June 21, 2021 KASD School Board Meeting

001like to call this meeting to order everyone please rise for a moment of silent meditation pledge to the flag of jesus like to thank everyone for coming this evening and welcome there is a log in the back of the room if someone would like to provide some comments during public comment please make sure you've signed that log there will be time for public comment before the new business section of the agenda this evening uh and just uh to set a couple ground rules public comments rest restricted to speakers that live in the district and bill will be restricted to five minutes total time per per person and we ask everyone to please be respectful during the public comment time there was an executive session prior to this meeting to review both legal and personnel items

002with that roll call please ricky michelle batts here randy birch here aldarian here michael house here cecilia holt here dennis ritter here eric johnson i'm here carl nalty here charles sher here our first order of business will be approval of the minutes from the june 7 2021 school board meeting do we have a motion greater moves emotions are a second second motion a second any comments questions or corrections regarding those meeting minutes hearing none roll call please ricky michelle batts yes randy birch yes yes michael house yes cecilia yes eric johnson yes dennis ritter yes joshua yes yes so approved next is item for the treasures report we'll start with the general fund mr miller thank you mr nolte this is the treasurer's report for may 2021 the month began with a cash balance of

003six million six hundred seventy three thousand two hundred nineteen dollars and forty nine cents we had receipts of five hundred nine thousand seven hundred and eighty nine seven hundred eighty nine dollars and thirteen cents paid bills and payroll of two million three hundred seven thousand nine hundred sixty six dollars and nine cents leaving us with a balance at month end of four million eight hundred seventy five thousand forty two dollars and fifty three cents so the motion to accept the treasurer's report so moved motions are second second any comments or questions regarding mr miller's treasures report hearing none roll call please ricky randy birch yes yes michael hess yes cecilia holt yes eric johnson yes dennis ritter yes joshua yes michelle back yes carl nelty yes so approved next is item five approval of bills

004for payment we'll start with with letter a ratification approval builds payment from from the general account including manual checks in the amount of one million three hundred ninety eight thousand two hundred twenty three dollars and fifty five cents do i have a motion so moved motions are second second any comments or questions regarding item a 5a none roll call please ricky aldarian yes michael hess yes cecilia holt yes eric johnson yes dennis ritter charles sure yes michelle bats yes randy burch yes carl nelty yes so approved next is item b approval of bills for payment from the general account in the amount of forty 743 thousand seven hundred eighty one dollars and twenty three cents to have a motion so moved emotions are second reader's second most just any comments or questions recording uh item

005b for number five hearing none roll call please ricky michael hass yes cecilia holt yes eric johnson yes dennis ritter yes joshua yes michelle batts yes randy burch yes aldarian yes carl nelty yes so approved next is item c approval bills for payment from the construction account in the amount of seven hundred ninety three thousand thirty seven dollars and forty cents do we have a motion so motions are a second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item c hearing on roll call please ricky cecilia yes eric johnson yes dennis ritter yes joshua yes michelle back yes randy birch yes al darian yes michael hass yes carl yes so approved next is item six communications and reports we will start with the superintendent's report mr tim chat thank you mr nolte um the

006superintendent's good news report for june 21st has a variety of good news items to share throughout the school district first is our imagination library those publications the psba daily edition publication listed our imagination library project under the www success starts here stories sharing positive stories throughout the commonwealth of school districts providing new programs offering programs for their students or families currently 186 children in grades well part of me ages birth through kindergarten are enrolled in the imagination library where they receive a book each month we are fortunate to have the program funded by the kutztown area school district education foundation i'd like to thank everyone involved in helping that become a reality for not only those 186 children but children in the future including dr quinn in her request um in the operations of it

007and of course the education foundation for funding it the imagination library is a huge success the high school philosophy club which was a new club this year first year at the high school was run all remotely via zoom sophia arnold had an essay accepted for publication in the fall 2021 edition of the online journal questions it provides that medium for young people grades k-12 to contribute philosophical reflections this year's theme pandora's box what is hope thank you to dr johnson for his support encouragement of the program uh dr johnson do you have anything to share uh related to sofia's published essay or the program as a whole this year um i just want to say that uh it was a very enjoyable experience we've got some very impressive and thoughtful young people in our district

008and um they're really thinking about what's going on around them uh these people and i i was just very impressed every time i met with them thank you very much for your leadership and advising group and congratulations to sophia on being published next up is another huge accomplishment the national history day competition kutztennery school district rising juniors gracie nebner and dominic pizzellante won first place in pennsylvania national history day competition the group documentary writing race sam lacey chronicles the crossing of the color line in sports journalism sam lacy who is largely given credit for crossing the color line in baseball writing in 1948 they produced a video that can be viewed on youtube uh regard about sam lacey it's a wonderful accomplishment the challenges of presenting national history day in the zoom format are just

009different you know for those for students who have participated over the past two years the competition has taken a different approach obviously due to covert 19 and leveraging the technology but grayson and dominic represented kutztown very well in our strong tradition of national history day congratulations to both grayson and dominic and more success in the future as just rising juniors great job and lastly it's not good news necessarily but want to acknowledge the early learning community which is our partner and um roommate out at the max fatani old at maxstone elementary building kutztown school district administration building closed its doors just a few weeks ago the early learning community it was a great pre-k program had the opportunity to see mrs hunter and her program engage in the lives of the students who attended from

010anywhere between one and three years as a fantastic preschool program this was the last year just want to thank them for being a part of the school district and helping along with our other fantastic pre-k partners here in the district in preparing students for kindergarten and then entrusting them with us the rest of the way so congratulations to mrs pond and her program on job well done and best wishes yeah after the closing of the program and that is our good news and thank you thank you any questions from the board from mr tim chattan hearing on final budget adoption is there something mr murray present yes [Music] okay i just have a short presentation here to start this off these are the changes since the last time we looked at the budget you look

011at the revenue line increased by 74 785 that's due to increased property assessments i was notified from the berks county assessment office and we also increased salary expenses by 12 329 just a series of obviously upward salary adjustments i'll go to the summary page here if you look in this column here june these are the numbers we'll be asking you to approve in a little while revenues of 30 34 million 318 109 expenses of 34 million 684 320 leaving us with a bottom line of negative 366 211. if you look over here at the past presentation numbers you'll see that bottom line pretty much decreasing month by month so we have to pass our final budget tonight if we went out a couple more months maybe we could get it even lower but we can't

012do it but anyway that's what i have as far as the presentation goes are there any any questions for mr miller at this time it is it is on new businesses item b any questions now and just a reminder this is a proposed budget with a zero percent tax increase and if you follow the news items it does seem likely there would be additional tax assessment revenue coming in the future through over the course of the year um based on some new development but obviously that's a moving target all the time development there is as businesses open the opportunity for more tax work okay there's no no discussion now we can always have discussion when we get to the new items if there's any questions at that point in time uh the next item is

013student board representative yes so abigail um as we were reviewing the student board representative um policy for um last week uh there we've always given an opportunity for a student board represented when they are here to speak um but the way it's called out in the policy that appears that there should be a line in the agenda itself so you have the opportunity to share anything on behalf of the student body if you wish if not no report at this time is fine as well okay um thank you for the opportunity to speak but i have communicated with cooper um who is my senior and i'm the alternate um that we have no uh received no communications from any of the students receiving any any of the issues so thank you thank you very much

014um it's a slow time for student board representative news i think so thank you for being here this evening thank you for speaking on behalf of the students yeah okay welcome thanks next we'll move to board committee reports we will start with policy and curriculum this whole thank you mr nolte as part of our curriculum report we heard from mrs brown and student tracy zieter regarding the agricultural lab and they had a successful year with the barn raising some holstein steers and broiler chickens and selling selling them and donating to friend incorporated so that was a successful experience for them and we heard that they um are looking to manage it in a way that is sustainable itself and they will not have to rely on district funding and they thanked the board and administration

015for their support um we had a note that [Music] the state board of education has posted new science standards that are available for public comment through the beginning of july um in the policy portion of the meeting we reviewed a couple of policies the one policy 001 name and classification was reviewed with no change uh policy 04.1 student representative was reviewed with some changes so it is being brought for uh first reading with those changes and um we discussed policy 113.1 discipline of students with disabilities which is on the agenda for first reading this evening um policy 113.4 we began to discuss the ran short of time so that has been tabled until august for further discussion and we had a couple of members of the community present public comments regarding finding points of agreement

