001welcome to the Matan aine Regional School District's regular Action meeting on September 28th 2023 time is now 6:31 p.m. the New Jersey open meeting law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or agreed upon in accordance with the provision of this act the mwan Regional School District Board of Education advertised the beinge on June 20th 2023 in the Asbury Park Press and the Star Ledger this notice was sent to the municipal Clerks of the buau of mwan and the township of aine and the mwan aine public library the notice was also placed on the district's website going to turn it over to Mr Wells good evening welcome to the Madan Regional
002High School uh to begin this evening I'd like to welcome our student council president Esther fosu the podium as she reads us salute to the flag please remain standing as our M Regional High School choir I Alle to the FL of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one [Music] nation say can you see by [Music] the what sooud we at the Twilight [Music] lastri and through the fight for the we were [Music] soing and The [Applause] [Music] Rock through the night that our flag was still [Music] starsled the of [Music] and God [Music] [Applause] thank you that was beautiful thank you Mr B to the M's Choir they're going to end tonight with of man the high so they're going to end the night um singing how we
003end any of our athletic contests by meeting us in the alha so so it's an honor to stand before you here tonight as the acting principal of Madan Regional High School I'd like to begin by thanking our new superintendent mret along with the central office cabinet and board of education for allowing me the opportunity to do so tonight I have been provide the opportunity to showcase some of our programs here at the high school and while I would love to highlight everything that M Regional High School has to offer reality is there simply just not enough time I would however like to highlight some of our key initiatives for the 23 through 24 school year but before I do I'd like to formally introduce you to our student council president miss Esther fasu Esther is
004a dedicated member of our mwan aine Regional School District and in addition to her role as student council president Esther will serve as the Manan Regional High School student representative to the Board of Education please join me in welcoming this [Applause] es good evening everyone um before we officially swear in Miss Basu bosu um we'd like to share a little bit about her it gives me great pleasure to share a a little bit more information about our senior class president who will now be our student board representative for the 23 24 school year Esther is involved in many activities here at the high school which include drama club she loves to sing and act she's also the captain of the varsity cheerleading team where she sure where she leads 24 Varsity cheerlead the and 14
005JP which I hear is probably the biggest Squad Right Now esther is part of the National Honor Society and she tutors other students she's also in the math Honor Society and English Honor Society I asked her what is her favorite subject and she said of course math with Dr Jackman and English with Mr Harnett she loves to read fiction books and her favorite book that she recently read is The Perks of Being a Wallflower outside of school she loves to volunteer at a church at icjc in South River she assists in Sunday school is in the choir at her church and is involved in the praise dance praise dance group so as a senior Esther is busy making plans at the high school in addition to all of her activi activities that she participates she
006aspires to have a career in theater and plans to double major in theater and Communications her top schools of interest that she's looking into Michigan State Penn State pace and ruers congratulations on being selected as this year's student representative we look forward to your monthly reports and hearing about all the wonderful things you will do this school year and what you will be doing in the future [Applause] congratulations I as your Coy do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and this state under the authority of the people so helping time I propos to do solemnly swear Poss qualifications prescribed
007by law the office of the member of the Board of Education and not disqualified as a voter pursuing to RS fl-1 and not disqualified due to contion of a crime or offense listed in the njsa 18-1 and that I am faithfully impartially and justly perform all of my duties of the office according to the best of my abilities so help me [Applause] God thank you for the kind introduction Miss Perez president ascoli vice president Martinez members of the board Administration parents and fellow students my name is Esther fosu and it is a great honor to be selected to serve as the student representative to the Board of Education this Academic Year it is not a position I plan to take lately I intend to prioritize the values of the Board of Education and be an
008advocate for the well-being of the students in this District as well as a supporter of the happenings and events within our schools the school year has only just begun and even still it is off to an exciting start for the senior class especially it has been filled with Traditions old and new such as the senior Sunrise to kick off our school year to the senior backpack day where students had the opportunity to reminisce on childhood experiences the whole building has been buessing this week about homecoming and all events that happen with the day we've been conducting student spirit activities to raise excitement towards Friday's pep rally and the game where the highly anticipated homecoming Court will be announced and the football team fresh off a win will take on Pine loons and what can be
009expected to be a thrilling game Cambridge Park would also like to express their excitement while welcoming back students and a new principal they've been enjoying a newly renovated gymnasium floor and newly designed specials classes Cambridge Park PTO has exciting plans for this school year beginning with a trunk or treat on October 14th Ravine Drive would also like to express their excitement in welcoming back students and expanding their special education program which aligns with the welcoming and inclusive reputation that Ravine Drive Elementary School has been proud to have established they've opened a new sensory place to help students and faculty recharge throughout the day they've also started an Instagram so be sure to follow them at Ravine Drive road runners load road would like to thank the Ed Edge Foundation s p a the public library
010and resources for our district Student Assistance coordinator Miss Rebecca gringer for a successful back to school night the students at Lo Road have completed I ready Diagnostics and results will be out to families soon fifth grade students are excited about their upcoming field trip to alair State Park instrumental band lessons of Mrs Hughes will be starting over the next 2 weeks therapy dogs will be coming into the building SE and be sure to make your after school club selections no later than Friday October 6th as they begin the week of October 30th coming up soon the student council here at mrhs plans to host all schools and a Halloween festival of sorts this event will offer a collector of activities for all ages to enjoy the event will also act as an opportunity for high
011school clubs to make presentations this past month has only been a glimpse of everything the school year has to offer I just like to express my uh appreciation towards the staff and administration who continue to make all we do possible and work to ensure that our schools not only Foster and at atmosphere of academic excellence and integrity but are also enjoyable and filled with blossoming communities to be a part of thank you for your time consideration and acknowledgement of my position I'm looking forward to working closely with everyone this year to make this year memorable thank [Applause] you thank you thank you well as you can imagine it's been a pretty busy start of the school year as the ACT principal of a comprehensive high school with about, uh50 students over 150 staff certainly been
012a challenge getting to know sit each and every one of them uh I'd like to thank my administrative team as well as our front office and support staff some of who are uh with us here tonight are being patient with my many questions or inquiries I just want to learn everything there is to know about M Regal High School my goal for the start of the school year year was to focus on building connections with both students and staff Vision set forth by our superintendent I've spent much of September interacting with both staff and students both formally and informally learning about current programs and how I can better support them I'd like to thank the entire staff of the Matan Regional High School for engaging with me during our 10-minute meetings because these 10-minute meetings
013have provided me with the opportunity to really get a feel for the climate and culture of mwan Regional High School while also providing me the opportunity to identify areas of strength as well as some areas of need of En answer for students I've spent much time visiting classrooms engaging with students in reviewing our expectations I have even started each day leading Us in the school to the flag and reminding students of the expectations if you happen to be in the area around 7:15 you will hear me in the whole neighborhood review our expectations which is to arrive to class on time prepared and ready to actively engage in your lesson be kind and respect one another communicate and take ownership for your education review and adhere to the student code of conduct which includes keeping
