001legal update and we the other counties actually hear about it and has to come as well so we had a number of Morris County administrators here we have probably about 200 250 people in the pack today and Dylan our new pack manager did an outstanding job it ran extremely smoothly and actually the speaker brought a couple of members of a crew because he wanted to record some of it for his own use and so Dylan worked seamlessly with them so I just I really recommend him because he's rolled right into the the role and done a really nice job and it was nice to to see colleagues in person so many of our events are virtual now it was actually really nice to host everyone here and the other piece that's been nice about the
002last couple of weeks is the school is buzzing between the camps we have going on that our coaches are running we have our esy going on we have our power credit recovery program occurring so there's a lot going on in the building and our summer work is underway we have minimal construction work this summer most of our big projects will be next year and next summer but there's a lot of activity in the building and uh it's just it's nice to see that back to normal after you know some years where it's a little bit different so we've had quite an active summer and it's nice to see everyone thank you great thank you not for sure the only I have some brief comments this evening and it's related to the just concluded legislative session
003um becoming increasingly concerned about the encroachment of both legislative and gubernatorial edicts that are encroaching upon the authority of words of education and School administrations some of the most recent funds that have come into play include the new legislation that was passed regarding the use of sick leave that was imposed by every single one of the education associations in the states with the exception on the NJEA which basically takes something that has been in the realm of negotiations and takes it out of negotiations and put it into the statute based on the legislation that's just one example of several pieces of legislation that are coming forward that are encroaching on what is rightfully the responsibility of the Board of Education in the state to determine what is appropriate within their districts you know the next
004several months they'll begin to hear and see more and more action from Individual boards and the school boards Association address this encroachment so that the idea of local Authority and local governments and local control remains local control and that we don't end up in a situation where we have folks whale outside of our community trying to impose things that may not be in the best interest of the park so there will be more on that in future meetings as they come up so with that I'll turn it over to Mr Suns thank you Mr President uh if I can draw was attention to item number eight well thanks to the negotiating efforts of his family you know that number changes from twenty one thousand to fifteen thousand five hundred fifteen thousand five hundred so that's
005a change and then the other thing just just because Liz mentioned it with construction we in bid opening uh the first good opening is going to be on in August actually it's right around the time of the board meeting assume that's going to be the large project if things go well the first thing we would do the first thing we would work on is the nurses comparison thank you so that that we can do during the school year we can kind of close that one off the other projects would be probably early or late spring into the sun we're looking to do the work in the spring and finish it prior to the next year rather than start in the summer and go into October going to be an easier transition so anyway so that's
006kind of where we are at the construction the funding is all in place as a matter of fact we've already paid off our load we got our debt service Aid our state aid so that all went pretty well I'm just gonna be working excellent paper size this is the first opportunity for a public comment public period and will be limited to agenda items for this meeting only in the second is public commentary will be open to any topic all comments are limited to five minutes first opportunity for public comment seeing none will move to board discussion any more discussion plans seeing none will move on to any discussion of addendum items seeing none we will not move into the action that is everything yes 15. A1 through D 15 second discussion seeing none Mr Maggio
007yes Miss Lee yes Mr Mayor Check Yes Miss Uber yes process yes Mr burnberg yes and Mr Morris I'm staying on A1 and A2 I abstain among D1 yes on all others and I would like to call announce that the board accepts gratitude donation in the amount of 200 followers from the parade and Donald and that needs to be used for the William paper scholarship this is the second opportunity for public comments please can you state your name and town of residence usually I speak regarding teachers contract and I sure hope that the situation is changing for better and all our amazing teachers will start the next year with the new contract and tonight I want to make a few remarks about the book discussion that we had last time I grew up in Armenia
008when it was a part of Soviet Union and we didn't have access to many books and other sources of information we were Delight throughout many historical facts as well for instance we were taught that during World War II the United States played almost no role in the Soviet Union if he did the Nazi basically alone I learned the truth about World War II only after I moved here 23 years ago I was sitting on my couch in New Providence watching The History Channel it was a documentary about Normandy even though I didn't speak English much I understood that they were implying that America had a bigger role in the victory I remember how I jumped off my couch and started yelling at the TV and calling it a lie I will never forget that umid
009was such a horrible lie that I couldn't breathe fortunately my survival Instinct worked because it took me only a few minutes to stop and start thinking critically as much as I didn't want to admit it I understood that the History Channel cannot lie and it was me who didn't know the truth about World War II and many other things that I learned through throughout the next years Living in America I discovered many facts that the Soviet system was hiding from us I have to say that that was extremely painful process so the reason why I'm so sensitive about hiding any information and placing barriers for our children is because I was that child once when I was growing up so many books were banned or hard to get so many things were not taught or
010hushed up and that's why when the war disapproves of these two books on home which is about a lesbian girl who tells her story and almost American Girl that on top of being a graphic novel is about an Asian immigrant girl both are very unpleasant topic for some people on the board so that's why it brings back the memories that I have it doesn't matter what we call it when we take a book of a list the fact that the board can exclude a book based on some members religious beliefs political views and the difference from their Generations interest is unacceptable I still don't understand how the board could remove the book especially after they heard a detailed explanation of Mr Mr aquavia I don't understand on both crowd the board doesn't trust our teachers
