001to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right before we get started tonight I just want to take a minute um and recognize our loss this week um our mrey a 30-year board member uh passed away this last week and on behalf of the board I just want to express our deepest condolences to the family in this community obviously a pillar of this community uh e e e for those of you who would like to join us um we will be having a there a celebration of life the family will be having for her at the new life call a couple names just so you know when you're on deck and once that is exhausted
002we'll move on to the next one so we'll start with Darlene sori then Jack Schwartz Larry slot and Jean Scher I just ask that you state your names and your address please Darlene sakori 6412 County eski and thank you board for allowing me to speak today um I am against Title Nine and this is some of my reasonings that I have um number one there's no place in our schools for indoctrination of the W agenda in our schools bi to biological females should use the girls' bathrooms and play girls Sports biological males should use the boys bathroom and play boys sports our schools are supported by the community and we need to address and support the kind of community that CL is here um and then also anything like Dr Queen or anything like that
003should not be discussed in our school systems that's not proper um time and place for this um and and I hope you will know for title n thank you thank you darling thank you Jack Jack Schwarz wasn't my life and to see what's happening with we just we just State your address for us please we just State your address for us please one4 Schwarz thank you and um Title 9 by itself was fun this destroyed you're taking away you're hurting both sides of the fence the girls and the ones who need help this is not a competitive thing I just think it's totally wrong there's wrong and right and this is definitely a wrong and it shouldn't even be looked at there's a lot of States I know that have this blocked by their governor
004right now that they don't even have to look at I don't think that'll happen here but I think somebody's got to stand up now and say this Happ that's all I got to say thank you thank you Larry I'm Larry slat 142 William Street uh I moved here to plasy in 95 spent 20 years in the Marine Corp for come here so I've seen quite a variety of life I just want to read something really quick Congress enacted Title 9 1972 to protect women's sports to create opportunities for women in sports and academically okay and it's done a great job current Administration took title n and it spun it on its head by redefining what sex is the Supreme Court SED a decision early this year that there was a difference between sex and gender
005identity and the administration just disregarded that came out with the executive order in April that said we're going to order all our executive branches to redefine sex the way that we want it okay this woke agenda that talked about it's nuts it's killing you it's killing people now I know people have issues and I know people have feelings about how they how they should be you know somebody says hey I think I'm a woman inside or I think I'm a man inside you know you want to do that fine if you're doing it at home fine if you want to do a sex change operation when you're an adult fine get it out of her schools keep it away from the kids you can't take away from the the girls in their Athletics by having
006a a male playing sports with them just for an example because you're hurting them both you can't take away from one or the other provide for the now you got three provide for three if you want to have a separate sporting activity for an you want to call them an alternative division fine I got no problem with that but you're hurting you're you're title n with design to help the women and to give them the opportunities and you just they take it away and that's all I really got I think if we have to look at this and say is it right or wrong probably [Applause] wrong Jean my name is Jean Sher at 233 James Court last speaker I'm not a very good speaker I don't even know why I put down the speak
007but Bill BR merer fabulous person for our community if he was here today this wouldn't even be discussed and I got a survey right here Mele it in it's against Title Nine as soon as I'm out of here it's going to the post office title line is no good for our nation and for our children thank you thank [Applause] you Dan lowski and then Troy Tesla and Britney Downer now it's called 3219 Rolling Hill Drive Wisconsin I'm sure everyone here this evening has the best interest of the school district at heart if you were at to ask the public about Title 9 they would have heard the term Title 9 however the majority of them would be unfamiliar with its contents when you mentioned gender identity their eyes and ears open up see it different
008they hear you speaking to them a majority of the residents would say it's either boys or girls men or boys I talked about 15 people on this and everybody's sort of you know it's only they don't want to elaborate on it they just want to Men Women boys girls I wasn't able to attend the last meeting I have more questions than answers and some of you ask questions or sometimes you ask questions that you may already know the answers too what is title n a federal state law Bill document where did it originate who wrote it how many people wrote this thing and how many people actually read it there's probably 500 lawyers that did this no offensive we got a lawyer probably 500 lawyers were involved in this who of us went to law
009school to understand it who's been to interpreted and what does it really mean for our community who is responsible we are all responsible everybody in this room is responsible for its contents School administration faculty school board members parents in the district and Community the elected board and school administrators have the duty of doing what is best for the district students sharing the views of the community don't let the outside interest input our community our children's School District ask yourself who school district and community is does it belong to us or is it somebody else's I had this I didn't know how to phrase this on the people involved for title n that I don't even know get special consider or whatever consideration or whatever but how aware are the follow fellow students in school parents
