Stafford School Board 9 10 2019

001e 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 right over Mar we'd like to thank Colonial Forge High Schools Navy jrc Cadets aqua a via Cadet Casey Cadet Estrada Cadet hood and two Cadet roses and Cadet Schwartz for U being our Color Guard this evening and the instructors of the uh jrc program are Colonel Mark Strong and sergeant major Lee Wortham thank you do we have a motion for approval of the agenda Madam chair I have an amendment okay uh Madam chair I amend under action items 902 be switched with 903 uh putting the approval of proposed policy 2420 above policy 4107 okay second sorry let me cat upor all right is there

002any desire to um eliminate the board committee comments reports or board member comments i' I'd like to move that we also remove board member comments and committee reports is that um I second Oscar I second yes all right so that's a second um y I agree yes all right any other discussion all in favor of the um revisions to the amendment please uh agenda please say I I I all opposed motion carries unanimously all right that brings us to a proclamation before we get to that miss hazard's going to read that um anyone who standing I I I can't see the yellow lines but I'm assuming you're within the yellow lines they're there because of the fire codes so we appreciate you um if you're if you're going to be standing stand within those lines

003we can't block the other uh areas there are some seats up front if anyone's interested in uh sitting down thank you all right Miss Hazard okay this is a proclamation to recognize the week of September 8 through 14 as arts and education we we whereas Arts education comprising a rich array of disciplines including dance media arts Music Theater Visual Arts and more is a well-rounded subject and an essential element of a complete and well-rounded education for all students and whereas Arts education enables students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills imagination and creativity discipline and collaboration alternative ways to communicate excuse me communicate and express feelings and ideas and crosscultural understanding which supports academic success across the curriculum and whereas Arts education contributes to increased attendance and graduation rates and prepar students for college

004career and citizenship Readiness and whereas Arts education contributes to personal growth outside of the classroom including increasing a students likelihood to participate in Civic life volunteerism altruism and Community engagement and whereas to succeed in today's economy students must masterfully devel V traits that Business Leaders demand in a 21st century Workforce and whereas the Stafford County School Board is charged with the education and development of well-rounded students now therefore be it proclaimed that the Stafford County School Board hereby supports the designation of September 8 through 1429 as arts and education week in Stafford County Public Schools and calls on all employees and families to observe the week with appropriate activities adopted today on this 10th day of September member thank you Miss Hazard so um we've reached the citizen comment portion uh individuals wishing to comment

005at this time may do so by responding to the general invitation by the board speakers shall identify themselves by name address and organizational affiliation if the spokesperson represents an organization speakers shall also also announce the purpose or topic of their comments 3 minutes shall be allotted to speakers the chairwoman reserves the right to restrict the total citizen comment received in any particular meeting to a predetermined maximum number of minutes with the approval of the board citizen comment which is profane abusive or which threatens emminent physical harm shall be ruled out of order by the chairwoman although the board provides the opportunity for citizen 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 Schools policy 1113 public complaints thank you

006Dr Chase that is in our policy that is read before citizen comments at each meeting I want to add to that tonight that we are here to listen to the citizens and I'm asking you as the audience to refrain from making comments or booing or jering or clapping or whatever May interrupt this process as of right now we have 63 people that have signed up there are three minutes allotted for each one we want to give everyone an opportunity so please show respect for the speakers and for the audience we will not tolerate talking or bullying of any type in this meeting tonight um I'm I'm going to call the names I'm going to call five people at a time and since this side is there a yellow line over here sir no there's no

007line all right well I will ask the people to be ready to come when it is your turn to speak so that we are able to keep this um going and not have wasted time in between um also there is a red a yellow in a green light the green light comes on when you come up the yellow light goes off with one minute corm Miss Hall the one minute warning for the yellow light when the red light comes on the time is up and we do not have a a luxury of having any wrap-up time so when that red light comes on your time is up um I'm going to call the first five speakers when we get to the fourth speaker I'll call the next five the first speaker is James benis the

008second is Father D Martino the Third third is Jose asencio the fourth is Jonathan Alexander and the fifth is Jeff ethd and these these cards were numbered when they were given to you so that is the order that we will be calling them in and we have your address here but we do ask when you come up if you could give your name and address so Mr benis you're first good evening my name is Jim benisek and my address is for Britney Lane in Stafford during the past several weeks had the opportunity to meet with several board members and I thank you for your time I'm still Gravely concerned about how the proposed policy will impact the privacy concerns of all students and I'm also concerned that I don't think all the members of the

009board can answer that question with all due respect to those who support the policy you're passing a policy to allow your employee man who is Not Elected or the courts to determine the meaning of the policy that's bad legislative practice I'm sure that Dr kinner is a nice man but he's not infallible he can be wrong just as I can be wrong the board thought he was wrong last year when he issued a policy to address the same issue and now you're going to give the same man a blank check to do the same thing it doesn't make sense again the main issue as far as I'm concerned is that we the people have a right to know if our children's fundamental right to privacy and bodily Integrity will be protected by this board that

010right doesn't come from you doesn't come from the government now if you support this and you know what Dr kinner intends to do congratulations but I say that I believe you have an honest a duty to be honest and transparent and let the voters who elected you know where you stand if you don't know and you still support this I think you're derelict in your duty it's an abdication of responsibility either way if you support this you're in the wrong I ask you to draft the non-discrimination policy get it right that addresses the needs of all students it can be done thank you very much next my name is Father D Martino I'm the pastor of St will of York here in Stafford and I'm here because we are one nation under God and I

011am the pastor of everyone in Stafford and I take that responsibility very seriously I'm here for the glory of God the salvation of Souls and the welfare and happiness of every individual in this room I'm not opposed to anybody here I'm the pastor of everyone here and I want their Eternal good and their good in this life as well I represent Jesus Christ who said he is the truth the way and the life the revealed word of God in sacred scripture tells us that God whom we just called upon in the Pledge of Allegiance created him male and female and I stand for that created reality that is the truth Tru I believe that all of us in this room deep down in the conscience that God gave us know we are proceeding down a

012path that is a lie it is a lie and therefore cannot yield the happiness that I want everyone in this room to have both in the short term in this life and the life to come I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak God grant us all the grace we need to navigate these difficult times Mr asencio hello my name is Jose and uh I'm here for the truth and I want to say two words every action have a consequence and you are here and remember the consequence that's it I want to say thank you thank you all right um Jonathan Alexandra and Jeff ethd and following Mr ethd is Margaret mcnamer and Andrea kobal Madam chair I'm Jonathan Alexander senior council at Liberty Council and we represent clients and parents in this

013room who are opposed to the addition of 2420 to the Stafford County student board policy it seems here that Stafford County is being pressured by various advocacy groups to include so-called gender identity as a protected class well it's a severely flawed rush to judgment it's a change it's a change from what has been a safe standard for our children and in the districts where this has been tested around the country it has not resulted well many teachers administrators are all faced with reordering what has been Common Sense practices to keep up with new policies like this but this also has Bare Bones implication this alteration will ultimately result in improper access to sex separate private facilities sex separate athletic teams and sex separate accommodations and all this is based on a Shaky Ground of giving

014difference to gender identity instead of biological sex Stafford County parents and some teachers are telling this board not to adopt this policy because it is based on this Shaky Ground much of the move and the motivation behind this change is based on disinformation on the gender ident identity issue actual science shows that there is a vast majority of gender confused students who will simply outgrow their confusion and will ultimately achieve congruence in their biological sex the immutable characteristic of biological sex must be respected as the only consistent basis for determining designations of students during school hours and during school related activities I know often times there's a comparison made between uh something as stringent as biological sex and immutable characteristics and race that comparison is often made to silence those good parents who realize that

015they cannot in good conscience send their children into the care of a school district or a school board which is willing to trade the guarantees of privacy and safety found in the lawfully sex segregated facilities to advance social experiments these social experiments do not take into considerations the privacy and safety and well-being of all students we have many examples and I think of the tragic occurrences of what happens when we enact bad policy especially when that policy impacts children the altering the life altering the psychologically harming and even the physically bodily distress which attaches to advancing transgenderism as school policy are out there the examples are there and for these reasons we urge you to oppose this policy in an email previously I provided uh the committee our research and legal memos on this matter

016and I'm available to answer any questions that you may have thank [Music] you my name is Jeff ethd and I'm a Stafford County resident I live at 110 Jolly Roger Cove I'd like to share with you what uh a letter that I had sent to you just yesterday uh and I'm writing and speaking about the uh the 20 420 policy and the 20 excuse me the 4107 policy I attended the uh 16 July meeting and uh I want to commend you again for your wisdom and delaying a vote on these policies until a full legal review could be made as I became aware of these policy uh changes these proposed policy changes I began looking in the matter and I learned that the Supreme Court is going to hear a case directly related to this

017topic just next next month on October the 8th according to title s of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a job applicant or employee because such individuals race color religion sex or n national origin the question before The Supreme Court is whether employment demonstrate discrimination because of a person's sexual preference or sexual identity qualifies as employment discrimination because of sex it is clear that the Court's opinion on this case is importantly related to the policies that you are considering and it seems that it would be prudent at a minimum to wait until the court has clarified the existing law before acting on extending the law I know that there are those who wish to see these uh new policies imposed immediately by the school board nevertheless

018this contested policy needs more time for potential consensus to emerge before a divisive vote is finalized you know I care deeply about the welfare of Stafford County Children and the teachers I ask that you not vote that you vote not to impose these proposed policies that I will that I believe will be harmful to them at a minimum I ask that you delay imposing these policies until we get needed guidance for Supreme Court thank you very much hello my name is Andrea cobal I'm at 13 Westbrook Lane and um I thank you all for all your hard work in this you have been swept away in a nationwide cultural movement you are the Trailblazers and it has not been easy and my heart goes out to all of you but here are three things Stafford

019residents need to know about our non-elected superintendent Dr kizner I'm sure you're a great guy um concerning the proposed policies of 4107 and 2420 excuse me excuse me Miss K and we'll have to add a few seconds on here Whoever has that phone ringing will you please silence it this is going to interrupt the speakers and add to our time I ask the board add to my time as well because of the interruption thank you um so these are the three things our County needs to know about our superintendent he sponsored with the help of Jamie dear and Sarah Chase two ineffective policies that will not hold up in any jurisdiction let alone the Supreme Court because he they use the wrong word shall instead of the word must for the public record I am

020formally submitting nine copies of of the following the advisory committee rules of Court judicial Council of Virginia it's a memorandum it just came out in April of 2019 an expl explanation that says shell is slippery and the creator of booby traps I'm also going to be submitting the federal employment law training group explanation why the word must must be used instead of shell I'm also going to include the fa A's explanation why must must be used instead of shall to make a policy mandatory Dr kizner you even were quoted in a January 7th uh freelance star um article where you talk about how you change the word of should to shall in previous drafts these policies will not make it even though you say your word shall means you must do it I say prove

021it Dr gizar and put must into both policies under evaluation and review this is the second thing you need to know our non-elected superintendent is taking all responsibilities and approvals away from our duly elected school board if these two policies pass as they are instead of the school board being our voice you have taken that right away and all you get is review and input this should enrage you it enrages me and thirdly how many of you were at the uh budget committee can you raise your hand how many were actually there well let me tell you what happened at that budget committee there was an agenda and the non-elected Dr Kiser wants full spending power that could exceed $100,000 for emergency needs and under um Exhibit C right here there is a budget approximation

022that it'll cost $2,182 excuse me $2,182 th000 for total bathroom conversion budget where all urals get this will be demoed and removed thank you Margaret mamera all right after Miss mcamera we have Christian Peabody Dana Brown Tom in torsio and David merman good evening um my name is Margaret mcnamer and I live at 855 um aberly Drive I am a member of St William of York Catholic Church a former teacher at Holy Cross Academy and presently a teacher at St Thomas aquinus Regional School in Woodbridge I'm here to speak on behalf of my daughter I watch watched her go from an enthusiastic and energetic child to someone I didn't recognize I watched her slide into a deep depression lose her appetite and stop talking to her family she was bullied but not for the reasons

023you might think it wasn't because of her gender but because her face was scarred by acne when I called the school no one took steps to make it stop tonight's proposal will make no difference to transgender children and bullying if pasted it will not resolve bullying for anyone this is nothing more than a political ploy to pass an agenda devoid of objective truth and a means of silencing anyone who disagrees I am a devout Catholic that holds to the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church bullying is an issue of the heart I teach my children well and I teach them to love everyone regardless of who they are or what they believe my daughter would never bully anyone transgender or not but forcing my daughter to share a bathroom with a boy will not solve

024the deeper issue of bullying bullying is an issue for every child in our school system not just a select few who have earned a school board meeting to legislate their right rights and needs above everyone else's I ask that you vote tonight based on the needs of all all your students not just some of them my daughter too I pray that you will vote based on objective truth rather than political motivations thank you was that a blink dear Dr ker members of the board good evening my name is Christian peat I am the music teacher at fouth elementary and the president of the Stafford Education Association which is the professional advocacy body for the employees of this Division and tonight we have an historical opportunity to secure fundamental rights of dignity and safety for every

025educator and student Stafford County Public Schools now and forever nearly 35,000 individuals either employed or ruled in the division will finally have in place what should have never been absent a right to Universal non-discrimination there are devastating stories I have heard from staff and students of what they have endured without policy in place however I do find immense hope in a single statistic that speaks to how desperately needed these policies are because of how shocking these discriminatory actions continue to be that statistic presented in public now for the fourth time is the representative 91% of the division's Educators both members and non-members of the association who desire these policies which are taken from other divisions that have enacted these policies in place now and what that means is that 91% of your Educators in their

026professional opinion are ready to stand with and for the students of this division it also means that 91% of your Educators in their professional opinion are ready to stand with and for their colleagues in this division that also means that 91% of your Educators in their professional opinion are ready to stand with and for this school board of the division which also means that again 91% of your Educators in their professional opinion are ready to stand with and for this superintendent who has the experience courage and heart to guide us through this journey and what that also means is that tonight every single one of you has the opportunity to prove to 91% of your Educators that their patient faith in the school board is well placed with your vote prove to the division that

027every one of you values providing every educator with the guidance they expressly ask for to elevate every student and with your vote prove to the division that every one of you is willing to uphold and protect the Dignity of worth of the division's nearly 35,000 Educators and students and with your vote prove that you are committed to the Covenant of partnership with your Educators and of your Educators with their students to help Stafford County Public Schools shine as a brighter division that truly does inspire Empower and Excel and with this vote prove not with a majority but with unanimity that every one of you validates the overwhelming professional opinion of the Educators and the superintendent you have entrusted to carry out the mission of the division as always it is my honor to speak on

028behalf of the association thanks to the permitted privilege to do so openly without fear of recourse and I look forward to waking up tomorrow knowing that every educator and student in the division will not have that exact right moving forward thank you for your time and thank you for allowing me to have a voice in your safe space hi I am Dana Brown I live at 41 um St Williams way and um I'm talking tonight to you about policy 4107 the proposed revisions and the first thing I want to say is I hope that you guys are going to be releasing the legal opinion from outside council tonight I think it's agenda item 9.01 um when I attend your meetings which is pretty frequently I consistently hear you say quote in the entrance in interests

029of transparency so I hope that holds true for tonight um and if for some strange reason which I'm sure you won't but you vote not to make public the legal opinion I'm going to have to wonder why what are you hiding and what do you not want us to know but I'm I'm sure you won't do that because I know you guys are all about transparency so my question is why are we here tonight for this last year when the lock lockdown drill incident happened that sparked all this Dr kizner responded to you at the public October 9th meeting assuring you that he had already taken care of the incident and fixed it in fact he said quote policies have a place but best actions in common sense have a greater place and then he

030went on to say quote we moved forward yesterday but we could move forward again tomorrow with or without a policy I have that for you here I can't play it because I don't have the permission in advance to do that but it's just a quick little quote um and if you want to hear it's from the October 9th meeting it's two hours and 5 minutes in is when it starts um let's see so again why are we here if the superintendent stated didn't need a policy to fix this that tells me that the policy before you deny is purely political in nature and not based on need we need to keep politics out of our schools and concentrate on education um I think we actually have a policy in place just for that policy 1115

031um about political activities so maybe a few of you might want to brush up on that and my last thought is if you go against the will of the community on this the community probably won't support you and have your back next year when you need additional funding and after all they are the ones that fund your coffers so please please do what the community wants you to do thank you chair Haley and members of the board thank you for your time tonight my name is Tom and torsio and I serve as associate director with the Virginia Catholic conference I've already testified in May so I'll try to be brief and just highlight my remarks from May um the Virginia Catholic conference is the public policy Agency for the Catholic Bishops and their two dases

032in the Commonwealth we oppose 4107 and 2420 uh we believe they're ill-advised policies because first of all um School the school district as we all know has a duty a legal Duty both in case law and in statute to to protect the bodily privacy and dignity of all students no child should be forced to share showers locker rooms hotel rooms or other intimate settings with a member of the opposite biological sex many children would feel uncomfortable when they encounter a member of the opposite sex in gendered facilities or entered a shared hotel room as part of an overnight School activity children particularly adolescents suffer from hyp sensitivity about their physiological development and their emotional and physical phys ological or psychological vulnerability should not be further placed at risk by dismantling these natural safe sa safe

033space boundaries adolescent girls in particular feel very uncomfortable when they encounter a member of the opposite sex and bathrooms locker rooms or showers we know this because we see them in the Supreme Court cases that are currently working their way up that have worked their way up to the Supreme Court or in the Appel in the circuits um you know I'm I'm just there there cases in Pennsylvania Illinois Minnesota Ohio um that that have been brought and so we we know this from the from the factual record in those cases um lastly um uh for for a school system to facilitate a child's particularly young child's gender transition uh is just so ill advised it's it's borders on irresponsibility um and and professional malpractice quite frankly schools should not be accommodating the especially harmful view

034that youth is an appropriate time to be encouraging these irreversible gender transitions um and finally you know we know that these are decisions that are best made by parents students and staff at individual schools not by ambiguous broad blanket policies that will end up being interpreted on an individual basis anyway and so I I know this has been um a um you know a a uh a major lift for you all and we we appreciate your consideration of these issues and uh we we U we you know we just we trust you that you will make the logical rational decision on this on this uh very very difficult issue thank you for your time after Mr mman Cynthia Alexander Dr Todd gathy Josh hler and Patrick Money my name is David Mormon I live at

03511536 Ranch Drive in Spotsylvania and I am a previous student of Stafford County Public Schools however when I attended and graduated it was under a different name Gabrielle well I didn't realize that I am trans until College it was quite evident through my primary education that I was different from my peers I played the part of a tomboy more comfortable presenting as masculine than feminine through elementary school middle school and even into high school I was ridiculed teased taunted belittled for simply being myself I was bullied for no other reason that I was different from them the worst part about that was no one ever did anything to stop it in fact the opposite happened if I tried to stand up for myself or to get them to stop I was punished I was just

036told to ignore them that if I didn't react they would stop but they didn't and every time they walked away Scott free one of the doctrines of Stafford County Public Schools is in loo parentis meeting in place of the parents from the moments those kids step foot on Stafford County school grounds until the moment they leave every employee is required to act in locco parentice of those kids look at mandatory reporting Poli policies for example if a teacher administrator counselor school nurse even suspects or knows that a student is in danger of or already has hurt them thems or someone else they are required to report it if they suspect abuse they are required to report it but in loco parentis goes beyond just mandatory reporting policies it means supporting and encouraging students to achieve

037the best they can it means protecting those students while they are under their Care by expanding the Discrimination policy to include gender identity and sexual orientation you will be helping make the schools feel a little safer and a little more welcoming to students particular students like me the ones that may not feel at home in the body they were born with the ones that don't love those strictly on the opposite end of the gender Spectrum from themselves had those items been in place on the non-discrimination policy as I traveled through those 13 years maybe my experience would have been a little bit different but I can't speak with any certainty on how the past could have changed what I can speak to however is how we can change the future I implore you to add

038sexual orientation and gender identity to the non-discrimination policy if for no other reason than the sake of the students suicide is already the second leading cause of death amongst youth according to the Trevor Project the rates of suicide and suicide attempts in the LGBT community is almost five times higher than that of the general population and serious contemplation of suicide is almost three times higher in the LGBT community than that in the general population from personal experience those increased rates are mostly due to a lack of acceptance and support for those people to Simply exist as who they truly are I tell you this as a pansexual transgender man as someone who has attempted suicide in the past as someone who is living proof that even just acceptance and support makes a world full of

039difference as a closing statement I would like to remind everyone here that the separation of church and state religion has no place and no bearing on the decisions of a government funded school system thank you hi put this down can you guys hear me okay okay this issue is about morals and an exclusive right to privacy when our students are going to the bathroom as the board has written the board is committed to providing Equitable safe and inclusive learning environment for all Stu our students that includes safety in the bathrooms the board also has written uh behavior that is not unlawful May nevertheless be unacceptable for the learning environment forcing our children to share intimate facilities with members of the the opposite sex violates their privacy rights their civil rights and subjects them to needless

040emotional stress and gives potential Predators a viable pretext to enter female and male facilities this is also unacceptable for the learning environment as is stated God did not make a mistake when he created males and females children know what sex they are God is not to be mocked if you bring up a child with correct morals you will have a better Society remember discrimination goes two ways and the children who use the bathrooms accordingly to their biological sex have the ultimate right to privacy and against discrimination for using NE biological sex bathrooms we do not need to add undue and unnecessary pressure to the children in school when they need to go to the bathroom here's a sign that is not discrimination but a solution to this problem I want the board to to see

041this sign it does not discriminate and it covers everyone thank you hello my name is Dr Todd gaki I'm here on behalf of the Family Foundation of Virginia from Richmond Virginia um we're here to speak to policies 24 20 and 4107 and we deeply care about the well-being of every student in Virginia but when the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity are added to policies and laws they are almost always interpreted to demand access to locker rooms showers and restrooms designated for the opposite biological sex under the proposed policies a Stafford County school would presumably have no basis for denying any student unrestricted access to all facilities including locker rooms showers or bathrooms so long as a student claims to subjectively identify as that sex by allowing this to take place you would be

042violating the Privacy the safety and the Dignity of every other student this policy would no doubt open up bathroom and changing facilities to sexual predators seeking access to young girls students in public schools have a fundamental constitutionally protected right to bodily privacy that right is violated when students are forced into situations where members of the opposite sex May view their partially or fully unclo bodies parents also have the fundamental right to control their children's education and upbringing including the extent of their children's knowledge of the difference between the Sexes these policies would infringe on those rights in addition to concerns about privacy these policies would compel students faculty and administrators to use phrases or pron nouns that conflict with their deeply held personal beliefs about the biological realities of males and females these policies would

