December 6, 2021 KASD School Board Meeting

001i think uh we are ready to go uh dr meyers has given us the thumbs up so everything's up and running so i'd like to call the re organization uh meeting uh to order uh our first order of business would be the election temporary president so at this point uh i would open up uh nominations for the uh temporary president objective i'll nominate randy uh there's a motion any second for that second motion in a second uh do we have any other uh donations for election of uh temporary president and again many of the new members this is just uh someone that's going to just do some ceremonial functions with the election of these here but again do we have any other nominations for the election of temporary president uh hearing none i would be

002looking for a motion to close the uh nominations for the uh temporary president so move second motion in a second um so at this point we would need to vote for prairie president uh and do we do a formal roll call for that uh produced just uh on okay so all in favor of electing uh me as the uh temporary president say uh i i uh any uh opposed uh hearing none the uh motion would carry and as a temporary president uh at this point we would need to do the reading of the election certificate this is okay so for the county board of elections of berks county reading pennsylvania certificate of election the berks county of elections does hereby certify that as a result of the municipal election held the second day of november

0032021 in the county of berks that jeremiah light jason and aaron uh engel uh were duly well actually uh jeremiah light and jason cuck were duly elected to the office of kutztown area school director region three for a term of four years aaron engel duly elected to the office of kutztown area school district region two school director director for a term of years and then michelle r batts was dually elected to the office of kutztown area school district region 3 school director for a term of two years and also michael hess duly elected to the office of kutztown area school district region one school director for a term of four years and at this point we need to do the swearing in of the newly elected board members so um what our new uh members

004uh do we have them uh stand if you could stand just repeat after me and then i your name do not only swear or affirm that i will support obey and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of this commonwealth and that i will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity congratulations okay and our new members and our elected members being sworn in uh roll call by uh secretary michelle batts here randy birch beer aldarian here aaron angle here michael hass here cecilia holt here jason cox here jeremiah light you're here dennis ritter here okay in at this point we uh be doing the reorganization in the first would be election of officers for the president of school board and we would be opening up for uh nominations do we have

005any emotions i'd like to move that uh and nominate randy birch for president the uh motion for myself do we have a second ritter second and uh motion and second do we have any other nominations for president hearing none i would look for a motion to close uh nominations remove the clues second motion and second uh all in favor of closing the nomination while you say uh i any opposed so motion carries uh so at this point we would move forward to vote for the president for this year and it's uh for for me uh randy uh but uh at this point uh all in favor of uh electing uh our school board president say uh oh okay uh so we should do a roll call vote uh mr minuscu uh okay uh so uh

006ricky could you do roll call please michelle batts yeah howdarian yes aaron angle yes michael house yes cecilia holt yes jason cut no jeremiah light yes dennis trader yes so at this point we would now move to open election for nominating a new vice president for the school board so opening up for uh nominations for president i would nominate cecilia holt a motion for ms holt do we have a second second motion in second uh do we have nominations for any other candidates for vice president i nominate michelle batts nomination for ms bats do we have a second i'll second that motion in a second um are there nominations for any other candidates we have christian and second for cecilia and emotion and second for miss baths movements to be closed i'm sorry dr darren

007was that emotion motion to close nominations so motion to close the uh nominations do we have a second so uh can we do a uh okay okay so uh the nominations have been closed uh at this point we would do a uh roll call for uh cecilia holt so roll paul for either holt or bat thank you paul please michelle batts no it's for baths or holt oh okay so cecilia holt william aaron angle michelle batts michael house cecilia holt cecilia holt jason carr michelle so if the vote was five for ms holt uh four for his bat uh cecilia holt would uh be nominated as uh for the vote at this point the president would select or make appointments for representatives or committee appointments and the first thing listed is the burke's career in

008technology center bctc and uh i think our prior representative for that was mr shaw um would any of our new board members be interested in taking that appointment what what does that entail there are meetings like monthly evening meetings you'll see that so currently um i serve from pac which the representatives for the leadership from they recommended a budget we then voted to recommend it to the joc so the next meeting the joc will be voted there's less requirements uh we also would be appointing an alternate an alternate if for some the uh person could not attend i guess another requirement is just simply to report back you know we have just just for information for everyone but we have approximately annually about 25 percent of our students with 10 pcc so the you know

009the service we receive um is substantial in addition to the importance that plays for us as a school to have one of the higher percentages of commencement uh thank you very much uh mr prep i appreciate you volunteering for that position and then typically we would also have an alt for that uh well mr hess is already our uh alternate so that is uh thank you mr uh the next uh appointment would be for berks county intermediate unit and actually dr ritter's term is also through 2024 for bciu dr ritter's term is also through june 30th 2024 for bciu okay so that one nothing is needed uh we're already that one yes we are so the next would be burke's tax collection committee that's mr miller is that right mr miller is our tax collection

010committee representative and the next would be we need to alternate to the tax collection committee or an alternate or okay it doesn't look like we had an alternate before but uh would any of dr johnson was our alternate okay so would anyone be willing to serve as the alternate for mr miller for some reason he would not be able to attend the tcc meeting yeah i can i can fill it as the altar i need it okay so we'll put mr hassan as the alternate for that uh appointment uh next would be extra curricular and facilities and at this point i would be willing to continue to serve on that committee mr hess you were on this before were you would you be willing to continue to serve uh yes and uh ms batts you

011also were on this committee are you willing to continue to serve on that committee yes i am at this point we would need one other board member to fill out that committee ms ms angle is that something you'd be interested in doing by any chance yes why don't we uh appoint aaron engel uh and then the four members committee uh the next item is the just as a point of order then two so we will then at the next meeting which would be next monday we then elect a a chairperson for that that will be the case for any community that has a regular yep each each committee will appoint their chair at their very first meeting um the next item or the next appointment would be for the negotiations uh committee this city that

012does not have to meet uh all that often and right now the teacher's contract is secure so there would not be any real immediate need for any action by the negotiation committee but we should uh appoint nonetheless that way they're in place if something is needed yeah hypothetically there's scenarios that could make it necessary but as of right now we are set to have we have a new agreement with cada that begins on july 1. i would be willing to continue to serve i was on the negotiations committee ms holt would you be able to serve on that committee yes and would any of our new board members have any interest in being part of the negotiations committee thank you and then uh just that we would have four members for that i'm not sure

013again if we're going to have a need to meet at any point this year but uh pastor ritter that's something you'd be willing to do with the negotiations committee i have served in the past in fact i think i even chaired it a few years back so that would give us four members for that one uh mr light ms holt mr ritter and myself the next would be pennsylvania school board association and uh ms holt you rep for that before are you willing to continue to serve in that capacity pam mr darian you were our alternate are you willing to continue to serve as an alternate for that i would be continue i'd also be very willing to step aside if someone else would like to take it dr darian is inviting someone to step

014up and be an alternate if they would like to do so does anyone have any interest in doing that as the alternate for the pspa wrap uh hearing nobody it looks like you are going to continue with that dr barry that's fine that's okay that's fine the uh next uh appointment would be for policy and correct uh committee and uh ms holt you were in that committee before are you willing to continue to serve yes i would like to do that and uh dr ritter you also were on that committee are you willing to continue to serve yes and dr darian you were on that committee are you willing to continue to serve on policy and curriculum yes so we're looking for one other person to serve on the uh policy and curriculum mr thanks

015for our four uh after that we would have ms holt dr dr darian and uh mr cup now we also have the next appointment would be for academic achievement committee this is a committee that has not been uh meeting late but it's something that i think we're going to need to begin to revitalize and start meeting again so i would like to make appointments for this committee people might know it also as the student achievement committee dr darian you were on this are you willing to serve on that committee yes i am i also was on that committee i would be willing to continue to serve uh ms back also on this committee from before are you willing to continue with that committee yeah so um ms batts also would be on that and then

016uh ms holt is that something you would have an interest in yes i would so uh ms holt and then that would be the four for that committee um uh mr president since that committee will meet at the call of a chair i think you need to appoint a temporary chair who would make that call at which point the election would be held we i think we have two options we could either elect a temporary charity or if we wanted to have it meet we could build it into the calendar before that's approved the next steps in the meeting and have regular meetings again the the report of achievement tends to be sporadic as various measures are taken and especially since we now have a new curriculum director maybe take some time once she finally

017comes here to assemble data having a regular meeting might be counterproductive i would still suggest that it go with the call of the chair when the need arises but for that i think you'd need a temporary chair were you the chair before dr darian i had been yes so at this point uh i believe you would be in that role as temporary chair at this already okay next would be budget and finance committee meetings that a committee of the whole so when we do have uh budget and finance meetings that is for the entire board to attend those meetings uh will get started uh later in the year i take it the our first proposed schedule would be the fourth monday in march march 28th march okay so that would actually do in the next

018year budget season will be uh coming on as quickly but that is a committee of the whole and last is personnel committee and again that is a committee poll and that would make up all the active committees that we have at this point we've typically had most committees have four with the idea that it's not a five uh last year at that organization was an expressed interest in that and uh you know we ended up with five on that committee but typically um historically i thought four was always the preferable number that we were going for whenever you have five it gets into the you know the the question of whether you have five votes or anything our policy a committee cannot act on behalf of the whole board it can only advise the board

019but that there is that typically a board committee throughout the state will have four or less to avoid that question of harm thank you for that explanation um so at this point it looks like we have our set for the new new year um do we have a motion to accept the committee appointments i can push to accept motion a second bitter all in favor of the committee appointments uh and we just have a verbal say say all in favor say aye opposed uh hearing uh none motion carries and we have our committee appointments next item is we need to set our calendar for the year so we have the 2022 meeting dates times and places yeah exhibit um typically pardon me exhibit b is a format that follows exactly this year in the previous

020year um which sets up our workshop meetings and monthly meetings on the first and third mondays of the months typically unless there is a monday or no school day getting them denoted as a tuesday um it sets for policing curriculum from six to seven o'clock on the second monday of the month with facilities in ecc at seven o'clock the second monday of the month and only has scheduled fourth monday of the month meetings uh march april may and june the june is truly either the monthly meeting or the budget meeting is the 27th timeline that's so we can get a budget passed within the actual there's no you know definitive structure that pa code gives you to set up your meeting schedule other than to have a monthly meeting this is the way we've organized