016and moving forward in a unified way as a district regarding um policy 832 that concludes my report thank you miss holt facilities in ecc mr burch uh yes mr nolte and just before i give my report i just wanted to jump in and congratulate our national history day kids that is an incredible uh accomplishment to compete in that setting and win first place so just uh congratulations to the students and their advisors that is truly a great accomplishment when they're doing those projects they're basically doing college level research and work so this is a really worthwhile program and uh just a great job by those kids but ecc and facilities met last week at that time mr yapazugo gave us a spring uh wrap-up all our athletes did a great job competing this year especially

017with uh issues with kovid we didn't have much success uh at uh getting into the playoffs or anything like that but our kids did a wonderful job competing and mr yapszuga gave us the spring wrap up for them also we had discussion regarding our tennis courts in the need for renovations with the tennis courts the courts are showing cracks and wear there's issues that need to be repaired in order to have our students have safe facilities to play on also the fencing in that area is in need of repair there's also a large oak tree there that needs to be looked at because it's dropping things from the tree down onto the ground onto the court and things of that nature so that is still being investigated and looked at and will be presented at

018a later board meeting for hopefully the board to approve some needed renovations uh for that but we did have discussions regarding our tennis courts with respect to the facilities meeting we reviewed uh sidewalk renovations that are needed that actually is item n in our agenda for tonight for approval there's an area of sidewalk that stretches from uh the high school down to the uh elementary school i believe uh from to kes uh where there's uh areas uh where the sidewalk is raised or there's cracking and other issues that need to be repaired and smoothed down so we want to make sure we remove any type of tripping hazards or anything like that with our sidewalks so that was discussed and that is an item for us to consider tonight for board approval also during the

019facilities meeting we had discussion regarding the music storage area at the high school our cabinets for the music program are dated and in very worn condition at this point they're in need of uh replacement so there was some discussion about getting some new cabinets and upgrading our music storage area there's additional information though that we need with that as far as the material what the cabinets are going to look like and the overall cost before we're able to bring that to the board for consideration for approval and that mr nolte is my report for tonight thank you mr burch let's move to bctc mr scherr um thank you mr nolte our last meeting was on wednesday may 26th at the east campus in ole uh wrapped up some uh sort of the the year-end meeting

020if you will we uh reviewed the or actually met our class of 2021 joc scholarship for excellent award winners um there are four there were four as is typical and it this year it included uh kutztown's own caitlyn reidnauer so congratulations to caitlin on that award [Music] we also reviewed uh some bids that were received for an augmented arc virtual system for welding technology program and um some cdl and diesel truck purchase and later on in the meeting we approved the purchase of those items [Music] we also reviewed the senior recognition ceremony that was scheduled for june 1st and we could sound also had several award winners in seniors in that ceremony and that is my report thank you mr sher bciu dr ritter yes we met last thursday my screen's going dark here um

021we elected our officers for the coming year 2122 uh for the for the county intermediate unit board um six school districts had their position up for approval again for an additional three years our position was one of those which i'm currently filling on behalf of the school district so we are now seated until 2024 as long as i continue to serve in that capacity otherwise it will have to be reapproved and then three school districts had new people come on board this past year so they were approved for their particular length of term which happened to be a one-year term in each case uh the bciu is a little bit ahead of us they had their health and safety plan for the new school year ready to go so we approved that um and then

022a number of other um kind of typical kinds of approvals to various agreement we have with uh outside organizations um and then uh took action we will not be having a meeting in july so we authorized the executive director to offer employment to prospective employees until we come back to ratify those actions at our august board meeting and and any other expenditures that need to be taken care of between now and the august board meeting so that's my report thank you dr ritter berks county tax collector mr miller there was no meeting the committee meets quarterly and we have a meeting on thursday night great thank you and psba ms holt i have one note that um presuming that the um state budget is finalized uh psba will be holding a webinar on july 2nd

023at noon to take a look at that budget and omnibus amendments to the school code so that is free to attend for board members great thank you miss holt any questions from any board members regarding any of the the board committee reports one suggestion but i know i don't give the athletic updates that mr episode provided that they're so comprehensive and it's just a great representation of what the students have done is there a way to share that information um just because like i think you know the track right with three kids go to states you know there were some accomplishments in there that i think we could highlight um i know they do go sometimes into the cougar tracks it's like a summary but there's a lot of detail on that report um yeah

024those typically those are individually in cougar the uh cougar prince newsletter when it goes out but we also can post his presentation along with the superintendent's report um tomorrow thank you any other comments okay hearing none um before we start the new business section of the agenda there is a log where many folks have signed that they'd like to make a public public comment about an agenda item i'll go through call the person forward some ground rules again max five minutes time limit must be a resident of the district and finally i ask please for respect from everyone in the room for the person that's speaking everyone deserves a right to speak everyone deserves a right to be heard may not agree with them but they deserve the right to speak so with that we

025will start with mark sackett check yes some of you are saying not this guy again that's okay my wife sometimes says the same thing thanks for hearing what i and others are going to say be aware that tonight i am not even getting past the first paragraph of your anti-race resolution why the anger why the disparity on the anti-racist policies here it is the school board has been lied to the community has been lied to it continues to be lied to by the media we are not woke but we are awake most of us are sick of the lies especially when these lies are now being used to influence our children and grandchildren at ages that they don't and should not have to think about this type of rhetoric i think we can agree that

026to institute policy based on lies is at the very least misguided more than likely a huge mistake what are the there are three kinds of lies outright lying lying by distortion and lying by omission i'll expound upon that in a minute crt has been around for about 90 years back then it was also based in marxism you say why the rise now well it has found two new partners a compliant media and an ill-informed public the anti-racist movement and blm which by the way according to their own words should not be blm but mmm marxism mostly matters gotta start as major impetus from an outright lie that lie is still forwarded today and almost never called out as a lie by the media ferguson missouri hands up don't shoot never happened so the whole movement

027is based on a lie and is propelled by leftist ideology the movement has destroyed lives whole cities and is responsible for the assassination of police officers lies of distortion this is this past summer george floyd he should not have died the way he did that was wrong but he was no hero he was a drug addict criminal high on drugs his hero statue is a lie of distortion if he was not on drugs and a criminal he would more than likely be alive today you want a lens to educate through there's the lens to educate our children through sadly the school board in their very first paragraph of this resolution has another lie of distortion calling last summer's actions protests destroying cities attacking people stealing and looting are not protests it is a horrible lie

028of distortion they were rights lies of omission this is the category that the media is very guilty of look up fbi statistics find out for yourself who's killing who expand your information sources every time a person of color is killed it is not automatically an act of racism the more the board made a big mistake it is even a bigger mistake to continue down this path correct your mistake revoke the crt resolution and any of its covert derivatives thank you leon smith township previous board member it's also on this article if you just go a little closer to the mic also in this article 832 i have some facts and figures here the socialists tried to get into our political society in 1901 not to be successful twenties and the thirties the marxist came from

029europe because hitler was running rampant and this acts 832 stuff is complete propaganda your marxist thing is trying to get the different races to clash and you will be able to separate them and take complete power some of my views my almost 73 years here on this earth back in 1963 some damn atheist decided he wanted to go to supreme court to get rid of the lord's prayer and reading bible verses before classes started you get to the middle to late 60s in the early 70s you had the hippie revolution where the communists and socialists got even worse i will give al darian a break here i don't know if he was one of them radicals when he was in college at that time but it got progressively worse you had the people that decided

030to go into the education system they started their brainwashing to coincide with their beliefs for communism and socialism which is completely wrong and now you're looking at today with blm and antifa with their writing if a white person or white group even attempts something like that they'll get thrown in jail but those two groups get away with murder and if i would have been in charge over the last two years whoever manufactures body banks they would have required a lot to stop all of this racism rioting the uh is the shame that this board and the administration is trying to shove this propaganda down our naive students they haven't been around long enough to realize that they are being brainwashed i'm beginning to this may sound a little strange where did you get this from

