McFarland School Board Meetings 4/1/2024

001for e I will call this meeting to order at 7 p.m. on Monday April 1st 2024 uh we'll begin with some consent agenda items uh minutes of the March 18th 20 20 24 school board meeting some professional staffing recommendations and as well as some co-curricular staffing recommendations and other Personnel items not necessary to vote so I would look for a motion to approve the consent agenda items I'll move to do so thank you Megan do I have a second I'll second thank you Tom all in favor please signify by saying I I I oppose motion carries you unanimously [Music] 5 uh thank you that would bring us to public comments of which we have a few this evening so I've got a little reading to do first off in accordance with Schoolboard policy 16 7.3

002the McFarland School Board welcomes public comment during regular meetings from individuals who are present at the meeting or who have sent an email to the board president or superintendent participants are required to register to speak upon arriving at the meeting State their name address in any group affiliation before speaking address only topics within the legitimate jurisdiction of the board recognize that the board will not respond to comments dur during the meeting unless the item is on the published agenda limit their comments to under 5 minutes or 250 written words and please maintain dorum so um I think we have four or three to read and we'll do those first and then we'll call up our iners commentors Megan would you like to start yes and for clarification do we read their names but not their

003addresses you read their address you you can just just the names you don't not require to addresses since they've given us the addresses already Yes okay the addresses we just used to verify that they're yep residents okay um okay president Craig Howry stated it's not the what but the when referring to the HGD suggestions resounding yes when you move curriculum from fourth grade to K2 it is not step it's a massive leap the HGD committee wants to move these from fourth grade diverse family structures kindergarten gender identity first grade attraction feelings second grade they changed using the term sexual orientation and modified it to attraction feelings we are talking about sexuality to a seven-year-old vaginal and anal sex will be covered in sixth grade but sexual attraction to seven-year-olds puberty is taught in fourth grade

004this sequence is troubling the the curriculum has not been adapted for this purpose yet first you have to pass this new plan that feels backwards it would be irresponsible to vote in favor of these significant changes when Educators haven't mapped this for the classroom these are drastic changes and you want to vote to test them out on a grade my child is entering the committee discussed ways to introduce subject matter Reading lgbtq Plus books during story time but for HGD throughout first grade I am jazz or I I am Jazz about a 5-year-old transgender was one suggestion I understand recommendations by the HGD committee on how educators can exercise their suggestions exist but nothing developed by the Educators who will shoulder the responsibility of the lesson plans I understand parents can opt out their child

005but that does not come without difficulty and room for error thank you for hearing my concerns Anastasia kamper Susan bickler 424 2 Senate Street McFarland gender identity and sexual orientation should not be taught in public school these are personal values choices and discussions that belong purely at home there is constant talk of inclusion yet you're forcing IDE ideology on the curriculum that goes completely against that we're told to treat kids the same we can't celebrate Christmas because it's religious and not fair to those who don't celebrate same for Halloween or birthdays except we're told that it excludes children who can't afford costumes or treats when I was in school kids who didn't participate stayed home or were taken to a different room for years now we've been told we shouldn't Implement things that go against

006one's beliefs or don't allow all to participate so what's changed you want to implement ideology that goes against the beliefs of many whether religious or not if we don't want our children exposed to something we believe could be harmful to them or simply inappropriate then we're forced to op out what happens to the kids who opt out does the teachers say hey kids we're going to have story time but you need to go somewhere else or do we need to keep our kids home that day to ensure they're not exposed to content that is not age appropriate either way we're excuse me we're treating kids differently this is unfair and sets kids up to be humiliated teased and or bullied which is exactly what you always claim to be against all right uh Luke fesler

0076409 Fox Run McFarland as a member of this community and a parent of two kids kids in the district one of whom is transgender I'd like to thank the board and the HDD HGD advisory committee for their time and work on the updated guidelines I've read through the district's 4K to 12 human growth and development curriculum guide and support the board moving things like gender identity and attraction feelings sooner in students education to me having kindergarteners learn age appropriate Concepts like some people call themselves boys some girls some both or neither and that's okay is exactly the kind of knowledge that Fosters an open and accepting world for our children as they grow into responsible and understanding adults reading through the curriculum guide I I am also appreciative of how these concepts are introduced at

008an early age then built up and expanded upon as children go through each successive grade I encourage others interested in what is being taught to read through the current guidelines to view examples of what is meant by age appropriate content and language as well as the guidelines teachers use when answering students questions teaching these Concepts early in our children's education lays a foundation for understanding and acceptance that helps to reduce stigmas prevent bullying promote emotional well-being and create safe spaces for our children to learn and be themselves that is the kind of educational environment I want my children in and that is why I encourage you to vote to approve the proposed changes to the HGD curriculum thank you fessor now we have some inperson uh let's start with Ru good evening my name is

009Bruce Curtis 6104 Saunders Court I apologize for my uh Voice tonight I am also recovering from a recent cold and tested negative so I um I'm good at least for now um is it my understanding that uh questions that I POS tonight uh will not be answered or will you answer them to the best of your ability if it's a question that is part of the agenda so for example the human growth and development curriculum they will be talking about that okay that tonight so it may be answered during the discussion part of that my question has to do with the upcoming referendum so that cannot be answered then correct okay that changes things a little bit for me and I understand uh board policy but I I'll do my best um I I have

010several questions and um Dr toner has already asked answered a couple of them um previously with emails and I appreciate that um I was looking first of all at uh the very first year uh 2425 where the board will get or the district will get 3.7 million and um it's my understanding that we have in our district about 320 uh staff members there about thank you um so that comes down to about 11,000 uh $500 per staff member so if you took that 3.7 million and you divided it amongst all of the staff they would all get $111,000 that would be really nice uh as a retired teacher uh I would love to see the staff get uh some compensation obviously that's not going to happen and I have questions about how much is going

011to go to staff and I haven't been able to find uh the answers as to how much is going to go to staff how much is going to go to Administration what percent is going to go to operating cost and uh so that's something that has puzzled me and I guess I should have reached out to uh Dr toner uh beforehand uh before I came tonight but I apologize then um I also have a question about let's um and of course this is hypothetical but um let's say that uh for example that first year you you decide to split um that 11,000 or that 3.7 million let's say you split it oneir for staff oneir for administration onethird for operating cost and then the following year if things go sideways something changes will the board

012come back and say wait a minute uh we're going to go back to the previous year and say okay now we're going to change that we need to move uh instead of oneir to staff we're going to move some of that over to operating cost because this has happened there's been a change is is that something that the board has considered I don't know I haven't found any information on that so those are uh two questions that I have uh in regards to the upcoming uh referendum I I just I there's some issues here at least in my mind about what's really going to happen with the funds it's it's a lot of money I think the board has laid that out pretty clearly as to how much um every household is going to be

013um taxed uh I think they've been very clear with that my question is what's going to happen with these scenarios thank you for your time Eric good evening everybody Eric Johnson 6105 Woods Crossing and I do have a question that is on tonight's agenda first before I get to the referendum has the board um or anybody um ask K2 parents in a survey what they think about what you guys are going to do for do for this guide that you're HGD there hasn't been a separate survey for K2 parents there were parents that were on the on the advisory committee so you have your committee but you have not asked all parents K through two what they think about this correct is there a reason why you haven't done that well it's a representative committee

014and so they were meant to represent the interests of of those areas and the committee could have decided to administer a survey but they chose not to and how many were on the committee 27 people 27 okay I just think from you know different conversations I think the board um should ask what people want to do before they pass something I mean 27 people um maybe it's a representation maybe it's not I know a lot of people are busy and maybe they couldn't be part of it and would like to be part of it but I think something of this magnitude um you you should ask parents what their thoughts are um and then mine is my main purpose was with the referendum as well because I I was trying to clarify as well where

015all the money was going to go um and I did the math um to see what it was going to be for a $500,000 house and I come up with 930 for the first year 1410 for the second year 1915 for the third year and 2465 for the fourth and then 2850 for the last year which over the 5 years um seems to be about a 30% increase in taxes and I'm just I wanted to make sure I was doing my math correctly but you can't answer that um there is a breakdown on the website yeah and I and I saw that so that sounds right in the my head from what's on the website um and like Bruce a lot of the um information I read about is teacher salaries teacher benefits but when