011by taking a book of the required reading list you just decrease the spread of the valuable information that is that that it contains because you make it less likely that our students will read it but I guess that's exactly what some members of the board are aiming for we may not be banning books yet but we are moving in the same directions as Florida last thing I want to say regarding what Mr Morrison said the last meeting how it's important that we're thoughtful and careful with the words we choose I think the board members have to be very careful themselves before asking such an accuracy in worse Choice from others and not call a graphic novel a comic book or a picture book and Mr Morrison if you decide to respond please keep your emotions
012out of control this is not your meeting like you told me and you cannot reprimand neither parents or teachers like you did several times before remember that many of our students are watching these meetings and as you said yourself we have to be civilized towards each other thank you you for comments other comments our apologies With Friends for the fracture of good order the burning of paper instead of children the angering of the orderlies and the front parlor of the Turtle house we could not so help us guide you otherwise for we are sick at heart our hearts give us no rest or thinking of the land of burning children for those of you not familiar this is the opening statement of the Catonsville mind a group of nine about Catholics including two Catholic priests
013who are moved to action to remove draft cards from The Selective Service Office located in the Knights of Columbus in Catonsville Maryland and then burn them in the parking lot while singing hymns and reciting prayers as they waited for the police to arrive interest the statement was the first thing I thought of as I heard all this discussion by this board about holding the quorum thankfully none of the students in this District are literally on fire from bombing with napalm but the children of this District have told this board about the psychological and emotional toll of the intolerance and hate that exists and is expressed to them on a regular basis during the school day I wonder where is your unrest at the thought of students not feeling safe in the environment you are responsible
014for creating and maintaining I have seen no rush to protect the students who are dealing with racism homophobia transphobia xenophobia islamophobia and anti-semitism whether at school or in the communities that make up sending districts I am sure many of you saw the pictures of the recent defacing of the Warren Township playground with swastikas enhancy incidents of hate are on the rise of New Jersey this district is not what I mean even if you wanted to pretend that it was your students have told you otherwise what you did for us to protect was your was what you referred to as the Quorum that amorphous shifting and arbitrary term that denotes everything from dress code to body language to word choices and tone of voice but despite suggestions to the contrary there is nothing sacred about the
015quorum you will find that is not even constitutional in Mahoning Area School District e-bo the Supreme Court held in 2021 that a public school violated the first amendment that it disciplined a student cheerleader for a profane off-campus speech as an adult who is not employed by the district I think you will find that my free speech rights are even stronger I could stand here and drop f-bombs and that would be considered protected speech but I would suggest that if you are easily offended by profane speech or easily frightened by an angry tone that you tender your resignation immediately because you are not suited to face the public in a forum such as this furthermore the Quorum is a social construct that is often wielded by the powerful to silence the voices of marginalized people and
016to resist opposition and pressure from the people Justin Jones and Justin Pearson both assemblyman from Tennessee would agree it was the Quorum that was used as a reason for their expulsion from the Tennessee House of Representatives because they supported demonstrators who demanded that the legislature acts to remove weapons of war from their streets the very weapons of war that were used two weeks prior to their expulsion in a mass shooting at a national school that took the lives of three children and three adults reflecting on this expulsion from the Tennessee legislature Justin Jones said we see this weaponization of decorum to silence descent the silence voices that make people uncomfortable and that's really what they're doing is silencing any voice of Divergence from their dominant narrative one could certainly argue that maintaining the dominant narrative
017is not only what this board is doing by emphasizing decorum but it is also what it's doing when members complained and initially voted down the summer reading list after all one of you mentioned desire for Classics to be added Plastics are most often used to refer to a body literature by a wealthy white European men sometimes to clean the Greeks but ignoring completely the long literary traditions of places like China Japan and the Indian subcontinent if you are really steep in the classes you might be familiar with St Thomas aquinas's Cinema theological in which he writes he who was Without Anger when he has cause to be sins in other words it's sinful to be without anger in the face of Injustice in the tradition of the Catholic Church racism is a grave sin and
018a front to human dignity and the respect for life so I ask you where is your anger that students in your District are being called illegal and being told to go back to their country you have the power to do something about this why aren't you funding and properly Staffing ell why are you failing to support the Strategic plan when it comes to Dei when the Gainesville mind planned their demonstration over 50 years ago they knew that in the short term they would be announced for disturbing and violently unjust order however history has looked more much more favorably on their actions I wonder how history will look on yours I also wonder which side of History do you want to be on thank you other public comments going once going twice please when things uh
019share with us your name in the town thank you hello my name is Georgiana telecast and I'm from Watchung and I just graduated this year and I was also president of the movie club during my time at lunch hotels I believe that a large population of the school is being ignored today and it's unacceptable as a diverse Public School the holidays of Diwali and Eve should be considered just as valuable of those already recognized in a Christian and Jewish communities a lot of my friends are forced to choose between skipping a day of school or missing out on celebrating an important holiday in their religion and it's not right these holidays should be given especially scheme as we are the last school in the district that hasn't been given them thank you and congratulations on
020your graduation thank you seeing non-level close the second opportunity for public comments you move on to other business any board members without a business we'll take a motion to a jar second New York you stand adjourned thank you