July Board of Ed. Meeting (7/24/23)

001I am calling to order the July 24th meeting of the River Falls Board of Education this meeting has been properly notified and we will begin this evening with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'm going to take public comment at two different times if you have a general comment for the board or if you have a comment about any item on the agenda other than those that are listed in 6B I'm going to take those comments now if you would like to address the board specifically about an issue in 6B which has to do with the policies that are before the board this evening that public comment will be taken when we get

002to that point in the agenda so at this point I would like to hear from the community about any general issues that you have if you would like to speak please come introduce yourselves to us the microphone is there and please limit your comments to two minutes yes you first up to the microphone is this on yes it is thank you thanks my name is Cheryl maplethorpe I live in River Falls I've had two sons go through this school system which is marvelous and always gets all sorts of awards I just want to praise the school board members here for being school board members in this environment oh all right in this environment it is a difficult position at this time and you are very courageous and brave to make sure that our students are

003getting a good education with truth and facts so thank you you're welcome thank you I've got a few comments that I'll save for later but I got General one Jim souder you all know who I am Community member my first comment is and I brought it up before and I just I want to say it respectfully but when we try to have so many policies that come through at one time in the middle of the summer that pertain to social norms social values whether that be instructional materials whether that be transgender policies Etc it it comes across like what are we trying to you know we need to more time I think to think these out to have more people have input having said that I've got a specific question with regard to the policies

004many of them are first readings I'm still a little bit confused because if there's a first reading before the board that comes out a committee it is not yet policy so there's a first reading and a second reading and I believe at the second reading that is when it becomes policy I could be mistaken however during a first reading because you might have a lot of comments by the community there may be gosh let's go back and edit some of this let's go back and do some rewrites how much rewriting will constitute an additional or a second first reading where you come back and say we're going to start at first reading over again do you make minor changes between reading one and reading two or if you decide to make some more significant changes

005do you come back with another first reading of a policy that's my question so I'll very briefly give and I give a statement about the process of developing policy which we talked about last time Jim when the school board is faced with the revision of a policy or the creation of a new policy often not always but often it begins at a committee at the committee level that is responsible for that area so if it's a a policy about educational program an educational policy it goes to educational programming if it's a financial policy it goes to finance and Facilities where they do initial work and then make a recommendation to the board about the policy it is not a first reading for the board in committee it only becomes a first reading once it gets

006to the board and is actually passed it requires two readings in different board meetings regular board meetings before any policy becomes adopted by the board and the board also has the right to be able to go back at any point and make revisions if I could just add a couple of things in the board for this portion of our agenda the board typically as Stacy mentioned we want to be guarded in somebody takes to the mic and then we're all going to take turns reply replying this is not a public forum right here this is a school board meeting and we have an agenda that we're going to follow and so that being said I'll violate my own last statement just a tweak here to say that the school board could tonight adopt a policy

007they could for the first reading and then it has to come back for a second reading to be official in between the first and second they could do a little bit of a word smithing I think if uh this evening they were to find that there was a significant amount of wordsmithing they wanted to do they could a table it not have it be a first reading at all be send it back to committee and say try again see they could say Administration you go back and try again bring it to the full board meeting there's all kinds of options for how this can all be handled for this meeting tonight and any other meeting just wanted to clarify that there's options for how the board proceeds with any and all policies would anyone else

008like to address the board this evening on a general topic not on something that is already on the agenda under 6B Snyder and um I want to thank you Mr Benson for last at the Ed committee meeting addressing um my question about the human growth and development um that you had a I guess uh review meeting last you said last spring so um there are questions about and I've asked this before and I know you don't have to answer me right now but I would like you to consider coming forth with how do people actually apply like Hudson you know I I asked this one time Hudson opened it up to the public to actually apply if you're interested in becoming part of the human growth and development Review Committee so how would you actually

009do that are you going to open that up and when would that be so that people can actually apply for that okay thank you would anyone else like to address the board I'm Rebecca Ferguson and I'm a resident here and two grandchildren in the school system I thought I would speak later but I think this is the time that I do just want to say thank you that's complicated work that you're doing and I really appreciate the amount of time and effort that you put into it this is a great school system I'm Amazed by it so thank you I really really glad my grandkids are here thank you hello I'm Christine Manic and I live in River Falls and I've taught for the school district entering 30 years now and I'm also president of

010our teachers union and last Tuesday we came to a tentative agreement on our salary on our wage wage increase and our members have voted they voted very quickly and there were really a lot of thank yous and positive responses to um what was what we've negotiated for agreement and in fact I want to share this email from a teacher please tell the team so the negotiations team which is made is made up of teacher members and you know it's not always real easy to go ask your boss for a raise so tell them thanks for all their hard work and a good job on the recent contract agreement I was on the negotiations team for seven years so I know about the work that goes into it and the disappointments Frozen break Frozen wages this

011is one of the better increases I have ever seen in my 26 years of teaching it also shows that the riverfile school board does appreciate their staff and will do anything to retain the staff they have hats off to both the negotiations team and the school board and working together this was truly a team effort thanks so again I want to say that our members and teachers thank you the school board and our district office it's great to show appreciation of words but sometimes it's that monetary composition comp compensation that that really really helps so thank you [Applause] would anyone else like to address the board all right then we're going to go on to the first informational item which is an annual update from our school resource officers and so Chris and Brian if

012you could wind your way up here that would be helpful I have to say I'm really pleased to have so many people this year able to hear about the good work that these two folks do usually it's only the board who gets to hear it but this is extraordinarily significant so please go ahead and start well for those people that don't know yeah I'm officer Brian Johnson I'm the school I've been in the school district for five years now primary at the high school in Renaissance School um I know it looks like you guys have a big Edge big agenda today so it won't take up a lot of your time but as as far as the overview uh what we had at the high school and the Renaissance School uh always every year we

013start by orientation of classes and stuff regarding several topics like student lot driving behaviors and the student Lodge driving trying to be friendly with our neighbors across the street those are the things that we talk about big time at the high school level also sexting is huge we talk about vaping I'm in a lot of classes with talking about vaping and that type of stuff again this year is the second year we did the mock drowning incident with a lifeguarding class in our high school which is always kind of a neat thing this also will teach valuable lessons of the students regarding uh how to call 9-1-1 just be aware of your surroundings make sure you know exactly where the First Responders need to respond to how the uh so I always I quiz them

014a lot so where yet or what door what door did you go and things of that nature so they have a better understanding of of just knowing where how everybody is at um we also bring EMS Personnel involved in that too uh they are they're willing to teach the the students a proper CPR techniques uh show them their equipment and kind of and and it's a really great learning experience for those students itself otherwise I'm present to all the high school a lot of the high school football games hockey games uh uh basketball games um I also part of the member honor guard with our department uh you'll see me at the football game we did Honor Guard there we also did honor guard for the hockey game uh we're open to do whatever to

015it so if uh if if there's teachers that are willing or other sporting events want us there we can certainly uh we can certainly take advantage of that as well so um but just trying to think anything else uh you guys have any questions for me at all or anything like that well could you could you just very briefly touch on how you establish and maintain and nurture relationships with the students because I know that's an important part of what you do yeah for sure so I'm I'm in lunches that all the students itself us we I take part I walk around the tables talk with them engage conversations uh talk about everything a lot of students come up to me um my I always have an open door policy to it when it comes

016to my room uh if I'm there sometimes I'm not just because I'm busy with other activities and stuff too um but they're more than welcome to come over my room uh discuss whatever it could be stuff that happened over the weekend or stuff they're looking forward to uh could be anything it could be some serious stuff too when we get involved in that as well but I try just to be very open front with them uh let them know what kind of person I am and they're able to open up with me and and have a deeper level of understanding between what my role is in the school district as well as uh you know what's expected for them while they're at school as well so it's just kind of a neat thing I mean

017I'm in all the dances prom everything so uh so they get to see my face all the time um uh I'm at the the Stu you know the lock-in I'm in there for a couple hours so they see me all the time and they get to really get to know me and uh and establish what we establish a pretty good relationship that way as well so that's impressive all right it's Chris well I want to thank you all for showing up in support of our SRO program it means a lot uh well good evening I'm officer goffertson I know a lot of the faces I I recognize and I'm a school resource officer as well primarily covering the middle school and elementary schools but we serve the district wherever we're needed that's just where we

018primarily serve um this I'm finished my 15th year uh in the position working in the schools um as the superintendent said in a positive way or no spring chicken and I agree with that I probably won't be doing this forever but uh I will be around next year for sure my main role is to maintain safety uh provide resources and assist with education of Youth that's really what my job is um some common training that I provide uh some of the students and teachers is about safety I'm glad you're still you know running the safety or through the district because NATO is a very thorough good job and I appreciate that um I offer Halloween safety Health classes at the middle school bike safety a lot of miscellaneous topics like Internet safety whatever I'm requested

019to do um if it has to do with police I will provide training and stuff and come into classrooms my job is very ProActive at these ages and it should be but obviously at times there are some reactive situations um I noted a couple things that I had about 250 cases that I responded to and reported on last school year which is really consistent with other years that I've been in the Middle School in elementary schools which is good that it's maintaining uh you know some consistency and that doesn't include my proactive presentations and other responsibilities I gave approximately 100 presentations around the district last year and that does not include my work with a safety patrol and other proactive duties such as assisting buildings and grounds with safety and things like that um I

020think things are going very well with our SRO program here and uh I'm very very confident of that [Music] um sometimes you know things are going well as when you hear from parents things trickle through the students to parents and that's that's really impactful to me and it shows that it's working when parents excitedly tell you what their children told them and what they learned from officer G and how it's affecting these kids and they're actually bringing the the information home um I've had very supportive parents when interacting with families which shows me that there's a trust Factor that's been built over the years trust is built by being fair dealing with issues that come up in a caring manner always looking at the best interests of the kids and I've mentioned this other years

021that it's not the traditional law enforcement that's working in the schools and it's a little different approach on when you're dealing with cases even when children make mistakes because they do make mistakes but it's more about teaching them and and figuring it out so it doesn't happen again a lot of specific stuff I hear from parents after I give presentations freshly you know I give up 100 presentations throughout the school year but just ending the year on bike safety because that's one of the last presentations I do I've had numerous parents come up to me in person and say oh my child was at a mountain biking training class and when the instructor asks questions they were all confident because they just had the information from officer G and they wanted to tell the instructor

022what they learned and they knew the answers things like that mean a lot to me um now when I say I think things are going well here because Brian and I go to local resource officer like meetings big rivers from Eau Claire to Chippewa to Menominee Hudson and surrounding area we also go to an annual SRO conference every year where officers come from all over the state and even other states and I hear it very consistently that there's not alignment between the schools and the police department which is really important to me because I think there's a certain philosophy that at least I bring to the position and I think there's alignment between the school district buying into that philosophy the people at the police department and everybody seems to be on the same page

023when you don't you don't get that all over and I'm not bashing other places but I think we really have it good here and I'm thankful and we talk about this a lot Ryan and I we're thankful we work here where we do have that shared philosophy on how police should operate within the schools here so I just want to say thank you and and it's not to Pat brain on the back or me on the back it's because it's a shared effort it comes from the school board comes from Jamie Benson who does an outstanding job leading in the administration that we work with because we work very close to the minute with the administrators and decision making and how we're going to deal with things when we're involved when we're not to what