016I read the the statement it says operational referendum and then it says utilities and transportation and to me that leaves me thinking that there's going to be funds going to utilities and transportation is that correct oh you can't say that I see some NDS um but I just want to know as well and I don't know how we get to this and I apologize I hav't haven't been to any other meetings either time just hasn't allowed it and like now is like the end of the road so I was trying to get some of my answers um we do need to do something about teacher wages and benefits but I am just unclear um like Bruce said of what is going where like what percentage is going to go to teachers because when you look

017at the math um and the money that's there because being in education for 26 years is that if Healthcare goes up wages do not and so um I guess and I'm not sure how to get to get these answers uh to find out where it's going um and the other one that I had is when this money comes in I understand that you know it goes into line items where you can't use some funds like maintenance funds can't be transferred over to maintenance or to to teacher funds um is the money going to stay where it's supposed to and not move into other areas so I apologize I didn't come to the other meetings because I was really interested to find out about that so thank you for your time you thanks Eric Megan hi

018am I give my address or can I just give a name you register using it that's okay perfect so hi everybody my name is Megan Mapes I am um thankful to be able to say something quickly tonight um I just wanted to thank all of you for serving on our school board I mean mean that wholeheartedly I'm in education myself and I know um serving on the school board is um we put in a lot of work and it's appreciated so thank you for caring about our community and doing that um I've been teaching early elementary students for about 15 years years um and after reading through some of the proposed changes for the human growth and development committee I do have some concerns and most of them are based around um what I feel

019like is maybe missing some communication and not being as clear and as transparent as we could be so I just have some questions it's hard to decipher based on um the changes that were made what um the based on the select items that were written what this is going to look like next year what this is going to look like for K12 students is what I'm primarily concerned with um I think just talking with uh people in the community I think um there are some people that are uncomfortable with these changes but are afraid to speak up because we don't want to appear like we're against inclusivity in any way um however it's possible to be wholeheartedly for inclusivity but against these changes um I absolutely want my children to love and accept all all

020students all people however uh when we talk about in my personal opinion um what's developmentally appropriate I don't have a problem about what is being taught but when it's being taught and again it's hard to kind of uh figure out what this is going to look like next next year based on what I've seen um and doing some research around Dane County different districts I spent a significant amount of time this weekend looking through when some of these topics are being taught in other districts around D County and the majority of them uh teach gender identity and feelings of attraction in third grade or later there are a couple in second grade so my big big question is why um and this isn't an angry question I just genuinely want to know why are we

021proposing to teach some of this in first grade um and I I'm just really curious about that um I personally feel like these these topics are of a mature content and they are and I think I think you most of you would recognize that as well they are of a mature content um they need to be taught when students are able to process them in a healthy Manner and I think um I appreciate that you gave us all time to speak and you um Extended this decision so community members could weigh in um but I I know reading through your notes it did mention that age appropriate language would be used which is great however my concern is is it going to be watered down so much that students aren't really understanding what we're trying

022to teach I would rather see some of these topics taught when you can students can really weigh in on the conversation have some background knowledge third fourth fifth grade really be able to contribute to the conversation um I just knowing what being in the classroom teaching first and second graders I just feel like it makes sense to to wait um students are more mature they're able to understand in a better way um I being a teacher myself sometimes I know how these committees work just it's the people that are really passionate that want to jump on and be a part of this decision- making however I really feel like there's a lot of families that are not even aware of these changes um and it just in the future would be awesome to be able

023to see maybe some sample lessons just so we know um with the the different words that you use what does this look like give us an idea of what uh what it would look like in kindergarten first and second grade I think that would be really helpful and easier to get behind just just so we're aware I like to be in for formed um another big question I have is what happens with when students opt out of these programs has there been a plan I are they just going to be you know out in the hallway is there an alternative lesson just curious and wondering I'm just left here with a lot of questions um about what this is going to look like next year I'm not trying to criticize or anything but I guarantee

024you that there are a lot of families that feel the same way um and I think just with changes of this kind it's helpful to be transparent and also like the gentleman before me said give other families a chance to weigh in I think a survey would have been awesome um I appreciate you listening to me and considering what I have to say thanks a lot thank you okay so we will move on to the McFarland High School student report and that case all right there we are let me just presentation here awesome awesome awesome right it load here wonderful Okie do so some highlights couple weeks not including Spring Break um so the week before spring break our is Hope posted week so thank you all the MHS students um for being eager participants

025in our scavenger hunts our morning drink tables and for spreading the message stiz mental health um seeing the pictures we tables at lunch a lot of interaction from students it was just really awesome it's really fun me and then um I won't play this video all long but I can I can share if anyone's interested we had some of our um make H Squad students make a followup video after Ambassador presentation on THC use a couple week weeks ago maybe um but it goes over we're gonna be doing a kind of through this a little bit see breaks down some of the Teen Mental Health foundation's first AIDS action steps and goes over those and talk about the overdose a that are in bathrooms a super awesome presentation and thanks to the MHS students that

026help out with that it's a super awesome informative video we're going to be doing a presentation on Johnny's wonderful and then um another super awesome thing visual art classic State um so our team here at MHS went to W Madison competition they took home four first medals you can see them there got gwend M Jen Curts and as Terry ferlo so super big congratulations to them awesome we also over our spring break had a senior cameon Maran to present at the National Institute of Health um so that was super awesome and congrats to him his presentation was titled Growing Pains what I learned from growing up with chronic pain so just a huge congratulation congratulations to C for doing that because that was was pretty big big we also um had a US class presentation

027so each here our history Department secures a guest speaker for all freshmen in US history n and any students in this Des on by annual seminar course history of the Holocaust this year's guest was Marty um who shared about his story of Holocaust so just a huge thanks for him to for coming in and sharing the story that was super awesome then coming up our MHS Med Club on 10th will be partnering with the Red Cross to blood drive I believe in rslc from 8:30 to 1:30 students faculty commun are all welcome to come and donate they are also helping motivate people to by presenting small donors with $10 e too so super awesome and then tomorrow primary election place of course um so our club connect will be heading over to the tolls tomorrow

028for a little field trip both at the new municipal center and the old mun Center um and we will be helping guiding people to their poll locations and all that fun stuff um we've also helped are the members of the student body that now have the privilege to vote they 18 we've made informational videos and sent info via email to as well as jors who may be able to register before the next election telling how they can register and be voting on super awesome stuff and then some student updat so our staff this we Sher and Mr Ray so congratulations to them very well deserved and then it is National associate principal recognition so we would like to recognize Harper and M Tamer for all their hard work and for being wonderful associate principles they

029are new this year and they have been absolutely amazing so just a Hu huge gratitude and then we have a presentation um presented by P who is here today on GSA I will pull out hand it off to Lou hi I'm L um one second here here we go there you go there um well hi I'm Lou uh wait Sor I don't use Google me um uh I've been a part of GSA since my freshman year and I'm currently a junior so um yeah this is Nic frand gender sexuality Alliance so uh I'm gonna be going over the goals of GSA recent events we've done and the future events of it so the goals of it um we have four main goals it's equity and inclusion community and awareness um GSA um really tries to

030work to create a good Community for queer students and trans students in McFarland High School and so we try to create a safe space for a lot of students uh the club itself tries to exist as a space for students to share their experiences during our meeting and also creating more Outreach for students in the general body who aren't a part of the club and then recent events we've done include um a middle school Outreach uh where young who also presented Maryland he went down to middle school and tried to encourage students from middle school to continue in high school it was a really cool little event that he did and we were very fortunate that we got to work that out and then we also had National Coming Out day in October where we

031had a table set up and we hand out a lot of p on pins and pamphlets to help spread more awareness and yeah and the future events we planning for the club include Day of Silence and more health class presentations so you might have heard of Day of Silence before it's April 12th 2024 um it's a day to spread awareness about the bullying um and silencing of lgbtq plus students um a lot of students will be taking valve silence to represent the silencing of lgbtq plus students so we're handing out pins and we have another lunch table set up and then we have our health class presentations which we do both semesters so our second one will be coming up where two to three members uh present a slideshow at the heal classes and it's

032a very cool opportunity to work freshman and our club from the younger students and yeah that's the club believe have any question I have a couple uh Joy first of all with the Hope Squad you set up the table because I was here when you when you did that how do you measure the club's Effectiveness on the student body here so um we have a program that we use a method um so each year we'll nominate some members and'll get new members and we'll train them um using a specific program often um so when we noticed we noticed um maybe words that are being shared certain phrases that are being shared by a student body hopes member overhears them um they will refer them to student services member um and so that student services members