031raphael castro or from kim jong-un or any of the other communist socialists to try to push this down their throats this is completely wrong it should be vetoed completely i hope the board members here pardon the expression the military expression pull your heads out of your behinds take a couple deep breaths and maybe you will see things more clearly to get rid of this stupid curriculum thank you art laden slater bart lodenslager okay there was a check there sorry uh dan wismer all right i want to thank the board members who are present here for the opportunity to speak again um a couple things i was going to read i have three kids in the district uh one of them just graduated my son sam is back there right i brought sam with me tonight

032um not something i wanted to do not something i ever would thought i'd have to do but i'm going to talk about that in a second and then um i'm also going to read some questions from uh carl lampard um him and his wife jennifer have uh carl jr in the district as well um i wanted to uh just uh kind of talk a little bit more about my boy sam um i'm words are never really going to fully uh capture the range of emotions that i have that i had to have conversations with my son um because of a public school board decided that they knew better than i did and my wife do about how to raise my child um i think it's that point can not be emphasized enough and it's not

033fair um i'm a school teacher in a local district if i was ever told that i would have to present things that are crt not crt that are directly in line with what was at least we know being presented in the um about white privilege and the uh morning announcements i would refuse to do it it's against my beliefs no one would make me do it if i had to lose my job to do it i would never submit to something that would be harmful to students as this i encourage all teachers who are in this district if this is something that bothers you i encourage you to not be in complacent in doing this because you're being told um i also wanted to uh read the questions from carl um and i thought a

034lot of these were very well stated and i sincerely hope there's some sort of response i know he already submitted these online how much money is kutztown school being offered to implement the new equity policy 832 the second question is if equity policy 832 is not based in critical race theory then why are equity announcements from the week of april 12th to 16th by women considered crt authors and scholars question three another equity announcement that same week falsely identifies racism only as privileged whites against black victims why is that allowed when it is in a district when it is in direct conflict with policy 103 of non-discrimination question four the bsba equity communication guidance clearly states that the reason for the program is due to death of george floyd and other black men due to

035systematic racism why are you accepting with the main crt principle of systematic racism in america as fact when it is only part of a flawed theory and indoctrinating our kids as if systematic racism in america was a proven fact when it is not question five what is the fruit of the new discriminatory race-based policy so far other than dividing the school district and country which i would argue is the true purpose of this left-wing political propaganda one additional outcome is my family is losing confidence that this school district has our child's best interest in mind um and i also echo that that is a huge concern of mine at this point thank you beth seeker hello i haven't stood before you for quite a long time good to see you thank you for letting me

036speak i'm beth sega borough resident parent of a kutztown grad and a current high school student last week two new policies were introduced for review regarding students with disabilities in special education something dr lieber said when explaining both policies stood out to me he said we are already doing these things the policies will just help codify everything this characterizes not only the equity policy here in kutztown but also educational equity initiatives across most local and national public and charter schools whether brick and mortar or online many schools and institutions have had educational equity initiatives in place for years and are recently reaffirming them an equity policy can codify a district's current practices and ambitions and schools of all stripes currently aspire to these same worthy initiatives locally fleetwood reaffirmed their strong commitment to equity in

037education that began with staff training in 2019 using race as just one lens ole has an extensive equity information page that includes links to resources on the tulsa race massacre supporting the mental health of lgbtq students and social emotional learning as a lever for equity and social justice why are missing one of the highest achieving districts in berks has a busy equity task force putting forward multiple equity initiatives that include race as just one lens by which they support each student's individual needs based on their unique experiences online cyber charters like connections academy and their current curriculum provider pearson are dedicated to fighting systemic racism and creating bias-free content that reflects the diversity of all learners their director won a national champion of equity award for developing inclusivity and equity best practices for lgbtq youth

038now implemented nationwide edgenuity a curriculum used by a host of pa cyber schools has an ongoing bias and sensitivity review and a diversity equity and inclusion advisory board the local waldorf charter school circle of seasons has a diversity and equity statement that lists the types of diversity including race gender and sexual identities people of all abilities and neurodiversity family structures and lived experiences which they recognize bring unique perspectives to learning affirming race as just one equity lens through which we examine how a student's individual experience may affect their learning is not new in society or harmful if a student or family is made uncomfortable by any new or existing implementation of a school initiative including but certainly not limited to policy 832 there are means and policies already in place by which they can seek

039understanding and resolution there are many examples of educational equity currently in practice in the kutztown school district i believe folks have already spoken about some of them no matter the lens equity is not about victimizing or guilting people equity is about empowering people all people to reach their full potential policy 832 is a positive step to help organize and evolve a pro-equity school culture on many fronts taking it away does not stop that work i do think it should be more clearly it should more clearly reflect in its purpose statement up or up front in its definitions all the categories of equity you are recognizing within the policy not only race but also socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds gender etc because it appears there is a majority on the board that supports policy 832 and you

040have a larger majority that rejects banning ideas or discussion topics i encourage you to move forward to reinstate policy 832 and the equity committee taking into consideration the concerns of the anti-equity movement and encouraging them to participate on the equity committee maybe you could reinstitute the equity committee first to promote dialogue and to educate people about equity under that umbrella before reinstating the policy but i believe you should do something to start moving this along thank you robin underwood hi i'm robin underwood i'm from the kutztown borough two kids in the high school this coming year you've heard from me before and i think you understand that i am for the equity policy but what i've been hearing over the last several weeks coming to meeting after meeting is that we almost all agree that

041we are not racist and that we don't need to um consider other people to be racist or you know do any of the things that people are afraid are going to happen in the classroom i don't believe they're going to happen in the classroom with or without this policy when we have discussions about race um but i'm you know i came to previous meetings and i've seen you guys voting so i think we all know where you stand and so i don't really understand how school boards work or how policies move forward or don't but i'm wondering i've heard that you are going to a retreat where you're going to learn about critical race theory and whether you agree with it or not after you learn more about it i'm wondering when that is happening

042is it soon are you going to report back to us what you learn i'm also wondering if how does this go are we going to have to keep coming back to meeting after meeting after meeting and you're going to keep kicking the can down the road so you vote to revoke and you know the vote is no and then you vote to suspend and everyone says yes and it's like okay next time same thing again same people come say the same thing is that actually how this works is that what i'm in for for the rest of the summer because i would much rather instead get a group of people together with level heads where we can all speak learn from each other get to understand what is really actually going to be taught to

043the students so that we don't just assume what's going to happen or fear what's going to happen or just accept what's going to happen either is there a way can you get us together to talk not here in front of a microphone on youtube to you can we [Music] make a plan for us all to get together and chat instead of this is that possible so i can respond to a few things first of all the retreat nothing's been finalized yet um so that's that's still when it is finalized and who would be with that would be that will be public information um the other thing with respect if someone would like to try and get a group together you're more than welcome to in the community okay thank you first initial k last name

044lonaman okay first international e last name westner okay uh trisha libby good evening thanks for the opportunity to speak my name is trisha leiby i'm from max attani and i have two elementary age children after attending the last several meetings and hearing concerns from both sides on the equity policy and its initiatives it became apparent to me that the biggest problem is a fundamental difference we have in world view on both race and gender that is coupled with the line of responsibility between the school and parents with respect to race the equity policy states quote personal and institutional racism have historically existed and continue to exist additionally the racist school climate resolution states quote we understand and accept that racism is systemic and it is unconsciously and consciously rooted into our institutions policies and practices

045advocates of the equity initiatives believe america is systemically racist and has still not moved on from its tainted history of slavery some even embrace that america was not created based on judeo-christian values but rather created to exploit people as part of the slave trade the kasd equity website embraced this ideal as it offered the howard zinn project as a resource for teachers howard zinn described himself as something quote something of an anarchist something of a socialist maybe a democratic socialist he is widely critiqued for his fake history narratives including trying to abolish christopher columbus day those of us against the equity policy believe that some racism exists but it is neither systemic nor institutional we believe while america is not perfect significant gains have been made in civil rights existing anti-discrimination laws and policies cover

046this issue and they should be enforced those against the equity policy believe america was founded on judeo-christian values and because people are sinful and not perfect there will always be sins like racism we recognize there are disparities in the world but the reason for this is not the direct result of a broken system but broken people no system will ever be perfect we believe in teaching the foundations of america from historical text while fully acknowledging the sins of the past with regard to gender to date most of the commentary has focused on race however the equity policy also pushes an lgbtq plus agenda by stating that these individuals must quote feel affirmed the policy also utilizes a definition of gender to include gender expression of an internal sense of being male female some combination of

