn't match information in the school board's records however there was no miscalculation in the items that were transmitted and reported so it was just a matter where information didn't match however had no impact on the dollars that were submitted to VRS or incorrect calculations but we did have to note that item because it was something specific VRS did ask us to address so at the conclusion of the audit again we will file this data collection form

016which is an electronic filing of the federal grants that you spent and again that has to be certified with an issuance of 30 days of the financial statements so as a part of our audit there are a few additional matters I am required to tell you I did inform you that gatsby 75 was adopted during the current year which brought those OPA bligh abilities onto the face of the financial statements aside from that there really was no changes in the accounting policies our accounting standards with regards the transactions in the financial statements that are recorded so built into those financial statements while you have certain numbers that are hard and fast numbers like cash cash is cash it's a tangible item there are estimates built into there and so certain estimates are related to those

017pension and open liabilities as well as self insurance liabilities because essentially you take information that's known to date and you provide it to an actuary and they use certain mortality tables in trend information especially with a pub they use healthcare information and they come up with what an estimated future liability is gonna be that you're gonna pay for those retirees pension and healthcare when they retire or you're gonna pay medical claims for people who are currently have a claim filed with the schools and so they come up with an estimate of that long-term liability and really discount that back to present value and so there is a lot of assumptions that go into those numbers ultimately what's gonna happen with the change and so any change in those assumptions could ultimately change the numbers that

018are current really reflected in those financial statements and again they're based on the best known estimates that exist to date of what's going to happen in the future so even though you we are reporting on those we do like to you know at least bring to your attention that they are an estimate and could be subject to change and you will see these changes occur throughout the years so as part of our audit we're required to tell you if we had any disagreements with management or if we had any difficulties conducting our audit and I'm pleased to tell you that we did not have any disagreements with management and we did not have any difficulties in the conduct of our audit also we're not aware of any communications that management might have had with other

019CPA firms where they may have been shopping for a particular opinion on a matter so there was nothing of that magnitude that we're aware of that management has reached - another CPA firm as part of our audit we are required to tell you if there's been any audit adjustments that we find and propose to ultimately make those financial statements be correct in what was reported so I am pleased to tell you that we have not identified any audit adjustments whether corrected or incorrect did to date so at the conclusion of the audit we do obtain and we do rely on management to provide us representations just telling us that the information in those financial statements is their responsibility that they did correctly report them and Accord them in accordance with the accounting standards and that

020they've answered all of our trust questions truthfully that they've provided us all of the information that we asked for and so management will provide that representation to us at the conclusion of the audit so in order to conduct our audit we are required to be independent with the school board and so essentially that's likened to your conflicts of interest so that means we have no family relationships or other financial interests or bias that would cause us to give you an audit opinion that maybe you didn't warrant or deserve so we are independent with regard to the schools so just to alert you to some upcoming and future Accounting Standards there are several items that will be effective over the next two years but nothing that will have a significant magnitude on the financial statements until

021the year 2021 and so that's when the newly standard comes into play and so I'm not sure what your background or how familiar you are with the accounting world but the lease standard is actually hitting not only the government realm but it's also hitting the private sector realm where they're changing to one reporting model for leases and essentially what that's going to do is make all leases be treated like a capital lease so you're essentially going to record an asset or the right to use an asset under that lease and you're gonna record an offsetting liability so it's really going to create a grossing up effect of your financial statements in the future but it's going to be a significant undertaking just trying to work with all of the different schools the department's and gather

022the outstanding number of leases that exist and then examine the terms and perform the calculations to be able to come up with this number so even though it's not effective for three more years management will start working on the impact of the standard over the next year or two so that's the biggest thing that's going to affect the school's accounting wise over the next you know three years so with that I would love to thank the finance department and all others that did assist us throughout the course of the audit so specifically Chris and joy and Lisa and all the various personnel that we did work with an audit essentially starts planning in the April timeframe and wraps up in December so it's an extensive process it involves a lot of their time and effort

023and dedication and so we are thankful for their assistance throughout the audit so with that I'll take any questions that you might have any questions I thank you for that audit my question is more on that that pension plan that you mentioned so with the post employees that benefit when you say that you had to put it on the face of the financial statement what does that exactly mean do you have to make put it in detail how much money we actually are paying out to the retirees and that they you know so so the liability I mean every year you pay an amount as you go for the retirees health care and so when it comes to this standard this says we're gonna take all the employees that are currently in this retirees health

024care plan and we're gonna estimate what we have to pay them throughout their life into the future and so it's a really large liability and ultimately what the actuary does is count that back to current year number and so it's a very large liability that has historically been disclosed in the financial statements but it's never been recorded on the actual statement of net position so now you're gonna see it as a liability in a line reflected on that statement of net position so since so since other school systems may or may not have it in this area how were you able to do a comparison to be able to put that in there it's really not necessarily something that you can necessarily compare yourself to other school divisions unless you read their footnotes and understand

025that they have similar plans well if they don't have it at all correct and there's some that may not have it but most of the school divisions at least participate in the Virginia Retirement System and so with the Virginia Retirement System there is a significant amount of other post-employment benefits included through the Virginia Retirement System that are recorded on your financial statements so that in itself will be comparable to what you're seeing at most of the other school divisions in Virginia so there's a health insurance credit that you participate in and there's a group life insurance piece that you participate in and then many of the school divisions also participate in a long term disability plan through VRS and so you may have those in addition to the standalone retirees health care that Stafford schools

026also payments and health insurance itself which the schools don't have some of the schools do many of them do but again Stafford County actually has Stafford schools actually has a separate trust and plan that they have set up and set aside not every school division has that so you can clearly see that in the in the financial statements there's a section called fiduciary fund statements and you can clearly see that a peb trust fund and all the money that's set aside specifically for retirees health care within that fund thank you you any other questions just I guess as a follow-on to that and that may not be your job as part of this but sort of in the same vein about the OPA and all of that because it's certainly received enough notes in the

027in the media is there some standard of I mean I think of it with VRS you know fully funded how that goes is there some standard that you have included in there or is that really something to be determined by the board of the appropriate funding amount do you see what I'm trying to say to you okay there is no funding standard required by accounting standards or the auditors your actuary will look at your information and they will propose an annual amount that they suggest that you fund the plan in order to meet all of your liabilities into the future but again there's nothing in the accounting standards that require you to fund that so it's a it's a pretty big fight across the country I would say whether you fund that particular plan or

028not and entities like the county who issue bonds they feel a little bit more of the pressure to fund that because the rating agencies are looking at whether you have a plan to fund those long term liabilities so in Virginia because of the relationship with schools and the you know respective counties or localities there's a pretty big butting heads and fighting whether whether those plans get funded or not so any other questions No thank you very much we appreciate the presentation thank you that brings us to item number 6.01 high school class size report and I would ask the board unless you have a burning question that needs to be answered tonight because we have a long agenda and a number of people signed up for speaking and and the public hearing tonight if you

029could you know send questions to dr. Kissinger and he could share them with the with the board I hope I hope you won't be too disappointed mrs. Cal if we good evening madam chair vice-chair school board members in dr. casler tonight I will be presenting Stafford County Public Schools 2018-2019 High School class size report Stafford County Public Schools High School class size report is based on the student enrollment in core in elective classes as of September 30th 2018 the following high school information is included average class size for each school frequency of class sizes and school comparison by number of students in each class throughout this presentation is important to for you to view our current core and elective class sizes through the lens of our school administrators and scheduling staff as they attempt to

030balance the needs of students and capabilities of their staff the reality is that creating and balancing schedules is a complex process and requires a focus of continuous improvement please keep in mind our school administrators strive to meet the varying needs of all of our students scheduling requests the scheduling process is complicated by numerous signal singleton classes and diverse program requirements for example courses only offered once to make sure students have the opportunity to participate in the upper levels of world language CTE JROTC ap CGS GE and IB we will begin with a core class comparison these courses include English mathematics social studies science and world language based on the average daily membership as of September 30th 2018 the total number of high school students was nine thousand four hundred and ninety seven we had an

031increase of 26 high school students compared to last year the average division core class size is twenty three point seven ranging from twenty two point nine at North Stafford high school to twenty four point five and Mountain View High School the average high school class core size of twenty three point seven in 2018-2019 is a decrease of 0.1 compared to 2017 please note the totals do not include an additional FTE provided to Mountain View High School to cover English the FTA will be utilized second semester this chart displays class span data there are four hundred and eighty seven classes with 20 or fewer students ranging from 78 at Brooke Point High School to 115 at North Stafford High School the number of classes with 20 or fewer students have increased by 66 classes when compared

032to last year there are nine hundred eighty classes with twenty one to twenty seven students ranging from 162 in Mountain View High School to 267 at Colonial forge High School the number of classes with 21 to 27 students increased by 72 classes when compared to last year there are 519 classes with 28 or more students ranging from 78 at Colonial forge High School to 135 in Mountain View High School the number of classes for 28 and worst students increased by 77 classes when compared to last year the graph displays that the majority of our classes still have 21 to 27 students which are basically the optimal class sizes not too large not too small even though of course we'd like them all very small but they're the core class comparison relative frequency chart displays a

033breakdown of the class span data over the previous on the previous slide there's an increase of 14 classes with 12 or fewer students when compared to last year please note the classes with 12 or fewer students can be broken down as follows 15 World Language classes 26 classes designed to have lower enrollment such as reading across the content isaw classes algebra 1 part 1 part 2 and geometry 1 part 1 part 2 etc 15 AP classes including 10 Commonwealth Governor's School classes 14 IB classes - math classes 1 D class in one English class class sizes 4-12 or fewer represent 3.6 percent of the total number of division classes and class sizes for twenty eight or more represent 26.2 percent of the total number of division classes as stated earlier there's an increase of six

034classes with 20 or fewer students earlier I talked about twelve or fewer just want to clarify that in case you were checking this increase of twenty years excuse me six classes with 20 or fewer students in stood a single Clinton classes such as ap IB CGS and advanced levels of world language classes the number of classes with 28 more increased by 77 classes however we did have a slight decrease in classes of 32 or more and no classes 35 or more we compared to the last two school years next we will examine the elective class size comparison electives include CTE in English such as journalism creative writing etc finding performing arts health P science for example human anatomy and biomedical and history social studies for example glottal global issues sociology and psychology the following data

035points are not included in the high school elective class size report to ensure proper representation of elective class sizes self can claim contain classes sizes due to compliance requirements inclusion classes these sections have been included in the core class size report virtual classes these classes may include numerous sections in one class due to the individual nature of the online course an independent study these classes may include numerous sections in one class the average division elective class size is 24 point 6 ranging from 20 2.9 at Brooke Point High School to 25.8 at Colonial forge High School in Mountain View High School the average class size for electives increased by 1.1 from 2017-2018 this year there were 188 elective classes with 15 or fewer students ranging from 26 at colonia forge high school 2:46 at stafford

036high school there are 687 elective classes was 16 to 32 students ranging from 119 in Mountain View High School to 157 at Colonial Forge high school there are 137 elective classes with 33 or more students ranging from 21 at North Stafford High School to 30 at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford high school the elective classes were 33 or more students are in the fine and performing arts and physical education as the board continues to focus on the staffing standards we look forward to the future possibilities areas of focus will continue to be the effective use of FTEs and scheduling practices we appreciate the board's support and efforts to reduce back School class size in the future as you know it takes a team and special thanks to Tom Nichols Lisa Boatwright in Tara V

037and technology for their help and support working on the class size report there any burning questions just just a couple comments this is Kayla thank you very much for this um I will say in the future this is like way too much I'm not the math whiz to get through this tonight is really hard and I appreciate I know there's been weather but something this massive the board really needs a little okay this board member needs a little more time to really understand this because I think I have questions but I can't even formulate them because this is the first time I've seen the data but I do have one probably broader question with regard to staffing and I think that it comes down to we just spent some time talking about enrollment projections obviously

038when there's a change over the summer for a school that the enrollment projections are maybe 60 to 70 kids off when can that position or a new position be released to that school and and it may be a long conversation but I think that's something of why the enrollment projections are important to this board but then when we look at them and then all of a sudden they're not what we think when is the trigger or maybe this is the discussion I would love to have with the board when do we start to say to you all to HR - whoever Wow need to relook at this or something because sometimes I can see in a elementary setting you may move teachers quickly but if all of a sudden you have 65 more students like

039at Mountain View this year you may not be able to slide a position as easily among high schools and so maybe it's more of a comment but I think it's something we as a school because next year in the role mental projections we have five more students supposedly coming to Mountain View High School this year we at sixty five so we'll probably start with where we are if we got that kind of if any school got that kind of growth we've got to be able to react quicker because I know there's a lot of openings maybe not because there was an intent to be that way so I think that's just something we as a board as a superintendent at the elementary level nobody else could hear okay thank you I just say this week