033will meet with them and I think really how we measure progress is on like how many like lives we end up saving how how much um help we can get the students um how much how many resources get to them and I think also we that kind of examin the mindset mental health I think since hope s implemented there's been a lot like I would say kind of improper like use of like certain terms for mental health there's been a more like education about mental health and different aspects and like what you can say about what you can't really say about so I would say in general okay thanks also I had the opportunity to view that student made video following Johnny's ambassadors yes uh very well done and I hope sometime you can show

034it uh to the board here uh it's just a Content that the students developed in that short three three and a half minute video very powerful anybody else well as always job well done we'll see you next time thanks very much everyone thank you okay District administrator report Mr Teter the floor is yours thank you sir lots of great things to share going around um the district some recognitions the kindness Retreat which you may have heard about fifth graders participated in um just before break and um that mirrors it's the same company that we use for the Youth uh it's youth Frontiers the same company we use for 7th grade courage Retreat just a really cool event and you know there's a few favorite Parts I have but one of the things I love about

035it is the engagement of the high school students that go down there and serve as group leaders so thank you so much the fifth grade team really did the bulk of organizing that congratulations we were just talking about the hopes Squad The Hope Squad received a grant a peer-to-peer Suicide Prevention Grant so that's going to be used to help um purchase selfharm and anxiety counseling workbooks and sensory tools and fidgets for their program so congratulations that's a student written grant and they're going to do great things with it wanted to really just a sincere thank you to Emily broom Greg Nelson Jen dof and others involved in the um kindergarten orientation just a really neat event event I was able to um attend and you know just a lot of excitement seeing students coming some

036of them for the first time into the building and just a great first impression for the district and even earlier impression the 4K orientation also very well done all of those are happening people getting ready just before break the middle school and high school um choirs toured did a vocal tour and we travel around to the building so just amazing uh talent and just love that them sharing their talents with others also wanted to give a little update we continue to move forward in uh the work with the village and the Town and Country engineering who's uh working on the exchange exchange Street project to uh provide trees to our to our students to use uh in in their mill work for their student projects so just saw some of those emails going around about

037where to drop off the trees and it's really neat not only that the village is excited about it but the engineers that are involved in the project are really excited to be a part of something like that so our students will really benefit from that and it saves the district a ton of money um and puts those trees to good use also wanted to acknowledge we it's survey season so we just had our parent Guardian survey was done we had um 704 surveys completed I'd like to see a lot more but it was 685 last year here so so we went up in terms of our response rate the staff survey is coming up um as well and of course as you know we did for the first time did a student survey in January

038February I'll be sharing those results with you soon I also have some photos to share with you from around the district so the carnival I know some of you were there was so well attended so we are two for two on our our our fun events um Middle School event was so well attended and this winter carnival was amazing the organization was just I couldn't believe how they transformed that that gym it had a nice flow the whole facility had a really nice flow they used the hallways the cafeteria just a really really great and well-run event um it made for a really special day so it was fun to be there and see all the excitement I know families were very appreciative so thanks the PTO really took the lead on organizing this so

039really appreciate them for that had an evacuation drill and I know when some people saw this on social media they thought well if it's a tornado drill we should shouldn't we be inside because of those ominous guys was it that was a nice day relatively but we continue to do our monthly drills and I thought it was nice to acknowledge some of the safety things that we do of course in the district some Pi Day and seventh grade math um always a fun day I know when I was a middle school principal that was one of my favorite days in addition to having a lot of pie to eat around a lot of excitement and it Math teachers really get worked up over that day and so to our students so very fun celebration there

040um you know what what else can I say I don't I don't know exactly what we're doing there but uh Mr grick is having fun um you know some of that kind of fun and playful attitude of our buildings and ground staff our custodial staff it's just just great the kids love being around them I know when I was going to school that was certainly not anybody I even really wanted to be by they weren't quite so warm and friendly so he's Goofy and also a great three-point shot um so we had a couple of our the Middle School staff members presented at the Wisconsin State reading Association conference so just really highlighting um some of the work that they do um they did some co- teing together last year Katie Miller and Mari Saunders

041or two years ago I guess when I was there um and continue to share their wisdom and expertise so really impressed and I know their session went really well also um you might have seen this online some acknowledgement um from a state senator you know for our retiring unfortunately Jill rondy rondy retiring um former Wisconsin teacher of the year and just an amazing human and amazing educator so we continue to spend the next few months recognizing her and a very nice surprise and an honor uh you heard about the the presentation you know just really neat opport opportunity for our students to really bring history alive and in learn from our resident experts you may have heard that one of our very own teachers um is uh Madison is a coal Award winner a Cole

042fellow so congratulations to Madison we had several other nominees in the district but that was our our one recipient there so congratulations to her I think that concludes that part of the presentation I'll share some upcoming events and board members you can jump in when I'm done with any other things you'd like to recognize in the district Lots going on in April April is National autism acceptance month M Heritage Month Arab American Heritage Month National School library month we certainly are blessed to have amazing facilities and amazing library media Specialists and amazing library media assistants um a really great program something we're really proud of it is also as you saw earlier um from the connect Club at is National associate principles week very very difficult job um you are putting out fires kind of

043all day long and the pace is intense and we have such a great team so thank you to them they are unsung heroes often obviously um coming up this week we also have prepare Professionals Day recognizing our support staff that is going to be on Wednesday School librarian day is on Thursday and then the quarter ends um which is really a kind of a middle school thing and then um the ninth so next week is prisoner of war Remembrance Day it's one of our um state recognized days um and then we also have uh we'll be breaking the festival breaking the fast the end of Ramadan is coming up so Aid Al faer is coming up and then um the new staff and Mentor dialogue dinner is coming up on the the 10th so that's

044after school board members invited we be at the Breakwater we have our Retreat on the 11th so fun times together there um as was mentioned Day of Silence American creed day is the 13th and then on the 15th we're back here for um another board meeting which will be Kate's last board meeting so we will celebrate Kate at that time and that's all I had what do board members anything you want to recognize I don't have anything specific here on but I appreciate um the way you acknowledge staff across the district here be it teacher support staff counselor gastonian um it's just as a small reflection of what our whole district is about we have fabulous staff here we're very fortunate to have them and again I appreciate you highlighting some of them realizing there's

045many more that we don't I don't want to say we don't have time for them because we always have to make time but there's many more out there all thank you for that Tom anything else I don't think so anybody all right moving on we have our first action item and it is action on adoption of human growth and development guide uh Administration recommends that the adoption of the updated human growth and development guide as recommended by the HGD committee uh if you're in favor of this the following motion so I I'll need a motion before we can start discussion to approve the uh human growth and development guide I'll make that motion Bruce I can second that Megan all right um we have a motion and a second uh to adopt the human growth

046and development guide as recommended uh any discussion um I think that you know this is a topic that is very people are very passionate about I think there's never going to be full agreement but I think in a lot of ways it's important to listen to the community and the parents and So based on kind of some of the public comments that we've heard today I feel like it would be reasonable to go back to the committee and ask for a little bit more guidance specifically on the introduction of when it's appropriate to start teaching um you know gender identity and feelings of Attraction and how we're going to plan on incorporating that into the curriculum I think that it's an important topic and I don't think it should be eliminated by any means but

047I think it's reasonable to ask for a little bit more data um on the appropriate time to do that um so that would be my feeling on this would be to postpone um the motion for now until we get a little bit more data okay anyone else yes um this is something not doesn't have anything to do with the content of the U human growth and development plan it deals with how how much more can we expect teachers to do we keep talking about the teachers plates are already full what are we going to take away so they can provide time and I know they're going to to build time in social studies and health but it's something new especially at the K2 level we was talking about you know their plates already full but

048we don't do anything about it yeah we try to replace things sometimes but this is more than replacement this is what I would consider an add-on especially at the K2 level that's my first point second point is what if we don't do anything what if we do not um bring down some of the curriculum to the at the K2 level but keep it at the three four level on up what would the issue be if we did that thirdly I know there is representation on the committee by by teachers but I wonder what the staff and orisa and the staff at uh the primary school how they feel about this you know is it something that they can do can they wrap their arms around it and I don't know the answer to that I

