001yes sir dr. chase present mr. Kator ms Egon here miss hazard yeah miss Healy mr. Birk Oscar yeah miss Yeung yeah super tell you have a quorum would you please stand for the presentation of the national colors and the pledge of the allegiance Oh I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'd like to thank the color guard who cadets for being here tonight from the North Stafford High School Air Force Junior ROTC program at this time I ask for nominations for a chairperson of the school board as you know a second is not it is not required mr. superintendent I'd like to nominate Jamie Decatur for chairman mr. superintendent I'd like
002to nominate miss Trish mr. Shealy sorry I hit my buzzer hit my button - those in favor of miss Jamie Decatur as chairperson please say aye aye aye any opposed nay I believe the nays within the eyes we call the court nay mr. Kator sure miss Egan yes miss hazard yes miss Healy no mr. micawber no miss Yeung those in favor of miss Patricia Helias chairperson please say aye aye any opposed no no dr. chase hi mr. Kator no Missy again no miss hazard no miss Healy yes mr. McCosker yes miss Yeung yes dr. Kester motion passes four to three okay motion passes two left in point [Applause] it's the gavel back now Hey election and appointment of the board vice chairman at this time I ask for nominations for Vice Chairman I would like
003to nominate Sarah dr. Sarah Chase as vice chair for the school board okay I'd like to nominate Jamie Decatur for Vice Chair any other nominations all right we'll we'll start with the nomination for dr. chase all in favor please say aye aye pose no I mr. Kator no miss Egan nope miss hazard no miss Healy yes mr. micawber yes miss Yeung absolutely yes thank you madam chair point of privilege would I can I have one minute so we can change seats and I can remove myself from the Vice seat oh you don't want to sit next to me anymore I do want to sit next to you yes I want to give her the vice chair seat congratulations dr. Chasen madam chair now that I have dr. chases computer I can she's got a bunch
004of really smart things written down so now I'm gonna read them all right that brings us to the appointment of the school board clerk in the deputy clerk the superintendent has recommended Melissa hallways clerk of the board and Olivia branch's deputy clerk do I have a motion to approve the superintendent's recommendation motion to approve the recommendation for Clerk and second we have a motion by mr. hazard second by Miss young all in favor of the motion please say aye aye opposed wow that's great [Applause] alright the motion passes congratulations miss hall and miss branch at this time we entertain a motion for approval of the agenda miss Egan motion to approve with the following changes please I would like the superintendent's comments to be moved immediately following consent and there seems to be some discussion
005on capping the public comment time to only include to conclude the people who have signed up miss hall how many people do we have that have signed up 21 21 yes that would that would be approximately 60 yeah we now are more or less all right so is that part of your motion to have limit the public comment period to the 21 persons who have signed up sure okay all right I want to as miss Egan mentioned I want to limit the number but I also want to limit the number to Steph audience at the beginning of the meeting rather than outside individuals my only issue with that is that we've got some teachers who don't live in Stafford that if there are employees I would I would like to hear from them sure yeah
006definitely so that will exclude teachers but I would like individuals that are living in Stafford to be able to speak first all right now if we're gonna limit it to the 21 who have signed up then we don't have to put that restriction on it at this point that's something we can talk about when we have our our median on Saturday we're gonna talk about order of business and our meetings generally do we want to miss young yes the motion was to permit the 21 people who have signed up to speak all 21 regardless of where they're from would that be agreeable to you at this point for this one going forward yes our team is Hall we make a note of that for meeting on Saturday all right so the motion is to approve
007the agenda with a change to move the superintendent's comments up following the consent agenda prior to citizen comments and to limit the citizen comments to the 21 persons who have signed up okay everybody well if you've all we have we have a motion by Miss acun and are you seconding that is young have you second that motion yes okay okay then discussion I have to say because I said this last comment at my last meeting I do think at some point we have to address letting those who come speak their minds and I am as as hard as it is I do believe we have a somewhat more limited agenda tonight and I don't know where people came from and I feel that when if we're changing the rules if somebody came and I know
008tonight we're going to allow them to speak I just feel like because I made the same comment in December that I think limiting debate because there's a variety of topics now in front of us in the past we have had maybe one say controversial but for lack of a better term topic but tonight we have started on redistricting we have other issues that may have come up and I just feel tonight I just tonight I just don't feel like I can vote in favor of limiting madam chair I'll withdraw my motion for the time limitation all right so unlimited public comment all right yes that's good point mr. Kator let's get started um is that acceptable to you as a second so the only change in the agenda would be to move the superintendent's comments
009to follow the consent agenda I have no problem with allowing everyone to speak but I would like our Stafford residents to be able to speak first and individuals that live outside of our area come after if they did not sign up already that that's all I'm saying all right so I guess after we get through the 21 people who have signed up we can have two lines one from Stafford and one from outside Stepford and Stafford would include the county of Stafford even if your address is Fredericksburg Palace or Ruby or wherever all right so we have a motion second all in favor please say aye hi opposed motion carries unanimously all right brings us to organizational business we have the first item is 5.01 adoption of the 2019 school board meeting scheduled for discussion
010purposes can we have a motion I move that we accept this schedule we have a motion by dr. chase second by Miss young our discussion miss hazard did you want to something I had just wanted to get more input dr. Kisner I'm willing to even defer to you all I had some concerns for us for our summer meetings with the first meeting being on July 9th right after the July 4th holiday I felt I felt that that was a potential burden for staff to be prepared for our meeting and I really would have would like some of the input from our HR department of when they really think we need to be approving appointments over the summer and I just wasn't sure if the ninth was the ideal month plus I also thought that the
011having our first meeting in August being on the second day of school that in my experience because we did do it one night we did have a school board meeting on a first night of school and I felt like personally that staff was sort of having to decide between getting prepared for a school board meeting versus dealing with issues in the schools and I just felt that perhaps I it will be a change for this summer there will be a lot going on that I preferred for well I would like dr. Kissinger and staffs and put on weather for them that whether there is a more appropriate date in August or July but I'm open really for you all it was just my thoughts okay so thank you I did only discussed us with staff
012and we would recommend if the board was willing to to change July 9th to July 16th additionally and I don't need an answer now I'm fine with approving this as is but with school starting earlier do we need to have two meetings in July this year or that that's completely up to you just to do stall it in July or August there's only one meeting in August as well and that's a we'll be in school that whole month we can always add them as we go if you feel you know that it's necessary but over the summer for appointments and things of that nature you might need us a little more often and it's better yeah we yeah I mean there was a thought again maybe at a second meeting in August two weeks after
013on the 27th I think we felt good you know the other thing is our 12-month employees have a shorter window to take vacations this year and I like to try to minimize disrupting their time that they could take vacations it's basically three weeks in July so what do you think about just moving maybe even moving you know kind of what miss hazard was kind of getting after maybe moving that you know July's already moved back dr. Kestner maybe we moved August back I'm sorry when I mean back I mean to a later date than the month to give staff the ability to take their leave and then come back mean well August walk will hit back well back late July so well I guess the issue was the two days you know so if the
014if the snaps coming back in July then I'm good with August yeah I think mr. caters comment is that we could evaluate and when we get closer yeah but if we could commit because people would like to vacation planning commits her the week July 16th so I think that would be most helpful okay so that helps board members as well because I know many of us try very hard to make sure that we but we too are condensed with the motion maker accept that change see the calendar to change this July meeting from July 9 to July 16th yes that's us yeah that's acceptable yes alright so we have a amended motion in a second any other discussion all in favor of the motion to approve the calendar with the change from the July meeting
015from the ninth to the 16th please say aye aye all opposed motion carries unanimously 5.02 adoption of Virginia School Boards associations code of conduct do we have a motion motion to adopt the vsba code of conduct as written second motion by miss hazard second by mr. McCosker any discussion all in favor of the motion please say aye aye all opposed miss Hall will be passing that down for everyone's signature this evening 5.03 adoption of 2019 administrative authorizations you had a chance to review these these are I don't think there's anything new here is there doctor kizza nur it's the designee the superintendent says the need to appoint attends school board meetings in his absence that would be the associate superintendent of instructional services authorizations superintendent to assign and transfer teachers principals and assistant principals and
016according with Virginia law a Stafford County public school policy authorization the superintendent or designated representative to issue signed employment contracts and accept resignations I agreed to adopt such authorizations I'll second if that was a motion we had a motion I mean Oh miss hazard you already made that motion didn't you mr. Micawber's second did it made the motion I will second it for administrative authorization all right well we have a motion in a second any discussion all in favor of the motion please say aye aye all opposed motion carries unanimously 5.0 for appointment on board members to Commonwealth Governor's School Board County Parks and Recreation Commission public private day school committee and joint schools working committee for the term of January 1st through December 31st 2019 now let's take these one at a time come
017in while governor school any interest oops I'm happy to continue if nobody else wants to do it that's fine an alternate for dr. chase with the Commonwealth Governor's School No yeah I'll stay as alternative fit but I'd be happy to please give it up to somebody wants to learn more about the Governor's School don't see anybody any one reason their hands okay alright volunteers we like volunteers alright so that would be the appointment would be dr. chase is the primary and miss Yeung is the alternate all in favor all pose none all right all right what about County Parks and Rec Commission right now it's mr. Magoo scre is the primary miss Yeung is the alternate and I think mr. Yeung indicated an interest in being the primary no I did not indicate interest to
018be primary I indicated an interest that the primary be there so that the alternate doesn't happen you coming in broken up here right you're not readable all right do we have anyone with an interest in being the primary in the county parks or the recognition is a non-voting position I've already served ok I think I did it yeah who's not served yet mr. hater don't you aren't you dying I already signed up but I don't want to give up my position on the public private day School Committee so if that's gonna alter mean serving on that one then I'm not going to I don't I think we can work that out does anybody want to be an alternate don't plan anything all right well we'll make the appointment of mr. Kator is the representative at
019this point we'll have no alternate so if there's a meeting you can't go to well you know my husband your phone numbers okay okay I will continue as alternate I'm a good team member also the king of public private day school committee miss Decatur oh yes that's true well it I don't know if we vote on that one but why not one favor all right public private day School Committee mr. caters interesting continuing I'll stay on I'd really like to take I'm good with mr. Kator misses you want to stay in favor of miss Decatur and miss Egan being the representatives on the public private day school committee please say aye carries unanimously our joint schools working committee I would like to be on that one well I'm willing to go off that one so
020right now who's on that one I would like to stay on there and mr. McCosker sorry I am happy to give joint schools up and I will preface it with this that there's a movement on the supervisor side of the house to kind of make the joint schools kind of that place where we talk about business as a joint boards and you know they're kind of slimming down the joint meetings that we have whether it be finance committee and others to just the joint school so it is a very very good board to be on if you're going to be it's a very it's a board that you can have a lot of say on and and I think they're moving forward and I think they have support over at the supervisors to to keep
021this joint schools we're in committee there's a draft charter already and to to be a very good and a very in a very productive board so I am willing to give my spot up on it for someone who would like to jump in there and take it mr. McCosker do you know if there has been a like day of the week you all normally meet I mean I'm just I'm only curious it's been might spend Monday's it's been Monday's the Charter I think don't go gosh I can't no it's fine I just wondered if it was you know like Parks and Rec was established it was yeah it's so you know they're trying to make some boundaries and some scope this this you know scope it out with a charter and so right now it
022is mondays I know that I'm willing to serve I know we've had some frustration with this committee so I have to admit there's a part of me that if if the committee is going to meet and accomplish and stuff I am willing I want to jump in him mr. mckay that was not meant is it but it just I know it's been frustrating for many and I just I'm willing to help work from the school board side to make sure that it is a meaningful committee but I think I will also say if I think that it is not I just need the board to know I will make that clear as well so sure we have an alternate just in case would you want to be in trouble all turnit okay so we have
023dr. chase miss young and miss hazard as the appointed members and mr. McCosker is your alternate yep okay sound good all in favor please say aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously mr. McClosky brings us to the consent items do we have a motion about the consent agenda motion for consent items passed meeting minutes personnel report new member for technology and religious exemptions second all right we have a motion in a second no discussion all in favor please say aye aye motion passes unanimously that brings us to the superintendent's comments I just want to make to an out to appointment announcements again tonight dis based on your actions I like to welcome with Miss white I know she's here okay come on it's white yeah miss Katherine white will assume the position of assistant principal at
024North Stafford high school miss white has been the testing quarter at north stafford since 2010 in that role she led the development of the sol writing recovery program and collaborated with the math department to develop a focus remediation for underclassmen previously miss white was science department chair at north stafford and a science teacher for Clark County Public Schools in Virginia and Jefferson County Schools in West Virginia miss white earned her bachelor's of art degrees and degree in environmental science and and policy with a biology concentration from Hood College a Masters of Science degree in environmental science from John Hopkins University and a Masters of Education degree in education administration from Shenandoah University welcome congratulations I just want to briefly mention the the other point the armies is relocating from Florida so she was unable to
025be here tonight but anyway miss Lori Rita will assume the position of 10-month assistant principal at Rodney Thomas middle school I'll just tell you very quickly they were looking for someone with a strong background in special education and she's a special education administrator in Florida and I had a chance to talk to over the phone and I think she'll be a very good addition to well no I just I know the school board knows this I'll just make very quickly I'm as I'm reminded by my colleague here miss Karen Bingham has taken a very important position she'll be the assistant principal at Northstar and if you know Karen she's great energy and in a real positive attitude so thank you and there was a note on the agenda that you were going to yeah now