047male female or neither advocates don't believe the existing anti-bullying policy goes far enough despite the fact that it already prohibits bullying any child including bullying based on a child's sex or sexual orientation those of us against the equity initiatives believe people are free to make their own choices but do not believe the need to affirm others choices including sexual lifestyle we especially don't agree with pushing these ideas on our children we should strive for excellence in education and not the need to have a diverse workforce solely based on what one does and the privacy of their bedroom those of us against the equity policy represent many biblically minded christians who believe god created each of us as male or female science confirms this because no amount of hormones or feelings will change the xxy chromosome

048makeup of an individual we believe the existing anti-bullying policy is more than sufficient and is neither hateful nor discriminatory to recognize these are adult decisions where children lack that level of maturity so what is the board's responsibility and how do they navigate these opposing world views advocates of the equity policy believe these race and gender issues have created groups of people that either are oppressors or oppressed they believe these are real problems that opponents are ignoring in an effort to change society's views on race and gender equity advocates want to teach the next generation to think differently regarding these topics those against equity policy believe we can agree to disagree on these race and gender issues especially because neither are supported by objective facts from historical texts or science but mostly on feelings we believe

049that the education system is to teach tactical skills for success in the workforce period i've heard statements about preparing children for the future world they will encounter some of that is the responsibility of parents and not all on the school the line is being blurred about who is responsible for launching our children to be successful if advocates and parents of the equity policy believe in these race and gender ideologies they should teach that to their own children at home the school is not teaching my biblical worldview that jesus died on the cross for all sinners therefore it is definitely inappropriate to use my tax dollars to teach this narrow world view of this new social justice religion the school system is to be neutral on these things by law we don't need to agree on

050the values we teach our children at home but we can agree that we shouldn't be pushing one singular view on others with tax dollars the hours children spend at school are better used to enforce reading writing arithmetic and tactical life skills the equity policy is overstepping its bounds let's return to enforcing existing anti-discrimination and anti-bullying policies and recognize parents role in teaching their children thank you for your time [Applause] jackie bridget's jackie bridges good evening i'm jackie burgess mom of four in the kutztown school district for now and chapter chair of moms for liberty berks county where i represent hundreds of parents including 112 parents and growing in this district alone i am concerned with your lack of communication and transparency to the parents on either side of this issue remember you are elected by

051the people of this community to serve as representatives of the public great school board members communicate their actions to the community you had not done that or this policy and team would have been discussed in more length and with community parents and student input not just between board members and you're still not doing that you're not communicating and addressing the concerns this policy and equity team should have input and discussion by all maybe then we could have a united understanding and agreement i'm concerned that there are staff members in the school who are not adhering to policies such as 19119 which states current events should not indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view based on the maturity level of students clearly this was a policy that was thrown out of the window

052when a student in this district wrote an article about white privilege that was then announced to elementary school students who didn't understand the context and now believe they are bad just because of the color of their skin that also goes along with policy 321 where it states the use of students writing addressing and distributing partisan political materials is prohibited and clearly there's a certain agenda attached to these teachings and the writing from a kutztown student mentored by a kutztown teacher or we have policy 119.1 that clearly states controversial issues in the classroom should be an informative basis and teachers should not give personal opinions but allow the students to research for themselves and not be persuaded by the side of the teacher's political views we are aware that this is happening in the middle school

053and the high school classrooms and while it may not have always been reported parents are now alert and aware and best believe we will be holding the teachers accountable for what they say in the classrooms and lastly in regards to your lack of transparency and communication i end with re-asking the questions i have presented to the board but did not receive answers to in regards to policy 832 at what point did this board decide an equity team was needed in our district when you talk about equity are you talking about equity of opportunities or equity of outcomes we already have laws that prevent and not tolerate discrimination so was our school breaking those laws was the school not following special education laws was the district discriminating against students and do you have proof of this

054and given the makeup of our administration is primarily white are each of you willing to give up your job to make the workers more diverse thank you miss bridges i would like to bring something one thing to everyone's attention the board did receive a number of questions from the community uh the the path four that was taken is the administration has gone through and and responded to those questions it's very difficult or nearly impossible for a board of nine members with nine different opinions to go and answer those questions therefore there is a response that's been that's been put together that will be shared i believe it was mr light asked the questions but they will be responded to him reminder that you know the difficult part of it is public comment is an opportunity

055for the public to share perspectives with the board not to necessarily go back and forth on a question answered with the purpose of it so there will be responses to the questions coming and i recommend uh having discussions with individual board members if you'd like more details on their individual stances but those those answers are are coming [Music] they're imminent with that we'll move to joan baldwin good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight i just have three brief things to talk about uh the first one is the um request for information that i made last month i only got part of it back so i'm making the request again today i was going to appeal it but i thought i don't want to embarrass everybody to say i didn't get what

056i wanted but i didn't get half of what i wanted so i'm going to give that to you requesting information that you've given to parents students teachers and administrators okay and the second thing um i wanted to say about that is if there is going to be form the committee that involves parents and people from the community i'd like to be on that committee i have vast experience in school districts across the country i like to be on that committee okay while i was researching data i'm a data person i was shocked to see on the greatschools.com website how poorly kutztown scores and i think you have your priorities wrong in this district so i have a copy for each one of you showing that in our district 75 of this are below average 75

057the state average is 35 percent average for the district is zero state average is 29 percent above average great it's 25 for the state it's 36 this is taken from thegreatschools.org where you can find lots of information about your schools it's all that you pass i think we need to spend more time educating our students needing help and reading i'd be happy to help you and the third thing i wanted to talk about was i was glad to hear that you're willing to meet with us maybe there could be an open forum in the community um we'd like to ask questions some of us get answers most of us don't i was shocked with the last meeting when when the school board member said i don't know what crt is so i've sent each and

058every one of you five or six articles stating what it is hope i can do the research for you i think a big question that we have everywhere is what's the difference between equity inequality equity has to do with outcomes equality has to do with what we like to think of is possible um ways to excel so i have a twin brother raised in the same house he has a phd in high energy level physics whatever that is he works for a think tank for the navy i was a teacher we were able to do what we wanted to do as we were growing up equity however doesn't always make that opportunity available so i sent many articles to all the board members i didn't receive any information that you got them or that you

059read them so i'm proposing that we have an open forum in the community i'll be glad to help set that up at church on sunday i was in the band shell at the park i thought this would be a perfect place to have it a lot of people can come it's a nice stage there the sound system there we can work out but i think we need to have a discussion and we need to find out what you know when you knew it why you decided to bring this policy forward i know it's a state initiative in fact it's a national initiative but i'm not sure that we need it here in this district i think we need to work on good outcomes for our data which is i know it's been a very hard

060year and a half but we have to get these kids back into education and the reason they're coming to school learning to read learning to write learning to do math learning about history social studies and getting along with each other and that's all i want to say tonight but thank you for your time jerry seaver hello i'm jerry siever i was looking over your website um the other day and i noticed under strategic goals and you scroll all the way down and it has diversity equity and inclusion goal statement and um i'm wondering why that is still up there because i think that should be part of the suspension of the equity policy because it looks like you just kind of added that at the end of the goals and it says embed equitable practices

061in all instructional areas and district practices and it's kind of interesting i've been talking to other parents in other districts and you think maybe this is only happening in the kutztown area school district but it's happening everywhere and parents are fighting everywhere and they know that the superintendents have signed that statement that equity statement after the george floyd thing had happened so and this is like i said this is happening everywhere um i have been sharing information i have been sharing uh the morning announcements i have been sharing the equity communication guidance to all the school districts and people are very upset and they understand why we're fighting this this is critical race theory it is in the school and i think we need to sit down and possibly be able to see what curriculum

062uh is being taught in the history from k through 12 what's being taught in um even in music i've been hearing we have we have a music teacher that's talking politics to our children so um i mean that's something we need to talk about and also i have this right to know law requests to write to no law request forms i would like to submit to you um also i'd like to kind of talk about go back to the more the equity announcements to the elementary school and um every time i look over this it just upsets me and of course i've been giving it away to other districts i've been giving away to other uh taxpayers and they want to know who was responsible for authorizing this because the damage has already been done

