001welcome to the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District's Committee of the home meeting on September 14 2023. time is now 6 30 PM the New Jersey open meeting law was an enacted to ensure bread of the public to advance notes of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or agreeing on in accordance with the provision provision of the spec the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District Board of Education advertises name on September 11 2023 in the Asbury Park Press and the Star Electric this notice was sent to the municipal Clerks of the Bureau of Matawan and the township of Aberdeen and the Matawan Aberdeen Public Library the notice was also placed on the district's website Community Stanford Association under God indivisible Liberty Festival in this case can
002we please Miss Vilas here Ms gershner here Mr Monto here here let's stop here miss Burrell here Ms warnicki Miss Martinez here this is golden here can I get a motion and a second to approve the special meeting minutes from September 5th 2023. I'll motion roll call Miss Violet yes Miss gershner yes Mr monotone yes Miss Bell yes Miss Scott yes Miss Brown yes Miss Martinez yes Mrs gold yes can I get a motion in a second to approve the correspondence to the board promotion I'll second and we have a slight change to the agenda tonight we are going to go into a quick executive session um for about 15 minutes so be it resolve the closed session that you can name for the first purpose of discussing with privacy personnel and attorney client matters
003the subject matter of these discussions will be disclosed to the public with a reason for confidentiality suicides although the board cannot guarantee if the let the executive session is estimated to be 15 minutes after which the public meeting of the board you'll be convenient action will take place can I get a motion in a second to enter executive session um foreign [Music] just wanted to quickly say a few things we had a wonderful wonderful great opening with students and staff it was just wonderful to see our students begin their school year with smiles and seeing them with their friends and the teachers and it was just amazing so we had a wonderful opening a special thank you to our operations and maintenance our custodial staff for prepping the buildings for our students everybody was really
004really happy the floors look great the rooms were clean um everything was wonderful so it was really exciting to start up the studio in a possible place so just reiterating what Miss Perez said I hope all of our students our staff our families had a wonderful first day of school and we are off to a great start we've had several of our schools have their back to school nights several more to come in the next couple of weeks in keeping with our focus on collaboration between schools parents and Community there are going to be some family nights coming up and workshops and events so once we have those dates we'll definitely share those out with the community our 18 to 21 year old reach program I know Ms Perez who mentioned us in your community
005letter but thought it was important to it again it's open its new home is at the overhead San Clemente the house the house in the front of St Clements in Matawan and this program supports our young adults with building independent skills transitioning and work experiences so that's very exciting also we're continuing to focus on Mental Health and Wellness for our school community Through partnership just with the Y back to school Solutions Dylan's wings of change and most recently the enhancing School of Mental Health Services project through Rutgers University um as we've said in the past Safety and Security of our schools is the top priority or second meeting will be on Tuesday September 26th at 6 pm at the high school and we encourage all community members as many as possible to come out and
006join because we really want people to have your questions answered so they have the information when it does come time to vote lastly you may have seen the Matawan Aberdeen Educational Foundation president of the back to school nights and there are Flyers that are coming home in backpacks with more information it's a fantastic non-profit group that does award grants to our Mars staff for Creative classroom projects that really do enhance our student employment there's more information on the website too in case your students did not come on moving on to the agenda curriculum and instruction Mr Legion thank you good evening under a quick little instructions item this evening that's travel under non-action items for the boardroom group and the regular actions meeting for consideration will be items B one through four that includes curriculum
007instructions uh student services Mr Lehman we're asking the board to take action on all the student service agenda items so ask the award to approve items one two and three that includes doing services can I get a motion and a second to approve the agenda all motion okay um Personnel Mr bigman the Personnel we're asking the board for one action item to be approved tonight on the board in front of you have the action item as a walk-in it's a rest of the board to approve the appointment as listed on the Walking item that's item number one then we're asking the board not for Action this evening but to consider for Action at the regular Action meeting would be approving item is a b c 1 through 11 d one through six that includes personnel
008can I get a motion in a second motion policy Mr Lehman we reference the board for approval tonight this is a second reading and Adoption of policy 2560.01 so that's the second week in adoption that includes policy you can I get a motion good evening we'll be looking to take action on item number one for approval of we'll use waivers and the educational space for clickbook review and then add the ramp on September 28th we'll be able to take action on items 2 through 13. thank you can I get an approach in a second to approve the agenda all motion any questions or comments from board members on agenda items all right okay so for the um the finance agenda the board goals is that I I think is that still under discussion this is