014your cell phones airpods and headphones away during instructional time dress appropriately for school and most importantly get involved in your school and your community so as we close out the first month together and we prepare to move forward I've have identified both longterm and short-term goals these are what I will share with my staff this weekend as they get a early Sunday morning memo for me um each week so while many of the short-term goals have started to be incorporated in our daily operating procedures some of the long-term goals will require much collaboration in the coming months a process that I am looking forward to some of the long-term goals include a review and enhancement of the student handbook and coda which will include incorporating restorative practices into our behavior management system we want to
015review and enhance our course offerings including new course proposals designed to engage today's active and Hands-On learner I'd also like to complete an audit of our Career Academy structure and course offerings here at Manan Region High School with the goal of providing all students with a pathway to become College and Career focused and ready this includes a postsecondary education careair which we are currently working on for the spring additionally we're looking to explore additional dual enrollment offerings providing students with the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school currently we have seven students that are finishing out an early college academy and they will graduate with an associates degree uh this may actually before they get diploma from M Regional High School we have 11 students enrolled in a new Middle College um
016program at Brook Community College which means they will graduate reg high school with 30 credits towards their associates degree and finally we have partnered with ruers University to take a look at our counseling program through an enhancing mental health Grant this is a multi-year grant we be working with Ruckers University to try to identify strengths and weakness and see how we can uh improve when we talk about short-term goals um we have instituted uh A system that identifies students that are at risk based on previous academic social emotional behavioral patterns and performance and we creating a system of supports to assist Student Success we will be utilizing oura students to develop and Implement a referral system for staff and attempt to take a more proactive approach dealing with students that are struggling academically socially emotionally
017and more behaviorally this will include the development of a student disciplinary reporting protocol procedures and expectations that incorporates restorative practices in order to alter and change Behavior we're looking to increase enrollment and some of the many clubs and activities that we currently offer here at man Regional High School it's no secret that students that have a connection to school achieve at a higher rate we currently have over 85 clubs and activities for students to participate in all right and Madan Regional High School truly has something for everyone and finally most importantly you want to make sure and we recognize the hard work of both our staff and students um we'll start with that tonight and there's so much to celebrate here at the high school and we want to reestablish Community feeling back here at
018high school so before we conclude the high SCH portion of this evening's meeting I'd like to introduce Miss Melanie Scher and Miss Amy Rola up to talk about student and staff programs and hello thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you all of our UniFi Champion programs offered at the high school we have UniFi physical education class unified peer Club unified bowling and unified track team unified PE is an Adaptive physical education program designed to give students in special education and general education a partnership in skills necessary in Recreation and in sports experiences our unified pure Club helps student students with special needs by providing socialization through career friendships together with their buddies they plan events throughout the year in the spring we sponsor with our Civic leadership program at dance for
019the middle school and high school students I am most excited to share and talk to you about our Unified sports teams this is partially funded by a grant through Special Olympics we've been awarded over the the last four years $20,000 to spearhead a bowling and track team I would also like to thank Mr tyers because I do not know how to write a grant so I thank him for being my leader on learning how to write a grant and to continue this opportunity for us Unified sports joins athletes with and without disabilities together as teammates competing against local high schools as you can see up there it is part of New Jersey inter Scholastic Athletic Association which means this is competitive and inclusive never done here before our bowling team plays second in the state
020and our track and field team placed third at this year's meet of Champions the program continues to grow we currently have over 20 athletes on our roster please and I see some I've and my family's here today please come out to cheer and support our unified teams at a match a meet or our annual basketball scrimmage against oldridge high school and it's going to be home this year in addition to Unified sports we continue to offer our Special Olympics program in the middle school and high school which entails bowling and track and field thank you for your time this evening and join us in ail when we sponsor again autis acceptance t-shirt fundraiser to help continuing fundraising Unified sports thank [Applause] you okay so we just wanted to recognize some of our students um in
021August I got an email from U big future which was through college board telling us that a lot of our students actually had uh a one three different awards for their GPA over 3.5 their um performance on their AP test or their PSAT scores and then um they had to identify as a certain category in order to be eligible for a certain award so these are our these are some of the students who have won awards and if they are here I AR step forward so we can say hello to you so I invited them all in today just to make sure that they knew that they had won this award they got an email also in August about this so we have four students who won the national Hispanic recognition award [Music] congratulations we
022have another five who won the national African-American recognition award including our user AA actually want two award she also won the national indigenous award [Applause] congratulations and then we also had a couple of students who earned a tremendous student recognition for the National Merit Scholarship program so when our students take the PSAT in 10th and 11th grade they are eligible to apply for this scholarship and there are a lot of different recognition levels so even if they don't go on to become semifinalists in the um scholarship program itself they 34,000 of the students become recognized for they get a letter accommodation um in the mail so they just actually got that so today had them come down so on this to get that they had to score over 207 to get that so these are
023our three students who received that award [Applause] today and then we have our student athlete of the week Megan who got her award today actually that was from this morning very nice [Applause] congratulations now we do have a couple of Staff recognitions to that we wanted to make you not of okay today we got a this morning the STA fall and put it through to Coach G he does not want us to let you know that he want award but he is being recognized as the coach of he will be invited to his game I think the game is in December want to receive a best Val donation one of our English teachers was selected as a member of the CT for the journalistic learning initiative fellowship and she's going to receive um professional development
024from the organization she's going to have her students participate in a a long-term project um and at the end of that there is actually um scholarship that go with that as well so that was pretty great that happened over the summer and then Mr today came over and he told us in the hallway that he is going to be in a PBS special um that's going to air in December he is part of the Westminster F college and um hopefully we can share this presentation because that's a link to the video actually so if you wanted to watch it later you should go so congratulations we did start chanting Mr Graber in the hallways and he did not appreciate that so we'll get him on the announcement tomorrow congratulations Mr Big so as you can
025see we've had a busy and productive first month here at the high school especially with our homecoming and spirit week this week we will close that out tomorrow with the maroon and steel uh spirit day and our Paul PPP today was our Jersey vers Jersey Shore Spirit day so that was quite entertaining uh some of the students thought I was going to come in dress like mik situation that did not happen um I wouldn't even know where this start but next week uh our Focus will turn to the week of respect uh as you may know uh the state of New Jersey recognizes the first week in October is the week of respect we have a number of activities that are leaders will leave um focused on stopping okay so it's been busy uh some
