001Board of Education recognizes the value in public comment a matters of interest to the school community in visualization to seek must save their name and address comments are limited to free Administration but an individual may see the second time after all others who wish to seek on the topic have been heard while statements should be directed to board president and no participant May address or question board members individually all speakers are requested to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others to legal rights may be affected please note while it is not the board's intention to cycle comment on matters of legitimate concern the public should be aware that if their statements violates rights letters under the law of defamation or invasion of privacy they may face
002personal liability to Indian party Seekers are uncertain that the legal ramifications of their comments the board or defense is the guidance beforehand from their own legal advisor so you want to come to the podium one at a time um really quick question I know you touched on second fifth 80th 12th I had fourth graders and fifth graders so in regards to fourth grade what should I and it'll hit them at the end of fifth because we're going across the stand where we've pushed it all to the furthest you can look at the standards too if you see something you want it would be the same opt-out procedure okay sorry great thank you yes because that letter will go home to each principle that'll be sent home to each individual family okay yes okay you're welcome
003um seven-year-old twins entering the public school system for the first time here um really my two questions Focus around um the opt out process so what specifically so let me I guess first questions first question is during these lessons regarding health um touching upon the terminology for private parts which I think is appropriate to know for all kids when they're having those conversations are they having them one hour during a week are they scheduled for every Friday how do the parents know when is this coming how often will it be and how much of the date does it take and just secondly if I choose to opt out where does my child go are they being asked to leave the classroom in front of all of the other kids are they going to do some
004recess how does that process work so they don't feel both left out and singled out and how am I sure when is this happening and how often so um to answer your first um you'd be opting out of specific standards so that opt out letter will come home it'll list all of the standards that are being taught and to that when I in the beginning I spoke about when they're going to be taught we're talking about this will all take place in a health and phys Ed class in a 40-minute period um it will depend on age level and things like that which will be great yes so it's going to be well yes exactly a very very small piece of a much larger piece to deposit a much bigger puzzle excuse me um so
005the answer where they will go will depending because if you opt out of the standard let's say in second grade naming penis vagina I have to get you out of the classroom because otherwise you're going to hear it right right so there'll be alternative assignments set up and we will have a a staff member will be so it could be going to the library that period but we're not going to see kids in a corner and say this is where that's not what this is about right we're here for kids at the end of the day so it will be as unobtrusive as possible okay so in other words once I get the letter from the principal and I say these are the standards to participate in there will be pre-planners my children will be
006taken to something else during that time yes exactly and we're not talking about a large piece of time and also um to that end um you would if you have questions you would go to your principal first if you're not hearing what you need to hear or there's confusion then I would ask to call me and then last question um you mentioned the four words which I do think are appropriate yeah how much Freedom does the teacher have and this is Justified those are four words like I said four words so if a little Johnny or Little Sally as you said raise their hand and said well I know this word well I mean obviously yeah that's going to happen right and but we have a professional staff here that this is what they do
007for a living right um so what I'm telling you is those are the four words okay hi my name is Sarah gersher um I'm going into 9th grade here at the high school and uh with today's current events and what's going on currently in our country I feel though it's very important to discuss abortion and what's going on so what abortion be implemented into the current account there there's discussions in high school on that yes which hasn't always been yes and would there be a discussion how there's limited Elite legalities of abortion in certain States that doesn't existence questions would there be would be taught about um the legalities and illegalities abortion Nation one yeah so if you were in a history class in high school that topic would come up yes okay yes yep
008[Music] um that's probably a history lesson or a current events or a um you know that that's our English maybe uh definitely the AP level classes that they do at the high school but shouldn't be and I hope it's not part of the sex ed curriculum that legal [Music] um with respect to the puberty lessons will there be any um touching on that sometimes Community is not uncomfortable and it doesn't you know have to feel great all the time um it's something everybody has to work through we've all done it uh you know will that be part of that discussion absolutely and just remember the puberty discussion is not coming in second grade right so yes um absolutely um as far as respect I'm all for it and that includes self-respect so making sure that
009you know girls especially girls are taught that you don't have to go along with what everybody's doing you can respect yourself and your desires and your wishes and your um you know what you want to consent doing all that stuff I I would argue you it has to start with yourself right um uh before it can go anywhere else so yes okay and then I had a question about when you hit that question but I do feel that the Educators and statistics are able I've I've been through this with Santa Claus I think we're great about the Santa Claus question in the undergrades the teachers handle it for free so I feel like I'm very confident how they'll see your kids away from the Airing off into other subjects um and then um which I
010saw that for the high school um pregnancy portion abstinence was listed as one of the actually the first prevention for both disease and pregnancy so I really appreciate that because somehow that's getting lost in all of this um I know that we're talking about family culture as well in some of this and that's part of a lot of family cultures um you know I've been talking to my kids about this stuff I'm not serious about it for a long time probably before they'll be exposed to it in these classes you know this year so you know they're pretty clear about how I feel and I think lastly what I would say is that I would love a parental in love with me somebody talked about you know resources at home I think that parents are
011Swedish at the same time they don't want the schools to teach things because it may not match up with their values so I know that we have the parent Academy I think it might be a good idea to have something where parents are kind of taught changing airport refuse their own ideas about what they feel certain kids get everything from everywhere so it's not like the parents can't brainwasher them is taking their way right I know that's not how it works um but I think it's a good idea to open that discussion for parents I agree with you 100 we that's been discussed on the table right now and there's a couple things I want to get rolling within the first few weeks of school and that is one of them you're welcome section so