040in my short time here I this you're right there's a lot of numbers here I think sometimes we're getting lost in the numbers and we're just focusing too much on numbers and when you have high schools got 1,700 to 2,000 kids 60 kids a month for grades in all the classes is not really in my judgment a reason to take away or bring a teacher and that's really what I'll just say connect um I just want to say I think the numbers that the high school look pretty good I wish the middle schools looked like that that's all I've got to say thank you if I assume if you have any other questions you will like let dr. Kissinger know okay all right if there did you have any questions all right well any questions

041once you get a chance to digest all those numbers please send them to dr. Kissinger and if it's the world aboard we can have a work session on this so we can and we can have it on a weekend right Missy shall be chairman reserves the right to restrict sorry well that's all right we'll have mr makovski read it now now these comments are with respect to the the budget public hearing not the citizen comment portion so your thing was off okay I'll read it back round mean the background okay in accordance with the FY 2010 allured will hold a public hearing tonight so the citizens wish to do so may provide input regarding the superintendent's FY funding request or since you haven't seen it yet FY 24 requests just a budget in general your

042budget priorities in general that the public has speaker shall identify themselves by name address and organizational affiliation if the spokesperson represents an organization speaker cell also announce the purpose and topic of their comments should be budget three minutes shall be allotted to the speakers the Chairman reserves the right to restrict the total citizen comment received at any particularly meeting to a predetermined maximum number of minutes with the approval of the board citizen comment which is profane abusive or which threatens the imminent physical harm shall we ruled out of order by the Chairman although the board provides the opportunity for citizen comment individuals desiring to register complaints against the division employees or division programs services or activities may utilize the procedures outlined in Stafford County public schools policy 1 1 1 3 public comments thank you

043mr makovski we have one person who signed up for comments on the public hearing on the fiscal year 2020 budget and that is Jeffrey trigger if anyone wishes to speak about the budget after mr. trigger please come down to the front there is a sign-up sheet if you have not signed up and that would be anybody other than mr. trigger you'll need to sign up when you finish your comments thank you good evening I'm Jeffrey trigger and I live in the George Washington District tonight you all are opening up the discussion for everyone's favorite topic the budget many people pull at the board's when it comes down to money however we do have to focus our priorities what do we want the Stafford Education Association proposed a 5% raise and salary for all staff today

044governor Northam also committed to the plan of getting the Commonwealth to increase educational funding I'm fully aware that the entire budget can't go to salaries however if we desire to retain our best educators especially in the face of growing class sizes then it's time to pay them as if we actually want them to stay our schools are only as strong as the people we have inside them this is the fact that we have to remember let's make sure our budget reflects this ideal thank you anyone else who would like to address the board on the fiscal year 2020 budget me Entertainment Tonight Paul waldowski eight picket Lane please do not come to my property I live in the gerrymandered Rock Hill district I don't like giving away my public address I think it's unconstitutional but

045here's my comments on the FY budget I believe we need five school board members we only have five high schools that's $12,000 per school board member which is $24,000 a year which would be ninety six thousand dollars and then maybe you can buy another one of those bus number 81 you know that was bus number 48 that doesn't know how to use the cul-de-sac now the other aspect of the budget is hopefully the superintendent stays this time but I do believe two hundred twenty six thousand dollars is too much and I was just at the board of supervisors and I heard the warning about giving four hundred thousand dollars to your Fredericksburg Christian acquisition or whatever you're doing so don't worry I let them feel is like politics is you know politics is Polly which

046is many and ticks is blood eating animals so now you know what politics is now we have five high schools in the county eight middle schools I heard the comment the numbers are good for high schools I also just came from the Board of Supervisors and I listen to the supervisors and I agree that mathematically you don't need any more schools you need to start looking at models based off of 18 years is what it takes to get a PhD it's a public high school diploma my cicadas you know I'm the chairman they selected me just like you select your chairman they're gonna graduate in 2030 that's if there's no more development so please be aware that I'm the number 18 Elementary School is on the books and probably it's a good thing especially since

047we spent 4.5 million dollars for fire house number 14 that gives us about as many fire houses as we do have 711s in the county budgets and you look at these numbers that humans are discrete they're not continuous and they're not average thank you is there anyone else who would like to address the board on the budget seeing none we'll close the public hearing on the budget and come back to citizen comments mr. Mike Oscar okay again okay I'm gonna read again citizen comments individuals wishing to comment at this time may do so by responding to general invitation by the Chairman speaker shall identify themselves by name address and organizational affiliation if the spokesperson represents an organization speaker shell also announced the purpose topic of their comments three minutes shall be allotted to speakers the

048Chairman reserves the right to restrict the total citizen comment received at any particular meeting to a predetermined maximum number of minutes with approval of the board citizen comment which is profane abusive or which threatens the imminent physical harm shall be ruled out of order by the Chairman although the board provides the opportunity for citizen comment individuals desire to register complaints against division or division program services or activities may also utilize the procedures outlined in Stafford County Public Schools policy one one one three public complaints Thank You mr. McClosky we have 22 people that have signed up for the public comment tonight and that would take a little over an hour if each one takes their three minutes we have a rather long agenda with other items because it's the only meeting this month is there

049any desire on the board to limit the public comment to a certain amount of minutes yes I propose that we limit the public citizens comment to 70 minutes so we have 23 people so I'm three minutes if everybody takes their three minutes and three minutes only we could get through the whole thing in 70 minutes is there a desire on the board to to limit them comment to that we've done it before when we've had an unusually large number of sign up and you know a heavy agenda my only concern may be for anybody who came that does not know how to sign up that we give some kind of invitation to those who may have come and didn't know to sign up how their comments should be able to be submitted to the board

050because I would hate for somebody to have maybe come here we ask did not know to sign up I mean I know that we come here I know we weren't here let's hear from the board first and then we'll think about is that okay any other kind just have a question do we have has nothing to do with public comment period do we have like announcements for folks tonight no announcements no it's what kind of announcements if if we're gonna be an hour and a half just doing public comment or are there people in the audience that need to be introduced or anything not that so that they don't have to sit in remove the consent agenda we can send agenda okay we can all right mr. Mike Oscar I'm good with 70 minutes limiting

051to 70 minutes and those that don't make the 70 minutes submit and writing to our clerk two of the clerk dr. chase I've been good with that as well mr. Kator yes all right well first first let me say then that we will restrict the total citizen comment to 70 minutes which actually we may have some leftover time because we've got 22 people signed up some people may not take the entire three minutes we will have to stop at three minutes so to allow these people and there will be hopefully some time at the end of that for anyone who wants to to address the board if you do not have an opportunity to address the board this evening you can submit your comments to our our clerk miss hall and come back to the

052next meeting in January for the public comment period at that time we have two meetings in January so hopefully our agenda will not be as chock-full no objection we'll say 70 minutes and miss Hall you can start when we start with the first person now I also heard a request that we move the consent item up that's not going to take very long at all is there a general agreement with with that no no objection let's let's go ahead and take the consent agenda item number 11 all in favor of the away Nia motion to approve motion to approve the consent agenda second motion by mr. Youk and second by mr. McCosker all in favor please say aye all right now we will defer to the superintendent approved consent we have an announcement yes based

053on the action that you just microphone yes thank you effort based on the action that you just took I'd like to welcome and introduce miss Kimberly Hardman who will be the new assistant principal for Stanford elementary school miss Hartman is currently the social worker at Hartford elementary school has been in that role since 2013 as a social worker miss Hartman is an integral part of the student education committee while at heartwood Miss Hartman's developed and implemented both after-school and summer school programming that targeted students needs related to social emotional and behavioral growth she served as a liaison between families of schools community agencies to enhance communication and access resource for families miss Hartman earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and justice studies from J mu whoo and our methods of Social Work degree from George

054Mason University she completed her IDI leadership endorsement at the University of Mary Washington welcome congratulations all right so we will now begin the citizen comment period I will call five names at a time and if you can line up so you can just follow the speaker ahead of you that will allow us to move more efficiently and allow time for more speakers um the first speaker is Jennifer Natividad second is Reggie Pickett third is Thomas Taylor fourth is Jessica Foster and fifth is Leslie cook I'm fourth but I don't see one two and three okay for me is oh alright well if you want to line up is missing a tip it odd here no she's not here all right that means Reggie Pinkett Thomas Taylor Jessica Foster and Leslie Cook and if you have

055anything you want to submit to the clerk for the record as mr. Pickett just did you can give it to miss hall before after your comments all right good evening my name is Thomas Taylor thank you for this opportunity I'd like to it's gonna be some speed reading here I'd like to express my concern and displeasure regarding the proposed policy concerning transgender students using the facilities of the gender identity as proposed so far as any subset of society has no intent to or hasn't in actuality infringed upon my equal rights health and well-being or that of my family and my ability to protect their development and well-being insofar as my responsibilities as a husband father and parent I have no issue this proposal however does just that based on what I've recently read comments attributed

056to mr. Kasner this is not a fix but rather rather a litigation avoiding one-sided flip-flop a demonstrated emphasis on the few while encouraging others through little choice to conform I do not believe that transgender students are dangerous by their presence in gender identify facilities insofar as sexual assault in any physical form is concern however I do absolutely object to the force situation or the potential for my children's exposure to the anatomy of the opposite sex is created and my young children are faced with the decision of removing themselves from the facilities intended and designed with their Anatomy and privacy of mine as a means to reduce a probability they should not have to contend with and my comments attributed my children if they have an issue actually in the comments attributed mr. Kasner if my

057children have an issue or a concern counseling is available or they may opt to use a single stall restroom so now my child potentially brings attention themselves or worse as labels that as illa just adjusted as would be the insinuation of meetings the counseling on the matter this isn't prevention from seeking and finding equal access to a school system or an education this isn't a matter of lack of respect or inclusion and larger sense blocking anyone from doing anything that doesn't have direct impact at a personal and potentially detrimental level this is taking inclusion into a different level which circumvents parents abilities to determine suitability of exposure of their children at the hands of a taxpayer-funded institution while subjecting those who don't agree in to making their own inclusion and conformity decisions at the ripe

058old age of eight nine eleven years old do you or did you openly display of genitalia create conditions where such was likely to occur with your children bops at sex at such an age in your home during the years after infant in infancy when differences become apparent what's your response of standing at a urinal and you're a male and a young girl walks in the restroom do you consider the potential of just letting it sit as well there's counseling available available for if she's not comfortable I seriously doubt it you hopefully make an effort to minimize any exposure and help rectify the situation how many psychologists were consulted regarding the potential impacts of this matter on children who are not transgender what advocacy groups opinions were solicited each of us as human beings and with

059equal rights in this country have the ability to determine our own actions our own pursuit of self expression however that does not mean that the remainder society must agree or comply with our desires actions or feelings to the detriment of our rights to things such as age-appropriate modesty and freedom from exposure to anatomy of the opposite sex thank you mr. Taylor is Reggie picky here [Applause] brings us to Jessica Foster followed by Leslie Cook good evening my name is Jessica Foster and I live in Fauquier County I come before you this evening today to urge you to adopt the policy proposed by doctor kizza nur that would be the first of its kind in Virginia this policy will reflect well on Stafford County and set the examples for counties statewide opposition to this policy is

060grounded in fear much like when men feared the woman vote much like when whites feared sharing the water fountains there is simply no substance in these fears you will likely hear arguments as the gentleman before me that there may be some girls that are at heightened risk of sexual assaults by a boy who comes into a bathroom who is wearing girls clothes I say that in quotation marks there is absolutely no evidence to support such assertion the allegation is absurd and patently false hundreds of cities school districts and many states already protect Chan's transgender people's rights to use the restroom that matches their identity and none have seen a rise in these types of attacks a child's gender identity does not make that child a sexual predator nor no more than the sexual orientation does

061privacy concerns are a red herring Transjordan transgender children will go to the bathroom for the same reasons as any other child to do their business and to leave we have stalls on the doors and the privacy argument is just another way to discriminate and exclude this policy would not be violating anyone's rights not their religious freedoms or any other rights protected by the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of Virginia it does not impose any belief system upon any other person and it does not require any person to give up their rights at all equal protection and fairness are not pieces of a pie that must be shared we should all have access standing up for equality and inclusion is the right thing to do history does not frown upon equal treatment of

062human beings you have the chance to make history in Virginia please adopt this policy because hate and exclusion have no home in Stafford County if the audience wants to take the time to clap it will take away from the comments we're going to be able to hear because we have a predetermined number of minutes so I'm just pointing that out it as a courtesy I would ask that you hold your applause we have Leslie cook here followed by Melissa Bradley and Hannah Bradley very much mmm so I'm dr. Leslie cook I'm a clinical psychologist great news you asked for one and I showed up I'm licensed to practice here in the state of Virginia I specialized currently I specialize in at-risk youth and adults but I have a long history of working in neuropsychology working