009just for the cow and the bullet around okay thank you yes so those are just placeholders for now coming out of the retreat and then the the next round at the ramble request great thank you any other questions or comments okay and that brings us to public comments um so before we jump into public comments I just wanted to say one thing I know um make a statement basically coming out of the last meeting we had members of the public here last name that did come to discuss gender identity and expression and we wanted to emphasize that we as a district believe that each and every student does deserve to feel safe physically and mentally they deserve to feel valued respected and a sense of belonging and we're committed to supporting all of our students
010that means being inclusive with every student's who need this at the same time we're committed to being partners with our parents and encouraging communication between them and their students we're confident in the expertise of our counseling staff and our excellent teachers who we believe have only the students best interests at heart they support our students with compassion they listen they encourage students to talk to their parents we know it's a sensitive issue for the public and we do want to work with the community to make sure that we are meeting the needs of the Everett family in District similar to how we approach the curriculum last year we encouraged the community it to give input and to be involved and we were very transparent in that we had a community meeting where the community could
011come ask questions be presented before we actually approved anything and before we moved forward so we want to take a similar approach with the with the curriculum we did review state guidelines and requirements and then we tailored them to our community's specific needs and I think that's quite frankly I think that's what's so great about our district is when we hear there's new guidelines there's regulations you know we do what we're required to do by law but then we also try to tailor it to meet what we see is going on in District and we try to have open discussions we ask for Community input before we make decisions so similar approach is what we'd like to take moving forward we always do what's in the best interest of our students in our district safety
012and education are our top priorities and we will consider continue to support and advocate for all of our students with that um we're going to move to public comment actually do any board members have anything they want to say before I jump to the comments okay um public comments on agenda items and additional matters the Board of Education recognizes the value of the public comment on matters of interest to the school Community individuals mission to speak must State their name and municipate comments are limited to three minutes duration but an individual may speak a second time after all others who wish to speak on the topic have been hurt and hurt all statements should be directed to the foreign president and no participant May address your question board members individually all speakers are requested to
013express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others whose legal rights may be infected please note while it is not the board's intention of successful comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that if their statements violate the rights of others under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy they may face personal liability to the injured party speakers are uncertain of the legal ramifications of their comments the board urges them to seek guidance beforehand from their own legal advice anybody in front of the public hello hi I'm sorry um Keith I'm Alice Murray I'm from Colts Neck and I want to come back to continue what I started last time just because I think there was some misunderstanding about it but I did want
014to talk about 5756 and you just brought it up again so I thought it would be a good time to continue that conversation um what I was trying to say last time and and I may be wrong but you're saying that you're going to support your students and the guy the guidelines it's guidance policy it's not mandatory from my understanding but it recommends that if the student is if people feel the student is going to have a problem at home or they're afraid to tell their parents that the parents will not be notified right away and I think this could happen if a child is afraid because they get a bad grade on a test and many other reasons for the child not wanting to tell the parents um so we support some parental notification
015because apparent really is the best advocate for that child in a situation with 5756 on the transgender issues now I was telling my story last time that I was a tomboy growing up and I even dressed like a boy given up until age eight I really kind of thought I was kind of cool to be like a boy but my parents always affirmed that I was a girl and there was never this narrative that's coming down from the state so I end up to be a perfectly healthy woman or girl as a child I mean I put a dress on when I went to school but I played with rocks and and these things were normal in my childhood there's plenty of people that were Tom placed so the narrative coming along even at a
016very young age we're kind of letting children make the rules here and I'm concerned if the teachers are affirming a child someone needs to tell them the truth um I think if somebody did that to me and said oh you could be a boy that would be crazy I would have gone crazy and you really can't change someone's biology you're always going to have the XX and that x y but you can help to change their mind and the simple um have not affirming their gender identity um is is what I would would hope that the teachers would support um the counseling and I don't know where the counselors are coming from but we're hearing lots of stories from across the country the same thing that we need to worry about suicide for these children