063and we're even saying that whoever authorized this should be fired um so thank you with that we'll move to vinnie illustry and i think it's an i hi vinnie illustrate uh maxitoni first time speaking here um thank you for giving the opportunity to speak thank you guys for keeping the school open for the year that was really awesome i've always enjoyed it um i moved here with my family three years ago to pennsylvania from new york but uh i also moved here from the to the united states uh in 1980 so i grew up in new york uh i think we could all agree that racism is bad right that's why we're here that's why we're all fighting for this but i think the one thing that we most of us want to say is

064that the lens that which we're looking through this is not good um policy 832 one of the points policy 832 is a implicit bias and if i can read from my phone implicit bias shall mean actions attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding actions and decisions in a subconscious manner okay what to me that means is um anything that that somebody does could be construed as being racist right so if i were to go to a store with my buddy mike and the store owner picks to help him first before me well obviously it's because he's racist right but if he picks me first instead of my buddy well it's because i'm a person of color and he wants to get me out right it's kind of a lose-lose situation but i'll expand on that

065on a more personal level i have two boys my wife is white do i teach them to hate her for oppressing me or do i teach them to hate me because i'm not as good as her when she makes lunch tonight for me is it because of her white guilt or is it because she's making me lunch because i got to work when i change the oil on her truck is it because i'm subservient to her and i should do it because i'm supposed to or do i do it because i know how to change oil on a truck and it's something that i do for her because i love her do i teach my boys to hate her side of the family because they look down on my side of family or do i

066teach them to hate my side of the family because they're not as good as her side of the family that's the problem that i think a lot of us have here is that the lens that we're looking at this through is the wrong one we are this subconscious implicit bias it's in policy it's in the policy i read the policy it's in there implicit bias is what i believe a lot of us have a problem with okay look at look at the board here i don't see anybody here that looks like me one of the other speakers said are you going to look at yourselves and decide that you should give up your seat that you that you promoted on or whatever works to somebody like me just for equity i don't think that's right

067but implicit by it says implicit bias says maybe that's why you guys are here that's what's wrong that's that's why we want this stuff teach anti-racism racism is wrong i'm the first one to tell you it's wrong just not this way just not this way maybe you didn't know maybe when they when they brought it up it makes it bad racism is bad it makes sense do you hear that and you want to say yes racism is bad let's all stop that but if you don't look into it and you don't look into the policy and what is in the policy that's what a lot of us here have a problem so please consider getting rid of the policy put a commission together with people who will talk about this in a better way and

068find a better way to teach it because our kids deserve better yes jeremiah light good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak my name is jeremiah light i live in greenwich township i have two kids that go to the school district here school board members you have a problem you sit up there on seats that some of you think of as thrones and forget who you actually are here to represent we the people of this district have been here the past few weeks to remind you that you work for us and the administration works for you at the june 7th meeting one of you called us bigots not one of you called for them to stop or apologize or reprimand them for that action for those of you who clearly do not know

069the definition of what a bigot is it is a person who is absentee or unreasonably attached to a belief opinion or a faction especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group perhaps some of you should look at yourselves in the mirror before calling parents bigots or allowing a board member to do so and then maybe you ought to read that definition to yourself while looking at yourself in the mirror many parents have been coming to these meetings yet you guys claim we're the minority our group of parents and taxpayers that are against policy 32 the equity team and the anti-racism resolution are not racist or white supremacist or homophobic or any other term that you or a minor few have

070decided to call our group we do not see people based on the color of their skin their gender sexual orientation creed or political affiliation we see them as equals and as humans are there problems in ksd i cannot say yes or no to that because the board administration has consistently not answered the questions of the people that sit before you and if there are problems why the need for a new policy when there are existing policies and mandates in place to address those problems some of you have talked about rewriting policy 832 you need to scrap it completely terminate the equity team and get rid of the anti-racism policy because they are all tainted with problems and basically radioactive perhaps you need to look at existing policies and fix those first before enacting new ones

071you also need to properly enforce the existing ones in place as well you need to hold the people accountable that should be using and enforcing the existing policies a new policy is not needed if a student is struggling in education you get them the appropriate help that they need if there's financial issues that are affecting them in the district you get them the help that they need if a student uses a discriminatory slur or language you correct that student you don't hold the whole district accountable for that student's actions you have claimed that policy 832 is not part of the curriculum yet your equity team has pushed topics like white privilege to our kids you have gotten updates from your director of curriculum at board meetings about the policy 832 and the equity team so

072how is that not part of the curriculum you even have a board member who sits on that equity team yet you claim that you didn't know what was going on unless you were living under a rock there is a national outrage over this several states have already banned this others are considering it what where that has not happened parent and taxpayer groups like ours are fighting back to protect our children from indoctrination and the teaching of another form of racism and yes policy 832 and the equity team are teaching racism you need to quit kicking the can down the road thinking we will give up to quote a famous american we have not yet begun to fight you need to revoke policy 832 dissolve the equity team and revoke the anti-racism policy and any form

073of teaching critical race theory needs to also be banned the community needs to be involved in any further discussions on policy updates and the creation of policies before passing them stop hiding them behind bullet points board members we are not the minority we are the majority thank you laura miller good evening thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight my name is laura miller i live in albany township and i have a son that is going to sixth grade tonight i will be talking about masks you wonder what is the question about masks why would i be talking about them if you don't have any idea the district has drafted the kutztown area school district health and safety plan that is due on july 31st if you don't know what the esser funding

074is please do your research we have received money through this funding and even though our draft says that max masks are optional as of now we are tied to the governor's whim if he changes his mind again this is why i'm speaking about masks nelson mandela famously said there is no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which we treat it treats its children we as parents bear the responsibility for our own children's health at home and you as the board members administration bear the responsibility when our children are at school for the last 16 months the national state and local leaders have focused solely on physical health but overall health is essential and it is a balance of physical mental emotional and social health first physical health one of the most

075struggling revealing and troubling observations come from dr marguerite griez bryson md phd who is one of europe's leading neurologists and neurophysic physiologists has gone on record staying staying stating sorry the rebreathing of our excelled air without a doubt creates oxygen deficiency and a flooding of carbon dioxide we know that the human body needs oxygen to live and more importantly the brain is very sensitive to oxygen deprivation there are nerve cells that cannot survive more than three minutes without an adequate adequate supply of oxygen these cells are so sensitive that their functionality is affected by low oxygen levels by masking the brain continues to be deprived when it is needed most to learn new skills information and knowledge at school last week as you may have read a group of parents in gainesville florida sent six

076face masks to a lab in the universe university of florida to be tested according to rational ground dot com and other many other sources they requested analysis of contaminants found on the masks after they have been worn the resulting report found that five masks were contaminated with bacteria parasites and fungi fungi including three with dangerous pathogenic and pneumonia-causing bacteria although the test is capable of detecting viruses including stars kobit ii only one virus was found on one mask it's called part of me alsana fine herpe virus one the analysis did detect the following 11 dangerous pathogens on the mass pneumonia tuberculosis meningitis sepsis keratitis uh amoebic encephalitis bloodstream infections utis that are resistant to antibiotics food poisoning a bacteria that causes lyme disease diphtheria and legionear's disease and staph in addition less dangerous pathogens were

077identified including ones that can cause fever ulcers acne yeast infections strep throat periodontal disease and rocky mountain spotted fever the masks were brand new or just washed in the beginning of the day and were worn by children of various ages and one adult this is only a snapshot of the detrimental effects of mass wearing on our children in school secondly mental and emotional health from october 20th i'm sorry april 2020 to october 2020 in the united united states research shows emergency room visits linked to mental health like anxiety skyrocketed for children ages 5 to 11 increased by nearly 25 by 31 for ages 12 to 17 and during the month of june 20 2012 25 of persons ages 18 to 24 in the u.s reported suicidal ideation i can only imagine as the months of