024capacity are we involved so it's I really want to just say thank you for working at the school district and everything that you guys do to make our job so successful here in River Falls so thanks guys it's also it's also I think important for people to know that this is a collaboration between the school district and the city when we talk of and that's a really great thing that we can do that together Ellen well I just um this is one of my favorite times is to give you guys a chance to come in front of the board so we can thank you because literally you're right and my work with a state School Board Association has connected me with a lot of other school boards in the state and this is a model

025program and should we have school should we have police officers in our buildings yes if they have a model a program like this because it works and the fact that that Stacy's mentioned that um this is a income cooperation with the city city pays half the salaries we pay sap the salaries so if anybody out there watching us tonight wants to thank anybody for this make sure you also thank your city council member and and the city Administration as well because they're supportive of this we're fortunate here in River Falls not only in that we've got this arrangement with the city we've got two excellent officers um when you said 15 years because I was going to ask you how how many years so that means for this what second or third year in a

026row you you two are always at graduation I appreciate you being there providing that security presence Etc this is like the third year in a row when those kids walking across the platform you met him as kindergarteners right yeah you met him as kindergarten you've been here they get to know you they trust you um we've got excellent law enforcement in this community and we've got good support for this and it works because your job is preventative and it helps us so much and I don't know if people appreciate in this community the fact that we have police officers in our building you hear all this conversation about should we or shouldn't we in back and forth well you can and it works and and you guys make it work and appreciate that I know

027the people in the community do and certainly the the police department does as well so thanks to both of you thank you next report is the superintendent's report just wanted to give an update regarding our project oversight committee POC that's related to a facility study and a relation to uh our work with lhb architect and Kraus Anderson construction management firm that completed a comprehensive facility study to help us both with short-term and long-term facility needs the process for that committee has involved looking at a very comprehensive lengthy detailed list of all of our facilities I like to say from the rooftop to the sidewalks and everything in between and so part of that process is to narrow down what our priorities would be because as you can imagine some of those items include needs primarily

028but some of them are also wants and so where we're headed with the community engagement side of some of the decision making is that in early September we will be sending out a community survey we're hoping to get um a large number of Returns on that survey because ultimately we're headed in the direction of a February of 24 referendum and referendums are decided by communities they're not decided by a school board or superintendent or anybody else and so our job will be to try to Define um what we're hearing from you in that survey after that we'll have more Community engagement listening sessions and conversations the board will get to a point where they will formally introduce what would be on that February ballot and right now frankly the biggest debate they think that we're

029having a couple of big debates one is obviously whatever the ask is you have to be mindful regarding tax tolerance how much would supporters of some improvements to our schools be willing to support because it comes back to your property tax bill so that's what we refer to as the tax tolerance so we got to be mindful of that and then really there's two issues at play one I mentioned with the facilities and the other is just with our operational budget So currently this District basically our expenses are not keeping Pace with the rising cost of inflation and we're hitting the wall that nearly two-thirds of the districts in the state of Wisconsin have already hit and had to go back to their community and ask for operational referendum nothing to do with facilities and

030so that's going to be new territory for a community and we need to explain that and talk about that in great detail and make sure that people are educated well enough so they can make an educated vote when they go to the polls in February so we're going to do that and and the big kickoff for that Community engagement will be in early September you all will receive a survey and I would strongly encourage you to take time to fill it out your opinion matters your opinion is going to have an influence on the future for the students in this district and you're going to help steer the direction of what the board will ultimately put on that ballot so stay tuned for that September survey thank you we are going to move on to

031action items before the board this evening is the June 19th meeting minutes we also have bills that have been submitted for payment as well as employment recommendations at this point is there a motion to approve minutes bills and employment as presented thank you Lindsay is there a second second thank you Bob any discussion all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried as we proceed now to action items under B I'm going to call on Alan tectonhagen who is the chair of the Ed program committee to give simply an update of what the educational program committee discussed then I'm going to call on Jamie to give some background then I will take public comment and then the board will discuss so Alan please thanks CeCe um so I chair the Ed programs committee which

032as a policy driven board we typically start issues in our committees where we can talk about them and bring them out to the board and as we were discussing earlier some of these for policies especially there's two readings at the board so we get pretty thorough conversation about this at our meeting and July 10th we had a good very robust conversation as we typically do talked about a number of things one is we had a proposal from a teacher to take a trip to Italy and Switzerland with students upcoming and we'll talk about that in just a minute all of these things our elementary standard-based grading update and Nate gave us a really good update on that we had some good discussion about standards-based grading and how it's been going in the elementary school and

033then we moved act on the items that are listed below here academic standards notice first reading on board policy for selection of instructional materials curriculum review and development the procedures for handling public complaints about instructional library media center materials um first reading on transgender student policy and finally first reading on bullying student and Athletics on bullying we postponed the conversation about student and athletic handbooks for probably the August board meeting going forward I think this is a lot to digest at once and as we begin to talk more about the policy issues here I think we decided all decided we need to spend a little bit more time talking about this let's talk about the policies a little bit and then the handbooks will follow especially once we've acted on the policies so um what

034we're going to have here are items one through eight the first one for sure will be pretty straightforward and then each of these we can decide if we're going to take them one at a time there's a couple of these we may want to group together so before we ask for that then Jamie do you want to have some updates for us yeah just to before we segue into having the conversation regarding the policies more so than a trip to Switzer Switzerland Italy wanted to mention a couple of things tonight I suspect that the board is going to have some reasoned debate we'll also um I'm gonna hear some public comments we know how important it is to remain transparent in order to maintain public trust and that's why you have board meetings in the

035public and not behind closed doors and post your meeting agendas and display transparency don't just talk about it so the board a year ago in June adopted a formal and a new strategic plan with that was a mission statement and values and among those values was included to be accountable and transparent in order to maintain public Trust so you don't just put those things on a piece of paper and embed it in a strategic plan you try to live by that that's part of what we're doing here tonight the district I want to also add would never want a policy or a practice in the district to be perceived as hiding anything from parents in particular I'm only assuming that many folks are here in large part due to a transgender gender diversity policy maybe

036some other policy related matters but along that line we've embedded new language first of all let me say that that particular policy has been in existence for seven and a half almost eight years it's not a new policy and one of the key things that we've added to the policy because we thought it was absent was parent communication and transparency so tonight in addition to emphasizing transparency we want to also display other District values like respecting the dignity Dignity of students fostering a climate of Civility and reasoned debate and listening to community perspectives embracing our diverse views and opinions as a strength in the process of developing important policies there's my little stump speech now to segue that into a couple of legal considerations that are important as the board discusses policy so anytime that

037you revise a policy we need to understand not only what are the Community Values at least do our very best to attempt to develop policies around what we think our community would want that police policy to say and at the same time we have to understand some legal matters associated with those policies so I wanted to share a couple of things I've been asked by a few folks about what are the laws what do the laws say about transgender and gender diverse issues and so on what's the law regarding restroom use what's the law regarding locker room what's the law and um so you know Congress passes laws and if among those laws there's a Title IX Roman numeral nine and that protects all individuals from discrimination based on sex there's Title VII it protects

038employees from just discrimination on sex then there's regulations so now I'm on a different topic not the law now there's regulations and within the regulations the U.S Department of Education develops regulations to implement the laws they have the same force and effect as laws these regulations do Title IX regulations are developed by that Department of Education proposed Title IX amended regulations that are explicitly recognized gender identity are slated to be released a new version an updated version on their part in October we'll see if that happens then there's court cases so you have the law and you've got regulatory agency and then there's things rise to the level of becoming a court case and court case determinations are they're they're binding case law that has the same force and effect of laws and of those

039regulations so an example would be the U.S Supreme Court made a ruling it's called the Bostock case regarding discrimination on the basis of sex under Title VII that included gender identity quiz would be gen Title VII that would be employment seventh Circuit Court which we belong to here in Wisconsin there are 11 circuit courts in the nation we are we belong to we are a part of the seventh Circuit Court and coincidentally a school district in Wisconsin the Kenosha Unified School District um a case was held that went all the way up to the seventh circuit court regarding discrimination and sex sexual stereotyping on the basis of sex under Title IX including gender identity prohibiting a student from using a restroom the sex with which they identify violates Title IX and the equal protection clause

040it was a district court decision eastern district of Wisconsin a federal trial court in the Seventh District in July on July 6th just a few days ago a U.S District Judge issued a temporary restraining order in favor of a student ordering the Mukwonago School District here in Wisconsin to allow a transgender student to use facilities that align with their gender identity so I mentioned there's 11 of these circuit courts in the nation and that we belong to the seventh around the nation there's either four or five other circuit courts federal courts of appeals that have aligned with and said we agree with that seventh Circuit Court decision in favor of transgender student ordering the Mukwonago Area School District to allow transgender student to use facilities that align with their gender identity so when the board

041develops policies they have to embed what they believe to be Community Values they also have some laws regulations and court cases that are binding in law When developing policies they thought it would be relevant for the board if not for the community to hear a little bit about um all that goes into policy development especially in light of at least one of the policies on our agenda this evening well yeah it's either four or five around the nation that have I'm aware of only one there there is one um Circuit Court um that did not rule the same as these others it's a region of our nation that includes Florida and um I don't know the answer to if there are so if there's four or five plus the seventh that have ruled this way

042out of 11 and one has ruled not I don't know about the other five perhaps I I to be honest I don't think they have yet made any ruling and then this could go up to the Supreme Court my guess is this is going to be resolved at a higher level so be my guess I don't know so do you want to talk I think it's important for people to understand that when the suit came to the Seventh District Court that the court found in favor of the student who was wanting to be able to use a restroom that matches their gender identity yeah Kenosha was that seventh court case and so then the school district was ordered to be able to be in compliance with that regulation all right at this point I am

043willing to take public comment about any of these issues that the board will be looking at under 6B please limit your your comments to two minutes and Amanda has the timer we'll see how it goes okay maybe somebody please tell us your name good evening my name is Carmen Gillis and I have two daughters in the River Falls School District I want to address the transgender policy tonight so I'm reading my comments to be succinct and and respectful of the time also it's a little nerve-wracking speaking to this board in 2015 when the original policy was written my oldest daughter was in second grade that same year my husband and I were moving and made the decision to build in the River Falls School District instead of Hudson where my stepson was attending at that

044time we made that decision even though we both worked in the cities and Hudson would have been much more convenient back then I assumed our district was focused on striving to be the best academically and I trusted our district and teachers to provide a quality academic experience for my daughters in recent years it has been heartbreaking to see what my girls are dealing with and exposed to in our schools the insanity of behaviors occurring and allowed in our schools is not healthy for children to be around the policy on transgender students states that the Board of Education supports safety and privacy of all students there is no safety or privacy for my daughters when a male who has a deeply held and sincere sense that's the board's wording that he is now a female is

045in their bathroom or locker room how awful for our girls to worry about a male being in such a private space my girls deserve a quality education focused on academics when they are in school and they definitely should not feel anxious about using a bathroom every student deserves a quality education including our transgender students I am hopeful our board will begin to focus on strengthening academics again in River Falls in the coming years focusing on subjects like Reading Writing Math and Science River Falls is a beautiful city and our schools are an important part of this community and I'm hopeful we can all work together to make our schools better and I just want to note that there's so many people out in the hall and I feel badly I think when we have these