026I'm gonna go to my comments before I go to the comments that I really want to talk about I just want to quickly mention that yesterday and today I was down in Richmond this superintendent Association and a school Business Association had a two-day workshop with a lot of people explaining the governor's budget and Virginia Retirement System early childhood and pre school funding and what I would just tell you I know there's an interest I think we're getting that legislative committee to organize we we benefit greatly if the governor's budget as proposed is approved so I think this is a conversation we want to have what our state legislators but anyway it was very beneficial I also want to just mention to the board and to the community I know there's a lot of interest in
027the new proposed policy on gender identity and expression of policy 2420 and as you know I people know it's on the website it's been revised to reflect the feedback we see during the past several weeks from both the school board members and members of the community last time I was again encouraged to meet with different stakeholder groups so far I've had a chance to meet with all about principals I met with the equity opportunity and Diversity Committee and this week I will be meeting with the staff Advisory Committee and the Parent Advisory Committee so never I guess where I'm really sharing with you is that I'm still in the process of soliciting and we've been getting lots of emails and I really appreciate everybody's thoughts on this policy but I am NOT asking the board
028for tonight or even the 22nd to take action I need to provide you as much of the feedback that I'm receiving and reflect the feedback in policy statements okay so that's really one thing I want to mention Thank You dr. Kittner that brings us to citizen comments dr. chase would you like to read her that's why you wanted to switch these individuals wishing to comment at this time may do so by responding to the general invitation by the Chairman speakers shall identify themselves by name address and organizational affiliation if the spokesperson represents an organization speakers shall also announce the purpose or topic of their comments three minutes shall be allotted to speakers the chairwoman reserves the right to restrict the total citizen comment received at any particular meeting to a predetermined maximum number of minutes
029with the approval of the board citizen comment which is profane abusive or which threatens eminent physical harm shall be ruled out of order by the chairwoman although the board provides the opportunity for and comment individuals desiring to register complaints against division employees or division programs services or activities may also utilize the procedures outlined in Stafford County public school policy 1 1113 public complaints thank you dr. chase since we have 21 people signed up and then we're gonna open it up to whoever else wants to speak we will be very strictly adhering to the 3-minute role there's stuff late on the podium there the green is when you start the yellow is when you have one minute left and the red is when the time is up so I'm going to call five speakers so the
030other ones can be prepared to come right up first is Nicholas Nagel second is Susan Stimpson third is William Stimpson fourth is Curtis lineweaver and the fifth is Lisa Lyme Weaver and when you come forward if you could give us your name and address please my name is Nick Nagel living Brookwood Drive I'm in George Washington's district I am here to speak on policy 2420 given the dr. Kissinger is still working on it I'd like to put out some initial thoughts I am a parent of two teenagers both in Stafford Schools I do support 24:20 that this is right in my heart I believe it is right I believe that all kids deserve a right to be treated equally I am supportive transgender children I know that they leave on a deep level that their
031gender is different from what the sex they were born with they have deeply held gender identities and they want to be true to themselves they want to be the person that they fail to be this is not a random choice for them there's a lot of misinformation out there but at the end of the day all children should have the opportunity to fully participate and do well in school this policy is about schools doing what is best for all students as a parent of two teenagers I want to be a good role model for them I want to show them that it's important to stand up and do the right thing even when there are plenty of people arguing against you I want transgender students in Stafford County to know that they are supported at
032the end of the day everyone should be able to be themselves and treated fairly for who they are I believe the Stafford County and every other school district in Virginia should create policies protecting all children against discrimination all of this and more is why as I am before you to ask you to do what is right for Stafford County students and approve of policy 2420 when it is ready this is about what we doing what we can for all students we want to support them and get transgender students a fair chance to succeed in school so I hope you approve this policy thank you madam chair can you instruct the speakers to speak into the microphone some people in the back are having a hard time hearing oh okay sorry thank you good evening my
033name is Susan Stimson I live in the thalamus district you need my address 115 huntin Drive I know all of you up here and I served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors was chairman for two years and I've actually made it a personal policy to never come and do this but tonight I feel so strongly about this proposed policy and the fact that I believe it's an assault on our First Amendment rights because all of us have First Amendment rights not just one specific group I want to just get to the heart of the matter of what exactly is the problem the superintendent's proposed policy came when we learned that teachers at one of our schools did not know how to properly protect a transgender student during an active shooter drill so we had
034an issue at one of the schools where a teacher did not follow the safety policy that is prescribed here in Stafford County dr. Kistner told the freelance star if there's a real intruder we don't then start saying you go to the boys room you go to the girls room we would say go to the nearest secure room that's our policy it wasn't followed for whatever reason tonight we're here taking up a proposed policy that has absolutely nothing to do with a safety policy that is technically correct if you look at the Department of Homeland Security what do you do when you have an active shooter everyone goes to the nearest secured room all dr. kids no needed to do was correct a situation in one of his schools where the emergency policy wasn't followed required
035retraining and I appreciate the fact that dr. kistner has reached out to political groups and stakeholders it might have been a better idea to reach out to our sheriff and ask him what can we do to make sure that our children are safe in an emergency situation but instead Stafford County became a national embarrassment I'm embarrassed at what happened and none of us really needs to be here tonight if dr. Kistner had just simply done a retraining of this issue I just want to get to one important point and that's about compelled speech in America First Amendment rights we have the right to remain silent we can't compel someone to say a word that they don't want to say I think it's very reasonable for a teacher to agree to call a child by a
036name that the child wants to be called by but to force a teacher or anyone to say a word that they don't want to say strikes at the very heart of First Amendment rights I would ask you to please not pass this policy thank you anyone that wants to submit their comments for the record can give them to our clerk when you finish hello my name is William Stimpson and I live in 115 Hunton Drive in the Falmouth district and I'm here to speak to policy 2420 I'm a college student and a recent graduate from Stafford high school with a fresh memory of the public school experience and a continued vested interest in education I decided that it would be worth my time to read over and ponder policy 2420 Pollan alysus have come to
037the conclusion that despite having what are probably good intentions this policy fails to accomplish the goals that it sets its sights on the first problem I noticed was regarding the idea of assertion a word that has used dozens of times throughout the policy for starters the policy fails to effectively define the criteria for what a legitimate assertion is the term has used dozens of times without any clear definition definition however the more pressing issue I take with this idea is the amount of responsibility pinned on the discretion of a young child who could be as young as four or five years old now none of this is to neglect the legitimacy of any of these children's feelings or identities but it's rather to point out the importance of parents and other adult figures in the
038child's life it's the parents job to make decisions for their children until they're old enough to choose for themselves this policy grants young children the ability to dictate the speech of their teachers requiring nothing more than an assertion whatever that means since it wasn't clearly defined the second and quite possibly more severe problem I take with this policy is with regard to the bathroom and changing areas I find that the policy fails to consider the feelings of all the other students in the school over the past year or so we've witnessed the me2 movement where women are rightfully urged to let people know if they are ever uncomfortable and it's important to remember that when young students are in bathrooms locker rooms and showers they're at their most vulnerable and it is absolutely imperative that
039we treat any feelings of discomfort as absolutely legitimate the policy reads quote if a high school student expresses discomfort with the transgender students use of the same sex segregated restroom locker room or changing facility school administrators may address the discomfort this language is far too ambiguous on an issue that we must take more seriously it barely even addresses this problem that will inevitably come up at some point the policy doesn't ensure that the feelings of discomfort will be treated as legitimate at all it only says they may be considered all students should feel equally entitled to expressing their discomfort and should never be discouraged in any way from coming forward it is my belief that if any student feels any type of discomfort when they are in a changing room or a shower their concerns
040should be met with absolute seriousness no exceptions not ambiguity as to what will happen to them if they expressed discomfort this policy falls short of protecting all children equally and I'm especially concerned for the young girls who may feel discouraged from expressing discomfort or worry that they might have good evening my name is Curtis I live off Phillips Parkway in Stafford Virginia I'm here to address policy 24:22 gender identity and expression our star start I will start at the top of the the document as I was looking over it I saw that said the purpose of this is to ensure a safe well welcoming free from discrimination for all students policy regardless of students Jenner gender identity or expression what I found through reading through the policy it really failed to do that on almost
041all accounts what I'd like you to just go through the rest of the policy and demonstrate why I think it fails to address safety security and freedom from discrimination move down first to of the definition transgender is an umbrella term for those students whose expressed in behaviors mannerisms appearances or identities are incongruent with their sex assigned at Birth I found that to be an interesting use of a term I've been in via deliver delivery room three times and all three times I never saw the doctor flip a coin and go girl oh boy whatever it was based on biological evidence determined by the presence of x and y chromosomes hard hard science that I was taught when I was coming through junior high in high school I don't think it can be termed any other
042way so I just would suggest using a better term than assigned when it's more accurate moving on though that the write directly relates to the next point for a names pronouns school records school staff shall honor a student's request to be addressed by the students preferred name gender pronoun etc etc a Susan Stimson welded up perfectly the thought that this policy will compel school administrators teachers to address a student by anything other than whether being male or female based on the biology of the student is a violation of their First Amendment rights so again a violation of of rights moving into restrooms and locker rooms all students are entitled and have access to restrooms etc school personnel shall permit the student to use the restroom locker room or changing facility consistent with the school's asserted
043gender identity so again the first thing that popped into my mind we're gonna have boys and girls I mean honestly I'm all up for equal rights as much as the next person I want everyone to be treated equally but at the same time I don't like the idea of my daughter being compelled to shower with boys in the locker room on school property it's not right and it violates my rights as a parent that there's a policy that potentially make that a real possibility moving down though it's somewhat mitigated in that a student who feels uncomfortable with the situation can be facilities other stuff you made available to for that student who desires more privacy so what that really tells me is that if it was my daughter who felt uncomfortable the situation she would
044have to self-identify as being uncomfortable with being compelled to shower with boys or whatever she would have to put herself out in public to be discriminated against segregated from other students to be given a different facility to use or whatever and probably opening herself up to mistreatment by other students for not feeling not being a supporter I'll wrap it up real quick well I just don't think that you have to we're gonna have to UM to cut you off I apologize you can submit your comments to the works right after the next speaker Anthony Bilotti as after the the next speaker who is Miss lineweaver Leanne Van Doren Nicolas de Silva and Shannon Spielman you just can you hear me okay before the timer starts I just wouldn't submit the copies of an article of
045the school board with a doctor statement on his clinical experience and research regarding transgenders good evening representatives and our new superintendent Scott Kaiser or relatively new my name is Lisa limeira I'm a mother of three in a registered nurse I also hold a master's in family nurse practitioner I'm here in regards to the newly proposed policy 2420 this policy has emerged after the u.s. office of civil rights in the Department of Justice under the Obama administration with Eric Holder on March 12th 2015 twisted title 9 to not only apply to a physical trait but to a behavior biological sex age and race are all physical traits there is no law that has been passed by Congress that actually exists that delineates anatomical boys using girls bathrooms most alarming is the language under policy 2420 school
046records that ends with the student has legally changed their name or sex are we going to allow in this county and in our state children to be injected with organ damaging hormones of the opposite sex and mutilating surgeries which will forever diminish or permanently sterilize children from being able to ever have their own children should they change their mind about their behavior once they become legal adults On June 4 2015 just three months after the announcement of the corrupt Justice Department dr. poem R McHugh the former psychiatrist in chief for John Hopkins Hospital a distinguished psychiatry section transgenderism he says is a mental disorder that merits treatment that sex change is biologically impossible and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder he also reported on a new
047study showing that the suicide rate among transgender people who had reassignment surgery is twenty times higher than the suicide rate among non transgender people dr. McHugh further noted studies from Vanderbilt University in london's portland clinic of children who had expressed transgender feelings but for who over time 70 to 80 percent spontaneously lost those feelings furthermore the burden should not be on teachers or any other layperson to diagnose any type of dissociative disorder or in today's culture transgenderism let teachers teach nurses nurse and psychiatrists doctors and psychiatric nurse practitioners who are educated in the field of mental health conditions and trained to diagnose diagnosed policy 2420 would also make it so that any child who expressed discomfort for having to change shower or sleep next to a member of the opposite biological sex with overnight school
048field trips which is in at the policy would then be counseled this is compelled speech by the government and force against one's conscience which is protected by virginia state law thank you hello my name is Anthony Pilate my address is 20 grace Manor Court Fredericksburg yeah I'm here to talk about 24 2014 span which is something that previous speakers have forgotten exists apparently that means I'm assigned female at birth I actually went through similar things that they were talking about actually wrote a whole speech but I think I'm just gonna share my experience because I really think that's the most relevant yeah I did experience having to use a totally different bathroom than all of my other peers I experienced missing out on several different field trips because I knew that I wasn't gonna be
049able to be placed with the gender that I identified as and that that would out me as a trans person and despite what propaganda would tell you there are actually more cases of trans people being assaulted in public bathrooms than there are six people being assaulted by trans people and I think that that's really important to remember especially when you have people telling you really incorrect information yeah so I actually have been here before I'm sure many of you remember me I've been to about 11 meetings now I recently graduated from colonial Forge I'm now attending VCU where I have the highest GPA that I've ever attained and I want to believe that's because Stafford County prepared me but I know that a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm now