012my oldest is going to second grade and just reading that I had a couple questions um obviously you could have stopped you know learning about body parts but the hard question is um my daughter will be taught about reproduction right it's a very important again is that correct not to be Michael do you want it not reproduction of human thought reproduction of this animal's plants at that point will they default that females Hitler or mother's labor and that males provide seed or would that just be just it's not that in depth okay and then fifth grade um the dream of slides I saw most boys had penises and most girls had vaginas that's part of the standard okay so like I said but by most I mean is it like a deformity or is it
013just going along the editor I don't well then that's where you should go look at the legislative notes and see what their intent was when they wrote it okay foreign area I will have three kids coming to the school uh next year ranging from second grade fifth grade and high school so I will run the gamut of kids taking looking we have a lot of Welcome to do tonight with that I just want to stand up here to thank all of you because hey this is a bank of shop that you all are doing it is not easy to sit there and come up with a curriculum of such a sensitive topic and the care that you have put into it with the legislation that's hanging over your head is absolutely amazing and in a
014world today of Catchphrase calls and Buzz work that even headline Heroes to hear you break down what you are going to do to educate our children to create equality among everybody in the school it's absolutely amazing my fifth grader is a transgender female she already started questioning her identity at the age of eight my eldest is a non-binary female and these are topics that whether we want to admit or not are coming up in social media on Tick Tock it's coming up in fortnite and video games that they play whether we want to admit it or not and my nine-year-old came to their summer camp this year from Brooklyn and openly identified as being a transgender female and was accepted made me feel really great about being in this community they do not want to
015do that in Brooklyn but they did it here and to continue that I know it's hard for all of us to admit that teachers are going to teach our kids stuff that we may not totally feel comfortable with but school is a gateway to education it's the gateway to opening up conversation at home all of you are opening up the conversation for us for our kids who ask questions to us to go in depth how we feel personally at home and I thank you for being there you're welcome and welcome thank you um so you can see this reform see this was a sexual education I'm sorry can I get your name and address shown out of mine I live in Cliff Beach for Concourse um the sexual education information Council in the United States
016was born in 1964 to lower pregnancy rates and STD rates right among teens and between 1957-1964 they had already been going down but after she just was formed and they became more influential the pregnancy rates and STD rates Skyline they went through the roof so the comprehensive sex education didn't work to fulfill its goals and they've then decided to say they would and it ended up not working out so the my parents can grant our parents and grandparents who trusted the studies over their own common sense that sexualizing teenagers would still need to lead to higher rate of pregnancy and STDs they were wrong to disregard their own common sense with studies and now you're telling us that these studies are going that that if we get if we take that secularization of teens and
017we touch them and start very slowly at seven or eight years old and we move up to when they're around 11 years old that that's going to make them less likely to be attracted to sexual predators now we're supposed to do these studies over Common Sense which is the common sense is if if seven-year-olds are more comfortable talking about their sexual anatomy that's a dream come true for sexual purpose and you're saying some sexual predators be the first to that and in terms some is vague what is some two three because you're not even saying men you're not getting any percentages so I just uh I'm I don't trust this this this program because he's never worked before it hasn't worked it's been decades pregnancy rate's going crazy and uh you're having all these problems
018you're not fixing them and now you're wanting to expand these programs to include seven areas there's something wrong with me there's something wrong with you pushing this kind of sexualization children I'm going to opt out I hope all the parents opt out because you're sick people and you're doing something horrible to these kids you've already did it to us where the game you paid for this experiment and you see where this is where Society has gone now which you see what's going on pregnancy with Americans destroyed uh relationships came back in way and you just want to keep it standing you're ignoring the failures of your problem you're ignoring the fact that you have absolutely utterly failed the lower pregnancy rates towards the lower STD rates um God help us all man that's all I
019have to say [Applause] my name is I live in Matawan and I grew up here I grew up in the d section I didn't go to school here but I came into town and I'm raising my kid in this town and I have to say this is the first probably the first time and anyone who knows who I am or she's an online or here I actually agree with everything you guys said so except for one thing and as a parent of a child who's an lgbtq Community one possibly two I am really glad that you guys are opening up this discussion because I feel like some people are really uncomfortable talking about this with their kids I am both mother and father to my children so I got to have the sex talk with
020my 13 and 14 year old police that was not fun okay but what I will say is that a lot of the stuff that I told them like oh we already know that Mommy learned that in school I came from a very strict Jewish religious family a parent Weber they were one of the founding members of the synagogue we've been here over 40 years and I just want to say that I'm really glad that you guys are dealing with this my oldest child too is in the lgbtq plus immunity was terribly wrote that a lot of people on the board know from the community know and I'm just really glad that you guys are able to talk about it and inappropriate ways and um as someone who was in a high school whose principal went
021to jail for molesting the children in a school where we didn't talk about anything in the community that we were so close now yeah he went to jail for molesting the kids thank goodness my parents had conversations with me so we understood right but I didn't learn about that in school we didn't know I didn't the way I was hurting is very different than the world that I was thrown into and while you are one of the community members may not agree with you know non-binary or you know people who are you know identifying different that's funny you don't have to identify with them but you also have to understand that you don't have to do anything but I would hope that the people in this community that I grew up in and I decided
022to stay here and literally eat like prominent afford to live here that the people in this community feel a little bit more open and accepting of other people and that's the one thing and the other question I had was which is nothing to do with the sex ed um why did the board decide not to um teach the argue because that was one of the first things that I decide on there we are not teaching CRP I'm curious as to why that choice of me yeah why because we collectively decided that that wasn't a route we wanted to go um are we going to discuss any of the ideas behind that which is very possibly you might have a group in this country well as we spoke about before that could be an AP class