049know we had reps on the committee and and they did wrap their hands around it and then something that I wrote down but someone else already mentioned it is it developmentally appropriate you we talked about we heard it tonight it's it's a personal issue for many that's a common issue for all and again I just raised that question um you know because we're talking about 56 and seven year olds and I can remember when my kids came through my grandson's going through now in in a different School District I just question is it developmentally appropriate and the last one again is what if we don't bring the curriculum down to K2 keep it at the three grade three on up and I concur with uh UK I think we should delay uh voting on this

050until we get more information um the last comment I will make is that it's rare that I would go against a committee's recommendation we put committees together they're cross representation and who am I to change that but I'm also here to represent their constituents here in in in the school district so that's my input Bruce I I I like what both of you have said at the same time it's something that I really spent a lot of time particularly this weekend um I was very impressed with the uh the presentation made two weeks ago I thought you guys did a phenomenal job and um it's kind of interesting in fact I was talking to superintendent tarnis about this this evening it's like everything was kind of quiet and all of a sudden things started happening

051as last week kind of we got near the end of the week so I mean I really spent a lot of time and thinking about it and um I this is no way a reflection of you know how I'm I'm going to vote on this thing but I think in some ways the public does need to understand where this came from because I talked with a number of members who are actually on that committee and um right off the bat one of the things that bothered me originally um as a teacher I always had my materials and then I kind of wo my lesson plans my curricula around what I already had which I you know made sense but again I was just one of a bunch of social studies teachers and we had a

052textbook and and then I might have to search for materials that could supplement that um I do think their argument is and I think this is one thing that the public doesn't quite understand is that they want to set up their standards or what I would call their objectives first and then and I think this is something they should be applauded on applauded for um would be the idea that you want to make sure that all of your staff are on the same page and Tom getting back to how to implement this thing for a teacher I I I I also want to applaud the fact that you you do it by reading stories um I that's how I taught history I always did readings and then from that it did kind of a Socratic

053method I don't think I've ever been a particularly effective lecturer but I like the fact that you would have that um in his response to at least one of the the members who wrote from the community wrote him um Mr tarer said you know we haven't chosen those and I know that that became like a a like a red flag some people like what you haven't chosen that and that's my point no they want to set the standard first and then they want to find the appropriate reading to match that and therefore all of your teachers would be on the same page literally they they'd be saying the same thing you'd end up having a series of questions that would be the same for each teacher it would it wouldn't vary and I think there's

054something really important about that because otherwise it is kind of a frightening thing that you could literally have someone interpreting well I thought we could teach this and someone said no I thought this here it's pretty well decided and the point I want to make is Mr tarnisher made clear that we haven't got to that point and when that time comes what we could do is we could actually have this open to the public because in some ways that's the guts of it you know what are you going to actually be teaching well here's the reading what do you think of this we have two different ones you can look at it here are the questions that we're thinking about so I I I think in some some ways there's a there's a bit of

055panic on the part of the public and I think I want to at least try to understand that as well as I could yesterday at church I happened to be talking to a former Elementary uh school teacher a person losing the community had been a teacher for like 30 something years and uh I asked uh this individual what they thought about some of these ideas because I thought you know again I was a high school middle school high school teacher and I can understand the the the concerns that some of the public have and this former teacher told me a really interesting story they said yeah we we never would have done that and yet then this person relayed kind of a a really a nightmare scenario there were a couple of students in first

056and second grade who had been molested by a person in the community and they're going to school and and this teacher and the other staff really realize we have nothing in place we don't we don't know how to deal with this we don't know how to talk to the kids about this thing because we don't have anything in the curriculum and so I I think it's something we need to realize and it just leads me to a a greater thought which is and and this was again talking to other members of the committee it's already going on you you have kids coming into kindergarten who their parents are saying we want them to be a dressed in such a way it's not like this is something that's is going to come out of like you

057know it's going a opening Pandora's Box it it's like it's already there and how do you you're not going to get that toothpaste I'm mixing metaphors here sorry you're not going to get that toothpaste back in that tube it's not going away you know those kids those parents I hate to say it I I always carry a constitution with me in my backpack they have rights too and I don't think we can just say well sorry I I don't agree with this I don't think we should be talking about it well in some ways it's already out there and then the last one that really hit me hardest is I was talking to another member of the committee and they said we had these discussions and in fact and I think there's something to be

058said perhaps you you know you do postpone you delay and you have it I think even the people who are here or written letters if you really got came down to it there were people on this committee who thought we should be starting this as early as 4K and so they tried to come up with a compromise and they came up maybe first second I I I don't believe there's going to be a definitive answer that everyone's say oh that's what I agree with it's out there um the last point I guess I want to mentioned was just the internet the impact that the internet has had that again again talk about about a Pandora's Box it's out there and I guess Pandora's Box is a great or the internet is a great example of

059Pandora's Box it provides you know potentially some of the most horrible evil things out there and yet in some ways it does allow us some hope and let's hope that we can kind of work together as as humans as we kind of progress through I guess our civilization you know there's always going to be changes it's going to be something that is going to be ongoing but I do feel like in some ways I think try to understand what that committee was trying to do they had these same questions they spent hours debating should be second grade third grade first grade you know four year olds how do you come up with a compromise and so try to understand where they're coming from and uh I guess we got to just have faith that we've

060got some good folks out there so I didn't answer anything but I did comment that I like what you guys said but at the same time I want at least the public to kind of understand how did the this committee come up with some of these these U points that they did thank you yeah I have some um thoughts to share too I think um I hadn't really considered the idea of postponement before tonight so um I'm just processing that I think it's I mean I'm not opposed to it because I do I think I am grateful that we changed the process and delayed our vote for a month so that we could hear back from people we heard public comments we heard you know thoughts and opinions to the board privately um and then

061if you're on social media I'm sure you saw Facebook um I'm a little disappointed that it blows up so much on social media and then comparatively we have not as many people here having public comment I think that's um I think that's disappointing to be to be very Frank um so I'm very grateful for the people who have submitted officially to get their thoughts and really engaged in the real process um I think it is important that we consider all of those things and I think I wonder if one thing um and I did email Aaron and Melissa about this today I had a thought that maybe it would be helpful um and I don't know it's maybe putting the cart before the horse but having examples of what talking about gender identity at you

062know first grade looks like like if and that might help people understand you know it was it might be um something that most people would be really comfortable with if we had some examples and I know we can't have examples and say this is for sure what it would look like because we haven't developed that yet to Bruce's Point um but I think that might be helpful and and that might be you know an argument in favor of postponing um I wouldn't necessarily want to postpone and have it be part of the new board's decision because I think we've had like there's a lot of history and in terms of information that we would have to repeat um not that I don't think any new board members would um have trouble picking that up but

063um I do think that I did kind of wanted to speak a little bit toward WS some of the themes that I saw in the in the feedback um like one of them you know is is I think we've kind of talked about the age appropriateness of it um and I don't think we have to talk anymore about that I had some notes but I think we've covered that um but I think the other theme that came through is there are some people who feel like we shouldn't be talking about it at all in schools and I wanted to challenge people to push back on that because we've had um two committees now a strategic plan committee and this human growth and development committee compr comprised of healthc care individuals um staff students community members

064um Administration and you know their their expertise does shine through and I you know we have made a commitment in our mission to recognize you know meet the needs of every learner every day and so we have to recognize every learner and who they are um we literally cannot do that um if we teach only to the majority and we live in a community that's really um I mean it's it's it we it's it's majority cisgender heteronormative um and our community itself won't teach our students what it will be like in the global community and so we will be failing that promise to equity if we're not sharing with them what it looks like to be out in the out in the world and how to you know be a thoughtful Citizen and someone who's

065compassionate and um celebrating differences as opposed to um judging them you know for different backgrounds whether it's ability or race or gender sexual orientation or religion um we're just we're I I think this is a really important topic um where you know Equity is not only to focus on giving voice to marginalized groups um but it also Focus as educating the non-marginalized groups right um we are in a world that is changing dramat dramatically and quickly um and I think we really do a disservice to our students if we're not following that um I mean one of the things we're we're reviewing later tonight about the the new Equity resolution it literally says delivering a fully inclusive curriculum throughout a students education that reflect the diversity of all and prepare students for engaging with an