050in an inclusive learning environment where I am treated with respect and dignity and I hope that you can bring that energy into Stafford County like I have deserved and like every other trans student deserves so I hope you will vote YES on 2420 if we want to give everyone a chance to speak and it's gonna be a long night so I would appreciate if you could hold your applause this is Miss Van Doren I was so busy clapping I forgot to come down and do my own speaking um hi thank you for being here tonight and for grappling with this issue so thoughtfully my name is Leanne Van Doren I live at nine Ridge Hollow Drive Fredericksburg Virginia I am the mother of a 2015 Stafford high school graduate from the stat engineering program at
051Stafford senior high and I have a senior at the Commonwealth levar School at Stafford senior high getting ready to graduate I live in the George Washington district and we actually moved here from the city of Fredericksburg to take advantage of the stat engineering program and then stayed to take advantage of the CGS programs so we invested heavily in our children's education and believe that these programs were worth investing in I believe that every student deserves to feel safe at school in order to learn at their highest level my oldest daughter is physically disabled one of her biggest fears was that in an emergency like a fire or a shooting she would be left behind to die by her able-bodied teachers and peers I believe no student should be left to die or spend time worrying
052about the possibility of being left to die because they are transgender or disabled or just different from what society accepts as normal equally all students should feel like they can go to the bathroom safely without fear of bullying I believe policy 2420 everyone's fears founded and unfounded I believe it is in the best interest of all students and this board to pass this language that is fair and reasonable so that we can all go back to goals that I feel are more like funding adequate math instruction and our high schools more young woman who goes to high school in this county she be told that she needs to give a per goal of attending engineering school because the math teachers don't have enough time to accommodate a 504 or an IEP with our outside support
053hiring tutors and enrolling in online courses that we paid for not the school my daughter would not have been able to matriculate at VCU engineering the lack of enough math teachers is at a critical level in this county we already lost stat engineering at Stanford senior high because we could not afford to pay what the certified teacher needed to be paid to stay our attention should be on educating our kids to a high standard and helping to create the environment that will support all students having access to a high quality STEM education even if they are not able bodied heterosexual high income white males we can't afford to waste our children's talents just because they do not fit a particular mold my husband cannot find enough engineers to work at his company right here in
054the Fredericksburg area where we are squabbling thank you [Applause] hello superintendent Kistner and honorable school board members my name is Nicolas de Silva a former Stafford high school student I come tonight to speak on behalf of SB 2420 because of my personal experiences in high school I saw some of my closest friends who were trans and I am sad to say I consistently saw them discriminated against our teachers would malign them intentionally mince gender them deny them access to the correct bathroom facilities keeping them unsafe and in one grievous incident nearly had a yearbook story pulled because because solely of their trans identity until the American Civil Liberties Union got involved of course I do not need to remind you of the more recent incident during a lockdown drill of a student left alone in
055a potentially dangerous situation I'm not gonna belabor my point with the copious evidence available in support of this bill as I'm sure many of my many others here today can far more eloquently I came here to speak on behalf of my friends the people I love and the children of Stafford County who deserve a safe environment to live to learn and to grow up in I implore you to not give in to the ignorance of others and listen to the testimony of many here tonight who had who have lived these experiences and who deserve the opportunity to grow please I implore you give the children of Stafford County to the chance to have the childhood that so many before have been denied thank you after Shannon Spielman the next speaker will be Timothy Devine at
056a man Hannah Bradley and Melissa Bradley I'm back so I came in last time I talked directly to you I actually wanted to shake your hand if that's okay can I do that I came in last time and I actually don't need this mic because I'm just a loud person I came in here last time and I was if you could address your comments to the board you guys I was I was against it and you know I came in I told you if you change what you changed I would be for it so now I'm for it cuz you actually listen you did it you changed them you revised it it's a good revise I like it I've set back in this room now and I've kind of listened I had a big speech
057I want to do and I kind of left it on my desk to go figure but now I've heard is religion and science well religion tells you that you should love everybody regardless of who they are you should love them love thy neighbor science every one of them that came up here and said oh well their DNA says this man we're past that now that's great you can be born a boy and you can be a girl now why because medically we can do that you can medically change it it's it's not a hard concept we've progressed as a society to do that if we can fix cancer we'd be great you got that part yet we working on at that it's cool so you sit here and you do those things you guys are
058forgetting that these are children that we're trying to protect its children this is not an adult walking into the Walmart bathroom like I said last time this is children you're more than welcome to write a note to the school saying I don't want my kid to participate in PE go for it have fun with it it is what it is that your choice is a parent stop bullying these kids because that's all I've heard today from grown adults is bullying towards transgender that's ridiculous well you're an adult society when did it become okay to pick on an eight year old a ten year old when the only time I got yelled at at that age is when I did something wrong not because I wanted to be a boy and people gonna go oh well
059what do you know my first name Shannon Shannon okay I'm a dude with what the girl's name do what the girl's name right here that's me I know what those kids go through I was picked on all through elementary school I went by my middle name of coal in middle school because I had a girl's name you gotta be kidding me we're past that I'm 35 years old I've served my country yes I've done that I got up I raised my hand I served a long time medically retired cancer so I want it fixed but we bully we're bullying this you've done great revisions thank you my time's up enjoy [Applause] Timothy Devine here add a man head of Bradley and Melissa Bradley after yes hi good evening first of all I this is excited
060I've never done this before I want to thank you school board because this is a this takes courage and resilience and I appreciate that and I really appreciate you listening to us and I really appreciate you suggesting priority to those of us who live in Stafford oh I left that part out yeah eleven Truslow Falmouth right I know and proud father of five children yeah that's right five so four for me gender transition itself has been a big focus of this and you know as has been suggested people should be treated as people they should be respected as people and to me that's you know that's not the moral issue here it if something that's very interesting to me is is look at the what the intersexual Society of North America has to say is
061and a.org and and they talk about conditions where where people are born and they have to bring in a special specialist one out of as many as one out of 1,500 bursts just to help the doctor determine the sex of the child it could be outwardly male but then later they learned there's inward female parts so this is a real issue I mean this really happens and and what I'm saying is in some cases quite naturally no matter your faith or whatever you lean on there are there are people born in these very challenging circumstances and parents have to make hard decisions and it may not be until adolescence that they have to learn wait a minute I guess I'm not the gender I've been told I am and so because of those facts for
062me even as a Christian a Christian minister at that it leads me to realize that gender transition happens okay and so it's not really up to me or any citizen of Stafford County to then judge well is this an intersexual like kind of rightful transition or is this someone who sort of decided because of whatever reason so it's not our place as parents or as a school to decide whether it's necessary but where it becomes an amoral issue is how we respond in policy we can respond morally we can respond in morally and the grievous concern I have with the policy though we may need that this may be the time for gender transition policy the grievous concern I have is the locker room and the inn yeah the locker room in the shower situation
063we pledge allegiance earlier to the flag liberty and justice for all liberty and justice for all yes we have Liberty it's a tricky word Liberty that doesn't mean that I can disrobe in front of everybody right now just because I'm comfortable with it we have laws against that I would this gentleman would have recipe right because there's lots B it's Liberty for all not just the one individual so we have to consider every one the vast majority of the students as well as treating everyone with the quality thank you for your time at a man well I have some handouts I am I supposed to give it to you you can give that to the clerk when you're finished put it on the record alright awesome my name is Adam and I live at 17
064brew Street here in Stafford I'm in the Rock Hill district early this morning I got up kind of early I started to collect data on trans youth in schools to rattle off to you but the more I started to find data the more I realized that if the effectiveness of the approach isn't isn't good enough I came here today not just to change your mind about this one policy well but also to change your hearts a far more difficult task you see we changed our minds all the time I changed my mind about coming to this meeting about a dozen times and whether to speak or not but we really changed our hearts we rarely changed our hearts and that's why I'm here tonight to begin to change your heart with my story and just
065so that you will change your mind on your own with some shared credible facts which I'll give to you to the clerk I also wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for my boyfriend Anthony Pilate who just spoke earlier we've been dating since I asked him out to my senior homecoming dance in 2016 with the poster and some cheesy puns about our favorite show my boyfriend as he told you is transgender over the past two years or so I've learned a lot from him Andy has taught me a lot about being an ally to him and his in the trans community and consequently our broader LGBTQ queer community well there is as simple as lending a shoulder frame to cry on or driving him to a consultation for gender affirming surgery which we did together
066in Richmond yesterday one thing he often reminds me of is when we first started dating I started watching trans youtubers so I wouldn't sound dumb when we just got his identity and his experience is he says that's when he knew I was the right one for him one of the first things I began to realize in regards to his experience as a trans person is when is how often his daily life was centered around humiliation and harassment in school he would text me frantically about what bathroom to go to and sometimes he wouldn't even wouldn't go to the bathroom until when he got home he would tell me about how his teachers in respect or tried to avoid his pronouns and name and all this heightened his anxiety and depression and took away from the
067time to do the thing he came to do from in school and that is to learn anthony is one of the thousands of students past and present who have been let down by the school district this policy if enacted will positively affect the lives of every trans kid in our in our county playing simple this policy won't negatively impact anybody especially not sis tudents contrary to some opinions which were given earlier i urge you to practice empathy and compassion and in true leadership by talking with trans students and their supportive parents real conversation doesn't happen in a school boarding school board meeting it happens in a small local business or a private home or public event get to know your constituents and I'm sure you'll vote on policy 2014 thank you [Applause] after Hannah and
068Melissa Bradley we have Deborah tricky Valerie Hill and Ben Litchfield totally my name is Hannah breathy I don't live in the Rock Hill District my mom asked me if I can see Kurt girl other girls private parts in the bathroom I told I told her no way the only way I can see is if I looked under the stall which I won't do my mommy taught me it it what it it's what is on the inside that counts she told me that and she told me that and I know that's true my friends are my friends because they are nice they have my trust and I love all of them I just learned all of them all of us to be treated the same even even if one of them is different I am different
069I am NOT transgender I have autism I see people as their self my sister is my sister and if you pass this policy my mom says she will be treated equally that makes me happy I have a hard time understanding some things because of the autism but I do understand that people are people and kids are kids I don't care who you are or where you pee I just what I just plead please wash your hands what is the difference between a trans student using the bathroom that they identify as and when a mom brings her son into the women's bathroom or when my father had to take me into the men's room when we were out this isn't bread box my eyes weren't covered I never saw anything I shouldn't please past the policy
070to treat all LGBT people equal thank you good evening board members Stafford County residents my name is Melissa Bradley I live in the Rock Hill District of Stafford County I want to remind everybody that this proposed policy is not strictly about bathrooms and locker rooms but many people only see that part of it I want to remind you that these are just children that we are talking about but since so many people are concerned with the bathroom I will address something with you parents have it expressed that they don't want their children exposed to opposite-gender genitalia I understand their concerns but with all due respect it is a little hypocritical if their family is also one who has a son that the mother takes into the public bathroom with them or a father whose small
071daughter can't be left alone outside when he goes to the bathroom dressed as women go into the stall and lock the doors so do children you are not able to see anything and if you are you are looking way too closely a year and a half ago in a local elementary school a child four months into transition with bows in her hair and a pretty brown dress on was exiting the boys bathroom she was approached by two male peers who stopped her when will you start using the girls bathroom one said yeah you don't belong in here the other added the child had been comfortable using the boys bathroom still until that day if the two kids can see that she didn't belong there why can't the system locker rooms are another concern but the
072last time I checked they're still in underwear when they're changing out for gym class and many of the girls choose to use the bathroom or the shower stalls I just talked with middle schooler who still does this and a high schooler who still as well changes in the bathroom stall I cannot express enough that our trans children are not interested in showing your child their genitalia they just want inclusion they just want to belong a parent's job is to protect their child I agree with some parents comments about this policy before about it being a safety impact on their child is anything but to assume that a trans person with male genitalia is a threat to your child is no different than me assuming that your child's father in the school is a threat to
073my child just because they have male genitalia that is asinine that is not the case I know this you know this we all know this we lead by example Stafford County is very diverse when we moved here six seven was one lane each way it took me five minutes to go five minutes we have people coming in from all parts of the country we have students that have actually had birth certificates revised in their original state so nobody in the system is going to know that they're transgender there are people that are using the bathroom next to a trans person and they don't know that and nothing nothing happened nothing it's not affecting them in any way the stall is closed you know I thought that's basically you know that's it our stalls are closed
074they're locked for a reason thank you [Music] [Applause] good evening school board members and mr. Kistner my name is Debra tricky I live at an Antietam loop and the aquired district I'm against policy 2420 right in the Star weekly that a transgender policy was in the works to be voted on in January so I felt compelled to come to speak to you this evening since there are now students entering the school system with gender dysphoria the condition of feelings when emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one's biological sex I do agree a policy is necessary however this policy change should fit in with those other policies already implemented in the school system we have many special students in the school that like transgender students are the minority for example