043punish students for harassment if they did not use the proper pronouns when addressing a student or a teacher struggling with gender identity issues it could even be used uh to punish religious student groups uh who believe and teaches that a person's sex is created by God and is immutable any of these scenarios would result in violation of students rights in including the rights to freedom of speech and religion it is important to point out that to the best of my knowledge Stafford school board has received no formal complaints of harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity therefore these policies are nothing more than a solution in search of a problem for these reasons we urge the board to not approve these policies thank you for your time good evening Josh hler I'm

044the legislative Council for the Family Foundation of Virginia there are any number of legal reasons to not adopt these proposed non-discrimination policies there's of course the Dylan rule as we know about there's the fact that title 9 and title 7 have only ever meant male or female by their terms uh we know that the gler the glou County case is still being appealed and is not yet resolved and that the Supreme Court as you've heard many times will be hearing these cases hearing cases in just this October uh addressing these very issues um and how could we Overlook the numerous constitutional rights involved that have been mentioned privacy uh Speech religion and at the very least uh it's clear that no law requires you to pass these these and other legal reasons have already even

045made known to you in a memo from myself and from other attorneys but the law is only one consideration here as you know and frankly it is neither the most important nor the most compelling one for this board and I say that as an attorney uh that's because even if you did have the authority to pass these policies you nevertheless have a responsibility to every Stafford student teacher and staff member not to these policies necessarily steal the Privacy safety and dignity from every single one of them children will most certainly be harmed and abused if you pass them and for what purpose please do not trade the well-being of these children merely to appease a purely ideological agenda thank you all right after Mr Mooney we have Luke NS George Anderson an long farell Jen

046kulage and Gavin Grim good evening thank you for letting me speak um while I'm against this proposal I I wanted to say that I'm not against any person here I feel great compassion for the people that have suffered from various situations and bullying should be AC not be acceptable and is not acceptable based on our current policies so it's a red herring to use bullying which we all all object to as an excuse for overturning traditional policies regarding bathrooms and removing protections for primarily young ladies and opening the door to things will sabotage female SP Sports programs where we have sacrificed and struggled for 40 plus years to develop equal opportunity for females to compete in sports and with opening the door to this Movement we were we are going to undercut that severely it's

047it's not a hypothetical situation it's something we've already seen in other states where these things have happened finally uh religion should not be banned from the discussion the First Amendment of the Constitution does not ban religion in public policy Martin Luther King the ab abolitionists and Many religious leaders have been fundamental to making our country better because their views were shaped by their Christian or other religious views so I I ask you to not discount the the the deeply held views of people here simply because they're people of Faith do not pass this policy release the document that the the legal opinion so that the public can see it and if if nothing else release that policy and delay the vote so that the full public can see what that legal opinion is before you

048make that vote thank you very much hello folks how you doing can we change it up a little bit I have a book Dr kizner you want to look at it story time uh this is a book that was given to me by a teacher in South America and she teaches at a school down there in the mountains Peru and this is a story about a little toy named punchinello he's made by a wood maker and the funny thing is all the toys made by this wood maker end up in a little village and they have a funny way of about their life they carry around a box of stars and a box of dots and if it's a good toy they get Stars if it's a bad toy they get dots and throughout their

049life they get dots and stars and over time some toys end up with more dots and little punchinello ends up with a lot of dots there's people in his life that are hard on him and it's pretty hard to make it through life without someone being hard on you at one time or another one day punchinello runs into another toy who actually doesn't have any dots or any stars and he asked this toy why are you different and the toy told punchinello that every day she goes to see the wood maker the wood carver who made all the toys and so punchinella goes to see the wood maker and after visiting with the wood maker he finds out that he was made for a purpose he wasn't made just to be a toy he was

050special he wasn't special because he had stars or dots he was special because who he was made that's what parenting is you're not here to represent the teachers or the students you're here to represent the parents we brought these children into this world not the teachers not your policies we brought them in for a purpose we love our children we want to see them grow in innocence in innocence we don't want to see them corrupted in any kind of way so I encourage you to vote no on this policy thank you uh hello my name's uh George Anderson uh 75 tacket Mill Road and off top advocating for 9.01 and against 9.02 and 9.03 I'd like to thank the Board of Supervisors for the opportunity afforded me to speak tonight I understand that various effs

051to ensure that we as a community of Stafford County embrace all of our children which are the future education in the grade schools is supposed to be comprised of learning about topics concerning our existence in this Universe though it has been quite some time since I was a learner of basic knowledge I doubt that topics needed by children have changed very much the topics covering our past what we have learned since the beginning and how things are as of today and time may vary in content but the content intent should be the same I'm an engineer I deal in laws of physics that govern our universe in which mankind has not ever been able to change I learned about physics in school obviously attempted to teach our children that viations against the laws of nature

052is okay and normal is strange to me a person can jump off a tall cliff and they're guaranteed it will hurt them gravity does not care what humans think or human can put their hand into a fire and they will suffer the consequences by getting burned physics does not care what humans think the laws still apply try telling your body does not need oxygen by stopping you breathing after you pass out your body will begin to by trying we will begin trying to breathe again once your conscious brain is quit making demands contrary to the laws of physics governing Your Existence your body knows your brain's Direction was illogical creation of documents containing language that goes against the laws of physics is also illogical the power of the pen has no power against these laws

053training your children that adult experiments in changing the physical composition of a human body is natural is incorrect why teach such falsehoods why should any student that is capable of observing nature and recognizing such a falsehood ever believe anything else their teachers might attempt to teach them I Ur this Board of Supervisors to recognize this eror and using opinion to direct their students in adult matters they should have no part in at their age as well as the error in directing school administrative staff and all adults that to experiment and change in human physiology is natural no one on this plan it would be here today as an outcome of such experiments I'm also compelled to add that not only as such appear experiments against nature more importantly they are against God's law we must

054each answer to it for our own actions one day be careful what you say had children should be acceptable of thank you thank you members of the board thank you for allowing me your to speak uh my name is Anor frell I was before you guys in July I'm a Stafford County teacher um I live in the Garrisonville District as someone whose degree is in Psychology particularly cognitive in Neuroscience um I've been staggered by some of the misin information that I've heard and it's time to set it straight what you'll find before each of you is an annotated bibliography of the sources that I've used just so you know that I actually you know what I'm talking about I'd like to start with something really important the government of the United States is not in

055any sense founded on the Christian religion that was in the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797 ratified unanimously by the United States Senate and signed by President John Adams we are not governed by Christianity the majority of our citizens are Christians I myself am Christian but Christianity or any religion does not make our laws as for the science you're going to hear people say that being transgender is a mental disorder it in fact is not it was removed in 2013 By the DSM 5 which which is governed by the American Psychological Association in addition the World Health Organization which has more access to Pure viwed medical research than most of us will ever see in a lifetime voted to remove gender identity disorder from the list of disorders it is not in fact a mental illness

056genes aren't as simple as XX and XY anyone who tells you that needs to go back to high school biology because quite frankly they should have failed there are 25 different genes that influence biological sex 25 genes that are at war with each other in addition there have been studies found that there there are structural differences of the brain as well as functional differences of the brain between those who are transgender and those who are cisgender they are closer in structure to the identity to the gender that they identify as in addition there's something called uh mosaicism which means every single one of us in our body has cells that on a chromosomal level belong to the opposite sex that's from Stanford there's science behind this science is in favor of the transgender Community my

057question is if his Holiness Pope Francis himself himself can say that we have a place in the Catholic church thank you why are we so scary thank you good evening members of the board my name is Gavin grim and I come from glosser County Virginia you may recognize my name as I am the client in GG versus glosser County Public School Board represented by the ACLU however My Views today represent only my own and I do not represent any organization let's start with the allegation that I've heard often so far that there will be boys in the girls' room let's start in fact with me standing before you and standing before the people in this room many people who have expressed their nons support for this measure if they knew who I was would consider

058me a girl because the fact is that when I was born I was identified female at Birth now as I grew in adolescence and into adulthood I realized that that was mistaken I realized that was wrong I realized that as early as 5 years old and that feeling never left me and when I was 14 I transitioned and I went from a suicidal desperate I can't describe the depths of Sorrow that I was in to have to pretend that I was a girl and then I transitioned 6 years ago and I'm a 20-year-old adult and I have yet to feel regret I have yet to feel like anything else except for that I am my fullest and best version of myself and the sooner we can affirm children the better I speak to schools all

059across America preschool kindergarten elementary middle and high it's one of my greatest Joys as a trans person and as a future educator because the thing is these are public schools not private schools public schools that are publicly funded that have trans-affirming bathroom policies and have for years much stronger in fact than the one proposed tonight those schools have not had issues with boys sneaking into the girls bathroom I might shine a light on why because when you are a transgender student going in going through a transition within schools it is extremely stigmatizing you are a target for bullying nobody is going to put themselves through that social shame and stigma for a chance at acting inappropriately and furthermore should they ever be so motivated the crime will be punished just like in any other case

060of someone acting inappropriately in a bathroom in each case the crime would be punished a child would not get out of jail free for being trans this is simply an in an intellectually bankrupt argument that should never be considered as reasonable banter in any reasonable situation now as the client um in this case I have uh enjoyed a few victories historically in this very same district where a similar case might be argued um and each time it has been reaffirmed that I have been discriminated against by my school that is that had voted to put me either in a unisex bathroom or in the girls room if you want to talk about boys in the girls room let's talk about what it would look like for me to walk into a girl's bathroom right now

061even though based on the rules that my Schoolboard put forth that would have been totally permissible while I was a student there that is dishonest please protect the trans students in this school board in this school district thank you Jen kulage after Miss kulage Allison Sullivan Ted Lewis deadra grim and Tim Willcox um good evening uh School Board superintendent last time I was a little bit angry because we're still here having this conversation so I'm going to tone it down a little bit we're just going to have a really great conversation about what is going on here this all started when a trans student was separated from her schoolmates in an active shooter drill as you can see by my shirt I'm not a fan of active shooter drills I don't know how we got

062here as a country I support a ban on assault rifles I think it's insan and insane and obscene that we have the gun violence in this country that we have but that's not really why we're here we're here because it's not a question of whether or not any of anyone in this room anyone watching in the other rooms wants to recognize that we have a situation where we have to I we have to recognize that there are children growing up who don't identify as boy or girl they're transgender they're lgbtq and we need to respect that it is our duty as parents and I can tell you as a parent of a gay daughter who at the age of five I recognized as gay even before she knew it I knew what was going on

063I loved and supported her throughout her journey and continue to this day and I think as parents that's what we're all about and if we're not then shame on us I want to bring up an important Supreme Court decision because at the core of this we can go back to May 17 1954 where the Supreme Court ruled on Brown versus the Board of Education and overturning Pie versus Ferguson now some of you may not know what that is but separate is not equal and just because we say well you know they have the there's this bathroom there's that bathroom are they protected are they safe because I can tell you in the active shooter drill that student wasn't safe and it's the third time that that has happened to her I want to also remind

064the school board and people in this room that we had this conversation about minorities not so long ago and whether or not it was safe to let them into our schools whether or not it was safe to let people with disabilities attend schools in a in a public school setting a lot of people had problems back then and I guess people are always going to have problems because no one's going to agree that at the end of the day whether or not we like it these childr are entitled to the same protections under the law as guaranteed under the Constitution as every other student and I would urge you to support the protections it would be a step in the right right direction it may not solve all the problems but it would sure be

065a heck of a lot better than what we have going on and we need to stop the suicide rate for Trans thank you good evening my name is Allison Sullivan I reside in Hartwood on Shady Creek Lane it is notable this vote is taking place on world Suicide Prevention Day throughout this debate we've heard deeply personal stories and perspectives for and against this policy as a former School social worker a current psychotherapist in private practice and as a parent of a non-binary trans child who is educated in Stafford County Schools I have really informed strong opinions in support of policy 420 however tonight I want to briefly share a core truth about the purpose of public education public education is a vital system in place to promote a thriving civilization the public education system supports

066a thriving Civilization by fostering Equitable access to formal education to promote the development of knowledgeable citizens within a diverse Society in order to both model that goal and achieve a learning environment in which that goal is accessible for all of our students the proposed policy must be in place to deny protections for the most vulnerable citizens and staff is to model an exclusion-based hierarchical model of student and faculty value which is completely in congruent with a public model of Education it reinforces a mindset that subjectively privileges specific groups of people to the detriment of other others public learning institutions and systems need to protect every student not specific populations of students these protections being considered do not take away any existing protections they simply broaden the lens of protection to finally include all students within

067the public school system no it will not prevent discrimination it will give all students a formal process to address to address discrimination right now now there is a large segment of students and staff without that protection how does that align with a publicly funded Learning System Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1816 if a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization it expects what never was and what will never be I've seen up close and personal the trauma people in the lgbtq community sustained from daily discrimination and how that trauma impacts their mental social and physical health if you do not do the right thing by these students the trauma they will not might sustain without these protections is on each and every one of you thank you good evening thank you

068for letting me be here um I'm the proud mother of Gavin Grim my name is De grim and I'm here from Williamsburg Virginia um I want to speak as a mom who's been there and done this already and a school that continues to discriminate against my my child a school board should I say um and I have witnessed the damage that it's caused to my son but as a parent all I needed to hear from the very beginning was that 41% of these kids try to commit suicide and out of those 41% succeed and not just once but many times um I believe it's the school board's job to support all the children of the school I think it's even more important to make sure that there are Protections in place for minority students um

069I don't think that one group of people or any group of people religious color whatever can decide that it is they just don't want to be in the bathroom with somebody you know I don't know what everybody's El's kids do in the bathroom but mine goes to the bathroom and then leaves that's all he does um and as you see and you heard what he said does he belong in the girl's bathroom I really don't think so um I think that this school board has a chance to vote and be on the right side of History because it's coming one way or the other down the road um like a lot of the other wonderful schools in this country that have adopted a non-discrimination policy for all for all the students it's it's it's your

070job to protect all the students and it's the under the Constitution my child other trans children lgbtq of any kind of children whatever color whatever religion have the right to go to school be prot protected and used the bathroom that they identify with and the re and not only that but these kids the kids don't care it's it's when the adults get involved that um Gavin used the right bathroom for two months and had no issues no issues whatsoever it's the parents that it seems to bother more um all these students are protected under our Constitution and and if you tell a certain set of students that they can't exist in a public space then that means the transgender or LGBT kids that this is not protecting can't work they can't go to school because

071I mean there's it's not an option for him to go in the girl's bathroom so you're telling him that he he can't go to school and he can't work in a regular job and he can't he can't exist in public spaces like everybody else does that mean he's not a person he deserv deserves the same rights and and all these kids deserve the same rights thank you all right um was Ted Lewis Here We called Mr Lewis and after Mr Lewis Tim Wilcox good evening chairwoman Healey Dr kizner and school board members my name is Ted Lewis and I serve as executive director of side by side based in Richmond Virginia for over 30 years side by side has supported lesbian gay bisexual transgendering questioning youth in Central Virginia and just last month we came

072into Stafford County schools to provide training and technical assistance to the leadership team here within your school district we're visitors so I will keep my remarks very brief I just wanted to say thank you for hearing everyone tonight both sides and regardless of where you fall please know that side by side is here to help all of the students lgbtq and not as they navigate understanding difference and coming to a common place where they can support everyone in the community I know you have a difficult decision ahead of you and whichever way you fall someone will disagree what I ask of you is to remember that there are children in the room here tonight who are part of the lgbtq community who are hearing very negative things about who they are and who they will

073become and that they deserve to know that their school board has their back they deserve to know that they are loved and cared for by the members of this school board because I know you love and care for all the students here at the end of the day we are talking about children and some of them are hearing very negative things about who they are here tonight and sadly they hear that in your schools on a regular basis side by side is honored to work with you at no cost to the county or the district we've done that with schools both public and private throughout Virginia and we hope that you can find a way to support lgbtq students and all students I will leave you with one statistic that I think is very important

074actually I'm going to do two one found that schools or rather cities that had lgbtq protections saw no increase in incidences in bathrooms so the idea that more violence will occur in bathrooms is not backed up by any peer-reviewed research secondly schools that have non-discrimination policies have been shown to improve lgbtq students lives but interestingly enough they've also shown to improve all students lives we hope that you will consider side by-side a friend in this work and we look forward to continue working with you thank you for your time all right after Mr uh Tim Willcox Jeffrey trigger Beth huntsbury Savannah steel and Victoria Castillo hi my name is Tim Wilcox uh 1837 warington Road I am a proud parent of four graduates of Stafford County Schools have two grandchildren that are planning on uh

075being a part of this school system soon I'm pastor of choice Baptist Church I work with a group called Fusion Evangelical churches in uh the area that focus on uh racial reconciliation I'm on board with a group called the Virginia assembly of Independent Baptist that works together uh for uh the religious rights of individuals as I look at this uh policy I chose not to focus today on uh the aspects of statistics I know I've sent several emails your way and shared some thoughts and the last email that I sent to uh each one of you uh dealt with tomorrow September 11th 18 years ago uh terrible attack upon our country and at September 11th 2001 we United together not as Democrats and Republicans but as Americans and I proud proudly stood a few moments

076ago as we I gave the pledge to our country I think what an incredible opportunity that we have uh no matter what our position to be able to share what our beliefs are and I'm thankful that even in this policy that I greatly disagree with and I've met with Dr kizner and uh sent notes to you and talked to my uh area member uh that I certainly hope that this does not pass but within that policy there are religious rights that we have and I'm thank thankful that I can still Express and the members of our congregations can still express our religious beliefs because just because we're in the public Fairground does not mean we give up our religious rights they continue and my desire is to encourage um that to continue whether it be

077publicly or privately in our society I do think we have two different World Views that we must consider there were two counselors counseling a Christian individual that his lifestyle brought about a lot of guilt one affirmed the lifestyle to try to get rid of the guilt the other affirmed the guilt to get rid of the lifestyle now there are great people on both sides of this policy and we all believe in affirming our children we want the best for our children it breaks our heart when we hear about suicide and depression and these issues but we do come to different conclusions and I don't believe this policy is right for our count County and uh I encourage you to say no to both of these policies thank you very much thank you hello my name

078is Jeffrey trigger and I live in the George Washington District as an educator in this County it is a shame about the lack of paperclips given to staff teaching English quickly gives me stacks of paper and asking for paper clips should be the reason that I'm here yet I'm once again here to talk about the rights of students and staff I should not in the year 2019 be begging you to pass policy that ensur students and staff are all equally protected against discrimination under the Stafford County Code of Conduct I should not have to speak meeting after meeting about how discrimination is wrong I should be telling you how annoying it is to have to buy my own Paperclip I should not in the year 2019 feel like members of the board cannot answer the

079simple question what is your why why did you run for this spot that should not be a worry of an scps employee our biggest worry should be would it be cheaper to buy rubber bands and skipped the paperclips all together I should in the year 2019 have all of my students knowing that my class in school is a safe place to learn to participate in class and activities and that policy protects against any biases that might might be harmful to these students I should have an environment safe and comfortable enough that my students biggest concern about my class is the lack of paper clips in the end you have a choice to make you were either for anti-discrimination policy for all or you for discrimination it's that simple that blunt that honest you can't sugarcoat

080that choice and obviously you can't hide the policy with paper clips because we don't have any hi my name is Savannah steel I'm also an openly queer 14-year-old first thing I'd like to tell you is that I know what it's like to suffer I know what it's like to not know who you are I fell out of place that was my entire sixth grade year although I had moved here yet I was depressed and anxious I know what it's like to want to Slit your wrist or down a bottle of pills I have the scars to prove that I've been through what no 14-year-old girl should go through but I'm glad I never went through with it because here I am today to Stand My Ground and tell you that without this policy we and

081I say we because I'm not here to stand up for myself but the entire LGBT policy LGBT community at the schools here they will can continue to suffer for six hours a day 5 days a week without this policy and I know friends who aren't even out of the closet in fear that they won't be accepted not just by their parents or family but by the people that surround them every day this policy is not needed or this policy is want not wanted but needed in all schools not just here in Stafford but everywhere and honestly things need to change it's 2019 and we are discussing a policy protecting LGBT communities in your school we aren't asking for separate bathrooms or locker rooms we're asking that we be treated the same to be called the

082right pronouns and names so all we ask is to educate your staff on the proper pronouns for students to use not to use dead names they're dead for a reason this policy should have been put in place months ago if you really cared about your students and staff more than your personal beliefs it would have been done and over with but here we are today recently I went to the American History Museum in DC and at one of the LGBT history exhibits it said it can be dangerous to be different some people immerse themselves in a profession or sport or fight back through the courts and public protest others escape through music drinking sex drugs or International communities they form humor and irony save many people some do n survive I'm a freshman at Mountain

083View High School I don't want to spend my four years there hiding who I am and I'm sure I speak for a lot of students when I say this so put your personal beliefs aside and put this policy in place to protect all of your students not just some of them Beth hunts bear good evening thank you for letting me speak to the board and to the community again my my name is Beth huntsberry I'm a minister um I live in Spring Lake Farm here in Stafford I have a child at the amazing Mountain View High School which we love um and I've actually had like five pages of notes but listening to the conversation I decided none of them really makes sense because I don't think most people in this room who are opposed

084to this policy have actually read it this isn't a bathroom policy this is a non-discrimination policy to protect kids some of them are sitting behind me and you're going to send a really really clear message when you vote to these kids now they'll be fine because these kids have been through it they have been through it but what about the quiet kids what about the ones at home that we hear about this tomorrow at school the ones that are still in the closet the ones who are terrified and scared and yes 50% of them almost will attempt suicide at least once my own child was one of those children this is not a policy that is way out there it sounds like some people think we're asking the school to pass something historic lots of

085other schools have passed non-discrimination policies like this this protects our kids and our staff and I also we keep going back to this bathroom policy and I jotted down a few notes how are you going to figure out who uses the bathroom are we going to have someone standing at the door checking genitalia I mean seriously are you going to look at who's going to volunteer for that job and what in the world are you people so afraid of I sat here and I listen to Catholic priests talk about sex abuse hey hey hey hey no we're not allowed to clap excuse me you're addressing the board sorry that's amazing to me how many transgender people have abused a child in the bathroom I don't hear haven't heard it on the news at all not

086a single time lots lots of our clergy we have who's shooting up our schools is it the transgender kids or is it the straight white male kids with easy access to Firearms you want to be scared that's who we need to be concerned about not transgender gay lesbian not those kids those kids just want to go to school where in the world are our priorities if we are willing to look at kids and say we love you we just don't love who you are I'm sorry that ain't Christlike my friends don't stand up here and argue that you are a Christian when your behavior reflects the absolute and exact opposite of the Christ you claim to follow he said love one another and that was the end of it there's no but or only if