078continues these statistics have become much worse yes some of the anxiety drug and alcohol abuse society and abuse has been caused by the lockdowns but mass perpetuate these effects on kids mental health as the data proves we are coming out of the pandemic the wearing of masks prolongs the idea that there's an extent existential threat to them that is just not supported by science what we should be doing is encouraging our children to be strong confident young people with strong immune systems poised to achieve their goals and to persevere through every obstacle and thirdly social health by hiding teachers classmates lips and muffling their speech mask wearing makes it harder for younger children to develop linguistic skills and prevents children with hearing impairments from lip reading i have this problem as well unable to rely

079on facial cues teachers and students of all ages or more likely to misinterpret one another a particular acute problem for those on the autism spectrum how are children supposed to develop social skills when they can't see one another's faces sit together or even play together social skills are critical in school-age years this is where we make friends learn to work in groups and learn how to respect others communication and interpersonal skills are already lacking do the increased use of electronic devices do we really want to deepen the social problems of our young kids by mandating masks the university of whitten herdeke in germany has caught a lot catalogued other problems they created an online registry for parents to report the side effects of mask wearing in their children among uh nearly 18 000 parents who

080responded more than half reported the masks were giving their children headaches and make it difficult for them to concentrate more than one-third cited other side effects increased reluctance to go to school unhappiness malaise impaired learning drowsiness and fatigue my own elementary son had to be pulled from class numerous times due to headaches and belly aches because he was wearing his mask every day even at recess with miss miller you're about a minute over to finish up can i get a quick finish quick thank you to stop every case of cover covert at all costs is an illogical irresponsible idea continue to mass children absurd illogical nonsensical and potentially dangerous berks county had 12 coveted cases reported yesterday i believe reissuing a masked mandate for the 2021 and 22 or any other school year in pr

081for in-person learning would be a malicious as an abusive parent i request that you don't ever ever mandate masquerading moving forward no matter what governor wolf dictates thank you donna fire tag hello again um my name is donna firetag i live in max tawny i'm a parent and wife of alumni here at kitchen area high school taxpayer uh and of course a local educator um i thank you again for allowing uh me to speak i'm again uh to continue to fight against policy 832. um this fight obviously as everyone has been talking about continues all across this country parents and community members are fighting against the implementation and teachings of crt parents are winning you may think we're crazy loud racist homophobic even bigots from what i heard two weeks ago but you can think

082what you want we are also educated individuals who think critically and want to preserve our freedoms and liberties to protect that for the future children to come we want to be heard and due to the media's bias we struggle to do that i really don't understand the reasoning that half of the members of this board have for their incessant put incessant push for this policy i especially have concerns about specific people of the church also pushing for this how can you side with such a destructive movement makes me sick there are people of all races that are against this kind of teaching open your eyes and ears and allow yourself to hear and see why is this problem here in kutztown do board members physically see what's going on in the schools do you visit

083can you provide us with some examples of what's occurring are there instances that really confirm the need for that another policy i am all for teaching learning about differences and acceptance this is what should be taught and encouraged not white privilege not microaggressions not identity we already have an existing policy which i'm not going to read because i think you are all aware of your own policy haven't we been following this policy already aren't the guidance counselors working on those skills and their lessons i really don't understand the need for another policy other than the fact that it gives the school permission to expand on crt theories and push this political agenda you don't need another policy to make kids understand kindness and acceptance stop wasting time and money conducting surveys and collecting data do

084you really want parents to tell their kids not to listen to their school and their teachers because they're filling their heads with this kind of information i think not i think the school and teachers want support from parents school teacher parent team is critical let's be on the same page it's important to treat others respectfully and appreciate everyone's thoughts and views however i am greatly disturbed by the fact that we also want to teach children things that are inappropriate and unnecessary have you all seen nickelodeon lately i ask you to take a look at the cartoons that are being released lately because with this equity team i see this also coming down the road in kutztown a racist past has come a long way don't you recognize this progress do you really honestly think that

085america is more racist and homo homophobic today the people that feel that way are the same people that are creating racism in the reverse by creating unnecessary policies so that they can teach these agendas it's not a solution it's a divide bullying racism etc will never go away completely doesn't matter how many policies you have in place it doesn't matter what race sexual orientation etc that you are we are never going to convince all humans to be kind to one another or accept everyone teachers and guidance counselors over the last few years have been very well rehearsed on teaching about differences and acceptance and i know we are already doing it i'm in a school this fight is not going away we are not going away and we will continue to contact our legislators many

086states have already signed into law to ban this teaching and many other states are following if certain families feel that strongly about the teaching of crt then do it at home it doesn't belong in our schools so please revoke policy 832. jed wood hi my name is jed wood i'm a 1996 graduate clinton area high school i don't have to tell you guys anything new here you know there were many speakers on both sides here that communicated their feelings towards this matter and um you know while most of our board members here listened intently um it is a little irritating that it seems as some of some of you don't want to hear anything that the public has to say but uh but it is refreshing that there are some that uh that want to

087hear the public's point of view and uh i just want to uh reiterate the fact that there were some people here uh that support uh 832 as well as are against 832 and what i've heard from both sides is that 832 and the equity team is not the the greatest fit for kutztown area high school or school district and um you know it is my request to you guys as the board that you would take that in reflection and under consideration and while you do that i think it the the best idea is to revoke 832 uh and disband the equity team and uh for no other reason but to hold them accountable for the fact that they were given a responsibility um to communicate to our children what you as a board thought was

088a good idea and when given that responsibility they fumbled it and uh as a parent and a voter in this community we are asking for accountability and accountability through scrapping something that doesn't work and if you guys want to come up with something else you know and put it out for the public and have the public uh be a part of something that would be great um we're you know i think that there's many of us that would be open to hearing your ideas but clearly 832 is not a good fit for our school district and neither is the equity team that's all i have to say that's the end of the list i have with people that like to address the borders anyone else that would like to address before we move to new

089business hi my name is heidi westner i am from one hartsville i'm a lifelong resident of the district i graduated from here in 91. um i have two kids one graduated just a few weeks ago the other one is going to fifth grade at greenwich we chose to do virtual this year for her um only partly because of coving and she's with my parents so much but also because i'm nervous excuse me um also because of um bullying issues that we've dealt with in the past hers weren't quite so bad on the year previous but my older daughter had experienced some when she went through elementary school and i quickly found out that it was her words versus the girl who was doing the bullying to her and we were told um basically make sure

090you have extra ears with you because it's your words against her words and i quickly found out that reporting the bullying does absolutely nothing with that we decided to do virtual this year fast forward to the current climate of crt and what it's indoctrinating into our children i do not plan on signing any anti-bullying policy come this following fall why should we when they're hearing from the school that they're not a nice person because they're white to me that's bullying i'm a very far cry from being a racist and i would never teach that to my child or to dislike or treat someone unkind or unfair i teach them to treat try and treat everyone with kindness if there's a problem with somebody just stay away from them don't say anything my youngest has a

091hard goal and befriend anyone my oldest went to the prom this year with a boy of color did i see color no i saw a boy character and a great personality a kid she's been friends with for years i will never condone racism or that it's okay and that goes both ways though what the school is teaching our kids is racism it's teaching them to hate other kids or or that they're an oppressor it teaches them that they're not good because they're white that's bullying i will not have her learning that she's i will not only have her not learning that she's being brainwashed that she's a privileged white girl i work my butt off to provide what i can for my kids and i see them very little many weeks i hardly call them

092privileged many of their white friends i'd hardly call them privileged either i don't believe in calling anyone an oppressor or oppressed it's about how hard a person works for what they want it's about learning responsibility in addition to that subject i'm aware that there's one teacher in particular in the middle school who's pushing gender ideology this is sick while i agree there are a few kids who may question their gender or sexual orientation they need someone they can trust to talk to but not taught pushed and blanketed over all of our kids especially at this young age i'm not okay with my child or any of our children being taught this it should not be talked about or even brought up in a classroom please just get back to reading writing math and real history

093forget the brainwashing of politics thank you for your time anyone else anyone online dr meyers okay thank you with that we will move to new business we will start we are in item section seven item a is personnel one one item i will note is number seven through 11 should actually be 2021 for the year and not 2020 so there is a typo when it came for items um seven through eleven uh the agenda says 2020 what actually should be 2021. okay so looking for a motion for um item a personnel so moved motion is there a second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item a personnel numbers 1 through 15. hearing none roll call please can ricky get her microphone [Music] dennis ritter yes joshua yes michelle bats yes randy birch