010and the teachers of these situation or these people or whatever and a little food for thought Title Nine is it interfering with the meaning of education is it the best interest of our students in the use of our valuable resources Time Staffing and energy let's continue to educate our student body not confuse them add adversity to learning and make their future play people are people kids are kids they are all creative we all know we will push it to a limit kids or adults are we going to be a part of the solution or are we going to be a part of the problem in the future thank you thank [Applause] you Troy I'm Troy tlof uh w133 middle Drive um I'm here tonight against allowing boys and girls to switch bathrooms sports teams locker
011rooms hiding sexual confusion from parents and Punishment of teachers and students for misgendering or misuse of pronouns it is just a common sense to not allow this a fraction of percent of people have this in mental confusion that cannot handle their biological sex there should be no reason we should change our complete way of doing things for a mental disorder by allowing this it is teaching our kids it is okay to change the sex God made us as many kids will try to change what sex they are just because it is cool or cool or they won't or they want to be more competitive in sports like a biological male joining a female sport sexual predators will take advantage of this I am very disappointed that this is something that would be considered in our
012district implementing these policies will create way more harm than good I know if there was a vote by people in this District a majority of people would not vote for this these issues have been created what to to divide us and create confusion in our society it is our time to stand up for common decency and make tough decisions this is a fight for what is right even if there is a risk I asking tonight to please not allow these rules to be implemented there's no amount of money that the state or federal government could give this District to make it worthwhile thank youne [Applause] I'm Britney Downer 155 Main Street here in palaski I'm here tonight in support of the new title 9 policy 226 Bo and I strongly urge you to approve this
013policy as you know Title 9 was enacted 50 plus years ago as a means to protect people from discrimination not only on the basis of gender but also disability race religion Etc failure to fully comply with the tital L policies conveys a message that pcsd is complicit in termination bigotry and harassment the pcfc mission statement states that our District's goal is to provide all students with the opportunity to achieve the Knowledge and Skills necessary to become contributing citizens in our diverse world if we are to live our mission then we must fully comply with all aspects of Title 9 and demonstrate our commitment to equity and inclusion within our district as the district's legal council stated that at the last meeting failure to com fully comply with this policy puts the district at risk for
014private litigation Not only would this have Financial ramifications but again would send a message to the public that is contrary to our mission the district risks losing $2.7 million in federal funding if the board fails to adopt this policy in a time when community members including several of you here on this board have endlessly scrutinized the district spending called for Trans transparency with regard to the recent referendum why would we risk losing millions of dollars from our budget as superintendent space stated at the last meeting this would have detrimental Financial impact to our students in our district again as the district's legal council stated at the last meeting this has nothing to do with gender identity the district's legal council student services director business director cisa and most importantly our teachers the palaski education asso
015ation have all advis that you adopt this policy I encourage you to trust their guidance and value their expertise gender identity is a hot button issue we all know that and I respect that it's a divisive one at that there are various opinions surrounding gender gender identity bathrooms sports but again that's not part of this as our legal council has advised this is strictly procedural none of that is changing with this policy as a public servant in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan School Board I encourage you to set aside your own personal sociopolitical ideologies in making this decision the school's own mission statement requires that you must consider all students when making this decision as the parent of a student with disabilities who receive special education services this decision would have a dramatic
016impact on our child and many other students like her not only in terms of program funding but also protection from discrimination many families including ours s seek or have sought to live in this community because of our schools and particularly our amazing special education programs failure to fully comply with Title 9 sends a message that families like ours and our children are not safe nor welcome in our schools again I urge you to consider the many diverse palas students and families and approve this policy thank you thank you we'll have Jenny iudo and Jonathan wh Jenny Riki I have dual residence in the district 831 Golden Eagle Court in flasky W 2390 County Road S in Angelica when we talk about woke agendas I think it's important to remember that gender identity is already part
017of our policies and there's outside interest trying to make this issue to implement procedures and to handle complaints for discrimination and harassment into an issue of boys and girls in bathroom rooms and unfair Sports advantages it's not what this is those policies exist I don't have a lot to say in part because I'm shocked we're supposed to be better than this as a community we are supposed to rise above bigotry in all forms and all children regard regardless of race religion gender or anything deserves to have a certain place in our schools it's just a shame that our current board majority does not believe that fiscal responsibility and commitment to students and teachers does not include gambling with $2.7 billion that is primarily used for students with special needs nor does it stop at the