021the past two years so we've built this proposed schedule based on that point of clarification on the monthly meeting is december 19th it's at the end but i believe the 19th is a monday in 2021 that should probably be at the top of the list um otherwise we will not have another meeting from last year's our current this this starts in january our current calendar for 2021 okay the policy and curriculum meeting got december 13. that's fine thank you there's a lot of awkwardness to the reorganization based on the timeline calendar year okay so this is the proposed schedule that's setting forth for our workshop board meetings and then also the regular monthly board meetings and then for our uh committee uh meetings um any questions or comments with the proposed schedule hearing none i

022would be looking for a motion for us to approve the kutztown area school district 2022 school board schedule for board meeting dates and committee meeting dates motion do we have a second second motion in a second uh and again any comments regarding the proposed schedule that we have uh hearing none uh looking for just everyone to say i that would approve the schedule as it is so all in favor say aye aye any opposed uh hearing none the motion carries in the middle is per the exhibit number seven is other reorganization uh business but i'm not sure we really have any other reorganization business uh mr tim chatchen i don't believe any other reorganization meeting uh business with the exception of welcoming our new board members mrs engel mr light and mr cuck and congratulations

023to our leadership mr birch and miss holt thank you informational items were the committee appointment worksheet exhibit a the meeting dates was exhibit b the upcoming meetings is we'll have a meeting after this one right now after that we would have policy and curriculum is meeting on december 13th at 6 00 p.m at the middle school and also via zoom also 13th at 7 pm is the facilities and extracurricular meeting again middle school or via zoom and then december 20th we have a school board meeting uh before the christmas holiday it looks like so uh school board meeting on december 20th that's at 7 30 at the middle school and via soon and with that i would be looking for a motion to adjourn the reorganization meeting uh motion to insurance second sorry do we

024have a celia motion okay motion in a second uh all in favor uh for the adjournment of reorganization meeting please say aye aye any opposed uh hearing none the reorganization meeting is adjourned we are done why don't we just take a couple break and then we'll get it with the uh really scheduled board meeting mr miller can you confirm the audio online i can hear you okay so i believe you know when anyone speaks for those to hear us online you really have to talk into the microphone um if we stay back it gets pretty diluted the sound gets diluted for those online so anyone speaking if you could grab the microphone that's helpful for those tuning in like to call this uh meeting to order would everyone please rise for a moment of silence

025uh the pledge of the flag i'd like to thank everyone for coming tonight there is a log in the back if you haven't done so would you please sign in if you have anything in particular that you would like to bring to the board's attention please also write that down if at any time during the meeting you would like to mention something on an agenda item please raise your hand to be recognized after the business there is also time for public comment where you can bring up additional issues this meeting is being uh tape recorded and with that uh roll call please michelle batts here randy burch here al darian here erin angle michael hess here cecilia holt here jason cupp here jeremiah light here dennis ritter here first item is approval of minutes for

026the november 15 2021 school board meeting do we have a motion ritter moves motion uh do we have a second second motion second any uh questions comments or corrections regarding the meeting minutes uh hearing none uh roll paul please michelle bats aaron i don't know how to vote i wasn't here so i don't know how i vote on that for the new board members if you weren't at the meeting um i believe if you wanted to vote present that would be acceptable okay present michael yes cecilia holt yeah jason cox president jeremiah light present yes randy birch yes motion carries next uh item is communication reports in super superintendent's report uh mr tim chapter thank you dr myers just a few good news items to share uh this evening support it's coming on there though

027first is the national art society and recently mr ben hoffman hosted the national art society induction this is an annual event that i believe he started three years ago um becoming a national art honor society member goes beyond making art for making a difference in the community throughout our school there's some community service requirements there the culture around the visual arts program is something i feel like we discuss just about every week here in the superintendent's report just because it's a phenomenal culture that you can see throughout the community throughout the schools from k through 12 and even in the collaboration with university to beyond so congrats to our 2021-2022 chapter members abigail eyed gianna escobar abigail rayburt grace rice anna koffinger annabelle tyler wonder dory rheem nathan wood chris herlin george chanel viridia cooper

028and lee sika and emily bray congratulations to all and congratulations to our visual arts teachers who continue to expand and maintain great culture of visual arts here in kutztown area some football honors um at the end of the fall season we recently received some of the honors for football players in berks county ciaa all-stars division two first team offense lyndon nyman that's running back division two second team offense gunner wetzel tackle division two second team defense gunner again defensive line and london again at linebacker division two honorable mention offense tyler halleck and offensive guard and jacob lafferty quarterback division two honorable defense jacob lafferty safety and dakota thomas linebacker congratulations coach chester his team and the student athletes for their recognition the team fought hard this year definitely built a culture around the expectation of

029moving the ball and uh putting some points on the board for something that's good to see you see a lot of young students in the elementary wearing football jers showing the building of that culture more football jerseys in the elementary school than i've seen here so definitely building some expertise in that culture great job coach chester and to all the players emma rhodes letter of intent emma rhodes signed her national letter of intent at the university of nebraska lincoln with the rifle team is one that may not get the headlines like some of the sports do but really another great culture here in kutztown um to see them kind of getting together out at our building just about every day for practice before they head out to their events emma is exceptional clearly with her

030signing the national letter of intent her accomplishments as a rightful athlete include 2021 state interscholastic high school rifle champion 2021 women's junior olympic state air rifle champion 2020 and 21 state-prone champion 23rd place in the women's junior olympics small bore state championship second place at the cmp virtual three position air rifle national championship first place in the nra three position small board sectional championship second place in the nra national three-position small board sectional championships state galactic high school three position small board champion junior state prone champion 2020 and 17-21 qualified for the u.s shooting national junior olympics again a another area of pride is just simply being able to provide the opportunity for a rifle team which not all schools do and we have that opportunity jim's taking advantage of it and many excelling including

031emma congratulations emma on all of your success and especially that national letter of intent at the university of nebraska lincoln and finally the gold leaf inductees in berks county we have the gold leaf induction coming up and we were recently notified of our two inductees for their 20 years of service to the berks county nurse athletic association um they are krista kaim coaching game help since 20 2000 pardon me began as a middle school assistant field hockey coach and became the high school head field hockey coach in 2017 began as an assistant and head volunteer swim coach so krista thank you for your volunteerism and participation with our student athletes for 20 years and our other nominee for person being recognized pardon me is kevin conrad kevin is the 20 plus years as a softball

032coach he's qualified for counties and districts every year since he's been coaching with the exception of the 2020 covenant season and it's odd scheduling the record is 73 and 17 and the overall record is 146 and 70. another example of great culture here in kutztown with the softball program so congratulations to coach conrad on his induction once the gold lead mr burch that is our good news uh thank you very much a lot of great news happening here in the district that's fantastic just uh congratulations to coach kyme and coach conrad uh recognition well deserved uh congratulations to me for the acceptance at nebraska that's fantastic and just congratulations to our art students and all our student athletes um and then the next item on our agenda for this evening is public comment on agenda

033items and the first uh person to speak or signed up to speak is uh miss jerry seaver well since we're going to be discussing the 809 policy i thought i'd kind of go back and rehash some of the stuff that went on before that we had the equity team was formed during the shutdown the elementary school then did the morning announcements the greenwich elementary announcements about white privilege we caught you red-handed attendance of crt into the kutztown area school district what did the administration do you denied it you lied and delighted us but instead of revoking the whole policy and voting for a resolution to stop the teaching of crt you chose to rewrite 832 policy and it still has all the tenants of crt in it the community forum that you set up did

034nothing to explain in more detail why we needed this policy when we tried to persuade you you did us you call this big conspiracy theorists extremists liars some people and our emails we were told were garbage the election should have let you know where the majority stands with the equity policy we do not want this policy in this school you are going down a slip rope and um i really do not want to come back here and say we told you so but vote no on 809 thank you thank you next person listen to speak is uh mrs uh jennifer uh puffinger sure no that's all right uh you want to be non-agenda okay certainly welcome to speak if you if you'd like next person then is connor o'neill i'm connor o'neil greenwich thank you

035for letting me speak today as you are well aware i'm here in support of policy 809 educational equity tonight is the culmination of continuous debating discussing and the revised policy so it can make sense to just about anyone and not offend any group or individual this is a transparent policy with no hidden agenda that would somehow hurt the children of this school or alienate a single child i'm here to discuss the reasons why the school board would benefit from voting guests on this policy that i have not previously stated in my earlier public comments voting no on this policy because you think it has caused too much divisiveness is not a good excuse the educational equity policy is as clear as day meant to help kids with inequities and help them along their path to

036success there should be no other side to this argument because this policy will will benefit the vast majority of the students of this school including the children of the opposing side this policy is about much more than race and gender even though that is what the opposition fixates on and to what i understand the opposition is only just trying to stir the pot and has not come up with any real evidence on how this policy would negatively impact the school district the sole purpose of this equity plan strives to compact any and all inequities that would affect the student's ability to succeed academically and to foster a culture of respect and inclusiveness for diverse people it should be it should not be a hard subject supportive but unfortunately the divisiveness of the opposing side has

037made it so the school board is not elected to serve the parents and the constituents that elect you these are not the people you serve people you serve and represent are the children of the kutztown area school district this is a district made up of families from different cultural and social backgrounds people of different races religions ethnicities socioeconomist and gender identities these children depend on your efforts to vote on policies that benefit their best interests voting no on this policy is not in their best interest voting no will make it seem like you do not care about the kutztown area school district students and that you will simply put your own personal interests and beliefs ahead of the children and their best interests here at kutztown you have ever raised your kid how you want

038to you have every right to have your own political beliefs outside of school but your job is to serve the children and not have your political or religious beliefs direct the policies you as a school board make if the brand new school board members who were previously elected are here with the sole purpose of remaking the school board to match your political ideologies then why are you here the election is over and instead of serving yourselves serve the children here your job on the school board is to work for the benefit of the children not to bolster your own political agenda and career if you are here to only disrupt the vote on the equity policy then you clearly have no other commitment contributing to future policy decisions for the school board if this is

039the case i kindly suggest down and let someone who actually wants to positive tribute to the school board and the school district to take your place the students of the kutztown area school district deserve a school board that will have their best interests at heart and make their academic success a top priority which is why i encourage you this school which is why i encourage the school board to start with voting yes to policy 809 for educational equity as a way to continue our work towards creating the best possible learning environment we can have for a student thank you next person to speak is uh mrs uh aaron fenstemacher um aaron fence democrat from lions thank you for the opportunity to speak i don't have a whole lot to say because as we all know

040a ton has already been said um so i really wanted to take this moment to thank uh the um and the administration for the hard work on this policy uh lc809 uh we know that it hasn't been easy to the extent that we can without going themselves the work that you've had to put in criticism that you risk and the arguments and the lies and the misinformation um there are people who would have you believe and try to get other people to believe that our community is divided because of this but i would argue that we're already divided and this policy is a solution that could connect together there has just been too much misinformation and i think a lack of willingness um of some members of our community to acknowledge the um importance of

041our differences in this policy would seek to help that we've heard people stand up here and say that the policy will strip our children down to nothing but their identities again i would argue that um this policy would help to build them up and realize the importance of their identity and help them to welcome and accept those with identities different than their own i've also heard people say that mentions of same-sex parents or transgenders in the curriculum is staying i think that's disgusting we absolutely have same-sex in this district we absolutely have transgendered students in this district um and they deserve to feel just as important as anyone else so again i just want to explain thanks i think it's it's important work we can do and i i urge you to pass policy 800.