017if they can't feed what they want to be and the gender and we're finding out that if you go down that path of trying to change that gender it's going to be really destructive to that child they get into 45 percent the girls go eventually take puberty blockers which leads to sterilization and then 45 go into actual affirmation surgery if they go down the path of being a transgenuous the girls in 28 with voice so it's a big concern I'm sorry okay it's just a big concern I'll probably speaking because I want to say something else thank you and thank you so much for listening [Music] pretty and Penny father of five retired military and I told my son out of public school a couple years ago because of uh first uh I'm sorry what
018town sorry Aberdeen partly because of the protocols were coven and what they did to our children's Public School the masking stand under Blue Dot I'm not going to go in any further on that but to roll out of the lgbtq curriculum had the great new concerned I was fortunate to listen to a presentation that laid out what state was looking into the curriculum as again curriculum guidance and uh that really concerned and I did not even know about policy and I would like the state again as a previous speaker it's policy guidance it was written by Strauss Esme and it was rolled out in the dark at night and to this day most of your parents don't know what is in it and I would encourage all of you to do something Hanover had a
019court hearing on September 6th and in that the judge questioned the district attorney or the assistant district attorney about the legal the enforcement of being legally binding or law and the district attorney made the admission didn't know it wasn't mandatory or in order to have the force of Law and that's why Hanover took the whole step to rescind post 676 but I would submit to you that it never should have been approved or adopted by any school board in this state okay and I hope you have not ready you will and I hope that that all the parents or anybody listen to this will go read it and they will understand how it contrades parental rights and traditional role how it is harmful and should be viewed under the lens of child endangerment laws and
020if anybody thinks that uh all students May participate in sports according to their gender identity and use the locker rooms and shower rooms and compete women's sports or vice versa is fair or reasonable I would just be astounding Thing by the reasonable person really believes that is reasonable same with the bathroom policies they're designed for biological sex and yet we're saying all students may use a bathroom facility according to their gender identity what has our world come to you after 30 years in the military I saw how our requirements for recruits continually I've got the standards lowered so they can get enough people through sorry so so what I'm saying is you need to focus on education okay we didn't get high school graduates to qualify for military or federal service and they're getting all
021this whole ideology I would love to comment about 30 minutes on items two and three which is nothing but uh code words and buzzwords for this ideology and replacing equality with equity thank you my name is Carolyn can you hear me my name is um I just wanted to give you a flavor for what happened at the meeting of Hanover on Monday night we were there and um was well attended within the auditorium which I'd say probably they were going to get about 250 to 300 people there the vast majority um I think about 95 of them were were opposed to 57.56 I'm also opposed to it a big unanimously voted it down it's my hope that a Governor's School Board is a vote on it that may also will vote it down because there's
022a lot of good reasons to do that I think that any any new policy that encourages this new ideology that somebody can actually change their gender which defines science from truth like Alex that before me were born with either XX gender or XY nothing we do can change that mutilation surgeries do not change it and many many children who have the later regretted were seeing that Chloe Cole is a great example of that she had the surgery of 13 year old and now she is really true stating four children that they would not not succumbed to the gender identity woke um that's kind of taken over for school so I'm sure eventually you're going to end up voting on 57 56. I just encourage you to look at the damage that I have is coming
023from the ideology that's coming into the schools that's not good for children extremely confusing I was a tomboy too as a little girl I had my own gun and holster and cowboy hat and lived in Florida and we played Yankees and Rebels the girls and the boys if somebody had suggested to me that maybe I was really a boy um it could have ruined my life I'm sure so I think that's a common story for girls um and I just wanted to talk about a recent Monmouth poll that was done uh 77 surveyed field of middle and high schools should be required to notify the parents if their child wants to begin identifying as a different gender 77 and this poll was done August 10th to 14th of this year with 814 New Jersey adults
024they also are opposed to boys using girls restrooms and boys participating in girls Sports they think it should be based on gender not a fluid changing gender identity so thank you um thank you hi guys everyone remembers me right so my name is Cindy I am an Aberdeen resident I don't want to get deep into the Weeds on this policy because we're going to all consider it but I really strongly feel that any policy that has an adult keeping a secret from their parents is not a good policy and I have to be honest with you I feel like the state has put you guys and put the teachers and the admin in a horrific position because now they are telling you that you have to enforce again a policy that says adults you need