075my child she has a peanut and tree nut allergy at lunch she is separated from the other children and has to sit at a nut-free table sometimes by herself at or at other times with others like her she wants to be like the other children she wants to sit with her friends but she can't she is different from them for her protection and for the freedom of all the other children to have nuts milk eggs and other items that may be allergens she must be set apart this should also be true for the transgender students they need to have a locker room and bathroom set aside for them only for them so that all other students may maintain their safety and privacy that they are entitled to I thank you for your time this evening
076and I greatly appreciate your dedication to the children of Stafford County [Applause] good evening my name is Valerie Hill I live on Dawson Drive in Falmouth Virginia I'm here to express my support for policy 2420 the policy is a unique chance for Stafford County to ensure that with all the trans all the challenges that transgender and gender non-conforming students face many of which we've heard about today that we are doing our best to remove school policies as a source of those challenges for those students eliminating bullying entirely may be a pipe dream but this policy would be a significant step in ensuring that the people hired by the county to create a safe environment conducive to learning for all students are able to do so by providing them with the necessary guidance I wish we
077didn't have to provide them with the guidance but as we've shown as we've heard it's needed the policy costs nothing to implement it puts very little burden on teachers and administrators with all due respect this is very different than a nut policy they it only requires the adults in the room to use common sense and treat some of their most vulnerable students with basic respect if you can use a nickname that a student requests you can use the pronouns that a student requests further as an attorney I see this as a low-risk conservative policy it only applies to transgender students who have shown consistent and uniform assertion of their gender identity or other evidence of their gender identity that it is sincerely held as part of their core identity so this is not a policy
078that students are just going to take advantage of on a whim this is truly about who these children are second it is likely to withstand a legal challenge by providing accommodations for students and parents who sincerely held beliefs religious or otherwise may conflict with the policy finally the policy is very flexible it simply requires administration to engage with the needs of all of their students both transgender and gender non-conforming students and students whose parents oppose oppose the policy to be honest that merely codify something that should already go without saying in our schools respect for all students regardless of their differences and a commitment to their safety it doesn't cost anything to be kind respectful and committed to giving our students the best education we can we shouldn't need this policy but based on recent
079events it's clear that we do I heard you to vote in this favor [Applause] next speaker will be followed by Josh Cole janae Williams and Kim Robinson good evening how's everyone tonight my name is Benjamin Litchfield I also live on Dawson Drive I am chairman of the Stafford County Democratic Committee I'm responsible for nominating candidates to the school board just in case anybody wants to know what I do I'm also a practicing attorney like my wife who spoke before me and I graduated from Howard University School of Law the premier civil rights institution in the country we produced luminaries like Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall justice Marshalls very important because he argued part of the package of cases that made up brown v board and you heard about me or you heard about brown
080v board when I talked to you in October I was actually rather angry with what had happened to a transgender student in a local school and I asked the school board to respond to that issue with dignity with compassion with what dr. King used to call wisdom justice and love and I'm here to say doctor kizza know you have heeded the call in a way that's responsible dignified and shows why we should have our faith in you now I've heard a lot of things Ty and I had some prepared remarks but I would like to address the religious liberty argument is you know as a practicing attorney and one of the things I had to learn as a baby lawyer in law school was about the First Amendment and about what it means what what
081is exactly compelled speech and recent case law shows there are several examples where teachers are compelled to speak in certain ways that they may may disagree with they may teach curricula which conflicts with their core values either conservative or liberal policies that they happen to disagree with on religious political fundamental reason there are fundamental reasons they're required to speak in a manner that the school board the Department of Education elected officials instruct them to speak the Supreme Court's been very clear that you have no fundamental right to public employment and teachers can be disciplined for a number of things they can be disciplined for having a poster in their classroom that says and the war because it's disruptive or even a teacher could be disciplined for having an LGBTQ flag so this argument about compelled
082speech is really a red herring for you but as an accommodation to the other side to susan Stimpson and others if you feel like you need to strike it dr. Kissinger please by all means because while they talk about the First Amendment I believe in the 14th which says that no state shall deny any person equal protection of the laws and Brown versus Board of Education was clear separate but equal in education has no place in our public schools and that's what I would say to you tonight thank you for your consideration of SB 24 20s you all [Applause] good evening everyone madam chair madam Vice Chair my name is Joshua Cole I reside at 1138 James Madison circle in the Falmouth district I am the president of Stafford counties in ACP and I am
083coming before you today in support of policy 2420 our branch met last night and we agreed that we would support this part of the mission of the National NAACP is to support the social economic and political equality of all citizens and so I know many people get caught up in the NAACP National Association advanced it for the colored people but it also means for all people of color and all people when whatever measures relate to them so when we're thinking about this policy I just want to remind you just a couple of months ago we found out that Amazon hq2 was coming to Northern Virginia and as it goes with jobs in Northern Virginia many people are going to look for cheaper places to live because they all don't want to live in Crystal City
084they can't all afford to live in Crystal City so many of them are going to be commuters they're gonna live in Fredericksburg they're gonna live in Spotsylvania they're gonna live in Stafford County and Stafford County has an awesome opportunity right now because there is no other School District in the nation on the state that has made this type of move we have the ability to set the standard be a shining beacon in the United States and show that we are moving forward we don't want to have two marks against us we already had the Confederate flag issue and now we're having this issue we have the opportunity to take advantage of it and push forward and so that's from an economic standpoint that's from a social standpoint but then I'm also hearing you know as
085a preacher you hear all these different concerns coming against my religious liberty and as a pastor and a Baptist Church and a conservative Baptist Church that I might get in trouble for saying this for but we don't believe in discrimination period you know the Stafford County Public Schools mean there's gonna be many different people coming to school here there's Islamic students there's Christian students there's trans students there's Strait students they're homosexual students they're all of these many different students and so we may all have different opinions may all disagree we may all agree but I think one thing we can agree on is that no one deserves to be discriminated against and we've already heard it the different parents and the different teachers on this social media on all the forms and what they're saying
086I just want to remind you that it's Stafford County Public Schools that means there's gonna be many different people who are here you may not agree with their lifestyle you may not agree with what they want to do but we can agree to agree that no one deserves to be discriminated against and for all the Christian parents that may be upset of what's going on let me just remind you down in massive politics as Fredericksburg Christian schools and I'm sure they will take your tuition and just students you can drop them down to Massa ponics every day so we appreciate you and I ask you to push this and pass this thank you [Applause] I'm here today to speak with you all about policy 24 20 my name is Jenny Williams and I reside on
087Charles Street in Fredericksburg Virginia by the time I quit teaching high school in Stafford County after four years I was exhausted I was exhausted with being a young black queer educator having my morals pedagogical approach and even presence in the classroom scrutinized regularly I was most exhausted with the accounts of harassment microaggression and disregard my students of color my lgbtq+ students my neuro atypical and young women students and all those that existed at the intersections of all of these experiences would share with me daily I was exhausted because I knew that no matter who I encouraged them to go to there would be no policy nor infrastructure in place to appropriately resolve nor prevent future instances of the nature and I knew this intimately because there were none they were also meant to address my
088own as a cisgender which means not trans queer educator in September 2014 my first month of my first year teaching high school in Stafford County I entered the planning room mid department conversation regarding the Regular Decision of a freshman black male student of wearing dresses makeup and heels as a thing that we don't allow here that that he better fix before he gets kicked out this would prove to be emblematic of the core beliefs about and resulting engagement of trans students for the remainder of my time in the county I commend the superintendent for pushing the county to expand who we include when we say and think of as every student because what I know to be true is that we cannot teach students that we do not know the unique educational hurdles of and
089we cannot do that without acknowledging that they are here we must commit to seeing them in a world in which we see and celebrate difference we acknowledge difference as a thing inherently value valuable important and necessary we ensure protections for every student that shows up to learn thank you the next speaker will be followed by bread pickhardt and Carmen Greer greener hi my name is Kim Robinson I'm on Montgomery Drive and Stafford Rock Hill district I think I'm have a totally different tact I'm not here to debate I'm here to address 24:20 but my tact is I was raised that you know you don't have a right to complain about anything unless you have a possible solution for it so thank you for seeking input from Stafford County parents Stafford County citizens if my whole
090thing is of 2420 is going to happen and I think we need to love everybody that's what Jesus taught we need to live everybody regardless but if this if this is going to go through it's a complex subject very complex but after much discussion with friends neighbors with their children and spouses in Stafford County we've it seems like it boils down to what the federal government calls reasonable accommodations which is something that you have to do in a federal government office if somebody has an accommodation that they need so the consensus that I have seen with Stafford County parents is that there be a reasonable accommodation for everybody now you know maybe this is our simplified yet but this is from moms and this is from children that I have talked to extensively about this
091that there be a set of restrooms and locker rooms for everybody transgender goats dogs cats whatever who wants to use them then have another set for students who wish to use a restroom or locker room with similar like Anatomy then you can have a single-seater restroom for anybody to use now when I was in elementary school I was bullied in a restroom so let me tell you I would have loved to have had a single-seater restroom for me to use so the rest of my school career because after being forcibly held in a restroom by happen to be another girl at the time I was terrified to walk in to restrooms but I myself the rest of my school career and I don't want any child to go through that because it's not fun also
092this would ensure that all students would have a choice no one's singled out no one's separated everybody would have a place that they could go and eleventh the little girl said you know I don't care how you pee just so everyone can have whatever accommodations they feel comfortable in now my daughter wanted to speak tonight but she has s wells tomorrow since she asked me to convey that she would like to use a restroom in the locker room with students of like anatomy but she also believes the above scenario would be fair for everybody involved this would treat all students fairly now my daughter also has autism she's been bullied from the time she was in second grade and she doesn't want anyone believed and we don't want anybody's the family because let me tell
093you it destroys lives but everyone should be treated fairly every Stafford student deserves to feel safe and comfortable and I know I'm talking about restrooms and locker rooms but from talking to friends and their daughters this would accommodate everybody thank you hi I'm Brad pick our element boards drive and Stafford I'm in the rock Hill District I have two daughters and Stafford County Public Schools and soccer I'm here to speak about the same policy I really for me this just one point I think this is just a safety issue for me I'm reminded of what Target stores have done you know over a year ago they instituted open bathroom policies so you could go into the bathroom that you identified with and since then there have been multiple instances of sexual predators taking advantage of
094the situation you know I think transgender people need to be accommodated for but I think what you're gonna do is you're hoping opening up the floodgates for people to abuse it and you know when with boys running around our high schools of raging hormones I just I think we're kidding ourselves if they're not going to take advantage of the situation and I I just fear for the safety of my daughters so that's all I can say thank you hey Carmen greener is the next speaker now after the speaker we don't have anyone else signed up okay we'll discuss that after the speaker thank you good evening my name is Carmen Greiner I live in Spotsylvania I am here to represent equality Stafford I am a master's level counselor practicing in Spotsylvania I've been practicing for
095over 25 years I'm a licensed professional counselor licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner I have been working with GLBT folks I'm as a specialty for the last 10 years we run a transgender program and we work with both adult and child Trent Fox who identify as transgender our country is one that has moved through many transitions slavery women's right indigenous peoples rights civil rights gay lesbian rights immigrant rights and so forth we are a country that is progressive and learning to live the Christian ideals of love the golden rule and compassion for those who suffer I haven't heard a whole lot of that tonight compassion for those who suffer guys I'm the one on the other end who picks up the pieces and tries to put together a child who was destroyed as they walked out
096of a bathroom or as somebody called some effeminate young boy gay and he wasn't or someone who identifies as transgender who was maligned by his teacher and told by his teacher that he needed to be who she wanted him to be not who he wanted to be I also hope doctor kizza that you all are talking with professionals as a part of this instead of just lay folks who are putting out stats that I think on some levels are made up but we shall move on um trans kids are mentally ill there is a diagnosis for transgender we call it gender dysphoria it is a diagnosis of I'm sad with what I have well that makes some sense I don't know that that means that you have schizophrenia but I don't want to assume how
097many people in this room are on antidepressants but I would suggest a lot and we're not calling them we're not stigmatizing them the kids will expose themselves in locker rooms and bathrooms and I understand what this nice gentleman who spoke before me said and I get that but we are a creative people and this works in some places the trans kids will attacks his kids no that doesn't generally happen it does sometimes especially when we have to defend ourselves but that's not usually the goal students will all of a sudden become trans kids don't generally do that now there is some contagion I think right now in our society as kids who have always felt transgendered are having a moment to feel freer to talk about their gender identity which by the way is on
098a continuum and not a male or a female unlike my esteemed colleague who said biology is biology thank you [Music] [Applause] madam chair I'd like okay I was gonna take a after this speaker madam chair I'd five or ten minute we just had the last speaker okay I'd like a five minute point of privilege brief we're gonna take a five minute break when we come back if we can have the residents of Stafford why don't we just take all the speakers and then we'll see let's see how many people want to speak how many people want to speak to the board all right if you could if we could have the Stafford residence here and the nan Stafford res Stafford County residents over here that was what you asked for correct all right Stafford County