087or what if love one another and a non-discrimination policy is a way of showing that we care about our students all right after Miss Castro we have Jean Robinson O'Brien Leslie cook Marvin Sterns and Scarlet ponds St yes please hi my name isor you can pull that down so we can hear you thank you hi my name is Victoria Castro and I'm a middle school student here in Stafford a locker room is a place for kids to change their clothes and to feel safe by doing that with this policy staff for students and I will not feel safe respected and will be embarrassed as a middle school student the locker room is a sacred place that girls or guys share with one another as kids we are still having trouble changing in front of other

088that are the same gender and if we have this new policy it'll be very hard because boys and girls have different body parts and I will never change I wouldn't feel comfortable seeing a boy's body or with an underwear people might even use this policy as an advantage to go to any locker room and do stuff stuff they're not allowed to do as middle school students we can bend any rule given to us and this rule has a lot of bending for it this policy will be hard for teachers and staff to keep up with as a staff or student this policy will affect our community completely and the students that currently attend I don't have anything against kids from the lgbtq community but I don't feel comfortable and many of of my fellow classmates

089as well don't feel safe changing in front of a boy or going to a bathroom with fun please don't let this happen as Stafford my future and safety are in your hands thank you you don't have to but you can if you want okay is Jean Robinson O'Brien good evening I'm Jen Robinson O'Brien I live at 2011 crossing road and I'm here as a teacher from North Stafford High School as as well as a parent of a student of a child and that's how I identify her this is not about the bathrooms currently I have every right as a teacher to treat a student different if they're black if they're male if they're Christian or anything else I have witnessed other teachers treat those kids differently even going so far as to call some of

090our elll teachers wet back mamas and that's allowed freedom of speech this isn't about the bathrooms some will say it's about sports but vhsl the body that governs our Sports dealt with that five years ago this isn't about the bathrooms some will say it's about freedom of religion fantastic I go to church 5 days a week I'm a youth director I'm a choir director and I'm a lay leader and I live by love one another but I don't teach that to my kids that's not my place I teach English this isn't about the bathrooms it's about protecting the kids J rob can I tell you a secret this student showed me his rainbow scarf and thanked me for giving him a safe place the only one J rob you need to help this student is

091sexually harassing another and when she told him she's gay he said that's okay I can fix that J robob look out for her she found out she her friend found out she's by and he's been making her life a living hell job can you look at my schedule and tell me if these teachers are cool cool of course being the key word to are these teachers understanding will they allow this person to be called will instead of by their name given otherwise should I keep my head down and not speak because it's not safe if I were to call any member of this board a slur based on gender ethnicity religion race the board would have me removed and rightfully so you have that in your bylaws you have a policy our students do not

092this isn't about the bathrooms what this is about is giving our staff and students what they deserve which is a safe environment that protects against Prejudice regardless of religion regardless of race regardless of sexuality regardless thank you hello I'm Leslie uh Dr Leslie cook I'm at 332 shields in shafford Stafford and if I'm shaky it's because I'm freezing not nervous um so tonight I'm actually here because I'm on my tippy toes too so I can see you um because I'm grateful um I'm grateful for my husband's service and the service of all others especially those may be in this room who have contributed to our ability to have this discussion today this is truly a privilege to be able to do this in an open Forum I'm grateful for the members of the board every

093single one of you for dedicating part of your professional career to service for this community that means a lot to everybody in this room I'm grateful especially um for the amazing teachers and bus drivers and maintenance workers and Par professionals and everybody else and cafeteria people and everything we have in this County too that sometimes we don't take the time um to talk about I'm grateful for them I'm grateful that my kids know who they are and are safe to to be that every day but I'm especially especially especially and Dr kizner too by the way grateful for every face behind me and those that continue to be in the shadows oo I'm going to have to take a breath on this one uh who will eventually use their voice to say we are still

094here we will fight for you we are you let us continue to be better than we were yesterday good evening good evening school board members good evening Dr kizner um thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight um tonight is a historic moment and should be looked at as nothing less and the decision you make tonight is either going to be on the wrong side or the right side of History what pains me as I've watched this event roll out is how this institution the school board in so many different ways has refused ignored make repeat make plea with tears the stories and lives of our LGBT community that attends and works in our schools you might view this as a stretch but I see this as part of our story and our

095history when Fredrick Douglas in the 1800s was a young teen many refused to believe his experience his pain his suffering his belief that although he was black and a slave he was a human being that deserved equal rights and fair treatment no matter what set institution was telling him when Carrie Chapman cat was a young woman she was taught under set institutions that a woman's work was valueless that women had no opinion didn't deserve to vote didn't deserve an education she knew in her heart otherwise believed otherwise spoke out as a suffragist to get the 19th Amendment women's right to vote passed in the 1900s today it's the 2000s we have the LGBT community and tonight I have listened to a handful of speakers who have said we don't believe what the LGBT community is

096saying we think it's in their imagination we don't believe they're allowed the same dignities as I'm allowed because I just don't understand their life experience and that's group refuse to acknowledge our LGBT community as humans that deserve equal rights why our institutions keep choosing to discriminate to not validate and ignore certain individuals because they are different I will never understand I do find it a little bit appalling your vote tonight will either be on the wrong side of History we choose to continue our dark history of finding a new group to discriminate against through our institutions or it's going to be on the right side of History for all for th and choose not to discriminate thank you madam chair point of privilege five minute break um all first I want to just ask is

097Marvin Sterns here hi okay did you want to speak but I called that was the last name that I called so if um the speaker speaks and then we'll take five minutes and that will take us just about onethird through the speakers okay uh my name is Marvin Tobias Sterns born and raised in St stord County I work in the autism classroom at the Stafford County Head Start I am trans this story is based on true accounts from trans individuals her alarm goes off bright and early she brushes her hair and puts on her favorite dress with the yellow flowers on it she stands in front of the mirror and sways back and forth watching the fabric swing around her her eyes travel down her body you don't look right in that dress the sky

098starts to turn dark she hurries down the stairs and through the kitchen I'm off to school she says to her parents her father doesn't even look up for from his paper while her mother looks at her with a frown you're really going to school looking like that the girl nods her head slowly as she stops in front of the door I want my son back you're acting like a freak you know how you make your father and I look the girl in the yellow dress clenches her backpack and lowers her head I'm sorry she says rain clouds start to form she walks through the front doors of the school and takes a deep breath when she gets to her locker she puts in her combination and opens the door a note falls out she hesitantly

099opens it he she is scribbled across in red ink she slowly crumples the note in her fist and forces a smile across her burning cheeks Let It Go she tells herself it starts to rain the bell rings as she sits down in her seat she's excited for this class she loves history but she never raises her hand she knows the answer she read the chapter last night but she can't raise her hand if she does he'll say that name that name that isn't hers that makes her skin crawl in stomach churn she is no longer excited for history class it starts to pour there's 5 minutes till last period and the girl in the yellow dress stands in front of the bathrooms she kicks herself for drinking water before first period she usually doesn't drink

100anything till she gets home after school to avoid that situation she's been holding it since lunch and she's not sure she can make it through last period then all the way home she asked the principal for permission into the girls bathroom but was denied Break The Rules or get beat up the calm or the storm the girls or boys it's raining so hard now she can barely see the wind screeches in her ears and and tosses her around the sky is dark and the rain plummets down and Strikes her like a thousand tiny needles a hurricane a tsunami she pushes open the door and she is consumed by a giant wave under the water and unable to breathe time stops she is in the boy's bathroom and she feels as though she has betrayed herself

101as the storm overtakes her she looks out the window and she sees the bright Sun shining on a clear warm afternoon I guess this storm is all for me she says you can't stop the storm but your with your vote but you can grant us shelter from it if even just for a moment we are not a political statement we are not a religious belief we are brothers and sisters and Educators and students we are people and we deserve to feel like it thank you all right we'll we'll take a five minute break we will start in exactly 5 minutes it's um 839 on air thank you madam chair thank you e trying to be funny but that was the figure uh disagreed with the policy but we had to follow it and it's a

102mandatory meeting so even though I disagreed with it I followed the policy and it really goes against what I believe so I'm just asking all of you and first of all I want to thank you for all your work you do is just to appeal to nobler motiv on this issue thank you thank you good evening my name is Patrick mlar I live on peer Lane in the Garrisonville District I urge the board not to adopt policy 2420 in the text of the policy the board says that it's committed to providing an equitable safe and inclusive learning environment good children need that and they deserve it the problem is that this policy will lead to the opposite kind of environment one that is not inclusive not safe and not Equitable I read in the newspaper

103that this policy is identical to policies adopted elsewhere such as Arling and Fairfax so how did things go there in Arlington kindergarteners were taught by a transgender activist in defiance of biology that girls can become boys and boys can become girls families could not opt out in Fairfax the board voted to let biological boys join girls in girls locker rooms girls with an ordinary level of modesty would be out of luck elsewhere in West Point the teacher was fired fired for not using pronouns at all for a girl who wanted to be regarded as a boy he used the child's new name but he wouldn't lie by applying male pronouns to someone who wasn't biologically male he was fired for not cooperating with a deception tell me how is it Equitable when a girl must

104compete for a spot on a team against another child who has been dosed with testosterone by Nature since birth how is it safe when kindergarteners are told that something so fundamental to their identity could change against their will just like the characters in the stories they've been read and how is it that how is it just when students will be told that they must take part in a lie that they like their teachers will be required to believe that sex is something assigned at Birth and that a class mate whom they knew as a girl is now a boy how is it just when children know they'll be punished for not playing along this is the greatest harm that results over and over from policies like this one the children are taught a lie taught

105that being a man or a woman is a costume that one puts on rather than a beautiful foundational reality and that they're required to say that that is so don't commit such an injustice against Stafford County's children thank you good evening members of the board Dr kizner uh thanks for this opportunity to speak my name is Michael Sneed I live on Kelly way in the Rock Hill district I'm in my 16th year teaching at Colonial Forge High School and I'm in my third year sponsoring the sage club which is the Colonial Forge gay trate Alliance I'm here tonight to remind you what you're voting on and what you're not voting on I'm here to remind you why you must vote in favor of the non-discrimination policies before the board reminder number one tonight's vote isn't

106about bathrooms there have been and will be a number of speakers tonight who focus on that red herring partly due to the massive amount of misinformation currently circulating in this County that Mis information has done its job and that it has led many people to fundamentally misunderstand what is it issue tonight there will undoubtedly be further conversations after you pass this policy tonight about about best practices for everything for peran used to bathrooms that comes later plainly put tonight's vote is about telling all students and employees of scps that they are protected from discrimination that regardless of their gender identity sexual orientation race or ethnicity religion and so on down the line the school system will treat them fairly and will protect them from those who would seek to mistreat them this is the district's

107chance to be very clear that discrimination here is unacceptable the alternative of course is to send the opposite message to say that some people people will not be protected and that they may well face discrimination here whether student or staff with the tacit approval of the board I hope it is clear to each of you that we cannot be a county that sends this message to its children reminder two why you must Vote for This policy suicide is the second ranked cause of death for Americans between 10 and 24 one in six high school students have seriously considered suicide in the past year among LGBT students that number is three times higher LGBT students are five times as likely to have attempted suicide as their heterosexual peers the reason for this is very simple as

108has been said by a number of other speakers these kids are routinely made to feel less than by peers Educators and even members of their families one bright spot Recent research suggests that the mere presence of a gay State Alliance Club in a school has the effect of cutting the suicide rate for all students LGBT or straight in half if a mere Club in school can have this much positive effect imagine what it will mean for the school system's governing body to officially say you are welcome you are valued you are safe thank you after Miss patelli Ori Phyllis foso Joanie Wilson Edward David gent and Lisa lineweaver if you could please come up front and be ready to speak we'd appreciate it good evening uh my name is Adella boldi and I live at

109um Kings leag Court here in Stafford Virginia and I am here tonight in in an individual basis as a as a parent of a child in the Stafford County school system and you know unfortunately being you know little later on in the speaking um you're going to probably hear some repeat comments and um but I think some of them are worth repeating to be Frank and one that I don't think we're hearing enough of um is the one with respect to I believe 9.02 or 9.01 on the agenda which respect to the attorney client privilege and whether or not it should be waved um with respect to the opinion that you received I'm sure most of you know that I am an attorney and um I do take the attorney client privilege very seriously obviously

110um and that is very important I think in this situation that uh I hope that you do wave that that um that uh here the main reason is we're not talking about an individual case this is not a um a case where you guys are being sued this has to do with a policy and up until this point you are all about transparency and I I do appreciate that and I glad the board is that way um to not let everyone see what the attorney stated about I believe um whether or not the current bullying policy is sufficient is something that I think that we as parents should know it is at the Crux of this whole entire argument and you know I want to kind of go into something with respect to the policy

111itself that really does disturb me and people have brought this up for and the previous speaker and other speakers that are for this policy have said this this is not about bathrooms you're right he says that it comes later well the problem with that is is that who's going to decide that later if you if you pass this tonight it's not you because this policy again all due respect to Dr kizner he is the one that gets to decide that I did not vote for him to sit where you are I vote voted for you to sit there so did everybody else hear so if we want to talk about policies we want to talk about specific policies about our children I want to have that conversation with you I don't want Dr kizner to

112decide that and then have that conversation with you for your input that is not his job that's your job and that is a fundamental problem with this policy not even getting into the merits I'm not here to talk one way or another about transgender it's above my pay grade thank you good evening board my name is Joanie Wilson I live at 609 Stewart Street in fredicksburg I don't live in Stafford County but I have generations of family members who have gone through the school system and currently have two nephews and a niece that are enrolled here tonight as in all the years before you will hear from people who speak from Fear they will not speak about informed academic studies or other accepted data but rather fear fear of course is an indicator of facing

113change you will also hear again from people who quote academic studies statistics and accepted data about suicide rates and the negative effects on children and adults who are not accepted supported valued and given safety you know of the many schools that have these similar policies in place they are successful and lawsuit outcomes are supportive please face your fear do what needs to be done support and protect your students and employees vote Yes for the proposed policies thank you all right uh I think we missed Phyllis foso and Mark floss foso foso sorry are they here no all right well then we'll move on to David Edward gent Lisa lineweaver followed by Melissa Cook and Heather Mangano my name is Dave jent I'm a teacher at AG right Middle School I live in Spotsylvania County Virginia

114I thought for the past three weeks about what I'm going to say to you guys tonight but I mean what the hell do you say at this point we've had this conversation for so long even with everything that's been said tonight and a lot more coming there's very little new information coming at you and the truth is for at least two of you I don't really have to talk to you tonight you've been supporting students since the get-go you can relax for a few minutes this isn't directed at you there's two other people up here for the most part I also don't need to talk to because you also made your decision months ago you put out your bigotry under a thin ve of jurist prudence and hoped nobody would notice we did but ultimately

115I don't need to talk to you either I am grateful to you you've inspired me something I read a statistic recently that when a teacher goes door Todo during a school board campaign to expound the virtues of a candidate 80% of the time that house votes for that candidate I look forward to meeting your constituents I'mma lose weight in the next two months instead I want to speak to the two or three of you in the middle because ultimately this is going to be your decision soon everybody else has decided as I'm an English teacher though what I want to talk to you about is fractions because fractions are Dum I don't like them I want to give real numbers about Stafford County students we have 30,000 students in our district 29,000 in change by

116the most conservative estimates possible we're looking at between five or stent F 5 to 10% fall under the queer umbrella in some fashion it's about 3,000 students let us pray that the bottom third is has not yet become so jaded and cynical by the way people treat them that these numbers won't won't apply to them and knock that number down to 2,000 of students who are under the queer umbrella aware of it and already been faced with adversity you've heard the statistics tonight about half of those students seriously consider suicide that is a thousand of our students not counties to the north of us not counties to the south of us a thousand Stafford County kids who are thinking about killing themselves right now and if you think they aren't watching this meeting you're wrong

117if you think they aren't going to hear about this at school you're wrong you should see the list of emails I have from my students asking for updates in an hour maybe hour and a half maybe two you're going to be asked to make that decision for them so make that decision for them [Music] okay good evening representatives and superintendent uh kizner my name is Lisa lineweaver I live off of Village Parkway I'm a mother of three and a registered nurse I also hold a master's in family nurse practitioning I'm here in regards to the newly proposed policies which would include sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class making transgender identity a protected class would have many ramifications including but not limited to endangering women and girls with regards to safety and privacy

118in bathrooms locker rooms and overnight field trip accommodations number two undercutting female athletes the department of education's office for civil rights is currently opening an investigation into whether female high school athletes were discriminated against when the state of Connecticut allowed males who identify as females to compete with them ask students number three ask students and teachers to check their principles at the front of the school building before entering the facility number four career medical professionals such as School nurses to potentially give gender affirming treatments like puberty blockers and hormones that permanently sterilize children number five undermine parental rights in cases where parents have objected to their children receiving such drastic life altering procedures such as puberty blockers and hormones medical facilities have worked with the courts to have children taken away from their parents the

119very people best able to love and support them there's nothing rational about breaking up families parents should not be afraid to seek medical care for a child because they are helpless to prevent a physician from subjecting their child to an unproven radical and medically unnecessary procedure furthermore the research has already shown that 70 to 80% of children who had expressed train transgender feelings but for whom over time spontaneously lost those feelings the Center for Disease Control and prevention released a report showing that 2% of American High School students now identify as transgender that's a population-wide statistic the percentage is even higher in particular communities and schools girls are affected the most in many Western countries this has become an epidemic recently the United Kingdom so England ordered an investigation into why the number of young

120girls seeking treatment at gender clinics increased by 4,000% something is going on recently I saw on a job website listing this past summer that there was an opening in the Fredericksburg area this is July for a site director regarding a private mental health counseling business the ad pointed out that they provided counseling services to children with different sexual orientations and here's The Clincher under responsibilities and duties grow an additional 30% for each year managing that site by being a strategic thinker creative persuasive and excellent negotiations and be able to develop and Coach healthc Care Professionals no thank you as a responsible Society we must ask ourselves who will benefit from providing a permanent label of transgender to a child the drug companies who will provide the sterilizing hormones the private counseling businesses and or the

121rare surgeon who will provide the mutilating surgeries I ask you to vote no to any such proposed policies today and in the future thank you is Melissa Cook here all right and Miss after Miss Cook is Heather um manano followed by Deborah Stevens and Robert Stevens could you ask them to come line up i' I've asked before if if you could line up in this uh this front aisle after your name is called then we can uh have less uh downtime in between the speakers thank you right hi my name is Melissa Cook I live at 10 Steeple Chase Road I'm the mother of two children in Stafford County Schools I'm originally from Thousand Oaks California but moved here 13 years ago on November 4th 2018 I woke up in the middle of the night

122to a phone call from my brother in California he began to elaborate about a mass shooting that was taking place in my hometown it occurred at borderline Bar and Grill where my sister would frequent with her friends it was by the grace of God that my sister had narrowly avoided the shooting that night 12 people lost their lives five of of them were family friends of ours we began to hear stories of the gruesome reality that took place some fled the scene and others sheltered in place by seeking refuge in the attic and bathrooms during the chaos no when no one was asking about gender identity there was only the concern for human life no one was told you cannot seek shelter in this restroom the first person who was shot and lost their life

123that night was a dear family friend of ours his name was tell and he died while protecting others his final breaths were not used to ask if those he was protecting were transgender or not he acted only out of what he knew in his heart to be right I believe that if the active shooter drill that took place here in October 2018 was not a drill but was indeed an active shooter the student that was left out of the rest W would have been able to seek shelter why does it take tragedy and crisis to put our differences aside and come together I believe it's because at our core we all know and hold the same value that human life is precious valuable and deserving of dignity and respect when human life is threatened we

124set our differences aside without that threat we can let our differences cloud or deeply held values about we what we know is right I know you are aware of the statistics in regards to the correlation between lgbtq children and attempted suicide and self harm rate we have teachers that are mandated reporters we have school counselors social workers and other Professionals in place to work with children that exhibit harmful be and unhealthy behaviors why then are we not going to support a policy to protect those very students who are at risk having a so-called equality policy that excludes the most at risk Among Us is shameful in my Christian faith scriptures teaches us to reach out to the least of these in our society not to make them feel further marginalized thank you good evening I'm

125Heather Mangano I live at two hubber court and um I'm sorry to say this is the first school board meeting I've been to and I've been a resident since 17 years I've got two kids in school my husband is the former football coach at North Stafford football or North Stafford High School and I thought I would just share a real event that took place because I feel like there's a lot of Scare Tactics taking place I feel like there's a lot of misinformation being shared and quite honestly I didn't get involved in this whole situation until recently because of the ambiguity of which this topic was discussed and covered in the agend agenda I don't think any of us fully understood what was happening until it's become such a Hot Topic um as I stated

126my husband Joe Mangano was the head football coach at North Safford High School in 2016 he had a female student that was transitioning to be a male and wanted to play football there was no policy in place for what to do with a student that was transitioning and needed to change in the locker room that that student did not want to change in the girls locker room that student did not want to change in a separate area so what they did is they got in touch with the administration they pulled in the parents and the student and they discussed with the student what that student felt most comfortable doing and then they put a plan in place that not only worked for the student but also worked for all the other students it wasn't an

127all or nothing and I don't think any of us here are saying it has to be a yes or a no I think what we need to do is have more conversations and employ more of the community to share in their views I don't think any parent here wants to see any child get hurt or bullied I I mean I'm going to speak on behalf of most of the parents here but we probably raise our children that that's not appropriate behavior one other topic that's being discussed is that this is being done in other counties now my husband recently left saffre County and is now up at Prince or Fairfax County they do not have a set policy in place for this issue the reason why is because there are also students that are transitioning

128that are gender fluid gender fluid means that they do not identify as male or female now you're alienating that student where do they go what are they doing I think this is such a broad topic that we can't just make a yes or no decision especially not tonight I think we need to explore more options and we need to take into account real situations and logic thank you very much for your evening Deborah Stevens 30 Lakeside Drive and I am a member of the Roman Catholic Church St William of York and I do believe in the magisterium of the church and I do support father D Martino we can all agree there should be no discrimination there should be no bullying privacy however is Paramount for everyone my concern is these changes in policy will

129result in gender neutral bathrooms are all gender bathrooms some public schools are already eliminating sex segregated bathrooms and locker rooms my most again the most pressing concern is will teachers staff and students will they be required to use a child's preferred pronoun and new name what are the consequences to those teachers to that staff to those students who say no I'm a person of faith I'm a person whether they're Roman Catholic Evangelical Christian Muslim a person of Faith who says no in good faith I cannot because this is still a boy or a girl and this contradicts if I say that he is not a boy or he is not a girl if I deny their biological sex if I don't say I cannot use that name that's not the child's legal name what are