018implementation of consistent complaint procedures that protect our staff and District thank you thank you Ain yeah Aon sco 4328 Williams bir Court Kart Wisconsin uh my hope is that this district and School Board uh adopts a position that provides Clarity and protection for our staff um as it relates to the title 9 policy and of course protecting our students thank you Jonathan all right my name is Jonathan whitcom 704 johnon Street um didn't grow up in this community but I've had siblings and spous that have grown up in the communities um not really sure I can add a lot of context or opinions to what has already been esposed here um we're a community we need to live together we need to strive together we need to come together as a community we need to
019live um as one um I mean I have my extreme opinions as far as religion and as far as demographics and as far as religion I feel very strongly about these things but the one thing that never um what the one thing that never can never overcome is that we are a community no matter who we are we're made up of We Are One the division the communities needs to Cease the conversations can continue because they are important one point of view cannot supersede another in one way or the other because I am conservative does not mean that you're liberal and you oversee that or the fact that any other opinions whether you're trans lgbtqi plus I things I don't agree with doesn't mean you can come in and overtake me you need to work
020together I can see these point of view is I want to work with these point of views but I don't want to be forced to accept accept your point of views no matter what side of the aisle that you are on I respectfully decline the financial ramifications for this acceptance of of Title Nine need to be accepted I don't think Financial should be the reason we accept or decline anything it should be our values as a community we are a CHR Christian Community and I stand with the Christian Community baptized Lutheran converted to Catholic that is where I stand those are the beliefs that I have and those are the beliefs that I will hold and perpetrate I do believe that this is important to hold and that is where I stand on the issue
021I do hold that you guys please decline the Title Nine there are apparently items that are already in place for discrimination we're a community we need to treat each other as humans as people not based on sex not on gender not on other on the views that we hold let's just be people to people let's be good to one another let's say hi let's shake our neighbor hands who cares who they are who cares what they think let's just come together as community that is all I have to say thank you thank you [Applause] okay thank you all for uh your Insight I also appreciate everybody who reached out to the board through messages calls emails um I have read them all and I assume everybody up here has um so we're here tonight to
022discuss two policies policy 2266 and 2264 it's my understanding that you guys probably haven't seen much of 2264 yet that's our new policy um if you line those two P policies up next to each other a lot of the verbiage is exactly the same um policy 2266 is our current policy um I am not here to minimize your concerns around the verbage um I share some of those concerns around the verbiage um but what you need to understand is we've been living under this policy this policy already exists it's not a new policy um that verbage is in our current policy so we're not changing if this gets voted in we're not changing that tonight it's already here it's been here uh we adopted Neola in 2022 I believe uh the board adopted those policies
023uh we took that verbiage at that time it's been here um that verbiage likely started we have Bob Burns here he's our legal uh councel here tonight um that verbiage probably started in 2017 uh there was a case in Kenosha Whitaker versus the kosha school district um that made it all the way to our seventh District Court um and at that time they ruled on that and that that has been uphill at Le up upheld at least twice in the courts now that legal precedence is what is over the top of Wisconsin right now we have to abide legally by that law the policy is in place it's not new you can pull up our website right now and read it those words are already here um I understand your concerns so um talked to
024a lot of lawyers in the last week I just had another one call me before the meeting I've done a ton of research I've read more law than I have ever cared to read Heidi um so I've done my research I understand so um the board we don't have a presentation tonight we have legal counsel here we have um our Administration is here they're happy to answer questions um if we would like to know how this rolls out um we have uh we have a presentation ready if we want to see how the investigative piece happens in the new policy I've talked to both people on both sides of this topic everybody agrees that part is really good for us it gives us a lot of flexibility everything you guys described tonight it gives us
025the flexibility in palasi to apply this how you want it applied how we want it applied how the parents in this District want it applied that's the part that's changing tonight for p the rest of it is already here so I I just want to make that clear um here's here's my proposal so can I ask you a question yes I to we ended the meeting with a request for a second opinion you sent an email to us indicating that you had a second opinion I and you met with attorney Bob Burns for that second opinion and in the email you said you would spend some time letting us know what was said in that meeting so if you and Bob could maybe fill us in because I I haven't been ined as this very