099nine Stafford County now when you come when you come down after you everyone who speaks from this point on has not signed up so that means you have to sign up on the signup sheet on the ledger there when you finish okay all right what is the will of the board to go forward now okay everyone here will just we'll move on hi my name is Molly Morello and I live in George Washington district I'm a student at Dixon Smith middle school I was if you could speak into the microphone then people can hear better thank you I was at the last school board meeting and I heard some opposition to the proposed policy 2420 when I heard that these people think when you go into the locker room you flash your body parts around
100let's just be real that doesn't happen I go into the locker room every other day to change for gym and let me tell you everybody feels uncomfortable and awkward and tries to cover themselves up if a transgender student came into the locker room they would feel ten times worse than going into a locker room that matched their biology not their gender identity simply because they are scared uneducated or downright bigoted as we heard of some of our opposition here tonight this is why we need an anti discrimination apology policy to protect LGBTQ kids anti-discrimination policy is designed to protect the minority not the majority I am only 13 years old and even I understand that I wonder if any of the opposition have been Stafford County locker room recently I think not please support school
101board 2420 and protect kids all kids and to the opposition here in the meeting the information that you think you know so much is completely wrong false and horribly misinformed and and if your daughter's feel uncomfortable then they should bring them them here down to speak you're hurting people with your fake news you are hurting kids you are hurting people here in this meeting shame excuse me we need you to sign in everyone when you finish sign in thank you i Carol Manohar I live in the George Washington district and I wasn't going to speak tonight because you guys all know where I stand on this I've spoke to you multiple times but I felt the need to come and just say a few things about what's been said first and foremost this is an
102absolute appropriate response to what happened with the lockdown drill the reason that that emergency drill happened and there was any question as to where a student should go was because this policy doesn't exist and because their husband questions about whether or not to allow students access to restrooms so this is an absolute perfect response to that emergency situation and and then I started thinking what else could I say that maybe you haven't heard I actually went back and listened to the comments from the board meetings from years ago as well as for this time around and a lot of the opposition is talking about the other children that are not transgender that are not you know affected sets say by this policy and so as a parent of three teenage daughters who are not transgender
103one of the hardest conversations I've had to have with them is when I'm gonna try not to get emotional about this they weren't being discriminated against but they've witnessed it again and again and again in their school by adults sometimes and sometimes by their peers and one of the hardest conversations I had to have is when my daughter who's white cisgender who said to me mom I don't know what to say when people say these things in front of me I don't know how to respond so it is for all of the other children that this policy is needed because they need to see that a safe learning environment that includes everyone is the way it's supposed to be and that they aren't supposed to hear those comments from their peers or their teachers and
104they are supposed to feel comfortable to say I can't say that in front of me that's not okay now this was specifically in terms of race because they have a daughter I have a daughter who was adopted into it's a different race than my and so the conversation started in that domain kids say things in front of me because they don't know my sister's black and then it went on but teachers and kids say things about kids who are transgender in front of me and I know it's wrong and it's not okay teachers and kids say things in front of me about children who are of a different country and it's not okay and they want to know how to stand up and advocate and I want them to know that that's exactly an appropriate
105response and so it is for all of the other children in Stafford County public schools that may not identify as transgender that this policy needs to be in place because they need to know that a safe inclusive environment for all students is the way it should be and that they should be able to speak up and advocate for their peers who are different than them thank you [Applause] good evening I'm Elaine calendar of Falmouth district the times they are a-changin when I was a K through 12 student gender identity would never have been discussed in a public meeting probably not at all but it is good now that we are more open congratulations on working on policy 24:20 there needs to be a policy that respects all students and values all students one reason I
106support protections for LBGT students is because of people I have known I'd like to tell you about one individual in particular when I was in high school her name was Nancy she was greatly admired for her intelligence and her positive attitude she was student body president editor of the school newspaper on the debate team etc she was valedictorian and went to the prestigious MIT for college Nancy didn't stay in touch after high school fifty years later I located her on Facebook thanks to her brother her name was now Lea she was head of an lbgtq organization in Massachusetts I know my friend would support our school system having an inclusive policy regarding gender identity so so do I but by the way Nancy attended her 50th high school reunion with her partner in hand thank
107you [Applause] his calendar if you could please Sign In good evening board members stand down I superintendent Kistner I rise rise today in opposition to twenty four twenty excuse me could you give us your name yes my name is Mark Murphy I'm a resident of a quiet Harbor with Coburn Cove I'm also the father of five sons every one of which has been on a roll National Honor Society one graduate of William Mary went in graduate American University top honors was the national debate champion of the country all the circuit also distant relative of Martin Luther King my grandmother's maiden name grandmother made me was King lot of a reference here to civil rights and and minorities and various things also a preacher for the ones who spoke in that regard we are to love
108the people Martin Luther King did not say we love and we do whatever comes to our mind your rights ended the tip of my nose and in many other things that are refered but that wasn't it right quote from him but I mean other things that are direct direction of it this policy is not to make the intent should not create a super class we're by the 3% of whatever the percentage of people who will identify themselves as friends begin to trust again gender or any other type then become a super minority above all the other groups the Bible doesn't teach that he teaches us to love the people the lady who spoke to the talent the answers are in those ladies as a counselor and lawyers about ten of my first cousins of lawyers
109and the ladies love my wife of the doctoral too for the doctorate and it's also counselor the point of this point is that those people in this if she said we should speak to professionals not just all the comments that are made there are several cases before the Supreme Court now identifying this the the legislature in Richmond is dealing with this how should we as staffer it push forward past all that and say we will decide this now we are we that we we have concluded all those things we need more information we didn't gather more data for the impact on the students transgender those that are not one of the stats across the country and not just assumed that off on the fly we will take this because we feel badly about previous historical
110wrongs I like I said that's the case when one of my grandfather's founded a small college right up in 1881 when in North Carolina I know what a man is clearly I'm a black man so not unclear about discrimination but it is not it is not the case that you can put everything under an umbrella and say we just do whatever comes to our mind you need more data it should be scientific I said more than the two attorneys they spoke yeah and and more than one counselor that spoke and that should be an informed decision before this board makes any decision that impacts our children that will impact them going forward for the years to come and I'm the person also the picks up the pieces that prays for them that deals with them
111when they're off so you're not the only person that that deals picks up the pieces so that's those are my comments and I pray that you will consider it and if you could please Sign In mr. Murphy hello my guy I live in a quiet Harbor and I'm here because I support every student all 27,000 students in Stafford County and if that means we need a policy to address discrimination that we've heard over and over again that's occurring under your nose then we need a policy the teachers are discriminating against our children you have to do something I don't understand my kids are cisgender five Christian kids who identify as how they were born but I am disgusted that adults are bullying anyone's kids they don't have to be mine for me to care my
112Lord teaches me that I don't understand how we can be against protecting children whether we agree with their lifestyle or their sexual orientation none of that matters I'm not God I can't judge but I'm a Christian I'm gonna love you and I realized not everyone's a Christian but dang it we're Americans then we should care about other people we should care about the less the less than the minority whether it be their race or whatever I had a speech but I'm just really overly disgusted that people are against an anti-discrimination policy just because it doesn't affect their children or because they believe their interpretation of their religion or their values are under attack I can guarantee you your kids are in school with transgender kids they are not gonna rub off your kid isn't gonna
113come home gay or transgender just like the black didn't rub off when people didn't want kids to go to school I mean we sound like the 1950s up in here and I can't believe it I moved here because I wanted my kids did is safe and they are but they're also tolerant and they're disgusted not by the students but by the parents they're telling me and I'm on their snapchat cuz I'm nosy and they're like my mom and my dad or whoever my Nate like this is crazy they don't care no one is gonna expose themselves someone said that like you know we have rights and stuff but we can't take our clothes off in the hallway or something yeah you can't that got nothing to do with being transgender it's got nothing to do
114with it they're not gonna walk around saying who they are cuz really what they want is for you not to know thank you please support this [Applause] howdy folks my name is Dave Ghent I didn't know exactly which line to get into you live in Spotsylvania County I teach at AG right middle school so I just I picked one I hope that works out my day hit the 12 hour marker and the Film Club meeting a couple hours ago and we've all been here a while so if it's alright I'm gonna keep this real short I'm just gonna relay a conversation I had with a student so this happened very recently they came back from break with an idea to change how they were perceived they came to me because they wanted to talk to
115a staff member that they trusted they were having some indecision about how to address a pronoun change and they came to me for advice I tried to never tell a student what to do or think but instead help them puzzle through till they can get to their own answer so I asked the student what is it about the change that is making you anxious what is making you nervous this was their verbatim response come on everybody knows Stanford hates trans kids that's our reputation that's what our students think about us not previous students not students from some other County or who went to school in some other decade one of our students a week ago that's a 13 year old kid who genuinely believes that you hate them that's not a reputation I can be
116ok with but it's not something that I can fix in the big picture I can fix it in my room maybe a couple feet from my door the Supreme Court can't fix that you can fix that for Stanford please do I don't want my students thinking we hate them mr. jet skis excuse me sir could you please sign in hi my name is Alex Buskirk I'm a middle school student at AG right I was his old student I was trying to come up here to talk about the policy that everyone's talking about and um you know a lot of people have had a lot of really different opinions about it but I think that like being different isn't something that people can decide on and being trans isn't easy for anyone and no one decides
117no one wakes up one day and decides that they want to be transgender you were born like that and you can't change it and for people to be separated from everyone else is truly an awful experience and I think with this new policy we can really help people who are different to help them feel like they're like anyone else in school and I don't know like a lot of people can have a lot of it a lot of people can have the opinions that they want but I don't think it's okay for us to come this far or something so great and then just lose it [Applause] good evening my name is Mary bue Celia and I live on Falmouth Drive in the Falmouth district I have two children in Stafford County Schools they've been
118going since they were kindergarteners and their backpacks were almost bigger than they were and now they both are taller than I am my daughter's 11th grade at Stafford high and my son is 8th grade at Drew and they're both straight they're both smart they're we got no dog in this fight so as to speak except it's just the right thing we support 2420 my son came with me to the meeting because it was October my daughter came in December they both had stuff tonight so they couldn't but as others have mentioned the whole idea of people showing off things in the locker rooms I mean my daughter was just about to explode at the last meeting because she was just so incensed at that whole notion that there'd be some danger from that as a
119parent I would say and as a woman I have really no concern of anything happening to my daughter in the restroom I'm more worried personally about walking out into that parking lot tonight by myself dark parking lot woman cars kind of scary then I do for either herself or me going into any bathroom although I'm sure there can be isolated incidents you know schools out of schools and as other speakers have also said or alluded to I just can't believe that here in 2019 we're having to fight an uphill battle for something of inclusion of protection of a group of a minority group I'm old enough to remember being bused to school I lived in Alexandria I don't remember a whole lot about it it sort of seemed like a big deal to some of
120the grown-ups but to me it just frankly was sort of a pain in the neck to have to ride a long bus ride instead of just being able to walk to my elementary school and you know other than that it was just sort of life you know that's just what happened and I'm sure it was a big deal in the media I've read some stuff I've seen the history books I know about the marches and Brown versus the Board and all that but in other words to the kids it's just the way it is and we look back we say gosh I stupid we were that whole the desegregation what was the point and why did we make such a big deal out of it and this now and it's always such a fight -
121just get the most basic kindnesses and the right thing and I hope you guys will as we have other people also said I'm just parroting I guess repeating reiterating move forward that we've come this far let's just keep progressing and thank you hi I'm Susan Randall and I'm on wood landing Road in the George Washington district and like Miss hazard said we had several different issues on for up for discussion tonight and so I'm gonna take a hard right down awkward Street and I'm sure you'll loop back around to this conversation but I would like to talk to you all about the exam change that came to us this week the calendar has been brought before this board or a board and our community for input and issues two years ago voted on with ample
122options for snow days then plot twist now our kids are being asked to go to school three full days with two exams on two of those days one exam and a full day of school is a lot but two exams and the rest of the day is not only unfair but it is unkind to both the students and the teachers the students are stressed not sleeping well some of your sports teams are going to districts so they go straight from school straight to a sport straight home probably about 9:00 or 10:00 at night and have two exams the next day it's um teachers have to grade these exams and put the grades make lesson plans for the next semester and in some cases at the high school they're finishing in year and getting ready to
123start another when we struggle to provide perks for our teachers you are now electing to eliminate the opportunity for them to come don't work during school hours elementary school teachers still get their half days and you just took away two for the middle school in high school with no chance to replace I feel that we should be more transparent by bringing items such as this kind of a change through our school board and our different advisory committees thank you [Applause] miss Randall did you sign in hi my name is Heather steffel I guess I'm coming back into the lane here there's absolutely some people that need to be accommodated with the with general neutral washrooms and that's totally understandable I never want to see a student feel bullied or uncomfortable and I'm all for and