063with gender and sexuality issues and working with school-based learning disorders so today I was called the not-see online it's not a big deal been called worse than that actually have my life threatened last year after speaking at this board I was called the not-see via private message because of a quote that I gave to the newspaper saying that I was proud of this board and I will stand by that statement every breathing moment that I have because I am proud of this board I'm proud of this board for multiple reasons probably the the biggest reason is that it's a diverse board it's a board of divergent religious ideology political ideology experience background and yet what has come out of the board is a moderate fact-based reasonable policy that will save lives now I was also

064told that that was hyperbole today and I totally understand why some would would think that why on earth would a policy like this save lives I mean that's kind of ridiculous right except that 45% of trans kids tried to kill themselves in high school in this nation every year and is not because they are trans that is because the interaction of being trans in a world that sometimes makes it very challenging to be so so it's not hyperbole it will save lives I have lost patients to suicide in their teenage years I was also told that psychology is a soft science but I don't I mean it feels hard to me all the hours I spent in a lab felt hard and I'm pretty certain that the data that comes out of meta analyses which

065I can provide to the board if you want it is also pretty hard science tonight I want to propose a very quick exercise as people come and speak here I'd like everyone in the audience and everyone on the board to pretend that you are the student they are speaking of hear them look in their eyes believe what they tell you see what you feel when they speak do you feel seen and heard and supported do they make send you insinuations about you do they say things about you right or do they make you feel like you can access your curriculum safely so that's an exercise I'd like all of us to do look them in the eye when they make these comments believe what they tell you it's really how they think and believe and

066they would stop this policy from being enacted so I guess I want to say one more time that I am proud of this board I'm proud to come here and listen to long long speeches quite frequently and I appreciate you thank you very much thank you melissa bradley followed by hannah bradley and amy adams my name is Hannah Bradley I live I live in the Rock Hill District I am standing up for my sister my big sister is amazing and so brave it makes me it makes me happy when she lets me play on her phone because she is addicted to that thing what does it what doesn't make me happy is her not feeling as safe or comfortable as at school like me just because she is transgender love is love people are people

067please protect my big sister Thank You Melissa Bradley my name is Moshe Bradley I live in the rock tale district I've lived here majority of my life I spent all of my years in Stafford County Public Schools I never had a problem with hatred or discrimination with my friends we were exposed to many many things that parents don't agree with I had a friend that would come to school with vodka in her coffee cup in high school that's that's not you know something you want your child being exposed to I have things that my eleven year old is exposed to that I wouldn't want her exposed to she came home at four years old from head start asking how to play boyfriend and girlfriend and the details of that are lengthy she's also exposed to

068sex and cussing and fortnight and Facebook those things we don't want in my house you know that those video games but what I do want is inclusion what believe it or not you know that that's all that we want is inclusion I don't want her to go to school and feel that she is not safe the the look of fear on my child's face when she thought that I wasn't able to go on her field trip with her the fear of if she was going to be protected out in the public scenario by a school who was so cut and dry about where she can and cannot relieve herself she has to pass two bathrooms she loses 15 minutes of class to go to the bathroom I don't know about you but I don't have

069my lady parts hanging out in a public restroom that's for sure I don't need anybody seeing this and I know nobody wants to see that I can I can promise you that but my child was diagnosed with OD D at age 4 and anxiety at age 7 at age 9 she with research and psych help transition socially and no issues of OD D or anxiety whatsoever she's very happy social child I I came from a full Catholic family a full Catholic family I grew up thinking that Catholicism was the only belief system until I went into the public school system and my friends were able to teach me otherwise we know that religion is not taught in the schools but I was exposed to every other religion that you can imagine by way of my

070friends again that is not something that you guys teach and I still learned it and brought it home you guys are not teaching that everybody has to that you know everybody has to be ok with transgender we just need to teach everybody that equality is the main point here so again in a public restroom and Target and Walmart you're going to run across drug dealers and pedophiles and gang members but not in the school bathroom thank you Amy Adams followed by Jeffrey trigger and Amy cannon hello my name is amy adams and i reside at fifteen patton lane i'm a lifetime stafford resident and the mother of three kids who all attend school in the county i want to see how thrilled I am about policy age twenty four twenty I think 'fl to dr.

071kisna forgetting this drafted not only quickly but thoughtfully this policy will change the lives of many many children in our district mine included I know that there are some concerns from community members that this policy could cause safety issues so I wanted to briefly highlight some research done by a Prince William County school board member almost two years ago when debating an update to the anti-discrimination policy this board member felt unsure of how he should vote in order to make sure his decision was a well-researched one he contacted forty-two of the largest school districts in the country that had gender identity and sexual orientation and their policies he spoke with superintendents school board members administrators board attorneys and others involved in these districts he asked two specific questions has a transgender student ever harmed another

072student in the restroom or locker room and has a male student ever dressed as female to access female segregated spaces in 42 school districts with 3.6 million students there were zero reports of attacks by a transgender student and zero reports of a male student dressing as female to gain access to the most segregated spaces many school board members would like to review this very detailed and thoughtful research I'm happy to forward the presentation I hope that each of you will do your own thoughtful research and perhaps speak to some school districts with inclusive policies in place I thank you in advance for the time effort and the consideration that I know you will put into this decision I know it's a big one but I believe that we're ready thank you mr. trigger will be

073followed by Amy cannon and leaky and Luke ends hello my name is Jeffrey trigger and I live in the George Washington district I want to start off by saying thank you to all of the board members for drafting a policy that is inclusive to all students I know that couldn't be easy but you did it just for that discussion alone this is an historic moment for the rights of students no matter who they are policy 2412 of 2420 will make me a better educator from the evidence provided to me from the teaching and learning summit students who don't feel respected for who they are experience more stress in a classroom stress on a developing mind of a child can impact the cognitive ability to process new material by as much as 80% and we can

074remove that stressor we have a chance to help more students have success I'll select the fact that policy 2420 included accommodations for those feeling uncomfortable in a locker room or bathroom situation the policy also provides opportunity for counseling I know opinions differ greatly among the crowd on the board and I'm sure even among allies on how to handle this situation I'm sure the 2420 isn't perfect however education isn't about perfect it's about our mistakes and how we overcome the board is part of education and it must be willing to put in the effort if it ever desires to overcome the inevitable human mistakes honestly all of our strength does not come from our successes but our failures the last note all end with comes from a second grade relative of mine this year my relative

075told Santa Claus there was no want of presents for Christmas the request was for people to be kind to each other that's a profound statement coming from a second grader it sounds to advise that I'm willing to ask everyone in this room take away from today thank you my name is Amy cannon and I live in Prince William County and I'd like to thank you all for having us here to speak today I had prepared remarks I'm not using them I'm just gonna speak for a couple minutes I'm a mom my daughter's 30 now she's married to a man but she identifies as queer it was hard for her in Prince William County to even think about what her identity might be because she was afraid trans kids are afraid in school they're afraid of

076being outed and using incorrect facilities for their gender identity can out them this policy is so important so they can just be kids no person goes to the bathroom to look at other people's genitalia it doesn't happen as someone who has a very small bladder and visited the bathroom 14 times a day when I was in high school I can only imagine what these kids go through having to run past one bathroom 2 bathrooms three bathrooms missing class because they need to pee that's all they want to do this is so important and I'm so proud of Stafford for leading this fight Prince William County we we will follow you we will use this as an example believe me we will take this to our own school board and and show them that this can

077be done we can protect our trans kids we can give them this little thing that will make them feel so much better statistically trans kids are at a much higher risk for suicide but if you give them supportive families if you give them supportive communities if you give them supportive schools that suicide rate drops to being the same as every other kid if that's not the best reason of all I don't know what is thank you very much for doing this thank you very much for listening and I hope that you will get this past after mr. ends Beth ends followed by Joanie Wilson good evening school board I want to thank you for coming to the redistricting last week you guys dedicate time away from your families no it's not easy you're here listening

078to us complain but I do appreciate it because it's a servant job I've worked in education before you're never gonna get paid enough to be an education it's a servant minded job so you're balancing budgets and I appreciate your hard work doing that I just want to speak to this proposed policy I did get a chance to meet dr. kids near last week at the redistricting meeting I have been living in stafford off and on since 2005 i have four children Moncure elementary school i have three and I have one at Shirley high I work in downtown Washington DC I've seen what big city school districts are capable of doing or not doing okay I've also spent time in New York City I appreciate dr. kissers background he brings a different perspective here I chose

079to live in Stafford County because the families that live in Stafford County have made it what it is today do not bend to some weak policy or public pressure around building a policy that has no purpose in this county the families in this county who have paid taxes raise their families have chosen to stay here we're looking to you for leadership and vision I appreciate the research that people have done on this topic if you look to the future what else might you see what are the health risks of someone going about gender transformation through medical techniques are they going to be able to reproduce and have their own children what teacher in your schools is going to be willing to put their name in their family on the line for potential lawsuit down the

080road if we adopt a policy that they're now coaching children on transgender decisions at the age of eight ten twelve years old they're going to impact their ability to have a family in their 20s 30s and 40s do we want that risk today Stafford County has a proud history the Marine Corps Museum up the road is a great place to get a start dr. Kissinger and I hope you've got a chance to see the history of our county and the families that live here and serve our country and the values that they share I just encourage you to think about those things when you're considering this policy because you will be supported in this County you were all voted in by residents who pay taxes in dis County and we will support you but don't

081bend to the pressure of an angry mob we've seen it in the nation all around us this year it's not acceptable okay we do not run our country this way and you folks are supported in your roles and we care about you and we support you so just please consider that when you're looking at this policy tonight thank you school board my name is Beth ends or Elizabeth ends I've got four sons that are at the Stafford County Schools and as my husband said we've been in and out of Stafford since 2005 we had our firstborn here so we we kind of liked it I just wanted to speak more about sharing my heart on we're a conservative family but we're not concerned with the transgender student being a threat to our family or to

082our students we're really not concerned about that I know that's been brought up and maybe some people do feel that way but as a mom of four that's never crossed my mind I used to work with transgender people never been an issue but what I do want to speak about is more about that percentage of the suicide risk I think we need to spend more with that and what's concerning to me is if we adopt a policy that makes it accepted at an age that's so young and that doesn't differentiate on the age group and when they decide that they want to become transgender we're maybe bringing it out a little bit too early in their development and they're not actually ready to make a decision that impacts their entire life you know we don't

083let them smoke we don't let them buy alcohol we don't let them get married they don't enlist they don't do any of these things until they're at an age that is capable and acceptable because they're not ready to make those decisions so why are we gonna as a school board make it acceptable for them to make a decision and make it an acceptable policy I guess that might make other students who are kind of not sure about their own nature and they're already trying some things out and experimenting and whatnot and we give them safe boundaries to experiment as family as a school board as schools we give them their state boundaries and whatnot so that they can experiment safely but making it an acceptable policy for this type of thing is not giving them

084those safe boundaries it's maybe allowing some kids who have been abused right who have had sexual abuse and they're not sure and maybe they decide to become transgender because they want to get as far away as possible from that abuser as they can and that's the kind of person we don't want to see turn to to be transgender just because of that and along with that you know you don't want them to decide to become transgender and then down the road change their mind because what kind of location is that going to have on their life in the future you know being different is okay it's okay to be different there's nothing wrong with that we celebrate our differences that's what makes us the great United States as our differences coming together from different countries

085different backgrounds different ethnicities different beliefs different religions but we come together and we collaborate as one so just remember that as you go through this there may be a policy is not the best answer at this point and maybe it's being reactive to the situation that happened and not taking the time to really think through what it could cause in the future thank you after Joanie Wilson hi my name is Joni Wilson I live in the city of Fredericksburg but I have family here in Stafford Schools I've been coming to the school board meetings for several years I've learned a lot I've heard a lot of well-informed information and I've certainly heard my fair share of misinformed information I want to thank dr. Kissinger and the board for the proposed policy 2420 supporting our transgender

086and non-binary students we know that our children's schools faculty and staff have a significant impact on our children and this policy will be an important step towards making our schools a safe supportive environment that it's necessary for our children's healthy development thank you stay strong and know that this policy is an important and right thing to do thank you good evening and thinking thank you for allowing me to speak I'm Evelyn brewer Mariano I live in Prince William County I want to share with you my experience going through high school with not having a policy that was inclusive or protected LGBTQ students during my time during my public school education there wasn't any protections for the LGBTQ students or staff I was in timid I witness intimidation bullying assault of children from other children where

087the source was the fear of someone's sexual orientation gender identity or expression that wasn't popular or deemed socially acceptable these talented smart kids started coming less and less to school it got so bad that one kid took their life then I found myself in that situation this experience taught me to fear people I started to label them identify and categorize them as bad people by the way they looked at talked and their mannerisms I was doing the same thing my attackers were doing to me this experience delayed the gifts I could have been giving to the people in my community that were in need it caused me to run with a fear not to be productive be a productive member of my community if it caused me to hate and be angry for the longest