026of our upcoming events coming up as you know our back to school night will take place Wednesday night in addition to back to school night the pre-b back school night we will have two presentations our NCAA academic eligibility presentation will take place in the auditorium at 5:30 and we will have a financial aid presentation take place in the media center also at 5:30 okay um fall drama Miss Linda Walling got my ear today make sure you promote the fall drama auditions uh will take place on the 10th and 11th callbacks will occur on the 12th we will be doing uh Puffs and I'm proud to announce that we will be bringing back the most program mentoring our students together is a program that's run out of the middle school where many of our students volunteer
027an assist it's open for students that are grades 2 to 12 we receed several emails from me in the coming weeks of how to sign up for that program that program will start in November at the middle school and finally one more our new Twitter or X account uh please follow us I'm up to like three followers today at MHS highlight highlights we'll be posting a lot of you know celebrations in the coming weeks so I want to thank you for your time to close out the High School portion of this meeting please again welcome our M Regional High School choir as they lead us in the sing of the alma [Music] m [Music] we [Music] singes your [Music] PR we cherish you to [Music] your will [Music] your change with the Dy to you
028[Music] for in our Through The [Music] Years all [Music] be thanks so thank you to all our performers you were wonderful and thank you Mr Wells um and all our other staff members for presenting today um I'm very glad to hear we're off to a strong start I'm also very happy to hear that he set the expectations and goals um with our students that's wonderful um and it seems like there's a lot of great things coming for them so thank you um next we're going to move to roll Miss Fus here miss gersner here Mr Monon here miss pal here miss Scot here miss Morell here miss wari here Miss Martinez here Mrs here can I get a motion in a second to approve the minutes from the regular Action meeting August 24th 2023 in
029the executive session meeting minutes August 24th 2023 on motion I'll second roll call stus yes M yes Mr mon yes M pal yes M Scott yes M barell yes Miss War yes M Martinez yes Mrs yes can I get a motion in a second to approve the correspondence to the board I'll motion I'll second next we're going to actually start off within executive session um we have two tonight um be resolved yes I'm sorry can I just real quick um thank you so much Mr Wells um for that intro with the policies we really really appreciate that and um I I don't I don't even it's the little things so thank you um for doing that and and every day because I think it's important um and I wanted to ask um Miss Scher is
030there a place where we can get dates for the kids meets and stuff I don't I'm not really on the website a lot with the kids where would we find that so we will continue with Mr Wells doing it on social media on the Facebook account okay we also have a web page that um I will have Mr bar update and everything but it will be in announcements and we will continue to do the social media we do right exactly oh okay so if we get the it'll be listed the the meets that are coming up in the dates and stuff in the uh new since unified is part of njsia right it is also listed in athletics oh that's the difference that's so great about UniFi it is considered a traditional athletic team versus
031just a special inogram right right okay perfect thank you um so as I was saying uh we're going to start off with our first executive session um I apologize it will be about a half an hour um be it resolved that a closed session be convened for the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and attorney client matters the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public when the reason for confidentiality subsides although the board cannot guarantee it be left of the executive session is estimated to be 30 minutes after which the public meeting of the bo shall reconvene and proceed with business action will take place can I get a motion and a second to enter EXA a motion all in favor can I get a motion and a second to return to
032public session a motion um so just a couple of items for the board president's report um parents should be receiving the standardized assessment test scores from last year for their students this week the District test results will be presented in October and we will announce um when as the as the date gets closer um as Mr Wells mentioned um very important uh seminar that's happening next Wednesday October 4th at the high school is the financial aid information session um I attended it about a year or two ago and it was very very helpful especially as you have to fill out the F of forms um so if you have a high school student I would highly recommend um attending that that's this year was pushed back to December because for those whose kids are attending
033college or about to um he also went over the most program um and the last thing was mwan day is October 7th um it's a great way to connect with other members and businesses in the community so highly recommend that everybody attend that we're going to move straight to the agenda um curriculum and instruction Mr Le thank you good evening there are no items in red from the committee the whole so asking the board to approve items a b 1 through 4 in this case I'd like to read a change into the minutes for item number three which is on the bottom of page one of four top page two4 on the agenda the cost for that item is listed as TBD um for the minutes the cost for mwan Regional High School students is
0347,000 and for um Middle School is 5,500 that includes curriculum instruction thank you can I get a motion in a second to approve the agenda okay um student services Mr Le student services are asking the board to approve items 1 through four that includes student services Motion in a second to approve the agenda Motion 1 through five sorry [Music] motion Personnel Dr Micah good evening everyone I'd like to bring to the board's attention a walk-in item for a uh hiring of a mechanic um to replace a resignation um which we will be voting on tonight and we are also recommending to the board that we approve the items under Section a section B section c 1-9 and section b 1 through 13 that concludes personnel thank you can I get a motion in a second
035to approve the agenda second Finance Miss Cas we' like to take action on items 1 through 15 this evening for finance Motion in a second to approve the agenda motion I'll seconds any questions or comments from the board on agenda items yes I I don't see Mr Wells here anymore but um I did want to call the uh board's attention since this is a big packet maybe some of the public to page seven where uh Mr Wells and Mr Van Horn are moved from acting to actual principles congratulations to both of [Applause] them any other board members with questions or comments on agenda item yes I would like to just congratulate our new uh student representative her her resume is very impressive and I'm looking forward to working with her I she still probably something
036fantastic for posterity her brother was also a board representative as well wow okay um with that we're going to move to public comments on agenda items and additional matters the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on matters of interest to the school Community individuals wishing to speak and state their name and Municipality of residence comments are limited to 3 minutes duration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard all statements should be directed to the board president and no participant May address or question board members individually all speakers are requested to express Express them themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be affected please note while it
037is not the board's intention to cyle comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of the of others under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy they may face personal liability to the injured party if speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal adviser and before we start public comments just do things so we're there are a lot of people here tonight um so if we can keep it to 3 minutes um when we're close like 2 and a half or around there we'll just one of us will raise our hand just so you know to start wrapping it up um also if we could ask that Matan Aberdine residents
038um with or without children in District um could speak first we would appreciate that and then we can move to out of District so um the mic is yep so um my name is Cindy um Cindy centur I'm uh a resident of aine everyone knows me um so I'm just going to read a little um thing that I want the board that I would like the public to hear also so let's talk about the history of um 5756 which I know probably 99.98% of the people here are here to talk about so let's talk about the history of the policy in 2017 Chris Christie signed legislation that required the State Department of Education to provide guidance to schools about policies involving transgender students in 2018 Phil Murphy appointed Commissioner of Education to release that guidance