130the consequences for them in some districts they're being reprimanded we all know that there was a v Virginia teacher who was fired and he didn't misgender he stopped using any pronouns the language does not clearly indicate what rule ruling will what ruling what policy will be implemented and regardless in other districts this same legislation these same policies have led to gender neutral bathrooms and locker rooms these incidents have occurred so we're not talking out of fear we're talking about incidents that are taking place all over the country and we have serious concerns thank you all right after Mr Robert Stevens Sarah first Fus Glenna Ferguson Chad here okay Chad p and uh Josh Cole if yall could come up front or at least be closer we'd appreciate it thank you Mr Stevens hi I'm Rob

131Stevens I live in the Park Ridge Subdivision here in Stafford uh there are quite a few Muslim families in our neighborhood probably 9 or 10% and I want if they were aware of this policy and the implications and they were not so I spoke to quite a few of the families uh they were not able to make it here tonight so one of the families did give me a letter I'm reading this on their behalf uh to whom it may concern I'm W this letter on behalf of concerned parents regarding a proposed policy that would let transgender students use the bathroom lock room of their choice I seek to reaffirm Common Sense this policy contradicts common sense and compels students to share restrooms locker rooms with memb members of the opposite sex this violates their

132right to bodily privacy would not only lead to potential legal liability for the school district and its employees but would also go against the students and parents fundamental rights by allowing students to use opposite sex restrooms and locker rooms would seriously endanger students privacy and safety undermine parental Authority violate religious students free exercise rights and severely impair an environment conducive to learning these dangers are so clearcut that a school district allowing such activity would clearly Expos itself to Tor liability thank you very much good evening my name is Sarah Ferguson I live in Stafford um thank you for giving the opportunity to speak tonight I am a graduate from North Stafford High School former Stafford County Schools employee and a current parent of an HH pool Middle School student um I'm active in my child

133School I've have been since she started school I go on field trips attend the events shepher and dances I'm the PTO vice president I'm in the school a lot um I sit in at lunches I use the bathrooms when I'm at the school most every time as a matter of fact we've heard the bathroom controversy tonight um and I understand your concerns however bathrooms aren't the problem that's not what we're here to discuss I can assure you that all the transgender students are using bathrooms at school they're using them they're not holding it till they get home that's not the problem the problem here is discrimination and bullying um sorry I'm read through my notes um I'm asking each of you tonight to put yourself in the shoes of a parent student sister brother teacher

134grandparent neighbor or friend that have been bullied or discriminated against because of who they are before you vote on this historical policy all eyes are on us tonight Stafford if you vote against this policy tonight what does that say to our students and staff it says we don't care it says let the bullies be bullies and you do the right thing and walk away way doing what is right is not always easy I'm going to leave you with this tonight you need to do the right thing when nobody's watching it's called Integrity thank you good evening everybody I know it's getting late um I'm Glenna Ferguson I live in Stafford County um for almost 30 years all my children have gone through sta County Public School and now my grandchildren are uh the first thing

135I want to say is her shirt equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you I think a lot of people aren't getting that it's not going to change your rights because equal rights doesn't give you less fewer rights you you're not going to have fewer rights another thing because listening to everybody else kind of changes what you're going to talk about is I've heard a lot of people uh not have faith in our super intendent they're saying oh he's taking y'all hired him you interviewed him you had faith in him you have faith in him now or you not be sitting here with him why not let him do the job that he's hired to do I mean if he doesn't do his job y'all can still get rid of him I

136mean seriously why are these people throwing off on the superintendent I think he's great I love seeing his pictures in all the schools I support him y'all picked him I support him another thing again they keep saying it's not the bathrooms and it's not the bathrooms uh Sarah who was right before me y'all know she's my daughter most a lot of you do and uh she talked about she has a seventh grader the seventh grader is being bullied her mother's in the school all the time but it's still happening and when she goes to and she's not any particular thing but a little um maybe a little sassy to me but at school from school I don't hear that and maybe if she Ed her Andy of the St at school she wouldn't get bullied

137so much um she was homeschooled till she went to fifth grade so you know there's a lot of reasons kids get bullied and that's why I want this policy I want it for um the trans child the gay child the lesbian child my child the Muslim child the Baptist Child the every child and every staff member that walks in the door of a stabber County Public School ought to all be protected and that's all this policy does it's a lot of legal rigma roll and stuff y'all got to put put in there but when you boil it all down being nice to everybody everybody counts that's all it is why not say yes let's vote get this behind us and say Yes be nice to everybody everybody that walks in here counts equally that's it

138thank y'all thank you ladies and gentlemen my name is Chad pel I reside in quiet harbor here in Stafford vir Virginia and I don't know how many people that have spoken before me have actually read the policy 2420 because it says here it mentions specifically restrooms and locker rooms and it says verbatim upon showing of consistent and uniform assertion of the students's gender gender identity or other evidence that the student's gender identity is sincerely held as part of their core identity School Personnel shall permit the student to use the restroom locker room or changing facility consistent with the students asserted gender identity this policy is ripe for abuse the wording at the beginning seems to lead the reader to believe that an individual who identifies as transgendered or gender gender neutral must be confirmed through

139his or her own actions over a period of time or by letter from the students parents doctor caretaker Etc and that would be sufficient but later in the policy it's states that a letter is not really required and that there is no bright line rule that transgender students must meet to confirm their asserted uh gender identity which is a total contradiction in terms this means that anyone can identify as any sex at any time the teachers in this District should also be concerned there have been cases where a teacher did not address a student by their preferred or chosen gender pronoun whether intentionally or ACD accidentally shouldn't matter but this teacher was fired where are the protections for the teachers this policy is cloaked in a shroud of appearing to protect a minuscule segment of

140our fractured society when in fact it is intended to unnecessarily protect to create a unnecessarily prot protected class in order to discriminate against others like people of faith and it is laying the foundation for persecution analyzing this policy through the Kaleidoscope of ethical theory has led me to believe to the conclusion that your proposed policy would marginalize and seek to persecute people of faith and people who are uncomfortable with changing showering or using the restroom with individuals of the opposite sex this policy is enforced compliance in this country you are free to practice any religion we do not discriminate against any group or individual based on race created ethnicity and you're granted an inalienable inalienable rights by God we do not lift up one group at the expense of others and that is exactly what

141this policy does you refer to adding more specifics to this policy if it passes the vote what are those specifics when this policy was was first developed it included a provision for punishment for those who VI violated its tenants and included re-education class and counseling as punishment is this specific you're referring to this policy is political it's corrupt and it should fail thank you all right after um Josh Cole and Reed Adams Alie how oh sesy how see these things what's this Nicole de Santo something I'm sorry fry yes it could be fry um John buers thank you well good evening uh first of all thank you uh for enduring this time here and uh being obligated to listen to all the different opinions that have come tonight my name is Joshua Cole and I'm

142a resident at Jeff Jefferson Davis excuse me James Madison Circle in the fouth district and I'm local Pastor in the area and I wanted to come tonight just to say that I'm disheartened by the voices of the Christians that have come out tonight um I'm disheartened by the angry and the frustrated that I've heard from people I grew up in Stafford County Public Schools and I graduated from North Stafford High in 2009 and we were taught all the way from starting over that building over there at Head Start that we were special that we were unique and that we were created to do great things and I've had so many great teachers here in Stafford County public schools that protected us when we were bullied when people had issues with us and they would tell

143us don't worry about what they say and we were taught that good old adage sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me until words really did hurt me one day and we realize that we appreciate being appreciated we enjoy having the approval of others it's also concerning to me that people would come down here and talk about a specific policy and have the mitigated goall to Relish in their privilege of never having to deal with the situation or having a child that dealt with the situation they come down here and they tell you what they want you to do for their children but they don't consider someone else's child they don't consider that black Trans students are among the highest rates of suicides in America they don't consider that lgbtq

144students are the ones that are dealing with being accepted and approved and so my question is today when you make this vote consider if your child was trans consider if your child was lgbtqia consider what you would do in this situation if this was your child I'm a Christian so I can remind my Christians and brothers and sisters who are behind me that Jesus said what you've done to the least of these you've done to me and they shall identify Us by our love and love your neighbor as yourself and the greatest of The Commandments they all hang on love your neighbor as yourself that means as selfish as you fight for your kids you should fight for selfishly as your neighbor consider all of these things when we want to get in righteous indignity

145and righteous Zeal about what God says about what you feel God says and not really what God said we have to consider these children in this district and this is a public school system rather you agree if it's a minuscule amount of children you're fighting for every single last one of them you're not going to be remembered what you did in times of celebrations but what you did in adversity thank you good evening I'm an Adams I live in the George Washington District I just started my 27th year of teaching the children in this County I know why I do what I do I've devoted my professional life to the students in this school system I've taught thousands over the years every day I strive to support them build them up and show them that

146they matter this Board needs to show them that they all matter every student deserves to be protected from discrimination the expanded non-discrimination statement does just that I know hundreds of dedicated adults throughout this County in classrooms in offices they're cleaning our floors they're cooking in the cafeteria they're driving our buses we all deserve a policy that protects us from discrimination this Board needs to show all of us in Stafford County public schools that we matter I'm Sessy how I live at six Hunters Court Stafford Virginia um we have lived in Stafford County for over 40 years and have seen our children and our grandchildren go through the County School System I understand and support the idea of different Lifestyles and the sensitivity of each individual not wanting to be subjected to bias or unkindness a

147recent letter to the editor of the freelance star States in part quote if you provide support for a person or a group of people that does not take away support from others unquote I disagree with this by passing this policy you're discussing this evening you're diminishing the support for other groups for example girls of any age are vulnerable and they need to feel safe in a restroom and other places they need to have that protection in those very personal environments which after all is a significant responsibility of every school system I understand that mishaps can occur no matter what the policy is however if you pass these regulations you are doing a great Injustice to your students by taking away their fundamental right to privacy and security every child is an individual with different needs

148and issues and should be treated with understanding and empathy but to require all students and I say all students to be in a situation where they lose their privacy and bodily Integrity is simply wrong and if this resolution is adopted where does does it end after bathrooms or locker rooms and then Athletics this is a door that will never be shut only expanded please vote no tonight and I thank you hello my name is John Byers I live in the Widewater Village area and I want to thank you uh for all that you do for us and I know it's a difficult job uh but I'm here to encourage you uh to vote against this policy uh it's way too open-ended there's no specifics really the plan leaves implementation up to the superintendent it's like

149issuing a blank check who knows what is going to happen besides there's a multitude of state and federal laws that cover discrimination or or else I've been living in a different country um that cover so much of this the real issue here is bullying it's you know I bullying has been around forever and I don't know the answer to it um but certainly um uh allowing people uh to use whatever bathroom they want whenever they want is not the answer to that the most dangerous place in my high school and I'm pretty old a long time ago was the e-wing bathroom you didn't go there unless you knew somebody who would allow you to be there um all bad things all fights all things happened in bathroom so let's talk about bathrooms why don't we

150make our bathrooms safe I'm an airline pilot I travel the world I've been in bathrooms that you wouldn't even imagine they don't discriminate you know you know bathroom's a bathroom you know there's a little stall there's a door it locks and then you're on your own so why don't we focus on safety you know for if we're really concerned about our kids let's make our bathroom safe you know I don't necessarily know how to do that but you know certainly I've seen it all over the world where you know you can walk into a bathroom it doesn't say men women girl boy it doesn't say anything it says bathroom you go in there you lock the door so the other thing that concerns me about this policy is what it's going to do to girl

151Sports it's destroying girl Sports you know I I look at my uh my sister-in-law who was a great softball player for North Stafford and where would she have been if she had to compete against a transgendered male in her chosen uh activity so I ask you not to pass this policy because it's too open-ended so I thank you for your time all right um Nicole desano fry and after Miss fry Thomas Rosco Robert Schroeder Michelle stoer and Stephen waseleski thank you okay hi my name is Nicole FY and I live on kogo Road in Stafford here um and I'm an ally I'm straight middle-aged married raised Catholic and I'm an ally I'm pro-life sometimes I vote Republican sometimes I vote Democrat sometimes I don't vote at all but I'm still an ally I'm the former

152Stafford County Public School teacher and I currently am a Stafford County employee I have two children who attend um clone a forge and I'm an ally why am I an ally well because I'm a decent human being at the last meeting a man stood up turned around and directed his comments towards the people sitting in the back and he said that their love and acceptance disgusted him that disgusted me right then I knew I just couldn't sit back and not lend my support I believe that if you stand back and watch some something that you know is wrong without being part of the solution you're part of the problem when I was a teacher I taught kindergarten and the most important lesson that I wanted to teach every single one of my little people was

153kindness an important part of being kind is respecting people who are different from us this kindness comes naturally to young children and I think a lot of adults could learn a lot from those kids people are unique they're different and so many ways skin color religions hair color eye color Heights languages physical abilities sexual orientations taste and music the list goes on and on but there's one important way that people are the same they want to be loved they want to be respected they want to be treated fairly they want to have the freedom to be the true true to themselves and how in the world is that too much to ask I have a son who has physical and intellectual disabilities and he uses a wheelchair and it wasn't really that long ago that

154he would not have been welcomed into a traditional public school and you don't have to flip through your um history books too far back to get to where schools and bathrooms and buses were segregated based upon color and your right to vote was limited by your gender have we learned nothing in some ways we've come a long way but we have a long way to go and that is proven by the fact that we have to fight to have sexual identity and orientation add Ed to the list of things that we cannot discriminate against Let's Pretend We're in kindergarten again and be kind Thomas Rosco right Robert Schroeder followed by Michelle stoer and Steven waseleski thank you for having us thank you for staying so late I work in a world where we uh take

155reports and we have to sip through them and I know what a thankless job this can really be for you I saw you knock on my doors ask for our votes I saw you at the poll shaking our hands asking for us to vote for you I'm hoping you do the right thing tonight I'm opposed to the policy change absolutely completely 110% I hope you're smiling because you're excited about what I'm going to say I just want to know what you're trying to accomplish we already have discrimination laws on the books race religion they're there bullying we have that on the book excuse me but well well sir we want everyone to address the board not the audience please I can't hear because of the Snickers and Jers I hear behind me I don't I

156don't hear any and believe me if we hear some will great thank you I appreciate the audience respect for speakers I didn't hear about the policy until we went to church and let me let you in I don't have any whizbang reports I don't have any kind of explanation for what happened but let me let you in as a father of two daughters and a son that attends Stafford schools we have a family home evening every week at that dinner table we often asked each other what we learned that day so that we might share with the family my daughter told me she learned that boys could go into any restroom they wanted is that true Papa that's what she asked me and I said I don't know what do you think she was a

157little bit confused as was I most adults have trouble understanding the gender dysphoria or transgender or gender fluid or however it is you may decide to identify yourself much less children in an elementary and a a junior high or even a high school setting where they're trying to learn the fundamentals of so Society so how do you want us parents to answer those questions when my girls go overnight soccer trips what do we do which bathroom can they use that's fine which locker room do they use where does it stop I'm going to urge you to vote no and I'm going to urge you not to give up your jurisdiction that we voted for you to to have to see here to do that I I can't help but think that the things that I

158teach my children as a parent are being usurped by teachers who take over in classrooms and teach my children um standards that I wouldn't teach them or Lifestyles that I would not advocate for so I support father D Martino and Deacon benc and advocating for urging you to vote for the rights of the parents to teach your children what they want to be taught I can't help but think that sounds a lot like we got to pass it to see what's in it thank you thank you for allowing me to speak tonight good evening my name is Michelle staer and I live at One Pastor Lane Staff of Virginia in the Rock Hill district I have two daughters that graduated from Stafford schools and I have been a teacher in the county since 1997 one

159of the first activities I do at my first graders at the beginning of the year is the Band-Aid activity I pass out cards with a variety of ailments pictured on them from a broken arm to a runny nose as I name each ailment the students with a card come forward and I give them a Band-Aid following we have a discussion about how silly it was to give each of them a Banda bandaid for every ailment I explained to them that the concept of fair isn't always equal and what that looks like in our classroom I tell them that they will get what they need to be able to learn and be happy at school and that they may not and may not always be the same as their classmates some students will receive extra support

160inside and outside of the classroom um we'll have different reading math spelling groups they will be working on different number books and different word lists and that's okay they get what they need please vote Yes for the anti-discrimination policies because there should never be a question concerning the fact that every student should get what they need to learn and be happy at school thank you for your time and effort all right following Mr uh wasileski is Josephine camel Jim Livingston Francis buers and Paul Miller hi good evening thank you for letting me speak uh Steve walosi 20 Widewater Trail uh a few years ago finished a doctor of Science degree degree at Baylor and so research is interesting to me and uh just kept finding interesting articles on this very topic of the transgender policy

161proposals uh Jesse single writes um interesting article what no one is talking about uh his quote every stud study conducted on this has found that many children even with severe gender dysphoria will in the long run shed their dysphoria and come to feel comfortable with the bodies they were born with and the quotes from multiple studies were 80% so shocking statistics here uh other research articles and writers point out to Cluster outbreaks of gender dysphoria after a popular coach or popular peers make their announcements so there appears to be a social component as well not surprisingly in the UK researchers are seeing a 4,000% increase in trans identification in the past 10 years that can't just be because of the the water something something is going on here and it's simply not I was born

162this way I'm stuck that's not what the research is showing at all costs we must avert tragedies with whatever decisions are made we must avert tragedies in our schools already they're happening in West Point Virginia the firing of teachers over this issue I hope that we don't start firing our Stafford teachers that took so much work to hire even more tragic the Center for Disease Control reports that the life expectancy of a transgender woman is only 35 years globally transgender women have a 50 times higher HIV rate it would be extremely tragic to see our impressionable young people encouraged to explore a path that leads to early death in Australia 60 libraries are are now promoting a helpful book for young people called Beyond magenta transgender teens speak out it features a six-year-old boy who

163loves oral sex LGBT leaders say this book is an excellent guide for our youngsters it would be incredibly harmful and tragic for Stafford to soon fill its libraries and classrooms with this kind of pro LGBT material We Know Better Than This sadly in Cali it's already too late the California healthy youth act stipulates that parents cannot opt their children out of any LGBT content because now it's fully and thoroughly embedded in all grades K through 12 and across all subject areas history drama language arts school assemblies it would be tragic for Stafford parents to see their rights and choices diminished like this in summary we have good schools here in Stafford my kids started here at Widewater Elementary many years ago our schools are not broken we can certainly educate and accommodate children with gender

164disphoria without subje sir thank you hello my name is Josephine camel I live at 1134 James Madison Circle in Fredericksburg in Stafford County um I have a product of the Stafford County public school system I am a Stafford native and I attended Stafford County Public Schools from an experimental preschool at Stafford High School through my senior year at high at um Stafford Senior High School um and now my child is a kindergartener at my elementary school at fouth and so I'm very proud that he's a part of this tradition and I'm very proud and happy of the education that I received here I'm I'm very um disturbed by all these crazy comments my name is Josephine and every single year when I started school they would call out the role and they would say how

165would you like to be called and I always said Joe nobody ever said you can't be called Joe that's a boy's name they respected that they respected that was my wishes and my family's wishes and they called me by the name Joe they made me feel respected and that what I thought and what I wanted for myself was important that's all these kids are asking for they want to be supported they're not asking for anything extra they're not asking for anything special I'm surprised that we're still stuck on the whole bathroom issue do you guys remember being in school and going in bathrooms did you try and look at other people did you try to get out as fast as possible talking about locker rooms how many kids are out there flagrantly throwing off their

166clothes Andor staring at others and that's not the way it works it's just not the way it works children don't care about these things they want to be respected and they want to feel safe this is not something that you can continue to kick down down the road you haven't been sued yet I don't know why but you're leaving that door open do we want to cost the county untold amounts of number in legislation I'm not a litigious person but if my kid got locked out of a locker room during a safety drill I think I might consider it because that is unacceptable I hope you do the right thing you do the right thing for our students you do the right thing for our community thank you good evening chair Healey members of the

167board Dr kizner my name is Jim Livingston I have the honor of serving as president of the Virginia Education Association thank you for the opportunity of speaking with you this evening you heard earlier from our local affiliate the president of the Stafford Education Association Mr Christian peot about the numbers of Stafford staff members who support this Revision in the non-discrimination policy I know this school board supports its staff all of its staff I know this school board supports its students all of its students on behalf of the 40,000 members of the Virginia Education Association I encourage you to vote in favor of the revisions to the non-discrimination policy thank you um you all have a handout from me correct I hope you don't before I begin right uh it has a teacher at the top

168what is your name ma' Francis buers Francis buers 43 everl Everglades Lane former sta SE teacher High School teacher a word to parents stop abusing your children who are afflicted with sexual confusion help them persevere in carrying their crosses in Hope for healing Christ said but he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged around his neck and that he should be drowned in the depths of the sea my call to parents is from experience when one of my sons was stricken with an anxiety-based behavioral disorder I helped him carry this cross through eight years of excruciating Psychotherapy The Sweat The Tears and the emotional despair that he experien in over hourlong sessions with me were agonizing as I watched

169as I had to to expose him to this prescribed uh mental torture we reached a point when therapy required other than out I mean outside Intervention which was unavailable to us what was I to do I continued taking him before the Tabernacle of Our Lord at church every day begging God to unwind this Crown mental Thorns from around his mind and promising as we pray the Divine Mercy that we would glorify God all the days of our lives for his healing it came and I finally realized that it was for that reason to give God all the glory for his healing that God did not allow the last of the prescribed psychological therapy to be made available to us it was a miracle yet yes God does exist and he is our divine healer he

170abhor the sin of homosexuality and parents with children who are afflicted with this weakness must get their sons and daughters psychological and spiritual help to cast off these crosses parents help is needed now more than ever since anti-religion proponents have stripped God from our schools and a new and a new moral code is emerging which makes the teacher its director as already seen in Ontario Canada in the article that you all have how I convince kids to accept gay marriage starting at four years old to teacher uses her classroom to convince children as young as four to accept homosexual relationships she mentioned in often takes months before getting into what she called difficult conversations with the students about convincing them of the normality of her sexual preference for women others confess to the indoctrination movement

171Michael smift wrote in 1987 that school children would become explicit targets for home homosexual indoctrination we shall seduce them in your schools they will be recast in our image they will crave and adore Us in 2011 us gay activist Daniel V valal pinned a column stating the time had come for the homosexual Lobby to admit to indoctrinating school children to accept homosexuality he said quote why would we push anti-bullying programs or social studies classes that teach kids about the historical contributions of famous queers unless we wanted to deler educate children to seual sexuality um after Paul Miller we have Heather Fitz Amari Esco Alan bosor and sha Elliott well good evening School Board officers and superintendent thank you for the opportunity to voice my opinion on the non-discrimination policy proposed for revision um uh my