023at a high school level and things like that but um to have a complete understanding of that um you know the the the the reason behind it is those courses are college level courses that somehow morphed into a whole other thing in the last three years so to try to teach something at a college level is almost impossible to deal with that so you might find a discussion on that in an AP class in high school um a senior might could possibly be their cap selling project for a graduation uh requirement on that if it shows so um that's the that's the that's the reason in contact well there ever be discussions with our kids about how race and laws are in our country like how like a real conversation not like oh there's a
024civil rights movement so everyone's talking about that High School AP those conversations aren't happening all over the place yes if I could just um follow up I guess we aren't teaching history right and the race relations for example there is an equity team made up kids without those very politely discussed in an equity team conversation that was initiated by kids and I was looking for her because she was here but there she is so it's something that regardless of what we did our children took it on and had absolutely Gone With The Ball but this District teaches history correct yes hello um my name is Malin and I'm in the Strathmore section as well uh first I want to say thank you for what you guys are doing um this is I'm sure learning curve
025not only for us for you guys to still trying to figure out a way to make pretty much everyone happy um I think it's very important for children even at a young age I do it with my kids what is safe with Safe Touch area you know not only for strangers it's unfortunate to say but most of the time so something happens within family members friends so I just want to make sure that it's just not being taught as a stranger situation because it's usually not the case well that was a good ad account of course yes and you're here you are correct yep so thank you for doing that I think it's extremely important um and it will definitely protect a lot of children uh secondly uh I feel at least when it comes
026to the binary non-binary we're learning right so I think maybe it would be smart to maybe connect with different parents and hear their stories and kind of learn because this is a learning curve for us as well as parents and I think maybe that's something that maybe should be formed within us or I don't know how I don't know how to do that we were talking about the parent University before it might be away or we could form a separate committee as well so um the the answer to that is it's whatever we want it to be right at the end of the day so call me up you know I know there's people in here that want to get this all rolling in some whatever Avenue you want to go down and we need
027to be respectful of all of that so but I also want to state that if anyone has a comment or an idea or a question that everyone should be open to it and not take it as simple because that's the only way we're gonna learn not just by squash and saying you can't say anything because your opinion does not match mine you have to figure out a middle ground and Equity right that's Equity yeah no thank you hi everyone Cindy Santorum I'm from Boyd Road I've spoken several times so I just wanted to let you guys know that um I did do the opt-out program um last year for fifth grade um I did speak to Dr Micah and um I think his name was and I mentioned I had a lot of concerns um
028so um I sent him my letter said I wasn't my daughter was not going to participate and um the principal of Boyd Road did you talk to me he was wonderful um and then he said to me I'm going to send you all the Powerpoints and everything he said that the 2020 controversial stuff wasn't in it yet so he sent it to me I read it and I was like okay I'm okay with it um but I will let you know that um the pull-out process was not part of it it was kind of like announced and my daughter said when she was leaving all the kids went oh and he's in trouble so that is definitely something that should be discussed and we we spoke about that no I'm just saying what I'm saying
029is I hear everybody and that I I have two days of PD with my admin next week you can rest assured that that is going to be assessed until it doesn't need to be discussed okay perfect thank you very much I appreciate it bye I love you uh good evening my name is actually a fantastic job dancing around the language of the rules I appreciate that but that's the scary part when you ask when men can have babies he got very quiet up there okay now this is the part of the curriculum that I'm not so thrilled about because people identify as this that and the other thing and if you don't get the pronoun right those children are going to be punished this isn't right the other question I have is about the reactions
030are this is this group going to let men go into the women's room I don't hear anybody saying anything about this because this is usually the next step in this agenda that's language the language that you showed on the board I appreciate that you guys dance around that life but I've recalled that nobody has the nerve to say that men can't get pregnant that they can get pregnant that's what gives so you're in in one sense you're a fraud and I can't believe everything the the what do you call it the optamp are these going to be grouped in for a lesson or they're going to be individual and the other thing was the woman who sets up here she made a very valid point about children who opted out they're going to be ridiculed
031for being opted out has to be discretionary hello are kids going to be punished for Michigan during other persons in their classroom I'd like that question to answer you said the word punished place I'd never say punish in my life we're not here to punish people so I hope that answers your question well I'm just saying I'm just saying we're not here to punish people you know no the answer is no okay no okay I'll just find the sounding that you can't do understand the language that's before you and disagree with it I'm ashamed of that for you thank you is there any sorry do you mind if I just ask if anybody else before someone comes back after them any new places school is the gateway to education and I'm wondering what happens to
032Reading Writing and arithmetic you've got all these other countries that are way over the top with academics than the United States because we're not teaching the things our kids need to learn to get ahead we're teaching sex too early you're supposed to be taught in kindergarten to be nice to everybody so why do you have to bring all these different groups just be nice to people say please and thank you be nice and for abortion to people I can tell you right now I'm Christian I don't believe in abortion people want to believe in that that's you know their beliefs but I'm totally gonna opt out I don't think these things they're indoctrinating our children who the parents should have the job of raising their children not the schools not with the sex not with
033pregnancy and all that kind of stuff it's up to the parents to teach them so I think when we're in kindergarten and they do learn to speak High School what's wrong with that why do they have to bring all this sex out there and one more point I didn't speak to on Chrome about metal detectors in the schools I don't have to remember that I do I do they have like I said they had an Elizabeth New Jersey in the 80s and they worked fine they had them in courts they had them in airports so if anybody's concerned about safety I would consider everybody discussing most detectives plain and simple it is so we we're going to be forming a committee as soon as school starts on safety um because we're we're in talks with
034our those townships now about family clinics three officers in every building so that may be in a committee you'd like to serve on okay and you can bring bring that to the table with that with the committee I appreciate it if you send an email in the morning I will assure you that in the first week so I'll be sending an email out about that so I'll ensure that you'll be on that chain did email me right back okay call me and I do appreciate it you're welcome thank you can I just sorry can I just say something in terms of the education we are still doing the reading the writing the math like all of that education is definitely still happening and it's a priority but there is a portion that will be dedicated