088time damaging any success to be gained it was draining and didn't make the change I needed or wanted so I had to learn how to self-examine lift myself up and start to lead with love I was able to do this because people who loved me and dedicated themselves to me I was that I was getting from strangers and new friends softened my heart and gave me the strength to stop running with appear but lead with love when I met my wife she was active duty maybe I couldn't see her off or pick her up from the base because I wasn't recognized as a Navy wife if she died died in combat serving our country I had no rights to her body if it wasn't for the kindness and love of our other name of the

089other Navy wives including including Leon updates taking me on base helped me meet my needs while she was deployed we would not have it had had a Miller sexual successful military service and I think we because I served with her as a Navy wife with none of the benefits now my wife and I are active with our local Legion help fundraise for our local Wounded Warrior organization and make sure the means of our vets are getting heard when advocating for them when moving our elected officials I serve as a vice president of my daughter's high school PTSA Ida clothing drives and food drives for our local community and County food pantries and homeless shelters advocate for equitably equality equitably meaning not everybody is equal and coming from the same level every everybody's come starts from

090a different level I am started from a different level because of my experience in high school they helped us these organizations came together to help us move forward and pass and pass the hate I'm sorry seasonal when the KKK came to that my community I organized a community unity against hate event where elected officials and nonprofit organizations helped us move past this in the Ford thank you thank you for listening gentlemen of the board Mike Shepherd I'm here to talk about what everybody's been talking about 24:20 hi to chose to live here in Stafford County one reason because of the school district and the reputation the school system has had a lot of concern when I saw that this was even being thought about because I have an 11 year old daughter who goes to

091a middle school here in the county and a 7 year old son who goes to an elementary school everyone here knows that children are very impressionable at this age when they have an adult or a school administrator telling them that everybody can go into the boys and girls bathroom based on what they've decided that day it can be very problematic I had a conversation with my wife and my daughter my son I chose to leave out of this conversation because he's 7 but we talked about that you know there could possibly be somebody who's the opposite sex who's in the girls locker room with you now they don't dress out for gym next year 8th grade going on up into high school they're going to be dressing out in gym my daughter is very concerned

092that she could be in the gym locker room and be looking at a naked boy even though this boy identifies as a girl this is a much more complex issue than I originally thought about some of the speakers here today have made me think about some things well I don't condone persecution discrimination of any kind that's one of the reasons I chose to leave my chosen profession ten years ago and getting into law enforcement all that's necessary for the triumph of evil evil is good people to stand by and do nothing and I think that this is something that you guys need to step back from and take a major look at it's not just about bathrooms and locker rooms look at Australia right now the women's handball team no woman's handball team has a

093chance against them because they've got a man a biological man who's six foot three 250 pounds playing on their team if I understand your policy right a boy who identifies as a girl could be trying out for a baseball team that my daughter's trying out for or a basketball team my daughter could be cut from a sport she could excel in get a scholarship to a college at because there was a biological boy who is genetically stronger that identifies as a female that gets the spot on the team it's not just about bathrooms it's not just about people's feelings my personal beliefs is there's a right and wrong I'm a Christian what I not looking at this through that lens my 11 year old daughter 12 year old daughter in seventh and eighth grade changing

094in a locker room with a biological boy sitting there staring at him is a grave concern initially being a concern to you thank you for the opportunity to speak Jim I said with Bill Johnson Myles and Alison Sullivan good evening my name is Jim sih I live in a quiet Harbor I don't hold it against you you can't pronounce my last name it's been my wife's last name for almost eight years she can't say it either the the first thing that I want to point out I think it's kind of little bit transcendent transcend it from the thing we're talking about tonight is I just want to recognize that little girl that came up here and spoke regardless of the position that she has on the issue the fact that a young girl was given

095the opportunity was kind of encouraged to come up and express her opinion regardless fell you think about that I think is something to be celebrated and I didn't I look back I didn't see her here tonight but I'd still like to donate like maybe three seconds of my time to like just give that a round of applause so now that being said I want to move into the you know less touchy-feely part of the my speech here the one thing that I want to point out is miss framing the opposing side as being filled with hate or any sort of ill-will I think is is not really showing your best side of your own your your own argument part of me and and really isn't what this sort of public discourse should be about no

096part of what I have to say is meant to detract from the pain and suffering of transgenders transgender students students of all types I think we all agree you should be protected from threats harassment and especially violence my concern has less to do with bathroom usage and more to do with the potential for improper indoctrination without adequate public information so such a seismic shift in this policy we're the first county in Virginia who's who's considering this right should be decided by the electorate or at least with more of the electorate's opinion I'm admittedly new a new resident to Stafford I moved here about a year ago but I've been unable to find this proposed policy anywhere online it wasn't even written down on a piece of paper for me to read in the front lobby

097as far as I could see if not a referendum then this is the sort of thing that you when you go up for reelection should stand on and it should be part of your reelection campaign I understand the that one of the main issues that kind of brought this up to light was the thing that happened back in October I think we all agree right that was a pretty bad situation it's an active shooter drill it doesn't matter who the kid is or how they identify get him somewhere safe I think we all agree on that but making a knee-jerk reaction and proposing a policy without adequate public information I don't think is the way to go and regardless of how you feel about this situation it's gonna take the way this policy is viewed

098moving forward we've heard the opinions of people from outside of this county but I don't think the opinions of most of the residents of Stafford County have been adequately heard the potential for punishment or re-education of students who oppress express feelings contrary to the proposal is real and potentially damaging to those students that's the part that I have the biggest concern with as a parent I want to make sure that no matter what is going on if my child expresses their opinion they're not going to be punished for it thank you my name is Bill Johnson miles I live at 27 Allegheny Court and Stafford I'm here to speak on the superintendent's proposed new policy on gender identity and expression I am a retired 20 year Navy veteran a Board of Trustee member with my

099church on the Secretary of the Stafford Democratic Committee and on the newly he liked a second second vice president of the Stafford n-double-a-cp incoming I have sent I I support the policy I have sent mr. Kator an email and cc'd everybody with my position on this but I'm not here to speak about mine about my feelings on that I'm actually here to read a letter there it is this letter is from the incoming president you like to the Stafford Democratic Committee of Joshua Cole Reverend Joshua Cole who could not be here tonight he had another event in Richmond he had to attend but this is his letter civil rights and social rights are paramount different our paramount difference America has over other nations we were taught especially myself as a product of Stafford County public

100schools that all men including all people are created equal that they are endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness what sticks out to me today is the pursuit of happiness to think this a little further in our own Virginia Declaration of Rights we state that all men are by nature equally free and independent have certain inherent rights of which when the enter into a state of society that cannot by any compact deprive or divest their prosperity namely the enjoyment of life and liberty which means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety that's really nothing there is really nothing more that should be stated we are all equally free and should have the ability to express ourselves the way

101we want to be happy I urge you to pass this resolution for the Equality and neck will acquit equitability of our students as the local religious leader I must also urge you if this resolution concerns you or makes you uncomfortable then pray for our students instead of demonizing and throwing your faith in their face what better way to show Jesus then to reach them with loving-kindness our students our students already have enough to deal with emotionally and mentally let's help ease their concerns Thank You Reverend Joshua Gregory Cole president-elect Stafford n-double-a-cp Allyson Sullivan followed by Kristin Barnes and Katharine Nordine hi my name is Allison Sullivan I am a resident of the Falmouth district I am a former Stafford County school social worker I am a longtime resident of Stafford County and both of my

102children were educated through Stafford County Schools I am here tonight to thank you for this policy proposal and to urge you to support it as a licensed social worker in the state of Virginia I won't go through the research that's already been cited I won't go through the neuropsych that's already been cited but let me just say that we do know these things called adverse childhood experiences do impact people throughout their lifespan and one of the things that creates an adverse childhood experience is not having a safe place to learn chronically exposed to conditions where people don't have a space to be who they are impacts their ability to learn to connect and to feel safe in general I urge Stafford County to be a pioneer in turning that trend for our students who need

103this so desperately protect space for all of our students not just our trans students but as this policy very judiciously outlines support for all of our students thank you hello Kristen Barnes I'm in the Rock Hill district I've spoken many times and with you before and I'd like to speak with you tonight not necessarily about how I feel about the transgender policy but how I feel about the way we're going about it I was at the redistricting meeting last Wednesday night and that was a pretty hefty crowd and I would like to encourage you to hold a public hearing specifically for this new policy so that the community can be more aware of this policy possibly even send a letter home because there's a lot of people who don't know this is going on I

104would hate to see this fly under the holiday radar this is not a great time of year to be presenting big changes we need to do that in a more public way when people are paying attention I would like to have a conversation with the wider audience of the community instead of just the usual folks me included that come and tell you what we think and you probably already know what we think I think it would be a good idea to have that conversation even if you have a town hall meeting bringing professionals from both sides of the issues that maybe could educate people or even change my mind it's a possibility if we do have that conversation this is how I hope this conversation will go we will agree on some things we will

105disagree on others we can share perspectives and ideas and opinions and have honest conversations about the implications of this policy and its repercussions if I disagree with someone I will not vilify them I will not call them names I will not call them ignorant I will not degrade or diminish anyone for an opinion that is different than mine even if I really don't like it I will be tolerant if someone has a different religion or moral code I will not call them a fear monger I will not call them phobic and I will not call them hateful and I hope that you will do the same for me please give us the community the time to have this conversation with you and schedule a public hearing thank you following Katherine Nordine Michelle gosh horn and

106ash grace because I was before cat I'm sure that was in you just call it tonight who are you Michelle gosh it's all I'm sure I'm sorry it's okay that's gonna be after me it all works out Catherine or Dean was before you but that's alright if you're here sorry hi I'm my name's Michelle gosh when I live at 20 Fletcher Drive in the Falmouth district first I would like to thank the superintendent in bringing forth clear common sense policy for our staff and students to address gender identity and expression it's a great first step and I urge the board to continue looking at this and approve the policy as quick as possible second this past week overall K through 5 capacity was raised from thirteen thirteen point five thirteen point five thousand to fifteen

107point one thousand an addition of sixteen thousand seven hundred and seventy five seats seven hundred and twenty five of those seats can be accounted for by pre-k moving out of elementary and they add a capacity of the monkey rebuild this leaves an additional nine hundred and fifty seats the size of a large elementary school to illustrate how this will increase class size I did a deep dive on Falmouth elementary because I know it Falmouth elementary currently as of 9:30 is 6:30 one with that number right now this is what is happening in the building every single room is being used as a traditional K through five classroom with the following exceptions music and art and to pre-k reading specialists are using the old work room kitchenette as their work space math specialists start entirely pushed

108in and if they pull out it's in the stage in the cafeteria focus has an office she has a small little desk that she can limit to five students at a time the computer lab is a kindergarten classroom the Parra's use our principal and AP's office as a pullout there is no dedicated collaborative learning space in this class in the school if we take the 9:30 enrollment and add the additional seats you would get with the two pre-k that we had the new number is 681 right so that's where we would be the new program capacity for Falmouth has it set 778 seats an additional 97 seats for Falmouth you have to take into consideration we have class size reduction and those lower elementary classrooms are mandated class sizes due to the lack of any

109additional physical space you are automatically forcing an increase at your upper elementary class sizes let me be clear I don't think this is limited to Falmouth I think the new program capacity figures affect every single school across our division in fact the following schools now have higher program capacity than the 2016 design capacity that they all threw out and said was wrong these schools are fairy farm Barret garrison Ville Bret Conway Burns Grafton rocky run whitewater Stafford and winding creek all have higher capacities than they had in 2016 program art design we are setting up our elementary schools up to fail we cannot continue on this path we are giving the consultant for the elementary redistricting faulty information and the impacts are long-lasting there's not one fiber of my being that believes economic makeup determines

110a school performance but resources do thank you good evening everyone my name is Catherine Nordine and I live in the heartwood district tonight I should have signed up for the CF the IC IP signup sheet but because I was running from one meeting to the next I got here a little bit late so I apologize um after tonight's meeting with the board of super-sub supervisors I find myself concerned tonight we you said that after the new numbers have come out magically we do not need elementary school number 18 and I feel like that is a complete understatement if you've been in the schools then you would know how stuffed they are I have before you the new active building and zoning lists I have taken the time to add up all the homes being built

111on each end of town in our heartwood district we have sixteen hundred and twenty new homes that's equivalent to the remaining Embry mill community up for wine and Creek Margaret Breton has six our two hundred and sixty new houses fairy farm has three hundred new houses when you factor in our growth to not do elementary school eighteen to fill our schools to complete capacity you're waiting too long if we are completely at these astronomically high numbers that are higher than they were projected to be two years ago so you're saying you can fit for example six hundred and sixty kids in heartwood I would tell you no way especially with our title one status that is not a possibility unless you're gonna make fourth and fifth grade classrooms forty-five students it's not happening we need