172name is Paul Miller I'm a land owner in Garrisonville uh aspects of The Proposal may move some to emotion let's hope that clear sighted reason may prevail I presume you board members are well educated professionals who will consider this evening's public comment with right judgment as I stated during the previous meeting Stafford schools should focus on education of children and that Focus based upon objective truth sound reason goodness and Beauty all administered with love additional consideration should be given to the well-being and safety of all children problems arise when people attempt to make distinctions between persons and Garner special privileges this brings me to the main topic of gender confusion that appears to be clamoring for much attention our school should strive to remain a safe haven for standards of behavior that build a prosperous

173Society I request that our school board reject adding discriminating factors to the current non-discrimination policy each child students now that we're uh discussing upon birth uh were assigned their gender by the birth doctor not based on personal preference but upon physical and psychological ATT attributes I encourage you to reflect on your understanding of Science and fact and reject emotionally based agendas the students bathrooms of each School must remain a private place for sanitary hygiene and not a sounding board for adult agendas please continue to enforce birth certificate sex identity for bathroom use allow children to grow up in a stable environment to them when they become adults they may make their own rightly informed decisions there uh seems to be quite a bit of uh confusion and it's sad that that there is bullying and

174I don't think a policy is going to stop uh bullying you know um good examples would help to stop bullying so another thing to uh consider is if we all take a look way back in time God created man and woman and if it weren't so none of us would be here today thank you very [Music] much Heather Fitz here all right Mari Esco is next hi I'm Heather Fitz and I live in Fredericksburg Virginia and the last time I spoke at this meeting I was angry um today I'm hopeful that the people who are here and opposing this policy hear something that's really been weighing on my heart since I was here last I understand that it might feel scary and uncertain to you I get it because scary and uncertain is how I

175felt when I realized that I was gay and not not like most of the people here I was terrified and it nearly killed me literally because before I told a soul I heard the voices of the people I loved and who said they loved Me Knocking around in my head I heard them saying that anything other than straightens this gender was gross disgusting unhealthy against God and foul I heard the jokes and the references they made at Family reun reunions and in passing on the street so how could I turn to the people saying all of those things and tell them that you're talking about me that their words cut deeper than any flesh wound would that every time I heard them say that the lgbtq community didn't deserve equality my loved ones were telling

176me that I didn't either how could I tell them that trying to be normal in straighten denying who was at my core it felt as alien and uncomfortable to me as it would to ask them to date someone of the same sex it felt that uncomfortable it felt that foreign so I stayed quiet and I came close to killing myself and if I had I wouldn't have met April my wife of 14 years I wouldn't have two amazing kids that I'm raising to be amazing citizens Elliot and nemerson and I wouldn't be standing here today asking each of you to consider as you speak to think about about the fact that you most certainly have a child sibling parent other relative or friend that identifies as lgbtq and they're just not telling you but they

177are listening and they're debating whether or not this is a world they can live in what message do you want them to hear from you I'm grateful my family has a front row seat to seeing that I'm not any different than they are my love is not different than theirs and it is not scary we love other and accept each other and it isn't scary it's beautiful thank you uh hello okay hello I'm Amar Esco a student from colonal Forge my opinion and comments may or may not matter because at this point I assume you already know what side you're on but as I've heard many people become fixated on statistics that only prove their point I've become more dissatisfied with all of this it's unbelievable that enforcing this policy is even in question you've

178heard members of the community talk about how they almost committed suicide and other effects they've uh had because of their mistreatment and like as if they're not even human yet you're letting Co close-minded and Afraid adults influence your beliefs you say that as kids are the future yet the stifling school system that you've created or allowed is stopping kids from being who they want to be and possibly even stopping them from make it into their future all we're asking for is a sense of security and opportunity to feel equal thank you my name is Alan bashore I live in Park Ridge Subdivision thank you for letting us speak tonight I want you to know that I only I not only object to these failed polic IES on religious grounds but also on the fact that

179America was established as a democracy and a democracy the majority rules and right now the majority of Stafford County and American citizens agree that we should not turn all our bathrooms and locker rooms in our schools into transgender facilities it's that simple and I got tell you I was in the other room listening when I heard that 41 oh no it was 91% of our teachers seem to think that they need this failed policy to pass for them to stand up for the students who are being bullied you don't need this policy to stop bullying you need the intestinal fortitude to stand up and do what's right our parents need to stand up and do what's right and teach their kids not to bully thank you my name is sea Elliot and I live in

180Hampton Oaks thank you for providing everyone here tonight the opportunity to continue the public discourse on this very very important topic um we've heard it's not bathrooms we've heard all sorts of assertions of everybody on either side of the aisle and by approving this policy however 4107 and 247 2420 the school board is abdicating its responsibility to the county the board is abdicating its responsibility to provide for a safe learning environment for all children regardless of the number of protected characteristics that you list in the policy the policy is not a plan it's not what's going to happen and it's not what you're going to do it's a couple of words and a piece of paper the board is abdicating its role by approving a policy that relinquishes the implementation plan to a design by

181approving ambiguous policy statements like the design KNE shall be responsible for developing a plan that implements the intent of the board nobody knows what any of this means by approving a policy without first understanding the implementation plan there isn't one by approving a policy that lacks complete transparency with the parents the teachers and the public by turning what appears to be a blind eye to all options to create a safe learning environment for all children and all employees this is not good policy and it's not good governance I'll conclude by reading an article written by a man who is a former transgender named Walt H those who design these programs probably believe that they are offering hope to children who may feel different flawed or unlovable they believe that if they affirm children's LGBT identities

182as something positive something that makes up the core of who they are the children will Faire better this is not the case no matter what well-intentioned teachers and administrators believe these programs ultimately entail an agenda that hurts kids control of schools should belong to parents not to the government and activist organizations don't abdicate don't approve this policy thank you um members of the board we are about two-thirds through the speakers is there any desire to take we we took we took to close to 10 minutes last time so if we set a time I want to make sure CH request uh how many minutes five minutes exactly five minutes Point uh I have to put my shoes back on my feet are going to fit 10:03 we'll start all e we're about 2third through we're

183going to call the next five speakers so please line up and uh don't delay in between the speakers the first speaker is Mariam Rich the second is Kevin Rich the third is Trinity roads the fourth is Megan Odin and the fifth is Sarah Taylor hi my name isiam rich and I um live in Stafford um thank you so much for being here and listening to everyone tonight um the reason I'm here is because I am opposed to this policy not because I um tolerate uh discrimination not at all and um I don't think any parent would tolerate that and I think that we need to think this through um yes um students need to be protected all students need to be protected but um it still hasn't become clear to me how you're going to

184protect a student that's being discriminated against by putting them in a bathroom where you're not monitoring you're not going to be there so how are you going to um eliminate something by passing a ruling you can't you can't legislate someone's actions I I I just don't feel that that's the correct way to do it I don't feel that anyone should be discriminated against I I um I think there should be Zero Tolerance but I don't understand why all students aren't protected I don't understand why um you would go to the extreme to now put the child that is uncomfortable now my understanding of your policy is for them to have to go to their parents or the school and to say how uncomfortable they are no students are going to stand up for that no

185no student is going to come and and single themselves out for being the one to say I'm uncomfortable with this it's the parents that have to speak up for these kids they they shouldn't be put in that position but I do feel that something should be done because um obviously they are experiencing these kids are experiencing some kind of of discomfort or bullying whatever is is exists because obviously we're here I I do think that has to be looked at but we can't give a broad brush and say yes this is fine when we don't even know um we can't just say like everyone's been saying here's a blank check we don't know what you're going to do with it but good luck and that's that's not why we're here we're concerned citizens obviously we've

186stayed here for a long time um I don't believe that um we should pass this at all um and also I also think that it's um we should we should really look at it more carefully think about it psychologically and developmentally um what we're doing to our kids um on either side but I just um I just ask you to not pass this ruling tonight thank you all right Kevin Rich was the next name is he speaking here this evening is that a pass all right next is Trinity roads Megan Odin good evening thank you guys for allowing me to speak tonight all of us my name is Megan Odin and I have been resident of Stafford for 19 years currently in the aqua District I um have a master's degree in special education in

187a graduate certificate and applied Behavior Analysis and I work in the field of behavior analysis as a behavior specialist but I am also what is known as a suicide Survivor and what that means is that I lost someone I love to Suicide my brother a heterosexual white male not only did I lose my brother to Suicide but last year I nearly lost my 12-year-old son to suicide and that is why I'm here tonight there is no evidence to support this policy as a strategy to eliminate or decrease bullying or suicide however there are policies out there or excuse me there are programs out there evidence-based school-based programs Mental Health America has a program the signs of suicide that has evidence to support it so if that's what we're really talking about there are lots of

188programs out there and as far as when I hear people say that it's not about the bathroom I think of my son who told me before or after his attempt that there are lots of times when he was being bullied and the bathroom and the locker room were two of the identified areas not only by my son but they're recognized by bullying. goov our government is recognizing those areas I don't know if this would increase or decrease it but I do work in ABA and I know environments are important I'm afraid that not only by allowing them to share the locker rooms that this will create an environment that is adversive to them now I know that all students not just the trans students all students deserve protection and I know it's a school's responsibility

189to maintain a safe environment for students and to prevent forseeable dangers from harming students and I just want to be certain tonight that if this policy is P that we are considering the possibility of foreseeable dangers because I see them and I want to prevent them we are not allowing students with differing biological or anatomical body parts to share locker rooms in our bathrooms thus creating environments that will facilitate bullying and or expose students with diagnosed mental health disorders such as anxiety to adversive stimuli that will adversely affect their educational performance all right after Sarah Taylor we have Dean federov John maloko Larry Brunson and a Jacob I am Sarah Taylor 1146 James Madison Circle Fredericksburg Falmouth District I would like to comment on the too long delayed non-discrimination policy as a resident and parent

190as a voter and teacher in Stafford County while growing up I admired the civil rights leaders of the previous generation but I really thought it was history I never expected that the disease of fear that made the Civil Rights era such a contested time would still have such a welcoming home here and now although I should have this dise disease of fear is one I have been fighting my entire life in such in some ways and certainly for the 18 years of my career as a high school English teacher I fight this when I try to stop students from paring or translating their parents' Hate by using homophobic turbs and homophobic codes to Target students who are different or present as possibly different I fight this by buying lgbtq plus Adolescent fiic and non-fic books

191with my money yes my single mom teacher salary money to add to my free reading Library so that these students can see Reflections and models of themselves in larger society so that they know they are seen they are acknowledged and they are valued I fought this when a parent tried to leverage my job to make me enforce his rule to ban his gender queer son from wearing the color pink makeup glitter or dress shoes and calling himself by his chosen name of course I told this abusive parent that I would not do that luckily for me he didn't take his threats further but without an non-discrimination policy to protect me and that student I don't know that I would still have this job if that parent had carried out his threat now if you ask

192some of my students on report card days me losing my job might not be so bad but a lot of my students have told me otherwise one recent graduate came back today and visited me and told me that I was the reason she stuck it out and graduated and I don't know that I deserved it but I was teacher of the year for my high school a few years ago so maybe it's good that I'm still here but what about next time a homophobic or transphobic parent tries to make a teacher complicit in their abuse will the teacher be able to resist legally I don't know because we don't have a policy and this issue isn't going away to those community members who want to pretend it's a passing craze a fad or something that

193can be ignored you're delusional lgbtq plus people are here we are here we're not going anywhere therefore our public institutions need to acknowledge us and protect us Madame chair members of the board Dr kizner Dr Dean Federal from cooks and drive it's been some time since I've addressed the board I've watched for years as my board member has thrown up roadblock after roadblock on this issue how can anyone in leadership in any organization with many years of experience not anticipate the questions on any issue and seek the answers in a timely and responsible fashion these are non-discrimination policies and nothing else as with all policies the board sets the policy and the administration implements the policy similar policies have been adopted in by my count 13 districts representing about a third of the school staff

194and students in Virginia equality is just that no one gets less this is not apple pie the pie just gets bigger we all know the board's been shopping for legal opinions how many why don't you release all of the opinions not just the one that favors certain members of the board fear-mongering by outside groups and the misinformed is unwarranted and speculative at best fear-mongering is speculative at best this is not about pronouns bullying locker rooms bathrooms athletic fields we should be more afraid of the speculate of the speculators with their fearful and Vivid bathroom imaginations than are unprotected struggling and discriminated against students it's time to stop kicking the can down the road and approve these policies thank you de fed good evening uh board members my name is z I presume the previous members

195are not here um I'm a concerned parent um I live on Town and Country Drive in South Stafford and um I'm concerned about uh a lot of folks who spoke here saying that this is not about bathrooms this is not about a bathroom issue I'm reading the policy it directly from the policy it says School Personnel should permit the use the student to use the restroom locker room or changing facility consistent with the students asserted gender identity if the if a student expresses discomfort with a transgender students use of uh samex segregated restroom locker room or changing facility upon request School administrators and counseling staff may address the discomfort and Foster an understanding of gender identity create a school culture that respects the values of all students so this is this is a policy that

196already plans uh students uh with gender identity claims to use any restroom that they choose on any given day it's in the policy it is about bathrooms it is about locker rooms in fact it also goes on to talk about sex segregated classes and how gender identity folks are uh issues are to be uh to be allowed students are to be allowed to participate in sex segregated classes based on whatever they feel their gender identity is I have the one aspect that I don't think I've heard this evening is about this use of bathrooms on a gender identity basis is that limited just to students what about teachers who claim to be um to have a certain gender identity on a given day now am I going to uh see a grown man walk into

197uh a girl's bathroom uh where uh young girls are uh using the bathroom this is this is crazy and this is uh this is really I I'm strongly opposed uh to this particular policy that has been put forth uh and I strongly recommend uh that the board vote against it thank you ready my name is Mike Reed I reside in the George Washington District I appreciate opportunity to address the superintendent H and the board without apology I do believe in a Creator the Bible the Ten Commandments that commands the life of Jesus I do not seek to impose those beliefs on any student School employee and judging from the comments of School Employees and others who have so passionately expressed their support for this policy change it appears to me that they are not experiencing

198uh demonstration discrimination yet for those of us who disagree philosophically uh bigotry delusional discrimination and blame for the devastating choices of suicide are the fault for not agreeing with them or affirming their choices or view on morality if my recall is correct no one I have heard supports bullying hate speech or wishes harm upon those choosing to live their lives however uh they decide to live them though I have no children in school my property taxes as does other residents of our County fund the school budget not Fairfax Allington abber Marl Charlottesville Manasses Prince William Alexandria Richmond Norfolk or Virginia Beach each district elects a Schoolboard member to represent them up until now the issues have been about teachers pay and retention the amount needed to fund educational initiatives and things such as that as

199I've read in the paper been informed by friends and School Employees I know personally that is now changed beginning with an incident that has not in many people's judgment been accurately described we now have a situation where the school superintendent uh applies a policy where his values judgments and thinking become the approved content or code I ask you to vote against the policy 2420 thanks again for this time okay Miss steel thank you there if before you start if there people in the the annex who signed up to speak um they may want to start making we all come over from come yeah so it's ironic that I was walking in when you said my name perfect timing yes hi uh my name is Heather stel I'm in the Hartwood District in the Willows Community

200um one of the topics I wanted to bring up is one of your agenda items with the uh voting to suspend your client attorney privilege um as a uh board a member of a board here in the county I know that that is a very um important vote um and I think it's something that you all need to seriously consider doing in the um Act of transparency for us voters and I will be taking notes for those who do not vote and as my um Middle School um teacher from AG Wright said I too will be losing some weight working for your opponent if that is the case that you vote against against this um I also am here to hopefully um I don't know if I'll change your minds I'm not that great of

201a empowered speaker but um I speak from my heart and I think that this is something that even if you were to pass it um you know in your hearts that tomorrow nothing's going to happen no there's there's no game plan there's no implementation there's nothing and I think you all need to take your board responsibilities um serious and understand he works for you and he doesn't you don't work for him thank you is Rebecca muso here okay about Peter hate and Christian Hernandez David Allen is after Mr Hernandez good evening members of the board thank you for the opportunity to speak with you here this evening um to start out I will say I am opposed to the gender discrimination policies that are up for discussion this evening and up for a vote I

202will not um be as eloquent as many of the speakers you've heard this evening and quite frankly many of the statistics and facts and fake facts that you've heard this evening um I really can't add much to that but the story I can share or the situation I can share is with my own child U sorry I forgot to live in Stafford Austin's Landing okay um attending Public Schools we have 18 years of school with our children we are taxpayers we know you are here to protect our children but first and foremost you're here to teach and important element of teaching is trust if my son can't look at their teacher and establish that they can believe what they say because they are saying one thing when he can clearly see something else is true

203what is that going to do with the quality of the education that he's going to get the rest of that year if I said I was a member of the Flat Earth Society and I want to teach science and history to your teacher or your students are you going to allow me to do that clearly that's my opinion we've proven that it's not true are you going to add policies that have words to protect me as a teacher that wants to be a flatter Society member and Lead our students astray students aren't going to believe me their test grades are going to go down or Worse will happen to them I empathize with all the members of the community that are advocating for this bill I have dealt with um family members that have anxiety

204from a variet of issues not just related to what we've heard tonight and for the last couple years apparently the struggle is real but this policy will not address that and I ask you to keep it first and foremost teaching and protection and as far as bullying goes I've read the policy there's nothing in there that allows it it is up for the teachers and the administration to detect it act on it and prevent it but it starts at home with the parents thank you hi good evening my my name is Christian Hernandez I'm from The Rock Hills School District thanks for the opportunity all men and women are created equally and judged by their content of their character rather than their color of their skin ethnicity gender and sexual orientation each life matter each

205of us matter we have a purpose in life I believe in that we are all equal in all aspects and there is no room for discrimination I am a minority listen to my accent I I do not have empath I do not have empathy for those being oppressed sometimes people listen to my accent instead of listening to my voice it's their choice not mine I have been there and I get it it's a I leave it on a daily basis that is anti-discrimination Law and policy currently in place are they working do they avoid bullying and dis and discrimination the answer is no because it's a hard issue it's a social and moral situation that is based on the individual values and how are they being taught at home and at school how do I

206overcome stereotypes and discrimination because I look like Ricky Ricardo very easy very simple by building character learning about respect and have empathy for others and also having values and managing the only thing that I can control every day that I wake up every morning my attitude attitude is contagious positive or negative we have to choose wiely wisely it's an individual Choice education is the most powerful weapon we have to change the world Nelson Mandela said that not me as a board representative please ask yourself what is the board doing to educate our kids in building character and values to overcome the challenges of this world which is not getting easy parents what are we doing to teach our kids values and character ask yourself this do we have a chance to choose our parents do

207we have a chance to choose which country do we are we born it did we shoot the gender no it's a biological matter does a child possess the maturity and discernment to make decisions such as gender selection if I ask my son which is he seven he would say that he's Iron Man or Spider-Man kids are naive as they should be don't take that innocent away as a resident of the C of this County and as a Christian by name of by faith and as a father I urge this board to strongly oppose to this policy and let the child be the child and educate them in building character values respect empathy for others and have a positive attitude let them grow and disciple themselves when they are adult Genesis 1 127 as validated on

208Matthew 19.4 says so God created mankind as his M as His Image flesh Soul and Spirit we are worth a lot because we're not animals we're Flesh Blood and flesh Soul and Spirit we are his Masterpiece we're purpose we have a purpose here thank you God bless you all right after David Allen is Matthew Allen followed by Mike Griffin Roxanna Al and Juliet Schweitzer no no David or Matthew Allen here all right then Mike Griffin roxan you wow I made it it's already 11 o'clock almost so I'm roxan ALR I'm a pediatrician in the area I've been in the area for about 19 years and so during that time I've seen thousands of students in our area and that means I've taken care of hundreds who are aify as lgbtq and I believe that it's

209really not a bathroom issue as we've heard many times tonight it is a life or death issue for these kids it is their mental health it is the choice of us making them feel loved and accepted or making them feel rejected and hated and if you guys don't approve this policy they're going to feel rejected and hated I a lot of people have this misconception that the teachers and the school board are trying to like recruit children to be gay or to be transgender it's just ridiculous this is how the kids are they're going to be this way how are we going to choose to treat them they're going to be this way are we going to reject them are we going to show we hate them are we going to show we love them

210and they deserve to be treated with respect and love and be educated equally to their peers I have two kids who have gone through Stafford schools for 15 years both girls sth girls born girls neither one of them would have any problem at all with a trans girl being in the bathroom with them I've talked to them about it I've talked to multiple patients about it I've not had one girl and all the girls that I've asked ever say oh yeah I don't want a trans girl in the bathroom with me I think all these adults are arguing about it and I feel like none of them are even asking their kids how would you fail they're assuming that these girls would be intimidated by a trans girl being in the locker room or bathroom

211but have they actually taken a poll have they actually ask their own kids I don't think so I get the impression that most of these people never talk to teens or children at all so that's what I wanted to say thank you all right Juliet schneer Schneider schneid Schneider Scher schweer excuse me Mike Griffin Mike Griffin yes yes yep you're here Al Schultz no Al shop shop shop key from Clark Lane Al from Clark Lane is next followed by Madison fry go ahead good evening um thanks for taking the time for all of us this is a real tough spot you're in uh I've sent you an email about leadership we voted for you folks to lead not follow you're here to lead you've got to make a good decision you got to go with

212your heart got to go with your gut you got to go with a greater good there are a lot of people here here that are making insinuations that maybe special interest needs to be addressed more heavily here instead of Education it's a slippery slope folks and i' I've got a gay sister it doesn't affect the way I've raised my children they love their aunts I think people need to understand that it it's a choice but our kids need to make that choice themselves and our Educators need to educate you folks need to lead we're expecting you to lead that's why we voted for you that's all I have thanks um my name is Madison fry and my address is is off cogill road um so I'm a senior at Colonial Forge High School and I'm

213also a Stafford County employee I'm straight but I'm not afraid to admit that I fully support the lgbtq community I find it absurd how we protect we will protect race religion gender disability and more but the school board will not have the decency to provide protection to the members of the LGBT community I have many friends who are gay or lesbian and it would kill me if I heard of anything had happened to them only because certain people would be offended by their rights and protection quite frankly it's just not okay it I don't understand why it's such a problem nobody chooses to be gay or transgendered that's how they're born and that's how they should be loved and protected everyone has this in common they want to be loved they want to be treated

214fairly and they want to receive respect I can't believe this is still up for debate cuz I TR truly do not see what's stopping you from protecting your County employees and students I have empathy for the students and adults who are firsthand affected by this and you guys aren't the ones who have to sit through school year or even a day we the children are it is absolutely unacceptable for you guys to tell anyone in the room your main priority is the children I'll believe it when I see it also for the people who think that is it against God's will here's a hard pill for you to swallow I'm Catholic and I fully support this movement and God still loves me and everyone a part of the lgbtq community it's honestly y'all who really