124I commend you guys for taking the time putting this into a slow mode rather than speeding through which is how I think many of us felt at the last meeting that this was being done very quickly and over the holidays so I I just want to commend you for taking the time here but I want to say that a but that the majority of our school system but this is representing a minority of our school system the school policy is a violation of the civil rights of so many of our children the key to this whole thing is not just the privacy and the rights of just one students it's the rights of all of our students and their parents and you can't interpret federal law and state law and oppose it on everyone else
125and say you're accommodating everyone because you're not accommodating everyone and I just want to hope that you guys will do your due diligence and take your take your time with this thank you [Applause] hi my name is Al Martinez I actually wasn't gonna speak today but I just wrote this while I was sitting down over there I attended Brook Point High School for two years after moving here from Prince William County I actually attended the school board meeting over there so I've seen every argument such as separating us over and over again I've been separated I've had to go to a different bathroom that was across the school from all my classes and sometimes those bathrooms were even locked I'm a clumsy person I've spilled water or something on the floor I was unable to
126get paper towels because I wasn't able to use any of the bathrooms that were nearby I've had to switch classes because students and teachers weren't respecting me I only got nominated for prom king and they called home and asked my parents if it was okay that I was nominated for King and not Queen I'm not a normal kid but I deserve to live a life like everyone else I deserve a normal high school experience I look kid we're all kids all we want us to be kids and I'm asking that you let us have the chance to do that thank you [Applause] I'm gonna read from this so I don't lose my train of thought first I wanted to thank the Board of Supervisors for staying with the original agenda to allow people from outside
127of Stanford disappear could you tell us who you are oh yes that was the next line I am Dee Jacobson from Locust Grove Virginia County Orange County and I am here in support of 2420 this is not my first time I have driven 45 minutes to speak to this board on this issue I'm here today because Stafford County stands at the precipice of leading Virginia students schools to include the one my granddaughter attends in to significantly better future were equal means equal being here has been an eye opener I do want to assure this Ward that's-i students exposed to transgender students will not go into anaphylactic shock even my sixteen-year-old daughter who has shellfish allergies has that discernment she wanted me to come here because she wants her fellow students to feel safe to feel
128free to be who they are and without prejudice and free from bullying we as a society would do well to move away from policies that leave pockets of students isolated I don't even know what to say except that I beg you to continue to move in the direction that you're going in enough said all right I see no one else that wants to speak before the board last call all right notice we got to take her here there's anyone else that would like to speak please line up because we're going to be moving on to our rest of our agenda following the public comments I'll make this quick thank you my name is Luke and I live at 305 ironside Cove here in Stafford thank you for giving this the time and attention it deserves
129I think if there's one thing I've heard tonight it's a theme of bullying and I think that the parents here have a legitimate concern for bullying in our schools I don't think that's a new trend but I think it's a trend that this particular issue has brought really to new light respecting fellow classmates has been an issue it was in the 90s when I was a student and it is today teaching our students to respect anyone is probably a priority that we need to take from this argument but I would express it in a way that if there was not an aspect of transgender let's say it was any person or any student that had some element that maybe other kids felt they needed to make fun or disenfranchised I have a seventh grader who's
130a straight-a student how popular is he he's made fun of in fact some of the arguments I heard tonight have been directed at my seventh grade student now is there a policy against disenfranchising a seventh grade straight-a student what am I supposed to do what am I supposed to tell him so this argument of bullying I think is really the issue that's at heart here I think this is the issue families need that counseling available to students who are going through any kind of life issue we need to make that available to them one policy is not gonna fix this we're gonna be here every quarter creating policies it's never gonna end we're gonna be back in the same position that's gonna be the next group and the next group it's never gonna end you're
131never gonna fix this policy dr. Kaiser it's not gonna be done it'll never be done no one's ever going to be happy with you need to go ahead and start leading this school division through championing values in our schools and in our families okay please champion them in our homes you're never gonna do it through policy it has to be in the home working with families you took up your position as school board members I don't think you did it because you wanted to put something in the gym or you wanted to have a special project you took it because you knew the families of Stafford County I encourage you take my advice look at the families in Stafford County focus on them don't create policies focus on families please do that tonight thank you
132if you could please sign in mr. Antin thank you hi my name is Sarah McLellan I live in the George Washington District I have three sisters Hren in the Stafford County school system choo and middle school and one in high school I just wanted to say thank you to you dr. hizzoner and this board for taking this very difficult issue under consideration and I know it's hard I also want to remind you that an anti-discrimination policy is designed to protect the minority that's what discrimination policies are dr. kids nurse ended at the last school board meeting and I thought it was absolutely exactly right I hear a lot of parents talking about what about me what about me what about me what about my kids what about my kids what am i what about my
133kids this policy is to protect the children in the minority we don't we don't need a policy like this if every kid in the school is transgender it's a it's it would be a moot point the reason we need this policy is because the transgender population is a vulnerable minority so I wanted to point that out I also wanted to say I think Stafford County does focus on families I think Stafford County does focus on values and I think it's evidenced by the fact that we're all here having this conversation that we have this policy drafted I really urge you to support it it's a great policy and it's gonna make kids lives a lot safer I'm a in a health professional I'm also licensed we have gender dysphoria in the dsm-5 okay it's that's
134what considered a mental illness if it's in the dsm-5 it's not a mental illness if it does not interfere with your ability to function okay these kids may have gender dysphoria their gender dysphoria is because they are singled out as different and mistreated and mean things like an anti-discrimination policy we solved this problem about helping these kids feel inclusive included and not excluded on all levels I predict that the DSM 6 will not even contain gender dysphoria because it will be cured why because it was no longer interfere with anybody's ability to function thank you [Applause] hi my name is Tracey Brooks I am in the Stanford middle school district I have two cisgender children you have heard my son speak multiple times I never speak because I'm angry I'm gonna be nice but I'm
135gonna tell you my 11 year old daughter was attacked more than once in a Stafford middle school girls bathroom not by a trans child by another cisgendered girl she's not scared my son isn't scared of trans kids in the locker room in the gym in the cafeteria in the hallway hanging out at our house they're not scared of that they're scared of what policy this board may or may not pass so that when they stand up and they look adults in the eye and they say all means all they mean that and they want your support so that when they're they get pushed back for saying that they go I have all these adults behind me I have a policy behind me to stand up for my friends to stand up for people that I
136don't know because that's what we're supposed to do that's what I thought Stafford County Schools was about we've been here for years you guys are moving forward and you'll hear more from you'll hear more from Nate he'll be back he has things to talk to you about but they're not afraid of trans kids they're afraid you're not going to protect them thank you okay I see no one else that wishes to address the board so we will close the public comment period come to board reports and comments do we have any board committee reports dr. chase okay so the Finance and Budget Committee met on December 17th we had asked for and received a report on school sight funds as you know each of our school principals receives a certain amount of money per pupil
137to spend on their individual schools needs I asked our clerk Missy Hall to send you copies of the report I believe she did so if you have any questions or concerns let us know following up on our discussion of the superintendent's proposed gender identity and expression policy at the last board meeting we discussed the need for more information about bathrooms and locker rooms in our schools I believe that staff will be getting back to us with some kind of inventory although I think they have a lot on their plate right now but we also received a presentation of a proposal for compressing the teacher salary scale we currently have 37 steps a number of our comparison counties only have 30 Stafford County schools may be less competitive because it takes longer to get to the
138top of the salary scale I believe that handouts were sent to the entire board and we can talk with dr. Kistner or mr. Fullmer to get more information and finally we received a report of the first quarter budget transfers for FY 19 and those have also been sent to you the next meeting of the Finance and Budget Committee will be January 16th at 6 p.m. any other committee reports I'll just make a quick one the legislative committee we are trying to get together before the session begins in earnest so stay tuned but I know there's been some reach out and great work being done so but I just thought we needed a quick together and we'll send those either talking points or something to other board members so remember strengthen numbers I just want to
139mention we did not meet for the joint schools but we did have a superintendent chat that was a good condensed meeting and I just want to let you know that the new the new joint schools please get with superintendent Kistner about you know the way forward for that charter is that still on the table and and and the committee rules so you're in a prime position now to start building it from scratch that brings us to board member comments do we have a volunteer who wants to start yeah yesterday was that the career in college pathway night it used to be called signature program it covered programs such as IB Governor's School JROTC stat which included automotive customer ecology and medical which included nursing also I don't want to exclude anyone but it was a
140Brooke point it was packed we ran out of brochures but there was a table for example that talked about pSATS and SAT studies so it was great thank you mr. Decatur would you like to go oh I hung out with Pam kill Happy New Year thank you guys for coming out and being courteous with each other thank you for listening as always I like to just make sure you guys understand that we appreciate you and please continue to listen to each other I've seen a lot of faces and here change tonight and you guys are coming together and I think that we're gonna get through this and find some way to compromise and make sure everyone feels good about what the board is going to do thanks again happy 2019 I'll say to which I
141said last year cuz last year I had a senior who was sitting there for those who have seniors I know dr. chase says I always give my don't forget it's not over stay strong till the end I want to thank all those who have come for those who have sent information please continue to do so it does not fall on deaf ears but I am a reader so thank you for sending the things I would would like to ask for the board to be able to receive a an update at some point concerning the number of long-term subs in the school you know we've tracked that very much at the beginning of the year and I just would like to at some point especially as we head into budget preparations I think we need to
142understand that interplay and not just long-term subs my question would also be for how many teachers do we have that are accepting additional responsibility to make it work I know that's the one of the greatest things about our school system is we do have everybody pinching in and making this a great place but I also think we need to have a handle on that so that we can make really good decisions going forward as I said if you make resolutions this year resolve to get involved because there's plenty of issues that are coming forward in your community and in your world and get involved again I will keep it very short by just saying happy New Year to everyone and I do have a question or something to notify you about or you dr. Kistner
143the flashing school zone sign and that was in front of Brooke point is no longer there did you all know that going eastbound on courthouse Road it just disappeared it's it's not there the one coming westbound on Courthouse before you get to Brooke point that one is there and it's working but the one that is really needed because of the high amount of traffic going towards Brooke point High School there's nothing telling the anybody whether it's the students driving or regular cars going to the VRE station to slow down so we've got a we've got our security guy out there directing traffic and he's a sitting duck so I don't know if you knew about it if V dot knows or if Sheriff's Department knows but I just wanted to bring you your attention so
144we can get it taken care of and get it replaced Thanks Thank You mr. Mike Oscar turn on my microphone here so first happy new year I hope I'm glad everyone got back safe and had a restful hopefully holiday break so we you know we got a tough busy year coming up we have our normal activities as a school the budget normal school business but we have the added opportunity to try to fix some of elementary school zones with a redistricting this is the first time I've been on the board seven years now and this has been the first time that we've had this this massive redistricting it's not going to be a pleasant it's not gonna be a pleasant deal you know I've got four kids got two in college now and I got
145two in middle school so you know no one wants their kids pulled out of schools that they're they have connections with and lines of communications with the teachers the principal's so so it's going to be a tough year yeah and the board's up to it up to the task will be looking forward to your comments and all that make sure you stay connected online the other thing is tonight thanks so much for the folks coming out for 2420 you know both sides it's good as a board member to sit up here just like it always is that you know you hear both sides and you kind of you kind of mull over the the pros and the cons you think about your community that you represent you think about what your duty is at the
146as a board member do you represent your your folks in your community or do you represent a position that you hold that's the I guess that's the that's the question right you know so what do you do do you do what you think is right or do you do with what your community thinks is right so those are some of the things that I know not just me up here but I'm sure the other board members are are kind of going back and forth with us you know what they're talking about it and you know the other thing is that a lot of folks come up and they're like angry about and this is a this is a topic that gets folks angry it is but I'll tell you something out of the hundred and
147eighty Samad school divisions in this state in this Commonwealth we're the only ones to bring this forward for a discussion at all there's a reason for that it's called pigeonhole and something that you don't like it's real easy I don't want to talk about it I'm gonna pigeonhole it and you'll never a superintendent you'll never get this on the agenda at all that could have been done quite easily I think all right but we didn't we took this policy and we we took it head-on and we heard our constituents to say hey we want to talk about this and that's exactly what we're doing so you know again I got applaud dr. Kistner but I applaud though I applaud the board for not pitching home this this issue and so you know that there's something
148to be said for that there's a reason that there's no other school division in the nation or in the state of in the Commonwealth of Virginia that does not have a policy on this issue there's a reason okay there's a reason it's tough business that's the reason so yeah that's it so I also want to say Happy New Year and everybody and with redistricting coming up I can now say I've visited all 17 elementary schools and I want to thank the principles at garrison ville Park Ridge Margaret brent winding creeks and Rock Hill for meeting with me and showing me their schools and I continue to be incredibly impressed with all of Stafford County's elementary schools and I think while it will be hard for some families to have to move I can tell you
149that whatever school you get moved to is is wonderful also I was really impressed with the condition of the school buildings our facilities and operations have done a great job of keeping them up lots of principals were showing off their libraries they were really happy with those improvements the one exception of course is very farm and I think that I said elementary schools I think I think I think we are trying to address very farm and I hope that we will I also attended a winter concert at Stafford high school and it was phenomenal and so I just want to commend mr. Steen strim is deriva and Miss Zeitz for all of their hard work and finally a Susan Randall mentioned the exam policy I would just like to say as a board member let's