112new schools and this is a great opportunity you're building high school eighteen if you could find a site we're both in elementary and a high school could go on it it's cost savings the equipment's there it's a higher bid with fewer roads I just ask that you take it into consideration and consider that our teachers and all of these schools are overwhelmed for the amount of kids that we are going to cram into these spaces it's not fair so I ask that you please take a second look and think about the new CIP that you're going to write for our Board of Supervisors because it's important spend some time in your schools talk to the principal's talk to the teachers thank you and have a good night hello my name is ash grace I attended

113Stafford County Public Schools from elementary school until graduating in 2006 and now reside in Richmond City this is my second time speaking to this board and I'm here today to show my support for policy 2420 there are currently students desperately in need of our support and protection which this policy can grant I have witnessed what a person is capable of when supported and protected and I have seen what happens when they are not I'm not going to share the scary statistics of suicide among transgender children since the speakers before me have done so but the reality is grim and the numbers will continue to rise if there is an action as a queer woman I often wonder what might have been different if I had been raised in an educational environment where equality was a

114given right in reality and what may have been different for my trans colleagues and friends as someone who frequently navigates inclusive spaces in Richmond I've seen how inclusivity truly benefits all besides students educators also need to feel secure and supporting all of their students without fearing negative consequences I believe Stafford County can and will lead the way in demonstrating what equality truly is Stafford County can be a safe supportive welcoming educational environment where all students can flourish and policy 2420 is a necessary step in that direction thank you for your time and your consideration and the support of this important policy all right that brings us to the end of our list of persons who have signed up we still have time left so if anyone else wants to address the board please come forward

115when you finish you can sign up on this sheet on the podium there is that is that a new sheet for this hearing thank you you've changed your hat and your shirt you're very observant all right before you start mr. rodowsky your clock hasn't died yet miss Hall how much time do we have left until 5:00 after so we've got about 15 minutes which would give us enough for okay five speakers if we move quickly Paul waldowski this is my friend Darryl and this is my other his brother Darryl I brought you like I did last year you've all been naughty on the Grinch so I brought you some coal but I'm taking it back so I can bring it next year now if you're having math problems I was some tick-tock though if you

116need some math lessons I've got a whiteboard in my basement now let me clear up some aspects for some of you people because see I have cicadas and I'm sure they're male/female may be transgender I don't really know I didn't know nothing about this policy proposal 24 20 and I'm pretty active in this county so I think you need to spread the word somewhere first of all the word field means that your subjective we need to be objective this is not a state it's the Commonwealth of Virginia so please learn that I'm from the state of New York my kids are from the Commonwealth of Virginia where common sense is not common it just amazes me that you all don't know that we all bleed red and we all cry tears so we're all human

117and you want to get into the philosophies Colossians 2:8 says beware of the philosophies of men and not of things according to Christ it's Colossians 2:8 it's got a numerical significance to the 3rd power is 8 I challenge you to go to Niagara Falls about April 15th you'll see an iceberg which is water in the solid state you'll see the which is water in the liquid state and you'll see the mist and going the made of the mists in its representative of the Holy Spirit Christ on earth and God the Father but it's only a one of the seven wonders of the world but what do I know we only have seven days in the week which is 168 hours little bit of math for all of you it just amazes me when I hear

118all these aspects of suicides and other aspects when you see four bodies on a gurney you know during Vietnam don't don't even don't even challenge me about your concepts there's a thing called a single significant emotional event and we all experienced them my kids experienced 9/11 I know about 11 22 1963 that's when John F Kennedy was assassinated I was in school 70 on Buffum Street in West Seneca New York we still use eerie drills so I knew about Lady Justice she wears a blindfold she's transparent she doesn't wear a pirate's patch on either eye we want to know you live at a picket Lane in the Rock Hill District thank you next geralyn's at the time all right listen yes if you could give us your name and address sure sign in when you

119finish okay will do thank you my name is John ray and I live in Stafford Lakes I have two children who attend Stafford County Schools I have worked in health care for 20 years and consider myself a reasonable and caring person I am trained to be objective when treating my patients and not to be discriminatory or biased I am troubled and saddened with some of the statements here that a simple difference of opinion is being painted as hatred fear-based and causing suicides my family has experienced transgender policy topics in the recent past at heartwood elementary there the decision-makers at that school decided to allow a transgender student to use the bathroom that reflected their a general identity without changing or voting on the policy this was reversed and correctly so ironically when that transgender issue

120first came to heartwood the heartwood elementary community accepted that student with open arms when that student wanted to be called she we all said okay when that student wanted to dress as a girl - that dress code we all said okay when that girl wanted to join exclusively girls group called girl smarts where my daughter was we said okay we simply said no to the bathroom policy in my eyes that's called compromise the current policy proposal uses several terms that are quite subjective here are a couple examples and I quote gender identity means a student's internalized sense of their own gender as female male a blend of both or neither a blend is identifiable and a concern of mine when it comes to be being measured it also states that gender identity may be dis

121and I quote demonstrated by the consistent and uniform assertion of a student's gender identity or other evidence that the student's gender identity is sincerely held as part of their core belief sincerely is also very subjective and unmeasurable does sincerity mean how deeply sincere they are how long they've been sincere or some other open-ended measure and if a student's gender identity has a blend of genders which is more sincere than the other and how is that measured this policy goes on to say that is intended to create a school culture that respects the values of all students so if some students are uncomfortable with the student of a different sex in the same bathroom or locker room are their rights being respected a private neutral gender bathroom for a transgender student to use is a reasonable

122compromise I pray for peace and comfort for those students and families who are part of the transgender community I pray for wisdom and guidance for this board and that they consider the rights and dignity of all students in connection with this policy lastly I pray for all government officials that a spirit of compromise and fairness may watch over their decisions thank you very much if you could please sign in we'd appreciate it first time here first time I'll try to keep it short okay my name is Shannon Spellman live in garrison Ville Road I prefer not to give everything out but it's cool I'm not actually against this policy I'm not for this policy either I think you guys need to re kind of look into it a little bit more you've done some great

123things with it like I'm cool you want to use the bathroom and your whatever is what it is everybody should have the right to pee it's cool what I have a problem with is you want to re-educate my child I don't come out okay with that I remember being a boy going into middle school and sixth graders when we you know decided that we had to wear teams gym shorts for gym class and a shirt and stuff like that and it was kind of uncomfortable well I got a lot now no I'm not that way I just run around do what I want but then I was uncomfortable with it so now you're putting another scenario into that system that they're already uncomfortable with but when they are uncomfortable with it you're saying you're gonna

124re-educate them and move them to a different area for them to change where you gonna put them at the closet I mean I don't understand where enlighten me on that one that's where I think you need to really look at it again because in honesty when I came up here I was 100% against this like when I first got here I mean I I got here as soon as I could I was a little late but I was against this but that little girl that came up here dude she's a champ like 100% like I might cry right now Chan I'm not against this policy but I think you need to relook at that why are we educating the kid because they feel uncomfortable you're talking about equality between transgenders and regular students well we're

125all regular students but why are you singling out the many for the field why can't we I mean I don't know I don't have an answer for you because I'm looking at you because I'm pretty sure you don't want to wrote it I'm not trying to single you out or nothing like that but that's I'm not against this at all I've talked to my family I've talked to my friends at work I've talked to everybody I came down here today to be like nah dude I'm done this is this is ridiculous why we're even having this discussion but if you can fix that one aspect of it I think we can move to the right way you just got a look at how it is and as for the whole like the school thing not

126having that extra elementary school man that's crazy y'all need that like I got kids who got this thing that's no I mean I'm y'all bought that Northstar headstart thing that's going on right hey good job cuz my mom's a head start teacher that's awesome I love it but do the please get to elementary school and please look at that a little bit more like that's one thing that guy in the plaid do you you're my hero bro you've said some great things wait that was awesome cuz he's right it's not about them going to the bathroom as for the whole thing that happened with the kid not going during that to see anything man y'all need to look at that staff at that one that was their fault I'm out that's might be signing up

127don't forget to sign in good evening mr. chairman vice chairman board members thanks for the opportunity to speak my name is Sean Maguire I'm with the Family Foundation of Virginia and I just want to quickly address two concerns we have with the proposed gender expression and inclusion policy first of all this is a policy that's similar to a policy adopted in West Point high school and school board there that resulted in a good teacher being fired for his refusal to use a male pronoun to describe a transgender student in violation of his deeply held religious convictions this policy here would also lead to similar situations and course teachers against their convictions to speak messages they don't agree with this is opened when second concern is out of Tecate Jordan Decatur Georgia I noticed a board

128member has the same name there was a student there who was physically and sexually assaulted in a bathroom it is now an open question under federal investigation as to whether a policy similar to this one led to that sexual misconduct it's not a closed question these are questions that need to be addressed and answered and I urge you therefore to delay on this policy before those questions are addressed this policy has serious constitutional and civil liberty concerns and for these reasons I ask you to delay today thank you well unless you talk very quickly you're the last one okay three minutes left great but you've got three minutes if you want to take them thank you my name is Rachel Greiner I live at three Newports Court in Austin Ridge I just wanted to say

129that my husband and I have read 2420 in its entirety we fully support it so my husband I moved to Stafford with a fantastic community and excellent schools we have two very young daughters that are just the absolute greatest blessing in our life I want to assure the board that we have zero concerns about transgender students sharing gender-specific facilities with our children and fully support the policy research demonstrates that this does not create an environment for them to be emotionally damaged physically harmed or swayed in any way and we believe that it actually does the opposite it proves that Stafford takes the concerns stay safety and well-being of all students into consideration and that equality is a pillar of our school system passing 2420 will show them that all students are valued and that the

130school is open and accepting to all differences thank you very much all right that leaves this time from one more speaker so anyone else like to address the board this this will be the last speaker you have to pass the bathroom hi my name is Tara McClellan's I live in the George Washington districts I'd like to thank you dr. Kistner and the board for creating this fabulous fabulous policy I think it's been a long time coming and I'm glad we're making progress so I'd like to thank you all for that I didn't have any prepared remarks so my statement is going to be not very polished but I just had a couple of thoughts as I was listening to various comments I'm a licensed clinical social worker I'm basically on the psychiatric frontlines here in

131this county for a long time since 2001 I've seen lots of kids try to kill themselves in lots of different ways I would like to do anything to prevent those children from having to go through those sorts of experiences so what I'd like to say is that we're not indoctrinated children to become transgender if you look at research you'll see that you can find information that brain scans show that children that are transgender excuse me this is an emotional topic for me have gender identity markers in their brain you know biology gender identity it's not something that someone just decides to do because they've had a conversation with their parent and we're seeing somebody in a locker room so I'd like for us to keep that in mind with regards to comments against this policy

132to me it's just summarized very succinctly as fear of others we've had long history of fear of others fear of things that don't really make much sense in our history for example a long time ago in the 1800s society was afraid of street lighting Society believed that street lights would create a healthcare crisis because it would keep people out past their bedtime I think not enforcing this policy would be just as ridiculous thank you all right you're gonna close the public hearing point of privilege madam chair five minutes not the public hearing the public comment period all right five minutes we will start at exactly 9:00 12:00 without you mister miss Koster soon when we got four of us comments so let us sit down there she's coughing too much tonight you want a mint

133there's mention you in your cookie jar I would like to say to everybody that we have a can somebody grab those doors please thank you I've got I'd like to wish everybody a wonderful and safe holiday season there's so many wonderful things going on in our schools I hope I hope we as parents can support them and if we're here as community members we find out ways that we can give and support our students throughout throughout our division I know and there may be an official statement mr. doctor kisser may be giving it but I know that the board will certainly want to express our condolences on the to AJ Gibson and the King George community on his death on our in our school system I cannot imagine that pain but I do know the

134amazing people that we have in this division who care for our students every day those who are here as our students and ours that are here by invitation and I just would like to thank all those who provided support to that family into that situation and to those who grieve today and and and forward so I think that that is one wonderful thing about our communities we are really wonderful and caring community and I hope that during the holidays we will continue that wonderful way and also of course into 2019 I am looking forward to our next year I think we have a lot of big decisions coming but I think the main thing I would say to everybody is remember this is your school district these are your kids these are your neighbors kids

135these are somebody's there's always somebody's kids get involved and stay involved in the school system in whatever way and if you have questions if you have oh you know please let us know because there are a lot of ways you can get involved to give not just during the season but throughout 2019 and if any of you have served with me on any PTO committees you know I will sign you up for something so if you call me you will be on a committee to please call because I'd love to get you on there and to a shout out to any students for our advisory committees we love student members that is such a great input especially on our Fine Arts Committee you don't have to sing I don't but we would love to have