046kind of controversial topics we should move to a larger space so people can feel welcome would anyone else like to address the board would anyone else like to address the board good evening my name is Jackie nicum at a recent I I'm in the city of River Falls at a recent school board meeting it was suggested that those of us who attend and express criticism criticism are being influenced by a national narrative and I want to respond to that schools have implemented policies and practices based on State and National dictates may I list a few Common Core No Child Left Behind transgender policies inclusion equity and diversity social emotional learning and these nationally inspired policies are implemented in our local schools State funding is tied to and dictates the implementation of these policies in one

047way or another so yes we are all influenced by outside forces consequently these programs are leaving many parents with little choice but to take their children out of the public schools and either homeschool or enroll them in private schools but let's bring that back to our local situation the suggestion for a new gender diverse student policy states that gender diverse students are allowed to use the restrooms and locker rooms and or showers that correspond to their gender identity are you suggesting that teenage boys and girls should be showering together in a common area you're okay with that will girls feel safe going into bathrooms or showers when boys can walk in at any time how about changing the policy so that it is fair to all students they are all given two choices you can

048use the facility that corresponds to your birth gender or you can use unisex facilities that policy would be fair to all students no student would be singled out or embarrassed and I can't believe that you would expect girls to shower with young men do the tax paying citizens of this town have any idea that that is your plan for these schools thank you foreign hi my name is Brenda Larson I have a recent graduate and two current students in the school district and I'm here to actually support the work the board is considering on the gender diverse policy so whether or not gender diverse students are acknowledged and their choices are affirmed in the River Falls School District these students will continue to identify themselves in gender diverse ways no school board ruling is going

049to change that but if the school board doesn't put policies in place protecting these students they will have to face going to school each day without the support of school policies and possibly without the protection and support of their teachers and peers the research on this is really heartbreaking showing High rates of suicide and suicide attempts not for all gender diverse youth but for unsupported gender diverse youth so again the stats are really high suicide attempts and rates for unsupported youth that Express themselves in non-conforming gender diverse ways as an advocate for safety and and for high level education for all of our students in the riverfall school district I'm fully in support of what the school board is considering here tonight with the policy as I've seen so far in addition to thinking about

050gender diverse students I'm thinking about my own children I want them to grow up with the knowledge that there is a tremendous amount of diversity in our world and that this diversity should be celebrated not feared I want my own children to know about inclusive language and understand the inclusive policies that they will almost certainly see in their future educational and work settings in a world that is much bigger than River Falls and I want them to be prepared to go out into their post-high school lives with the character and knowledge of what it looks like to be respectful considerate kind and inclusive to everyone they come into contact with thank you [Applause] my name is Jennifer Willis Rivera I have had two students come through River Falls schools I have a daughter and a

051son who is transgender my son was not transgender when going through River Falls High School but is transgender and has been trans for a little over a year so I want to speak to you about what support can mean and about what lack of support can mean the statistics that the last speaker was talking about the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that in their survey that they put out over half of transgendered students have attempted suicide over half so if we're talking about safety for our students over half of these students have attempted suicide my own son has struggled quite a bit and it is so amazing to see when he's affirmed he's really lucky right now because he's in a graduate program where he's getting really good support in the sciences no less from

052his cohort and from his advisor and where he is not getting it has been painful and it has been hard to go through and sometimes even with counseling even with calling me and having conversations having some training in this area it's been hard it has been hard I have had to talk him off the ledge more than once so it's important to think about the safety of these students as well having someone call my student he or him call my my son hear him is so affirming when he went to his first class in graduate school he said he said his name and he said my pronouns are he and him and nobody else in the room did that which was surprising because in this particular class that was something that was important sorry um

053but in another class they did and he felt so much more welcomed there so I I thank you for this policy you will save students lives thank you foreign [Applause] it is really nerve-wracking standing in front of everybody so uh I'm Kellen Wells Mangold I am a resident I have a soon to be second grader and fifth grader in the district I also have a perspective that not everybody in the room has and that I have actually sit in in your chairs in the past I was on the school board very briefly I read the the gender diverse policy and I support it especially since I read through the very shiny strategic plan that you mailed to all of us it touches on goal one which is an equitable support system 2.2 says behavioral expectations

054with core values students first people matter equity and respect goal 2.5 talks about a system of support for mental health as others have talked about so in 2022 the Trevor Project did a survey of thirty four thousand lgbtq Youth and those that had an affirming supportive system had lower rates of suicide attempts 4.2 talks about an effort for EDI fostering an inclusive environment and then five talks about just having policies and operational efforts that focus on the many areas and for lots of different parties involved so I feel like this policy does all of those things you need to implement the Strategic plan that has already been adopted this hits on all of those points I applaud the thoughtful effort of including the parental involvement that wasn't there before and I feel it's really important

055as a parent who has two kids who they don't know who they're going to be yet that they should be able to bring their true authentic selves just as all students should be able to you know their biggest headache right now is figuring out what they're going to build in Minecraft but that may change in the future and they should be able to be an environment where they feel supported so thank you very much [Applause] I too have sat in your spots at the table too I'm Tom westerhouse a retiree from this district 10 years I'm proud to be in the district I'm standing in support of all your policies that have been put to presented uh this evening uh including the bullying policy the instructional materials policy choice of materials the curriculum development process

056and the transgender policy I have worked on policies with some of you and I've worked on them in a lot of districts and I can tell the Blood Sweat and Tears that have been put into this policy and I thank you for that and I can tell also that you've picked up on issues that have been raised to you such as recently mentioned the parental input and so on so I think you've done do do diligence in presenting this policy but I would just like to say on my own behalf that um I really have always believed that public education has really two focuses the first is to raise the entire common good of a community and that includes students of all ages including us oldsters it really is important that that education raises the

057common good and the second part and the courts and and state and Supreme Court and Congress have all supported is also the second part of the role of education is to help the vulnerable those most vulnerable in our society and in our community I started thinking about all the programs that we've been involved in here and other districts throughout the state where that's really other policies special education is about the vulnerable civil rights diversity policies hungry we feed kids who come to us hungry uh poor in low-income poorest families single parents divorce family Sports the equity for boys and girls as Jamie mentioned equal opportunity employer for staff the programs go on and on and on in terms of what is the responsibility of a school district to care for the vulnerable and I think

058we've just heard of some of the vulnerable students that you have in this community in your school district so your policy is spot on in its desire to help those children thanks keep up the good work foreign Thompson resident of River Falls former School Board member so I can identify with the process you're going through I read all of the policies and the proposed changes and I think they are excellent I was so compelled by them that I wanted to come here and just thank you and convey my opinion that they're really excellent policies and and this is really something that's special to me because I am a parent of a gender diverse child we have two kids both went through this district and so I can identify firsthand what it's like for those those

059students and children and people as they get older and graduate and become adults to be in that you know in that situation I would also um encourage you and maybe there's an element of this that I should know about and I don't remember it but I would encourage you to be um be mindful of really educating the the whole District not just the residents but the teachers and staff of these policies because I really see these policies as Tools in a tool kit that teachers and staff have for helping students to be the best that they can be and do the best that they can do so thank you foreign [Applause] hi I'm Andy Branham resident of River Falls for coming up on 20 years I have a student at the River Falls High School

060and he is gender diverse and I love him with all my heart and I wanted to speak to just the some of the language I wanted to make sure that you on the board knew just a little bit about the very specific language that's needed you've been pouring over it I know the language of biological sex is different than gender identity and so gender assigned at Birth it's not something that that is very clear making the distinction between sex assigned at Birth and gender identity is much more of a clear separation between those two definitions so thank you for the policy thank you for the thought and work that's gone into this and uh best of luck [Applause] okay and easier lumping along um I'm Donna O'Keefe I'm from River Falls Township and I also

061want to address some issues with the the transgender policy um just to clarify I don't have any problems with having a transgender policy one of the first things though I did want to point out was the difference between a gender assignment and biological sex assignment at Birth there is a difference and it probably should be biological rather than the gender assignment comes excuse me by choice um the only other thing that I I want to clarify from speaking with a number of parents is that it seems that I don't think most people have a problem with having the bathroom policy there it's just that there isn't clarification on how you're going to implement that other schools have dealt with this all over the country and so what exactly does unisex mean how are you going

062to remodel and create new facilities Locker facilities so that there's more privacy involved for the students that are concerned about it or are you just going to make do with what's in each facility that's one of their biggest concerns and um the other the other concern that I have is um some of the terminology um the terminology and the uh support the student uh the definition of will honor the student's request is somewhat unclear in that does it mean that the request will be considered or does it mean that um that the staff will comply with it because again that's a legal issue it's been determined that you cannot compel speech in your staff or create a situation where employees want to resign or even limit their employment because of their belief system so I

063just want to point that out when you're considering revision are those maybe some clarifications that need to be made thank you Nate would you see if there's anybody in the hall Mr Sherman would you see if there's anybody in the hall who wishes to address us as well uh good evening my name is Hal Watson I live here in River Falls and have three kids that have come through the school system I have read the policies three through eight and I just want to say how proud I am of this board and I support the policies as as you've Rewritten them or drafted them I think that uh these young people deserve our support and I think you're on the right track so thank you very much for your effort here [Applause] my name is

064Janet Ellinger and I live here in River Falls I am part of a River Falls pflag Group which provides support education and advocacy for the lgbtqia plus I got it out uh community and their allies and families and friends one of the things that we do are some panels in five area high schools River Falls being one and we go in three or four of us we do a little bit of education and then we tell our stories and then we take their questions and we have conversations with these students um finally this policy and and whatever we do in the school district the weight of it the blessing of it the dealing with it lies most heavily on the students and so I'm going to share with you just a few of the comments

065because we always ask the kids um fill out a little survey thing so we know questions you have and comments you would have these are some of their comments I'm not a non-barrier non-binary masculine leaning teen too scared to come out y'all come and talk and made me feel more secure thank you this isn't really for me I didn't need it but I'm sure it was really helpful to a lot of my classmates words can hurt everyone is different take pride in who you are don't judge people on appearance be nice be true to yourself be a good listener for your friends this broadened my horizons I learned ways to support my friends this helped me I've been in a dark place you all help me so much thank you from the bottom of my

066heart I think everybody in this room wants the very best for the kids in this community so you and we have a lot of work yet to do but I too want to thank you for your efforts we've heard from some bumps in the road so thank you and keep up the good work [Applause] I didn't realize I was that short my name is Vicki Cobian and just real quickly I've been a resident for 45 years I think all three of my children went through public schools in in River Falls I've been a teacher here I've been a teacher of Middle School of eighth grade for a total of 24 years in three different towns mostly New Richmond some well acquainted with middle school students I have children my own children who have trans friends

067who have been in our home I want I'm a volunteer right now at Rocky Branson and west side and there's so many things I'd like to say but honestly I'm humbled by the people who have already spoken those of you who shared your personal experiences God bless you parents who came up here um and really all of you who spoke so so beautifully so eloquently about something that's important important to all of us obviously um I guess my own my own children as I was about to say have have humbled me and have taught me um greater tolerance I thought I didn't need that I thought I had that I thought it was always tolerant of differences in people but when my own kids talk to me on this issue because they have friends who

068are trans they really make me see even better even more clearly how much I need to grow how much I need to accept because I I like to think of myself as a good person and I won't use the word Christian I've I've had a lot of there's been a lot of Christian involvement in my life I don't think it comes down to that I've noticed nobody else has used that word yet either honestly let's just say good let's just say we want and many of us actually want to be christ-like okay so whether you find that in Christian groups and Christian churches or whether you find it elsewhere those values of compassion and tolerance and love for everyone for for humankind um or I think what most of us are aiming for and that's