039as stated in the linked article these guidelines are intended to assist school districts in developing their own policies the actual law does not mandate which we all know everyone got the notification that it's not a mandate a district to do anything the law requires the commission of Education to develop guidelines and that is it so what happened this policy guidelines was released in 2018 so why are so many districts throughout the state suddenly adopting this policy 4 years later here's our best guest there is a policy writing service stra Strauss Esme which we all know uh that provides policy updates to districts according to their website over 560 districts in New Jersey use them to write their policies that is pretty much every District this year Strauss Esme put out policy 5756 based on the
040NJ Doe's 2018 policy guidance and marked it as M or mandatory most districts without questions adopted this policy verbatim the policy as written in the guidance directs staffs not to disclose student name changes to parents advises school districts to consult their attorney if parents disagree with with when they find out direct staff to create two files for students keeping one confidential direct staff not to inform parents if their child is receiving Mental Health counseling references Child Protective Services as a resource directs districts to allow boys to compete in girls Sports directs districts to allow access to restrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity based on this K to2 policy a school could have a student as young as five change their gender while their parents have no idea this policy does not require substantiation
041of child abuse or neglect to hide to hide a student's new gender without parental knowledge or consent as a result of this policy biological males are erasing biological females achievements and sports why is it marked M if it isn't mandated by mandated by law this is where you get into a gray area board attorneys which I think we need a new board attorney board attorneys will advise you it is best to adopt this guidance as written to avoid the potential for a discrimination lawsuit from a transgender student they also might advise that the confidentiality of the gender change is critical to ensure student safety in a hostile home life guys if there is a hostile home life that child should not be in that home okay next what is not being considered is the other
042side of the argument we know that the suicide rate for transgender youth is astounding a recent study claims 82% have attempted suicide with 40% what happened oh okay with with uh 40% actually making attempts that's why I'm talking best if students are struggling mentally and the school is aware but a parent is not notified could the district be found liable for damages if the students were to harm themselves also is there a possibility for non-trained students to file lawsuits against the district for discrimination in sports or faculty faculty usages for either of these scenarios we don't know how a court would rule as there isn't much legal precedent established yet we are in Uncharted Territory so my thing is um I would like the board to not use Esme ever again and I would like
043the board to consider using the njsba membership to help write uh policy because obviously this asme thing was a huge fail and then obviously I would also like to call for a vote of no confidence in the board's lawyer and I would like to request information on how we can change that thank you hi my name is Dara Simon and I live at 393 Myrtle Street in C I'm here tonight because I do support this policy 5756 um and Matan aine school districts contining support of it um I read it yesterday twice and honestly I don't see why this has become a big discussion uh I get that and I have children here to all right so all right we are here discussing a policy that has been in effect for years and it shows
044respect and support for portion of our community regarding their core beliefs about themselves allowing the student to use a name and pronouns they feel most comfortable with has not affected the teachers ability to educate children I have not seen an effect on my children's education in this District since the policy was adopted I feel normalized the trans nonbinary gender fluid is good for my kids they know people who are who they are in their hearts does not matter about what their gender was on their person certificate if you take offense as part of the policy regarding informing parents that their child goes by another name or pronouns I hope you also notice in the policy where resources are reference to support the student and their family it is the student's choice to make you aware
045of these changes the child is not endangering themselves they are just being themselves and if you the parent have not been prute to your child's core beliefs that says more about your relationship as a parent or child than it does about the relationship between school and students we are a community of diversity racially culturally religiously economically by law a public school cannot discriminate against anyone and policy 5657 is ensuring that this debate has gone on now for three Board of Education meetings and this had enough debate in time if you truly want to debate an issue you should have done this years ago when the policy was adopted not now because people are trying to fire you up about it ask yourself how was my life affected in the past year 3 years 5 years
046since this came out if it wasn't then I insist we move on to other matters that require our board's attention thank you hello my name is Ja M um I live in aine madaan my kids attend an elementary school in our district that's Jore um my twin boys my one son loves to pain I love to play with Barbies and I think that's fantastic what worries me as a mom is not you're you're you're a boy you are a boy and that's fine your brain is not St developing to 25 years old if if you at 24 25 I will drive my child I don't care what your what you sexuality anything like that that doesn't I don't care you're my son I love you to death if at 25 years old you want to
047go have surgery and become a girl at 25 please I'll draw to you not at five or 6 years old and not that you're taking medication that we does anybody know what like the longterm effects are cuz I know I don't and it's scary to me that my kids could have all the greatest teachers in the world it takes one person in an entire School of people you know how many people are in a school to turn around and I'm not saying whisper to my child but sit down and have a conversation that does a five or six-year-old even understand that and it says as a five they could be making decisions I mean I'm petrified for a mother whose son likes pink that it could eventually be taken to something else like it's scary
048I'm scared as a mom so that's what I have to say Lauren jansky living Cliffwood my children attend both Ms and mwan Reginal High School U like these other uh parents here I am also against this legislation um I am I am not interested in co-parenting with the federal government my child my we are the parents not you guys the global you guys my son was seven when I was pregnant with my last one and I also had a to and he like the idea of pushing around a baby strer because Mommy pushed around a baby strer and mommy has a baby and he wanted a baby and it might not have been the thing at the time but I did get my son a baby doll it was to teach him how to properly
049hold a baby how to handle a baby if that were to happen in today's day and age and my son were to go into first grade and tell his teacher hey I like to push around a baby stroller and I have a baby at home that I play with what would that mean to that teacher and what would we start telling my child and then hiding from me as the parent that maybe my child could be just a little bit confused I think at 5 years old my son also thought he was a dog are we going to let it get to that extreme this is nonsense it has to stop let us be the parents you be the Educators and that's where the line has to be wrong Casey baroka Farmingdale Matan aine Regional
050Education Association president so as I said before I know this is a Hot Topic I just want to say again teachers teach the curriculum that is board approved we have seen many students come through our doors diverse students we teach all of them I have never heard of a teacher in this District telling a student who may be more feminine or more masculine that you should be one or the other we are worried about teaching students that's what we are worried about if students have social emotional issues that's why we have guidance counselors in place there are no teachers telling 5-year-olds you should be a boy and I cannot sit here and allow them to be denigrated when all they're trying to do is teach so if you're going to come up here and say
051that what if and what could happen I just have to Echo the woman that came up before this policy has been around there has not been one incident of Any teacher ever once saying to a child oh you like to play with frogs you should be a boy that's not happening and if you think that's happening then you should raise those issues with your building principle because if they are happening I can assure you of this this teachers union which I represent and the Educators in this District that is not our job so if students come to us with concerns we lend an ear and if those concerns present themselves in a manner that a teacher doesn't feel comfortable handling there is in the policy steps in which that is handled so again everybody can
052have their say I'm all for that but I just can't sit and listen that there's wh ifs and that these teachers are doing things they're not these teachers love these students they're supportive of them they want them to do well okay is that how it works I will talk to the board president thank you but when when the assumption is made when the assumption is made that teachers in kindergarten kindergarten teachers and by the way we all played I mean I'll tell you right now my mom was a beautician I walked around the house with her wigs on okay if I went to school back in 1980 I the teacher was not saying to me you should be a girl and that's still not happening today I'm Diana Noble I live at 66 West Concourse