042the next person that signed up to speak is robin this is robin underwood hi i'm robin underwood i'm from kutztown borough and i'm here to speak on behalf of policy 809 which i'm in favor of um what i'm reading tonight is a letter from arabelle elliott she's a local child and family counselor community member parent of one kasd student and aasd alumni she had planned to be here tonight to speak in favor of the policy but unfortunately there was a death in the family and she had to be called away so she prepared this speech vanessa to read it into the minute so this is arabella saying i i have navigated three times when my children were attacked by peers in one of the kasd schools verbally or physically based on the religious election or

043other prejudice each time administrators coaches and teachers did their best to respond each time it was our family's responsibility and that of my child to educate and inform the school about the details of events and the nature and severity of the issue this itself caused further trauma and required my children to put themselves out to continue to be targets in the absence of a clear and concise policy such as the equity inclusion policy 809 things will continue to happen in this manner i believe policies should be data-driven fortunately the kasd has important data to support this policy data collected by the state of pennsylvania since 1989 and by kasd 2017 in the pays survey the paid survey is a self-reported survey for students in grades 6 to 12 on risk-taking behaviors factors that contribute to

044risk-taking behaviors student experiences in the school setting and more the following information comes from the 2019 pays survey in 2019 suicide was reported as the third leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24 nationwide in our area specifically twenty five point nine percent of students reported bullied that's well over or thirty percent of the young fifty four point four percent of the students reported this happening due to their gender color of their skin how much money their family made a disability or their accent or country of origin 54 of the students who reported being bullied by one of the most common methods cyber bullying afforded feeling sad they stopped doing usual activities in life including attending school 39.5 percent of those students reported considering suicide 28.2 percent of those students reported attempting

045suicide this is not a new concern isolation and targeting of those we perceive as different is a perennial problem students who receive messages that devalue them internalize those messages and devalue themselves we fail to include or try to exclude the reality of their experiences from curriculums discourse or books the messages were but the effect is the same unseen unheard and devalued by others students internalize these messages and accurately the students have told us that this is happening here they have told us when why and how by adopting uh policy 809 the ke kasd on the board can follow this data and listen to what students are telling them most importantly they provide guidance for all faculty staff and students to take responsibility and action to maintain an environment where every child can feel safe and

046get the education they deserve so please vote yes on policy 809. uh the next person that to speak is uh mrs hannah uh pizoupi thank you oh and it's short this week thank you last week it was last month it was here um after my last meeting um when i spoke to you the first time um i did some serious thinking and some introspection and some um continued wondering about all of what's been going on in our community um my husband and i like i said last month came to visit with mr tim chat and mr anderson um before school started because to make sure we understood what was going on during that meeting mr tam chattan shared with me some information about what had happened in the past the things that and the announcements

047that were made at the elementary correct me if i'm wrong but you took ultimate personal responsibility for those because anything that happens in this district is falls under your jurisdiction um but we still don't know who said that that was okay if that came from the equity team or whatever um we don't know who said it was okay for the equity team to put the things on the website that they did the links that they chose um there's there's just still a lot of questions um and i i don't know that we've solved any of that and put any barriers in place and that's kind of where i want to go tonight so um when it comes to policy 809 i'm probably a middle of the road kind of person which might upset both of

048this room i'm really okay because it's who i am and this is what i think is the right thing and i think you all need to hear what i have to say so please um mr are you focused over here because this is important it's important to me it's important to all of us to listen to everything everybody has to say please don't close your ears and turn me off okay um i want to talk to you about the term equity and the obscure or seemingly obscure connections um to crt okay so like i said after that that meeting a month ago pastor ritter um opened the door for me to come and speak with him so that i could learn a little bit more he he said that at the last meeting if anybody

049wants to talk let me know and i don't know so we had a i don't know how long did we talk about two and a half hours we had a nice long chat and we are on some things and we found some things that maybe we were surprised that we agreed upon as well uh explained a little bit to me about how the policy is intended to help subsets of our students who are currently experiencing achievement gaps okay so when i asked who those students are he explained that our homeless population is not currently covered by any other policy so that's an area that apparently is being targeted here um our students and our special education students which kind of concerns me because there are policies in place and laws for those two subsets of

050students so if they're already if they're not getting what they need through the other policies that we have that's where we need to look um and i would say to affect to the last speaker um if our bullying policy is not handling those problems that's where we need to look for that okay um i am completely 100 behind the idea of giving every child the opportunity to be successful give them the things they need give them the resources help them get to school make sure they have breakfast in their bellies make sure they have clothing on their back so that they're not being picked on for their clothing or they're not being picked back let them come in early and take a shower at the gym if they if they don't have a clean place

051to shower at home okay yes let's do those things for these kids and i don't think that that's not if it were if a student came to a teacher and said they were having those problems i don't think that that would hide to them i don't think that's the case here in kutztown to any student it's free gender sex orientation well um i feel firmly and our teachers care about our kids and as a whole um so i want to talk about that word equity that's what the hang up is here because the denotation of the word equity is fairness and justness raise your hand if you have a problem with this injustice okay i don't either that's a good thing let's be fair to everybody right let's be just let's be honest okay the

052connotation of that word in this day and age and the political climate that we are living in is not the same thing as the denotation and that's where the hang up is on this for a lot of people so i would propose we think about it from an opera equal opportunity perspective so if we could change the word equity and replace it with equal opportunity which in the dictionary means fairness unhampered by artificial barriers or prejudices can we get on board with that we'll get on board can we all can we all agree to that does that sound fair that sounds good to everybody okay let's do that okay so that at least handles that because the five minutes are up please finish up okay i'll finish up because what i have to say next

053is what's really important okay well again this is awesome okay so should i just come back later after you vote and tell you the important stuff we'll finish up the five minutes are up though finish up please anyway you also explained to me that there was a book that you recommended to our teachers to read called culturally relevant i'm sorry culturally responsive teaching in the brain by zoretta hammond yes yes okay so i'm a nerd i thought oh neuroscience i'm gonna read that right so i ordered it on my audible and i started listening to it and i enjoyed it there's a lot of interesting neuroscience but here i just want to play this clip and this is where it starts to cross that border between being equal opportunity to being equity and critical race

054theory every culturally responsive teacher develops a social political consciousness and understanding that we live in a racialized society that gives unearned privilege to some while others experience unearned disadvantage because of race gender class or language they are aware of the role that schools play in both perpetuating and challenging those okay so my my thought here is this is kind of where we have a bit of a overflow where people were given this suggested book to read had these ideas already or were already in you know full force support of critical race theory and now this is coming from my superintendent okay i've got the go-ahead let's do this and that's when my fear is today as well because if you vote in this policy with the term equity i don't know what 45 times in

055the policy you're opening a door to embolden people whether it is like uh what's my word here whether it is overtly written into the policy or not you're opening doors for people to think that it's okay to tell our children things that are not okay i beg of you don't look off into the distance and stop listening to me dr varian i've heard every word you have to say okay i hope you did do you have your book with you tonight pastor ritter did you bring it along did you start reading it the book yes it came late saturday apparently so i have i've looked at the forward and i read um a bit of the introduction but i have not been able to get further i had a busy day yesterday okay just one

056last note about zoretta hammond the author she is a well-known critical race theorist voted next to ebay mix candy in several articles thank you and have a good night so that was everybody that had signed up speak for non-agenda items i believe miss batch you wanted to address the uh the group or the board some comments prior to moving into new business um so as i expressed at the last meeting my vote of no on policy 809 was not to ignore the needs of our students please hear that um it's and not to provide for each and every one of us that is absolutely always our goal my vote of no was made because there is a divide and you you can princess right like there is no denying that at this moment in time

057that divide needs to be mended so in listening to everyone right i i believe that we can all understand that the divide was when policy 832 was approved and the steps were taken by the equity team um things were inappropriately done right and it created a mistrust from the community in the board and what we were trying what the policy was intended to do um there is a population of our school district as we just mentioned right that believe that this policy 809 will again open the door for actions to be taken without being properly voted so we know that without policy 809 we are in legal compliance with pa school with all of this context i would like to propose that the board consider enacting policy 905 which is a citizens advisory committee policy

058it's a fairly short policy so i'd just like to take a minute to read it because i think it's short and sweet to the point and it gives some really good context as to what i'm thinking here so the purpose of policy 905 the citizens advisory committee can be useful in keeping the board and administration informed with regard to community opinion and in representing the community in the study of specific school issues the authority it says in creating an advisory committee the board shall define the committee assignment and check so the board assigns the committee and it shall appoint residents who are interested and can make some special contribution to the committee's function it can approve appointments of residents staff members and or students recommended by the superintendent and it can seek the widest range

059of community interests and background in charging a new advisory committee the board shall set a date for both a preliminary and a final report recommendations of advisory committees shall not reduce the responsibility board which shall be free to accept or reject recommendations of the committee meetings of an advisory committee are not regular meetings of the board and shall be open to the public only upon invitation of the committee so based on what i read in this policy and based on where we're at i would propose that we use this policy to form to form a committee to study specific school issues the committee structure may be formed with individuals representing the identified roles in policy 809 right that that we've already talked about who should be there the representation of of parents of teachers of

060staff etc but it's critical and this policy 905 makes it clear that it must include representation of residents staff and our students being sure to represent the widest range of community interests and backgrounds without putting a new policy in place we could use the advisory committee to study the data clearly define the issues we have in the district and make recommendations how to remediate them being said i i would like to like the board to consider putting emotion that um at the december 20th meeting we form a citizens advisory committee for the purpose of educational activities thank you ms patz thank you now everyone that signed up spoke but was there anybody else that wanted to speak on a non-agenda item or excuse me agenda item the person online okay um and who's uh being