026good so um we had uh Jeff Lacy here last time um and Bob shared with us exactly what I just said what the legal landscape is right now I just reiterated it took what Jeff Lacy told us and what Bob Burns told Steve and I when we met with him that's the legal landscape in the education system right now so I that's kind of my synopsis of what I understand to be the legal landscape of what what we're doing here we have two policies most of the verbiage is the same other than the application um I've read both of them there's minimal uh change other than the application right so um and and you can ask some more questions here's let me let me finish what I'm going to say and then you guys can
027ask away um I I would propose if our Administration agrees to it and our legal councel agree to it um a lot of a lot of the concern is the changing legal landscape with the Fed Federal level right now and the Department of Education the courts in Kansas our court in um seventh circuit uh the Whitaker case this is all moving very quickly um I hope that we don't have to continue to talk about this every time the court changes so I would like our policy to just give us the flexibility to to adapt to the law so in this policy everywhere where it says the basis of sex stereotypes sex characteristics sexual orientation and gender identity I would like to change the those words to say this policy covers harassment and discrimination on the
028basis of sex as that term is defined by applicable law that's it let's simplify this let's take the words out it doesn't matter we have to follow the law everybody here has to agree with that right we have to follow the law every one of our workplaces has some type of harassment program in place Polaski Community School District has to have that in place I would like to just simplify this make the policy follow the law and then we can just be done talking about it so does that care [Music] for taking that verbage out legally are we able to do that and does that put our admin so Julie does that put you in any position if we remove that verbage and we State following the law and as that changes as we know
029appeals and things are going to come through we are just always going to follow what the law for Wisconsin States I'm G to ask Bob about the applicable law part all right yeah no I think that that gives you the uh umbrella if you will of the of of whatever the current legal landscape is and as you mentioned earlier we know what that is in Wisconsin a lot of these other states are still circuits are are dealing with cases we we have we have the the the the Whitaker and subsequent decisions in Wisconsin eventually if that changes through a US Supreme Court decision you're going to follow the applicable law so I think that sums it up for you in that sense but question Bob does that so if I'm understanding this right I so
030that is the difference between the two policies I have them right here that paragraph in there about sexual stereotypes and all of that if we're saying change those words to whatever the applicable law is that means this goes into effect right today which is which your this is 2264 okay the paragraph in there that's been added which makes these two policies 2266 our current one and this one different says discrimination on the basis of sex includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes sex characteristics pregnancy or related conditions sexual or sexual orientation and gender identity if I'm understanding this right if we change the verbiage even though it doesn't explicitly State this you're saying we're Bound by it because that's currently the law but if you could explain to us so the title 9 is
031a federal mandate right a law it's been in place we heard 50 years is this not just a regulation that the Department of Education is trying to push down versus a law maybe not in the state of Wisconsin but at the federal level no the the regulations that are in place are went through the what's referred to as the rul making process but they're they're applying the the statute Title 9 is a statute okay and so they are uh they are they are applying that through their rul making Authority the the new the the what being referred to as the new regulations the regulations do not add protection for anyone that wasn't already protected by the old regulations that's I think the point that Jennifer was making most of the changes are except they added
032more language about pregnancy situations but but to to protect students who are pregnant but the the basic protections of the of the regulations haven't been changed the who's protected by the regulations hasn't changed and and in our circuit that has been the same since 2017 so you're saying in 2266 that same language should should be in there it's not it it's not it the language the language was expanded but the but the the coverage and I think that's where Jennifer is coming from by saying for applicable law you're you're you're going to be current but the 2266 refers to gender identity correct sexual orientation gender identity that is correct it's in there but all the other components that are added to the Title Nine were not in there so again again I'm just trying to
033understand if we're saying applicable per the law are you saying that if we put that General language in there what law are we under today then tomorrow morning I guess you're still under you've been you've been under title Title Nine as an old law you've been under title understand that part and you're still under title all the new components though so I understand the procedural changes they didn't add the the the new components that you're referring to are at issue in these other States because their Court in applying the statute has not ruled on the issue of whether sex includes gender identity the seventh circuit which includes Wisconsin has ruled on that consistently since since 2017 and so you have to abide by the law of your jurisdiction is what it amounts to this the