215he's questioning but y'all aren't ready to hear that finally it's it's honestly ridiculous how much control you guys have over this whole situation but the lack of attention you take towards it um if I were you in this situation or if this were you in this situation take into consideration how you would feel thank you good evening so my name is Al shapy I know you've kind of butchered that one up no big deal sorry that's fine we're both guilty here it's a long night I got it I got it I don't know if I need this thing in my way so I'm standing here I got two daughters they're N9 years old I'm opposed to this I heard about it and I've read the policy and you've seen the policy but your policy has

216flares of indoctrination if a student disagrees with this and you're removing the discussion where it says to address the student whether legally or not that is a bond between us the parents and the school board this is a discussion between parents adults and how our children are to be educated any public system I've served in the military I've been around the world I think a lot of people in this country need to go to some really crazy places where people have why have seen people we we have liberated lost their families because they dis disagreed with a certain party or a philosophical View and a lot of this policy is that you've heard the same thing from many it's vague this is vague it's open to interpretation and how someone skews that interpretation this is

217a discussion between the parent and the school board children are to be educated in that manner how we parent our children is up to us not to you thank you very much all right the next speakers are Blaine Donnelly Deborah trickle Ian Thompson and Lulu Rodriguez King just come on yeah if if I've read your name just come on it doesn't have to be in that particular order but but tell us your name when you come down please deor tricky okay good evening my name is deor tricky I reside at antium Loop in the acquire District this is my third time speaking out against policy 2420 and policy 4107 there are so many reasons why this policy should not be implemented that I have not run out of things to say in fact after all

218this time I've C wonder why we are still discussing this policy changes initially I thought the whole idea of the new policy was to resolve the problem of where a transgender student should go during a lockdown situation however according to the Stafford Star weekly on page 82 I quote Dr Kisner's words I met with the administration of the school and eight months later we haven't had any issues I've done my part to me this sounds like the problem was resolved it doesn't say exactly what Dr kissner did to resolve the problem but I can only speculate and say that he gave the teachers permission to place that child in a safe place no matter where it was just like my children during their lockdown were taken to the kitchen to stay is this a place

219where children would normally be allowed to go during the course of a school day no but the safety of the children is the most important matter however we don't change the normal rules and let the students run through the kitchen during the normal normal school day just like we shouldn't change the rules to allow transgender students in bathrooms locker rooms sports teams or overnight class trip facilities that do not pertain to their biological sex during normal school functions another reason this policy is not needed is because we already have protection in the student code of conduct hbook on page 17 which protects these minority groups which states I quote bullying including but not limited to pattern of aggressive intentional and or deliberately hostile behavior and or Hort for acts words or other Behavior toward another

220person which may include but is not limited to physical bullying such as assault and battery punching poking strangling hazing hair pulling be eating biting excessive tickling emotional bullying such as rejecting shunning terrorizing extorting defaming humiliating blackmailing rating ranking of personal characteristics such as sex gender gender identity or expression race disability ethnicity perceived sexual orientation socio economic status cultural practice ancestry or religion manipulating friendships isolating ostracizing and applying peer pressure put down threatening looks gestures or actions social isolation verbal bullying such as hurtful name calling teasing gossip rumors false accusations and cyber bullying via Electronic media sexual bullying such as exhibition voyerism sexual propositioning sexual harassment sexual abuse and sexual assault minimum of a short-term suspension of 10 days or less to maximum of expulsion I think everyone can agree that these policies already in place

221are good rules and everyone on both sides of this issue can agree on them however by implementing these new policies such as 2420 and 4107 you only bring division by forcing transgender ideology on those who lie about people biology and human nature and is unfair for you as I'm sorry your time is up I ask that you vote against policy 2014 all right the other names we call were Lulu Rodriguez King Ian Thompson and Blaine Donley or any of those people here wish to address the board did we call your name yeah please come forward the next names we have are Chris uh Gail Stephanie Hopkins and Cassidy ketchen please tell us your name hi my name is Ian Thompson I'm a resident of Stafford um Rome doome Court unlike uh many of the people

222that you were allowing to speak here earlier tonight I'd like to point that out that this this isn't just a you issue that we're dealing with it's a very political issue as you can see from the outside influence okay um I I just like to state that faith in God is not just good for government it is mandatory for good government okay we got up here tonight we said the Pledge of Allegiance it was under God okay our power for the people goes from God to the people to the government you're our government at the local level that's supposed to protect that for us you know we've charged you protect that and this policy is not doing that okay it's not going to protect our people our it's not going to prot protect the rights

223of our girls I have two girls a son okay it's not going to protect the right of our girls that are you know looking for their own safety you know where wherever it's going to be in a school I I don't respect uh some of the policies that you've enacted by teaching uh alternate policies uh to you know other than male and female masculinity and femininity I think that's wrong as parent I'm telling you as a citizen I don't want that as a government I don't want you to do that in my children's school I think you've already gone down the slippery slope you have girls in wrestling okay and they are you give the boys one message that you cannot touch girls and put your hands all over them and then you allow that

224in wrestling that that's hypocritical okay so we have already lost faith in our Stafford school board for some of the things that they've already done okay the teachers are extremely poorly paid okay they're leaving for other school systems when our teachers get old uh to within their three years they go somewhere else because they have tenure so you're not paying them enough you're not paying our bus drivers enough and our children are sitting there waiting on the bus you know to get home from school that's unsafe you're doing that okay and and we're all here as the public to tell you that this policy is terrible so you can't pass this policy it's going to be dangerous and you're going down a moral ground that is wrong thank you hello my name is Stephanie Hopkins

225and I am a resident of Stafford County but I'm also a parent of two students one in the autism program at uh melter uh Head Start as well as a student in Stafford Elementary and I did have something that I wrote down to say but I'd like to start with the kids will get taught what is right and wrong without the parents because there are other students that have already been taught hate it is both it is both the staff members responsibility to counteract that as well as just what we should do it it's what we should all do I was raised very sheltered I did not know what homosexuality was until I was in high school that's how sheltered I was it didn't stop me from learning or hearing the words except I learned

226them as slurs being called a lesbian or being called Gay was something you said to insult someone they will learn it is up to us it is up to you to teach them that there's nothing wrong with being transgendered there's nothing wrong with being gay it is okay and I will raise my children to do so to treat them with respect my 9-year-old accepted it like that when I told him that there are people who in their hearts are a different gender than what their outside reflects he accepted it very quickly and that's how quickly they will accept it and that's it's that simple I used to be against policies like this I'm now for it help these kids the suicide rate is too high as is I educated myself I got to know transgendered

227people I got to know gay people and that's what we need to do we need to listen listen to the people parents everyone listen to the people you are trying to stop from having a shred of humanity in their everyday life school is hard enough as someone who has bullied I can tell you school is hard enough help them quit holding them back thank you hi my name is Cassity Ketchum and I'm here from Alexandria I'm the policy director for an organization called GL uh we support uh affirming schools for students regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and I'm here to speak for the policy of including sexual orientation and gender identity into the Stafford non-discrimination policy um on that note I think that affirming that affirming and embracing diversity creates a better and

228safer environment for us all such diversity at a time where so many seek to divide us is crucial to celebrate in this community in that spirit I would also like to speak about the recent events concerning the transgender and gender non-conforming youth of Stafford County Public Schools as you're all aware of last school year a transgender student was abandoned in a gymnasium during an active shooter drill in a local middle school because Stafford County does not have policies that protect students and address such situations while this was merely a drill it evidences that the lack of formal policy in this regard can literally be a matter of life and death this is just one of many situations where Stafford County has neglected their transgender and gender non-conforming students and staff the arguments being made against

229this policy tonight are the same tired tropes from those who oppose integration of public schools in the 60s like those in the wrong side of history back then opponents of this policy are wrongly citing scripture M mischaracterizing the law and making up scientific facts in order to uphold a legacy of bigotry the question that is on my mind and the minds of transgender and gender non-conforming students and their parents around the country is if not now then when is the right time to pass inclusive policy I am glad that this issue finally is finally getting its time of day and is brought to you for a vote because of the resiliency and the dedication of the local community groups and local community members such as equality Stafford who have relentlessly pushed for this issue to

230come to a vote it's now time for you the school board to choose the side of History you would like to be a part of to be the leaders you were elected to be and to make our schools safe for all students and staff by including gender identity and sexual orientation as part of Stafford County's non-discrimination policy the responsibility is on all of us to ensure that lgbtq students and Staff feel completely safe and affirmed at each of our schools in this country we can start tonight by passing this policy thank you for allowing us all to speak all right I have the final four cards here uh I'm assuming that Chris Gale is not here when's come forward all right Andrew mungan Jack Adams norca Miller and Rob low what's funny it oh Rob

231low is back there well I don't know if that's a joke or not but that's the last card I had to roll all right are you Mr uh Andrew munen 2770 Brook Road aqu District um briefly on behalf of my wife who couldn't be here uh she's home with the kids um her choice uh she's she advocates for a solution that recognizes that this is not going to be anything that's going to make everybody happy um and if there's a way she advocates for unisex facilities that afford people the safe a safe space to do what they need to do without exposing them to the vagaries of school existence um and in that vein while that may not satisfy everybody's desires it will accomplish the stated mission of giving people what they need if not

232everything they want um on my own behalf uh I would say that I think that this the policy as I've read it is a misuse of a safety issue uh regarding uh students access to a locker room in the case of a lockdown and that a policy that is as vague and open-ended as this one um is misguided at best um because nobody knows actually what is going to come from it and I quote a freelance Star article from May 29th stating that uh Dr kizner and I quote added that these steps could eventually lead to the adoption of a new policy in line with what he proposed last year end quote so I'm skeptical of his intent regarding accommodating the board's recommendations um because none of those changes that he's that were made to

233the document actually say anything that will stop him from acting on behalf of his own desires as opposed to the wishes of the the board and the your constituents um I will say that I'm going to oppose these and unfortunately that's going to come across as because I'm white and a man and heterosexual as privileged and bigoted and I assure you much to the shagrin of people whove made assumptions about their their ability to derive people's intent from their position on this that's not true none of you know what my family has gone through nor do I know what any of your families have gone through everybody's unique and everybody is has their own experiences and just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I'm going to castigate you and assume ill intent and I

234appreciate it if folks would do that Accord that afford that opportunity to everyone uh finally compassion doesn't come from policy if it did nobody would be bullied there's a policy against that I think that the responsibility to address these concerns come are going to be solved by the good faith efforts of the students parents and teachers to find solutions that fit the need of a specific student instead of casting this open-ended solution as a fix all for who knows what because none of that's clear thank you hello my name is uh Jonathan Adams Jr I am a senior at colonal Forge High School and today I'm speaking to acknowledge some very simple things and I would like to start with a quote real quick uh Collective fear stimulates herd Instinct and tends to produce ferocity

235toward those who are not regarded as members of The Herd by beran Russell and it seems as if a lot of people here are part of that herd and the people we are speaking speak of are not um we are juggling privileges to be able to speak here and privileges of being Christian and how we all should love each other or God says we shouldn't it all seems like a bit of a game if you will it's it's stupid really we're juggling basic human rights here and I had something to read but now that I'm speaking I have something more important to say um we're juggling basic human rights we're asking ourselves should we put in a policy in place let alone the bathroom stuff forget all that we're asking ourselves are we going to

236put a policy in place that's going to punish those hopefully that are discriminating against other human beings because they like the same gender or they want to switch the biology the genitalia which also seems to be a lot of people in here were obsessed with little kid genitalia which is I feel like it's a bigger problem at hands um my sister was the young lady who was left out in a hallway during an active shooting drill and as you know that's the biggest problem in America right now that not many other countes are facing so when you hear that my younger sister is sitting out in the hallway because y'all don't know what to do with that there a problem and I've never been that close to my sister and to hear that my sister

237is sitting out the hallway dur active shooting drill when almost every month you hear about gun violence that's a problem this is basic human rights and we shouldn't have to argue with small-minded people that this isn't an this is an issue this is an issue bigger than all of us excuse me please address the board this this is the problem you know and like someone said before me you got to pick what side of History you're going to be on I'm not trying to take an emotional Approach at all of you that's not my point of reasoning I had logical reasoning here before this is the stuff just doesn't make sense it's a game you know and if you have parents coming up here trying to tell you it's just between parents and kids No

238it's not because I'm going to be here when y'all are not and the policy you're debating is going to be around and it's it's all going to be right and everyone is going to be working for something better for Humanity and that's what this is about this is something for Humanity and making sure the kids after your kids have somewhere to stay and be safe thank you okay is norcam Miller here no then Rob low oh there Miss Miller you can speak after Mr low as much as I appreciate the accolades pronounce Lao oh Lao my name is Rob Lao and I live here in Stafford County uh I did pretty well till the end I appreciate that very much I live here in Stafford County in St George's Estates um I'd like to point

239out that Stafford County spends on average about $113,000 per student which ranks us at 122nd out of 133 school districts across the Commonwealth of Virginia I am desperately proud of the number of concerned citizens who have shown up tonight and who have taken time to participate in this process and I say this to you the board because that is who I am addressing My Hope Is that our fellow citizens will show up again when it's time to vote on giving more money to our school systems to educate our children better and better and better I have a 5-year-old daughter in the Stafford County school system and a 7-year-old son and when I finish talking I'm going to go home because my seven-year-old is going to turn8 in the morning in addition to being a parent

240I'm also a pastor one of the things that I'm constantly sharing with my congregation is that I believe in the reality of what the Bible tells us about ourselves and I think that's really three things the first is we're loved and there's nothing we can do about it the second is that we have a place to belong and the third is that we have purpose in this world we are loved we belong we have purpose man it breaks my heart that there have been some students who've articulated concerns tonight that have said that they do not feel loved and cared for that they do not feel that they have a place to belong that they don't feel as if we are helping them to realize their purpose it breaks my heart and I believe it's

241possible that we need a good policy that helps those students feel like they are loved and they belong and they have purpose I it's also true that there have been a couple of a very well articulated points about some concerns with this policy frankly about simply the fact that there are questions that remain some ambiguities in the policy and so I want to ask this of you one of the things that I deeply struggle with as we come into environments like this and in our broader Society is that it seems like we have to be for this or against this that there is no middle ground and I believe firmly that there is a place there's a place for every student in Stafford County there is and if there are students that don't feel that

242way we need a policy that tells them they belong but I also believe that there are some reservations and so here's my challenge you sign up to lead and God bless you I I can't believe you did that you signed up to lead us so here's my challenge to you I want to invite you to to take some time and develop a policy that's going to bring us together not push us apart not not over years and years and years oh sorry pastors God bless you guys thank you all right Miss Miller you're it the end of the cards I hope I hope all of you can see me my stand to the side I'm short Hispanic woman a little heavy now I used to be 3 PB slider so I have an accent so

243have black hair so I'm not a white un educating male so I don't consider myself all of those characteristics I consider myself uh human being with decency and thanks to my parents who brought me up and taught me the basic uh um Foundation about love Mercy charity how to treat the other person with respect it was not a school that taught me how to respect somebody else it was at home that's the first place that I learned since I was a child I come from South America I'm a US citizen I came here 100 years ago to go to school graduated from Mary Washington College 100 years ago so I'm very very old of course and I look young right and um I'm here because um I don't have a child a little one but

244I have a 24 year old son just just got married a couple of days ago he holds a good job loves our Lord respects everyone and I thank the Stafford Community because he grew up in this area so why am I here because I love this area I love every human being that I come across with I'm not perfect I don't think all of us are and I think everybody in both sides they have good intention everybody wants to show love right we all crave love I totally believe that this policy is not the right solution if you need to take your time to develop something better and I like what the former um the previous person said that's perfect and I love the lgbtq all the alphabet I'm sorry I don't know all the

245but I love everybody I don't see it as somebody different I don't see them because I'm a person as you can see I grew up in different country and I came here when I was 16 okay so I have been in situations in which people laugh at my accent right I'm short but it doesn't matter I'm still a human being that deserves decency so I sympathize for with all of those that feel that they're no love but let me tell you I'm Catholic and I love all of you I respect you whether you are Left Right middle it doesn't matter so I do believe that please take your time please look into your hearts okay it's not a matter who wins we're all going to lose right if we rush into just making a decision

246so I pray with all my heart that you please analyze one day we're all going to go right they said taxes is a sure thinging about taxes and death so we're going to be there so we want to make sure that we when we close our eyes we can say I did my best and I did the best to love one another thank you for your attention thank you everybody who is here and may may we all be United that's the key thank you God bless thank you well that brings us to the end of the speakers um from our cards so we will close the public comment period um the board member comments and committee reports were deleted for this meeting we'll have a chance at the next meeting to express those comments um

247superintendent's comments is still here Dr kizner do you have any comments to make I'm just going to make two very brief coms one I am going to encourage people who might be watching on TV some people that spoke tonight honestly you're speaking to not the policy that the school board is being asked to make a decision tonight your the school board the policy that the school board is going to be deliberating is on our website it's been on our website the policy that some people have read is the policy that has been taken off the website and off the months many months ago so I just would encourage people to look at their policy but I want to um just let you know we're in our fourth week of school things are going well our

248enrollment uh is is higher than we uh projected but it's still early September 30th we'll know but um we're definitely a growing community and so a little pump after Labor Day and um we monitor it every day and then at our first meeting in October I'll give you obviously an official report that's all I'm going to say thank you thank you all right do we have a motion for the consent agenda not everybody move to approve the consent agenda second okay great I heard Mr mosar right after Dr Chase so we'll give that to you one Mr mosar we have a motion uh in a second to approve the consent agenda any discussion all in favor please say I I all oppose motion carries unanimously all right that brings us to action item 9.01 a

249waiver to the extent required of attorney client privilege to permit the release to the public of the advice analysis and justification prepared by legal councel uh Miss Hazard Miss Hazard and I requested that this item be placed on the agenda I'm going to let Miss Hazard speak to this first and then we'll hear from anyone else well I'll make a motion I motion I move that the Stafford County School Board wave the wave to the extent required attorney client privileged to prevent release of the public of the to the public of the advice analysis and justification specifically provided in May July and August prepared by council with respect to the proposed anti-discrimination policies under consideration Madam chair second all right we have a motion second now we can have discussion would you like to have

250discussion Madam chair I move to substitute for the pending motion the following that the legal opinion the school board obtained from Jennifer Parish on August the 15 2019 be made available to superintendent Kisner who serves as the school board's agent second all right so we have a motion by Miss Young and a second by Dr Chase do we have discussion is that a substitute or an additional motion if I may ask for clarification from the chair substitute substitute motion because if the original motion to release the legal opinion to the public that would of course include Dr kizner in addition to um anyone on the staff but it would be anyone in the public that would be made available too I'd like to speak to the m to the first motion but how would you

251like to handle it point of order um I believe we vote on The Substitute motion before we can and we discuss the substitute motion before we can address the main motion all right that's fine then discussion my discussion would be is um if we um approval of the um first motion includes of the public as stated by the chair that there would be uh release to all interested parties regardless of school affiliation or not so um Dr kizner having a copy of that legal opinion is fine in my opinion but I believe um a broader uh distribution of that opinion is in order and not just a limited release of a single opinion to one individual may I ask the motion maker what the intent is of that motion Madam chair oh yes please I

252don't I don't understand what what's I am not giving up my rights your rights what does that mean I I believe the intent was to release it to the superintendent he is our school I would wonder what kind of precedent we're setting um when is it okay to really I mean I'm honestly surprised um that the legal experts on the board would advise releasing an attorney client privilege it's I mean it's incredibly important it exists for a reason um I'm so I'm not opposed to doing it but I'm wondering what precedent we're setting when is it okay when is it not okay and at whose disposal I mean do we then release all client privilege from the past what what are we doing here that's I'm I'm really glad you asked that question mror sure

253are um but that's for the primary motion I was told I could not bring that information at this time so I understand is I understand we have to vote on The Substitute motion and the substitute motion was but I am a little unclear what the substitute motion was I move to substitute for the pending motion the following excuse me the legal opinion the Schoolboard obtained from Jennifer par Parish on August 15 2019 be made available to the superintendent kisna who serves as the school board's agent and to no one else to no one else okay okay and that is a legal opinion that addressed all of the questions raised by the school board with respect to the proposed policies correct Jennifer Parish well there's more than one I think Mr or mentioned one was in

254an interview in the newspaper there was a I believe I am specifically mentioning Jennifer Parish August the 15 2019 oh okay I didn't hear a date okay Madam chair may I make a quick point to Mr cator's statement sure we've already set precedent with releasing um stuff that was was basically attorney client privilege there was a $6.4 million discrepancy in our budget and we went and did a deep dive of our budget and we were accountable to the community so when we found out what happened to that money we released it so that the community could see what happened to the money so the precedent already been set so I don't know what I don't know what the issue is here and that was before Mr CER Miss Young and Dr Chase's time so they

255may not be aware that there was a waiver of the board and Mr uh mosar was on the board Miss Eagan was on the board Miss Hazard was on the board and I were on the board and there was is a actual vote by the board to wave privilege and release a document to the public because of the Public's significant interest in that issue and I I will be happy to address your other question should we get to the first motion I I will say that Miss Hazard and I are not attorneys on this board we may be attorneys by the day but on this board we were school board members but she and I put this item on to request this board to wave the privilege to release all of the legal um analysis

256that were provided to this board not selected legal analysis all of it to the public which would include of course Dr kizner would we I'm Sor did the Dr Kisner get access to this already Jennifer parish's information that me mandum letter correspondence was provided to the school board members at this board's specific request that it be provided to the Schoolboard members it addressed questions raised by the school board members and it was provided to the seven members here but not to Dr gizman is that correct not at this board's request now I can't tell you whether he's seen it or not because I don't know but this board made a specific decision that we would seek legal counsel we've been asking questions since um what last December Miss Ean and we had a chance to

257put our questions forward and get the answer and it was this board's decision okay so can we put itally that it be given to this board yes I would like to put it up for a vote okay we haven't given everybody a chance to have a discussion sure yeah I'm personally not ready to make a decision on either of these this evening I don't know about you guys but I've I mean this is a new agenda item and I haven't looked at any of this information provided this evening um what you're asking to release I'd like to read over it know what exactly we're releasing to whom and so I'm not ready to to put a something on for Action I don't think we ever do that we something comes for information and then action

258I I don't know this popped up for Action tonight so that's me I was if if I may respond to that the reason this is on for Action tonight is because the policies are on for information tonight and Miss Hazard and I believed it would be something that needs to be addressed that the public has a need and a right to know what advice was given to this board I don't disagree with you at all you would let me finish please mror and the information that I provided tonight was for refreshing the board members memory of what we received earlier this summer what well what some of us received in May what we received in July and I did not include the August materials because that is fairly fresh but this was so that the