025to keep secrets you can say whatever word you want it's a secret honey it's a secret okay you need to keep a secret from the person who carried the child nine months 24 hours of Labor emergency C-section a week in the hospital and now I'm sending my time to the school where Maybe there's going to be secrets and I am a little concerned about that but let me get some second issue so I recently went to open school I hit the button uh I broke it sorry okay so I recently went to um I'm a director of training at my company so I'm used to speaking loud to a bunch of adults um so I recently went to open school at mams um Mr Van Horn very nice guy I really liked his opening remarks
026um and I have to be honest with you there was a lot of safe spaces like I want your child to feel safe I want your child to feel emotionally safe and I would like someone to tell me where in man's is it unseen so that way I can make sure avoid those unsafe spaces honey because it's concerning to me it's like kind of psychobabble-ish almost like I want your child to feel safe unlike my child feels safe like I might prefer you not to tell my child that I want you to feel safely there's they're safe already um I also heard a couple of you know like I want to be a proud to friend oh yeah I really don't want a 40 year old adult to be my child's friend um and that's
027just maybe my opinion but uh I'd rather you know my kid come to school learn Reading Writing write math uh social studies uh and then you come home and you play with a bunch of 12 year olds I'm really not looking for a friend for my child and that was just me I mean maybe there's other parents who are okay with it but uh it may be cringe a little I'm not gonna lie okay so I just wanted to let you guys know just some concerns I had I kind of felt like we didn't have this last year in man's and we are having it this year and Miss Perez I am having major trouble with Van Horn and opting out of the sex ed so whatever she is can you guys please get in
028touch with me because I'm kind of like over it already I I need this fixed alrighty thank you very much I just want to say what the your first point regarding reaching out to state legislators and the doe is a very good point because I think it does start there and the number of things you know tucked in on either side of it quite frankly I think that's because a lot of it does come down thank you anyone else from the public I'm guessing you could probably hear me without a microphone uh Allison Friedman in case you don't remember me uh Aberdeen uh I come with two issues or two things to say the first is thank you Mrs Foley for the shout out to the foundation we've had a tremendous amount of energy that
029we have seen with the foundation the teachers yearly getting into thinking for creative ideas I want to thank Ms gerstner for helping out one night at the tables I want to think this was going this Feliz or thanking the volunteers that were with us helping out I appreciate it it's not just my fun it's also there's hopefully everybody got their full fundraiser back at this point if you haven't they are all stable and I think it was something like 3 000 Staples stapled they're set home we have venmo and I hope everybody goes to the fundraiser no matter how you view it that being said that changes my to my other issue um the policy that everybody is discussing has been on the books in Matawan Aberdeen I believe since 2019 if not before I
030think that was the last read it is not a new policy it was not a concern until someone or some people decided to politicize it it is a policy that is in line and a Conformity with New Jersey statutes with Federal pickup there are reasons why as much as we as parents would like to know all the things about our kids we don't or we can't you can take a child abuse situation and you can recognize why a child wouldn't want to tell their mom that their father or uncle or their brother is abusing them but they would need to be able to feel safe after school to report it to them there are a lot of those reasons that happen out there the idea that something that has been in existence for years has
031suddenly become a problem when you read the policy when you look at the intent behind the policy it really is in line with your board goals which is to make everybody feel secure and to feel safe this allows people to learn about each other and now at the beginning of the year I kind of enjoy this time because as a Jew I have people asking me what Rosh Hashanah is about and it gives me that opportunity to educate them and to share that knowledge and maybe they weren't scared or nervous maybe they were didn't know how to say hi or what to say and now they do so that we're comfortable because now they notice a happy New Year on Russia shop and to say have a quick and easy fast on Yom Kippur and
032those things those barriers can't be broken down unless we take the time to learn about each other to learn to accept women and if the parents are genuinely concerned that their child is hiding something from them then that has a bigger implication within that family unit and the policy speaks to working with the child so that the child works with the school counselor so that the parents and the child can communicate together and work through the problems here the policy does not say oh look playing with frogs so he must be a boy let's all treat him like a her like a boy or change the pronoun it's not about hiding it I'm in three minutes yes so the policy as it stands is in line doesn't mean it you you don't have to tweak