034the fight that's going on in the other courts in some of some of these other courts around the country is a fight that's already over for Wisconsin in the seventh circuit unless and until it goes to the US Supreme Court and something else is decided so when Jeff was here two weeks ago um the a comment came I believe from the audience about moms for Liberty and he said he checked the list and we weren't on the list and now it appears we're on the list all seven of our schools so what does that mean to us it there's a lot of misunderstanding on that issue the the injunction for involving the can that's from a Kansas District Court which is a lower level Court than the circuit courts you got the seventh circuit you
035got the 10th circuit under the 10th circuit is the Kansas District Court just like we have the Eastern Wisconsin District Court is under the seventh circuit so district courts make the initial decisions they get appealed up to the Circuit Courts circuit courts establish the law in that circuit unless and until the US Supreme Court changes it for one or the other and this is obviously an issue that at some point there's going to be two different circuit decisions one or the other and the Court's going to have to decide the splits between the circuits at some at some point down the road but the uh the the the injunction from the court in Kansas is not directed after the schools the schools are not parties to that case so the court in that case cannot
036issue an injunction against a school that's not a party to the case the moms for Liberty are parties to the case the Court's order the injunction which I have right here is against the Department of Education and the Department of Education and the Attorney General the United States that's who the injunction is on and the injunction says they cannot and enforce Title 9 but that does not stop someone in Wisconsin from bringing a lawsuit in order to try and enforce the laws and and the the injunction has nothing to do with that the injunction does not prevent the district from adopting or not adopting any policy the injunction has no control over your decision with regard to the policy because the Jun does not apply to you it applies to the Department of Education I
037do I do I I didn't know you were going to you know maybe strike that language because I agree you're the title n coordinator right yes Ma and you have to administer this and Aaron was just talking about Clarity yes I think if we remove words or sex stereotypes sex characteristics I think pregnancy probably would be something youd keep in there uh related conditions a very gray ambiguous term I think if we remove some of that language I I think that's a much better policy but it's still not clear to me though it's not what does the state law say if the state law says all of these words and we don't it doesn't matter right and I'm not saying I'm against these words I'm trying we have a lot of concern out there I'm
038trying to get clarity for everybody in the room because to me we're in no different place than we were half hour ago unless the Law changes understand that but so again back to my question no matter what words we use if we say follow the law the law today is this this is the law in the state of Wisconsin so it doesn't matter if you take the words in or take them out it doesn't matter we can leave them in and if the policy changes or the Law changes we would change the policy at that point in time to me it's smoking mirrors and I I'm not in favor of changing the words if it doesn't mean anything to us well what aside from these words on this paragraph because I had it highlighted also
039same same part otherwise the policy is almost the same you say it's procedural other procedural other than other than this these terms that are hot button issues if we remove and Str struck these and then use the definition as Title 9 was for last 52 years and adopted that policy that would be more that would be more to my we well we wouldn't we would have to adapt what the Wisconsin law is how Wisconsin defines it we I'm not follow by I'm just saying this if this is a procedural change in policy we can strike these few little terms here that are very very ambiguous and that's very hard to determine what these words mean I I don't think it is ambiguous I think when you talk about pregnancy and pregnancy related pregnancy but how
040I mean how would you describe or how would you I'd say pregnancy could stand how would you explain or how do you explain what these terms sex stereotypes sex characteristics or related conditions I mean how do you administer that I mean there's no Clarity there so let me answer it so pregnancy and related conditions if you read further related that's be breastfeeding things that everything else we're kicking out and putting the law that's a depy but the other two I don't know why we couldn't strike those because I don't know how you determine what those really would be that's a great those are very difficult terms that's exactly what I'm suggesting I agree with you I I didn't know you were going to bring that up today that's that was my number one and question
041Bob based on Whitaker um there is a defined definition in the state of Wisconsin as to what sex encompasses and it compes all that's included in this policy correct so this gives us the flexibility as the Law changes let's say but Ur is challenged again it gets overturned right that's when this would change and it would change instantly in our policy because the law changed if this gets challenged in the Supreme Court the Supreme Court takes a different stance our policy follows that new law that we that's our jurisdiction though so it we don't have to keep doing this we follow the law so I would like to put a motion on the floor to remove that verbage so I would like to have a motion to remove the verbage of sex stereotypes sex characteristics
042sexual orientation and gender identity and keep anything that has that definition labeled I think this comes in twice within the policy to remove that verbage and state as applicable applicable with the law so this policy covers harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex as that term is defined by applicable law correct so our Administration is okay with that and our legal so we have a we have a motion would second that we have a motion in a second so is there more conversation to be had here if we strike those we're talking 2264 here but are we approving the removal or are we approving the policy the new L removal and new l I i' suggest what you're approving is the revised language because that policy isn't in place right now so you don't