069certainly my goal in life um I want to say I've I've had discussions with relatives who use this language say one more thing real fast um I can't imagine I just can't imagine what it's like to be even a person who is who is gay for example or person who is trans I just can't imagine it and they say in a very rejecting way um we are called upon to imagine it okay we are all called upon to imagine it whether or not it's been your experience I have a friend who just lost her husband I've never lost my husband but I cannot try to imagine it can't I and I need to and that's what I think we all need to do with this issue try to imagine and be compassionate [Applause] hi my

070name is Stacy Hansen I have two daughters who just graduated from River Falls High School yay um and the transgender issue is very close to me when my kids came home probably in eighth grade and said look we have transgender friend at school I had concerns I like some others thought oh what would that be like imagine myself on a business trip alone walking into a bathroom at maybe Midway by myself and there's someone of the opposite sex in the bathroom and I thought oh that would be scary I wouldn't like that right and then I got to know this person this transgender person he spent almost every day for several years in my home with my kids he almost became a third child to me and there is nothing that he wanted more than

071to walk into a bathroom of his gender he was uh he was born female was transitioning to mail he wanted nothing more than to be at the Mall of America for example walk into a men's bathroom take care of his business like we all do and walk out that's what he wanted and I think this policy is the right step toward that because in my personal experience over years in multiple situations he wasn't trying to walk into a bathroom of people of the opposite sex and scare them and act like a boogeyman and you know try to do something perverted he wanted to go to the bathroom walk in walk out and continue on his day that's all he wanted and I think this policy is a really good step toward that thank you [Applause]

072hi my name is Katie Kroll I have four kids in the school district I was not planning on speaking so I have no notes um but as I listen tonight I think it's so I don't know it just hits my heartstrings because I think when we might have a difference of opinion to say that you know we don't want our kids showering in certain bathrooms with transgender gay or people with different sex orientations we don't have compassion or we don't have good hearts or we don't want people to be inclusive or kind like we are all those I have a good heart I'm a Christian I have a gay brother I have friends who are transgender what I'm saying is I want all of us to be inclusive which means all of our kids should

073feel safe so when you're taking minority and putting them in showers who are transgender but they might be gay or they might have different sexual orientations that they might still like the same sex that they're in the shower with makes me feel uncomfortable I this this whole topic has opened up great conversation with my four children and I'm thankful for that I'm thankful for the growth and opportunity to have these types of discussions and this isn't about us as parents it's about our kids and my kids all had said this would make them feel uncomfortable so now who's not being inclusive that's what I would like to ask like we need to be inclusive what you mentioned earlier about saying hey let's open up bathrooms do unisex bathrooms whatever it needs to be I want

074a solution but I don't want my kids being the ones now being you know singled out or feeling uncomfortable taking a shower that's just what is inclusive it's including all but what we're doing is we're flipping it over now so I would just challenge all of you to think of that and I am kind everybody in here is probably kind of has Great Hearts just because we have a different of opinion doesn't make me less bad people I'm shaking because I'm nervous but I just open your eyes a little bit and I think it's just mad about it's not about us and our opinions and our political whatever it is it's about our kids talk to your kids about it see how they feel because I know darn well I would not feel comfortable if

075somebody who is trans who looked at me in the shower because their sexual orientation looked at me and thought I was attractive that would make me feel uncomfortable or that would make me feel uncomfortable so that's it controllers that's it no problem ma'am it's your turn hi thanks my name is Cindy Carnahan as of next as of this August I will have lived here for 24 years I've had two children who graduated from River Falls 2010 and 2017. I'm also a professor and um an academic administrator I wanted to thank you for the policies I read through all of them and I think I know how hard it is to write those and I think they're well written I think they're reasonable I appreciate the expertise the way in which you defer to the expertise

076of your teachers and others and choosing curriculum allowing for complaint processes I think all of that is really good I think also the the transgender policy in particular is very reasonable I think it's very well written I think it allows for a lot of case-by-case consideration which is very important so I just wanted to thank you I'm in favor of those policies and I appreciate the work you put into it because I know how hard it is to do that work so thank you very much thank you hi my name is Mike mitro I'm a parent of three students in the district and firstly I want to thank you all for all of the hard work that you're putting into considering the policy the intention and the thoughtfulness that goes into this language does matter

077and so have been open to considering how you frame the the structure of the policies is important but I also want to talk about like the lack of like so we're dealing in hypotheticals I think in a lot of these scenarios where we're looking at it from the perspective of worst case scenarios and on some level but we don't have all of the information yet as the policy hasn't hasn't been put into Force if I'm not mistaken like there's a section of it that's been in existence for seven years where the board is making some revisions to that but the policy itself has been in force for seven years and I to my knowledge I don't know haven't there hasn't been um and catastrophic outcomes from having that policy in place so I'm suggesting that

078we view this through the lens of curiosity rather than resent like resistance and just see what happens like uh I don't think the intent is for this to be the Wild West in the showers and in the bathrooms that's I'm pretty sure that's not the case in fact I think it's the opposite of that right we're trying to make it accessible and supportive of all of this of the students and how they identify um but I think we had to take a step back and just view it through that lens of curiosity rather than resistance and see how this shakes out because this is one of those inevitabilities I think like change is inevitable change to policy change to identity change to social structures and I just think it's important to take a step back

079and just wait and see like what happens next thank you [Applause] thank you I am that short my name is Tanya Schmidt I am a parent of a student who just graduated and also of a high school student still in this District I too am in support of these policies I I feel like on some level there is a Viewpoint that gender diversity is some sort of new crazy fad when it has always existed gender diverse people have always existed they have not always had support however as has already been pointed out and we know that language is a big part of that support and the language that we use here tonight and the language that is used in our buildings and the language in your policies are showing learning and growth that are also

080a big part of living in an ever-changing World in society and yes there is some discomfort in getting used to gender diversity there is some discomfort in getting used to the lgbtq Spectrum and moving into areas that many of us haven't had a lot of experience with but when we are really on the path of The Human Experience then we do move Beyond simply being uncomfortable and learn to grow and learn together and truly welcome these lessons that are there before us so again I thank you for the language you've put forth in this policy in them in full support of it foreign I'm not that short yet my name is Carol Motas I've lived in the city of River Falls for like 47 years I'm still working on being a townie very hard um

081the issue of gender identity is not going to go away and everybody has to accept that but I can see why for some people it is an uncomfortable topic it's something that is each of us are on a different term path uh to understanding what it is and so what I would really like to urge people this evening is to accept that it isn't going away it is throughout Society is it it's throughout many societies and let's support the school board in making this work let's make it work for all of our children and so we need all the voices to come to the table with but with that one purpose and then I I I've I have every faith in the school district and the citizens of River Falls that we will make this

082work foreign out okay there you go um I graduated in 2014 and I've been hearing a lot from parents who are very concerned about their kids well I was a student in the school district um went through the entire school system here and I was on the swim team I showered in those locker rooms I changed in those locker rooms and I just want to express my support for what you're doing because it is incredibly important and you're growing up you're going through puberty you feel uncomfortable no matter what's happening to you and you're looking at people's bodies because it's great growing and it's changing and that's just something that happens in life now I also want to point out to an issue that hasn't been discussed the one about the social studies trip to

083Italy and Switzerland um so I actually live in Europe I've been living there for five years I intending on returning to Europe um I just want to make sure if that's passed if that goes forward that students who don't have the means but desperately want to go and experience the world and have a growth of person have the ability to do so because it shouldn't just be for those with higher means thank you would anyone else like to address the board this evening I'm going to start with minutia um first if I may ask why are we in the board and the language involved can you introduce yourself sorry moving from District compliance officer or district attorney sir what is your Cameron Connors I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm yeah I'm sorry Cameron Connors I am

084a resident and have a child in the school district um first a question sorry um District compliance officer or District administer has been removed for superintendent what is the purpose of that or reasoning behind that we'll get to that okay in two different terms you can call them a superintendent you can call them a district administrator okay um so minutia we'll go to that um for that but I think there's a lot of people who are concerned and it seems like with the showering thing and stuff like that but there's I would like to point out in the locker room and shower section it very clearly says that what best me meets the needs of both trans the transgender student and other District students so if they're going to make accommodations it would most likely

085be for both parties involved so that those are not um uncomfortable students besides the non-gender conforming one minutia thing um my kids have friends who are not gender conforming I've met other kids who are like this as well and they don't care so we're all getting into this in some sort of fight and the kids don't care so whatever most and best predicts protects those individual students I would say go for that and that's the kids don't care but that's it [Applause] foreign so there's a lot of policies for a lot of comments but I guess we'll stay with this one the the blue sheet here when when you build a policy obviously you start from the bottom you build you start with definitions which you did and I appreciate the definitions in this policy

086because because transgender says a person assigned one way of sex or gender at Birth but in a binary system identifies differently thank you for saying we live in a binary system that needs to be said you said it I appreciate that because there's a lot of confusion about that we are in a binary system give me a hundred people take samples of DNA you'll get only XX or XY we're in a binary system but thank you that's what the policy says we're in a binary system secondly it says that gender expression um or no gender identity is a deeply held and sincere sense or psychological knowledge so what you're saying is is that a change in identity is psychological okay I appreciate that too so based on those two definitions you built a system and

087you built a policy that I think we all agree we need one now I can disagree with the bathroom I don't like kids being exposed to people of the opposite sex even though they identify but aside from that I really really want to make this last point and it is has to do with the legal rights and it talks about District staff will honor transgender students requests to be addressed by a chosen name or pronoun what you're saying is if they don't they'll be discipline I'm asking David Bell I'm asking the board are you really prepared to discipline a conscientious objector somebody who works on this staff or is ready to sign a contract if they say I cannot in good conscience um call somebody by a preferred pronoun when I know for a fact

088they belong to a different sexual orientation are you willing to do that because I think you owe it to all the faculty and the staff to know where they stand if they make that objection and refrain from doing that we have court cases across the country I appreciate that thank you thank you [Applause] so this is the empty sleeve um I'm Patsy warwee and I'm a parent in the district with children at the elementary and middle school levels um and that was a perfect segue into actually why I came here today was um I wanted to um ask that perhaps we put in um some definition and some acknowledgment of intersex um humans because two percent of humans are born in such a way that they do not conform to what we all believe is

089X Y or XX um and so that can be a variation in their biology in their um genitals and what's outside can be inside what's inside can be outside um and so doctors May in fact assign them agender at Birth or decide oh there was an oops here as has happened in a very famous case um and they because the external genitalia was not no longer looked normal they decided to give the child a completely different gender and not tell them because he wouldn't know well guess what he knew he was a boy so I think that's important for us to realize this is not new these are not new humans this is human nature and we should treat humans and children in such a way that helps them be able to focus on their

090own bodily needs like using the toilets for what they're used for which we all use them for instead of thinking of them as some sort of Peep Show or um gosh predatory manner um so I really I was so glad to read this because I'm I'm actually really proud of this work um that you guys have been doing um and I was just hoping that perhaps and I think you kind of have it in there but maybe go so far as to include intersex because again it's two percent of our student population thank you would anyone else like to address the board this evening okay hello David hint um so I wasn't prepared to write anything or to present or anything but with the policies and entirely all of them I just want to do