066interconnected Global Society I think we we can't um you know every decision that we make as a board has to be including that and I think we've done a great job of going through the process to get that and I think postponing a vote again to get more voices that's great um I just I I think our very homogeneous Community um um needs to have some um I don't know some you know we're just recognize that we're not going to do service to our students without without considering that change is happening and it's not I mean some of this change is actually pushed by our students because they are younger and younger recognizing that they don't fit into you know the the binary things that we have um in our society so um yeah that's

067all I wanted to say thank you uh so I'm hearing that we we don't have a real issue or concern with postponing uh the vote on this action and I'm torn I want to respect the committee as well um a lot of thought and time and effort went into putting this committee together with all the appropriate representations and such um so I'm I'm hesitant uh to go against their recommendation at this point however um I think it's obvious that the board is willing to postpone this vote for a short period of time and gather whatever additional information we can in terms of uh the age appropriateness of gender identity and such uh so and I also would agree that this is something that based on the history uh in the process that we followed I

068I think it would be most appropriate if this board uh took action on on the committee's recommendations so that being said uh I think next meeting would be a time that I would be uh I would be willing to to table this action for two weeks is that all right that's fine with me the only addition I would make is that um it doesn't have to be all or none doesn't have to be where we do not approve the that wow document that I talked about a couple weeks ago that is a well document but there might be pieces that we can move around all well again uh we put this committee together in such a way that we would have the best resources available and I think we accomplished that the qualifications of everyone

069on this committee was beyond repute um and most of them in all honesty knows more about these things than I do that's why you know we we put these panels or committees together um with folks that we believe give us the be best chance of a fair and Equitable resolution um so I think help me don't we have to act on the original motion yes we do you know but um so I think personally what I would be asking for what I think would be good for the board to hear is um for Melissa or um Mr Weaver to come back and kind of give us a little more detail on age appropriateness of certain things um now I will preface I am in full support of this being taught so that you know in

070a perfect world yes people would be talking about this at home it doesn't always happen that way so you know in the world we live in it has to be introduced because these kids are exposed to it it's just a matter of timing and so I think for me what would be helpful is presenting some guidance on how we came up with this recommendation in the first place at this age and also maybe some guidance on what recommendations typically are for introduction of this discussion now I understand that it's age appropriate but um you know when do children best understand something of this complicated nature and we may have many different resources and different um opinions about when that is but I'd like to just see a little bit more date on that I'd also

071like to see a little bit more about kind of locally and nationally when is this typically being introduced in the curriculums so in order to make a decision and I am in agreeance that we could do this at the next meeting but I I think we need some more data before we can do that that would be my personal opinion and I would I would say that I agree with that and then add on I would like to see examples of what the age appropriate would be at those levels if it's possible I think it would be just thinking of what what the board is is looking to ask so in within two weeks I want to make sure that we're able to provide to you and to the community what you're hoping for and

072so are we talking specifically about gender identity are we talking what are what's specifically because there's a lot in the guide so what are you specifically looking for in terms of examples in those areas it sounds like the rationale for when to introduce them any data to support that what's being done in other districts is it specific to gender idty feelings of Attraction say attraction yep those were the two that were the the lon share of the comments that I got the emails that I got so that's that's what I'm thinking is that we just look at that portion of it and the feelings of Attraction include that the sexual response cycle like is that the um like the umbrella term for all of that like I would say if it's not then I would

073say it's those three that it's the sexual response cycle feelings of Attraction and gender identity seemed like the most talked about from the community my my only question then is again the their whole premises based on we'll set the standard first and then we'll try to find the appropriate readings and what you're suddenly saying to them in effect is no we want to know what the readings you're going to choose is that what you want to do well take a look at the readings what I would say is and Melissa you can jump in here if you if I'm missing something I'm trying trying to think like you I don't know how well I'm doing because this is going to be you know Melissa having you know been a part of the committee and we'll

074be working with the committee to PR provide you with this so I you know these the topics aren't new topics the introduction the age at which they're introduced is new so we do have materials based on what we have done you know with our you know so that that's probably fairly easy to to provide you know to put it at a younger grade level we you know may or may not have those exact but you could get the sense of what that would be is that fair to say she's she not Melissa out at her head yes in the affirmative in the affir well I know I just jotted down a couple things and it it was that uh this is too important to get wrong wrong and I don't think it ever hurts anything

075to take a pause when when you have questions and I I think I think the the comments between the comments uh and and you know word on the street more or less is and I said this before we have no problems with what we're going to teach we have have some questions about when we should teach it so uh I think what I would recommend maybe we do we have to act on the motion that's before us we can we can choose not to not to do this to table this action until the next well somebody can craft that motion but I think I'll call call for the vote on the original motion before we do that I I I just I'm trying to figure out how you could do what we're asking you got

076two points there one is valid that you know it is the five of us who've kind of gone through this process so far I'm very confident that the two people who I'm running against could get up to speed on this relatively quickly even if I were to lose so then there' be two new people on there if I win it'd be one other person I'm not worried about that I just don't see how Melissa can possibly present to us and then we're going to or would we would you vote afterwards is that what you would do okay because I don't know if you can get all the materials well maybe you can the other thing I would say is you know do you want more Community input right that's that I mean that's been proposed

077here that's been acknowledged by the board I'm not put pushing you one way or another I'd say the one thing that I would say love our community I love the people that email the people that came and spoke tonight I have great admiration for them the people that sent us public comments I appreciate that I don't want the board to make decisions based on what you read on social media from people we don't know we don't know who they are we don't know what they know you know and those people that took the time to share their perspective directly with board members that to me is is community engagement not social media so I'm not telling you that you need to get more Community input but if you did want to get more input we

078can put the changes you know on the website for people to view to be transparent you know to give people more information we can do that just know that that takes time that's what I think takes time to do so would just back up the timeline Al together you certainly can that's was my point what do you mean by that well you know I think you you had indicated it would be nice to do it with this board in place already Bruce is saying he's confident that whoever comes on the board we'll be able to uh learn about this rather quickly um and we're asking a lot of information within two weeks that's what I think again you know probably that's probably unreasonable yeah that was my I would think so yeah like I said

079it's too important to to get wrong well I I'll so I'm just going to be really Frank and maybe a little vulnerable there's probably not much that's going to change my mind in approving the um committee's recommendation I trust that what they have discussed and spent so many hours committing to um I mean I trust that they went through the process it was an appropriate process and they made a determination and I trust our extremely competent expertise teachers to know to know what age appropriate developmentally appropriate is for the age groups I will also say that as we talk about um and I think this is this I don't have statistics for other people or other groups that are marginalized but when we talk about gender identity the mental health of the kids who have

080gender identity um somewhere on the spectrum that doesn't fit the binary um most of them know by the time they're three four and they just don't have language to put to it I can tell you that my family would not have experienced suicidal ideation had my kid known how to talk about it had I known how to talk about it earlier um I think this the with the changing world I I mean there's just there's just not much more I think about those kids who feel lost who feel like they don't fit and and giving them and their peers education to that's age appropriate that might be really simple I mean it might just be saying these other things exist like some people feel like girls some days some people feel like boys some days

081sometimes they feel like neither um it doesn't it might not go beyond that but but giving that a voice at an age when most kids are probably aware of it that they're different um or that they don't fit right into those boxes um I I think I trust our I trust our our team our school district team to figure out that that is that they will figure out how to do that in the right way for our kids so I I'll just go on the record to say that there's not much that will change that I mean I think we could use a little more information but it's probably not going to change my mind I I tend to agree um however given the board's inclination to want to take a little bit more time

082I'm not against that uh again I'll say again it's it's too important to get wrong and I don't think a a short pause is going to is is going to make things any less difficult probably I Su I suspect that when we get the additional information we may very well have the same questions and have the same concerns however um just given that that a majority of the board would like to take a pause I would I would get behind that well and here's what I'll say because I may not be here for the final is that I think it's important that we all have our personal feelings on it but I think it's important to also listen to you know the community and I I think while a lot of um transgender children I

083agree they do know at a very young age you know um children who identify as their gender assigned at Birth don't always understand the concepts the same way that someone who um you know is going through this um at a young age understands and so while well I I agree with you 100% on that I think we just need to maybe see what what the recommendations are so since I may not be here that is just my two cents I know so Melissa stepped up to the mic I just wanted to provide an opport cut to you too good job back there I just if there was something you wanted to add because I'm sure you have some thoughts I do some of the questions you asked I can answer right now okay I can't