043have to remove anything we're going to before we adopt it yes so go ahead so Bob if we don't adopt the revised language and it's a state law we can talk about laws here right litigation well we're talking about Federal law basically as it's applied in Wisconsin so there's also a state disc student discrimination law but that's that's a different policy I mean that's part of the framework but it's so I I just wanted to be clear when you said state law it's that we're talking about the federal law as it's applied as it's been ruled upon by the federal courts for Wisconsin and the other states in the seventh circuit that's what we're referring to right but this initial change back from 2017 as you said was initiated by the federal government by by
044the by a federal court decision and then state Wisconsin adopted it no no the the federal court decision is a ruling by the federal circuit court that that has jurisdiction including Wisconsin and a couple other states and so that became so if someone brought a federal law suit that would be the controlling law that would decide so when the student brought that case in kosha eventually the seven circuit rule there have been a couple other cases since then where they've ruled consistently with that so it's not a law that was passed by any by by Congress it was an interpretation of the statute by the seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and so our federal courts in the seventh circuit the lower federal court cour have to apply the seventh circuits ruling and unless and until
045either the seventh circuit reverses itself or the US Supreme Court rules otherwise That's the Law of Wisconsin but it's not it's it's not the the Wisconsin legislature doesn't have anything to do with that because it's it's a interpretation of federal law so it's not a Wisconsin law it's the Federal judicial the federal court system applying the law but hypothetically if we because we're the local right don't accept this policy and continue to operate under our old policy because that's the one currently in effect and something comes up right it would just follow the process correct I mean it would follow the existing process that's in place well it it's not like I guess what I'm trying to say is it's not like all these other protections aren't covered I mean our our school policy today
046we have a zero tolerance policy for bullying harassment of any type that covers everything okay this this is good protection for us but we already have a zero tolerance policy and it said whether we have to adopt or not I don't know um but in the end you know I again what do you expect them to do procedurally if the same thing we've always done for an investigation the same thing we've always the updated policy has more flexibility for the District administration that's the part but it's not it's not better it's not worse it's different well it's better I I think it's most I think most everybody agrees it's it's better it's better from the uh School District perspective because you have more options and and you you also have an informal resolution process that's
047not in the Old Law in the old rings so it it has it has procedural advantages to to the uh as opposed to the prior uh system and that's one reason where the uh I think you know most of the most of the people who have to live with this and apply it dayt day are saying it's it's it's a better it's a better policy for for application in the in the front lines well I think the community has to deal with this on a daily basis it's not just the staff we heard from Steve the the the community's perspective the focus being on who's getting protected by this law as I as I said a little while ago the law this the the new rigs don't protect anyone who wasn't protected before in Wisconsin
048it's the it's the same level of protection it's just how you function once you get a complaint that really is is involved with and and this is the part we want Steve like this is our community telling us this is how we want this applied we we don't have a choice but to recognize the law set by that circuit court we have to we can't just break the law tonight I I will not direct our Administration to do that I can't do that um but this gives us the gives them the flexibility to do this P's way before it was black and white how this was applied was black and white they had a manual this is how we're going to do it now we have so much more flexibility and and if it's meaningful
049Julie's prepared to take us through that that application if that's what you want to hear about um but but that's the part that changed for us the rest of it didn't change I think it'd be a fair thing for us to walk through the concerns tonight of the restrooms and Athletics things like that that the community's concerned with how are we as a district handling that today and then is anything changing for us well maybe I could summarize that in a nutshell which is adopting the policy doesn't change any of that that's all in the application of of how you're going to apply the the new the new ranks and the and the policy that's on the table does not go into any of those issues and tell you how you got to handle how
050you've got to handle it that those are those are the practical application situations that are beyond the the the the policy itself it's the policy just covers who's covered by this and and what are the procedures available when you get a complaint in terms of how you're going to handle a specific locker room situation you've got WIA that that weighs in with regard to the sports and all that kind of thing this does not dictate how you handle those situations and this does not include Sports correct okay so we just want to make that clear this is not boys can't join girls Sports now all of a sudden If This Were to get adopted it's controlled in a different policy itself and like you said wi has a lot to do with that as well