091what's your name okay I'm sorry I missed it yep h-i-n-t-z um so I'm a a parent of two in the district I'm a mental health professional I'm a Community member come a variety of hats but one of the things that kind of speaks to me is really just the inclusion of this policy as well as like the other policies with the the curriculum and some of that stuff in the occlusion because so I am a gay identified individual um I've got like in the two kids in the district um and with the inclusivity it really matters not only for the kids that are in our district but the community as a whole right so we have conversations at home all the time about um content and what families look like so our family does not

092look like the typical family and so that inclusion really matters for what that looks like I'm also a sex therapist um one thing I think it would be maybe helpful and with the policies is also separating or defining gender identity versus sexual orientation because they are not the same and it seems like a lot of people get confused with that um this is just a side comment that maybe isn't necessary but when we're talking about sexual orientation if we're concerned with that in the shower people are I mean I was gay in locker rooms I was interested in boys um I was still in them and they're still still in the shop the showers and the locker rooms with people it didn't really matter so the gender diverse policy wouldn't impact that concern but I

093will say even as my own personal experience being in the showers was terrifying kind of like standing up here right now because I'm putting my whole stuff out there um yeah but in a nutshell just again huge appreciation for all of the things that the scoreboard does and the district here as a mental health professional I do work with kids in lots of different districts who are trans as well and their experiences there are very different um so again like I I can't express how much I appreciate it so thank you [Applause] hi I'm Julia schmidtmeshi I just graduated this year um I wanted to say that I support this it's very similar to the policies we've had when I was all in school um it worked well nobody cared um it was great and

094I would like to add that I would support that edition of intersex on there and the change of the word gender when referring to assigned sex at Birth thank you [Applause] I don't see anybody moving all right my name is Martin krutzman I live in River Falls I got three kids in the district um wasn't gonna talk tonight regardless of what you might think um I know I think there's two things that I know to be true one is what has already been said by several people here here which is this is entirely complicated um fraught with emotion it's uh multi-layered and it's certainly not going anywhere I think that we can all agree on that that's one thing that I think is very true the other thing that I think is true is since

095I've been to more board meetings Town board meetings Township board meetings City Council meetings County board meetings school board meetings and I could probably count I have a general distrust of anybody that's elected um I think that most of them are all liars I think that they're mostly thieves um and so I go into these meetings with that heavy dose of skepticism of this agreed with a lot of things this board's done especially regarding coveted protocols I wasn't quiet about those things what I and asking I guess because I think that you come into these meetings with decisions made I think the public comments are part of what you have to do and I would say thanks but I'm not going to it's a part of what you need to do to hear what people

096are saying I think you come in with decisions made what I'm asking you is to prove me wrong like I come in thinking this is all a bunch of garbage I think that you know how you're going to vote I'm asking you to pay attention to the law which is what Jamie talked about earlier pay attention to what Wisconsin's doing understanding that a lot of these laws are going to get overturned they're going to get appealed it's going to have that's part of our legal process but I gotta get over some personal issues with trust I know that myself but my kids are a part of this and so it's up to me to speak on their behalf and say I'm going to do whatever I can to protect them we all feel that way

097and so on either side of this we all think that way so prove me wrong be thoughtful in your discussions be intentional in your discussions and be deep in your discussions and prove me wrong thanks foreign [Applause] you know I think uh could you tell us your name sir oh Chris stolp I think uh we're wasting a lot of time of segregating a certain minority what we really need to do with our students and our community regardless of what where you fall politically or religiously or whatnot is treat respect to everyone you're fat you're this you're that you're gay you're lesbian who cares be a good person respect each other don't be a bully I've I've grown up with it my son's grown up with it and you know what I don't care if you're

098gay lesbian or otherwise let's not single people out and say oh well we need special accommodations for them no everybody needs a special accommodation to be respected and treated as a human being because my life is no better than yours or anybody else's so I think that talking about the transgender people and whatnot yes okay maybe they're been marginalized but in doing so it's reverse discrimination for other people too because I've experienced that I've been told oh well you're just a straight white male Christian screw you your opinion doesn't matter I have defended my gay and lesbian friends and been persecuted for being a straight white male so you know what be nice to everybody might not like you we might not get along but you know what respect me and I will respect you

099and let's come to the table let's have conversation and respect one another that's all I have to say [Applause] anyone else my name is Cheryl siechlag I have two kids in the school district incoming freshmen this fall boy girl twins um I think we're never going to make everybody happy it's not gonna happen um I think this gentleman nailed it on the head respect everybody um I guess if I'm going to be completely honest I know very little about transgender and maybe a lot of you think I shouldn't be here because I know very little about it and then that's fine you're entitled to your own opinions um my main concern is uh my children's safety and I just want to know more about how we intend to keep all of them safe specifically are

100you saying that my 14 year old daughter is going to be in the locker room with a potential 18 year old male no that that's not I see this is I'm asking maybe I need some more things clarified for me so I can understand better because that's where my confusion is lying um if someone could maybe help me with understanding this a little bit better since this is my first board meeting I don't know if there's anyone here who could help me with that but um understanding the policy a little bit better that I would really like that well the board is anxious thank you for your comments the board is anxious to be able to hear from anyone who would like to address the board but once this is done we can actually get

101down to the work of the policy so I'm thinking we should go on are we only talking about the gender issue at this point or others we are talking about anything under 6B okay so and I'm I'm not I arrive late so I didn't get an agenda but I you know I was St Paul public school Montessori teacher had gender uh could you tell us your name please Brenda petta I'm so sorry and you know our classroom was just as you described people came to our class they knew they were loved they knew they were supported you know parents uh at the end of my having their students you know one cried because he wasn't going to be in my class anymore I had others write me letters thanking me for all the support you

102know that I gave the family during the time that their child was with me so but my concern is like yours is let's let's have respect for everyone and that means every family and thank you Jamie for saying that transparency is so important that's my issue I would love to sit down with anybody in this class in this room and talk to you about what I have found in the library at the middle school because I think we could all agree that but the books there with this address is 871. so is that in number six we're talking about the policy 871 okay so if this is this is in regard to 871 I would I would just like to question your um inclusion that you must read a whole book uh I met with

103Jamie in may I think he was really shocked at some of the information I gave him on what is in some of these books and you know I would just ask I I did before I met with Jamie I read three books I had two others on reserve that I hadn't read yet it was very difficult for me to read the profanity for me to read about the first time someone had oral sex to read about um a pedophilia a father stepfather raping um his stepdaughter I could go on and on watching porn and detailing what was happening in the in the porn I think we could all agree that an 11 year old that that's that's not appropriate and I would also like because age appropriateness is often mentioned I would like to see

104how that's determined because for my granddaughter at 11 I didn't like for her reading a book at least with so much profanity and so one of the things that we're going to do is to talk about the process that parents or community members would have if they have a question too all right so we ready to go on anybody else okay we are going to move through the recommended actions that we have under 6B and the first one is to Pro to approve the preliminary grades 10 through 12th um trip to Italy and Switzerland is there a motion for that approval please so move thank you Alan is there a second thank you Mike any further questions or comments we had a very extensive I would say was it certainly half an hour last time

105about what they're going to be doing including talking about fundraising to make sure that this would be a financial opportunity for all of our students so we have discussed that is there anything else on the board that you would like to have before we grant that approval all right all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried on an annual basis the school board is responsible for approving an academic standards public notice this also was discussed during the last Ed program committee as their emotion please thank you Lindsay thank you Ellen further questions or comments about this this is an annual process it is and it helps it it designates the standards that we are going to be teaching within our schools and that are reflected in our curriculum as set by the state

106anything all those in favor aye aye the motion is carried all right now we are going to move on to looking at the first reading of revised School part policy 361.1 related to the selection of instructional materials school board members this is on page 30. so many here um Jamie do you want to make any comments about this channel before we get going let's see foreign of late haven't spent a whole lot of time looking at this one to be honest with you it was occupied by another policy in recent days but um essentially there was really just some improvements that we wanted to make that basically outlined the process for how we select our instructional materials we Define and hear there's core instructional material and then there's supplementary the core as this policy reads

107explains that you know there's this sequence from one grade level to the next and within certain subject areas that we want to require more of a district level oversight into that curriculum whereas supplemental means that teachers have some flexibility to add to that core instruction we make a special note to say you know but you got to be careful when you do that because as you're bringing in supplemental material we don't want you to deviate too far from the agreed upon core standards we need to stay the course with what your department your teacher team and the collaborative efforts in developing The Core Curriculum that was established [Music] um we we give some guidelines I guess you could call it we talk about things to keep in mind in the general criteria for selecting materials

108things that we should be reminded of when we're making those selections um probably the most significant change I think in this policy really would have to do not only with some of those additional pieces of what to look for in that process but we're detailing that recommendation to the superintendent is made and to the Board of Education based based on the involvement of that selection committee and so ultimately in other words whatever let me use this example if at the elementary level we're going to select a completely new math series a completely new English series um ultimately there's groups of staff that work on that selection but it comes before the board for final approval um I don't think uh that that's my Reader's Digest version of those revisions at this point by School Board

109policy 361.1 related to the selection of instructional materials so moved thank you Bob thank you Cindy for the second any further questions or comments I think it was Mr Thompson who asked this question um and it might be worth answering at this point as we move forward with all of these policies but I think his question was are these policies being shared with staff members and how are they being uh advised and informed as to how these policies will be implemented so does somebody want to just share yeah I remember I don't even have it up on my computer right now but I remember there's a part in there that talks about once that that determination has been made that appropriate training would be provided to staff and certainly staff that would be involved in

110the selection would be informed of the policy as they begin that process the district has developed a new curriculum cycle that solidifies in a more formal sense how we go about that process it's kind of a six stage cycle and we've had a presentation to the board here in recent months regarding how that process will go and the involvement of people along the way in developing the curriculum but so yes people would be well informed our staff would be well informed of the policy and um again there could be some Associated training requirements that go with that and obviously purchasing and so on that that follows purchasing the materials the textbooks the resources Etc yeah honestly I don't know that this is it that one is it also referenced when it is updated then I

111both will need to go a step further than just talk well and I and I think because that's a good question Lindsay but it's it's um in this District this is a board and our expectations of the administration of our faculty is we don't play gotcha and that's that wouldn't be part of our our way of going about stuff so we wouldn't want to just wait until somebody did something and go gotcha there's conversations that go on all the time I've set in on some of those meetings I know the communication that has to happen between the principal and the faculty members and the faculty members within their departments and the administrative team on down I think our expectation of a board is that we don't get to this point and there might be a

112point it might be in a unique instance where we have it but I think we've got the safeguards in place that would minimize that but at a certain point yeah probably this this could reach a standoff but I doubt it um and I doubt that we couldn't work through this sort of thing with the proper expectations and training up front substantial conversation about this this is not a new policy here in coming new so the fact that we aren't having a lot of conversation about this tonight doesn't mean we haven't talked about it quite a bit it means we did our homework in Ed program so anything else all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried now we are going to turn to um the first reading of revised School Board policy 330