084answer all of them right now um and then why I felt compelled to come here is waiting two weeks you know fine waiting much more than that if we're going to implement this next school year will get complicated and so if it's postponed much more than two weeks we have um the teachers the human growth and development teacher committee meets at the end of April and our plan is to look at the approved guide to decide what changes are necessary what summer work we need to do to get ready to get people signed up and schedule the summer work and to kind of begin all of those processes so if the board chooses not to act at this meeting or the next one and is waiting until May or later to decide then I would

085probably request that we don't make the changes for next school year that aren't decided by the next board meeting um just for an implementation and training and preparation point of view um would you like me to answer the questions that I can answer now sure okay um much of the conversation that I've heard you have here sounded a lot like the conversation at the committee meetings that we had when we discussed gender identity um and sexual orientation or feelings of Attraction um very similar concerns were raised in the group very similar questions were asked and um a lot of that was processed when you know kind of wondering how did we come up with the recommendations in the first place um there there were some guiding pieces that we spent a lot of time on

086at early meetings to guide our dis uh our decisions and those were touch points that people would bring up throughout um one of the touch points was the board's resolution in support of lgbtqia students and we kind of did a a jigsaw activity where each group read different documents and highlighted what they felt was going to be relevant to form our HGD decisions um and so one of the pieces actually backing up was our our mission and vision and they highlighted our vision an equitable and inclusive community committed to student belonging achievement and growth and then they also highlighted the commitment to safety that um an environment where all members of the school committee feel physically mentally and emotionally safe so those were kind of touch points that they thought within the Strategic plan within

087the resolution to support in support of transgender non-bi AR and all lgbtqia plus students um McFarland School District is committed to a learning environment that is physically socially and emotionally safe for all students a little bit later welcoming safe and inclusive a little bit later um the Board of Education and school district of McFarland are committed to honoring valuing and affirming our transgender non-binary and all lgbtqia plus students staff and families through our policies practices and curriculum and later the school district of McFarland board Dev education affirms supports and values the gender identities and gender expressions of all our students and will continue to further efforts in our schools to create welcoming safe and inclusive learning environment for our transgender non-binary and all lgbtqia students those were pieces that we used now I hear and

088uh certainly that you can support all of that and still say what's is the appropriate age for the conversations to begin certainly but in terms of what were some of the pieces that informed the decision those were pieces that did um another question that came up um kind of near the end particularly of the gender identity question was do we have students attending CS who are transgender and who are openly and out transgender and the answer is yes there are students in our classrooms who are old enough to understand what that feels like for them and the idea was if students are old enough to be transgender then they're old enough to learn about what it means to be transgender um we did certainly have the conversation that you know five six seven year olds

089don't understand everything and things go I mean when we're trying to teach them math and reading there are things that we try to teach them that certainly go over their heads and if we were to introduce a topic of gender as a Spectrum there will be some students who hear that and it really resonates with them and there are some students who will hear it and be completely confused or miss the idea of what was being taught at all um which led to again you know I'm trying to recreate an hour's worth of conversation of a group that was then tabled and Revisited at another conversation which I thought would be shorter the second time and it was another hour the second time and it really did spin around in circles and it came to

090this idea that okay fourth grade is too late that we really with all of the decisions we made we said our goal is for students to have the information they need to make decisions and we wanted to present that information before it was happening so they'd kind of have a safe factual information and then you know decisions would happen so when we talked about puberty okay when are students going through puberty we need to make sure to talk about puberty before they enter into puberty well some students enter puberty at 8 years old so should we be talking about it at second grade and it was an a lengthy conversation there and we ended up with okay let's move it from the spring of fourth grade to the fall of fourth grade so long conversation

091gender identity um feelings of Attraction those things it came to fourth grade felt too late okay third grade feels okay second grade un sure first grade unsure kindergarten no like it was kind of this okay where is it and then we'd get in between two grades and we'd say okay this grade or this grade and it was just really long conversations and people sharing things that echoed a bit of what I heard in this group of the students who need to hear the message will hear the message the other students may not even know what's going on but they may hear just enough to spark something and remember something so that when they hear it again later there's at least something in there for them to hold on to um conversations around you know are

092we going to ask students to pick their gender identity no we would not say you know identify as something we would just say you know there's this idea that some students feel this way some people feel this way some people feel that way we are kind to all people and that would probably be about the extent of the conversation there would be you know we've always at fourth and fifth grade read a book and then had some discussion guidelines that all of the teachers have access to that would be how it would look um it wouldn't be a lengthy conversation it wouldn't be multiple days more than likely it would probably be a touch Point um a topic that you didn't ask me to go into detail about was the diversity of family structures that

093would probably be when this would be discussed within the context of diversity of family structures um because in addition to students themselves perhaps identifying as transgender at CS perhaps their parents identify as transgender or their uncles or their neighbors or other people and so it's this idea of wanting them to understand what it is they're seeing in the world and have language to put to it um to inform just how they're going through the world and meeting and seeing all of the people in their neighborhood um locally and nationally I don't have information that would be something I could come back to um and I'm looking at the questions how do we come up with it um what recommendations I don't I I have my whole folder but it would take me too long to

094find um there are not DPI guidelines on when topics like this should be introduced there are national sexed standards now there called the national sexed standards but they are not from the federal government they're from groups of people experts in the field who have put together guidelines um we looked at those state in the areas where DPI did not have guidelines we looked at those guidelines in general we thought those recommendations were perhaps a little young for us and many of our recommendations ended up being a little bit older than what was in there um but they had guidelines for by the end of second grade students should understand this by the end end of fourth grade students should understand that and the gender identity and sexuality pieces were I believe included at K2 but

095that would be something I could come back to with specifics so those are the questions that I remember that I can answer uh the feelings of Attraction the discussion uh really revolved around um the idea of having a crush and the idea of who are you going to marry and uh K2 students having fake Mar like you know I'm going to marry so and so and I'm going to you know I'm in love with so and so and regardless of if the person you're in love with is the same gender or a different gender from yourself at K2 they say no you don't you are too young for that that is not appropriate we wouldn't be asking students to have or know what their sexual identity is we would just want to say sometimes you

096know you might feel attracted to this person or you might feel attracted to that person it's all fine and you're kind of too young for all of it anyway but also you can have friends who are boys and you can have friends for who are girls and having a friend doesn't mean you're going to marry that person and if you see this person being friends with that person it means they're friends and it doesn't mean they're going to get married and it doesn't mean that they're having attraction feelings um that's what attraction feelings would look like at second grade more than you know getting into the puberty of it all and the sexual intercourse of it all it wouldn't be about intercourse at all it would be about you know for in my household and

097I shared this at the committee um in kindergarten my daughter knew who was going to get married to who and she was very concerned because she wanted to live with her friend who is a girl and she's a girl but she wasn't you know she wasn't sure she wanted to marry her but she really wanted to live with her and I had to explain you know you know you can live with her without being married you could just be roommates like what like and that was at you know at kindergarten that's what this marriage idea it's it is nebulous and she wouldn't have necessarily understood a whole lot more but the idea that she can really like her friend and want to live with her friend and get a thousand cats with her friend um

098which was her main concern in the whole process all of that is fine and it doesn't mean anything about any sort of feelings of Attraction it's feelings of friendship and those are great feelings to thank you what how young is the Dane County survey youth survey seventh grade it starts in seventh grade yep okay well uh I guess all I would add is I think we all knew from the get-go that this was going to be an issue that you you may be able to reach consensus but it is not going to be unanimous uh we went through Co if as you may recall and that that had similar comments and concerns we had a lot of division within the community um and I understand that that to probably a bit lesser a degree uh

099I knew this was going to be controversial and I I'm not sure that taking the additional time is going to you know Enlighten us any further than than what we already are I certainly appreciate your comment concerning time frame um I don't think it would be responsible of us not to at at least recognize the recommendations that this committee made however I mechanically I'm not quite sure how to handle this right here now but we will get it handled um then we come to the time frame are we going to be able to do enough in two weeks to make a more informed decision or vote than we have right now I guess we have to be very cautious not to make decisions based on specific timelines because that would open us up for maybe