061[Music] mr becker are you able to hear us and speak yes i can can you hear me yes we can may i proceed yes please please okay well thank you for the opportunity to address you on the equity policy i have followed all of these discussions and read the equity policy drafts to me the debate uh revolves around three questions first should discriminations prejudices inequities and inequalities based upon an individual's gender religious beliefs sexual preference ethnicity socio-economic status or caller be tolerated i answer no the second question is does the kutztown area school district's mission and vision statements to inspire learners to grow as contributing members of the global community by maximizing their potential embracing change and helping them to create the future meaning that the district has a role in combating these discriminations i

062answer yes some who oppose the equity policy believe it does not however they have not provided an explanation of their views based on any evidence third does the equity policy before you promote critical race theory white colored individuals promote equal outcomes for all students and lower the standards of educational educational excellence i answer no many opponents of the equity policy including those in their political campaigns have stated yes it does however they have not promoted provided one section of the policy to support those statements thus to vote against the equity policy requires you to explain why discrimination should be tolerated why the kutztown area school district has no role in combating these discriminations and which sections of the policy promote critical race theory shame white colored individuals promote equal outcomes for all students and lower

063the standards for educational excellence thank you is there anyone else online dr meyers that wanted to speak sure can you come forward and state your name sir my name is kurt trepto i live in max tony township i just wanted to address the non-stop uh straw man arguments that we constantly get because we understand there are gay people and there are transgender people and there are people that need help there's nobody over here that wouldn't want those people to have help and you talk about kids it's tough for them and it's confusing to be a kid especially kids that are transgender so why would you want to confuse kids that don't have that confusion and make them think that they should be this or they're not gender gender's fluid like we're not awful people we

064want everybody to have an opportunity i'm just so tired of the constant straw man sir please address the board not the problem i mean it's the same thing from a lot of the people that we've been arguing with here on the board and i just want to let you know that the reason we don't like this policy is we know that the administration has done nothing to hold any teachers accountable for the crap they've already done this policy is gonna push crt they've already told kids they don't care what their parents think they're gonna teach it and that's the problem now we know you're going to pass the policy we're going to be watching you and we're going to be watching all the teachers let them because if the teachers push this garbage that you

065say isn't in 809 we're holding you accountable is that someone with their hand raised in the back there sir yes please please state your name sir thank you uh steve wilson i live in maxitoni uh i did appreciate what michelle had to say and i think it is worth everyone's time to explore an advisory committee but i was thinking on it and the advisory committee we had was in november when the people voted and when you lose three out of four seats and when your president was bounced by a write-in candidate you have been advised and i i think since the divisions run very deep i mean i don't know connor but i get the feeling if we weren't talking about politics we get along very well and but virtually everything he said i disagreed

066with and i believe that the school board's job is to listen to the parents and to consider the parents and the taxpayers as a top priority but to make it short what i'm asking you tonight is that since the divisions are so deep and intense i would urge you to consider postponing this vote until we can come to some sort of accord i really want us all to live in peace i love a good scrap but this is not the place for it and since we're having so much people i meet people like christian and i see people like connor and i said we should be having these tussles and in light of that intense conflict that we have right now i'm asking you folks to consider delaying this vote so thanks yes sir you

067want to come forward and please state your name hello my name is ted lamostra and i'm not a big speaker i've never spoke in front of anybody before but after conor was up here and talking i just feel like i can't be silent anymore one of the main things that i feel like is our civilization has lost its foundation and when somebody talks to me and says oh you need to really do what the kids want i work all over the place when i'm working in the inner cities i see what happens when kids are raised by kids and they do what the kids want to do we need a foundation where this board needs to listen to the parents so the parents can raise their children with the values that they believe to be

068right and that's the majority of what i have to say yep yes just uh please state your name gary westner and i live in kutztown borough um i did say i know there are some of you up here that i've had conversations with that really truly feel that this policy will not lead to crt but unless you're 100 sure you should vote no because snuck in there last time and until we're absolutely sure that the policy is written in this i will not allow it in or until you guys actually vote to not have crt in our schools then you should vote no if you are unsure should anyone else have their hand raised we will now move into the business section of the meeting first item is personnel it is the recommendation of the

069administration that the board of school directors approved the following personnel items and they are listed one a through nine mr president can i suggest that we take action on number eight separately it's kind of more important than some of the others okay uh why don't we do items a one through seven and a nine together and then we'll do a8 uh separately so first item would be the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approved the following personnel items and those are a 1 through seven and a nine do we have a motion so a motion do we have a second ritter seconds a motion in a second any uh question comment regarding those personnel items roll call please azarian yes aaron angle yes michael hess yes cecilia holt yes jason cut

070yes jeremiah light yes dennis ritter yes michelle bats yeah randy yes motion carries next item would be a8 and it's the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approved the following personnel items and it's the approval of melissa devlin as director of curriculum assessment and professional development effective on or after december 7th 2021 at a salary of 15 000 with benefits according to kasd act 93 so do we have a motion so moved a motion do we have a sec second i would respectfully for ask weeks uh the three new board members we have very limited information at this point to have this is a rather large on our feet we've had the resume for 24 business hours um we have no other information i'm aware that there was at least one

071board member involved in the interview process i don't know who that was i am sure there are briefs or minutes or transcripts of the respectfully asked at least be able to see those before i have to make a decision was essentially an executive officer of this school district at this point i don't want to have to know but i feel like if uh we do proceed to a vote tonight i will have to vote now just due to lack of just without for not having any knowledge about the candidate uh for information we started the process back in october um the process just take a while between scheduling etc and the invitation was open to any member board who requested to be which has been typical of any cabinet position so the process from our

072standpoint the board had been transparent to anyone clearly in a different situation i i also support jason in delaying this vote until the next meeting um there's questions that myself has i'm sure jason has that resume does not clearly define any answers to any questions like one of them is how long does she plan on staying for her resume she's pretty much bounced around we really should not talk personnel in public if we would need to do an executive session that's something we could do um at this point um understanding what your point is uh to maybe speed this process a little bit mr light mr did you are you making a formal motion to table yes i'm making a formal mission to table this vote until december 20th and mr light i'll second that

073are you seconding that motion then yes i'm second okay so do we have any other uh questions or comments regarding the motion to table i just have a comment so we've been fooled through the entire hiring process this is no different than any other position that we hire for an interview for physicians this person um has been vetted through at least two separate interviews um and our administration come back with a recommendation to hire and they probably are going to point their resignation to their current employer soon as they're on a public agenda so i hate you uh please uh that we're no calling out from the crowd please point point so i i'm just saying that um you know we in no way should be postponing this uh vote for this position uh any

074other questions or comments regarding the motion the table concern would be the 60 days that the person will probably be held by their current district i don't know when dr quinn will be leaving us i hate to keep make that gap very large i don't think that a two-week delay might even i appreciate what they're saying but you almost you i realize the certification was recent but almost from election day i would hope that they were wrong into some of this in any case i appreciate that concern my mind though is having too large a gap between uh our losing our curriculum director and getting a new one on board may i speak mr president my my concern is that when a name appears on a public act like melissa's has at this point we

075really put her in jeopardy with her current employer so i i think against holding it up at this point i would agree that tabling is a bad idea that ms devlin has been through a very thorough interview and vetting process by the professionals that she will be working with and would support hearing none uh ricky let's do roll paul on the motion to table aaron angle yes michael house no cecilia holt no jason yes jeremiah light yes dennis ritter no michelle bats no valdarian no randy birch no uh motion to table does not carry going back to the original motion for the approval of ms devlin for the director of curriculum assessment development effective on or after december can we have we we do have a motion on that any other further comment hearing none

076uh roll paul uh please michael house yes cecilia holt yes jason cook no jeremiah light no dennis ritter yes michelle batts yeah odd darian yes aaron angle no randy birch yes ocean carries i'd like to uh congratulate and welcome this is devlin to joining our team i'm very excited to begin formally working with you and excited to get you started we'll talk about that thank you next item item b policy maintenance it is the recommendation of the board of school directors that the boarders approved the second reading and adoption of policy 809 educational equity do we have a motion greater move motion do we have again i have many questions regarding the policy language uh in this policy i hope that you at least take some time to entertain me this evening you'll you'll have

077time to comment mr i'm looking for a second on the motion first though so it's open for comment and discussion great thank you all right i've got a few questions regarding the policy language uh let's hope they get better with me and let's see if i can get some answers here policy 809 educational equity through the fair and just allocation of resources requires actual access to curriculum among other things by strategically differentiating allocations as necessary to remove barriers and improve outcomes policy 150 states the equivalent distribution of district resources is one means that districts show you to ensure all students receive a quality education this policy demonstrates the district's commitment to ensure that no discrimination occurs in the distribution of resources funded by the state so funded by state local sources policy 105 requires that

078edge uh requires equal educational opportunity for all students uh i guess one question i have is policy supersede policy 105 and 150 i don't think any i mean none of the policies super exceed each other that equal opportunity piece you know is can still be achieved through equitable resources when you look at equal resources there there's ways that that is measured through our title one reporting et cetera like between buildings so things can be both equitable and equal net equal opportunity to expressing equal opportunity that can happen to the resource and you know commitment to equitable distribution you know there are if you took the actual cost of the expenditure for any given ones to pick any one of the students you know that would be there'd be a large variation you know between some

079students and others that they have you know so that's providing an equal opportunity but you know for example that would be educational opportunity is that is that still an adequate standard or are we replacing it this policy now states that establishing high spec high expectations for each student with all students meeting academic expectations and their full potential so do we is educational students no longer adequate i mean ensuring students meet their full potential that's an outcome schools even parents can't guarantee outcomes the only true way to ensure equal outcomes is to lower the bar or otherwise change what those outcomes are all avenues to do this will result in taking away from the students achieving at the highest level it's almost nonsensical to to say that we can as a district commit ourselves to ensuring

080all students meet their their full potential it's just not something we control is it we do not fully control an outcome there's there's no there's no mechanism for fully controlled but while we're committing ourselves to something isn't that safe we're going to we're definitely going to do everything we can to control that outcome yes we're going to try very hard yeah uh 32 years that's exactly what i did for every kid did i achieve that goal with every student so you're committing a failure as a as a district no i'm admitting to making an effort which is the key it is the key to education both by the students and by the teachers that's not what the policy says it actually the district shall continue with all students meeting academic expectations and their full potential