035to this but it is a small effect I might have been saying earlier it's a small portion that will be dedicated to this too because I hate that well I would love to say everybody learns to be nice and kindergarten um you do learn you learn in preschool I mean you learn don't cut the line I mean we've got a book you know like do you learn a lot when you're little but unfortunately things change and there's a lot out there and the kids aren't exposed to so much I mean I've got middle schoolers and high schoolers and if some parents even knew what their kids were doing looking at I mean there needs to be some education to keep the kids safe and I do feel strongly it needs to happen and I wish
036I could say that bullying and harassment doesn't happen but it does we see the neighborhoods so so I think I wished him for all nights I wish I was open up you know like it's just unfortunately I think it's constant that we have to keep that communication going and teaching them so self-respect respecting others um accepting others so I think that has to continue beyond him first it should be up to the parents with yourself and and also like I said those against a lot of people's religions about a lot of things I can respect anybody here you know I was supposed to respect people but I don't believe in a lot of this stuff and I don't think a lot of it should be fun that's you know and we'll be off for now
037so I appreciate it thank you I have a quick question kind of uh but we talked about a lot of new standards new uh information yeah we are not actually spending any more time on health class than we ever have correct and you know I don't believe so okay let's check Mrs Scully um I just want to verify Dr Michael we're not discussing pronouns anywhere are we is that anywhere no but if someone identifies this one as a different program that's that's different than right but we're not it's not actually in the standards that that to me falls under you know accepting type of thing right okay it's like as we've been talking about Equity Walnut yes thank you okay I just wanted to say thank you because I didn't say that before um I
038I think that you know it was suggested that you danced around the standards um I actually see that in a positive way because there's a lot of districts that are going completely full course with this and we're really lucky I feel lucky that there was so much thought put into this and so much care about really trying to make sure that it was handled so that you know the majority of the people would be okay with it um I apologize for people who've been got sick and I'm you know sorry about that I personally am and I want to remind everybody that these are the standards that our Board of Education our teachers our curriculum Department was given and they came up with something that I think it's pretty tame I watch all the stuff
039you guys watch I know what's out there so um just keep that in mind and just I would encourage people to go back and look at the second grade and the fifth grade um you know there's you you can get caught up in what's out there so um just let us focus on our community what what has been presented here what's available for us to look at reinforcing at home your personal beliefs opening up that conversation and writing to your legislators because this came from the legislative legislation and you know I don't necessarily agree with everything but I'm not gonna get mad at these people about it um I was up here before I don't remember my name Sarah um and I wanted to talk about why are we not discussing pronouns because with people
040in today's world being transgender are gay we need to talk about pronounces so it's not a taboo subject I I think I I was misunderstood when I spoke the discussions about pronouns will take place they're not in they're not written down anymore well I and we've spoken before um the focus is on Equity right making everyone feel accepted so in that discussion yeah the answer to that is yes but it's not going to be as I said before a how-to right you need to call yourself it what that's not going to take place right because if that's not a staff member telling someone that that's not what we're talking about we're talking about the equity of the acceptance does that make sense yes okay I hope that clarified for you yes and I also have
041one thing one one other thing um with everyone's in children's access to the internet VCS you can find out anything of your finger why aren't we talking about critical race Theory because as during black lives matter everyone you turn on the TV turn on the news on about lynches you find out about people's deaths by police officers we're talking those things are just using history class the the term critical race Theory itself is a college level course that's taught at universities um we're merely breaking it down in the history portion And discussing all of those things things that civil rights movement of the night all of that being discussed but the term critical race theory is a is a college level University program that's that's what I'm talking about but those discussions are being had
042in in history classes you know starting in Middle School as you mentioned critical race Theory itself was really only introduced into AP classes but don't you think it's important because it's our education as students to learn about everything that's going on in our world so that we will be a leaders of it in the future my answer to that is yes but I'm talking specifically about the term critical race Theory it goes to that college level so those some subjects under critical race Theory they are being discussed in our classrooms yes I don't I don't I think I'm missing something here maybe we can have a side conversation come in for lunch because I'm just telling you the way um the way I'm processing what you're saying to me yeah so all right if I
043could just I guess maybe follow up please send me an email tomorrow of course thanks if I'm correct just going through the school as I have critical race Theory involves a lot of philosophy as well as history which is normally above the kin of your average soon that doesn't mean to say that's all students but that's why with things like the equity Club when you start those discussions and the more people we can all get there that's where a lot of that you can vet out those kids who and adults where that it's at their pen but there is an awful lot of philosophy that goes along with it that a 40-minute High School class could never do justice and as well as helping with our cause that means when children are used about let's
044say not each but greatest kindergarten and fifth grade that's when you're a sponge technically you absorb information so therefore we should be teaching things about um transgender gay and how is fine it's totally okay so therefore we should be accepting it and teaching it so it's not a taboo subject thank you [Applause] um I am frozen solid is way too cold a Speedster family because um on anything today it could be the opposite conversation so I'll take that as possible so I do want to thank everyone on the board for this presentation I am in full support of the political curriculum um I think the only missed opportunity is that it does mean that a lot uh was done to proactively appease a very small number of people and I think that might be a
045missed opportunity that you have to opt out um available to the parents and I think if people do not do not agree they can opt out and they can you know take care of their children that way rather than living out of limiting I'm like shaking limiting the opportunities for all children um I also just want to say I cannot wait for your lunch with Sarah she's amazing and I I did every comment that she has and Sarah is amazing and we will have a nice lunch we'll be sour yes and I also just wanted to to reiterate the comments that were made about gender and uh if at one point there were some common feet up here that that I interpreted as transphobic and I I really hope that that the board is I'm