150have a clear whatever we decide to do about the exams let's decide before we give the exams let's not do what we did last year where some students knew the exams didn't count some students didn't know the exams count okay let's let's get it clear this year thanks Thank You dr. chase I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year and suggest we all get some rest before we we start racing and that's what we're going to be doing on this board for the the next couple months I mean we've got a lot on our plate and these are really really important issues and I would hope that this board will work together wherever we're sitting for the benefit of all our students in our community and remember why we're here we are
151here for Stafford County Public Schools I appreciate your questions mr. McCosker and as the senior on the board in terms of age as well as starting my 20th year here this year I have to say that I have always put my constituents and community first because I may have very personal opinions about things but you know as an elected official I'm not here because of what I personally feel or what I want to do you know this we have a responsibility so number one on our responsibility is to listen to put it out there and to give the community a chance to comment this is this is on the you know the policy that we've you know we're under consideration and I appreciate the revisions that dr. Kissinger is made I appreciate him putting it
152out there you know with his advisory groups but as I said when this first came out I want to hear from the Stafford community I mean I welcome everyone who comes here for their three minutes but as you can tell it's a little difficult to say what you want to say in three minutes and I would hope at some point when we get through some of these other items on our plate you know we can bring this out to the community and have you know public hearings of town hall meetings however you know is the best way to get that response anyway I don't want to take up too much time tonight I would say I appreciate your allowing me to be chairman again but it's not that much fun you know but but I'm
153willing to do it because I think it is it is very important and we need we need to work together so I would ask everyone to think before we meet on Saturday we're giving up air our Saturday morning part of the afternoon to get together to talk about things so let's just think about where we want to go as a board and you know what our objective is and why we're here so that's that's more on a personal note but we'll move along and fortunately I'm last dr. Kissinger is done moves us to our single action item on the agenda tonight the award of a service contract to precision door and hardware Fredericksburg Virginia and the amount of one hundred forty three thousand nine hundred eighty five dollars from FY 19 operating funds for installation
154of additional card readers at all schools we have a motion motion to approve the installation the contract for additional card readers at all schools okay a motion by Miss hazard second by mr. Kator any discussion just my I just want to bring back the note that I made last time I really do believe that I want that the board needs to get that safety audit RFP or whatever we need to do we committed to this at the beginning of the year and we're midway through the year like I said I'm approving this but in the future I do think we that's something we committed to our community as well so I would like to make sure that we get that moving I see dr. kids are taking notes on that so any other discussion all
155in favor of the motion to approve please say aye aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously we have three information items the first item is approval of the Phoenix Center for innovative learning as a new name for the alternative education program miss hazard do you have anything you want to add to this I'm agenda item I would just like to note I am excited ecstatic that we will have an alternative name our alternative education because there's so many misnomers made from that and the Phoenix as we those who have attended the graduation ceremony know is the symbol for that has been adopted by the students there and the committee that was involved in this also had a a poll done with the students of what name they preferred so really wasn't us we just pushed a
156for you to them and this is what the students they're like you know I'm just wondering we have a graduation coming up at the end of this month would it be helpful for the school with this were moved to action I mean something to hand out I don't know if they have to print it on there well it was the Phoenix award for the school and I would encourage everyone to to go to that ceremony in fact thank you for 2hr for rearranging the dates because there was conflict with another thing we have later this month we'll be getting together a lot is there is there any interest in moving this up I haven't heard any controversy about about this name I don't I'm just trying to make sure that there's no issue in the
157policy just potentially I mean I'm willing to wait well name names it should be brought first maybe we just have guidelines for names we don't even have a Polish name so we just have guidelines and I'd be willing to waive that to do this but I want to just make sure we don't have any hiccup will be brought before the school board at the first meeting following the 45-day committee term I don't know what that means oh that means from when the committee is appointed there isn't even anything in the guidelines it says it has to be on twice no that's that's what I was checking that and guidelines are not policy no if so I would ask that the new the naming of the new Center be moved to action we have a motion
158by Miss hazard second by mr. Kator any discussion all in favor please say aye aye aye none are you emotion assassin yes I have a motion that we approve the Phoenix Center for innovative learning as the new name for our alternative education program effective immediately all right motion by miss hazard second by mr. Kator all in favor aye all opposed all right we now have a new name and the graduation is fantastic if you have a a chance to come to that brings us to 11 well it's not 11 I guess it's still 11 isn't it Missy yes still 11 we only changed up to 7 all right award of change order one hundred ninety seven thousand seven hundred sixty three dollars for changes to construction performance period and replenishment of project contingency seventy nine
159thousand five hundred sixty-eight dollars and ten cents for the repair interior finishes project AG right middle schools and garrison Ville elementary school there any questions about this item I have several questions but in the interest of I can set them but I will my overall concern is that I can't I'm trying to understand the replace the AG right floor and bleachers being part of the interior finishes project because I cannot find the gym replacement which believe me I agree with I'm I've been in it is not than on a three are lit I it just goes to me and I know the board has heard it we need to prioritize the things that need to be done and when you see things that do not meet code I think those need to be the priority
160items I will send my questions though in the interest of not monopolizing time tonight but I just anyone else miss dr. chase yeah I'm just using money from the interest that's available that money wasn't planned to be used for anything else I just didn't quite understand what's going on there can anybody give me a little clarity or just done yes ma'am with bond VPSA funds we borrow while we have those funds they generate interest while we're spending them and so there's a goal not to achieve what they call arbitrage but which is you want to spend that money within a two-year period so that you don't earn a tremendous amount of interest but interest does occur and so part of that interest needs to be used by the locality the school division back it could
161go into your CIP projects it can be applied to anything so this was just an option that was identified we have two bonds that are closing and those bonds were part of what the money was borrowed for to fund this particular project so it is it has in my opinion a somewhat appropriate to consider that again if the board chooses to consider that and approves it we would have to certainly ask the board of supervisors to budget and appropriate those funds that did I answer your question yes yes I'm use you said a lot and I'm not sure if I understood everything but first you mentioned it has to be using the localities are you saying that it has to be used within certain districts no what I'm saying is when we borrow funds and
162then sorry if I wasn't clear when when the locality borrows funds from VPSA and that's what the school division does it earns interest well while we have those dollars insane and so in the past we've used those interest dollars to fund capital projects and different things and so it's going to happen this money is generated the school board working with dr. kids now can choose to use that money to go towards the capital improvement program and to go back and buy down debt or to help fund future projects and so it's it's we're gonna generate those dollars and so in the past they've gone into a construction contingency fund to be used for again projects that you guys have approved so this is just an option for you to consider so I have a hard
163time approving this right now and it's nothing against rocket I also visited every single elementary school and most middle schools and high schools and they're looking really good so you've done a really great job mmm except for fairy farm isn't there something that we could do to take this money and start some work at fairy farm I don't know how it works I'm just asking it's moving forward okay signed off okay would approve the plan we went to the county for additional funds we have not received yes or no so we'll go in with the plan that you approved and we have sent mr. Foley has asked for additional information we have forwarded the additional information and but just I just want to make sure I just want to make sure that the board is
164aware that's what you are was a month ago so yeah that that plane is is moved from effort I got an email today yeah it would be nice if I've gotten that update but in addition to that I remember one meeting that we had there were certain items on the list that were not they were not up to code or spec or something and I'm wondering if we are taking those projects into consideration also I mean I understand bleacher is it if it's broken and individuals are you know it's something that needs to happen then it's fine but I just want to make sure that I don't know what the priorities were like how did we decide that this this is what we're gonna do with well the several questions that are not to be
165happy to try to answer them let me just correct myself the interest generated from the VPSA bonds have to go and be applied to the projects that they were borrowed against that's the first question I ask you okay so hopefully I answered that I think I answered it incorrectly at first thing that we tried to do that but it's been used in the past we try and we're policy I think from VPS a they want us to use those dollars and anything we borrow really having this conversation so but the projects and to kind of answer miss hazards concern in the CIP its and I can go back and provide dr. kids under the information but the project the gym floor and the bleachers were identified to be replaced at a certain time in the
166CIP and it's been been tracked there we feel that there is an issue there we feel that it there is starting to be a safety issue there it was always part of the project because it the money for that hasn't been committed yet we said the board may choose not to go through with that particular part of the projects because it's still available to fund this change or now the change order is is important because we are contracted to do the work the performance period for that were has been shortened by three weeks which is an eternity for our compressed summer work so that's a very significant issue and in order for us to get the work that is contracted with the contractor done in time we have to pay at least we negotiated subject
167to the board approval we negotiated a fee to do that in a shorter time period board can always you know terminate the contract I do not recommend doing that I think these improvements the board saw that this program of improving these schools of these interior finishes is very important to continue to keep our schools at the level that the community and the Board expects we did that at a jury right last summer we renovated that portion it just happens to be garrison was the second phase of that and they got stuck with this summer that got shortened it could have been the opposite way around we could have been finished with garrison last year last year and AG right could have been the school that was in this position it just happened to be we've
168selected AG right first in this two summer project it is one project it just happens to be that school is physically connected in all one facility so I do believe it's my opinion that I think the board needs to wrestle with this change order and and and figure out a way to fund it these are two options that were presented to do that I'm sure there are others not as in my opinion palpable but this is what we're recommending any other discussion I'm gonna be supporting this when it comes back because of the fact that this is a safety issue I think you know whenever these things come up I ask is this is this a luxury or is this a necessity and I I see you know a gym floor that has exceeded its
169life and beginning to buckle we're all our kids are there AG rights one of those you know largest schools in terms of percentage of capacity that it would be remiss not to go form with this I do think it's unfortunate that we are incurring a cost of over one hundred and ninety seven thousand dollars because we're starting school early and when we took that vote you know we were not told this is gonna be a cost and I remember on many occasions when we were discussing starting school before Labor Day you know what's a costs gonna be we talked about the buses we talked about air conditioning we talked about other things and no one even thought about the fact that we have this multi-million dollar contract that's you know gonna cost us a lot
170more to finish so that's done but I I have to say I'm disappointed that this wasn't brought to our attention because it could have been a factor you know in in that decision to start school you know early but this will be coming back to us for for action at the next meeting alright the last item on the information agenda is the revised proposed new policy 24 2010 deride entity and expression we've heard a lot of comments about this this evening is there anything that the board wants to discuss on this at this point it's it's not going to be coming back to us for action at the next meeting or does the board want to just not put this on the agenda again till we're ready to have discussions did you have anything with
171miss hazard wanted to start you can go next okay I think I what I would like to say is I'm supportive miss Healy of what you were saying I think this is something we need to say and we need to have now I know Fairfax County when they did this they had a lot of reach out and stuff that was done but it was specifically for this what I heard a lot tonight was fear and many other emotions I think I'll just leave it at that that maybe this does need to be a broader discussion with facilitation not exalt us of course we are on the someone on the frontlines to help our community to be honest and I would be supportive of a separate type of meeting or public hearing or something about this
172policy so I just wanted to say I haven't fleshed it out yet but kind of listening tonight I think that might be beneficial to not just the board members but maybe to the community at large basically I was going to say that you know it's hard to separate you know your constituents because you have many constituents and I understand where Dewayne Costco's coming from but within those communities and your constituents there are those individuals that are discriminated against oh you have to keep that in mind that that is part of the population that is also part of your constituent base in addition you you mentioned it and so that you Trish that and we talked about it having a public hearing that we hear of more individuals may or may not change anybody's mind including
173parents that are concerned I had four kids that are raised in Stafford County Schools and yes they were discriminated against and and bullied and everything else not only put a color of their skin but sometimes for the way they looked and you know as a concerned parent I I know how it feels it's not about pulling a minority group above one another because yeah you know lbgtq the group moved ahead for example of the black race and we're still a minority the word minority strikes me every time I hear that word I do not like the word minority I think we're all should be equal individuals it's not about a minority or majority but we need to look at this we need to decide you know with clinical as well as with lawyers look at
174it where we could have not necessarily appease everyone but do the right thing so hopefully we get to that in the future you asked about what our preference was I would prefer that this that dr. casler continue to make the improvements that we've all requested before it comes back to us again but before it gets released to the public I would certainly appreciate being updated on any significant changes to it so that we are prepared we know what is in it before the public knows what's in it I think that would be helpful to all of us when our constituents are communicating with us and and gearing up to when we do have to you know we read this consider it and then vote on it so I think that's going to be important no
