The meeting began with the normal Call to Order, Agenda Review where Allison requested a moment of silence for 9/11, and Flag Salute. There was a moment of silence for remembering the 24th anniversary of 9/11.
The first Community Comments portion of the meeting included one community member requesting a committee be formed to create “rules of engagement and code of conduct” for how school board meetings should operate and then went on to criticize members of the school board for their comments at a prior meeting. Another community member spoke regarding the book read at the prior meeting, “This Book Is Gay,” complaining that those in the audience had not given consent that portions be read to them and then indicated that kids should not get their information from pornography. An MTSD substitute teacher and 2021 MTSD graduate complained about a missing “LGBTQIA” flag from the flagpole (assumingly due to the adopted flag pole policy that led to the BLM flag’s removal as MHS has not ever flown an “LGBTQIA” flag). Finally, a community member and parent of a student also spoke to the lack of consent in having to hear the portion of the book, “This Book Is Gay,” read during the prior board meeting and her concerns with any process in deciding what is and is not appropriate on the school’s bookshelves.
The Consent Agenda included the approval of a warrant, approval of a transfer of some type, contracts, and minutes from a Facilities Committee and Regular Board meetings.
The Reports to the Board portion of the meeting included:
– Superintendent Report: Highlighted appreciation to the board and her designees while gone, having taken vacation last week, while on a seven-day hike in the Andes, Peru. Otherwise talked about trip in relation to teaching.
– Operations Report:
o Reminder that there is a free community dinner during the Student Activities Fair on Thursday September 18th from 5:30 to 7:30 for everyone in the community. You don’t need to be a school member or parent to participate.
o There was a leak from the new roof that required some new ceiling tiles. The roofing contractor made corrections last Friday. Some smaller leaks occurred on Monday and the roofing factory inspector came. Some of the small leaks occurred because of the inspector’s actual process in inspecting the roof with his roof hook trying to pull up the roofing during testing and punctured the roofing that wasn’t subsequently fixed. Additional corrections and review are being made. Roof is 160,000 sq/ft and found seven leaks. Not bad considering they appear to be due to the inspection process itself.
o Have received questions regarding food waste due to requirements that kids take all food in line even if they don’t want it. Basically, if MTSD is to be Federally reimbursed for the food program, the children must take it all, but if they don’t eat it they can put on the share table. If we didn’t serve all the required food items, MTSD would have to pay for it entirely.
– Employee of the Month: The first winners in the category of grounds and maintenance (?) were Lonnie Terry (MES), Pam Ballard (MMS), and Tyler Flynn (MHS). Next category for employee of the month is special educators.
The Presentations portion included no presentations.
The Discussion portion of the meeting included final discussion of action items:
– Activities Fair – Discussed
– Zoom Attendees – Discussed how to list in minutes because there are both Zoom and in-person participants. Discussed with attorneys that only requirement is to list those who participate, but can list more. Desire to be consistent.
– Boston Trip Discussion occurred for preapproval for fundraising.
– Online French Discussion related to an unbudgeted expense. Cost is $13,000 for 40 licenses for the semester which will be absorbed by not having a teacher.
The second Community Comments portion of the meeting included a comment from a member of “Outreach Vermont” regarding C28 Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students policy. Another comment from a parent and district employee was in support of LGBTQ students. The MHS Librarian made a statement in support of transgender and nonconforming students. A community member made a comment in support of the Board Conduct policy and thanking putting together having the teachers coming in to provide their testimonials during the prior meeting. Two community members spoke again after the first community comment period, this time about a board-member’s concern with hiding information from parents relating to their child, due to concerns for some children’s safety. The MTSD substitute teacher and 2021 MTSD graduate spoke again after the first comment period in relation to the Online French discussion. One community member spoke again after the first community comment period speaking to their concerns regarding transgender people including a desire to protect them from their families. Finally, a community member spoke to board members being harassed and berated for speaking their opinions regarding library materials and found it hypocritical that the school filters the school computers, but not the library materials. He requested a “No” vote on the board conduct policy or that voters hold those voting “Yes” accountable in March.
The Action Items portion of the meeting included policy approvals of:
– B1 Substitute Teachers (Required), B8 Electronic Communications (Required), C1 Student Records (Required), C5 Firearms (Required). All passed by the entire board.
– C28 Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students (Recommended). Passed by 3-2, with Allison and Scott voting no.
– A43 Board Conduct (MTSD Only). Passed by 3-2, with Allison and Scott voting no.
– Boston Trip pre-approval to fundraise passed
– Purchase of French licenses for $13,000 passed
The Board Comments portion of the meeting included only a statement from Allison Duquette where she stated regarding the assassination of Charlie Kirk:
Yesterday a young man was taken from his family. He was stolen from the children that he will never see grow up and who will only have vague memories of their father. I wanted to bring this up because Charlie Kirk was such a prominent voice in students’ lives. I guarantee any student at this school who has TikTok on their phones or otherwise knows who Charlie Kirk is. Turning Point USA has been around most of their lives. I think more students are going to be affected by his death than we realize. Maybe the colleges they matriculate to have a Turning Point chapter. If they decided to watch any of his videos, they would have seen a guy who very graciously, politely, and calmly talked to all different kinds of people from all walks of life. If they were willing to talk to him in good faith, he was willing to engage. He exemplified what it meant to bridge the gap. I think those who say otherwise have never actually taken the time to watch him do what he did best; talk with people. He wasn’t a politician. He wasn’t rude or insulting. He wasn’t violent. He was just a guy who liked to talk to people, and you could tell, especially with those who disagreed with him. I saw a social media post that spoke about it quite well. It said that he did all the things we want and teach our kids to do. We teach them to stand up for their beliefs and be passionate. We teach them to speak the truth and treat others with respect. By all accounts, from those that knew him, Charlie Kirk embodied all of that and for that he was called a fascist, a NAZI, and a bigot among other things. The demonization and name calling, the type of rhetoric that led to the tragedy of yesterday, has to stop. This country is careening down a road that will be very hard to walk back from. On this day, the anniversary of 9/11, I am asking us all to take a deep breath, look in the mirror, and let’s walk a different path towards understanding and unity as Americans.
An Executive Session concluded the night regarding Labor Relations.