033it we've done that time and time again I want to say thank you again for the shout out and um I hope that when you do talk about the policy over and up the property thanks thank you thank you we're at the Farmingdale presidential election I just want to Echo again obviously this policy has been out for a long time and we have not heard a single concern about any staff member attempting to convince any child to be something or not be something so I just want to put that out there that we're working in hypotheticals and as I said the last time we met that should something present itself I have no I know that in my mind that this community in the way that it handled the healthcare Health standards and how everybody
034came together we had different viewpoints but in the end we came up with something that the community not everybody necessarily agreed with it but something that was in the best interest of the children and I think we might be creating something that's not actually here yet that doesn't mean that it couldn't happen um but I also Echo what Miss Friedman said that there could be another Dynamic on the home front where if a child isn't sharing at home what is the reason for that or if a parent isn't seeing that at home what's happening um but I've been correct me if I'm wrong on this but I do believe that the policy does allow for if a child is ever going to have the intent of self-harm or anything like that for parents and be
035notified so it's not as though parents are being kept in the dark for everyone and I will speak personally for myself not as the president of the Union I think there also should be likely some age appropriateness to this where if you have a high schooler who yes still an adolescent but a more developed brain than a say fifth grader um there may be needs to be some age-appropriateness and parent communication that you may not need with a high schooler and the example I would give is we have 18 year old students that are more than welcome to sign themselves out of school if they want to are those parents supposed to be notified because under FERPA they're not allowed to do they have privacy rights so I think there's a whole lot here that
036we need to consider and I think we're doing a good job I really do so if there are concerns in other towns I understand those concerns but by the same token I think we're doing a good job and I and I think we work together and we've proven that we can my name is Jennifer Woodruff and I am a resident of Morganville and a business owner for over 30 years in that one um I would just want to make a comment about the gentleman who talked earlier um one of the reasons this has come to a head is 5756 policy is because people didn't know about it when it came out people are cool so it's not as though all of a sudden it's like a problem it's because no one really knew about it
037I think a lot of the teachers didn't know about it the teachers I talked to were they don't they still know a lot of them still don't know what I'm talking about I think they think I'm making it up um another thing is this is a special policy I already have anti-bullying and anti-discrimination in the schools this is something special and unique it seems like it's already being taken care of so I don't understand why a new policy has to go into effect for something that something like this when the parents should be notified anyhow more importantly thank you very much for your service your time your dedication it is really appreciated um you spent many hours personal hours doing what you're doing and right now you don't have to hear Black from and I
038know it's not any of your doings you're getting it from the state but I just have to say do my say I'm speaking on behalf of children who are vulnerable and do not have a voice we need to protect all of God's Little Children including those who are confused about their gender identity however adopting policy 5756 is not the right way and will only lead to more confusion hostility and increased bullying and sexual harassment the schools in New Jersey have been deceived in believing that this policy is mandatory whereby was only guiders and they put that in quotes I typically regard guidance as something positive to follow whether the 5756 is a guide to follow or is mandatory is bizarre and should be disturbing for every pound we send our children to school to learn
039three hours not to coddle them and provide affirmation when they are emotionally confused why the government believes they have the right or the qualifications to handle emotional needs of the children particularly in an area that is new where there is no basis of Truth and where there is no specific training is beyond me the fact that Marlboro and three other school boards were sued because they followed their hearts in the wishes of the majority of the parents by objecting to this by 756 policy because of its absurdity is unconscious unconsciously much anything we are teaching children to lie to their parents we are telling children that it's okay to be disillusioned and that others have to count out to them I don't know when children became in charge and made the rules for our schools
040gender dysphoria has risen by four thousand percent in past five years this is not an accident this is by Design Tick Tock Snapchat Instagram they're all promoting this gender confusion true I truly believe that the drivers of this movement are Sinister people who financially are backed by entities they want to take control of our children at a young age when they're impressionable and when they are vulnerable it's five seven five six policy causes division within the schools in adverse stereo relationship between a parent and a child I'm sorry we just need to okay sorry anything I'm finished yes okay well thank you again listening to me and for your service um I just wanted to add on a lot of people said a lot of really good things um I wanted to say something just