081we are committed to that would like yeah thank you got a couple more though so bear with me uh the curriculum goal set the direction for the organization and the development of the curriculum why does the curriculum requirements in this policy in 809 not focus or even mention meeting academic standards there's no focus on educating students again the focus is guaranteeing outcomes and being culturally responsive the focus is no longer an academic academics how will you how will that achievement can be closed um and also wouldn't it have just been and clear to put the new curriculum into the policy that addresses curriculum 105. we're putting we're addressing curriculum now multiple different policies is that is that wise i'll speak for myself right all the these work in tandem together uh there is not one

082policy that addresses all issues yes 809 is attempting to gather a focus from other policies into one place but all policies work in tandem together if there is a conflict if there is some kind of mutually exclusive statement of policy then that's exactly what the policy uh committee is supposed to address and correct i have not seen that yet perhaps it exists but i i have not found that so i'll thank you i'll just i've got a couple i'm still there so the policy is is we're ensuring the principle of education for fair and just allocation of british opportunities and treatments to determine what is fair and just that as i understand the policy and i've worked on it quite a bit is going to be the role of the educational equity team so they'll

083be working on a plan to make sure that we have all things in place and that we're doing what we can to do the best for each of our students so that they can give that their their head to their full potential so in some instances there's no dumbing down in this in some instances you think that it's fair and just to take from one group to give to another there's no talk about giving one to what taking from one and giving to another i i defy you okay here we go board of doctors policy to tie together the various court policies that seek to ensure that the principle of equity fair and just allocation of resources the definition of allocation is in a portion of resources assigned to a particular recipient so do we

084not if if there are so many resources to make it fair and just do we not need to reallocate them which would be taking from one group and giving to another you you assume that there is insignificant there's insufficient resources to to allocate in different ways and to approach problems in new ways so so this policy is operating under the assumption that uh allocation will never need to be from taking from one group and giving to another so we will certainly have that decision to make at some point so it wouldn't have it wouldn't go past us i would i would hope that as a board we would continue to push this district towards the excellent work it has already been doing unless you you're going to allow it to become less than an excellent

085discipline dr ritter because you know how does the authority and delegation responsibility functionally change what can be implemented throughout our schools from what was done with policy 832. how does it change i'm sorry what how does the authority and delegation of responsibility functionally change what can be implemented throughout our school you mean because of 809 yeah thank you well it is the committee that will work with our administrative staff to be sure that we're looking at all of the aspects because the board has other responsibilities that we engage in and i know so that's the point of that committee when michelle talked about an injury program or an advisory committee that's really what this committee will function as it says so in here it will advise reward in regards or to to ensure that we're

086doing the best we can for each for all of our students but under authority and delegation of responsibility it states the board is let me find delegation responsibility says the superintendent and or doesn't tell you quantitative and qualitative data which is gender enraged to assess which students in our student groups are experiencing least achievement determine why and target resources and efforts to address those identified needs and improve the outcomes so the the committee isn't really i guess is it then for the superintendent to take results of this policy without involving the committee so one of our main responsibilities as a school board is the budget and approving expenditures so every time we approve a budget we make decisions on where the revenues are going to be allocated and every two weeks third monday we vote

087to approve expenditures and that's how allocation of resources is determined based on information that we gather from all of the different sources so allocations is only financial well there are different sorts of resources but generally speaking most of them do cost money because facilities are resources and they cost money personality resources and they cost money and educational materials and they cost money i guess my question is is it possible for the superintendent to create his own equity commitment it does say that the the delegation responsibility that the superintendent and his and for the designees um you said to uh jason i lost some of what you said to create what its own educational equity it's a superintendent and or designees it doesn't say in that fair that the committee doesn't come in until later in

088the investigation of responsibility in fact the first paragraph of delegation of responsibility it provides all of all the control to the superintendent i think almost every policy we have at some point makes reference to the responsibility of the superintendent or his designees to implement the policy that that's how it works okay the policy the purpose of a policy is basically the school board's way of directing the superintendent to do certain things and within this is the direction to form this committee the the equity team if i can go back to something you had said earlier though i understand that probably in the field of economics although i've had some people tell me i may be wrong in this and i hold no expertise in that most things end up as a zero-sum game one group

089benefits it has to come from the cost of someone else my experience is that doesn't usually work that way in education that in raising one group everyone raises the best example i can give you is the state mandated that special needs students get an iep an individual education plan and those are the only people that were required to have one yet since then the uh gifted kids get somewhat of an individual education plan kids who are not identified as special needs but who are at risk get the equivalent in our academic support so that a resource that was devoted to aiding kids with special needs is now benefiting everybody and it's to be hoped that something like the sea would do almost the same thing again ultimately this body has control of what happens we

090monitor what the superintendent does if it's not to our liking we can take action uh other than that almost all policies will say the superintendent is directed to do whatever that is ultimately i was just asking i was clarifying that it was providing the superintendent the authority to do and use the the just to address uh inequities in the schools as monitored by the board and and and the committee is a will not a may establish but will establish a district educational equity committee so there they will not be acting in and of their own i'm not saying that it's going to be a mister but we have to recognize that four operations down the road may read that differently um so can the is the equity committee able to bring in external advisors without

091the without board of without board approval when when is the board going to be uh kept in the loop as to what external advisors are are decided to be brought in to help the committee to advise the committee it says in the second paragraph educational equity committee the educational equity committee will serve in an advisory capacity to the board and will work to develop an educational equity action plan subject to board approval an administration administrator regular setting the standard operating procedures will be presented and reviewed by the board annually the committee shall regularly report to the board on its work and provide the board with copies of its minutes so it is very connected if you would need the policy so so i i guess i would read the pop trust when i've read it

092um the you didn't answer the question though dr ritter i'm sorry you you told me that the work is going to be brought but but i was asking if if equity could bring in external advisors without board approval it can bring in advisors there are it states that in their policy but they're in it but they're only there to offer direction and suggestions and so forth they don't have to use external experts it's up to them it's up to our community because that's what this committee is our community a representative of our community uh mrs patz brought up police five earlier policy 905 stipulates that there should be a preliminary and final report by an advisory committee and that those dates that the reports can be expected and should be set when the committee is

093charged i don't see this in policy it or not it's here you read it other states absolutely it's here that's what this committee really is this i was going to mention that when i had a chance to speak but you know all all due respect to michelle this committee is really that advisory group she was talking about around equity so you know once we get it in place and get this and get and get the committee staff you know we will be able to move forward and let them do their work mr spence do you have policy 905 in front of you again it states that there should be a preliminary date set for a preliminary and final report it's an ongoing entity it's this is this process is not something that's going to suddenly

094be solved in three months or four months or you know solutions will be ongoing so this is a permanent does you think this is a permanent advisory committee yes it doesn't disappear it it will be a good thing to be continue that we continue to be focused on educational equity along that we need to be focused i guess my concern is we're bringing in an advisory committee but the advisory committee doesn't follow the policy that we have in place that is governing advisory committees well we can add other things we added it through this policy it's not in a it's not in violation of anything if this committee is defined within policy 809 so are we adding it to the organizational chart then is this is it going to be a permit is it always

095going to report to the reports of the board is it is it can be added to our organizational chart according to the policy yes it will always report to the board we just are clear we don't have board committees in the organizational chart that's just administration yeah the board committees are listed in policy zero zero six um and this isn't a board committee this is a different sort of advisory committee we've had committees through the history of the district you know when we need to gather a focus group to look at building utilization and things like that yeah so i'm sorry so this is exactly why i've been wrapping my brain trying to figure out how to approach this in a way that we can come together over this legacy connection to 832 is a

096problem in the community because of what happened previously with accountability and my recommendation of considering this advisory committee citizens advisory committee is to say there's no connection to a particular policy it is a group of people with different perspectives willing to come together and make conversations willing to do what is right for our children because that is the bottom line and i think we need you know there's been a ton of work on them and i can see where there's opinions where yes everything is holding but then i also see some windows and if we say we put the put a committee together and advice the committee that everybody tell us what is needed and go from there in society we understand issues that are happening in our school district in our school district building

097then we move from them that's my recommendation i would like to make a motion that an either be placed on the december 20th agenda to consider point of order we have a motion on the table um that could be brought up for introduction of new business by board member again to address this idea of divisiveness um i watched what uh dr ritter has done he has out made an outreach to other members of the community he has had conversations with people he disagrees with people he's agreed with this is not policy 832 the the attempt to eliminate or reduce at least the divisiveness of policy 832 has been made it is not simply to say okay we're not going to have any equity which will satisfy one part of the community it certainly won't satisfy

098the other part the divide will still exist i believe that doctor made a very sincere attempt to remove the language the uh very possible uh un hidden agenda of the people that originally drafted 832 and promulgated it through the school board association they did that intentionally or not it was there dr ritter removed that in 809 the ability of the equity team to exceed their authority should be has been taken away by dr ritter's revisions and made a committee that hopefully will be exactly what pets would like to have a community come together and identify what needs to be done that's how we address divisiveness giving in completely to one group or the other doesn't solve that problem i have further questions i hope that dr ritter may entertain until as we work through it

099i'm i'm sorry i've got i've got a couple more questions i'm hoping you'll entertain as we work through the policy i just want to make sure that we we have an understanding of where everyone's coming from on the policy language so i think that's reasonable i i didn't say it wasn't thank you policy 809 creates two categories on one hand we have a category of diversity are you up at the definitions or what's where you'd say where do you get the categories i i'm not sure where you're finding the including but not limited to race ethnicity gender gender identity sexual orientation age social class physical ability or attributes religious or ethical value systems national origin and political groups we have barriers right which include explicit and implicit biases explicit and implicit biases are defined as

100actions attitudes and beliefs policy 809 expressly seeks to promote diversity and to remove barriers and create a bias-free culture so to me that they kind of conflict with each other though policy 809 is saying that some beliefs need to be promoted and others need to be removed that's a pretty serious distinction by what criteria will the superintendent and the committee determine what beliefs are protected as religious and ethical value systems whereas political beliefs under this policy and which beliefs are explicit or implicit biases that need to be removed as barriers to create a bias-free culture where do you read that which part the politic you said political i just read that in the diverse city uh definition well it was a definition okay i i need to find it so that's why i think i'll

101take your time okay yes so what was your point so so i guess my point is i mean and your the district shall strive to create a welcoming inclusive and biased free culture an environment that values reflection and responsive to the diversity of the students their families in the community i guess my point was i mean would we agree we're kind of working against each other at times do we do we agree that a bias-free culture is a good thing well we're talking implicit biases i mean let me let me ask you this uh which one's diversity and which ones uh uh of uh um abundance belief that the practice of homosexuality is unethical under the bible is this a diver is it diversity or is it a barrier a belief that god created man