053in cwood Beach about 18 years ago I was a substitute teacher and that was before inclusive language it was before inclusive Behavior it was before tolerance was even requested or required and I was substituting in a class where a student came late um I had to report them because they were changing their clothes in front of the board and I couldn't tolerate them changing their clothes what it the story turned out to be the student came to me later after school and said that this student wanted to transgender I have never met anyone like this she was a middle schooler and at the time the principal denigrated her her guidance counselor was trying to help her get on an even chemistry and do what she was supposed to do they'd spoken with her at home
054she couldn't change clothes in the gym because the girls refused to allow her they they integrated her in the locker room and of course there was no no chance that she would change in the boy's locker room and in order to try and fix her Focus where it belonged they refused to allow her to change in the nurse's office so this child was extremely depressed because of the treatment that was around 2006 a few years later more inclusive language came about the the teachers and the school The Faculty everybody had a a more open mindset about this and if they didn't believe in it or personally want to accept it at least they weren't going to put more pressure on this student in a terrible way so for that reason I would be supportive of
055something like 5756 thank you good evening everyone oh sorry can even me um my name is Sarah dersy I live in the a section and I'm a student at the high school so I feel I have a perspective that's different from a little bit of everyone else here um and I just want to call to attention that I see and what I've experienced so far throughout my career as in the district is that no one's pushing opinions on us or anything like that we are in school to learn and we're here to become American citizens where people are accepted and less than 5% of the American population is transgender and I think it's really important that as American citizens we know that we can accept someone and so I also called to the board to
056remember that a school is for Learning and it's not a political playground thank you hi good evening everybody my name is Lauren rter I'm from Madan I have two kids in rine Drive elementary school right now um I don't have a speech prepared I wasn't really planning on getting up and speaking but I think it's really important for me to come out and actually put my money where my mouth is on social media talking to friends and all of these things um and say that I was like the board to keep the current policy the way that it is all of our aim here is to protect kids um and that's the purpose of this is to protect kids somebody mentioned the high rate of depression and suicide that trans kids have there is a
057reason why this was put into place in the first place a parent doesn't have to be abusive to their kid to the degree that they would be taken out of the home trust me dcpm has other things to worry about besid Ides kids and parents that don't agree on gender identity or Politics as long as they're getting fed in you know a group over their head and not beaten they're not going to come and take them out of their home that doesn't mean that it's safe for the school to tell the parent that they're using a different name or different pronoun and if that's going to keep the kid from ending up talking to me because I work with kids as a mental health professional saying that they're having suicidal thoughts and saying that you
058know they can't live life anymore because they can't really be themselves and they're so torn and they feel unsafe and now they can't talk to a counselor about it or you know they can't just use their pronouns that they want to use at school um and they have no one safe to go to about this and now you know they're thinking about suicide and they are really unsafe this is the purpose of this and I think that everybody is here because they're really passion about wanting to keep kids safe and I think that keeping an open mind and listening to the actual students and teachers who are saying this is not being pushed on anybody this is not like we're going to make your kid go in One Direction or the other we're just trying
059to keep it as safe as possible for the small minority of students that need to be protected thank you hi uh my name is shaa my son shaa Russo my son is a student at shmore first grade and he in the special needs program I am the mother of a six-year-old minor child in the district um this is our fifth year here he's done prepay for 3 years kindergarten for a year and now in first grade the reason for my email that I had sent a few days ago that wasn't included in the agenda today um my emails on behalf of my son as I said and other children I don't know how many of you personally but have dealt with the former superintendent Dr Micah in the in the past for issues or concerns
060I had with the school district although he is no longer the superintendent he has always been someone that I respected highly and could go to when I needed to get things expedited quickly with my concerns I also know of Miss Nelly Perez who is the new superintendent and have dealt with her in the past with my son attended Cambridge several years ago and I've always had a good experience thus far I have always been an advocate for my child and will continue to do so I attended the first Boe meeting a few weeks ago regarding this um I also was on the PTO executive board for two years at Cambridge I do take an active role in my child's life and his education I am also apparently ason for Strathmore CAD this year I would
061like to know what the school stance was on this policy 5756 how it it's okay to want to change all wording and policies to say all other sexes in replacement of words male and female they are allowing words like she she he they then her Etc in the vocabulary but now want to remove male and female vocabulary how is this equal rights so now a male or female has become nonprotected classes while the rest of the other classes of people are protected where are our civil rights as female or male and those who identify as such I tell you where they are slowly but surely being remove and pretty soon they will be controlling all of us we are being prpt to indoctrinate this new life of not being of making our own decisions for
062ourselves or our own families we might as well be living in a time of Hitler government control books being banned parents rights being taken away from minor children again we are not referring to children who are old enough to make more decisions on themselves like an 18-year-old or a 17-year-old when they discuss it with their parents this is truly sickening and upsetting to me as a parent this is very concerning by definition a minor child is someone under the age of 18 a minor child is not legally able to make decisions of their own until the age of 18 or at even at 21 How could a school district and the state of department at Ed expect a minor child to be able to make a decision on what gender they think they are or
063identify as at the age of five or under the age of 18 these kids are going to school to be taught in education learn math writing reading Etc keeping secrets from parents is not the way to go we were not saying before some of the other parents were saying that they were worried about teachers talking to them or trying to push them into something we weren't saying that they were going to we were just saying we had a concern about it because the Department of Education is stating that teachers and staff Etc can keep this from parents or that they are looking towards that that was what we were stating about this agenda we were not saying that people sorry if you could wrap it up okay we were not saying that people who were
064transgender and so forth that they didn't have rights either but at an age 5-year-old as a minor if they can't vote and they can't drink and they can't get a tattoo and they can't live on their own or make decisions for themselves then something like this if it's stated to them in school and they tell the counselor then the counselor should also be telling the parents that is all what we were saying if I'm correct correct thank thank you for your time hello my name is Abby Berg and I live in madaan I have kids in the middle school and kids in the high school so before I came here tonight I was like what am I going to talk about I had pulled up statistics and I had all these studies and I'm like
065that's what I'm going to talk about but you know what I'm not going to talk about that you know why because I'm not going to change anybody's mind nobody's going to change my mind and the board is not going to break the law okay so I think that's where we're at right now now if they're going to change things around a little bit whatever what I want to talk about is how I don't appreciate that there are people from our town going to other Board of Education meetings and speaking as if they're speaking for us and then saying things that aren't even true saying I I watched it saying that the kids are afraid to go to the bathroom because of this issue no you know why the kids don't want to go to the