041to comment under four years that everybody thinks well it's four years then it should be acceptable all of a sudden we're noticing well two of their usual coven where we really were focused on covid and then having to teach from Zoom messages to half the school for the next year so people weren't really thinking about all these other things that were going on so remember that and some of the school boards that have realized it have already had time and voted new people in who would support the parental rights so those are the ones that you're seeing that have made change otherwise it's very hard to make change within that short period of time um so I just wanted to go along to say that between 80 and 90 80 88 according to the Toronto
0422021 study 11 different studies stated children go back to their gender of birth by the time they're 18. so what my concern is that I am actually a teacher in a high school and I don't think it's fair for teachers are supposed to say pronouns are supposed to use the pronouns if a child is in the class which I do have and they're obviously a girl and I'm supposed to say he so I will try to use the person's last name the person's first name but it is really not fear and it's not right to do the kids I had this conversation with another teacher who's going along with this whole ideology and she says well it's really not our place to say anything to that child okay well I ask you if you have
043a child that is standing on the edge of a bridge and is going to jump off because these are the things that these these drugs are doing blueprints they use to give to sex offenders and it sterilizes them Chloe called who she talked about there's many people there's a list and it's growing up to 10 when we transition right now so these things are permanently damaging them and they are children that's why ever adults that's why the parents seem to be notified but think about your staff the wonderful staff that you said you had they should be affirming the great qualities of girls and the great qualities of voice and and let them know that this is normal for children to dress like boys and to feel like boys doesn't mean they can actually change
044it they're in for a world of pain if they go along that path so if someone's going to jump off the bridge I'm gonna I'm gonna say please I don't want to say go ahead because you feel like it because this is all based on feelings if it's a medical reason that is so be it but the policy says it doesn't have to have any medical reason just what a child feels like so if the state gives us something that is wrong and that's morally wrong we need to say what are we going to do about it are we going to be like sheep and go along in that path and do whatever they tell us to do there's a point that we have to recognize that this is going to be destructive to the
045kids all right well thank you again for listening thank you just um really quickly Tyler Clemente jumped off a bridge and died because he was afraid of being outed to his friends and that's what created the hip policy kids have a right to explore who it is they want to be and the policy provides for counseling not counseling to become one thing or the other but counseling on how to learn their feelings understanding and communicate to them it's not a made-up Fiction it's not propaganda children kill themselves because they are so worried about being who they are and this this board this district has never allowed that to happen and I it's something that I'm proud of as a parent I'm proud of that somebody who continually volunteers for this and again I thank you
046for setting those board goals honestly it's really hard for me to get my arms around discussion I hope every one of you board members has actually read 57 56 and this thing about oh it's been on the books for four years stuff is nonsense because most of you know you didn't read it until recently when it became an issue and I would like to know if it was actually voted known and adopted or if it was rubber stamp because somebody said it's mandatory because they it was incorrectly and erroneously marked as many every policy is discovered on but I believe the last time was in 2009. so 83 just about everything so it really is sounding to me that school boards across the state would actually vote to adopt this policy in its form okay
047as guidance is policy guidance and they didn't even edit it to protect parental rights stand up for parental rights protective children from what is egregious what's in that policy matter of fact I can read a couple things and oh by the way I'd like to point out that more data as it comes in is going to show more conclusively that these young kids are becoming disillusioned after all of the social influences and encouragement and affirmation with no questions that's when they're becoming suicidals and by the way I know a little bit about that because I had a son who committed suicide and it makes long read that they like to throw these fear-mongering things out to detract them I would like to also know what the motivation is for this policy because if you evaluate
048it it doesn't help anybody and and it certainly doesn't help kids that are suffering from dysphoric gender disorder for you and if you look up genders this 40th it is categorized as mental illness by every Medical Authority in policy 5756 there's uh words statements such as each student has chosen okay so the kids are choosing I'd like to know where the idea of a seven or eight-year-old is that of of what his new gender identity is okay based on a deeply held sense of gender we're talking k-18-12 you think that 18 year old has the mental ability to make life changing decisions regarding gender these young kids aren't even going to know how many genders are on in the definition itself it says how many uh you know gender more uh more closely with their