046sorry were you referring to the word no no no no no no no no it didn't seem that there may have been some answers that were made that were not clearly thought out to the Kansas Public well I think I think I can all night long discussing Equity um I I can't say that enough I I that's a word I use often and I don't use it lightly yeah and just one small minor thing to note I would love for all the equity um to lead over into the schools [Applause] sorry I'm new so I have more questions um regarding uh bathrooms that question was not answered as I mentioned my kids are going to Ravine I believe until the third grade um with the bathroom situation uh what is the policy there is a
047male bathroom a female bathroom and a unisex answer awesome and then regarding the pronouns um I don't think the answer was very clear so I understand that in the pronouns are accepted and they will be done with equity and absolutely if a discussion in classes that take place to explain it it will take place so I guess my question would be how it is how is it explained at the discussion of the teacher I I think that would be fair to say they saw the current situation within that classroom so I don't want to sit here and presuppose anything because we have to wait until it happens right right but I'm considering that all teachers no question about it yes so the reason I asked is I have no problem with anyone's property first gender
048identity but it is my choice to teach my children my family and I believe and it's not a fear but my concern would be that if my kids are in the second grade which they will be and there is a child who is transgendered or who has transgender parents perfectly fine that is their choice and that child brings it up in a conversation my question would be is there a standard or is there a limit on how the teacher can respond in a classroom setting without a intervening with their own opinions right because we've got no opinions if we're not talking there is no there are no opinions here curriculum there's no opinion so when there's an open discussion with young children and things may come up right there are opinions of the adults will
049not be centered around opinions and if that happens I need to know well how would I know if that happens well I'm sure value right I um no no I guess what I'm saying is that everyone raises kids definitely my kids are pretty sheltered um we're also from New York we come from a very diverse place where immigrants I get all of it I have nothing against anyone but we're teaching our children certain things and my concern would be that when there is that situation where someone raises their hand asks a question and a conversation ensues I don't know what the teacher will say and I don't know if there is a you know I don't want to say cut the conversation off no kids should Express themselves but it's their standard by which the
050teachers in this District is yes and we also have a few days of TV before school starts and the standards are going to be at the topic of discussion during that time as well I'm hearing everything everybody's saying tonight and I'm taking notes and I will address everything that I need to address so if I do if my child does come home and does tell me and I don't feel that it's appropriate I can't really talk to you absolutely any time today any day of the week and Mrs Sully can I just comment on that um I actually asked the exact same question um because while we don't want kids to not ask questions I said to Jay that you know the staff is in a hard situation because how do you have a conversation
051but yet know when to stop and but yet not to stop the child but to get them to a person who can maybe discuss that more with them um so I don't envy them in that because especially the little guys they want to talk and they ask questions um so I you know Dr Mike I know you had said that um the staff would be advised on how to handling that and yes and thank you I appreciate it if not you're gonna call me outside Central and children so that teaches a lot of resources so another thing that we changed um we did a little reorder the central office and we will have a member of central office and ever you have an office in every building as well well Central as opposed to the
052building principles Central Administration administrates the whole District so um our directors are going to be pushing into buildings so they have an office in the building um I think it's very very important um second coming off being dissident for the last few years with Kobe it's certainly important that people get back into buildings and start reestablishing those relationships and those people from Central knowledge of all the hard curriculum and things like that so not only will they be doing their job they'll be a support for that individual building that they're in but hi happy birthday um coming back after listening to a lot of what people are saying I'm actually pretty glad again that you guys are doing this because from my personal experience I came from a family where a man marries a woman
053and that's it right that's how I grew up and that's how I was raised and it was hard for me when my child told me that they were not following the same path that I was following or that I thought maybe that was the correct path it was a hard discussion and it was an uncomfortable discussion and it was a hard realization that no matter what I want for my kids they're gonna do what they want to do and feel who they want to feel I'm lucky I was born a girl I feel like a girl I only date men easy right it is not an easy place for these kids to even admit where they're at or to talk about it and I'm just so glad that you guys are opening up these conversations
054and allowing it because it is clear that there are a lot of families that are maybe not as comfortable or as accepting with these top topics and it might be difficult for when those kids come into the classroom or they see someone that's different for them to say cannot say you're wrong and spew out whatever a parent is saying and I'm not saying what the parents are probably their kids is wrong because that's how you want to raise your kids but we have to understand that this is public school right lots of different people here and for the parents that are concerned about the teachers I've always been a little critical I mean anyone who knows me I'm critical I'll tell you if I don't like the way something is that the teacher doesn't foreign
055I think that um it's it's difficult to change the way we were brought up in the way we think but if you don't like what they're teaching here then there's lots of other schools and I'm a little it's like almost back with my mind like Dr Michael constantly say like this is not a how-to right like I don't know like I even always loved our teachers but I'm pretty sure none of them are teaching our kids inappropriate things and if you think that our teachers are teaching our kids things that are that inappropriate your problem is really with the individual not the position personal opinion I mean I live next door to the gym teacher the fifth fourth of history since teacher for 10 plus years and I can say with all confidence in my
056heart that the fourth and fifth grade gym teacher is not going to be inappropriate with our kids okay but the problem is is that if you're not teaching it at home which happens if you don't think that your kids know about this stuff I have a nine ten-year-olds and let me tell you something me and her had a hell of a conversation three days ago about something that she saw online that I was like and I'm pretty strict about what I have done I'm a laid-back hippie but on the other hand I'm super sick you know what I mean like I'm in that weird in between place right but they know if you don't think that your kids on the bus are getting ahead of an education that about pronouns about gender about people who