066bathroom the kids don't want to go to the bathroom in the middle school because they're gross and the kids fighting them and the kids don't want to go to the bathroom in the high school because they're gross and the kids are smoking in them okay um that's why the kids don't want to go to the bathroom I ask my kids in high school well what happens if there is someone like this in the school and he told me that they do the same thing that if anyone needs to take a poop in the b in the school is they go to the nurse so your bathroom issue is now solved okay they're not going to the bathroom because we have an issue here in this town they have our problem in this town is because
067we don't the kids are not invested in our town okay it's not this whole 57 56 these kids don't care about what goes on here because the town is not vested in the kids and the kids are not vested in the town so I have a couple of suggestions because everyone's pointing fingers I have some suggestions I think that we should make starting in grade six community service mandatory and that doesn't mean that you're going out outside of school you could do things like the the PTO are 501 c3s right maybe they can help the parents who come in during the day organize the closet or help set something up maybe they can go outside the buildings and pick up some trash or be a peer buddy to another kid okay so that they're vested
068in that and we have programs like the parents special people who have so little people to help them out with their special needs kids that they have to go online and beg for volunteers okay that's what we need here we need these kids to be part of this community we need our businesses maybe that if you want to have a business license in town maybe they need to like partner with the district give us internships work with us make it so that the town loves the kids the kids love the town give them things to do that's what we need to do here we don't need to worry about my high principal was a pedophile okay trust me I get it I get it he went to jail for like a long time okay and
069and the people that were surrounded by him knew for years so I get it that's not happening here okay that's not happening here and the other thing I think we really need to talk about or what think about is I know people don't like it but there's been a lot of fights and a lot of issues based on it's not finances but it's the way that kids speak to each other about like who's rich and who's poor um a lot of it has to do with their clothing their sneakers and I don't know I'm all for uniforms I know it's a big oh no uniforms I'm not saying all you don't mind wrapping it up sorry okay I'm sorry so my whole thing is this one side is never going to agree with the other
070side the board's not going to not going to do anything against the law I mean I don't think anyone wants to get sued okay we already don't want to pay for SOS like you don't want to get sued trust but if we actually like want to take care of these kids and you want to take care of their to town let's do something that's going to get everybody involved involved okay that's what we need that's not we need don't all this other is just th it's just BS to take you guys off the ideas cuz that's not an issue I mean I know you guys want to know what's happening with your kids we're different I don't need to know everything that's happening with my kids trust and believe I hear the way they talk
071I don't want to know sometimes thank you have a nice if I want to do something do something for our kids in this town next right no actually do something any other public comments or the district any other okay sure microphone but my name is NI I have two children one in M's and one in I am not going to get into lgbtq or transgender I have all for that I am not for Secrets help you parents I been telling my children they came out of here do not keep secrets from me Poli says and it's not you how is he making [Music] you that is my PR that should never happen my child should come to me for our safe space I'm safe space I am their safe space every day of my life
072since I've had them I am their safe space not a teacher who's going to keep has that is my only problem at this possible protection of every child I'm it states that if I don't agree with my child it gets taken to another level crazy that's ins parent never agrees with a child we always F so my childes want to be she doesn't want to community Jewish go home it has to has to the wording has to be and just get your last name sorry sha c h i m e n c you're welcome my name is long um I'll spell that for you it's l a u r n c e and the last name is BAS with two s's a resident Madan with the child attending school as tra I did not plan
073on getting up here tonight but I feel like I don't really have a two weights um I'm kind of horrified um uh how people are just not listening to the student and the teacher that are actually in the building because they're making this about death and not about the kids my daughter is in the special education program at store she needs to be there and the resource is that and time is a resource to be clear my time is resource your time is resource everybody here your time is a resource okay and we need to use it for things that are actually going to improve our kids education not to like slice and dice whether or not we agree with a policy that's already been in place and to diedrate the people that are actually
074showing up you guys are all actually showing up to try to help the kid but we need to find a way to bridge the gap I stand in favor of 57 56 I'm sorry whatever I stand in favor of it okay because honestly sitting here and spending an entire night talking about this when we could have been talking about different ways to invest money and time and resources in our kids education is a shame and the way that grown adults speak to each other in these rooms is a shame thank you my name is Veronica Hy I live in aine I I have two kids here in the district in 8th grade and 10th grade I am not comfortable up here but I will say we teach our kids at a young age you tell
075Mommy and Daddy everything that maybe what we when we say that we might mean if someone ever touches you inappropriately and there's a lot of reasons why we say that to our kids and we say it with the depths of through the depths of our soul we mean it and we say it with such an intent behind it this takes all strips all of the parenting that we have in us away from us and for anyone that wants to say do something in the community help out that has nothing to do with what's going on here our kids they're their par our paren thing is being taken away from us by strangers you're all strangers to me I'm not going to say I'm going to put my kids in your hands and trust you with
076all my heart I give myself to God that's where my faith is and no one's going to tell me what my what's best for my kid I know know my kids I can speak for them and they're saying the words right after me I I'm just my heart is pounding I'm not good at public speaking but I'm doing this for the younger generation that's the young kids the women I met here today that have kids in grade school young my kids I feel they're okay right now thank God they're okay but I have the communication with them that I can listen to them and hear them and know what's in their heart but let's just use all of you as an example or the people as the template for their future I'm sorry I I
077trust no one but my husband and myself as a parent there's no one that I'm going to as someone said co-parent with me there's no one in the world that I will trust enough with my kids no one and I really do hope that everybody openheartedly listens to this and and just picture scenarios in your own head with your own kids and how you would feel if if your parenting was taken away by a district because someone wanted to be stubborn and say this is what I stand for I there was a woman that stood up here and please forgive me if it's offensive but she didn't even look like she would have had kids in the district and she got up here it meant enough to her to get up here and talk I
078don't even know where she came from I know I know who she is she doesn't have kids in this District if I I really don't even I I shouldn't even be up here speaking I'm not a public speaker I just really hope that you listen to what I said and that parents their rights are being stripped from them and everyone just sits back and says oh I don't want to lose my job I don't want to lose money I understand that I completely do I'm in a position I have to worry about my political stance all the time but I'm standing up here because kids are important enough to me to say this is not right it's nonsense there was a woman who just spoke and said her principal was molesting kids I'm sure we
079all just heard that this is who I'm going to trust with my kids and their secrets and I don't know what it is and I have to wonder start rapping up the RAB thank you for listening thank you hi Steve beron two kids in system a third in two years I think um just any policy that would let a school not tell the parent something very critical important is do smell test so just doesn't make any sense uh I think we're on like a very s slope with multiple genders multiple pronouns and we're heading the wrong direction with that stuff it's very simple Educators mail fale that hard appreciate it thank you very much yes so now anybody else um second time it's fine oh wait I'm sorry y sorry I was waiting um I'm