113related to the curriculum review and development and so when you look at this this is a policy that was passed initially in 1991. Allison maybe you did you do this one then probably but it's been reviewed several times and revised the changes this time are relatively minor what we are looking at is a cross-reference to 361.1 as well as a new reference to our curriculum review cycle which is now going to be six years in terms of this comprehensive cycle compared to five years and then it links the actual process that we will be going through in terms of reviewing our curriculum so it's relatively modest in terms of the adjustments the adjustments are directed to changes in how we are doing business is there a motion please that we approve the first reading of

114revised School Board policy 330 curriculum review and development thank you Lindsay Allison was that you and again just to comment I think one of the biggest things with this I'm looking at Nate with this is but the work that's been done in this last year is it looks like we're moving from five to six the larger changes here were were really we're structuring a calendar so that this is going to happen more certainly on a regular schedule we had it on a schedule but it was not as um as regular as we'd want it to be this really um this the schedule and the work that's been done this last year really lines this up so that we're we're in a much better position to review these in a systematic way as they come forward

115we'll be very deliberate yes any other questions or comments all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried all right now we are going to look at the first reading of revised School Board policy 871 the rule for procedures for handling public complaints about instructional and library media center materials so I think that while we look at this let's also look at the next document and we can take um the next two together because one is the rule and one is the exhibit so there are some changes here um they are we recently it was the last date that we looked at this just just a year ago so this is an example of how the board comes back every so often if we do feel as if we need to make it able

116to make an adjustment um most of this the changes are to make it clearer to be more precise in terms of what the process would be I think I'll take a motion and then we can have discussion is there a motion to approve the uh 871 the rule as well as the exhibit second Cindy thank you Bob all right any some things that we should specifically point out Nate do you have anything Ellen Jamie with the um process in the event that someone makes a an appeal or a complaint regarding instructional or Library materials that really the the meat of the revisions involve the process and providing greater definition than what had previously existed in the policy we defined the process of the review more thoroughly and frankly um the weight of the people included

117on the committee that were reviewing the complaint has been more equally balanced to include fewer Educators fewer School Employees and more parent community members at Large I would say those would be the two most substantive changes defining the process and adjusting the committee makeup and on the exhibit an important addition is that in order for any reconsideration process to begin regarding materials people who are making the request have to confirm that they've read or viewed all of the material it just when additional comment Stacy just doesn't wear this where did this come from we've been talking about this for several months now and um to a large degree what this does is it cleans up language on a policy so that when we have the expectation that our staff follow the policy we've gone back

118in looked at the policy and cleaned it up more so that we're more comfortable with this policy and I think it's more specific I think it is clear to parents students teachers and administrators all the way around and the form that goes with it so I think this is the result of a lot of conversation and a lot of time so it looks pretty straightforward to me and it might be beneficial Stacy to point out to some of the people in audience are people who have brought these concerns forward in the past um from my perspective the biggest change in the policy is that we are Guardians of the process and the board of the Board of Education will ensure that an appropriate process of selection of materials by people who are trained in education

119that's where the buck stops and we will guard that process people have certain right to appeal and in fact people have pointed out things that do need to be looked at um and that's perfectly legitimate uh and should be done but what we don't want to do and what has been removed from the policy I think the policy clarified is that this group of seven elected people aren't going to vote on book by book is this going to be in or is that going to be out we're going to oversee the process and ensure that a food process is in place that supports good education and input and questioning from the community but it won't be politicized by elected people that makes sense anything else anybody would like to bring up and highlight all those

120in favor aye opposed the motion is carried all right now we are going to turn to the first reading of revised School Board policy 411 the rule related to gender diverse students we also have 411.2 they're linked regarding bullying and cyber bullying to point out too when we're doing this is his first readings we're voting to prove the first reading all of these are first rankings correct yep yep so this is where many people have had questions and so I think it's important for people to realize the latest one that is hot off the press is blue and I gave mine away so could somebody send over a blue one for me please two three and three yeah three there were some I could tell in some of the comments tonight that there are some

121misconceptions about the content of this policy so before we begin discussing I am going to ask you Jamie if you would be willing to help us to go through to recognize what's here I'll do it with you so that we're very clear about what it is well I'm going to avoid trying to Wordsmith anymore on the definitions but we're taking notes with some of the feedback earlier um we just to back up a second it's been referred to a couple times this is a this is not a new policy this has been around for seven plus years these are revisions we I'll tell you how it started the fact that this even really originally landed on our radar screen is there was a case in the Sun Prairie School District in Wisconsin uh where a

122person that was born a boy apparently as the media reported this hopped in the shower with three or four girls and um I had a board member bring this to my attention I said oh I haven't heard that one yet we'd better look into it as we looked into the Sun Prairie story we obviously then turned to our board policy and we recognized that we had nothing in there that said the word showers didn't didn't say anything about it talked about restrooms talked about locker room didn't say anything about showers and so in addressing a couple of perceptions that I've heard tonight the I can tell you right now that the spirit and intent of this policy does not intend to have um a person who's born a girl hop in the shower with three

123or four guys that's not the intent of the policy and there may be people here that have a differing opinion on that you there may be people that think that we can't draw those kind of lines but I'm just trying to be as transparent as the day is long to say that there's a process in this policy that addresses that shower issue and it outlines options to be considered and it says that ultimately Administration is going to make a decision on which option to go with I can tell you right now that the option is not going to be that we're going to run into a situation like some prairie did curious drop the mic end of story not happening if you want to differ on a restroom topic stick to your commentary on that

124but let's not let's not suggest that this policy suggests something different than what it's intended to in particular regarding the showers so we have a section now that talks about supporting the student that was not in the old policy talks about in that process we want to play it out play the scenario a student comes talks to a principal administrator counselor is looking for some supports so that section talks about how we're going to about go about doing that the other next section uh parent Guardian communication and or consent also is an addition to the policy previously we were silent on that issue we didn't say whether we're going to talk to the parents or not we did intend to say that we weren't going to do that we just the policy was absent of

125that and we felt it was important for us to be very deliberate and purposeful and put language in this policy that talks about how we have every intent in doing so that we want to continue to be partners with parents as we do every day on any other topic this is no different I mentioned in my opening comments before we heard from community members that the last thing we would want is for any policy this one in particular to be perceived that we're either writing policy or that we have a practice that were hiding things from parents I'm hoping that you don't see anything in this policy that would suggest that we added a paragraph regarding the legal rights I made reference at the beginning of our meeting regarding some case law and discrimination policies

126whether we all agree with them like them don't like them it's a law period so then we get into names pronouns restroom use locker room and showers was added there again these options that are discussed about how we're going to do our very best to find an appropriate accommodation somebody pointed out that we also placed in this policy if I can find it what are you looking for that a part of these considerations we're going to include everybody at the table what's up what what's best for everybody and that um you know if you if if you really want to play out options which we we don't have time for tonight and nor is this the time or the place to do it but if you were to play out a scenario where um I'll

127I'll say this to the board right now um within this policy if you play it out in practice so there's a student that let's say they're a high school student they go to their counselor they say listen I got to talk to somebody um I'm in this situation I'm transgender of gender diverse whatever their choice of language is I need to talk to somebody about it the very first question that I think that should be asked would be where are your parents at with this have you talked with your parents have you engaged your parents in the conversation needs to be the first thing that we try to solicit with site we try to encourage we try to facilitate we try to help the student navigate that conversation and so I don't know if you

128need me to go through in more of a sequential step but we the last thing I'll mention because of some Amanda when did you put this policy out on board book where it would have been public so if anybody saw Friday's version Saturday or Sunday the blue piece has been revised as of oh I don't know I'm going to say maybe 5 55 this evening and it's an attempt to do so by hearing not just some input input from Individual board members but also from community members that have outreached from no less than probably seven different conversations with one attorney who is respected in the field and considered to be an expert in this department conversation with other professionals at the University that have knowledge and expertise in these matters and so on one hand

129I'm apologizing for the fact that what was posted on Friday is different in version blue which is now blue is posted on our website it's not intended that that was never intended to present something on Friday and show up here with something different um it's just that there was so many revisions and I tried with this Blue version to uncomplicate it to not have as many strikethrough and paragraphs that were completely stricken from the old copy to the new version and for transparency we brought copies and if you didn't get one there is a full copy of the pre-existing policy the way it was before we ever touched this one if you want to see it and lay it side by side to the blue instead of trying to figure out all the revisions that

130have been made Here There and Everywhere that would probably be my suggestion to to do that if you are so inclined so because the bathroom issue and the showers I think are the things that came up the most let's make sure that everybody's really clear about what this proposal is on the top of the second page it talks about the legal rights of the student and so that is what is occasioning our suggestion or the the way that this is written that students all students are welcome to use a bathroom that matches their gender identity that they are the ones that are choosing that because that is their legal right that is supported by case law we do have unisex bathrooms available in all of our buildings and so that every student every student every

131person would have that option when you look at the the locker room and showers this is where there is some difference so at this point what would happen will be a meeting where we can ascertain what the needs of the students are and how we would be able to best meet those you'll see enlisted one through five at the bottom of page two that there are some of the options using a private area within a public locker room bathroom with the stall door privacy a curtain there'd be a separate changing and or shower area in a private area use of an alternative private area and access to the locker room corresponding to the students sex assigned at Birth there would be access to the locker room corresponding to the student's gender identity all of this

132would be options that would be determined during a conversation that would meet the best that would aim to meet the needs of all of our students correct any student and all of those would be taken into account something else to highlight is that this policy now says that we will be in compliance with wiaa Athletics in terms of what those expectations are and so if they adjust we will adjust as well because that is what our policy is linked to the language under that athletic section was previously listed a bunch of the language from the wiae and we just eliminated it and wrote it generic as a reference to wiaa in the event they changed something it's we follow that that plan that guideline those rules it keeps us up to date um are there

133other things that we should highlight here it also talks about the board's expectation that students receive age-appropriate learning opportunities regarding their sex-based harassment and how to prevent it just like we would do with all forms of harassment you know um Stacy I think the most fundamental thing is we need a policy that follows the law number one we're a policy-based board and we need a policy on this that's clear and easy to understand and we need one that follows the law and regardless of what anyone might say about how we ought to push the envelope and challenge the law go against it whatever I'm not going to spend this District's resources fighting a federal court case there's going to be plenty other districts and people around there who are going to be fighting over this

134one for right now we need to going forward we need to be sure that we're compliant with the law we're attentive first and foremost to the needs of our students and that we continue to watch this and monitor this because I suspect this won't be the last revision that happens to this policy in in the next in years to come here um so when I see things like under restroom use unisex bathrooms are available to all students at any time no student will be compelled to use a unisex bathroom or a gender-specific bathroom for any reason that that what appears to be to some people a simple solution will just say to those students you have to use the unisex bathrooms the federal Court's telling us you can't do that you can't require that so

135we can't break the law by doing that so right now that's why we're saying these things furthermore if I may in the Kenosha case that I mentioned earlier that the seventh Circuit Court made a ruling on that decision involved the Kenosha Unified School District paying eight hundred thousand dollars and required the district to Grant the student access to the facilities consistent with their gender identity to your point could cost a lot of money it costs a lot of time and effort and um distraction to it so I don't want to minimize any of this I just I think that right now we need to conform to the law to the best of our ability but also understand that the needs of our students are important here and I think we had some really good comments

136here tonight from everybody I mean I'm really struck by the sincerity of the comments tonight and I I really appreciate that everybody here is about the kids right making looking out what's a good best for the kids one of our challenges of course is we got 3 500 kids in this district and almost 18 000 people that live in this district and a seven member board in a an Administration here we're not all going to agree so this is what you know we're supposed to do the best we can with what we've got and we're trying to do that and that's why we we like hearing and getting the kind of input We Are Tonight putting the kind of work into it here and is this going to be perfect I don't think it's perfect