057can have children whether we personally agree with it or not it's a conversation that has to be had and rather than I think fighting about it is a great place to start with their kids about how this is how some people live their lives this is how we live our lives and it's not bad per se but like that's where I think a lot of these problems are coming is because you're not having open conversations whether we read them or not so I just want to say thank you because like I said as a parent Mom and Dad both I gotta hit both sides and I had to learn about Christianity because I'm Jewish and my kids are have Christian I've learned all about that that was like a huge education I didn't know anything
058about that right and we're learning about that and I have to open myself about that right because I'm not comfortable with it but they are so thank you I got to admit somebody said something that triggered me I will definitely say that and what triggered me was saying that we are sexualizing our children we're not sexualizing our children we were giving them the tools to understand their body and understand what their fellow peers are going through it's not easy to come out and say I don't feel right as a boy Hey Dad I don't like sports I don't feel comfortable with this I don't feel comfortable with that I feel more comfortable in a dress to Dad as a person who identifies as a male that was a shock your firstborn son is now your
059second daughter yeah it's a shock what's more of a shock is having to explain to them the ridicule that they will go through in life because we as Society are not fully capable of accepting their ideology of wanting to be who they feel they are so no we are not sexualizing our children we are keeping acceptance 20 years ago I worked with the lgbtq community teaching safe sex education why because countless men and women but more so men were dying from HIV Aids on a consistent basis because we didn't have proper safe sex education because we were scared to admit that a man loved a man and you know what happened the term download Brothers came up and Advocate American women were Contracting HIV at an alarming rate because we didn't want to educate others
060in the fact that it was okay for a man no matter what his race or religion to love another man of their children that's not sexualizing that is seeking acceptance it's okay to come out and say I love this person it's okay when we started doing that when we started having Pride so more wise cried making the abnormal normal made those people feel more comfortable and that is what successfully has helped lower the HIV aids transmission rates that safe sex education acceptance and knowledge I'm a Christian man I grew up the same pretty much my first 14 years of my life in a Catholic School followed the Bible was on my way to become a priest until one day that my priest told me that I just should not question what was in a piece
061of paper in a book that contradicted itself every 10 chapters I still believe in God I'm a very spiritual person I almost lost my life more times than I can count but I want to make it so that my children can grow up in a place where they just feel free to say hey I love that person no matter what I had to accept it and I looked my children in the eye when they told me and I said I will love to you no matter what the world may not but I will and you will find others that do it's programs like this even slightly sugar coated and dump not dumbed down but simplified a little bit help build our children to just accept one another for who they are and thank you for
062putting the care and effort into it thank you [Applause] not going to address the sexual I think it was already stated by everybody here what I did want to address is diversity um I had a conversation with Dr Gary as well as one of our students who was a graduate and we talked about having this visualization at a lower level so children like you and myself that look like this color are not the only children in the classroom so we do matter and that's where it needs to start we're talking about things on lower levels as far as sex when we have people in our community that are including the body because of the color of their skin still to this day I do have five children I have three children that are in this
063district and I can tell you that until my daughter was in Middle School she was the only as we say Cocoa Puff and the milk okay I'm not gonna shirt today he was the only person of color in her classroom so where is her identity who is she identifying when she wanted to swing her hair because that's what she saw so we need to understand that we're trying to talk about diversity it's not just about sexual beings it's about people of color all different races when you are Jewish whether you were catholic whether you did not study believing at all we need to be understood that it's okay to be different and when these things arise and we're not looked at as individuals and we're all grouped together as one person it's not correct it's
064not how we live it's because I live in this heart of Aberdeen you live in that part of Aberdeen we all pay taxes it doesn't mean that my status is different than your size and our children are learning these things that the parents are teaching them that because the color of their skin they cannot produce them and my children thank God have had beautiful friends all colors all nations to be able to play with them from since they were in kindergarten but I'm not a lot of children don't have that same blessing and not just in this district and other religions as well where they don't have diversity they don't look at other ethnic groups as to celebrate Black History Month things like that that are important or she talks about black lives lives matter
065and things like that as well we don't have those type of conclusions and we're learning and we're learning better and as you can see I'm the only person of color sitting on camera this year and my purpose is because all of our children matter but you have to have the identity present in order for it to matter the conversations are different in our rooms because I'm in that room if I wasn't in the room we wouldn't have a conversation about color and I'm not saying that we don't have conversation about diversity but who does it affect more than me on the board you have the same thing so I feel like let's not just think that diversity and things include a sexual manner it's a whole group of people that are missing out because they're
066not included so we're trying to include everyone in and everybody's getting lost in the sexual aspects of it and it's not all about sex so I just want to bring that topic thank you for your time I live in Aberdeen actually it was not going to speak and um my daughter I was about hot pants and then jumped up and she's like I got this I'm like no It's My Life um I read the policy on the state level it was a little bit to digest and I read our pop our school policy and I wanted my first reaction was why are we screaming about this very benign document diversity means a lot to every one of us and even people who are against it I do appreciate their point of view right so therefore
067I am glad that the board and Dr J took the time to just broaden the scope that we all are represented in this curriculum I would love that I live in Matawan because you can have this conversation you could listen to each other and we can discuss without hatred and without any kind of bias we just want to be able to talk to each other and better our children and educate our children right so we have to keep the children Forefront right so therefore I live in Matawan check all the boxes I am black and white and Jewish I'm an immigrant my kids are straight and gay I have a male cheerleader right I have a jock and the ice hockey team that graduated I check all the boxes so diversity I wake up first
068okay this curriculum says it and speaks to me and even if you're against it I love to talk to you anyway because I found some exchange ideas but I just want to say that our children they run circles around us in terms of media in terms of the things that they know so if we have a conversation or just put the groundwork together when we can have a conversation where Johnny can talk about his summer experience with his two dads and not make Johnny feel bad why not do that why can't we do that what's the harm we doing now that make Johnny feel a part of our community that's what we're trying to talk to you about that's all right I just want to say that it seems in today's climate and maybe this