136you especially on that committee which I can speak to again have a wonderful holiday season and see you all in 2019 thank you miss hazard mr. Kator hi guys I don't have a lot to say tonight start with no Christmas Happy New Year you don't need to get ready I'm gonna be a little minute I just want to take a minute to commend you guys I thought that this was going to be an absolute bloodbath when I you first started the public comment I'm just I'm just being honest there were like people standing up and cheering and then there was another side and people standing up and cheering but then as the evening progressed I watched this room kind of come together and find a common ground whether or not you believe that happened i

137sat up here and watched all of it and watched your faces and when I want to commend you we are community and I would ask for your continued prayers for us sitting up here because this is not an easy job we have a lot of people to take care of and a lot of people to do right by and not everyone agrees on what right means and I don't expect you to but I do ask for your thoughts and prayers as we move forward as a board to decide that thank you thank you mr. Kator we're gonna go down miss Egan next [Laughter] [Music] so I just want to echo Holly's comments about ajacobson and then to thank the Brooke Point High School community for handling it the way that they had and everybody at

138central office who who ran out to to support Tammy and her staff and all of us thank you also want to thank all of our librarians for my dinner tonight off the train and came right here and I had a couple of peanut butter cookies and they were delicious so thank you I don't always get to eat them because I take them home and my kids devour them before I even had a chance to have one or two so I'd beat them to it that's all I really have and just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everybody and we'll see you in the new year Thanks all right now we're good miss young just making sure that he's alert and awake thank you so much okay well I also think the librarians for the cookies

139and Happy Holidays everyone and to all our students my heart also goes out to the King George family that lost their loved one during the game here in one of our schools I also wanted to I have I have a little bit just you know just hold on you know we went through all of that for 73 minutes so I'm taking my five minutes all right I just want you to know I was at the CTE advisory meeting a couple of weeks ago and there was a special presentation I love talking about when I see kids coming and being part of the meetings so we had to Brooke Point high school students jarred nests and Nebu Shabazz along with their advisor mr. Jeff Zimmerman they presented on the Virginia Star program which began in 2015

140so they refurbish and donate computers at no cost to those in needs whether its families nonprofit organization or school district and the program is partner with serve Jimena College acts Humphrey management Rappahannock United Way and Stafford Junction and the school system welcome three legislators during the month of November whom visited our schools they look at more coal visit at heart with delicate Jennifer Carol Froy enjoyed the visit with whitewater and delegate Thomas presence was felt at Grafton village my school board members Holly Sarah and I we think the board of supervisor Jack heavily for visiting whitewater with us he has history in that school and as a team legislators the school system and both boards we want to build strong relations between the school system and Virginia General Assembly to move our County school system

141forward this past several months board members attended the yearly vsba this is the Virginia School Board Member Association I met several other members and leaders in their respective counties one interesting contact I made was with a company owner whom I am will be meeting this week and my plan is to increase the number of careers and internships after graduation and in during the year also on twelve five school board had a redistricting meeting thank you dr. kisna and met Townsend for answering the audience questions we want to keep our communities well informed and want to ensure they can give input along the way we will have other work sessions and town hall meetings in the coming year that can be found on the website lastly we also had a work session on AP Advanced Placement

142program IB which is the International Baccalaureate and Commonwealth Governors commonly known as the CGS just want to make sure that all students whom are able to excel in these programs get an opportunity to do so that's all I have thank you well so I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'd also like to thank the librarians for the wonderful cookies I wanted to acknowledge Cherie Johnson and her staff for doing a great job of putting together take your legislator to school month in November and want to thank supervisors cavalier delegates Thomas : for taking the time to visit Stafford County Public Schools and to hear what we are getting right and about some of the challenges that we're facing it was also educational for I loved seeing the seesaw program firsthand it was good

143to hear about the school protection officer pilot program and how it's working at heartwood it sounds like it's going well and I hope it continues to go well and that the county will be able to provide additional funds to expand the program to our other 15 Elementary School's last week I attended the redistricting information session presented by arc bridge and dr. kisna and mr. Townsend it was very informative and I wanted to say that I have now visited 12 of our 17 elementary schools over the last 11 months and I'm planning to visit the last five over the next month and I can honestly say that I think all of our elementary schools are great and I hope once we get our redistricting plan settled we can have some open house events for families who

144are being redistricting so that they can see that their new school while different will also be really great thank you yes thank you very much thanks again for the best cookie basket in Virginia librarians love you guys and you folks and thanks for though making each night once a year pretty nice nice and xxx which is a very thoughtful gift great discussion tonight I'm sure there's gonna be a lot more to follow so both sides had awesome points this is our last meeting of the year so and make sure that the kids are safe and we get them back safely sometimes got a closed school and although I got a lot of emails on that for icy conditions and remember if you know quiet harbor is all the busses are sliding down the slopes of

145a quiet harbor then we're probably gonna it's probably going to reverberate even to my neighborhood which is perfectly safe and so we have those those certain roads in the county that buses just can't Traverse and when it's when it's icy and it's overhanging of trees and it's just a bad scene and remember it was years ago that we did lose children on an ice an icy road right so that's something that we don't want to do and we don't take lightly closing school and I know dr. Kaiser and the and mr. Hernandez and the team with fire and emergency services are doing what they were supposed to do lastly hey thanks for the comments tonight again this is from the staff that usually comes here and gives comments whether I like them or not I

146listen to them if you mention fairy farm as the boards of Supervisors and everybody else knows you might get blasted if I don't like what you're gonna say so that's just how it is and my stance hasn't she yeah in my shin my stance hasn't changed in in seven years on that issue and so maybe you just stopped listening but good discussions whether like I said whether I like it or not keep keep the comments coming and because you know it takes a team to make these hard decisions for the school board and the students of this county Thanks Thank You mr. micawber and I will be the last to add my thanks to the librarians and not only are they good it's a beautiful package beautiful package are there any librarians here with us

147no they're probably all home getting ready for school tomorrow morning we do hope we're going to have school tomorrow morning do we I mean just well just remember it's going to be a short summer so we want to enjoy it enjoy it now but we'll see you back in August all right I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays it's it's coming up so quickly just amazing how fast this this semester has gone by and I want to thank all the speakers who were here tonight and the people who came to support them it is is very refreshing to see respectful comments and people can agree to disagree and I know this is going to be a very challenging issue before the board and I do look forward to two more comments you're not restricted

148to just coming to make public comments you're free to send emails and I suggest if you want an email to go to all of the board members you send it to our Clerk Moses aha and then she can share it with with all of us or you can put all of our names on the email as well but it is important that we we hear from the community this is this is an issue that that was here before it's here today you know maybe here you know once again in the future so we need to hear from the community particularly the Stafford community because this is a Stafford County Superintendent proposed policy I just wanted to let the board know that the FOIA training which I'm sure everyone is looking forward to has been rescheduled

149for a retreat day of January 12th and no it's not going to extend the day we're gonna fit it in you know the schedule we already had so something to look forward to in the in the new year wish everybody a safe and happy holiday season dr. Kittner okay so 4:30 this morning there was a team of six people already after trying to figure out what we should be doing for today and I do want to recognize two people that are not here berry Sutter and Greg Martin and I know they have two other members and who drive the roads I Drive the telephone and the coffee maker and then they feed big information I want to thank Cherie and it's because she's up also at the same time coordinating efforts and as has already

150stated Stafford's a big place so what might look pretty good on the northern part may not look as good on the southern part and so on so I do want to thank the public the emails and texts I only read are the ones who are positive and people have been posited the other ones I'm figuring they've just sent it to the wrong person the other thing I want to just quickly mention so I think tonight's discussion where the Board of Supervisors was good very good very interesting I would like to offer when we talk about the capital plan some suggestions that I that I personally struggle with I think our numbers and how narrative are not aligned you know we're saying on one hand a hundred percent and I brought up maybe the 85 90

151percent because our numbers would suggest one thing about when a new elementary school would be needed the reality might suggest something else so I look forward to working with you like that you know I'm I'm gonna stop saying I'm new I don't know when the new part ends but I'm I feel like I'm going to get long enough to realize that we got to get a hold of this okay and maybe take another approach to the way we do it the other thing I'll just may be already aware of this but Stafford through the Virginia School Board Association we received a Platinum certified grade school division so that's something you should be proud of that we're showing good evidence of being energy efficient and not only that good for our environment and teachers children but

152there's a savings to that so on I congratulate you and all everybody else and again I wish everyone although I feel like I'll see you at least five more times between epic whizzes right I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and everything else thank you thank you dr. Kittner mr. McCosker just said he contributed that energy savings from the facilities that aren't working down at Barry farms and using that electricity the action items 12.01 approved Northstar Early Childhood Center as the name for the new Early Childhood Special Education and Head Start northern campus do we have a motion move to approve Northstar Early Childhood Center as the name put a new Early Childhood Special Education and Head Start northern campus have a second second second by dr. chase any discussion I

153have a question first I'll start with a statement the Northstar Early Childhood Center sounds like a daycare facility why is there word education not in the title Northstar early childhood education center I don't want to be confused with Miniland up the street was there any reason that was omitted from the title of the school the name of the school well I I don't recall any discussion of that at the at the meeting do you miss young no the community meetings you know there was no discussion of adding the word education there was no pro or con because it was not brought up is anybody opposed to inserting the word education what do you want the word would it be Northstar early childhood education center correct because the way it stands now it just sounds like

154it's another one of the mini Landor mm-hmm one of the other I don't have a problem I think that's I think that sounds good friendly moment that's been accepted so the what we will be voting on is the Northstar early childhood education center as the name for the former Fredericksburg Christian school right any other discussion I have to say I still like the Palmer Hayden one just because I like the history of I mean I I have to say since so many of our schools are named about people that are associated with Stafford I have to say there's in my heart I might put my preference is that one I think North Star is a nice name but I to me I I think is um edition of education at least gets me further because

155I too felt like when I first read it it could be Miniland and we want to make sure that we are a Stafford County Schools no offense no offense to our friends at Miniland no that was a free advertisement I mean if that is what the recommendation of the committee was and there is you know this is what is really tied but that's what the commitment that the committee really wants that I will go with it but I have to say from my perspective I will say that my preference because I really enjoyed that story and not that so but it appears that it is a unanimous and I would not want to well I am gonna make it a unanimous vote but I did prefer the second option just for the record I I

156would agree I think adding early childhood education center really helps me I didn't know what it was about that name I I do I can appreciate it a little more now so I'm gonna support this because it was unanimous on the committee and the Palmer Hayden was you know a second choice and I think that part of that was the the balance with Gary melters and Palmer Hayden and with mr Hayden being from the wild water area but since the committee knew decided unanimously was it not one that won the North Star I'm gonna support that all right so no further discussion all in favor of the motion to name the North Star early childhood education center please say aye aye all right motion carries unanimously 12-point Oh to approve the renewal of an annual

157maintenance and support contract with edge appoint education systems for the synergy student information system and the amount of two hundred and eight thousand eight hundred seventy eight dollars from budgeted FY nineteen funds do we have a motion motion to approve the annual maintenance and support contract with edge appoint second by Miss again any discussion all right all in favor the motion to approve please say aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously 12-point o3 approved the award of a service contract to Corbett Technology Solutions Inc of Mechanicsville Virginia and the amount of two hundred thousand two hundred ninety dollars using budgeted FY 19 operating funds for the installation of emergency notification strobe lights in all school cafeterias motion to approve 12 point zero three second second by dr. chase any discussion yeah I'd like to make one

158comment Healy I will be supporting this however I would like to note that the FY 19 security related upgrades the safety and security audit was something that was very very very important to me and I see that as of this time we're just developing the RFP I am going to defer to my board in this but in the future I would really like to have had that RFP and to have had the findings of that audit done before we approved these projects just because I would like an independent this is not my area I don't want it to be but I would like to see if there is some way that we can get that safety and security audit moving all in favor the motion to approve item number twelve point zero three they say

159I motion carries unanimously 12 point o4 approved the superintendent's proposed revisions to policies and regulations as reviewed by the associate superintendent of instructional services the motion motion to order 12 point oh four second any discussion quick one thing that really struck me in the policy 1404 is that the board shall were annually the renewed before it said policy 14 the board shall review analyst annually the accreditation status of each school in a public session of the board I will tell you I I never remembered that as being part of our policy and I would like to ask our clerk to make sure that we put that on some calendar to make sure that we do meet that because I know we always announce that we have a credit but I'm not sure we really talked

160about it and I think that I think that's what you think that says talk about it just says shall review annually if you want to change it to something more specific you can but I think when the superintendent it makes the announcement about the accreditation of the schools and there's any chance for discussion that would certainly qualify for for review but if you want to make it more specific we could about that I guess I would be curious from the superintendent if that is what this is then I think the superintendent should announce the accreditation but to me this seems like the board shall review annually and I feel that that's and something on us I don't want another response this would not be your responsibility I think what you're stating is the board staff