049deep-seated feelings than their biological gender so it implies that their biological gender is it is a real thing but then they can be anything they want um cisgender derogatory term student-centered parental consent not required to read this parents need to be aware and they'll be in here they'll be coming in here you don't have a problem now sir because people don't know what the hell is going on thank you just to correct Madame President I was not saying a problem with Paris I was saying a problem with teachers attempting to turn boys into girls and girls into boys that was my point understood anyone else are going to take sorry we're going to take action on agenda items we have curriculum instruction a student services one through three personnel the walk-in item policy second read
050and finance number one I also yes Miss garchner yes yes Mr montone yes yes Miss Scott yes Miss pero yes Mrs Martinez yes this is cool yes any unfinished business on board members yes Bible um hi I just want to give an update on the cultural awareness committee where we're at um we've been meeting regularly and we've put together a draft that will be ready for review for the board by the ram meeting but it's really a calendar of events of observances of religious holidays reflecting our community and those who observe the holidays and and things like that in our community that we have to be aware of when we when our schools are are planning the big time events um so it is a calendar with dates and a little bit of information about
051each of those holidays and services so we can understand each other a little bit better and and why we can't have a night event this night even though I don't celebrate that holiday and all of those things and um in addition it advises that um no homework is assigned on those nights of the holidays with anything to be due the next day to really respect each other and going along with that if there are any practices for school going on that night that no one can be penalized or made to feel bad about observing their holiday with their family as opposed to attending their sporting yeah and with the um edition of our director of Dei visited diversity inclusion I think that will be helpful too in terms in terms of talking to staff talking
052to director of Athletics talking to the coaches talking to the children like I think you will have a very active role or good as well I know a number of questions did come up this week because we do have holidays coming so I think we'll be talking to Mrs I spent with him today yeah so I spoke with some type erzy he did share with me that Friday and Saturday there are no sporting events and no games this actually was established lasts well I went through last school year as well and there are neighboring districts who are following the same policy why this person like one Friday and Saturday it's a Jewish observance [Music] so um celebrate the holiday s the first president this you know also as a member of the holiday committee I
053I was tasked with researching the um the religious breakdowns represented in our community and I just found it really interesting honestly to see if you have what a variety large and widely diverse Community we have and therefore we were able to help that shape the the list of holidays and things that's ones that some of us may not be familiar with based on and so education on that I think is critical because um right yeah so I think that's very good that you guys would do it's been very interesting I was very very interesting because there really aren't that many yes there really aren't that much so part of our project is to really uh teach about that yeah yes education yeah any other yeah I I don't know is this the perfect temperature I
054just wanted to share um with you that um as one board member and I think I can speak for some of those we have read policy 5756 um and uh as just wanted to confirm that as far as I know staff or not our direct not directed to actively suggest to students it can be transgender um that staff are directed to contact parents if they perceive that a child is suffering from a mental health illness and that and then I I just wanted to remind the public that we had a really great large community discussion related to sex ed curriculum last year and I hope that we can continue to have more you know collaborative conversations multi-leading and because out of that came a that were available to the public in a very public way
055and and the kids he knew as the santora mentioned that also in very public process to opt out of something if you're not comfortable with it and so I just wanted to I know that elephant in the room that we were talking to some some folks that are from other communities please check us out more absolutely read our policies on our website not what's being sent you know as this is what the state says this is espresso Sesame says we revise our policies locally we tailor our policies locally you're in Central Jersey things are a little diverse and lots of faith and lots of opinions here and I just I hope that people remember and I think that Comprehensive Health policy is a great example of that because when we when we revise that policy
056for our district we actually looked at a number of other districts and they were cookie cutter and we made sure ours was different and tailored to what we thought we needed here in district and the concerns we were hearing from the public so I think we do do a good job at that and you know we can talk more as we proceed forward on this policy and others that we feel are concerned thank you any other um um with that we're going to enter in our into our second executive session the results at a closed session that you can name the purpose of discussing privacy personnel and Eternity matters the subject matter of these discussions disclosed to the public confidentiality Society although the board should not guarantee it the length of the executive session is
057estimated to be 20 minutes after which the public meeting of the war until you convene and pursue the business action will not take place can I get a motion in a second all in favor aye