102and woman in his image and different from each other as a matter of genetically fixed biology is that diversity or is that a berry i think in secular society it becomes it can become a barrier you know i think you need to distinguish between beliefs and actions and someone may have those beliefs but yes i would say that the prohibits them from acting on those beliefs to the detriment of an individual student that's correct okay that's a fair answer fair answer so then i ask you this should students who maintain personal religious convictions that there are two genders used to use pronouns that do not align with those genders based disciplinary actions i anticipate that they have that right as well to face disciplinary action or no i i don't know that anyone has if

103you know to that effect then we need to deal with that in executives my point i think dr ritter is that the policy with the definition of diversity and the definition of implicit biases they're contradicting one another and they're both in the same paragraph welcoming an inclusive environment if if a person has a personal belief based on perhaps a religious of one that i'm not familiar with but perhaps some religion that a particular race or religious uh affiliation makes someone inferior some people believe that i don't believe anyone in this place has but there are places where that has happened does that give them the right to then use words which are offensive to those individuals even though their personal belief and the right to that belief that the person they're addressing is inferior to

104them do they have a right to use words that offend them another religion that does that a personal belief well it certainly was the christian religion in in the southern states uh supported slavery for example you asked if it's happened i've asked i'm an example of where it did happen so so let's put this back up here let's just go over this again because it's a very important question and neither one of you are willing to answer it and that's a concern for me so i'll ask it again should students who maintain religious convictions that there are two genders and for in in and refuse to use chosen pronouns that do not align with the genders for their peers face disciplinary action they they individuals may have their beliefs they just may not impose it

105on others that's that's that's you know that so so so you're telling me that that yes the your answer is yes that if there's a christian student whose personal religious convictions believe that they're two by biological genders you're going to expect to maintain a welcoming and inclusive advice-free culture that they would honor their peers pronouns that would be my anticipation that's what an on a a bias a bias-free society would mean that we that we that we move to accepting each other as we are the person who decides whether the person who decides remark is offensive or not is the person to whom the remark is aimed and i would think that the person who decides whether a remark is offensive or not should be the person to whom the remark is aimed and i

106would think that even if uh within a christian belief there would be an attempt not to harm another person and if a person is telling you that referring to me by a particular pronoun i find hurtful offensive i would expect that that person should honor that and use whatever the person wants it doesn't mean that they accept it or believe it or don't think that person's going to uh is sinful they're simply saying i don't want to harm you i will honor yours and i think that that's part of what we do to teach our children and so perhaps i wouldn't say disciplinary action but i think they should be corrected and say you know that really bothers johnny when you say it that way i think you want to honor his request so and

107i just i just want to say policy 908 which would you know reverse the line directs parents to require that students comply with district policies in school rules and regulations so now we're going to instruction to parents of this community that when they send their kids to school they should ignore the religious convictions do you think that's proper i would hope that part of the addictions are to not intentionally harm other people to acknowledge that someone else has a particular gender opinion of of themselves does not mean that you're uh negating your religious conviction that the person is wrong i would i would like to motion to table the current motion please okay we have a motion to table do we have a second i'll second okay motion uh the table in a second any

108further discussion relative to tabling the motion hearing none can we have a roll call on the motion to table the uh approval for the second reading and adoption of policy 809 educational equity this is for the uh motion to table cecilia holt no jason crock yes jeremiah light yes dennis ritter no michelle batts yes howdarian no i've got a few more questions so just motion the table did not pass so we are now back on the original mission and second for the approval of the second reading and adoption of policy 809 educational equity any uh further questions or comments i do have a couple more thank you uh it says that in the policy each student shall be provided equitable access to uh instructional materials assessments and support facilities teaching taxes and other educational resources

109does the policy provide for biological biological males who choose to identify as females the opportunity to use the female locker room or restrooms or vice versa it doesn't provide it at this point that would be something i would imagine the educational equity plan committee would have to work on and team would have to work at and and would look into how we could do that how we could do that in a way that would be appropriate for all of our students my concern i guess dr ritter is currently the policy says that each student shall be provided equitable access to facilities and it's not a facility i understand that and that identifies us to have some issues and that we're going to have to deal with either by either by either by segmenting off a

110section of for example an athletic locker room for for students or in some other fashion i don't have that answer that would be part of what we're going to be looking at or this group would be look this committee would be looking at so you're helping to highlight some of the problems we do have and that's my attention okay good so that that tells me this policy is a good thing i'm trying to bear that out but uh so well let me ask this one does the policy provide the opportunity for biological males who choose to identify as a female the opportunity to play say female soccer again we'll have to deal with that issue as it arises i don't have an answer in it that the policy would be superseded by federal law in

111those instances and and there are some other issues that will be involved with making that decision as mr tim chattan points out i have some significance for the policy language because it does appear to be providing a lot of these accesses kind of without making parents aware of it um you know i think i think that this is going to be an evolving thing this policy the policy is not what's going to allow males who identify as female to compete in female athletics that's a separate issue that's going to be unfortunately handled by the courts i have my own thinking on this issue probably would not be upheld by any legal uh authority my thinking is if people say that gender is not binary then sports shouldn't be binary either and we should have many

112different opportunities or different categories of competition but that's not an issue [Music] i expect that issue is going to be solved at a much higher pay grade than a local school board i would hope that it's not i'd like us to decide what we need here but the policy it's is not going to direct how we bond this is something to respond to as it comes up and again the board has the ultimate authority on how to implement this it doesn't supersede our the policy does not say okay now we can't do anything we've got a policy we can always change a policy so if it turns out that things happen and there are consequences of this policy that unintended consequences at least on my part that we don't like change the politics to meetings

113and their piece is we have an advisory committee of the community made up of the community that will be looking at these kinds of issues so we will come up i trust trust our community with a solution that is appropriate solutions a community we have nothing like that at this point thank you um so will the district be expected to exclude or place a lesser priority outside organizations not maybe model culturally proficient practices is that to say that small businesses might be shied away from as the district makes decisions as to you know who to involve in in 3d business affairs could that end up costing us you know additional money because we always have to be using large larger businesses that have an hr department that has a ability to make sure they're culturally

114proficient again the policy doesn't answer that question something we will be looking at does in other words for example in that particular case is our procurement process currently appropriate or do we play favorites in a way that we should not be this this would become one of those things this group might look at this equity plan to be sure that we are being equitable in our procurement process we're also governed by certain state laws as to how we go about procurement so which sometimes skips over local businesses because they don't qualify under state guidelines it does it all the time i didn't say it did all the time jason there are times that they don't enter in the bidding process because of what they have to go through sure okay i guess my concern is

115what we put in here that that uh the policy is that we're gonna further push them you know community members out the door because they're not maybe deemed culturally proficient we're not throwing anybody out the door i'm glad to hear that thank you yeah i don't know where you get that teachers who maintain personal religious convictions that there are two genders can refuse to use pronouns that do not align with those genders face disciplinary action i don't know we haven't walked down well it does say in the policy that each school employee is expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the principles of this policy and fostering a school climate that is uh for educational equity culturally responsive so the policy i mean right again with dr darian said earlier with respect to

116students should certainly be true of teachers that we respect our students as i do as a pastor and the policy me you have no idea man that's inappropriate doctor the policy also requires that the district actively recruit and promote highly qualified candidates who are committed to educational efforts so does this mean that a political belief that educational equity is bad policy because it is not a protected political belief it's not an okay diversity a form of diversity what we well in our definition from of diversity we have defined diversity as religious or political beliefs we have to find diversity politically and religiously you said what do you think you're asking for my definition i don't know if we had is it up in the let me just understand human differences including but not limited to

117race ethnicity gender gender identity sexual orientation age social class physical ability or attributes religious or ethical value systems national origin and political escape would you would you suggest mr white that someone who advocates nazism be someone we should allow to teach in our school district i'm merely asking the question and i'm i'm saying that there are limits to there are there are some arguments there are some political beliefs which should not be okay which which belie i understand there's going to be a line somewhere to be drawn we say that one part we want diversity certainly we should expose kids to the diverse political beliefs they can make evaluations on their own but should we with people should we hire people whose political beliefs would harm our children again we have a school board some

118cis parents in this district that will argue we've already done that okay the thing is again ultimately this body has control over what we do the policy doesn't control what we can policy is more of a guideline as they said in the pirates movie it tells the superintendent what we expect them to do in the absence of school board action but the school board ultimately makes those decisions and so if there's a political belief we feel although we may disagree with is acceptable to have in our schools the school board can put it in there but ultimately it is us that decides it's not the politics i think it's also important to remember that we are a public school and we don't have a state religion we don't have a national religion we have freedom

119to practice our own religion and in a public school where everyone may attend the people have to be open to everyone else's um practice so [Music] if somebody can't accept all of the students because of their religion then a public school isn't an appropriate place for them to teach pretty sure there's many many instances going on currently where that's being litigated throughout the country so what you just said uh is that uh you think that a teacher cannot be considered highly qualified unless they abandon their political their religious beliefs when they enter the school doors i'm not saying that they need that there that they should be allowed to to to uh you know force them on the students but what you're essentially saying is that they need to be forced to abandon them when

120they walk in the front doors no not their beliefs no their actions it's but their beliefs cannot eventuate in actions that harm others who believe differently than they do if if you put someone down you harm them uh this let's keep the discussion to the board on the policy uh let's not have the uh shouting back and forth with the crowd i think i'm concerned of dr ritter that we're going to lose highly qualified teachers that are very good academic teachers that will take care of the kids that that are in their classrooms better than any other maybe better than any other teacher in the in the in the district but because of their religious conviction that they're not going to call someone a day we're not going to promote them or or or give

121them the same opportunity to be hired what religion says they can't respect the other person's preference doesn't mean they they believe the right it doesn't mean that they're advocating but as mrs holt said it's a public school they need to accept the adversity of the people they have and from the students they have in front of them and what there is a teacher that was just reinstated in virginia because he won a lawsuit over being suspended for the refusal announced i will worry more about uh the advice from my solicitor on the x than what happened in virginia too many times newspaper articles don't give you all the facts some decisions seem foolish some seem fine the only people that really know what happened to the ones who are actually there and when it comes

122to uh legal matters we we are obligated to abide by the opinion of our solicitor you know i guess my biggest concern is that in this educational equity policy really nothing in the policy promoting education i mean it's a 2000 word policy and academics has mentioned i think twice but it's it's it's more about a social experiment reading writing math critical skills or their content taking a back seat uh and that concerns me i know it concerns our community as well um i guess the question comes i mean that does this board believe that parents should have a say in their children's education because it's clear clear sorry this community ends after the vote on november any other board questions or comment regarding the policy hearing none uh roll call please jason cox no jeremiah