161would present to you the accreditation how would you guys get the accreditation except by asking us so I mean you do whatever you want to do if you guys want to do all the homework and figure out the accreditation that's not what I'm saying I'm saying it isn't brought to us in a public session it is just announced that's fine I'll be happy matter of fact I'm not trying I'm just gonna make sure we're I'm totally agree with you that I've actually even commented to my staff that we should be proud about accreditation I'm surprised there's no formal presentation so I'd be happy to do a formal will be happy to a formal presentation when they come out in around August to start the school year in September I did make an announcement last meeting

162that we were fully accredited because I didn't want yeah I didn't want to lose sight of that but I think what you're asking for is not only reasonable I think is the public has a right to know mm-hmm so I mean I really wasn't trying but I think that if we have stuff to brag about by got my goodness and then I had one other comment just for your father why not agree to things I know hey and we didn't even talk about that one um on 23:01 and this is just something for you all to clarify we've had some issues in the past about data for doctoral work and how that is to be approached with you all I would just like to say is just making sure that that is clear to our

163employees we've had some concerns in the past of how emails were sent to get new IT person it is to get data and there was some confusion about who it came from so I just that's just more of them on your as many of us and students and then with 3602 when we are not when we are is the change to allowing the other for a student's race or ethnicity and ethnicity sorry does that undermine us getting any of the data that we are trying to make sure we are meeting the needs of our students if you say no I'm good that fact this is a requirement okay yeah then I'm fine I just want to make sure I understood it okay I apologize I just needed to understand all right questions for discussion motion

164to approve twelve point oh four please say I carry that brings us to information items 1301 approved the award of the service contract to precision door and hardware of Fredericksburg Virginia and the amount of one hundred forty three thousand nine hundred eighty five dollars using FY 19 operating funds for the installation of additional card readers at all schools any questions about the zone just my same comment just my same comment on the audit let's get it done now I just want to confirm though it's just savings that we've had that were we're using I thought there was some savings with the court reader that it's just not it no okay no I was looking at Matt he just said no okay you know Chris sorry you know to approve the superintendent's proposed new policy 2420

165sender identity and expression this is on for information under our traditional schedule it will come back for information at the next meeting and beyond for action at the end of January unless there's some desire of the board to you know have a different schedule so is anyone want to make any comments on this evening I have a couple I have a couple of questions because I've just as you know I started a new job and I've been a little bit disengaged so just a couple of understand that this was conceived and germinated in the Diversity Committee is that correct policy well I think last year this is a topic that the equity committee diversity committee was interested I've only had one we actually we have a meeting Thursday night they are aware that a policy

166was coming forward but I think this is a continuation of last year's interest okay has the final product been vetted through all of our principles since it's going to be impacting there it hasn't what about your teacher advisory group no I I intentionally wanted to school board to be the first group to see it okay so then your parent advisory group didn't see it either correct okay and the the says here that the policy was developed in consultation with outside counsel I'm assuming that they drafted the policy correct okay so has there been a independent set of legal eyes aside from the person who developed this it was there another attorney that looked at it that wasn't involved in it that looked at it with pure legalese well based yes so we had two attorneys

167work on it was it in the same firm or unfair okay I don't want to say he played the role of an attorney but Darrell was very instrumental working with us on this and that's that's the process okay and then a question for that relates back to the CIP discussions when we were gearing up to get ready to submit our list and we discussed the the 3 R's list and all that other stuff some emails were bounced back and forth and I sent an email to you and to the rest of the board and I hope somebody can confirm that they received the email asking about what the cost would be to turn some of our maybe one set of bathrooms in our high schools and middle schools into non-gender-specific and I confirm thank you

168I didn't get an answer from anybody I counted was hoping that the fab was going to take it up and talk about it and have it as a topic of discussion and as far as I know it's not but it wasn't discussed by anybody so can I just ask why I didn't get a response to my question I recall the email I don't respond to questions to all board members because I want to make sure I'm not violating the four-year laws understand you will never get a response to me where it's going to everybody sure but I think it was more directed at dr. casler and staff as as as per the CIP development discussion and I didn't get anything back so I just wanted to make clear that everybody got it and saw it

169that's so I'm done Thanks okay any other comments I I just had a little question from actually reading the policy but also hearing people's comments could you provide a little clarification on this this concern that the school system is going to try to indoctrinate students in terms of forced counseling on students or something along that line so that's not true anytime a student has a concern it could be a concern about peer relationships it could be a separate concern about abusive behavior in the home it could be concerned about drinking it could be a concern about moving it could be concerned about death of a grandparent death of a parent death of a pet we offer that student the opportunity if they bring it up because if you read the policy it says if they

170bring it up for counseling that's why we have school councils okay the notion that I think some people might my feel which is completely inaccurate is that if there is a transgender student and you have a problem with it we are going to make you go to counseling so you go ahead and now could either begin to like the transgender student or figure out what's wrong with you and that's not at all the intent do you think that could be clarified in the policy too because obviously if people are bringing it up later with confusion then it needs to be clarified yeah and the I do want to you know while we're clarifying because I think this is important for the public the other thing that was mentioned I think the policy is pretty clear

171on it a couple of comments at least one comment was made that a student could decide that day that they are transgender this policy has took great effort to make sure there is a guess accountability on determining if a student is transgender qualifies and that does not allow a student to say today I'm transgender I want to use the voice or girls bathroom so I just want to make sure you see that part of the policy one of my comments is that if I'm on the team I want to win so I just want to make sure on the other team they don't have somebody that has more estrogen or testosterone than me so are we allowing individuals to be on that team the vs HL now talking high school now the SHL governs which

172students or how students are determined to be on a team there is a process they use and again if a student has been properly identified as transgender then that student by the SHL which we follow are allowed to be on that team okay so that that's not us that's a Virginia High School League okay thank you I have a question again about that that counseling we have or at least when my child was in the earliest years there there was the family life program and and the parents had an opportunity to opt out its beginning the year you could sign a forms and you you know you chose not to have your child participate would there be a potential opportunity for that here because you know III think there's some basis for concern on the

173part of parents I mean there's certain things that that are within the realm of responsibility of parents and not necessarily the schools I mean that that concerns me to a certain extent but if a parent could choose not to have that counseling you know a child that's 18 they're legally an adult and they can make their own decisions but for minors with would that be and I maybe you don't have an answer but it must be something to excite this one give you my initials for words okay again this is when I get myself in trouble but you've asked well maybe maybe I ought to talk to the lawyers no I don't think this is a lawyer I don't think this is a lawyer okay and my free advice I'm just telling you how I

174you know what my leadership guidance would be we absolutely never want to take the primary role of a parent but we serve in the role of a parent when a child's in school and we would obviously for a younger child handle it much different than a 1517 era to know if a parent makes it clear to us and again I'm just we've heard some comments tonight that I respect and I wrote this whole thing I was prepared to read but it's not going that direction what's that yeah I guess what I'm saying is this where my concern is that we're kind of labeling transgender as something that's like dangerous and we shouldn't be talking about it and when we we have children that come to speak to their school counselors about things that they would

175not talk to their parents about every single day every single day and when we prevent that child to do that I just ask you what is the next issue is it going to be alcoholism is it going to be financial stress is gonna be father hitting mother and I'm just I don't want to I don't so yes you could say a policy and I don't know how we define it that the schools will not talk to children about transgender I would just say as an educator that might confuse the situation even more why am I not able now I think a good thing process might be child brings it up remember we're not initiating it child brings it up we contact the parents we try to have a meeting with everybody involved I could very

176close with that and I think that's very age-appropriate at the elementary level so you know we you could do whatever you want if you want to opt out on the conversation about transgender that's that's your progress I would just suggest that that might be more confusing to that young person why can't I talk about okay remember they are initiating it but I feel very comfortable to say bring in all the stakeholders the primary parents the main parents the only parents well we know we serve a role of parent that's the law and local practice I mean that's what that's why we have requirements that we have to abide by so that that area I know has been a lightning rod for what I could tell so I will work with with the attorney deceived as

177a way of clarifying or softening the language but I think again I'm not sure it's really being interpreted by the intent the attempt was some kid was coming to their school counselor concerned about an issue and like any other issue and what address it to me this policy is a this treatise one one section of my five paragraph statement because I you know I put myself out here for the right reason to do this okay I recognize this is not an easy topic for many communities I respect the comments and opinions I've already heard from many of you and those I will continue with here as superintendent I took an oath to follow the laws which include prohibiting harassment and discrimination of any type as an educational leader I have a responsibility to raise concerns

178and provide solutions when I feel harassment and discrimination has or may occur so I am raising the concern you as a board I will respect whatever decision you decide I also want to remind us the reason we're here is not because what happened a couple of months ago but we should not forget that this policy is finally giving what we heard that night some clarity it should not be dependent on a particular principal or teacher how we address this matter okay it should be consistent and standardized throughout the school division and I think this policy is war geared towards helping the staff to understand their role and responsibility and the entire policy includes parents and where I was very proud of our attorneys and after doing a lot of reading is that we're also very

179aware that those who might not be gender identity expression qualified I also have protections in that policy so I obviously I send you a policy and now the board could amend it could change it could could just not accept it but I feel an obligation to do what I think is right and I'm not saying it's it's it's right or wrong I'm saying I have some I have some concerns about placing the school's the counselors particularly in the role of the parents and I don't you know I see the schools as the educators and the parents is the parents so I there is a line and I know and I remember when you know my daughter was in elementary school you know you could choose and that was fine if you chose to have your

180children you know participate in that family life your family is a completely different curriculum you're right well it's different curriculum but it was a curriculum that we we gave the choice to the families and we gave the choice to the parents I'm just I'm asking this because I don't want you know I don't want something to fail because you know a potential flaw that that may be able to be addressed and I think that we've we've heard a lot of good comments tonight you know from from both sides of the issue and I think we need to we need to take those comments we need to consider them and we need to look at you know is there a way to to to craft this policy so that it meets the needs of most it's

181not going to meet everybody's needs because you know this is not an issue that I don't think everybody will agree on but if we can do what's what's what's best for the the children but but also the families because this is a community this is a community issue I heard a comment and don't usually make notes but you know it hit me we don't want this to fly under the holiday radar I think you know that to me was was significant and it made me think about the redistricting we had an information meeting we're going to have what three three meetings at different schools throughout the county different sections of the county we're going to have at least one public hearing and we've already talked or at least I've voiced my concern about having the

182public hearing before the meeting when we're making a decision you know going going forward on that but you know the redistricting is of course a very critical matter it affects you know potentially 15,000 students and there were 13 whatever for 13800 out whatever the number is now students and their families but this particular policy would affect all 27,000 of our students and and you know our entire community so I think it's just something I'm voicing my thoughts right now but I'm thinking that perhaps we need to do more than just put it on the agenda tonight put it on the agenda when you know the first meeting in January and then vote on it because I you know I would like to have more more input and I was here years ago I miss hazard

183was here I don't know were you here mr. micawber when this this issue came up you know and the Boardman it was a tough decision then and the board made a decision you know it's it's always gonna be a difficult decision it's but you know I feel that personally I would like to to have more of an opportunity to hear from the community and perhaps we can make it a a better policy well I have no problem delayed this to a little repair type get it but I would just make one last comment when you have policies that address harassment and discrimination you do it for a minority group okay why do we have laws and accommodations for people with disabilities for English language learners you could pick your group okay so even though we

184say is full 27,000 the policy is is not really in a way designed specifically for 27000 it's because there's a class of students in our school division at least some of us have a concern that they may be discriminated and harassment against so I do have a little concern of holding a forum like we're doing for the redistricting and and so the public those this process of putting it on the agenda is the way you do policies okay you do two readings and you do a policy you don't have to agree to to vote on it next month I'm not even suggesting I think more public input is definitely warranted but I don't want anybody think we were just sneaking in in December no I'm not it was just a comment that came up and

185it made an impression on me that's all I know I'm sure just with all due respect doctor his Newark there's usually when something is brought to us all of the work has already been done we don't get anything that's typically raw and this was Rob wasn't it wasn't it you didn't you have advisory committees for a reason so it would have moved you to sit with your parent and your and your teacher advisory committees and kind of do a powwow and bring us something that we could chew on but this is this is too raw for effort for me anyway that's all I guess my first comment overall is most of you know I like phrases but you know what unites us is greater than what divides us and I do believe we as a

186board and I believe even the community that I heard tonight is we're united on doing what's best for all the students in our care in our buildings and our programs I do believe that how we get there I think that's what we're going to be struggling with some of the things that I will I will need are sorry would like more information and thought on because I do like information before making any major decisions is I do want to hear the input from our administrators our teachers and counselors in our elementary schools or middle schools and in high schools because they're the ones that are on the front line it is not me that's going to be in this school when something comes up they may be able to give us and instruct us on