100we aren't making the best decision well going be it sounds like going beyond the 15th would probably require not making any changes to the curriculum this year U and I would say I would agree with Tom sorry to interject I would agree with Tom it's not all or nothing it would just be whatever you want implemented for next School year it would be very helpful if you could tell me that at the next board meeting and then whatever still needs anything else it would just be complicated to really adequately prepare to do that next school year I'm not sure there's anything beyond the gender identity and I think those are the two we just need to decide when they should be introduced not if they're going to be introduced I think do we all agree

101that we should be having health and human development right certainly um and I think I think most of it's I think most of the work's done I think we just need to gather in what information we need that because we're going to come back and make a vote and if we've got more information that's that's that's great but otherwise I think uh uh I would I would I would feel that it would be irresponsible of the board not to not to honor the committee that worked so long and hard on these recommendations and I think not making any changes would would not be honoring that commitment that we made but we could make a motion and vote on it in two weeks adding one or two addendums that sure and I think the other thing

102is is do you do we want to you know pull more of the community regarding those specific items or not um because that's going to take more time that's what that's what I think would be a nightmare if we're going to go out and seek Community input two weeks isn't long enough then then we're into what's fair to our staff and teachers that are expected to teach these classes um they're kind of left hanging I would imagine so uh Melissa I have a question you said the the people that you know I guess were the experts at least in talking about these uh these two points um they were actually advocating to go even younger yes and experts I think and that's what I would like to know are they who are they right that's

103what I would like to know there there was often in the group you know well well what do the experts say or who who gets to decide this and I was like this group of people is who gets to decide this there isn't you know by State Statute none of these topics have to be covered at all and so it is a recommendation of a group of community members you know the committee were community members the committee had some staff on it but by Statute it was you know less than a quarter were staff it was three quarters or more community members um you know I don't know that anyone on the committee would have said they are an expert um I think they shared personal experiences they shared opinions they shared um you know

104experiences of their children of College roommates of PE you know just shared life experiences and made a recommendation um and I think when I spoke earlier there were people who also disagreed and there were people who said this shouldn't happen until seventh grade and it was you know this conversation about what you know not if but when and it comes down to at some point we had to make a decis decision so it was it was a lot of discussion and sharing ideas questions uh going through the resources that I mentioned and then ultimately just making a decision um the people who wanted it to be younger said you know what how about we move the ball the I think the phrase was move the ball forward or make some improvements in their mind at

105this point and then two three years from now when there's the next committee that committee could perhaps continue making changes making it younger maybe we've learned some things maybe it's old you know who knows what the future holds but the the recommendations of the committee were the result of compromises that people could live with for the people in the room um did the committee represent every Viewpoint in McFarland I can't possibly know did the committee you know were they representative of the community I can't know that um they were the people who volunteered to sign up and then were randomly selected my personal opinion is that the makeup of that committee was pretty much Beyond reproach I mean I was really impressed with the credentials of those that I followed up um and I certainly

106trust them I I don't we don't do these things lightly you know the board the board could just sit and and listen to the presentation and look at our paperwork and vote but I think I think we care too much about it to not at least make an effort to gather information over the next couple of weeks that may enable us to come to an easier decision um and and I think we we should probably confine it to those two those two topics are you know we agree that that needs to be taught we just can't quite figure out when it should be taught and um Megan had brought up three topics with the gender identity feelings of Attraction and then the sexual response cycle so is it all three of those topics or just

107two of the three because I do think they are separate Megan yes I think yeah that we should probably look at those three and um I can follow up on the questions that remained um about when they are taught locally or nationally I can bring that information back to that would be helpful um and if there are other specif I I feel like I answered a lot of the other questions that were brought up but if there are things that you are feeling like I didn't yet um bring that information please let me know and I can bring that in two weeks as well I mean I think it might be even helpful to have you know an example of this is a book they currently read loud in fourth grade to introduce the topic

108of this you know this is how it references it and the list of questions I think is good have those as well just to to get a sense of what the the lessons currently look like and then if moving to a younger level these this is what you could anticipate the okay Chang and I would hope that no and misinterprets my reluctance to vote on tonight is not trusting the committee I have a wealth of experience I didn't mean to infer that but I think that might be an interpretation by some folks out there and that's not the case at all rather it's a case of we're going to make a decision let's make the best decision we can on the information that's provided so we have a motion on the table to to approve

109the the committee's recommendation for changes made to the health and human development curriculum we'll need to vote on that first and then possibly craft another motion uh regarding the collecting of additional information to be make a suggestion as a question can we vote on it tonight with the addendums that we're talking about I don't know I don't know if we can do that I don't yeah I don't think we can I think have to vote because it could potentially change people's mind you can vote and add an amendment at a later point but you would have to be voting on what you've been presented you can't vote on an amendment you haven't seen right an or an addendum that you haven't seen you could add an addendum at a later Point all and and U

110not approving it just tables it it doesn't it doesn't mean that we're not going to vote on the recommendation of the committee we're just going to do it after we collected a little bit more information you could have you could vote not to approve it tonight and at the next meeting you could have a vote somebody make some motion seconded to approve it as it currently is y I mean you know you you can you can you can change your mind any in the sense of any action you take so I just think mechanically we should probably just not approve this one and then can we make a motion tonight to address it at the next meeting I think so is that how that would go I think so I don't I don't think you

111need to make a motion to put some something on the agenda okay no we can just put it on the agenda make it make it an action item okay so we'll do that there is a motion on the table to accept the recommendation of the health and human human growth and development human growth and development committee uh all those in favor please signify by saying I all oppose say no no no no okay the motion is rejected unanimously 5 Z so we take no action tonight um and I don't think we necessarily need to to do anything tonight to preclude the 15th we can just make it an agenda item that's the new date that we're aiming for that's the new date and I just think you is there any thoughts that you have about

112what you need the information that the board feels they need please send that to us immediately also have the information that you just are summarized for us all right then moving on next is action on first reading of revised McFarland School District sustainability resolution resolution in support of diversity and equity and policy District resolution in support of diversity and Equity educational Equity do I have a motion to approve so moved take your time second I'll second okay discussion so I just want to give you a little bit of um you know background on this um reminder this is a first reading so what we had done is gone over in we meaning the board and and I during one of our work sessions had reviewed the resolutions that has been approved by the district and

113identified the two that we're discussing this evening as being um somewhat outdated and worthy of improvements based on some progress the district has made and things we've learned over time so the first of this is the sustainability resolution uh the original one was done in in May of 2022 written by staff in collaboration with our our high school Eco Club um this one again involved the high school Eco club and the resolution the goal was to um kind of broaden it to reflect kind of broaden St student involvement not just the Eco Club to provide that flexibility more kind of responsive timelines uh to reflect the current status of the work and some of the things that we're doing so really what it ends up saying um um is that you know the district you

114know acknowledges the threat of climate change um how it impacts young people um confirming you know a sense of immediacy I guess limited amount of time to address it that the district is is committed to being a leader in the advancement of sustainable and clean energy um looking at our current levels of waste that we need to do something acknowledging that climate change disproportionately affects marginalized groups groups and then we need to prepare students for a better future and really that we're going to work collaboratively together students um and the district to generate renewable energy ideas and address those so that's that's really I mean there's a lot lot of words here um but that's essentially what it is whereas the other one the previous one um had things like there will be annual goals

115developed by the Eco club by January 31st this kind of broadens it that it wouldn't necessarily have to be an Eco club we might not have an Eco Club we're trying to make them a little bit more Timeless um than they currently are and that was based on our discussion during a work session so that's that one questions thoughts about that one in specific before I go to the other one I think it's well written M go ahead well thanks to the Eco Club Jeff Mahoney who's you know there virtually joining us um for their leadership it's a neat partnership when the when the students in the in the district work together all right so then I am going to present something else the equity resolution um and and Britney's here um if we have

116questions for her as well so this really comes from um the the board adopted a resolution in supported diversity and equity in June of 2020 and that was really written in collaboration with with a couple a student and then a former student Leticia Hollard and Ethan frell and um that led to the development of a policy so we're looking at both the resolution and the policy because we currently have a policy and the policy was adopted in May of 2021 and you know there's been a lot of progress made and I think um one of the things that we really wanted to look at in this resolution was broadening it was very focused um on Race exclusively and yet it was called diversity and Equity so we wanted to broaden the scope of that and