175no I'm just looking to see who else has something to say before we announce our next meetings I actually feel a little bit differently about the the public input I I don't think that we need to rush anything I realize that we've gone from zero to sixty and you know in point two so I understand that a lot of people need some time to digest what they're reading figure out what that means for their children moving forward but I don't necessarily agree that personally we need to hold public forums because to be honest with you I I think we're going to continue to hear a lot of a lot of the same what we heard this evening and and I'm not saying that's a bad thing and I'll sit through it if if that's what
176we need to do I'll listen to it forever but I do feel that we would be hearing a lot of the same information over and over again I and what I've been asking for from the beginning because as a very conservative parent I didn't understand this and I took time to sit down with a lot of different people and ask questions and it's been over a year now that I've been doing that from the very beginning I've been asking for some education because for me it really helped for me to understand not the science science doesn't dictate how a person feels and as human beings we're not always able to understand what another person feels either so for me I had to kind of step out of my shoes put myself in someone else's shoes
177I realize I'm rambling I have an eight-month-old on sleep regression things right now and I cannot think straight so for me I think it would be really important to have some some public forums where people can go and not tell us what they've been saying over and over again because I I hear you and I understand your point I understand your concerns about your daughters in the bathrooms I understand your concerns about inclusive for everyone all means all aye aye I hear everyone loud and clear and I really understand both sides what I think we need to do now is come to a community event where we can instead of regurgitating those things we can ask questions and learn about what others are experiencing and maybe come together and find a common ground otherwise we're
178just going to be listening back and forth and and being a little I don't want to call names but maybe a little bit bullheaded as to our sides so that would be my suggestion on that note because we we do need to move forward with something they are our teachers deserve guidance our students deserve guidance they need it they need to be able to understand what they're talking about what they can and cannot say you know our teachers just don't know and for me that's really important that they're going to a place every single day where they work and they they're not sure how to talk about this what they're allowed to say so that's that's a big deal in addition to our student safety and security mental well-being there's a lot we need to
179address here and okay I've said it all thanks oh I did have one question doctor kizza nur in your notes to us it says I'm still soliciting further comments at this time so I was just kind of wondering what is your plan moving forward what do you who are you still chatting with and and I got feedback from the principal's and truthfully I feel very comfortable saying it many spoke and everyone thought this is the right time and they support okay though those high school principals that spoke to student groups what you heard tonight from the students is what you were heard if they came to speak the equity opportunity Diversity Committee I think based on that term they were again very they were supportive tomorrow I think yeah tomorrow tomorrow I have the staff
180Advisory Committee they have received what you have some have already submitted some questions for me to be prepared for tomorrow and the parent advisory which is to parents from every school we will also be meeting tomorrow so I will gain that feedback what I will do so I really like that what miss Healy asked us to do whenever we get a comment I just fold in you guys forward so I think we all know what we're getting that way what I will do is compile unfiltered and so you don't feel like I'm spitting it one way the comments that I'm hearing from the four groups that I just mentioned mr. Heron based on a comment last meeting we are collecting I think 13 or 14 schools maybe he's gotten better the bathroom situation we're doing
181that as you know we the comment so there was a comment made tonight that's already made me think of a change and I'll just mention it now the gentleman is right who mentioned it or the woman I think that'll stated it the question of better for high school student was uncomfortable if the current language says doesn't say shall that defense will shout talk to him and I don't think it should be subjective and I'll just make this last comic because because this is what I've been hearing from a lot of staff members as I walk the hallways and talk to him they are looking for some direction they're looking for clarity and I recognize you are all elected by those 18 and older and I'm not saying this and I hope it has to come
182out the wrong way I am paid by everybody who lives in this community so I respect that but I think as the educational leader I may see my constituent group a little different I'm just being very honest with you I see is the twenty nine thousand children and the forty five hundred staff members we have that doesn't by any means suggest that I minimize the importance of all the feedback and I do want to thank people because I think this conversation has been remarkably respectful okay I have not this is a difficult and emotional topic and I think whatever your opinion of this policy people's comments I have learned and I have valued and respected and the changes that I've put forward for tonight was a reflection of the comments that you made at the
183last meeting and as that gentleman as first time anybody ever has to shake my hand from comments that people in the audience have made so why I don't part of truthfully I don't want to see this to be it was six months a year two years from now people say where are we okay I do I just have to say mister Decatur's suggestion is one that I would ask you to consider I think maybe having a forum with people that meet whatever criteria we could determine as professionals to give all of us from the medical psychological law and maybe others I don't know an opportunity to say here so you're fully informed I think has some value I already shared and I know if I take criticism and I'll take it again I don't know
184I think you guys are offering a lot of public opportunities I think again I'm not sure we'll hear we'll hear more I'm not sure we're different okay and there's nothing wrong with giving people chances to express themselves I just feel uncomfortable this is my issue so I own this issue I feel uncomfortable that parents and children parents of transgender children and change yet the children have to find themselves defending themselves okay I don't know if they if they feel that way I'm just telling how I feel I've never asked them that okay so so I as I don't feel like I would be in a position to offer you a final policy recommendation in the next two meetings and that because I want to compile but I think mr. Kayla's suggestion has a lot of
185value so you could get a better sense of what maybe other school divisions who have adopted yes it is true in Virginia but with by no means are we first in the country there are plenty of school divisions that have adopted almost very similar wording to this policy and other policy and someone not that far we just got to go over the Beltway so we can listen for Marilyn places so anyway I I do and I just wanted to say last thing it's late for measly for all of us I don't know if I think this was to a coaster I do get one thing you had an offer to night for you if it's a four out of you or seven out of you said now write it down and put it put in
186your drawer leave it alone then that's what it would have ended up being so I really do think whatever the outcome that happens the conversation has been very healthy and and I and I do applaud you for letting this to move forward and I don't want anyone to believe that we're trying to rush it and I think we want to do it right but I don't want to be the superintendent that really feels like I rather you take a vote and if it doesn't pass it doesn't pass but I think I mean I've wanted to pass but I don't want I think my hope is that we have something in place so we could start working with our staff and community on a policy and how to implement it if I may just kind of
187can when when we started the equity and diversity air was there was not even any talk in several of the the people who are spoke right there there wasn't any talk of this policy until we recognize that our staff don't know what to do during this incident so so that's where the policy came about but but we've been talking about this for like I said over a year since I've been meeting with parents and stakeholders who I now call my friends and the the very first thing that we don't need a policy to have education to have you know to teach our to help our our teachers and our staff members feel more comfortable talking about it because I'll tell you the first time I sat down in a meeting with a parent of a
188transgender student I really felt like I was walking on eggshells because I didn't even know what it meant to be a transgender boy or a transgender girl does what does that mean what does what sex does that mean you are now you know so many people have so many questions and and you know you can google but our staff deserves some some training some some formal and it doesn't have to say you have to do this you have to do that this student has to do this it can just be you know educating no I agree with you I guess where I'm going with that a little bit is what happened in another school division in Virginia where they did not have a policy and we haven't been high school students that have five maybe
189eight teachers and their schedule and you could train but with the except with the other state with trainings that people going to do the same thing that's why you go through training and if a students are 14 or 17 years as and we and that may be that may be the outcome it's going to be up to seven of you but if if some could do it handle it this way and others could handle that way I'm not the sensitivity yes we should do that for every trial I totally agree with you and I you know I don't comment and no one must comment but we cannot kid ourselves what happened in that gymnasium was lack of clarity okay look if anybody thinks otherwise then then then they really did not listen to everything that
190took place so I'm just suggesting that we we have a policy that's putting forward worth amending it when when when seems practical and doesn't lose that the the main intent I just don't feel like if you know I don't know when the right time will be and and and I know when the right time will be for me to ask you to take action you could point you could choose that that time to say no we're not ready and that's fine I did what I had to do and I respect greatly what you have to do I'm gonna make a comment in terms of the public comment the public forum the only reason why I wanted that public forum is simply that there are some individuals that work that can't take time out to be
191here like all the same people that come here every time there is a board meeting there's individuals that work up north just like I do and they would like to be here they don't want to just necessarily see it on TV they haven't been involved and so why would we deny them the right to speak on this topic on either side and there's not just two sides there's several sides here you can have a public forum I guess then you may be suggesting that we'll have it during the day I mean I'm hoping it's not gonna be somebody coming to an auditorium and just you know just I don't know you do you guys do what you feel like you use the most appropriate yeah so I also like mister caters idea of having something
192where there can be more information for the public rather than just hearing the same people speaking and all that but with respect to the policy I would like more information maybe I need more education about one particular aspect of it which is field trips and so I'm curious as to whether that is consistent in all the other areas of the country where they've implemented this policy and and are there concerns what what might those concerns be about field trips and I just I just need more information as I'm trying to kind of process this and that's all I have to say I just want to raise one question and I appreciate everybody that comes even if it's the same people I think they have something to add every time they come and speak to us
193and I think there is a benefit for everyone to hear because if you know we're sitting here listening but the whole audience is listening to and and it's very often you go wow I hadn't thought about that or you know it's something to consider so I'm not saying we're gonna sway people or change people's minds but I think to a certain extent having the opportunity to hear and listening to other points of view opens our minds and it lets us know you know at least some of the the basis for you know the the emotion involved in it but I have I have a question and it has to do with and not not for an answer this evening but you know concern I have is what role is is the role of the parents
194here you know when we're talking about minors you know if a student is over 18 they're an adult legally they're an adult you know they're they connect on their own but I'm not sure how much we've addressed the role the parent you know we're saying we're going to do this we're going to do that we're gonna do whatever but the only communication with the parent is if there is a concern or a uncomfortableness or something like that and that's something that I would like to see maybe how other policies address that because I'm you know I I have I have grave concerns about the schools trying to take on a role you that you may not be there's with respect to apparently so and I know there may be some disagreement about that but that's
195that's a concern I had in the beginning I still have it and I would I would like to see it addressed at some point and one thing I would ask this board we've the next two months we are going to be rolling on this elementary school redistricting and it's going to take up you know a lot of time there is going to be I imagine you know based on what I saw tonight and we all saw it for the first time a lot of public comment and input so I would suggest that we not try to deal with these on the same track that's just that's my suggestion it's you know it it's gonna be up to the board and it sounds like you're not gonna be ready next month anyway or no again I
196I let me just make one last comment which probably won't be the last I do value what you just said miss here in the sense that I gained it greater and I think I don't want speak for others I think when we hear more people speak we think about something that maybe we didn't think about before and I do think you regain a greater sensitivity because truthfully I'm a parent of three daughters I mean I'm a superintendent if I also I'm a parent of three daughters okay so I'm not dismissive of any comments that parents who might raise a concern might have okay and so I played the role of a super town which I greatly appreciate but I'm always a parent first so when I listen to comments I learned and I gained a
197greater appreciation I'm destroying my mind thinking and maybe I'm thinking like we did the first redistricting meeting two weeks ago where we had a few hundred people in the audience that was still the same time that we basically meet so if we're trying to gain more people I would just ask how do we design that where people who maybe are not able to come at five seven o'clock on a Tuesday can come another time and that's the only thing but I still don't want to lose sight of what jvi mr. Kator said because I think we'll all Eddie luckily Jamie you call me sky okay after ten o'clock yeah yeah but I distinct I don't have to be formal I think that would help us at anytime and I'll and I could reach out to
198some other school divisions that are just less than two hours away and see if they would be willing and maybe you be willing if you wanted to to speak to their school board members so you could get a peer-to-peer understanding anyway what we could talk a lot more about that's why we're not ready no ok so I've learned a lot about changing out no no you have a self-imposed policy which is another conversation down the road but sixth grade no optional seventh and eighth grade required to dress out high school no optional no I don't know that's a conversation we could have is removed then the Saints of Paris 20 bucks it's probably going off all right any other comments before we announce the no re we're not done yet though don't don't leave the
199next public meeting of the school board is this Saturday at 8:30 a.m. it's a work session we will start with our FOIA training and we will not start the meeting until everyone's there so we all need the training we're gonna well they're all gonna get the training so please try to be on time because we'll be holding everybody up if we're not there and the this goes right now has us go into one I know miss hazard wants to go somewhere that afternoon but if we're delayed starting we're gonna be delayed getting out then it's not on the little agenda here but next Tuesday at drew middle school at 7 o'clock it's gonna be our first town hall meeting on the elementary school redistricting next Thursday at Stafford middle school and the next week we
200have one @hh pool you're not restricted to the school that's closest to you you're not restricted to one meeting anyone is welcome to come to any of those three districting meetings at 7 o'clock all right now I'll do I have a motion to go into closed session please know you have to read the here it sits here I think it's I think it's gonna come up here oh no that's wrong if you've closed it out I knew that the Stafford County School Board can be in a closed meeting pursuant to section 2.2 3 7 11 a 1 of the Code of Virginia to discuss personnel matters all right do we need a second missing all in favor aye motion carries unanimously we will be quick