187how they believe things should go I believe many times best practices do come from within our own division and I think that's a piece I would like to have some more understanding I would like to see a copy of the VHSL policy I apologize I don't know what it is but I would like to see it just because I'd like to see it I also think something because this will be in every one of our buildings I have heard concerns from across the spectrum about the accessibility of the facilities we are talking about bathrooms are they accessible or is it in the wrong wing is it here I just want to have an idea let's not pass something that then becomes unworkable for the student or students who may need to use it we need

188to know what our facilities are like how can they accommodate the types of bathrooms maybe talking about and we need to know a cost we just I believe that's something we need to have some information on I believe that we can get to a place but anybody who's met me I probably need more information I'm not sure in the next three to four weeks we will have it and I think we as a board need to discuss miss Healy as you alluded to and others what is the appropriate process for this and maybe that's something that we talked about at the retreat or something but I do think it's a discussion for this board to have based on comments that we receive overall and what we believe is right I do believe we are united

189and wanting to do the right thing for our students but it may not always go quickly because I have seen decisions made in haste that we have come to regret not just here in my own personal life and I want to make sure we do it as right as we can and I just will need some more information and discussion but I applaud that we're talking about it as opposed to not mr. Kator so I just have a few questions this policy is this is there going to be a recommendation to add transgender to the non-discrimination policy as well or is this linked kind of to the non-discrimination policy what's what's the plan with that okay so the attorneys are indicating you can't but they feel based on the courts that represents the effort that

190we already have sex in our non-discrimination and because we have sex in it covers transgender okay so they're recommending you don't have to but if the board wants to add a category you can but currently they feel strongly that it's covered okay is there a plan if and when a policy is passed is there a plan for training your staff on this policy absolutely and not only is there a plate I I hope you respect that parts of this policy is already in action I mean the notion that you don't have trans we don't have transgender children in our schools that are not already and the good news is we've been having it way before I got here and you're not aware of it okay well you might be aware and my point is yes

191we will like all policies okay review with all staff that need to be aware and this one has probably the profile of one where everyone needs to be aware so in I like miss Egan asked I'm sure this has been vetted through legal and it's been very carefully worded my concern is when you're training your staff on this policy if I were one of your teachers and I read this and it says staff should use you know the name that they I don't I don't know what should mean is that an option is that a must it's not it's not a must it's a should I it's a so I assume teachers may be confused and I want to make sure that we're not just supporting our students but we're supporting our teachers that they're

192not lost in the middle of a gymnasium wondering what to do or what's gonna be appropriate anymore so I want to make sure that when when something is passed that it is absolutely clear might not suggest shall and where I think we ran into the confusion a couple months ago was that staff was not aware and this I'm not sure what totally addressed it because that was a you know there was two matters there but they were also confused if they were allowed to which I think created why were good reason why we're here today yeah another question concerned I read a lot of policy from other places I've forwarded you one some of them talked about new construction and renovation within the policy and it kind of touches on the bathrooms that a lot

193of us are discussing how to construct new buildings how to go about the renovation of old buildings when that it's not talking about renovating it right now for this purpose but when you renovate kind of like the ED specs we're talking about yeah I think moving forward I've had a couple principles I think I share would you make recommendations that why do we still and was actually it's fading away from this but why do we build urinals children will have urinals at home okay that they should have you know their own stalls and that's the direction we're heading so such an a sequence question I mean retrofitting what we currently have I mean that's a capital discussion but moving forward I think this is absolutely something that we should be factoring in is having neutral

194gender bathrooms and you may have noticed if you go out to restaurants in other places more places are doing that I can tell you that the corporate world is doing the same when they're building their office complexes there are no more men's bathrooms and women's bathrooms they are now being constructed as non gender-specific and and just to kind of I can absolutely see where you and and many are coming from when when it it does specifically say foster and understanding of gender identity and you know we do have to be understanding of that that while while our children are with our schools probably more than they're at home parents still feel the responsibility for either Aaron and I know you agree and again I know that there was careful consideration to the things we put

195in here and the reasons why but I do want to make sure that we're not stepping on anyone's toes because I don't want to be I don't want to tell anyone in this audience how to parent their children on on either side and I want to make sure that we're not stepping on anyone's toes and that we're honoring individual families believes whatever they might be so but well anyways I I didn't really express it well I'm not disagreeing with that I'm just trying to picture the situation where a child brings it up to a staff member and then we said sorry we can't talk about yeah and so I'm just trying to figure out a way and that's why I was proposing that the staff member would contact the family and try to have this

196just with everyone there instead of the same we I can't discuss it I I think that might be a little bit more confusing to a young person there's probably gonna be more but just late hello welcome back it sound like a picket Lane is he still here just a little tired that's all um so dr. Kittner I've been in this county long enough and been these school systems many many years and my four children also and yeah I know how it feels to be discriminated against and you know my kids know it too one of my concerns with this group of students that individuals the public parents may think this just started like you said this has been going on all along there are teachers that are helping these kids out and you know hiding

197you know to allow them to go where they they want to go this will give them some comfort at the same time I want those teachers that feel uncomfortable with this to be able to not be penalized or punished because you know their religion or the way how they feel they don't want to handle it that you know that we have something in there to help them out that there is another teacher a younger teacher or another teacher that may take over that situation on their behalf without you know making them feel like you know they're dirt evil or their bias or whatever that feeling may be so the teachers are important to make sure that they feel comfortable but that it's standardized because that's one of the things that I hear like you know

198we went to one school Sarah and I and you know they already had gender-neutral bathrooms and you know they have it all taken care of and then you go to another one and it's like you know like hush you know we're not talking about it so we could make sure that you know parents know that it's already in the school system and what we're doing in the school system and that this policy is just a matter of making that small group of individuals feel comfortable and not making the rest of the school system like no you have to you know go along with the situation that's been going on already we just need to make sure that everybody is comfortable with what we're doing yeah that's all I have I mean yeah but I know

199how it feels yeah I would not like us to leave this evening without thanking dr. Kistner for for bringing us this policy and we did ask him to to come up with something as a result of the lockdown drill that went went awry so I do appreciate that and another thing I wanted to clarify I think and maybe you can tell me whether I'm correct about this or not we are not suggesting that trans children must go into the bathroom of the gender that they identify with because many of these children probably don't want to go into whichever bathroom so instead we're talking about doing what is often already being done in our schools which is parents students and the administration would discuss together what what's involved I do want to piggyback on something miss

200young said quite frankly it's really not okay with me for a teacher to refuse to call a student by the name they wish to be called and by the pronouns that they wish to be called I understand if the teacher forgets occasionally or makes a mistake but I actually consider that bullying to actually talk to a student and refuse to use the name that they wish to use and I am absolutely opposed to our students by teachers great discussion tonight both not only the comments we received but by the board here it looks like you know there's some I think there's some things first of all dr. Kissinger thank you so much for bringing this to us you know we hired you for a reason and this is this is this is the stuff we

201hired you for right it's to make the hard decisions and so you know there are some things that I was concerned about I mr. Kator talked about 2402 I think it is policy that anti-harassment why why gender identity wasn't on that because that that was specifically talked to when they issue an incident happened why last year as well is why didn't we add gender identity to the harassment policy and so I would be interested to see the with what legal had to say about that you know is there is there something that we're leaving ourselves open to us afford and you know these this is these are tough decisions on what to do where the will be the first County in Virginia to have a written policy if I'm not mistaken on on this issue

202and I remember last year and when this came back up us we specifically didn't want to jump out there and be the first County to go down this track and pave this way some board members and we voted to kind of not move forward with a policy so it's however do I do I you know I have four kids in the system do they are they in daily contact with transgender yes and do they have a prop the kids have a problem with it no okay for the most part however that puts me in a position as a school board member do I do I take a stand as Dwayne McCosker on what I think my personal values are and I transpose it into this document and for an approval or approval or do I

203step back and actually find out what what are my sticks you in saying that actually put me here what are they saying about this issue what are the teachers saying about this issue like Michigan I mean these are the things that I think this is gonna I think this is gonna go someplace I just and I'm not trying to I know you've heard a lot of help help help with having us understand this I just think we it may go initially as a compromise when when our questions are asked are answered and we feel comfortable as a board I think parent and teacher I think we sent surveys out for um we sent surveys out for early school and early start of school you know it's do we do we do something like that I

204don't know I don't know so this is a good discussion I think we have some things there were a few things in here specifically that I I'm gonna I'll send you an email on about the identification and is there should we bring some some people have said well on the on the identification should we bring a psychologist or not not that the kids the children are or there's something wrong with them but is it something that it should be an outside person kind of making an evaluation before we say hey because we've seen a lot on this board mostly good parents if I could just we we have we've seen we've seen things I just want to just bring it back to a child and I'm not I respect that you guys even gave me

205permission to put this on the agenda a lot of school divisions will not do that so I applaud you and I applaud the people that still in this room and listening because this conversation in many communities would not happen so I do thank you I also would say although we all praised and like that little girl that spoke part of me family said that she had to come up and talk about her sister and what I don't what I've referred not to see happen whatever way you need to gauge more input is that we ask children who are transgender and families to have to defend something that they live with they love and they respect because I think that would be remarkably unfair okay so whatever way you need to do it we should do

206it in a way that they have opportunity to express as you heard tonight but not put them in a position because they are minorities okay and if there was a vote I suspect the vote would be not support support this policy that's just right my gut I hope I'm wrong no not you guys voting I'm saying there was a referendum okay but most of the laws that we have to protect discrimination would probably be voted the same way okay when you look at when they first passed a law to allow a certain class to have protections so I just would like to keep those children and families as much as possible not to have to defend themselves I know I'm selling tired as I am it's been a long night I do have just one

207more follow up comment and it's to Mister caters coming there are a lot of shoulds in this policy and I saw one Xiao so it's not like it's all should there is there is one Chao and that shall is I'm looking through I'm it's all like blurring together but as I recall it had to do with if a if a child was uncomfortable with sharing with a transgender then then another option shall be made available so clearly whoever drafted this knew the difference between should and shall and and and if if the intent is to have a policy to to set a standard that that's going to be applied across the board then why and this is a rhetorical question why are we saying should should should should because should doesn't mean anything okay and

208that's just what I'm I'll leave it with that so well it is there's that one Chao and if that weren't there I'd say well maybe they you know just put it that way so it's it's something to raise oh absolutely because what good is a policy that says we should do something if there's no totally an agreement in this thing about I would like to go maybe even one step further and and I think I said it in my discussion with dr. Kittner about having the same person who drafted the policy be the legal eye that looks at it I mean why can't so one attorney drafted it let's get maybe Jennifer Parish to do a once-over with she's not involved yeah I just want to get it clean look at it and tell us

209what you think not what you believe because you drafted it just a bias there far as I'm concerned well yeah and that that's an excellent point and and perhaps what we need to do is a board just to have some more discussion to get some more input and see what questions we have or if there's things we want addressed in here or things that need to be cleared up generally if we have a policy we have a regulation that goes along with it and I don't see a regulation here and there may be a reason for that I don't know it's getting late and I know we're all tired because we started at five o'clock and yes and the congenial place I think it's good I think it's good I think but I think this

210is a great you know I think you saying this this board is putting this this is a hard topic it's obviously hard because it is the first policy consideration I think in the state of Virginia and I think there are some things in here like if a student is young they should well we're going to make up you've give me a grade give me an age I mean I mean I think this is this is the kind of thing we're moving towards to make to make it better I think so whether not saying what you're all about you're all as well it's gonna be even well this will be on for information at a minimum at the next meeting and I just asked the board to think about you know you know where you would

211like to go from here if there is something that whether it be advisory groups or public hearings or something going out you know to have my equity Thursday nights they will this is already agenda I know I count on a lot for Missy to record what your comments are but if you could also over the next couple weeks before we meet in January just to send me again so I make sure I capture your questions final I was I would just urge so it so so we've decided that you know we haven't decided it's coming back for information at least once more I can only imagine the number of public comment speakers we'll have then and I would just urge the community to maybe reach out to someone that has a different belief than you

212and sit down and have a conversation and ask some questions I did and it was very enlightening and I have a deeper understanding and it was incredibly helpful for me thank you all right now I have to make a whole bunch of announcements of the upcoming meetings the next school board meeting is January 8th all right now miss Hall you said I have to read all these right we've never read these before but you know why not the night is young on December 17th at 6 p.m. the Finance and Budget Committee is meeting December 17th and 6:00 p.m. the CTE Advisory Committee meeting January 7th at 6 p.m. school health advisory committee is meeting January 8th and this is some time before our seven o'clock meeting the school board is having a work session to

213receive redistricting plans from the consultant in January 8th at 7 p.m. is the school board's annual organizational meeting and now we can go home thank you