080out of District my name is Robert galri I live in Keyport and I only came here because um I understand what's going on here and so I wanted to say a few things um and I don't know that I have a lot of standing here because I don't have any children in this District but I'll say what I have to say for what it's worth um I read this policy um um and I understand that that people are upset there was there was someone up here who said that uh the rights are being stripped um I don't think that anyone is encouraging children to not tell their parents um I I sat and listened without comment Okay so I think maybe you could afford me I think maybe you could afford me the same courtesy
081this is still America I think it is absolutely it is it please can we sir okay so um you know I don't think I don't think that anyone is being forced any anyone is telling children not to tell their parents if you have such a great relationship with your children and you tell them to tell you everything and you believe that they tell you everything I'm not sure what the issue is I don't think there is an issue cuz your kids are telling you everything so good for you um you know you may be surprised to know that that kids have civil rights too they're they're minors they can't vote they can't drink uh they can't get a tattoo apparently but um they have rights and the school is entrusted with um protecting all of
082them um and I'm not sure how you think that your children who are not trans are not being protected that that was sort of a comment I don't understand um it says right here uh a minor student's civil rights there is uh if you get to section four School Personnel may not disclose information that may reveal students transgender status accepted Allowed by law that's everyone's right everyone has the right to pry and if a child wants to tell a teacher something I don't think that the teacher is going to encourage them to one thing or another and I don't think the teacher's going to tell them you shouldn't tell your parents all this says is that that the teacher doesn't have the right to tell parents if you have a great relationship with your kids
083good for you you got to cover no problem um that's all I got to the podium if you don't mind nobody else has sorry sorry sorry okay sir I understand what you were saying I'll ja MOS again store kids I live here um my kid I'm thinking about is six so when you were talking I like actually feel like you was am talking to me which I don't think you were but I'm just saying I said that and my child is 6 years old and again I did see my kid does like pain my kid likes pain he plays with barbiie my only stating of the whole thing was that somebody and I'm not even saying the teacher anybody in the school who took that to the next level where it does say a kid
084is on SP and again with medication and I'm scared of that so that's all I was saying sir and that's what I would saying to you people have to go to sleep so I'm going to go home now have a great night everybody get home hi everyone Cindy santor I'm back again I just I just want to reiterate what I said earlier because it was like kind of roughed at the end so um um the big part was that um for that we really don't know how the courts would rule because there isn't much legal precedent established yet and we are really in Uncharted Territory um the bottom line is the truth that there's no legal Authority that requires a district to adopt the 2018 njd o o e transgender guidance for school districts often
085titled 5756 as written a district is free to develop its own policy on this issue make sure your board is your board is getting accurate legal guidance from the board attorney which is why I am requesting you guys get a new board attorney we would also recommend dropping the Strauss Esme last year they inaccurately advised that it was mandatory to quarantine healthy children exposed to coid when there were no legal authority to this either so guys they have they have been screwing up you know um this turned out to be misleading and Middletown Middletown which is like that's the district uh was the first district last year to successfully challenge it it seems like Middletown is leading the charge in almost anything I would love to have their lawyer uh every board might want to
086consider switching to the NJ sba's policy writing services however we need to be careful cuz they did help write other policies that weren't that great uh the moral of the story is do your homework when something is labeled as guidance it usually is so um once again um what I would like from the board is I would like the board to drop Strauss asme and um look towards the njsba as their policy writers since we have seen that Strauss asme um they screw up right um I also would like to to tell the board which I'm sure you aware of is that we had a recent um District by us home down um did drop 5756 um and I believe they are number seven or eight now in um New Jersey that have dropped it
087uh mobo dropped it um homel dropped it Middletown of course dropped it C neck dropped it h over Township dropped it um and I can probably go on and on and on so I think that this is something that we need to come back to and we need to talk about because um my rights as a parent are not going to be um diminish I kind of feel like this is like the beginning I know people are saying hey this was in effect since 2018 what's the big deal you know what the big deal is that this is just a start you know like if we don't stand up as parents what's going to happen next time what's going to happen next year what's the next thing they're going to take away from us I'm
088sorry I'm not letting this go this has to and honestly I I know that the policy does have other things on transgender I really don't care about those things right now you know what I care about I care about the secrets I mean I've said it multiple times thank you again war with I think there's some things here getting very misconstrued and and like Veronica I have children on the end of their schooling career is in e8th grade and 10th grade so um I'm not as concerned conern because my kids aren't little anymore and for those with very very little kids God bless you I hope I wish you well um and nobody here I think is attacking teachers or this current Administration as far as potentially doing something to the children by influencing their
089ideas I think it's just a very sensitive topic because they are our children and we're here because we do care I think this current Administration does a great job I think the teachers here are fantastic and if you anybody on the outside talks to me I do nothing but pray this District on how well they are that being said like Cindy said I think the concern is that this is opening the door for more things to come that are going to strip our rights as parents and that's where we're starting to get concerned also the secrets again very very big thing do not keep secrets from me this is what we teach our children to keep secrets from us let's have conversation and this policy is trying to teach the kids get your secrets from
090your parents and you don't have to tell them everything so yes I am all for diversity I'm all for inclusion I am all for supporting transgender what I am not for is having girls in the bathroom with my boys and boys in the bathroom with the girls I think there needs to be a separate maybe transgender bathroom I think that's acceptable but next thing is going to happen is these boys are my boys I mean what happens if there's a girl in the boy bathroom because she identifies today as transgender and tomorrow she does she doesn't and she saids those boys looked at me while I was in the bathroom now my children could be in trouble here so there's so many great areas that we have to really consider the bullying in the school
091the fights in the school those I think are the things that are important that we need to worry about I think 5756 needs to be put aside until it's rethought out thought out better and reorganized hi it's ABY again I wanted to tell you guys a really quick story about how beir with me for two seconds so I have a daughter she's a pre-teen and anyone who has pre girls oh my God they're awful sometimes they're really me to each other they have a lot of problems um regulating their emotions um maybe 11 through 45 okay so my daughter was having some problems with her friend group right and you know my advice was like a these girls are nasty just let them go you know we're just trying to make her feel better right
092so one day I get a phone call from one of the guidance counselors over at the middle at the Lloyd Road right and what they were telling me was they were having a conversation with my daughter um about how to interact with these girls in a respectful way in a way that she can feel comfortable um to approach them and not feel like she's being mean but she's also being respectful um so I kind of knew there was an issue but I figured would she just let it go I am so grateful that that guidance counselor took the time and didn't immediately call me and be like oh these girls are mean are your daughter and we're having she took the time to help help my daughter talk it out she didn't tell her what
093to do because we all know a good therapist is never going to tell you what to do they're going to ask you the right questions so you can come to conclusions by yourself okay I think that if my daughter would have come to me the whole situation would have been different I wasn't understanding where she came from I'm not a little girl and I don't hang out with little kids and I'm not in the school thank goodness cuz no thank you so there's a time when I was not told that there was an issue until all the way after the fact do I feel like the teacher and the guidance counselor lied to me no what I did was I said thank you so much for helping my kid like deal with this issue okay