137and we're probably going to have like I say some more revisions in years to come on this one of my challenges though is lots of conversations about parents and Jamie knows because I've talked to him a lot about let's make sure parents are into knowing this as a parent what would I like to have been called about about my kid that's that's a very parent-centric attitude and I get it because I'm a parent and I'm a taxpayer and I'm the adult and I should do that however it's also important for us to know that not every kid in this district has two functional parents and a nuclear family that makes these kinds of decisions together and what about those students what about those students whose parents who are terrified that their parents will find out

138because they'll kick them out of the house literally kick them out of the house which has happened okay in in this District um what do we do with a student who has divorced parents who absolutely not only won't agree on this but choose this to be one more opportunity to fight and put the kid in the middle and that came to resolution Etc that's not arguing changes in this policy that's to say that Simple Solutions end up being very complex just like everything else because it doesn't sound like every kid doesn't have the same environment about here so for those parents who are involved and engaged they need to be involved in a very constructive way and for those students who are at risk because their parents are not engaged or maybe they don't even

139have parents who who are engaged or who are homeless because we have AB students and have had students who are homeless here who looks out for them and and and and and and and and that so as we talked about I think Cindy mentioned this at the last meeting regardless of what we're dealing with here this is policy and it's pretty cold language when you stop and think these are students lives that we're dealing with here and um it's hard and it's not easy so whatever we vote for whatever we come up with here isn't going to be perfect um but I hope it gets us in the direction of looking out for what's best for our students sorry um I move that we approve for first reading School District policy 4-1-1 rule three gender

140diverse students thank you Allison thank you Cindy and I do have some a couple comments please this would be a good time okay um first off I wanted I totally agree we had 30 35 people speak tonight and with Incredible passion and really some really good insights gender diversity is something even though I've I've grown up in a you know uh in healthcare and had all kinds of experience I just don't know a lot about I don't feel like I can wrap my head around it but as Vicky Cobian so eloquently said at the micro microphone um that we we need to imagine we need to put ourselves into this and try to understand it so I really appreciate all the perspectives from everyone and a few things that I wrote down that maybe we

141need to look at in the policy oh I'm sorry I need to talk into the microphone um number one on the definitions do we have the right definitions someone mentioned intersex people gender assigned at Birth I'm not 100 sure that we have the right definitions here we have gender identity we have that right and I I think they look fine but I'd be interested in understanding a little bit more about what were people talking about uh and then from some of the comments it's pretty clear that and it's not unusual it's not abnormal but that there's a fear of fear of gender diverse people a little bit and in the comments of um well I wrote it down here um well the just the implication that a transgender person who is in the shower or

142the locker room of the um uh people of their gender identity that somehow they're a danger in that lack of room that they're dangerous to others who are you know I'm going to use the example of someone born male transitioning to female in the female locker room that somehow that person is dangerous to others I don't believe that's true but obviously there's people who believe that that's true and is it is it true um and so then too it kind of like our position is we're all good people we're all nice we're all welcoming we're all accepting of everyone I accept transgender people I accept gender diverse people but I don't necessarily want my kids to know they exist or see them or be exposed to them I don't want it to be out there

143you know and that's fear it's fear behind that and so what do we do about that so we have this policy but I was thinking do we need to be doing more in our community to understand I was really really impressed with some of the stories I heard some of the things I didn't know about some of the people in this room who I know pretty well um which was really really helpful so just thinking how can we address the fear and maybe that's a little separate from the policy and then lastly there was a question earlier about uh pronouns that the policy requires that faculty or staff employees use the a pronoun of the well what's it say here District staff will honor a transgender student's request to be addressed by a chosen name

144and or pronoun corresponding so District staff will honor will honor and the question was then would are we ready to um and somehow want way shape or form punish staff who would refuse to do that who would say I have a conscientious objection to that and I'm not going to call you by your preferred pronoun and I I think the answer to that is yes yes that we would be prepared to do that but we should probably also you know clarify that yeah in closed session the school board would probably have some conversation about another seventh Circuit Court decision for those taping notes referred to as the klug versus Brownsburg Community School in which that school district encourages encouraged an employee to resign they did they sued to get their job back the court said

145nope um you're discriminating right so between reading one reading two just to wrap up but yeah I agree um maybe we just need to look at those definitions and clarify or do we have the right definitions that was going to be my recommendation as well this has been reviewed it's been reviewed by our attorney but it could be that we need to make some adjustments in the definitions or even expand the things that we're defining and so that would be a very appropriate thing to ask Administration to do prior to a second reading about the the fear issue I'm not sure that that's something that we would specifically address in this policy right right but I do think that highlighting the definitions would be wise I think too in addition to fear there's another element

146of the emotions for others there where it's just it's uncomfortable it's not necessarily fear-based and I think we all need to hear that and understand that and um that's where in practice in accordance with the policy Administration would work with families with the student and make every effort to make sure that whatever alternative as we outline these options that we find the happy middle ground I think as you're speaking Allison first of all I want to Echo what you said I appreciate all of the comments and everybody that was courageous enough to stand up and um respectfully Express their opinions their experiences so thank you to everybody who's here it's clearly this is something that our community cares about and so thank you for that um regarding the the comment about fear I think in

147my mind I frame it up as maybe concern in my that I'm a little bit more comfortable using that and I think the reason I would say concern is because part of the reason why we are looking at this policy in particular is because there was a situation in another school where a student did take advantage of a policy and made some other some female students very uncomfortable so maybe not fear but perhaps concern yeah um the other thing I'm particularly interested in and I would actually like to continue the conversation with Administration would be this the compelled speech piece of this and I think it is an interesting point as a school district if our policy is going to be that we expect staff to use the preferred pronouns or names in this situation

148where you have a conscientious objective objection of a staff member how will we navigate that and Mr Benson you mentioned one uh School District in our state I know there's a school district in Virginia I believe who fired a staff member who was not comfortable using the preferred pronouns he sued and was reinstated in his position and so the the law side with them so I only point out to say once again this is very complicated this is New Territory and um there's not a lot of things that are completely settled at this point so I appreciate everyone's recognition of that that we are grappling with this and weighing a lot of different factors and so we appreciate your patience and your understanding of that you know reiterate my comment to that was that I

149think the school board would go into closed session to discuss the matter and that part of that discussion would be one of these court cases we probably would talk about another one or two and so I did not say anything more than it would be a closed session discussion on the matter that is all that I said just for the record right but the policy does say it does but the policy does say our employees will respect the request of the students yeah we'd also have our employment attorney consulted on that matter too before 14 times yeah no but I mean on the on the pronoun yeah absolutely only 13 probably yeah are there other comments or questions on this can we discuss dress code I see yeah because we didn't do it enough last

150year thanks Mike oh thank goodness that was the last thing on the list anything else from the board and so and spoken the difference of opinion and uh kindness I think that we saw tonight was I would concur I was impressed so what we have before what we have before us tonight is a policy that's been moved and seconded we have already identified the the definitions as something that we would like to review one more time before it comes back for a second reading anything else so I just want to share a little bit of a personal narrative here if you can bear with me um so I have really grappled with this particular policy I've gone back and forth with Mr Benson who has graciously engaged in some really wonderful conversation and many of

151you recognized his involvement and his desire to serve this District well and it's evident in the way that he has navigated the writing of this policy and the conversations he's been willing to have um I am getting hung up on something that really wasn't actually mentioned I don't believe um much this evening but I am uncomfortable that this policy um that we could find ourselves in a situation where a student expresses a desire to begin socially transitioning at school but does not wish to tell their parents about it and I I wish and I would want the language to be stronger Fair particularly regarding names and pronouns and the restroom use I just I I feel really strongly about about parental consent and I know somebody shared a couple people maybe shared the higher rates

152of anxiety depression suicidality and I just I believe that in a situation like this parents should be aware that their child is grappling with this I know we have a note at the bottom of page two that talks about exceptional circumstances that that perhaps that parental consent would need to be um uh excused or suspended for the for the time being while we wrapped other resources around this particular family um but but I am um concerned about the potential implications where a student would not want their parents to know what they're dealing with I worry about the potential burden that would place on staff members that feel as though they have to keep the secret from the parent um and so just my own personal conscience really struggles with that and makes it really difficult

153for me to support this policy going through that being said Mr Benson went to Great Lengths to point out our desire to include parents and encourage the student to speak with their parents but ultimately the decision is left with the student and I'm really struggle with that a lot so can I ask a question Jamie um so when so obviously you have the paragraph up front that you know you're going to sit down with a student or the school administrator and obviously encourage parental involvement and you know help the student with that and Coach them up on involving parents right when would we absolutely require parent involvement for anything for showers yeah I'm just clarifying showers and locker rooms how about changing the school records [Music] so showers and locker rooms not bathrooms not pronouns

154just to clarify right we wouldn't absolutely require it obviously we would be engaged and then I just have a question too we've had several transgender you know or kids transition under our robes um have we run into problems you know I can understand how we might run into a maybe maybe a student has a parent who's not living in the home or whatever but have we run into a lot of problems with students really really really not wanting to involve their parents well I don't have a specific you know to say ten percent of the time it's a problem I I honestly I I haven't surveyed our counselors or our Administration to give you a real definitive direct answer on that yeah I think that um our ultimate goal is to facilitate and help a

155student navigate having that conversation and to do that not only with our own staff ability but if we need to bring in other outside resources to help accommodate that social services that's really the ultimate goal yeah okay because I hear what you're saying we don't you know I I can talk more kindly and try to find softer words but instead I'm going to put it this way what we don't want is for I as a superintendent I know I don't want to put on a striped shirt a referee shirt and put a whistle around my neck and get involved in trying to of figure out what apparently is a family disagreement right we're going to try to support our kids in a number of ways and we want to teach them how to read write

156and do math and some of those things are pretty challenging for us to try to help and facilitate those conversations but really that's the goal yeah yeah okay thanks it's also true that creating policy is just absolutely messy because we need to be able to take our values we need to be able to take our reading of the needs of the district we need to be able to take the law and statute and the tradition of interpretation that's binding and to be able to somehow put all of this together and so as much as I read this policy and see the the Deep desire to be able to have conversations with parents and to have supportive meetings about this with parents if we require that that puts us in jeopardy with the law because what

157it means is we are limiting the rights of these students and so it's a situation where it's awfully complicated to be able to balance these things I think that the policy is doing the best that that we can to be able to adjust that while being in agreement with the law students is that a majority of them feel not supported by their family um and that's not reflective of the community that's the National Data right the other thing that we know is that family support and school support are the two biggest factors in suicide ideation for these kids and I mean it's just that I just think this policy is really really important and giving students some autonomy in that with understanding parents also understanding that every family is not like not like yours or

158mine or whatever right the case is I'm not worried about the kids that have the support I'm worried about the kids that don't yeah I think ultimately for me um I think this particular issue is serious enough that parents need to be involved in it and it gets tricky when you're trying to decide what is okay for the the school to know and affirm without including the parents and allowing them to Lindsay what if the parents aren't engaged in in the child's life yeah what if they're not what if they're not a traditional parent like we think of parents and and I I to me then that is where potentially the note at the bottom of page two would come into play if we are concerned about the safety of the student um then perhaps