123light no dennis ritter yes michelle batts no now howdarian yes aaron angle no michael hass yes cecilia holt yes randy birch yes i am gonna be asking that a formal objection be put on the meeting minutes uh based on the on this policy 809 as it's written i have objections in the name compliance with existing kst school board policies and under the u.s and pennsylvania constitutions policy wall requires that's curriculum education equity educate equal educational opportunity for all students policy 150 requires the equivalent distribution of school district resources to all students policy 905 requires a notice requirement for the benefit of the court in the public that any preliminary or final reports of an advisory committee must be submitted by a certain date as defined in the policy creating committee policy zero zero three requires

124a two-thirds vote whenever the structure is altered i believe 809 is doing that by creating a new permanent committee um where third persons are able to serve in an advisory capacity without board approval i also think that constitutionally under the 14th amendment of the united states constitution and under article 1 section 209 the pennsylvania constitution school district cannot discriminate on the basis of race ethnicity or sex policy 809 does that in hiring firing retention development and promotion will end in the equitable access by strategically differing differ differing the allocation of resources shooting under the first amendment of the us constitution the school district cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination prescribed matters of political opinion which is considered offensive creates differences in the treatment that elevates one to what is offensive over another or senses of official

125disapproval of religious or physiologic philosophical beliefs policy 809 requires the school district to actively recruit and promote based on candidates committed to educational equity which is viewpoint discrimination under the first amendment of the u.s constitution public education cannot be conditioned on having students declare a belief including by way of expressive contact conduct that the student does not agree with suppression of student expression also cannot be based on a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint policy 809 requires the school district to remove barriers which includes attitudes and beliefs rather than just actions teach children to value diversity and inclusion to create a bias for a culture and environment and respectful civil discourse by students without reference to our existing policies on bullying or obscene language under the 14th

126amendment of the u.s constitution parents and guardians have a fundamental right offering of their in care of their children policy 809 does not require parental permission to teach children to value lgbt morality and identity politics policy 809 has to be read against policy 908 which requires parents to require their children as students to comply with district policies policy 809 does not have any exceptions from that requirement and under the 14th amendment of the u.s constitution following 809 per mislead vague and overbroad it doesn't give persons of ordinary intelligence the ability to determine what conducted and it authorizes arbitrary enforcement especially where it exceeds actions and introduced into attitudes and beliefs uh ricky i'll email that i appreciate it for the would love to minute that i for and agree with that statement as well motion

127does carry though um let's all right let's let's uh keep the uh clapping that's not necessary um let's move on to the rest of the agenda please uh item c uh job descriptions it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approve updated job description for the attached do we have a motion so moved second you know you have a extremely eloquent advocate of your ideas sitting at this table there's no need to yell from out there i agreed with him i heard every word he said i just happened to disagree that happens from time to time all right let's let's stop with the uh back and forth uh i apologize mr president so again we have a uh motion for the item c and i believe we had a second

128so so we have a motion in a second to do any questions or comments regarding the updated job description for the attached yes mr president the job description for um let me get i apologize here i had my policy for the very first one at the top of the page the the data process yes i was concerned i saw under um like qualifications for the position um the old job description had that the person would have adam as i read it at a minimum a bachelor's degree here and the new one a bachelor's degree was optional you could hire someone with just a little diploma it seemed to me like we were lessening the qualifications for the position so i was just concerned about that or what the reason i'm really asking what the reason

129was for that change i would have probably seen it continue to say a bachelor's degree or higher yeah we are i mean we are increasingly requiring more flexibility in some of the hiring of staffing physicians simply because the private industry is out paying public at times you know and where a certain skill set in addition to a bachelor's degree may in instances pay more than what we are in public education so it's as a means of just flexibility in some of that hiring when we find the right person are we going to be able to find someone with the kinds of qualifications we want that would just have a high school diploma though however i don't think it's likely but you know as we see a gene of course that is really focusing very heavily

130on skill sets often you know more so than degrees um it's certainly possible i don't think it's likely but i think it's possible okay all right it was just a question and concern it's a very good question we are seeing a workforce that is continuously changing and more rapidly than really adjust to what time any other questions or comments uh hearing on roll call please jeremiah light yes demonstrator yes michelle batts yes yes motion carries next item item d support staff incentive it is the recommendation of the admission that the board of directors approved a 2021 2022 support staff incentive for per the attached do we have a motion motion do we have a second second motion in second any questions or comments uh regarding uh item d bring none uh roll call please dennis

131ritter yes michelle batts yes al darian yes erin angle yes michael hass yes cecilia holt yes jason yes jeremiah light yes randy birch yes motion carries next item item e emergency transportation staff is the recommendation of administration that the board of school directors grant superintendent the authority to compensate current staff employees at the higher of either their current assignment hourly rate or the starting van driver rate 14 an hour when serving as an emergency van driver due to the transportation employee shortage do we have a motion critter moves second motion in a second any questions or regarding regarding item e christian i'd just like to say that uh you know it's not i don't have i don't know her name the lady who handles the transportation in the office um my children's buses was running

13230 minutes the ability to put them on a second bus so my wife called me the other day to do that and she was thrilled with the way she it sounded like she's been dealing with some uh yeah some rough times and i just wanted to pass that on to her um it was very much appreciated she handled it very well i appreciate that in my pause when super chester was in the comments i'm grateful for our transportation coordinator um our transportation support through eshelman in addition to our drivers our driving everyday it's been really challenging and we're not alone but their responsiveness and flexibility should say our administration our staff because what it trickles down to people being in the buildings longer but to ensure that every student has a ride home to school

133and home safely so i appreciate that gives a little smile on a day where you're just dealing with a lot of hitting any other questions comments regarding item 8. hearing none uh roll call please michelle bats yeah aldarian yes aaron angle yes michael hess yes cecilia yes jason cut yes jeremiah light yes dennis ritter yes randy birch yes motion carries item f teaching things inc agreement it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approved the purchase of online technology and instruction for educators otis at a cost of two thousand three hundred thirty three dollars and thirty two cents per the attached do we have a motion or uh yes do we have a motion uh motion second second uh motion in a sec we have any questions or comments regarding

134uh the purchase agreement in item f what does this program specifically do this is a part of dr meyer's pathways it's a database of professional development specific technologies um that's a pretty now dr mars if you want to share anything else yes one of our current goal is is to blend technology into intention in ways that improve the teaching and learning process so in in looking at different platforms that are out there uh in finding this platform otis for short looking at the quality of the of the videos and quality of the support material so it it allows for act 48 hours in the field of technology it also allows for technical support and there's hundreds of videos available on all kinds of different uh technology platforms whether it's canvas whether it's google whether it's

135apple microsoft and so forth so all the different platforms that we use it trains and instructs on how to properly utilize those applications for instructional purposes we have the tech pathways model on our website and what this library will do it'll simply expand uh enormously you know the the the uh materials the library materials resource materials uh that we can offer teams to figure out how to best install and use technology in in a classroom so in a nutshell that's really what it is it's a professional development platform it's a technical support platform and it's there 24 7. so the belief is that with the tech pathways model that we have which is out there for teachers to use uh simply expand it a great deal any other questions yeah thank you dr meyers any

136other questions regarding item map a hearing none roll call please aldarian yes aaron angle yes michael hess yes yes jeremiah light yes dennis ritter yes michelle bats yes yes motion carries item technology recycling bid it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors accept ger solutions bid of 363 dollars for used technology equipment for the attacks do we have a motion motion second second we have a couple of people that keep the second in thank you mr light uh so we have a motion in a second any uh questions uh or comments regarding uh item g in the recycling bid i have a question um will information i'm assuming that will all be scrubbed before it's donated like any they're completely wiped machines before they donated any other questions or comments

137i only had a question quickly too um i know we were allowing students to actually purchase their equipment instead of giving it back for recycling does that still um in effect yeah we have a timeline quite a few students over the past few years take advantage from any other questions or comments for item g a hearing none roll call please aaron angle yes michael has yes cecilia holt yes jason yes jeremiah life yes demonstrator michelle batts yes aldarian yes randy burch yes motion carries uh next item item h donations uh unless anyone has an objection it looks like we can just do these two together but it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors accept the following donations one the acceptance with gratitude of a donation of 100 from thomas

138chance towards the kahs summer foreign enrichment trip to germany in the summer of 2022 number two the acceptance with gratitude of a donation of one hundred dollars from kristin turek towards the ka hs summer enrichment trip to germany in the summer of 2022. uh do we have a motion a second second motion in a second any uh questions or comments regarding uh the donations and item h uh hearing none uh well just uh i would just say thank you to the uh uh generous uh donations uh for the trip uh but uh with that uh roll call please michael house yes cecilia holt yes jason cook yes jeremiah light yes demonstrator yes michelle back yes yes aaron angle yes randy burke yes motion carries uh next item uh item i introduction of new business by

139board members any uh new business uh from the board i'm hearing nothing from the board i would just want to say moving forward going into this year i just like to see the administration start moving forward with certain things the pandemic i think has put us behind on a lot of issues and i would personally like to see the administration start moving in a direction where one we look to lower charter school cost two i believe we should look to reinvigorate our stammer steam program uh three i would like to see us increase enrollment in areas of ap classes internships and other advanced classes as well as placement with the bctc to get our students career and hopefully increase enrollment in all these different areas and lastly i think we need to continue discussion regarding

140how we're using our buildings and whether we need to repurpose buildings but again those are just items that we need to i think need to continue to work at and we need to continue to do those things and with that does anyone else have any new business to bring before the board hearing none we are moving on to public comment on non-agenda items uh jerry seibert um and then uh mrs coughinger mr shim tatum if you could just um clarify for me for graduation requirements from the state of pennsylvania unity sciences correct that's correct okay so um kutztown requires a fourth physics must be taken from all your students that's what i was told by a guidance counselor so that the board has decided that physics is a must-have science okay which is great i'm

141not against physics i'm not against science i promote stem all the time what i'm saying is that as a requirement i have that fourth science required but i think it should be the student's choice who was she's a senior now so this any change would not apply to her but she was not able to take an ap science course he hadn't yet taken physics and she had to have physics so she was not able to perform a science that interested her and that would be more beneficial to her in college had she passed the ap exam toward transferable credits she had to take the physics class this will apply to other students okay so what i'm saying is feel free please require that fourth as that puts you at a higher standard for graduating than