259board would be able to make an informed decision about what we're requesting here so you didn't have to recall what was in these documents okay so all I was saying is I don't disagree with that all I'm saying is we generally bring things for information and then action so at this moment I'm not ready to make a decision on either of these things Dr Chase so um I'm I'm in favor of uh letting Dr kizner see what the what the attorney had to say because he does act as our agent um I'm a little dismayed that uh like Miss dear that this was brought um and you know I've been very respectful of my fellow board members desire to get legal counsel before they make a decision um I haven't had the opportunity to get

260legal counsel about what the ramifications of giving up my attorney client privilege would be um and so perhaps I need that I'm also a little concerned that this might be another opportunity to say well we have to release this and now we have to wait till we get public comment on the attorney's uh position before we can vote on the next agenda so I'm I'm a little suspicious um and I'm reluctant to I'm I'm happy to vote on The Substitute motion I'm not interested in voting on the primary motion so uh yeah yeah thank you um I'm I'm in the same boat I'm not willing to uh right now wave my attorney client privilege I think it's a slippery slope I think um I think every time we go into a attorney client privilege from

261here on out uh if we allow this to go forth uh I think we'll be very guarded in what we say and what we do um and I think it was different circumstances last time on that on that last one very much so different circumstances uh for me so um I'm not I'm not willing to vote on this and if I do vote it'll be no and see can do have anything further to say Mard um it seems like we have talked broadly about the main motion so I'm I'm going to at least speak to it because I feel like we've danced around it so um where the um where this is on second I'm sorry are we not we're still on the substitute so we either vote on it and we cannot discuss the

262primary one yet we either need to vote on this and get it I think the main thing that I'm trying to do here is make sure we do right by our public and the main thing we need to do with our public it seems like there is hesitation to wave privilege however I understand how um you know Robert's Rules works that this is the way to of course eliminate this being able to be brought back so my job up here is to make sure that there is at least a second bite of this apple to come back because I believe it is in the um Public's best interest to have information on a topic that we have all said tonight as we've listened to comments that there is misunderstanding of what is going on it

263is certainly my pref preference that the three um pieces of information that are before the board would be shared with the public I believe that it is important I believe it was important um and it is an extraordinary move I do understand that however listening to the many comments tonight the misunderstandings what does this do what it does not do um I believe that it is important for our community to understand what we have been presented I do believe when we uh did this in the past it was in the best interest of the community um I do not take that step lightly and but I do believe that it is important for all um the uh allowance of M Dr kizner to see that uh I guess third piece of information I'm trying to

264make sure I'm right is not of concern to me but I do not want to eliminate the Public's um ability for this board to vote on whether that information should be shared with the uh Community haard it would have been nice if I known about this before like you know when you're saying that two school board members are talking about something like that and the rest of the board doesn't know and now you're saying it's in the best interest of of uh of the the audience but yet oh I'm sorry but yet if it's in the best interest of the audience is something that you could have discussed so we're here now you you discussed it before you analyzed it you knew what you were going to do and you want me to wave my

265rights as a school board member now and the superintendent who is our agent has not seen this and so I do not think that this is in the best interest of me as a Schoolboard member and I don't know what the intentions are so I am with uh Mr ker and I am with Dr Chase that it needs to be analyzed and looked at and we need to know what our rights are before we do this this item was done in the way that all other agenda items are done a requestor and a second that is what we have been told the transgender and these anti discrimination policies were brought by two members and what was expected of other board members was to read the agenda item when it comes we have done except Excuse

266Me Miss Young would finish I'm just saying we did not it was not done in a different manner this is something I would like the board to discuss if it is not um voted on tonight I am willing to defer it to another meeting however um I am not willing to take that off as a consider ation for this these board for our board members I believe it is something we need to analyze and discuss Miss Young sorry madam chair thank you for the opportunity to speak what I'm saying though is what Mr ker said it's brought straight to action and not information first and now you want us to act on something without information sitting here and that's is I thought I said I would all right my turn I'm confused because this matter

267is before the board for decision it relates directly to the policies and it's simply a matter of releasing information to the public to the public which paid for those legal opinions to the public that supports Stafford County Public Schools this board talks continuously about transparency in everything yet now we're saying we don't want to share this but yet we'll give it to the superintendent but nobody else wow I mean that I'm just I'm amazed now if the board wants more time to look into it to think about it you know that's something we we can bring this back I mean the the the intent was so that the public public would H know what information was made available to the board before we made the decision and also what was included in that particularly the

268questions that we had a chance to ask we made an issue of this there was public outcry in July because we were putting this off but it was put off for a reason and that's because we still had unanswered questions and those questions have been answered and what Miss Hazard and I believe and I if I can speak for you miss Hazard is that this is of such importance to the public regardless of what side you're you're on or how you're going to vote on this policy that the public deserves to know this we're not in litigation we're not being sued this is not advice that's given to us as to how to move forward with a case that we are in court on this is general information and I see no difference between this

269and what we have with the with that deep dive audit that the public was outraged at what happened we were outraged at what happened and we got the answers and we shared it we specifically wav privilege in that case now if if if you need more time um we can we can bring it back but there is no requirement for something like this to be on for information when we have policies there is a rule that the policies have to be on twice for information before we can act on it we we put many other items on for Action if the staff asked us to move something up for Action we routinely respect that request and take action so I don't buy the argument that this is unusual or you know we we shouldn't do

270it um I don't understand the request about sharing this only with the superintendent if there's a need for the superintendent to see this why not the entire public that's that's what I have to say so I'm I'm just I'm I'm amazed that there is even a hesitation in sharing this information given to the board with respect to these policies that are going to vote and I know Dr Chase you're concern that's not going to vote you've made it very clear this vote will be tonight and this unless we go past 12 o00 it will be tonight so I don't think that's an issue but the issue now is does this board going to share this information from the public does this board want to wait or just keep it secret I would like to vote

271on this right now and we could bring it back the individuals that voting for um giving it to Dr kizner right now we could we could bring it back but right now I would like to vote on this tonight so sub substitute motion call question Madam chair all right if I can restate this the motion is to substitute oh you want me to repeat it to to yeah yes please do because I'm having a hard time I move to substitute for the pending motion the following that the legal opinion the school board obtained from Jennifer Parish on August the 15 2019 be made available to superintendent kizner who serves as the school board agent okay and that was second by Dr Chase all right and that's made it available to superintendent um I'd like to

272clarify only the superintendent I didn't get that it's it's okay only the superintendent okay so can we add that in there only the superintendent correct at this time okay call the question all in favor I I all opposed no no Dr Chase I mror I Miss Hazard no Miss Healey no Miss hollerbach no Mr mccosar I and Miss Young I and um do we expect that this will be back on the agenda in um on the next meeting is my question I would certainly be willing to bring it back to the agenda is this is this board uh saying that they will never consider this again just asking the I just think as an informal I just think as an informal uh uh uh talking now that the vote's done I think I think we

273can talk about it together with uh uh at a work session whether we're going to bring it back or not so work session we don't have any work sessions planned our meetings are held in public I'm more than I'm more than happy to bring this back I just I mean I almost abstained on that V vote I don't know if I mean I this is this is brought up and I'm just not sure what that means all I'm asking you yeah I'm more than happy to discuss it again and all of this Shenanigans about you know transparency and I'm surprised I mean this is nonsense let's just be honest here I would just like to know what it means when you wave your attorney client privilege that's all that's all I'm asking for not it

274to be brought to action immediately and me asking to make a vote on it and then blaming me that I'm um not being transparent when I would like to understand what this means that's all thank you okay well Mr CER um whether you understand it or not you just waved it no I just said I'm more than happy to bring it back as with Dr kizner that was a vote to wave the privilege to provide this Dr kizner works for me thank you us as a board all right all right let's let's um let let's move on let's move on 9.02 I don't want to talk approval of proposed new policy 2420 student services non-discrimination equal education opportunity motion I move that we approve uh proposed new policy 2420 student services non-discrimination equal education opportunity

275second second all right we have a motion second any discussion chairman go down just Pi pick someone um I would like to offer a substitute motion I would like to um move that we approve policy 2420 with the following edits the addition of the information currently found on the Stafford County Public School website related to procedures for students and families wishing to file complaints regarding any discrimination practices or incidents in our schools to any implementation plan including but not limited to Broad policies related to bathroom usage Locker shower room usage usage overnight field trips and record modifications be brought to the board for approval and public vote and that the student code of conduct be reviewed for consistency with the description of the prohibited Behavior contained in this policy second all right any discussion do

276I get to start sure okay um first and foremost I would like to thank the many people who have come who have um engaged in this process um the best communities communities are involved communities that is something that very much makes me happy tonight that we are a happy Comm Community we are an Engaged community in what goes on in our schools as stated by others I hope you remain engaged because our schools and our children are so so important although tonight's vote has been characterized as a vote for or against transgender or gender expression rights in people that's not really what this is for me tonight I believe that the school division is charged with ensuring that every child family member and staff member can come to and work on school premises without fear

277or harassment of any kind no matter whether the individual is part of a protected class or not um with regard to transgendered coverage the attorney general has issued an opinion saying that it is covered under the term for sex however I did bring early on in this process an anti-discrimination statement that did cover this and in my opinion got got us started on where we were to go how we were to implement to me um to be candid based on the varying comments we've heard over the past year I'm not really sure how Stafford County is doing in this area we've heard a mixed bag um I think that's something we definitely as a board would like to know really how we are doing um the vote tonight for me is on making sure that

278we um on who we protect that is of no concern to me we protect everybody the part that is difficult for me is the how we protect and I believe that that the Board needs to preserve that role in the how I have I thank Stafford County and Dr kizner for putting on finally on our website how do you go for discrimination complaints that has been put on our website I would like it as part of our policy I believe there's a lot of questions about the other hows and I believe that the Board needs to remain um part of that process if we can make sure that the how and our implementation is is separate from our statement I am certainly willing to um move forward thank you thank you Mr deer can you

279come back to me please sure well this is this is just comments I'm just CL clarification man this is just comments on the substitute motion correct and we'll still be provided comments on the if if it does not if it does not go down we'll still be on the main motion correct okay this is just the substitute motion y pass all right I have no comments no comments on the substitute motion the um substitute motion was a little bit of a surprise to me but um I'm going to support it and I agree with everything that you said Miss Hazard all right I appreciate you adding to the policy and I'm going to support it because of that any further discussion all in favor of the substitute motion now what we're voting on is to

280make these changes to the policy everybody understand they're not voting on the policy we're voting on the changes to the policy and could you reiterate that I know I know it's late but just so we're clear um the addition of the information found on the Stafford County website relating to procedures for families and students regarding complaints for anti-discrimination that means who those complaints go to for those who may or may not know it is Mrs Lisa Boatright and it is contained on our um Stafford County website I would like that part of our any of our policy especially 2420 any implementation plan um essentially shall be brought to the school board for approval and public vote and that the student code of conduct be reviewed for consistency with the description of the prohibited behavior in

281policy 2420 okay all right other discussion all in favor of the substitute motion to make these changes to the policy please say I I I all opposed no no no all right Dr Chase no Miss deor no Miss Hazard yes Miss Healey yes Miss hbag yes Mr MOS no and Miss no motion fails all right so that brings us back to the main motion the motion maker the motion to pass the policy as is okay so comments yes let's go let's we'll start with Miss Ean this time we'll work our way down the line okay it's about two and a half hours past my bedtime I'm having a hard time concentrating reading seeing and keeping my thoughts together so i' I've written something out please bear with me because I'm I I am that tired

282um do I believe there's danger to kids if this passes absolutely not am I buying that the kids will be abused or attacked or any of the other claims that are being made predicting a doomsday nope it's a matter of representing the interests of everyone every teacher every child every mother father every taxpayer anyone that knows me knows that I work hard to represent my constituents and the teachers in my district even in the most dire of personal circumstances I have my own personal beliefs about some of the policies that we tackle each year look at the calendar and the cell phone policies many of those are voted on by looking at the consensus of my constituents not my own personal beliefs I also like to get as much information as possible before I vote

283on an issue knowledge is power right on this particular issue I have asked a 100 questions so I could ultimately make an informed decision when we heard the original proposal by Dr kizner and staff on December 11th of last year I raised the following questions has this been vetted by the parent advisory committee has it been vetted by the teacher advisory committee has it been vetted by the equity and diversity committee has this policy been given a legal review by someone other than the attorneys that drafted it do we know how much it will cost to renovate some of the bathrooms and add private changing areas to the locker rooms at each of our high schools and maybe even the middle schools the answer to all of those questions was no and the topic was

284tabled fast forward to this year and the topic was resurrected and presented as a policy statement I don't have a legal degree I'm not an attorney but I do have common sense and when you change a policy there's a potential for further action and repercussions to other policies that are already on the books that has been proven to be true and while I can't share them with you because the majority of this board voted to suppress that information you're just going to have to take my word for it lastly I wanted us to take the time to devise a policy that included a compromise that Embraces all kids all families and all staff a compromise that included some restroom uh restroom Renovations and the inclusion of private changing areas and locker rooms would have been

285an accommodation for a family to make that choice as a family I don't believe that abdicating our responsibility as policy makers should be punted to the superintendent by voting to allow the superintendent to make those implementation plans without even knowing what the plan is by the way is putting the job that we were elected to do on the shoulders of the superintendent when it should be a board decision for all of those things that didn't happen in this process the fact that this is an All or Nothing policy with no compromise the lack of discussion on adding the issue to the CIP process which is coming up on next on the agenda and the kicking of our responsibility as Schoolboard members to the superintendent and uninformed legal consequences we're putting on future boards I will

286not be voting in favor of this policy Mr mcos thank you madam chair uh first I'd like to thank everyone for attending tonight those watching on TV and those who sent emails on these policies which I'll refer to from now on as with the policy um the policy has most definitely engaged the community and and garnered very uh respectful Community involvement tonight in discourse and so that I'm really appreciative regretfully deep down I just wish I had this kind of support and involvement seen tonight over the past weeks and and years my last eight years on the board to help me fight for teacher and employee pay lower classroom size and upgrading our rundown schools that some of our kids will again show up tomorrow morning some of my supporters may say that as a

287board member besides some dirty words um I'm I'm a straight talker who calls it like it is I'm loyal um I expect leaders to lead and fight hard for our employees and our kids so let's get to the Straight Talk I see good in this policy I see this policy has taken care of our kids and giving direction to our staff even if it's only a small minority of our student body who's protected by these additional categories we add this is a one-page policy onepage policy this says absolutely nothing about bathrooms about locker rooms about field trips or additional categories this is not the transgender policy rather it's the policy that will support and show our kids who are in the minority who are vulnerable that we care I see this policy as a signal

288to our staff that we care enough about the children under their care that we identify and call out in this policy those who are pregnant have medical conditions their Mar marital status genetic information and gender identity I see good in this policy I see this policy has taken care of our staff and our kids again this is not the bathroom locker room or field trip policy this is the treat our staff and our kids with dignity and respect policy I see this policy as a show love for our most at risk policy as far as a speaker who spoke about the school board and a board member um about the costing of ripping out urinals and charging and changing our bathrooms that's not the will of this board or the superintendent any board member with

289support with with another member can request uh that the staff do an analysis and give costs so please don't infer that the board is moving towards changing bathrooms by this policy again I look to the good in this policy the good that Dr K kizner is leading this School Division and who has common sense and creditability things that we haven't had in the past at least in my eight years our employees and our kids who are under their CH his charge are finally feeling a breath of fresh air don't believe me go ask him I trust this man to implement a policy like he does all policies in our school division we're pay we pay the guy a lot of money we we we interview him he's been a 20-year superintendent and he and his

290staff implement the policy but just for argument stake let's say that this policy somehow infringes on the rights of Staff or students it can be brought back at any time by a revote of this board this is not a state or federally mandated policy as of yet this policy again is not about bathrooms it's not about locker rooms it's not about field trips it's about protecting and treating our students with dignity and respect and self-worth it gives our staff needed Direction and support while our children in are in their care most of the week by the way I hope the community will have a positive outlook on this policy and see the good in it it may take some time this is hard work it's hard to view life from your neighbor's porch I pray

291that this policy will help our most vulnerable children but closing um if if I can prevent just one policy or one suicide by one of our precious kids through the approval of this 240 words for me this vote is an easy yes yes yes thank you madam chair Dr Chase uh the main issue people seem to have with the proposed non-discrimination policy is the inclusion of gender identity and sexual orientation I have received no emails related to any of the other proposed groups the question I asking myself is are lgbtq students experiencing discrimination in Stafford County Public Schools despite the policies currently in place as I have been reading the hundreds of emails sent to this board I noticed a pattern I'm going to read some excerpts see if you notice anything I love all

292children but I fully accept the need to be respectful of everyone's rights but again no student at any school should be bullied intimidated or otherwise accosted for any reason however while no one is in favor of discrimination there is no partiality with the Lord we are all equal in his sight and Made In His Image but we support a zero tolerance policy against the shaming humiliating or hurting of any child whatever their Identity or sexual orientation but I do think it is important to treat all of our children with respect and to protect them from bullying however I think these emails indicate that there are many people in the Stafford Community who are very uncomfortable with the existence of transgender children and therefore are advocating that we discriminate against these children but perhaps this sentiment

293is not leading to discrimination of transgender students in our schools well last October staff at one of our schools did not know what to do with a transgender student during an active shooter drill everyone was rightly horrified but many of us told ourselves that was this was not discrimination this was just confusion and a lack of training of staff and after all it was just a drill and isn't that what drills are for but I have been reflecting on this for months now and at one of our meetings the superintendent said we should not fool ourselves that incidents like this happen in a vacuum rather they happen because there is a lack of clarity of purpose throughout the entire organization so I went back and read the action the board took four years ago with

294respect to a transgender child the child had been allowed to use the bathroom they identified with and then then a parent complained so central office reversed the decision and then the parents appealed the decision to the school board now let me note this was very unusual for a couple of reasons first I read through eight years of Schoolboard minutes and this was the only case I found of the Schoolboard conducting a hearing about a student accommodation we normally leave this in the hands of the experts our staff what is more common is for the school board to hear appeals related to student or employee Discipline matters second when the school board comes out of closed session we read out and Report or make a motion for some action normally we say something like suspended student

295a for the remainder of the school year or continued the expulsion for student C with alternative educ ucation offered we don't publicly state which school the student attends or what the student did we maintain these students privacy even if they were selling drugs on campus bringing a weapon to school or sexually harassing another student but when the student was transgender we deviated from our normal procedure in addition to announcing where the student attended school we also stated that the child was transgender and could only use the bathroom that matched the child's biology or a private facility we announced to the entire School Division that students could only go into facilities which were private or matched biological gender so is it fair for this board to claim we bear no responsibility for what happened last October

296given the board's failure to respect a transgender student's privacy four years ago the confusion about how to protect a transgender student during an active shooter drill last year and the many negative emails directed at transgender students which I received I have reached the conclusion that we need to include lgbtq students in our non-discrimination policy let me finish with item 12 of the Stafford School Board code of conduct which all seven of us sign each year oops I will always remember that the foremost concern of the board is to improve and enhance the teaching and learning experience for all students in the public schools of Virginia please notice there are no whils buts or howevers in our code of conduct thank you m John thank you madam chair my name is Ronaldo Pamela young I go

297by Pam she her hers proun since November the 13th we had our first meeting after the lockdown December 11 proposed policy was brought before the board we had meetings on May 28th June 11 June 25th July 16th August 13 with the public a comment over 450 de Schoolboard member emails were sent to to us on this topic and several of those were directed to me as well as to others but because of the overwhelming number of emails I responded to those that were directed to me and I even met with uh some of you but one email stood out because this person did not mix words I respect that but he said what many of you did not want to come out and say it reads and I quote do not Implement an unnecessary policy

298that evidently arose out of a rare event in which the child in question should have been taken into the closest protected space dot dot dot given the nature of the emergency drill in question to allow an extreme minority I am a minority and I've always been and I can't hide it right some transgenders lbtq can hide but I can't to use this incident to force what appears to be a media driven issue to overturn centuries of Common Sense comfortable to stay comfortable not accept change and worldwide appreciation that there are two god-given God designed genders of parent of birth is unwise and does not represent the View's desires and vote a vast majority of Stafford County parents and citizens I've been living here over 30 years I raised my kids here in Stafford County through

299Elementary Middle School High School my daughter graduated from VCU then Duke she's an Anese olist she's GNA serve in the Air Force and she is a lesbian I was raised in the church I raised my children in church I was a children's church teacher I sung in the youth choir I transitioned not that kind into adulthood into the Adult Choir I have four children now are you telling me I need to do something different with that particular one I love her for who she is but putting my church aside when I read and listen to comments like these I hear the perspective being shared but it also breaks my heart I acknowledge their feelings but the feelings are not facts here are the facts gender is a social construct yes there are two Sexes male

300and female assigned at birth but we as a society created what gender is which means we have the ability to update that definition with our current understanding remember when we blacks with three4 of a person right chased by dogs so that understanding suggests that people ought to decide for themselves what gender they identify with but that is not what I'm here to do that point about the media driven issue that does not represent the views and desires of the vast majority of Stafford County parents and citizens that simply is false for one the media is influenced by society as much as the other way around and our society here in Safford County we do support passing a policy we have to fight feelings with facts the school system is the Haven where all children should

301feel safe where every child can succeed and receive an equal education when they come through our doors regardless of their Color Race gender identity sexual orientation child birth or related me medical conditions marital status mental or physical disability genetic information and pregnancy status these groups need protection from our bullies or those who would seek to divide us discriminate against us these groups need protection because they are vulnerable they are not Predators as some of us want to think waiting behind curtains to pray on our sons or daughters there just isn't the evidence to support these fairs let me repeat that there isn't statistically significant evidence to support the fears that protecting these groups would lead to other unprotecting the others we will protect every child if we were all equal then we would not need

302a policy to protect these groups but that is not the case and then we need to design laws and policies that make us all a bit more equal other groups are being protected ected autism group they receive an IEP which is individual educational plan why shouldn't this group I like I said I was remembering a time then we had our own bathroom yeah now lines are long wish we did have one but um but I wholeheartedly support this policy that is not what any parent ought to do for their children protect them currently 13 school districts in Virginia have non-discrimination protection for students and employees that include sexual orientation and gender identity include Alamar Charlottesville Manasses Prince William Richmond Norfork Virginia Beach this accounts for more than 35% of Virginia's public school students and employees

303according to the advocacy group equality Virginia Source Fredericksburg let's not fall behind the trend in the Commonwealth let's pass the policy and protect our children making sure they feel safe in schools the place they often call their second home M I vote Yes M it's not time to vote yet okay oh it will be tomorrow I wish it was I'm exhausted uh you guys have spoken so eloquently I just want to thank everyone for being here um I was brought to tears multiple times this evening by the respect that you all showed one another guys we're each other's neighbors uh look around this room uh we are all neighbors and I I appreciate that you afforded each and every one the opportunity to come up here and speak tonight um and you did it differently