117that that it met a need at the time was also very specific in terms of like the number of hours for professional development and the topics and those needs change specifically the topics and so you know one of the things that that Britney did was got feedback from all of the buildings during presentations and led that discussion um she shared it with the family Equity Council she shared it with the McFarland Equity progress student and staff Equity leaders to get their input on that um looked at other models and then came forward with this um proposed revision um and then really a a replacement of the current policy that connects with our mission and vision and a talk including our definition of educational equity which is a a very encompassing definition um and then just

118talks about our commitments you know equitably supporting all students and staff fostering Equitable opportunities celebrating issues of uh celebrating the values of a diverse Community uplifting incorpor in student voice standing against and acting swiftly to address words of racism bigotry intolerance discrimination hate and violence um implementing best practices for anti-racism anti-bias cultural responsiveness diversity and inclusive inclusivity developing that fully inclusive curriculum um which Melissa shared earlier and then um the annual professional development so that gives us the flexibility to do that so it's a it's a bit broader and time and more Timeless we also in both this resolution and the last one acknowledge that it's built off of the work that was done before because we don't want to negate that but I think the board is sensitive to the fact that we revise

119policies all time you know we it but it doesn't mean oh that policy was bad it just means we've learned something and and it's ready for a change so that's Britney update on that do these changes have your blessing absolutely good to hear anybody got anything else any questions concerns all right anything else okay we've got a motion on the table all those in favor please signify by saying I I I oppos motion carries unanimously 5 action on first reading of policies 5460 graduation requirements 55 student code of classroom conduct 75402 web content apps and services 8510 wellness policy uh 7250 commemoration of school facilities do I have a motion or do I have a motion I'll make make that motion thanks Kate second I can second that thanks Megan discussion can we go through

120them again yeah let's go through them in order okay 54 6 Z graduation requirements sh my screen again go ahead uh page two of three under um let's see under C3 they talk about the senior exit interviews and participate in a senior an interview that includes teachers what about uh changing that to Educators and we want to include the community you do that now yeah that's pretty simple yeah that's a good point can you I got to catch up to where you are because I replace teachers with Educators so you're on page two of three yep yeah under C C3 okay Place teachers with Educators and Community I like it any issue with that that's right here for those those those at home how about 5500 stud wait wait oh you're still there okay all

121right okay same page two of three the very last sentence talks about a student may be denied participation graduation activities for disciplinary reasons and for nonpayment of fees should that be or Andor but you might be able to Omit that all together because um if you go to page three of three the very last uh part says graduation activities and ceremony a student may be denied participation in graduation activities for disciplinary reasons um would they be denied participation unpaid fees is just yes I think that's duplicative isn't it I mean it says it it says it this is about the disciplinary reasons and then it says it about disciplinary reasons again MH but it doesn't include the fees well one is one is for actual graduation and then one's for so that's activ both particip

122participation they both are it says activities in both activities I think it just has graduation activities okay so do you want me to eliminate it on page two of three and then add or fees on page three that's what I would suggest so for disciplinary reasons or what do we call it nonay pay of fees pay fees of fees so take this out okay for those watching at home this is the less exciting part of the school board meeting um so we're going to add it right here thank you yeah told page page three of three again uh under B talks about uh the student will demonstrate level of proficiency and then go down to the last part of that set and a set fourth above as determined by the high school principal should that

123read as determined by the high school administration would could it be an assistant principal also that would make that determination I think you probably want to keep it being the okay principle that's my thought I know Lauren was on the committee yes you're sitting by the high school principal yeah I just think that because you could have different ultimately they're responsible for the ultimate respon ultimately responsible I appreciate your thoughtfulness about all right with you Brett is it yep okay he's accepted the responsibility uh let it be in the record principal Brett Jacobson has accepted responsibility for approving graduation requirements thank you anything else on that one not that one no 5500 student Cod code of classroom conduct okay under the um student code of classroom conduct the fourth excuse me the third paragraph the

124district administrator shall establish procedures to carry out board policy and philosophy so do we have those set the district administ those are our administrative guidelines Okay so we put that in there as established by Ministry of guidelines well we might have procedures in other areas too okay I mean because it's that's pretty broad to carry out Bo policy and philosophy yes I would say I wouldn't want to limit us just to administrative guidelines MH okay UNC conduct if that makes sense and then under the fourth paragraph it's there are some examples and I know they are not not all inclusive but I wonder if we should add X I didn't see that and zoom there I think we should take it out would take Sor the board can decide I would I would advise the

125board not to get into naming social media say social media no I want to leave my space in though cuz that's that's the only thing that's yep yep definitely leave that one in there thank you that's it for that one appreciate your attention to detail okay same uh moving on it is 75402 web content apps and services okay under a uh last sentence in the second paragraph it talks about um contents of apps and services um board's mission statement staff created web content services and apps are subject to Prior review and approval of the district administrator should that be District administrator or designate could be that's appropriate isn't it that is definitely appropriate you're I support being able to designate that because that's what currently is done is a little enthusiastic anything else on that

126one thank you for that uh let's see uh at the bottom of page 105 under educate that's number one the first uh that sentence content should be suitable for and usable by students and teachers it says uh would be it would it read better if it's said students and Educators we can because that would include Tas and seas yeah I mean we use the term teachers I wonder how we Define teachers in the definitions at the beginning of of our policy not in this individual but you know at the beginning of all of our policies but I can check on that and if it's defined we'll leave it because we often use teachers as a broad term but I appreciate your wanting to make it more in this I didn't interpreted that as anybody but

127sometimes I will yep I got it okay anything else page 205 the the fourth paragraph from the bottom it says District administrator yep should we add or designate or is this something that you would be doing ER [Music] in agree it's administrative procedure so it feels like it's me if not you [Music] who well could be you know somebody in the technology department oh yeah I suppose I think that's fine to leave okay as me I don't know that I want other people that's fine you know changing the that's fine standards of our website anything else there that's it 8510 wellness policy anybody got anything there been a while just so the community knows too these are either District initiated policies or policies that have sort of been sitting in in draft form and bantered

128about for a while under um the first under Wellness B we talk about improve the health and well-being of our children but up on a we talk about improving students health should it be consistent ex have student and a children and B child and C H what's most appropriate student yeah I would think student just so that there's more consistency there student oh sorry I'm not helping the public here student in B from children okay do you want me to change Child Nutrition to student nutrition and see or not I was just thinking for consistency purposes that one too yeah I think it's fine it doesn't change the meaning of no it doesn't okay fair yes sorry can I this I think you are please do um I think it'd be okay if we use

129the term instead of student children because we do you know this policy does extend you know a little bit more globally to just children not just student and we consider 4K as students even though we do try to do Outreach to you know families that are before they enter school and even after so I think maybe children overall in this policy versus just the word student I think that's a good point excellent as long as it's consistent it just needs to be consistent thanks Jeff and then under 28 page 28 and 38 do we are we removing all those items except the ones that are xed yes yeah xed are the ones that we picked okay X are the ones that we selected in all in all of those they're just they're just options I

130have a question about the um on page 38 the nutrition Pro promotion um what is the smarter lunchroom self assessment scorecard is that Who develops that or how do we use that do you have information on that Jeff yes so that is an item that we have to do when we are assessing um for the national school lunch program and so this is something we already do yep I just hadn't heard about what that specific thing was so okay thank you you're welcome compl and then page five of eight on your physical activity number four I see we ar let's see yes um all students in grades K through oh okay we're going to use that she'll provide daily recess at least so many minutes again I'll reiterate the uh need for play either informal

131or structured play for young kids and I just don't want our overcrowd curriculum to crowd them out of recess or play time and play can actually occur in the classroom also you know uh learning to play and play learning and all that but I you know it's important that we not lose focus on that um we talk about mental health of kids well a lot of kids are under stress right now I think it's universally agreed upon that physical activity is at least one of the things that you know can combat that anxiety and depression and and I concur with that my question is do we put it in practice you know because of the timelines for everything again it's just a caution that I put out there uh let's see I think that's that's

132it for me okay 7250 commemoration of school facilities nothing there no all right one uh we have a motion and a second those in favor please signify by saying I I I opposed motion carries 5 Z unanimously and I would look for a motion for adjourn thank you very much okay your mic on who's the second I'll second Megan all those in favor please signify by saying I I opposed motion carries 5-0 and we are adjourned at 906 great well done all thank you all for attending thank you come back next time