094yes yes michael has yes cecilia holt yes yes so approved next is item b the final budget adoption it is a recommendation administration the board of school directors that drop adopt a final budget for the 2021-2022 school year with revenues of 34 million 109 and expenditures of thirty four million six hundred eighty four thousand three hundred and twenty dollars supported by real estate tax of 29.9543 mills per capita tax section 679 of five dollars per capita tax act per capita tax act five eleven of five dollars local service tax and five dollars earned income tax 0.5 percent real estate transfer tax of 0.5 percent an amusement tax of five percent we have a motion so moved the motions are a second second let me show you a second any comments or questions regarding the the

095final budget adoption hearing none roll call please ricky yes michelle yes randy birch yes yes [Music] yes so approved next is item c policy maintenance and i can uh split these apart or we will let's take item one um let's take them in separate uh in separate readings it is a recommendation policy quickly made that the board of school directors approve the following let's take item one second reading and adoption of policy 113.2 behavioral support do i have a motion ritter move promotion is there a second second now motion a second any comments or questions regarding the second reading and adoption of policy 113 behavioral support hearing on roll call please ricky michelle yes randy birch yes yes yes yes dennis yes yes yes so approved next unless the board member has an issue we

096would take the first reading of the next two policies together okay we will start with the first reading the recommendation the possible curriculum committee that the board of school directors approved the following the first reading of policy 004.1 student representative and policy 113.1 discipline of students with disabilities do we have a motion critter move motions are second any comments or questions regarding the first reading of the two policies listed yes i do mr nolte um on policy 004.1 um i appreciate the adjustments to the language to allow for um a junior to run again without having to go through um the petition process um but i feel that there are still inconsistencies um regarding if so if someone's going to continue in the position so for instance in number eights um it says the elected

097sophomore student will serve as the alternate and assume the position of student board member in their senior year but we're wanting to allow for anyone in the junior class to run for that so it's still not really saying what i think the committee wanted to adjust last week and then number 10 it says that if the senior can't fulfill the duties in their year as the senior rep then the junior will take over and serve the following year so for the first reading we would need to strike everything on number eight from the co the last comma after junior year on and then number 10 and we would end number 10 after takeover immediately correct yes so we will capture those comments for i think dr lever is marking them right now and that was

098the intent of the committee from last week any other comments so we we will we will vote on the it will be the policy that's been with some of those changes that are that have been that have been noted okay with that roll call please ricky randy birch yes yes demonstrator yes joshua yes michelle yes yes so approved next is item d the continued suspension suspension of policy 832 educational equity approval to continue suspension of policy 832 the educational equity policy do we have a motion second motion is second comments questions or discussion around the continued suspension of policy 832. i'd just like to express again that i believe the wording of the policy guarantees that the district will have a culture that is opposed to bias of any kind and that it supports the

099dignity of every student other comments yeah i'd like to to say that i think the the breadth of comments that we're receiving from the community are really important to help influence the direction that this district goes in so i i would applaud all the parents for coming out and speaking i think where what i've heard and i know some of the conversation has been you know talk to your school board members and i would encourage you to do that i've heard a lot of stories from a lot of parents that are struggling with their children in the district and our job is to be their advocates and so if you have concerns or you have situations that need to be addressed go through those proper channels but i would i would state that i really

100do feel like the continued suspension and then ultimately revoking this policy is necessary to make sure that we're doing for our students what the problems dictate the where the problems lie is where we need to focus and we we do have existing policies that we need to make sure are being implemented in a way that supports our students in every way possible other comments i would reiterate miss pat's comments and fortunately we did there was a vote a few weeks ago about revoking the policy that did not pass so we are left at a point right now where we need to continue to suspend until we can figure out a path forward from here or or not suspend so but i would support support suspending the policy until we figure out the path we have

101a motion on the table to uh to continue the suspension any more comments roll call please ricky no michael house yes cecilia hulk no dennis redder yes yes michelle yes randy birch no yes motion approved next is item e employment commitments is the recommendation of the administration the board of school directors approved the superintendent superintendent to make employment commitments to qualified professional applicants for the purpose of filling vacancies that occur after the june 21st 2021 school board meeting with actions to be ratified by the board of school directors at the next official board meeting do i have a motion so moved motion is there a second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item e hearing none roll call please ricky yes yes dennis yes joshua yes michelle batts yes yes so approved

102next is item f administration and act 93 compensation is the recommendation of the board of school directors is a record administration that the board of school directors approved the administration act 93 salary compensation for the 2021-22 school year which includes an increase not to exceed four percent do we have a motion motions are second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item f hearing none roll call please ricky cecilia yes dennis yes joshua yes michelle yes randy burt yes yes michael hatch yes yes so approved next is item g support staff compensation is the recommendation administration that the board of school directors approved the support staff salary increase for the 2021 2022 school year which includes salary increases the average all across support staff not to exceed 3.5 percent do we have a

103motion so moved motions are second second notion of second any comments or questions regarding item g hearing on roll call please ricky yes joshua yes michelle batts yes randy burch yes yes yes cecilia yes present next is item h behavioral intervention interventionist agreement it is the recommendation administration that the board of school directors approved the agreement to pay 50 percent of the compensation for a behavioral interventionist for the 2021 22 and 2022 to 23 school years to brandywine heights school district at a rate consistent with the brandywine high school district collective bargaining agreement the cost will be paid with esser iii funds to have a motion motion is there a second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item h hearing on roll call please ricky yes michelle bass yes randy burch yes

104darian yes michael house cecilia yes demonstrator yes yes so approved next is item i the ksd health and safety plan it is the recommendation that the board of school directors approved the updated kutztown area school district health and safety plan for the attached to have a motion so moved motions are second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item i hearing none roll call please ricky michelle yes randy birch yes yes michael hess yes yes dennis ritter yes charles shirt yes yes so approved next is item a the math 180 coaching agreement it is the recommendation administration of the board of school directors approved math solutions online coaching membership for math 180 with hofton mifflin harcourt at a cost of four thousand two hundred dollars do we have a motion second motion a

105second any comments or questions regarding item j hearing none roll call please ricky randy birch yes yes mike yes cecilia yes dennis ritter yes charles sure yes michelle bats yes yes so approved next is item k achieve 3000 contract it is a is the recommendation administration the board of school directors approve the annual contract with achieve 3000 and it's actively learn ela plan at 1 730 do we have a motion motion is there a second second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item k hearing on roll call please ricky yes yes yes so approved next is item l the crowd strike agreement it is the recommendation administration that the board of school directors approved crowdstrike as a cyber security program at a cost of twelve thousand dollar twelve thousand seven dollars and fifty

106five cents per the attached do we have a motion so moved motions are a second second motion second any comments or questions regarding item l i just have one uh comment so i we proved quite a bit around i.t and i'm not an i.t person so is there like a comprehensive look at what all of the different systems are that we use just for for base knowledge i endpoint this is the devices you know i read all of the background but um just to like have a comprehensive picture of what the i.t structure is okay thank you any other questions hearing on roll call please ricky michael hass yes cecilia yes dennis roder yes joshua yes michelle batts yes randy birch yes yes yes so approved next is item m google workplace for education plus

107agreement is the recommendation of the administration that the board of school directors approved google workplace for education plus as a google domain management cost system at a cost of seven thousand two hundred fifty dollars per the attached we have a motion so moved motion motions are second second a second any comments or questions regarding item m hearing none roll call please ricky yes yes joshua yes michelle bass yes randy burch yes yes yes yes so approved next is item n always safe sidewalks it is the recommendation of the facilities committee that the board of school directors approved the agreement with always safe sidewalks to repair sidewalks at a cost of 7 855. per the attached to have a motion so a second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item n hearing none roll

108call please ricky yes yes michelle yes randy birch yes yes michael house yes cecilia yes yes so approved next is item oh school operations service group incorporated agreement is the recommendation administration that the board of school directors approved the agreement with school operations service group incorporated for the attached emotion motions are second second question a second any comments or questions regarding item oh hearing none roll call please ricky yes michelle randy birch yes yes yes yes yes so approved next is item p the donation to the kutztown fire company it is the recommendation administration at the board of school directors approve a donation of 250 dollars to kutztown fire company in appreciation of their donation of time and equipment to the kutztown area school district do i have a motion so moved motions are second