304than we did last time and I'm I'm so wholeheartedly thankful for that uh wish you would have afforded me that opportunity a few minutes ago but I'm not going to get on you for that I sit up here and and that's my um that's what happens so I've received hundreds of emails I've spent hours on the phone with my neighbors here um we've talked about the Bible we've prayed for each other we talked about uh family issues I mean we hours and hours this has been such a process and um if my eyes are crossing it's because I was cross-eyed growing up and it still comes back when I'm exhausted I've had three surgeries yes I was bullied thank you um guys we can have this conversation all day long and everyone in this room

305is not going to agree uh I've said it over and over again we can this conversation can be about morals religion politics theories or just based on principle alone we could argue it all day long and never come to a a conclusion that we all agree on um I find that as a member of the school board the best conversation I can have without being a parent of these children is how can I best serve this child in the public school setting how can I ensure that they have Equitable access to an inclusive education that promotes in values every person what can I do to ensure that our staff understand how they're supposed to treat every person what does dignity and respect for every person within a school building mean guys I want to I

306want to make it very clear that this conversation didn't start because of a lockdown drill this conversation has been ongoing for a very long time however it did become app parent when we had a lockdown drill that our staff don't know what supposed to do for me that was a large reason why this policy was so important it's not an easy conversation to have guys uh but it's one that I find required opening ourselves up to acceptance of all people whose values aren't necessarily the same it's taken uh a lot of research a lot of talking to families um who have experiences that that I don't have and it's taken a lot of prayer um I do believe that implementing this policy is the right thing to do for the children in Stafford County um

307and for that reason I'll be supporting it thank you Miss Hazard um I don't really have that much to add I would like to thank the board though um with regard to the anti-is uh language I thank you for including the mental and physical disability that was something um that I had suggested and I feel very very strongly about that in this policy I know we have many other focuses but I do thank you to the board for that um I have you know talked about I'm not concerned with who this covers I think it covers everybody and I'm comfortable who it covers and the um and that part of it that we should not discriminate I have no problem with that I am concerned with the how and the board's involvement and the Public's

308involvement going forward we are charging um Dr kizner and you know I will certainly work with him with my concerns I have tried to lay them out um about but he is charged with implementing the intent of the board I think that's a very difficult thing to charge any anybody with for me the only way to know the intent of the school board is to have the school board vote on it and for because the how and the implementation plans right now may not be coming back to the board at least under how I read this I um have serious reservations however I do not have reservations about who we protect we protect everybody I believe we have to have a dialogue and I would just ask um the superintendent in this board for us

309all to take in we all have so much information to us that we really need to think about the plan and it may not be just a plan of who does What To whom it may require as we talked very early on in this process last fall of education training and just understanding I think there are groups I believe at least two spoke tonight and if I miss somebody I apologize um I heard too you know I would like to learn um how that can help um our community as well um so those are my comments all right it's officially tomorrow I'm last um first I'd like to suggest Dr Chase you may want to go back and look at the public comment period from when that matter was discussed um was it eight years

310ago because as I recall there was um there was identification by a relative of the um of the student could be wrong it's getting late but that was my recollection that was not something the school board just you know threw out there um also appreciate you reading the the emails but the butts had to do with how it affected Someone's Child and it wasn't an accusation that there was harm or something like that but there were concerns it was a but I have concerns about the policy so I just wanted to clear that up and anyone can get any of our emails can't get the legal opinion but you can get our emails through the freedom information act so I'm going to read my statement and then we'll um call for the vote I have

311grave concerns about the process that was employed to get to where we are today with respect to the non-discrimination policy before the board for Action first I do not believe that a transparent and unbiased approach was to get the policy to this point second I do not believe the policy is supported by the overwhelming majority of Stafford County residents who have respectfully voiced their objections and concerns to the school board and which is important since there is no legal requirement or mandate to adopt this policy I've heard from many residents of Stafford County including persons associated with Stafford County Public Schools and those without direct ties to the schools all who have contacted me have expressed compassion and concern for all students in Stafford County Public Schools a desire that all students be treated with

312dignity and respect and a desire that the privacy of all students be protected the proposed policy does not protect the privacy of all students the issues presented by the proposed policy are complex and involve potential privacy invasions for all students in addition to personal and religious concerns expressed by students staff parents and other Stafford community members it has been suggested by some that this matter should be addressed only by persons who have children in our school I disagree I believe our entire Community has an interest because of the impact of the proposed policies on our schools and the voices of our community deserve to be heard and respected our community support Stafford County Public Schools and without community support our schools would suffer greatly current law does not include gender identity discrimination as a suspect

313class that is protected if this policy is adopted once it is in Place Stafford County Public Schools will lose a substantial degree of discretion and how it chooses to accommodate the needs of individual students litigation will be more likely as Stafford County Public Schools could then be open to charges not that Stafford County is violating the law but that Stafford County Public Schools is violating its own policy a cardinal principle of law is a board must follow its own rules unlike the typical case where a policy is before the board for adoption with implementing regulations presented simultaneously for approval by the board in this case there are no implementing regulations being proposed with the policy instead the policy delegates development of quote a plan that implements the intent of the board as set forth is

314in this policy close quote and further states that quote such plans shall be shared with the board for input and review I view this delegation of authority is an abdication of responsibility and accountability on the part of the board and a der of our duty to our community to whom this matter is of extreme concern this is not the time to make an exception to a longstanding practice of the board approving regulations to implement policies adopted by the board I firmly believe that Stafford County Public Schools could meet the needs of all students for dignity respect and privacy by exploring other means than the proposed non-discrimination policy for the affers said reasons and because I concur with the legal analysis presented to the board I will be voting no to the proposed non-discrimination policy all

315right no further discussions all in favor of the motion to approve the policy please say I I all oppos no no Dr Chase I missor I miss Hazard Miss hey no Miss hollerbach no Mr mcoser I and Miss Young hi motion [Applause] passes okay we still have a lot more to cover this evening unfortunately for us so we're going to move on to the next item that isy 417 yeah item 9.03 approval proposed revisions to policy 4107 Human Resource Services non-discrimination equal employment opportunity anti- retaliation do we have a motion motion to approve second motion by Mr deer second by Miss Young any discussion um Miss has I will just make my same comment um reg regarding the uh employee portion of of the policy again I reiterate okay that the um who that is

316covered is of no um concern to me I have no problem with that um I am not going to make the board however I would I do believe that we have to put the anti-discrimination EEOC procedure process and identification of the individual charge with this as part of this policy I think that's um I have grave concern about the vagueness of what staff behavior is acceptable and what is not I would really like to um have within six months a employee code of conduct I have been very taken back by the use and the um shaming of students by staff I I don't know how else to say it um across the board um I believe that we need to to lead in that area again I do not believe that is something we delicate

317to the superintendent for our intent in this policy as well um knowing that the policy is going to pass I am not again having a problem with who it covers it's how and I would like to at least bring the suggestions that I have on the hows but the employee code of conduct to me is I have been talking for a year about it and I believe it is critical so any other discussion I just think that uh you know I'm going to be supporting this as well but I think that now that it is passed I think that I think we will be have a significant input um to talk about specific actions on both of these policies with the superintendent I don't think he's going to he is not you know we got

318to base it on his credibility over since since the time he's been here he's been very inclusive and very uh for the most part very inclusive so in uh in all with what he does so I have no um no qualms about that I um ditto which one from my previous one so I'm good mrat I'm good thank you okay i' I've already expressed my concerns with the other policy and many of those relate to this one as well so I will not be supporting this policy um Madam chair call a question all right all in favor of the motion to approve I 9.03 say I I I all oppos no Dr Chase I mror I miss Hazard no Miss Healey no Miss hollerbach is absent Mr mccosar I and Miss I motion passes okay

319I imagine there may be some people that want to leave right now but we have a lot more work to do so you're welcome to stay or go home and get sleep before you get up tomorrow morning um 9 0 4 9.04 approval of the fy21 large excuse me if you could hold your conversations till you get to the hallway we'd appreciate it we do have a lengthy agenda left um approval of the fy21 and thank you all for being such a good audience tonight we really do appreciate it I I'm very very impressed all right approval of the fy21 large Capital project priorities do we have a motion move that we approve uh 9.04 uh L fy21 large Capital project of priorities we have a motion by Dr Chase second second by Mr deor

320discussion um do you want do you want hold on wait just a second I this is very strange what I'm going to ask you but we've had somebody sitting here for five six hours to be recognized oh my gosh oh my Lord yeah tried to tell us that miscommunication and if you don't mind you please let's a point of privilege for for Dr K if we had known that at 7 o'clock we could have moved the consent well let's let's do it now well that's right now they know more about Stafford County Public Schools well she works for us already but she she's got she got a promotion so this is Miss Katherine Johnson Public hello you you you could come in uh late tomorrow morning story short she she's going to be a supervisor

321of student services and special ed and she's going to do a wonderful job and you go home and you and you win the P of Tomorrow you win I'm sorry if we had known about that we would have gotten you out here hours ago you win the perseverance award um I was uh I think it I I did defer my time to Dr K because we'll give you another chance M it'll just be quick the day is it's early now instead of being late it's now early um I I I first I do appreciate the board's um consideration um of moving the high school six and to be into giving the Board of Supervisors actual dates I I I know it is late so I'm not going to reiterate exactly what I said at the

322work session but I'm going to give you the theme you've heard it if we don't go across the street and tell them exactly when we need things it is on us it is up to the Board of Supervisors to figure out how to fund it um I have some real concerns um coming up uh with our elementary areas um this TDR program what is being come up with there I believe that we are giving the Board of Supervisors a pass on actually getting some of these projects done I do believe that the North Stafford I do serve on the Fine Arts committee I don't want them to wait until potentially after a new high school is built to get that um that done um I do believe that uh the Heartwood renovation there is information

323coming in about Westlake and new propers coming in I believe that we are behind so this evening I'm going to vote against it because I don't think it's ambitious enough but I do hope that when we get the new figures for us I know we're supposed to not get a second bite at the Apple but we need to have a second bite at the Apple with the Board of Supervisors um but tonight based on some of this I really think we should be more ambitious in the asking um but it is not that I disagree with the projects it is the timing Madam we could change the the high school yeah I know and I said I appreciated that okay I think some the other have to move up too I don't know if everyone's

324going to jump I just have Madam chair if I could be recognized just I'm not going to support this tonight either I I do believe in most of the stuff on here whether it's the uh Heartwood renovation and the Drew Drew renovation but to be to be honest the fight that I had to fight and the team had to fight here on the board for fair Farms miserable $12 million and to have a additional childhood special education 10 classrooms for $7 million and then when you see Hartwood for $27 million on this thing which which probably should be about the amount that Ferry Farm should be getting for its renovation it's really it's a disgrace and I just want that for the record um I'm very happy that later on this evening hopefully we'll approve

325Ferry Farm uh getting it $7 million for its well you know needed renovation but I can't approve I can't approve this just for the record I'm sure the next board member will be have a great opportunity to do something else with it but that's my piece are you suggesting that there may be changes you could make to support it or that you just can't support it at all I can't support it tonight um I would like to discuss um uh how we can yes how we could uh maybe add a little bit once the project at Ferry Farm is moving right now it is not moving okay so let's be very clear about that so I know the supervisors have asked for this to move forward but would there be um an objection to deferring

326this until the next meeting to give us more time we could set a work session oh joy I think you have to send it over and that's not why do we have to send it over now as opposed to two weeks from now um our our difference is it going to make well the difference is last year we also waited until after they they put it in with all the other projects and rank it and so if our stuff isn't there last year they they agreed that yes they should go ahead and take it even though it was late given that we had no superintendent during the summer and all of that but the expectation this year was that we would have it done um and and we have a meeting with them in October

327and so we could certainly at that meeting in October talk about other concerns that we have so Madam shair a point of privilege if uh if the board so desires would uh would at least sending over now an approved High School number six date and cost um for for now we we all I think we all agree on that and just uh and I think speaking to a few members and at least my member of the supervisors about the other things on this list they're not so um pressing okay that's a good suggestion and so I just friendly is there any objection to that for an amendment to to send over our first priority with the uh the high school number six with the August 2023 date and the dollar amount in here and then

328and wrap this up at the next meeting I I didn't speak so I don't know no I'm just asking is there any objection to that um I want to be able to be heard first Madam chair and then I could agree or disagree but because maybe my information is worth well also is that okay Madam chair we it's just only 12:20 right that's right so I guess I could take my time now um so my concern and and because I don't have the Fab updates right now but my discussion in the Fab was about this uh um facility Index right I have a problem with that that I don't know when the last time we did it um nor Stafford does not even though it's just a wing it doesn't have a facility index um

329on here and I think that we need to have that for everything I'm not picking on Heartwood but Hartwood is at 9238 facility index we just updated the septic tank last uh what 2018 I don't know what else is wrong with it that it's at 9238 I would like to see the criteria I want to know why it's this High CU maybe it has other problems um so I don't agree with um Early Childhood up here even though it's in Garrisonville and Drew Middle is all the way down here at uh 6643 per index I think there's something wrong there um and so uh that that's my concern um I I know that um we talked about Fairy Farm and if we're not putting in a space holder here for that I wish we would

330because things happen um I I think because that's something that is it's in the works right now I I think it should be on here these things aren't look at the dates I mean so I think we should be holding that money just in case for Fairy Farm and for some emergencies that may occur so so that that's my that's my comment I'm not sure yet if I want to vote on this but it depends on on um the the board if it's uh you think it's a mandatory thing or what Mr I'm just TI uh I'll defer to Dr K so this is kind of reminding me to be honest it's reminding me a little bit of last year again okay so this document has been in front of the Fab it's been it's

331not like we're seeing this for the first second or third time and I understand what everybody's saying but we also made a commitment with a Board of Supervisors that we would get it there by a certain date and that's the only thing I'm just going to raise you're going to have a meeting with them in October where you could have a greater depth if you want discuss it if you want to change things but I know I had a meeting Monday with the County Administrator they are starting to do some number crunching next week and I'm just a concerned that we would be uh you know accused of again delaying and I and I guess I'm just cautioning you yeah to you know it's not like these things have been on there I feel like

332Madam chair anyway it's only comment on my you finished Miss Young wants to talk but I we're waiting till you finish you finished Dr kiss I'm done yeah okay yes go Madam chair I I I wouldn't mind but I would like some asteris at the bottom there just to make sure that you know like put asteris about that we're working on you know updating or upgrading the facility index we're looking at the criteria which means that this is fluid I I want some language on there I'm not I I know what you're saying Dr kisna but I don't want to vote on it like that the prior vote I was in there I was absent unfortunately I'm sorry but um if you put some asteris on there high school one I'm going get I'm good

333with that but not necessarily with the way how this is rated but I'm just one vote so yall could just go ahead and vote for it if you want to as is um I I am just concerned that maybe we're making more of this than we should I mean I think I I me what I'm hearing is a proposal to just send High School number six across but I'm also hearing from from uh Miss Hazard that we aren't being ambitious enough and so to just send over the high school doesn't really indicate what our needs are and so I think that that's a problem so I I think we have been looking at this for a while so I I'll support it but I don't know whether we'll have enough votes so we can just

334we can have enough votes if we put the aster on there like well if you have four four votes you got enough I know so I'm I'm I'm this is this is amazed this is coming to us for action and we've got at least you know three people out of out of six of us here that have concerns about it Mr cater yes yeah may I just make a recommendation for the future guys we say what you want to see let let's just talk about it all of these times that we've we've looked at this just tell us what you want to see sometimes I feel like there's like a setup for failure and I'm not really sure why a as a board we we work together very well when we communicate well so could

335we just I mean tell me what you want on here and I'm more than happy to hear you and and do it but we've got to stop postponing these things it's it makes us look unprepared all right so we have a motion for approval is that correct it's been so long I forgot yeah okay a motion for approval any any other discussion all right all in favor with the motion to approve say I I I I'll oppos no Dr Chase I Mr cater I miss Hazard no Miss Hy I'm going to vote no on this because of the concern of my fellow board members Miss hollerbach is absent Mr mccosar uh no and Miss Young i m I'm sure there is a tie okay so that means it comes back at the next meeting surprise

336and we don't have even the high school to send over for the first priority yeah I mean we're going to need to it's we can't wait another two weeks to get this they'll do it without us like they did last year well let's let's go through the agenda and then we can discuss possibly another meeting all right that brings us to 9.05 approval of the purchase of tires in the amount of 470,000 from fy20 Fleet Services budgeted funds using State contract e194 d1430 surely there's not going to be approve second all right um Miss Hall I'm going to let you figure out who uh who did that motion I heard him second it but miss Hazard wants to take credit for that one we'll get those tires I'm on the tires all right so is

337there any discussion about purchasing these tires hearing none all in favor please say I all oppose wooho that one down a unanimous vote by this board that was two minutes all right approval of the FY uh 21 budget development calendar 9.06 do we have a motion motion to approve all right motion by Miss decator second by Miss Young um any discussion on this Miss Chris has been waiting all night to oh poor thing address US question because I didn't put it in the background information but um we did update this to move the December 3rd meeting to the December 17th meeting so I want to make sure all aware that that change happened I think the communication has already been out there um to change that date but since it has just been recently updated

338on the actual budget calend and posted I want to make sure sure everybody was we got an email about that yeah Miss I just had one comment I I apologize I believe that I did misspeak at the work session I must have misread something here we have long talked about meeting with the Board of Supervisors prior to when we have a budget book in front of them that we sit down and we say this is what we need globally in our school district I know there may be resistance and we may not get it but could I suggest that we reach out and Dr K I think you and I had talked one time that you all that potentially other school districts before you all were part of the budget like with the book there

339was a discussion about that I would really love to see something of that at least put towards next year's but why not ask because I think the more that we're not talking about the pencils on page 422 and we're talking about we need help in transportation or salaries or whatever I think that's a broader and better discussion like I said it may go down in flames but I feel like I would at least like to say that our board asked to have that conversation if that's something that you all would consider but I I support of course this budget so calendar development calendar okay any further discussion all in favor of the motion to to approve the fy21 budget development Calendar please say I I I'll oppose Mark that too M Hall um 9.07 adoption

340of a resolution authorizing an application to the bpsa for the sale bonds and amount not to exceed 7,335 th000 with the objective of providing net proceeds of 6, 825,000 for the F for the 2019 fall Bond pool Mr moscar do you have a notion on this one you waiting all night yes move to approve Madam CH second all right motion by Mr moscar second by Miss Young any discussion all in favor please say I I all oppos motion carries unanimously all right we've got a number of information items here I think the first one did signed tonight they want us to move to AC they want us to move that to action is there any uh if there's no objection to that can we have a motion motion to move item 10.01 to action second

341all right motion by Mr motion to approve the authorization for the school board chairperson to sign a 21st century Grant application to approve the motion to action that's okay appreciate in there I all right all in favor of the motion to move to action please say I I I all oppos all right that Miss motion to authorize the Schoolboard chairperson to sign a 21st century Grant application second motion by Mr cater second by Dr Chase any discussion all in favor please say I I I I'll oppose motion carries unanimously well now we've got one two 3 four five information items I don't know if there's anybody here that is just waiting to hear us discuss that if not these we can send our questions in I I just wanted to mention that I'm I'm sure

342that we all received those emails from bus drivers today and and I want to thank the bus drivers I contacted uh I I let them know that this was probably not the meeting they wanted to come speak at um but we do know that that not everybody is cut out to be a bus driver we really appreciate our bus drivers and know that they're an important part of the community um and uh feel free to contact us between now and the next meeting um to let us know your thoughts um but the Fab had a conversation yesterday uh we would love to do more um but we don't have the money in the budget right now um I don't know if if uh uh Mr Fulmer and um Dr kizner have had any luck in

343locating more funds it's not that we don't wish to do more it may just be that we can't do more and I'd like to just State very quickly that you know option one is is uh there's a cost on option one it's increased the hourly pay for our new bus drivers at a dollar and by a158 per hour and give a 3% increase for all other drivers so um I think that and that would take effect if we voted put it on it on one October uh in the one November paycheck so um and I know I if the money is there I'll be in full support of that option one okay well let's bring this back for the first action item so we won't keep the bus drivers any longer than we have to

344is that yes so this will come back if Dr kiss if you could let Mr suth know that um that this will this will be back for action and it will be the first action first item on the agenda because the bus drivers are out there early before 6:00 in those buses so we don't want we want them to get a good night's sleep M chair yes I'm just pausing waiting yeah um I just want yeah yeah I'm learning um I just wanted um the board to also know that the Fab um did recommend option one uh we did have three tiers but um this is the one that we thought that we could um support and that we thought that they could come up with that amount but there was an additional option that

345was even higher than that but um we chose option one so there were three tiers but this is the one that we think um you know we were recommending all right well is there anything else the board wants to discuss this evening otherwise I'd say any questions send it to the superintendent I just want to encourage oops I just want to encourage everybody to take the time to look at the three R list so that so that we are a little more ready to approve that and the uh and the repair of the nine schools with the the air conditioning units I from what I understand the K I'm sorry the air conditioning in the kitchen I understand that the supervisors from what my supervisor tells me is they're all kind of on board with

346that so yeah just put put it out there and Miss I could just also if everybody could also just I'm sorry just look over the legislative priorities there's probably still some word smithing but overall um I believe that it has hit most of the highlights that we have um discussed but please send us any if there are no major ones um Missy we'll contact the legislative committee members tomorrow seeing there's not like an overwhelming over rewrite it it appears we may be able to have a fairly limited meeting so we'll follow up with that tomorrow all right the next uh regular meeting of the school board is September 24th I think we have something next Monday don't we on this all for the next few Tuesday okay next Tuesday okay all right now the question

347is Dr has a Personnel item he said we'll take 5 minutes that we didn't get to is there any objection if we can go into Clos session very quickly okay can you send Dr Chase here Madam chair before we officially close I'd like to uh thank uh Greg Martin and the security team oh my gosh as well as the uh the officers of the Stafford County dismissing them um no no they're going to hang we're not dismissing somebody's going to wait we literally will be less than five minutes very much I I move that the Stafford County School Board convene a closed meeting pursuant to section 2.2 3711 A1 to discuss or consider a potential candidate for an administrative position all right do we have a motion have a motion we have a second second

348second all in favor I I all right okay we're going to be done get your e discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies and two only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered All right we have we have a um second by Mr CER um pull the board please I yes hi okay do we have a motion Miss Hazard please I move that the board accept the the superintendent's recommendation regarding compens second all right all in favor I oppose motion carries