069community other communities we've been here for two years so we thought the community where I'm a football team we've partaking a lot of things we've met a lot of people diversity and sexuality in my opinion when it comes to my children they are together but they are also extremely separate my kids know about diversity I'm half Jewish half Christian I'm also an atheist I Come From Russia I'm an immigrant my parents came with not I understand about diversity but sexualizing our children and diversity in my opinion are two different things I choose how I speak to my children I choose what I tell them is appropriate in my opinion and it is not I also tell my children they have to accept everyone be kind to everyone if tomorrow my child comes home and says
070I am this I will love them to death forever but I don't want to confuse telling children that men can get pregnant and have children when biologically and scientifically someone please prove me wrong that is not possible so when questions about pronouns come up when questions about sexual education in the second grade come up or earlier it doesn't mean that some of us and I understand a lot of us looks like our divided which is okay we're all entitled to our own opinion but some of us do not find it appropriate it is not to our beliefs and we want to address it at home it doesn't mean that if we don't want to taught in schools that we tell our kids don't like the transgender kid don't like the gay kid don't like the
071black kid absolutely not that's not what it means but I do not feel comfortable having my son share a bathroom with anyone other than a boy and I do not feel comfortable if someone tells my son you could be a she or you could be a he he can and that's fine but that's a conversation that I think should be at home with our family so I just want to make it clear that sexualization of children sexual topics and diversity they are intertwined but there is a very big difference and I'm only coming from the standpoint of a mom to seven-year-old boys they don't know the proper terms for a lot of things we will teach them when we feel it's appropriate but School is not the police for some of these things and I
072do want to say I appreciate that gentleman said you jumped around the wording you guys took a different approach from other districts which have went full-blown with the entire legislative Proposal with absolutely no flexibility I appreciate that as a parent coming into your District but I just want to make it aware just because we don't agree it doesn't mean that we don't think we should be teaching our kids kindness and acceptance kindness and acceptance is here sexualization of our children and inappropriate topics that's seven years old to me are two different things thank you so yes Farmingdale I'm the president of the marijuana Regional Education Association so I thought this was a good conversation for the most part um just a couple of things from the teaching standpoint um as I'm sitting and listening I'm
073hearing sexuality and but I'm not hearing gender identification and I think we're really talking about two different things and my understanding of these standards that they're more related to gender identification than they are related to sexuality in the sense that you would think about sexuality yes okay um with that being said I do agree that there does need to be and I know we have guidance counselors that come into our classrooms and teach lessons these issues are going to present themselves whether they occur this year next year whatever it may be teachers will need to be taught on how to delicately handle these now I cannot speak for every teacher I can speak for the teachers that I know and I can tell you now that I've never really heard any of them in front
074of their students Express their own personal opinion or Viewpoint and an example I would give you of that is that when I was a homeroom teacher we would teach about Columbus but then we would also teach from a different Viewpoint um it's a picture book called encountered by Jamie yolin and it tells the story of a Taino boy from his Viewpoint when the Europeans came over and then what you do is you let show the sauce and make up their minds so if I were our design information then let them then make the decisions it should never be our opinion um and yeah it will take some getting used to it um I can tell you right now personally um that the word they to me means more than one it is going to it
075is going to take an adjustment for me to get used to saying that because my entire life I've never used a word in that context but I open-minded and absolutely willing and some of the staff that I work with we're all absolutely willing to do that and the other thing is when we talk about like bathrooms and things of that nature and correct me if I'm wrong but a lot of this stuff that we're talking about is state tax driven so the unisex bathroom if a student identifies for example as female but is born male that that person can actually participate on the female team that's related to what state statute is that's not the school district saying that they have to abide by that the unisex bathrooms yes that happens um I know in
076my own school we use the nurses office for children that have had not identity issues but just bathroom issues you can go to the nursing office like we try to accommodate kids and we want all kids to be welcome and we want them all to be treated highly unfair so you know it's a task that the staff is absolutely willing to take up um but as I said I think we do need to have some conversations with staff on how to handle things because there will be scenarios where um you know a boy says that you know My Two Dads we went on vacation and there's only gonna be some child in that classroom that says you have two dads well how is that conversation going to be handled now those teachers going to be
077open-minded you know yeah of course they can well how can that be and if you talk about a doctor and talk about things like that and you keep it at that appropriate age level um so like I said I think a little bit of information for the staff can go a long way just because I see things get presented but overall like I said I thought this was a good conversation and and I really think you guys did do a great job with trying to tether it to the community as opposed to just pushing forward and saying we're just going to do whatever the state wants so kudos to you foreign [Music] um I feel like 10 years old is a little bit too young if you're learning some of this stuff and uh so
078I'm starting to make I have a six-year-old at home and a first grader what are they teaching in first grade are they teaching any of this like we said there's a great sand we've chosen to go the furthest with it okay it's what we went over those things but you have access to the curriculum you can go on and look at First Rate but what Mike and I were speaking to tonight those things are being taught in second grade pushed to the furthest extent again yeah I'm like a little bit more old school where like I grew up and we learned to stuff in high school you know what I mean so and I understand kids are learning a bit a little bit more but it's got to monitor kids at home too a little
079we are in what we said too this is all age-appropriate we're not getting into the specifics of of procreation in second grade just what we spoke to tonight I still feel like 10 years old I understood so I mean so everybody's really different absolutely and uh you got to remember you have people who are like Jehovah Witness and then some other kids can't even watch Disney movies so that might be a little shocking so we're talking about like you know everybody we have to remember everybody not to force anybody to use on anybody else everybody's just respect each other that's it they accept each other's views even if they're much different than mine or yours that's it we're just going to take a quick five minute breaking and we'll get on and move on to