109second motion a second any comments or questions regarding item p just a heartfelt thanks to the fire company for all they do for the district thank you and does this go into some kind of equipment fund or how does it do we know or should we designate it that way i didn't remember we we don't designate to them with a donation um what they use the donation for okay i'm not sure if that we could ask but we don't really have any all right so they can use it as they wish yeah for providing their services to us the other comments or questions hearing none roll call please ricky michelle yes randy burch yes yes michael has yes yes yes joshua yes yes so approved next is item q employee assistance program is the recommendation

110of the administration that the board of school directors approved the agreement with inroads at family guidance center to provide employee assistance program services for a term of one year beginning july 1st 2021 at a cost of 25 2216.25 we have a motion the motion in a second i believe any other comments or questions regarding item q hearing none roll call please ricky randy yes yes yes cecilia yes demonstrator yes joshua yes michelle batts yes yes so approved next is item r introduction of new business by board members ready for one from the board that would like to bring something forward mr president i have something [Music] i wish to make the following motion and i have given a copy of it to ricky so that she can read it back uh as people may need

111to hear it again that the administration placed a revised version of policy 832 which has been developed on the board's july 19 meeting agenda for discussion and possible first reading approval at that meeting or subsequent meeting of this board as a replacement for the currently suspended policy 832 and that copies of it be made available at that meeting to the public that's my motion and i will speak to it if someone is willing to second we have a motion from dr ritter is there a second second motion a second dr ritter you had some more you wanted to say i agree with those who spoke tonight and who spoke two weeks ago that we need to be doing something to move the discussion forward i have reviewed policy 832 multiple times and have worked on

112revisions of some fairly substantial ones one of which includes the development of a um 15-member committee of this that would report to this board and ultimately to the people of our district on an annual basis regarding our work in making our ensuring that our district continues to be providing an education that is um equitable to all students and that we have a condition in our district um as i hope we do have that continues to be um supportive of education uh so uh it's my hope that this may become a means through either some amendments perhaps along the way um as a path forward for us as a district i believe overall in the policy of a policy 832 as a good policy one that serves broadening our scope of equity in terms of our

113student population and as our diversity grows i think there will become a time where we will appreciate the fact that we have taken this action now and so it's my hope that uh we will be able to have a good discussion on the 19th of july and uh that this board will agree to uh move that along so that that um revised version can be considered at that time and perhaps moved even towards a first reading thank you dr ritter any comments or questions from board members i i just like to say if folks can hear me uh you can't help me i've looked through this policy many times i see absolutely no reference to critical race theory i see no reference to george floyd i see no reference to white privilege i do however

114understand the concerns of some folks that perhaps that's what this policy is leading to there are some to my mind gratuitous statements add nothing to the actual implementation or operation of the policy but i can see why that may make people think there's a hidden agenda behind this policy and so when if if this motion passes and we discuss a revision i would suggest striking some of them i would also like to offer to the people out there my ear if there is something in the policy some words in the policy as the one gentleman earlier expressed that they have some difficulty with i'd be more than happy to hear them discuss it with them via email not something in a public meeting but a darien at kscasd.org i will entertain and listen to those

115statements i will respond i may argue with you and may not agree with you certainly we'll listen to them and those pro people that have a concern of merit i will bring it up at the following school board meeting other other board member comments would just like to thank dr ritter for his efforts and taking a look at the policy and offering a reworked version of it um i i remain convinced the the the best way forward is a clean break from the past and to really take a you know form a a broad-based committee of community members families educators um and you know take a look at the first instance the need for the policy you know what the policy should look like if it if at all i think that's best done um

116with really you know unbridled by any kind of existing policy um so i i agree that you know i think that it makes sense to form a committee i think it should be done [Music] outside of the um umbrella of an existing policy in place though i guess is my my concern are there comments yes i'd like to echo the sentiments thank you dr ritter for taking the time and effort to to rewrite the policy um and while i can see the changes that you've made i i agree with mr sure that the clean break seems necessary um there there is there are clearly issues in our district as i mentioned before in my comments i have a lot of parents coming to me with concerns that they have for their children i'm hearing things

117that are happening in the classroom that i find really unacceptable and until we can manage the issues that we have i don't feel like we need another policy to to make things um better for our existing student population do we need to address concerns about you know what's going on in our society absolutely we have to have conversations with our children part of that has to happen in the home that's our that is our responsibility to educate our children however we also need to make sure that they can go out into the world and be productive citizens in our society i think a lot of us in this room are graduates of kutztown i see some very familiar faces so i think that in general we've all been successful in navigating the world and we

118want to continue to make sure that our children can do that as graduates of this district um so i while i do appreciate the effort that was made on the policy um i just i feel very strongly that revoking it and starting with a clean slate is our best path forward other comments i would just question us putting it on the agenda for the very next board meeting that gives it less than a month to vet and allow the public to have time to review perhaps this should be going through committee level if we're going to talk about redoing a policy so i'm not sure the proposed procedure it would be the appropriate way to go with this might i would agree with you normally but we're going to be without a policy and curriculum

119committee meeting at the at the way the schedule is now um on we will not have a meeting until the second monday of august and i don't think it's a healthy thing for our district to continue to go forward with the indication that nothing is being done so my hope would be that at least at the 19th meeting we haven't we begin our discussion um if there are some major issues as we look at the revision we can always move it to the policy and curriculum committee for some fine-tuning and have it come back to us if july were a normal month where we would be meeting with policy and curriculum that would have been my alternative at this point and if we do take any vote on that policy that night it would only

120be a first reading and can always have under undergo some changes so that's my response to that concern thank you dr ritter i i would just also echo some of the other comments around being able to to to start over um again i certainly appreciate the the work dr ritter you did on the um policy it does have some meaningful changes yet it still has the still has the persona of the policy number 832 that i don't think we can get away from but uh i appreciate the work you've done uh but i do believe the best thing we can do is is revoke and start over clean slate although your motion is to just simply have it on the on the agenda to be discussed in in july and we are at an impasse

121as a board we just continue to suspend and there's only one vote that would change it from it being re-implemented board members to realize that the the margin is that close so uh ask everyone to consider what uh dr ritter is asking for july again i think best move is to is to revoke but we are at an impasse any other comments maybe you could read the motion one more time ricky before we vote that the administration placed a revised version of policy 832 which has been developed on the board's july 19 meeting agenda for discussion and possible first reading approval at that meeting or subsequent meeting of this board as a replacement for the currently suspended policy 832 and that copies of it being made available at that meeting to the public any other

122comments hearing none roll call please ricky yes michael house yes cecilia yes dennis yes joshua no michelle batts no randy birch yes no motion carries anyone else that has any new business this evening mr president i would like to to address the board um and understand the option for creating a motion that would revoke policy 832 um we as a board have the responsibility to um identify the next steps and that that can happen outside of a policy because clearly we've got this association with the the terms and the emotion that's associated with this topic so for that reason i would like to make a motion that we revoke policy 832. point of order mr president yes mr darian i believe that the emotion itself is out of order since it's been made and voted

123on it would need someone who voted in the uh uh other way uh in the positive to uh in the negative to uh make that motion i understand i amend the motion make another motion no so so modify the initial motion because i did mistake it should be so it should be that we put on to consider revoking the policy 832 on the next agenda but that's the motion that failed in a vote i do not believe under most parliamentary procedures that uh you can just keep bringing up such a motion again and again we would need someone miss bats who voted yeah that voted on the other side okay to to make the most of that motion thank you for correcting me in order for it to be considered any other board members new

124business just so clear point of order people understand in order for a motion to be re-considered the person that voted opposite of the approval it must bring it up again for it to be considered per procedure any other new business from board members hearing none we will move to item eight informational items everyone has the condensed board summary report in the cafeteria report uh item nine is upcoming public meetings the meeting for june 28th is now not needed based on the fact that the the final budget was adopted this evening the next full board meeting will be on july 19th school board meeting 7 30 p.m here in the middle school commons as well as via zoom we do plan on august 2nd having our next school board meeting being in the high school library

125so that is that is the current plan with that looking for a motion to adjourn second all in favor say aye any opposed media