142maybe some of the other communities around us but leave that fourth science open let the state require the ones that they require but let that fourth science be open um also not every kid needs physics because not every kid is going to be going into a science-heavy field and that could kill their gpa if they're not of that mind they might need a different science which they would flourish in but drowned in physics so you might want to take that into consideration with your new policy 809 um that's i'm just asking you to consider changing that um for the benefit of everyone um definitely can promote physics like i said i'm a stem girl i think um i have a question from somebody out here from the designation of not only the committee that will

143come out of policy 809 let's say 905 that um michelle requested you are the person who goes out and finds the people for those committees am i correct or suggested for those committees okay um i want to address um a little bit of the conversation that you had during with uh jeremiah asking a person who holds deeply rooted biblical religious beliefs to violate those beliefs because you say they're being disrespectful to someone if they won't call them a warrant or us or our i don't even know all the pronouns at this point but that is as deeply and fundamentally wrong as telling that student that believes that they are they that only do two genders it's the same thing it is deeply held if you do that to a student or you do it to

144a teacher you are in violation of 809 thank you uh any uh wish to make uh public comment on non-agenda item uh yes please state your name my name is and i live in albany township before i start i just want to thank my three kids for sitting here for three hours to wait for their mom to speak can we just give them a round of applause they've been so well behaved and it's way past their bedtime but their dad is working but it's too important for me to i have to come up here to speak and before i do i just want to preference by saying one i don't blame any teachers for [Music] anything they work very hard every day and i work in a school so i know how hard they work

145and two everything that i'm sharing right now i've gotten permission from my children to share right now all three of my children are in a non-traditional [Music] thing my kids all three of them are neurodivergent meaning they have some kind of either adhd autism or anxiety and there's many many kids that are like that in our school district and all over the berks county with my daughter elise she's in ninth grade at the high school elise has always been a very studious person she's very high achieving she holds very high standards she has a gifted iep she's always been a leader and she's always she swims she'll be in her first high school meet in about a week she's in select choir she twirls she dances for our high school and she volunteers she's always

146loved school she's always looked loved going she always has this huge uh just desire to learn but that has totally been that spark is gone this past year she's been hospitalized twice np and in a day today she signed herself out of the high school to do virtual academy it about killed me mental health is a huge problem in our schools and i feel like it's the white elephant in the in the room and nobody's doing anything about it ever since covid she's lost her passion for everything when she went to school this fall to start high school there was no virtual option and we got our house there was nothing all she had was canvas to go to now since then they have put something in that you can listen to the class but

147that was not available to her in september she was sick and quarantined for five weeks you can't imagine what that's like to start school and what the hell is going on at that point she totally lost interest in everything that's when she went into the hospital for her second time the problem is is the school district had no direction from the health department whatsoever and i feel like we were in a better situation last year than we are this year she didn't feel supported by much of anyone except maybe mr brett and the principal at the high school they'd reach out to some teachers and some of the teachers were helpful however she feels and i don't totally but she feels like no one would even care if she was gone how does that make

148a mother feel then we'll move on to owen who i pulled out of greenwich this past fall and put him into king's academy he also has an iep he has trouble reading he was also pulled for writing and he hated school he hated going he had no friends but one named gavin light and now at king's academy with no iep he is flourishing he is getting 10 spelling words i mean huge long words per week getting 100 percents he's his reading is like improving in leaps and bounds he feels appreciated and loved there he feels supported how much money do we get every year for our kids with ieps i'm not saying that the teachers weren't doing their jobs because i think they really truly were trying and they were trying hard mrs uh ottman

149was doing a phenomenal job with owen however there's only so much they can do and it's it's a it's a bigger problem and ironically nathan and owen which i'll move on to nathan in a minute they both had issues in second grade and it was them that were totally just i don't know like their finger was pointed at them as a bad kid owen was told that out of 22 years of teaching he was one of the worst kids they'd ever seen and i highly do not believe that all they wanted to do was push drugs and push him into the hospital in second grade that's what was suggested and i said absolutely not as a mental health therapist i knew that my son didn't want to kill himself he just wanted to escape because

150he hated school that much and we'll move on to nathan who attends centennial school which happens to be a charter school that you want to cut flourishing there he's been there twice he is a model student he was not a model student here but he is there all his peers there look up to him why would you want to take that away from him when he's doing so do we want to send him back to the hospital again i'm almost done okay i just wanted to clarify that centennial is not a charter school it's an approved private school okay well okay thank you for saying that but still i'm sure that you could make budget cuts and decide to pull him out of there because you think that he's met all his iep but the

151whole point of it is he needs to be there and we're talking about equity that's what he needs he obviously was not doing well here at the school and neither were my other two children so why am i talking about all this it's mental health and addressing these kids who are neurodivergent kids are not robots kids don't all learn the same i've been in the field of mental health for 23 years and off and on i've worked in the community mental health system which i do now and and i've also have worked in the school systems also down in dc at howard county schools i worked in a auto alternative education program so i have a lot of experience and i see a lot of gaps here in the school district so please let's start

152addressing these mental health issues if we're paying all this money if you're getting all this money for these ieps where is it going and what what what do we what do you have to show for it because my three kids are not getting what they need and i had to go elsewhere to find what they needed thank you anyone else wish to address the board for public comment can you please state your name yes hi i'm heidi wasser i'm in greenwich township i just have a few things that have been bothering me for some time now please try to promote no racism so what happens if a muslim person comes here to teach you can't say no to them because of their religion but yet you're allowing somebody to openly be gay and that muslim

153person that muslim teacher how do they feel they're against that in those muslim countries i do believe uh maybe not all but a lot of them do believe in that penalty just for being gay on the other hand what if there is a muslim student here and a gay student here how does that work just largely the rights of any individual extend until they infringe on the rights of others any two students individuals can exist next to each other unless until they are explicitly and kind of basically trying to enforce their way i mean it's we have differing opinions beliefs across schools everywhere but unless they are infringing on somebody else right to believe what they want to believe sure and we have the legal and ethical obligation to educate everyone they just to protect

154them like how they would be reprimanded if they did something to that person of gay transgender whatever another question i have is what if my child doesn't i mean you have taught her she has been thinking okay i have to say she her or he him or they i don't even get it why if this kid is a boy and wants to be a girl okay so paul or she why i don't understand why we have to use these pronouns why do the teachers have to use the pronouns when i get an email from my daughter's teacher it's she her and i love the teacher it's not that i just maybe the did the teachers get in trouble if they don't see her if they don't are they saying this in the classroom up on

155the board she her he him seen that in the classroom i'm not is the question whether not your question is the question whether someone is are you saying that they're addressing your child that way or that that's on their email no that's on their email how she signs it i've never seen it used in the classroom in that way um emails will our children get in trouble if they don't use that kind of pronoun at the end of their name or whatever no child just put a pronoun that was something that was going to be pushed no no or not okay um in regards to mr connor o'neill the only kind of person i'm racist against please please you should address the person address the board don't address people everybody should be treated equally i

156am the last person that would be racist but attitudes like his are horrible because that's racist against us i'm a person with christian values and christian morals so i don't believe in being gay or transgender or whatever but whatever if that person wants to believe that that's fine that's on them that's their life it's not my life but the same at the same time i don't think it should be pushed in school and it's pushed all the time anymore there's more gay kids that i hear about all the time now and they're so confused is this in a seventh grade teacher's classroom that's what i hear a lot she pushes it we're not going to talk personality issues here and i'll tell you if i i can't really afford private school i'm not looking forward

157to to pulling her and i want to be pulled she loves her friends and she's doing awesome in fifth grade middle school is coming up and i dread it next year i so badly want to pull her and put her in private school i'm just not sure how i'm going to do it yet but if if she has to go with any of this books that are in the library that i'm hearing about and she's going to become confused she's a very girly girl if she's going to become confused if she's thinking oh well maybe i'm not a girl because this is what this teacher i'm pushes my dead body i'll do what i have to do i'll figure it out transgender in the back no not okay am i against transgender no again i

158don't believe in it but whatever but i do believe is a good way for a person to say they're transgender just to get into the girls locker room or bathroom and they're really not transgender it's not the transgender person that bothers as much as the kid that says he is or it's just like in target whatever else people go shopping and god knows who's lurking in that bathroom because they get away with it because they say they're transgender does that make sense i've heard of a girl being raped in a bathroom i think it was in new york i don't know crowley has happened around here somewhere i've heard of a girl being raped in a bathroom because of this situation as a mom how do i how am i supposed to feel about my

159daughter who thinks everybody's good she sees no wrong with anybody heart of gold she's very innocent how what is what what do you do to protect those kids i love an answer if you have a specific you know situation you want to discuss i don't want to wait for a specific situation to arise i want an answer of how this is going to be prevented or do i have my child i'm not a box catholic or saint joe's the worker or somewhere because i'm not going to be the only one that does it there's going to be a lot of people behind me on board with this i'm never one to speak up i don't like speaking up i don't like confrontation i hate it i just want everybody to get along peaceful and the

160high honor but i'm not okay with these policies i can't i'm not going to just sit and watch this happen to my daughter or not all our kids not just my daughter i'm not against a gay or transgender i'm really i feel bad i think they should be protected too but there's there's been policies to protect i could never go to school and say you're a you're gay i pick on them those are policies that were already written ma'am right you're over the uh five minutes can you please finish up your comments are those policies not already in place right legislation right they're in place already so we shouldn't have to have new policies written in the library any other public comment okay can you uh put them on dr meyers and who are we

161this is buckman can you hear us this is buckminister with us i'm wishing to speak um i believe you are muted and mute i'm sorry i had no intention of speaking here i am just an observer thank you was there anyone else online dr myers okay um with that let's move on to our informational items there was the november 2021 student enrollment bciu what happened bciu legislative report the bc iu news link also we have the psba required board member training so for our new board members and the sitting board members that were re-elected you will take the required training keep in mind that's uh under state law so that's state mandated work through the administration they'll be very helpful in being able for you if you have the opportunity go to the iu and

162do the in-person training it's a good opportunity to meet various different board members throughout the county and it's well worth it if you're able to go to the in-person session last informational item is berks county uh cola information sheet item nine upcoming public meetings and uh formative dates december 13th is policy and curriculum at 6 00 pm at the middle school and by zoom and again that's by at 6 00 pm also on december 13 facilities and extracurricular committee meeting kevin at the middle school and by zoom in december 20th we have our monthly school board meeting at 7 30 p.m here at the middle school and by zoom and with that i'd be looking for a motion to adjourn so moved uh second okay uh all in favor say aye motion carries and thank

163you for