080the agenda so we are going to start so that brings us to board president's report um thank you everyone for a very good discussion um so hard to believe but September 6th is almost here it's only about two weeks away or it's two weeks away um just to make you aware of a few things the district has implemented a new student information system called Genesis it's going to replace real time and if Dr might get sent out a letter actually another correspondence is going on today tonight on August 23rd it will open with limited access for the parents and then on August 30th it will fully access the documents that need signatures like from the teachers assignments come out and have sort of information also the bus information will be available to parents roughly about
081the week before school never been a fair amount of new students registered registering recently within this District that have we heard from a lot of new parents to District tonight that does impact our busing the routes the availability so what we're asking is that you even if you get your assignment the night before school starts if you could just log back into the portal and just confirm because sometimes the pickup time or the drop-off time will slightly change um there will also be a new Food Services app called school pay that's going to be launching that information will be coming out shortly as well um we're asking all families to complete the 22-23 free reduced meal application this year because that does impact our federal funding and as Dr Michael said it is later meals
082will no longer be available for you free of charge this year the federal programs that cover those costs have ended and my last reminder um is to look at the district and School web pages for the back to school information you'll find the school calendars which has all those dates on there orientation dates um that sort of information and with that just want to wish you the students and the staff good luck on the first day of classes and hope everyone has a good school year so now we're going to move into the agenda items curriculum actually we're going to run through them and then go through the questions and comments from the board curriculum and instructor instruction thank you for particular instruction we're asking the board to approve items a b 1 through 12
083as listed on the agenda there's a story if I just move on to the next section I'm sorry moving on to Student Services 1 through 12 as listed on the agenda editor personnel we're going to begin with a walking item for Action the board has a walk-in item we're asking the board to approve the appointments that are listed on the walk-in item wrapped in the board to approve separate changes listed on the walk-in and to approve item number three which is a veterans pay schedule item three in the lock-in but with the regular agenda and the Personnel rests in the board to approve items a b c 1 through 16 d 1 through 11. in this case there's a couple of items I'd like to read into the minutes on your personnel beginning on page
084one of nine under beauty of absences um staff member Tracy fins where it says personal lead without pay the date should be 117 2023 rather than 16 as a holiday so it's 117. on the next page page two of nine under section c equipments new hires and we're about halfway down Kathleen Schaefer social worker replacement position the set should be f one fs and Frank F1 Asylum is listed is correct and then moving down three more staff members on camera Shelby special ed teacher at middle school we have to change the start date from September 1st to October 24th uh the second we're not being released some of his current districts and if I'm moving on to policy harassing the board to approve the second read of policy 24 or 15.50 that is second reading
085deduction to policy that concludes curriculum instruction student services personnel and policy thank you can I get a motion in a second to approve all those items so we'll second okay any questions or comments from the board on my destruction student services Personnel or policy I have a quick question [Music] um which teacher instructor you just see it from the dates for the 18th floor on page 209 Senator C appointments um it's a third one up from the bottom s-h-a-l-a-d-y is the last minute October 24th okay so yeah so my my question to you um Middle School social education teacher um you could have someone in place Excellency and health so there's some tradition for the children yeah so in some cases it's being covered by current success in other cases all right thank you okay
086um we're going to move to finance in this case We'll be asking to take the board to take motion on items one through 21. can I get a motion and a second to approve the agenda um any questions or comments from the board okay um so then the next item up is executive session okay oh sorry [Music] website foreign student services policy personnel and finance yes the stylist yes Mr Friedman yes Miss Martinez yeah Mr Manton yes missile uh yes although I've seen on Personnel addicted number eight probably understood that's the side yeah so um coming back to unfinished business any board members any new business I just think I want to say that although a touchy subject I really really thought the conversation that was Southern tonight was hugely important um I'm hoping that's
087a step forward or not just our district for kids and for our community as a whole because that is I watched it happen at the equity presentation on a much smaller level that involved the children so it is very healthy to see that the adults also able to talk and hear and understand and accept different opinions it's something that we can encourage as a district for the parents I think we should be trying to think creatively to find a way to do that [Music] rocc program um coming to our district where I would say keeping our prayers tight um it would be a blessing to have it here in our district and what I love about the recruiter and what he explained to us is that it's not recruiting the children to be in the
088military um the rocc program comes with a lot of discipline and training which I feel like a lot of our children could use with a lot of things going on and it just keeps them focused and I think the focus needs to be there with people being home for two years and covid a lot of auntie and the seats argument but what we also described was that we have children who are autistic disabled blind hearing and care that are also part of the program you don't have to be perfect to be a part of the program which is a blessing because a lot of children do want to participate in these programs because they're not inclined whether physically or mentally that they feel like they can't participate or belong and this program will allow all
089students to belong to male females and any of the children who identify however they identify they'll be able to participate in this program thank you just to um follow up on this odd form I will say also on what I found most impressive was just that that um he went out of his way to emphasized that it is not a recruitment and you're talking to someone who enlisted in the Marine Corps in high school um I was very happy to hear that it isn't that and you know we've been talking about Equity all night and we didn't have the coach set at it and that that flew the flow excuse me so you know that's what he approaches so um it was it was great to hear and uh I'm optimistic uh you did a
090good job I think and I'm hopeful that come January they'll start with that we'll move to the executive session be it resolved that a closed session be convenient for the purpose of the sourcing privacy personnel and attorney matters the subject matter of these discussions will be proposed to the public with a reason to confidentiality Society although the board cannot guarantee it the length of the executive session is at CNC 40 minutes after which caught with me of the board is a recombine and proceeding business action will not take place can I get a motion in the second to entry exact session all in favor aye