159there does need to be a a case where the superintendent steps in and says we're going to hold off on reaching out to parents at this time we're going to let the death settle we're going to call in outside resources um and that makes good sense to me because to your point I know that that there we're serving a wide spectrum of families um but but ultimately these kids while they feel like our kids and our teachers love them as if they were their own kids they're not our kids they belong to their parents um and so again I I just I am concerned that we would find ourselves in a position where a student for whatever reason um potentially they're just being a teenager and they are distancing themselves from their parents and they

160decide they don't want to include their parents in this if the school moves forward and allows them to change their gender their pronouns their names or their name and then allows them to use a different bathroom and the parent is not given the opportunity to consent um that it feels like a break from our commitment to being parental Partnerships to being transparent in our communication and accountable one of the things I like about this policy that has been added is the emphasis on Parental involvement and I'm pretty confident I know the school district well enough that they'll go to the end of the Earth to get parent involvement in terms of do all and they'll also go to the end of the Earth as far as involving outside resources such as social services and all

161these types of things so um well I understand that concern um and you know I know we're going to make every effort to do that to involve parents and that type of thing so I think the laws right the law has to carry a lot of weight on this yeah right now on this is pretty clear the other thing that I want to say is as a gay person I've had to come out to my family and to people and you still come out it's a it's a lifelong process to new people that you meet and and things like that and and creating value of your family and you as a human is a lifelong process for lgbtq kids and and adults right so I think if you have never been in a situation where

162you have to be that um I think we have to be really careful about how we talk about it because you don't know you just don't know so I think in in my mind um there's a difference between coming out um in your sexual orientation versus requesting accommodation for changing your gender identity because if a student comes out to a staff member they're not requesting any sort of accommodation they're not asking for any sort of um change in the way they're using the bathroom or the fact right now is with equal protection and the laws right now in Wisconsin this is really clear-cut so to have a public disagreement about right one of the things that I value about this board is if there's anybody ever that has a question of if this board is

163representative of the community you've never met this board right because you have extremes and you have a big chunk of people right in the middle and it's really really which is why we don't always agree that's what we're supposed to do we are not going to agree on this we both have different personal perspectives on it there is no nothing positive that comes from us having a personal disagreement about this in a public forum we can have that when one of us or both of us are done being on the school board but for now the law is clear on this the administration is clear on them us so I would like to step in agreement respectfully and when you when you say the law is clear on this maybe we just need to clarify

164one more time the law the law is very very clear on the restroom use and the pronouns right very clear on those two things not as clear on the locker rooms and the showers right and the the athletic team stuff um right with it with wiaa's position that's a whole separate deal so and the changing the changing the legal documents in the school so so we're going to follow the law we're going to do what is right for kids but do it within the context of what is legal right now what the law requires right now whether we personally or don't personally agree with it and then we're all going on that journey together to seek to continue to understand and imagine ourselves um yeah thanks in the state of Wisconsin a child who's 14

165or older can change their legal name without parent consent that's how it works in Wisconsin so is there anything else we have a motion that's been moved and segmented we've had good discussion all those in favor aye opposed the motion carries at a margin of six to one all right and this will come back and this is going to come back in September for the second reading September I'm going to be gone in August and I want to be here um and then we are going to move to the first reading of revised school policy for 11.2 related to bullying and cyber bullying what I will tell you if people are leaving I want to thank you for coming and and caring about what goes on in our schools and for paying attention and please

166keep doing it it's just really great to have people who are concerned about our schools so thank you so the additions on bullying it it simply adds that we are adding cyber bullying as a named thing you can't do within our bullying policy so um it it adds bullying and then cyber bullying together so I think at this moment is there a motion to approve the first reading of revised School Board policy for 11.2 bullying and cyber bullying so moved thank you Alan who thank you Bob all right questions or comments anything else about this we did discuss this at um Ed program we talked about that's the definition it's the adding of the calling out cyber bullying in this policy that is significant anything nope not yet we're not going to take a break

167yet we got too much to do and I since we do have some parents here please help your kids to pay attention to this because we are going this has been a problem particularly at our high school and we don't like it and so we are going to do everything that we can to make sure that we are not having bullying cyber bullying in our schools anything else all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried all right so now we are going to move on to finance and facilities and Mike would you give us a very brief overview thanks our meeting on July 17th uh we um talked about the kind of the closing of the 22-23 fiscal year and we had an auditor in I think the following week right tomorrow we

168have an auditor coming in tomorrow so Lynette's excited right right I'll let you know how the audit goes next meeting uh we talked about the meal prices and they're staying the same this year so we have to every year have to approve what we charge uh for the meals um and so those are staying the same uh we talked about the upcoming budget uh some some changes that happened the governor has signed the budget uh for 23-24 so the school district's budget uh Cycles uh fiscal years July 1st through the end of June so we will have the final budget numbers in October uh but we had a good discussion on the 23-24 budget we also then Jamie talked about the project oversight committee we just kind of gave an update on what was going

169on with that thank you Mike and the bottom line is our budget is balanced and we're in good shape this year and next year this is coming here just this coming year yeah it's coming here so what the what the uh the new the um New budget does is it simply delays by one year when we start amassing essentially a million dollar deficit because of a broken funding formula in the state of Wisconsin unless it feels like going up the fact we could keep that the same for families which is really cool nice quick report Mike all right we're going to go on to Personnel so the Personnel committee met on July 17th we reviewed our committee goals we also approved or at least recommended that the board approved the 2324 employee handbook revisions we

170received a certified staff update we also talked about the process for Gathering bids for Consultation Services related to proposals for our insurance we recommend that the board approve a request for a one-year administrator license for our a Montessori teacher who needs or a principal who needs to add licensure to for her for the state of Wisconsin and we also heard about the 2324 driver and bus driver and teacher bargaining agreements and the good news is we have those ready to approve right now we talked about um the instructional coach job description which is really it's a shift we are letting go of one job description because our instructional coaches at the elementary level used to be subject specific and now they are going to be instructional coaches in general so we needed to make that

171adjustment in terms of the job description we also made a change to the elementary job principle job description because each one of our four Elementary principles has an additional responsibility this is good for people to know and we aligned those with District need and the principal's abilities we also then talked about we went into executive session and we talked about negotiations and salary schedule adjustments for our extracurricular folks so with that at this point I move that we approve the 2324 employee handbook revisions if you look for a summary it's on page 58. is there a second please second thank you Bob questions or comments all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried is there a motion to approve the insurance Consultation Services request for proposal so moved thank you Bob a second

172thank you Ellison any further questions or comments we talked about this during the committee we were all there all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried one of the things that I liked best about that request for a proposal are the questions because I think that those open-ended questions are going to be revealing for us at this point now do we have a motion to request a one-year administrator licensed um request for the Montessori principle thank you Cindy is there a second thank you Lindsay questions or comments all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried we've also talked about the instructional job coach job description I just gave the background about that that this is not going to be subject specific is there a motion pleased to approve that thank you

173Cindy a second second thank you Ellison questions or comments this is going to be a good change and thank you I know Dave and and Nate you worked on that all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried is there a motion to approve the revised Elementary principle job description thank you Mike thank you Lindsay questions or comments I particularly like how those extra duties are aligned to what I perceive to be the principles interest and ability and we're able to do that because of Nate's willingness to continue as our safety coordinator because he used to do that as an elementary principal and he's continuing to do that now in his new role so thank you again all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried and the final action for um Personnel

174committee recommendations would be the 2324 extracurricular jobs uh salary schedule is there a motion please thank you Allison thank you Mike questions or comments I just um this represents a lot of work and Dave is out in the hall back there he deserves a lot of credit for this bringing this up to date and putting this only gets revised every so many years way too many years so we brought it up to date I think it's much it's a very Equitable approach and thanks Dave for your work on this it was it's the two Dave's David crail and David Bell I think it's also sustainable too I mean I think we've got a framework where we can continuously update it very easily as opposed to before we're in a much better situation on this can

175I just make a comment please do um I I think we all know and David uh very well that most of the people that are going to see an increase here in Pay they don't do it for the pay they do it because they want to serve kids and serve the district and so I think this is all the work that they put into this it's just a small way that we can stipend um honor the work that they do so it's a small increase on the top of a small salary for what they do all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried all right it is very nice to be able to bring um to the board our bargaining agreements and Dave would you quickly outline the bus drivers please you've got

176a big teacher voice yeah there you go um yeah so the recommendation is comes after uh multiple meetings with the bus driver Representatives it required a lot of patience this year and a lot of uncertainty and so we appreciated coming together both sides being patient there so um in alignment with our strategic plan it's critical that we have qualified and high quality drivers and so we were able to land uh through both base wage and supplemental increases uh an increase of 1.56 per hour which is about a 6.5 percent average I think it's really important for our community to recognize how critical it is that our bus drivers are our bus drivers it's not just a company that we hired to come in these are people who we know who we train who are dedicated

177to our kids drive our buses the buses that we know are safe at this point is there a motion to approve the 23-24 bus driver collective bargaining agreement as presented thank you Ellen is there a second thank you Bob just one additional coming and there's a good reason why there Ares and and Lynette at some point I was just struck by this again today looking at another school district that hires a company to do it we ought to have a conversation again so we're all on the same page as to why we do our own bus thing and we don't contract it out um to somebody because I think we've we've talked about that over the years there's good reason why we do it ourselves and it'd be good conversation going forward we're very fortunate

178bus drivers are a critical part of our education and what we do in the school district and I think often are overlooked so I I'm glad we did this amount this is really good we do it because it's efficient like the safe security that they bring to us and because we know that bus drivers often get invitations to kids graduation parties because they've known them that long I think that's lovely all right all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried and now is there a motion to approve the 2023-24 teacher collective bargaining agreement as presented thank you Cindy is there a second second thank you Ellen questions or comments I really appreciated Chris's comments tonight I did too yeah that was very helpful for her to be here tonight it was really complicated

179for us this year because we started this well before we knew from the state what our finances would be that's a really complicated part of the way that the state school funding process works fortunately we were able to reach an agreement all those in favor I opposed the motion is carried do we have any proposed or suggested items for the next regular board meeting agendas all right we are going to schedule upcoming meetings the project oversight committee will meet Monday August 7th at 3 o'clock educational program committee will meet Monday August 7th at six o'clock the Board of Education will meet in a joint session with the city council that's a really great thing that we do on an annual basis that meeting will be on Tuesday August 8th at five o'clock at City Hall

180they are hosting this year finance and Facilities will meet Monday August 14th at six o'clock the next Personnel committee meeting will be Monday August 14th at seven o'clock or immediately following finance and Facilities project oversight committee will meet again on Monday August 21st at 3 the next regular board meeting will be Monday August 21st at six o'clock all of those meetings are here and at this point I would like to have a most you all get to be done but we're going to go on because I would like to have a motion to move into executive session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 1985 1ac and F for the purpose of an expulsion early reinstatement and consideration of employment promotion compensation and evaluation of an employee just so everybody knows all of these meetings are open meetings

181if you want to join us every Monday night yep you know where to find it we're always here and sometimes they go longer than this and more detail than what you see tonight a lot more detail so certainly so we have a motion but we need a second to go into executive thanks Lindsay and now I need a roll call Ellison Lindsay Bob Mike yes I'm saying yes yes we're going to take two minutes stretch