094thank you for helping her because I think what we also don't realize is that I think that everyone's afraid that they're not going to be talking to you guys the law is If the child or anyone in therapy is at a at a danger to themselves or others a phone call is immediately made but remember that the phone calls go both ways your guidance counselors and your teachers they're also mandated reporters so let's all just be I think not everyone thinks about like the big picture so we just have to like understand that that was just like a just a nice story that sometimes we don't need to know everything but if there's something that we need to know the people in this District are going to tell us and as for everyone's like oh
095look her her principal was a pedophile yeah he was and you know what we didn't have stuff like this to help help them it was a 30-year issue and he was a rabbi and he came from a man of God and everyone respected him in the community for years you can look it up Jewish school it's not something we have a problem with here but I mean I get it you guys are concerned but the teachers and the counselors are not going to like There's No Agenda guys I can't even get their kids to write their names on their paper seriously you can't because this is a forum if you want to speak to me afterwards that's how it I'm what it's not how it works here come to me hion I still live in
096mytle Street um people are having a problem with the word secret and I understand I worked in a school district myself 20 years ago I understand as a parent what you are concerned about um when my daughter was in kindergarten and we had to sign off that we the rules of the classroom they said you would obey the teacher and I circled it and I said no and I signed it so that they understood my kids were never to unquestionably obey anyone my thing is is that these secrets that you're talking about that you are concerned that the school is holding from you it's not that they're holding a secret they are respecting your child's privacy they are they are going to help your kid if your kid does not feel comfortable yet telling you
097something about themselves they are going to help them they are going to encourage them but the thing is is that your kids have lived with you they know you and and either they trust you or maybe they fear that there might be repercussion so don't don't say that the people are going to be holding secret it's not that they're trying to do this they are trying to be supportive of these children and that's what we want we want our kids to feel safe and there are times where we can't always be their everything that's why we send them to school so they can learn so that other people are involved in their upbringing it takes a village and this is the village right here all of us and we have to be we have to
098trust each other a little bit that teachers teachers don't go into this business to ruin kids they really don't and we're just all you are very best and you have to look at it take a moment and think about what it is for that kid they don't know how they are going to be how they're going to be accepted or rejected and so they don't want to say it at home I know because I've met these kids and they are good people but they don't want the biggest relationship that in their life to get tank so think about that it's this they don't care honestly teachers do not get into this business just to screw with you they are here to to do the best for the students and that's all they want my name
099is Abby aronowski I have two daughters one's in the middle school and one is in shmore this whole topic of 57 56 I don't even know where it even started I'm going to be very honest with everybody but I feel as a mother and my husband we are the parents our kids come to us do our kids tell us the truth all the time absolutely not but I want to make that decision for my children I don't need anybody else to make decisions for my children and I thought we were here talk the stories that are coming I I get everybody's Story I mean I understand it I get it but for me Veronica my husband it's it's just come to a point that when is enough enough like the past like I don't know
100four years 3 years everything is just taken out of proportion um in my eyes my 8-year-old daughter she's not ready to make choices I'm sorry she's not ready to make choices of doing certain things so we we don't think the teachers are not doing their job we do in fact this is why my husband and I moved here this is one of the best school districts in New Jersey but I feel as a parent that there should be no secrets I want my kids to come home and tell me with how they feel they don't need to be telling somebody else and that's just my thing um what's going on guys uh Jared from aine uh I have a daughter fifth grade in Lloyd and uh first grade in stator all right uh real quick
101I think my biggest concern with this right is not not for nothing like Secrets aren't great and uh undoubtedly you're going to find out right whether your child's transgendered or not whether they changed their name in school or not right I rather find out immediately than through the gr fine or through the rumor melt right I think that that's what would hurt me as a parent the most cuz you're going to find out and not for nothing I love my children unconditionally no matter what they do right I'm fully supportive of them I love them I'm sure 99.8% or 99.98% parents are the same exact way that I am right uh I think somebody said that's IC earlier for something else so I think that's where I'm coming from with this right like uh I
102don't know about any other policy that's there for the schools that has uh exclusive language where a a parent is excluded from knowing something about their child uh I don't think that there's any other policy and as somebody said before this is policy driven right NJ AIS or whatever and listen I'm familiar with policies and accreditation right this is something that's mandatory for you guys I'm sure that if you guys are not accreditated right you guys aren't Ena you're not able to get certain grants and whatnot and I'm sure this is like you know you part of that is the reason that you guys are debating this issue more than anything else right because if you do get rid of this policy it could have negative impact on the district right whether it's funding you
103who is because you're not accreditated or so on and so forth especially if this is something mandated because because njis is the accreditation company in New Jersey for schools right and if they are telling you that there's a mandatory policy that policy has to be in there for you to be accreditated just like in a police department there's certain policies that we have to have right other police departments choose not to have these policies and they just can't get accreditation right there's certain grants that they're not able to get so I don't want this to be like listen I you guys have an unfavorable position in this all this right I just think people have to take a step back right and I know a lot of people are very upset about this and I
104do not think that teachers or anybody's trying to hide anything from us right I just don't want it to be like you know that nothing like I listen if if my daughter became transgender uh was a lesbian anything like that what would bother me the most is that I didn't find out from her or immedi medely right or that all this there was a big secret behind my back going on and I think that's what would hurt me the most and at the end of the day we keep on talking about the child's feelings what about the parents feelings and that's something that we need to take into account as well but other i y thank you any other public comments well I do want to thank everyone for coming out tonight and sharing your
105thoughts with us um we also did receive quite a few emails and apologies if of them didn't make it on yet there's a certain cuto off that we use so they will be on the next one if it missed the the cut off um we read all the emails um you know and there are people on both sides of this um because we know this is a very sensitive um serious issue um over the past um several weeks we've had to you know we've also had discussions with our our legal councel um the one thing that I can say is when we read all the emails when we hear all of you standing up here tonight everybody does have students interest at heart we may be all coming at it from different ways but I
106think it's there and we just need to find the best place for our district which I know we've said in the past um we have to balance the students rights the parents rights to know and it is a delicate balance um and in light of the strong views different perspectives by members of the community um we do want to take a little time um work within the board you know a lot of us board members up here a lot of us are parents um you know some have children currently a lot of us have children currently in District um we have uh you know a lot of different views even amongst us um and so we're trying to work through everything seeking our legal you know working with our legal council to come up with
107you know what what's legal um you know what's what our rights and obligations are for students for parents um so it's a delicate balance we are working through we are going to um get back to as soon as possible as we work through the process I don't know if anybody wanted to add anything from Bo