051so I think we owe our Administration some credit the fact that nobody in this room really knew that we were living under these policies currently and it hasn't been a thing they're applying it the way we would want them to apply it so it doesn't put kids on either side of this In Harm's Way that's what we have to trust our Administration to do right and I think that you know from the perspective of some of the provisions within this um it'd be very difficult if this was not in place for us to be able to um follow through with the requirements of the law so for example um there are some mandatory requirements for some employees like if we're made aware of certain circumstances that we need to follow up on them and in
052a certain way and so like in order to investigate and so forth it'd be very difficult to well it wouldn't be possible essentially so um there are some requirements and for example if a student is um you know notifying somebody that they are um pregnant or something like that then they need to communicate with me so then I can make sure that they have what they need so they're not discriminated against now often does that happen not very often but we need to protect everybody staff and students um in our environment and that's really what this is about non-discrimination making sure that everybody has the opportunity to be able to participate in programs and activities that we offer here um so essentially those are some things that I would really not be able to enforce
053or be able to investigate or follow up with for procedural processes if we didn't have this in place and then that would put us at legal risk with if you do not follow through with what the procedures are in place now whether we adapted if we did not adopt them then we are at legal risk because we didn't follow the the state law ultimately or the law that's set forth for um the statute and then we're at more legal risk because Julie didn't have a policy or procedure to follow yeah and students with disabilities are also incorporated into this new um Pro process I guess if you will look at the proced procedure in the law and so essentially um in the old one there's new grievance procedures and policies or practices that we have
054to enforce in here and that would allow for us to have different processes that we' follow to make sure that we're also not discriminating based on disability so it's really complex and comprehensive um but we need to have a process in place to be able to follow through with this otherwise you know we'll be making mistakes and not following federal law and that would not be um something that ethically I would be able to do what one way I think to look at it is if if you you have the old policy stays in place because any complaints that come in after that deal with incidents even if the complaints come in after August 1st if the incident occurred before August 1st the old policy applies so you're going to have both policies in place
055you're covering your bets in a sense by having both policies no matter what happens on the national legal front you've got you've got your Administration cover basically that's what what it bels to and we're also going to cover every definition as the Law changes I still struggle that over 2,000 schools are saying something's wrong here and we're willing to say it's okay I don't know I'm just saying I don't know is that language we're striking the most incendiary part of this causing the controversy yes and and so if we strike that we've removed some of that then it becomes proceeding we're we're not striking again in a sense because we're we're putting a blanket over the top that covers everything that's consistent with the law that we again I'm not criticizing I'm just making a
056statement it's not striking it it's just putting a cover up top that covers everything below that's in place today right again I want to be clear this isn't about me not wanting to protect this that or that it's nothing to do with that this is about a policy and what's best for our district our community our teachers you know again I don't our students everybody I I don't know I I again I struggle that 2,000 plus schools are saying Uh something's not right here and some states said what we're going to take a second look at this so that's that's the part that's holding me up how can we say oh everything is great it's got to be perfect for us the the the difference is they in those states that are suing and are
057are in the litigation right now their federal courts have not yet decided the issue that our circuit has already decided so and different circuits may decide that differently that's why I always say that's why they build couses lawyers don't always agree and so you know you're going to have differences out there and uh and but but as Dennis pointed out in where you're getting all the you know the the litigation and and confrontation and and and controversy is where there are still have not yet defined their their term in their in their circuit and so the courts are battling that out right now in some states so the the fact that there's there's 20 states that have gone after it they're primarily focusing on that issue of the definition of sex our circuit has already
058spoken on that issue right but not this policy or any other policy we ever Implement in a school district is going to to change behaviors or manage behaviors other than the people in this room the teachers in the buildings and the kids in the classroom so I have no that's where it gets applied that's right but I I get the procedure stuff Julie I understand all of that but I go I mean so for how many years 50 years we've had procedures and they've worked we have anti-harassment policies and discrimination and our schools are ready so again there there's something here I don't know what one of the questions that continue to pop up is the restroom usage of girls using restrooms that are girl restrooms Etc we've heard all of those does this impact
059anything in the schools where that will be not be allowed um I'm not saying that right but you know what I mean like is there anything in this policy if we accept it that will say oh that's okay there's nothing new in that regard so essentially um we have plans in place for all stud students who come to us with those needs and so um those support plans are very clear