Okay, you ready? Okay, good evening everybody. We are on a bit of a time schedule since um some of our board meetings have uh prior engagements this evening. Um we did have to move this meeting from the original schedule that was supposed to be next week um due
to our superintendent going out of the country for a much needed vacation. So, um because of that fact, we do have to get moving along with this meeting so our board members can to attend their personal business this evening. Welcome to the Kinnelon Board of
Education public meeting for July 14th, 2026. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right of public bodies to have advanced notice of and to attend meetings of which any business affecting their
interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provision of the act, the Kinnelon Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be published in the Suburban Trends on June 28th, 2026, posted in the Kinnelon Public Library,
filed with the Borough Clerk, and posted on the district website. Ms. Lawlor, will you please poll the board? >> Yes. Mrs. Geiser? >> Here. >> Mrs. Leonard? >> Here. >> Mr. Myers? >> Here. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Here. >> Mrs. Perella? >> Here. >> Mrs. Donaldson? >> Here. >> Thank you.
There's no closed session needed at this moment. Will you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Routine matters, we have approval of the minutes for June 9th regular meeting, June 9th executive session, the June 23rd meeting, and the June 23rd executive session. Session, may I have a motion to approve? >> Motion. >> Second.
>> Any discussion on the meetings? Minutes, sorry. No? Okay. Um Could you poll the board, please? >> Yes. Mrs. Geiser? >> Here. >> Mrs. Leonard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Myers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Perella? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Donaldson?
>> Yes. >> Thank you. No student representative at this time, and have the superintendent's update, Mr. Mango. >> Okay, thank you, Mrs. President. Welcome, everybody. So, as we do with all of our public meetings, I just have a brief for anybody who's here for a first time or maybe even a second time in a long time,
just update on district items because outside of the reason why most people are here tonight, we actually have a lot of business that takes place during the summer. So, if I could, I have to start with the revision of Cisco, Kiel, and Stony Brook start and end times for next school
year. I'll start by apologizing to our parents of our K-5 students and our staff. Um what we found during the collapsing of routes was that we were able to change the times also with Stony and Kiel. Everybody was on board. Unfortunately,
um our bussing partial is outsourced. So, those bids came in at $900,000 over. And uh we also share routes tier routes with Boonton Township next door K-8, which I still
don't quite understand because they have nothing to do with our district. So, um next year, after the board assuming the board approves the start times and end times tonight, we'll go back to the regular times, which have historically always been. But, I do give you my word that uh one of the draft goals, and it's
the next bullet item for 2026-2027 BOE and draft goals that I um I shared with the board last week is for a complete analysis of transportation. I mean, we do have 954 passenger buses, 624 passenger buses. With the new start and
end times at 7:45 to 2:40 with PRM in the in the high school, we have more than enough transportation if we add just a few if we wanted to be committed and hire a driver or two. Now, we're not beholden any longer to these price-gouging uh companies, and we don't have to listen
to Boonton. So again, I apologize for that change, but I give you my word I'll be looking into it should the board approve that. Uh further draft goals are also just moving forward in job descriptions, policy revision, just good standard practice and then of course there's a
slew of academics. So next month they will be up on the agenda for approval. Also, we discussed, which will be on the September agenda for approval, is the 27 28 28 29 school calendars. Um I am not on social media, but obviously social media finds me. I know
that we do have some folks who aren't, you know, big fans of the August start date, but I do have to remind you that during the last collective bargaining agreement between the board and the union, the KEA, Mr. Sutfin, Mr. Stroud, Doc Racine, if you know them here in the crowd, you'll know who they
are. Um we agreed to not only adding the time at PRM, which would allow us to consolidate and cut routes and start and end times for PRM in the high school, but then we also agreed to an August start date, no earlier than August 24th.
Now, staff is required to report 2 days before students. So I'll let you know now as far as planning, because that's the biggest thing that I listened to or I heard, um should the board approve it in September, you have ample time to plan your trips.
All right, it's 2 years in advance. And the one thing that I have heard as far as our ESY program is that if we're going to end soon in in June, early in June, would we be able to move up ESY the start and end time, which I I think is is feasible for those families. So
again, more to come, but I just want to put folks on notice just with that history because that's not going to that won't go backwards. That is an approved CBA with the union, it benefits the district and that's I know some folks aren't popular with it, but that's the that's the direction we're going.
Um Stony Brook School. And no, I didn't put a hose on the roof. I know that there might be some stuff out there because we've talked about Stony Brook School so much. We had some leaks in some of the rain storms. We had to do our due diligence as you could see from up top. We had mold tests rooms
314, 107, 103 and the exterior. No mold was found, thank god. But, we are awaiting results for the nurse's bathroom. So, you remember 2 years ago when we had that mold infestation there and uh we cut it real close, but that's my goal is that we don't anymore. Uh we're going to
fix those or patch up where the new roof and the old roof meet, but once again, it's a lot easier it sounds easier than it actually is once it's in play, especially with a facility of that size and flat roofs. Flat roofs are much more uh difficult to manage than a killed roof,
believe it or not. Citizens Advisory Committee returns on August 19th at 6:30 in this room. So, a communication will come out from my office to the existing Citizens Advisory Committee members. Anybody who's interested, all you have to do is email me and we'll put you on the list and you don't have to I promise you you don't
have to come to every meeting in person or virtual, which we do both. Uh you could just get the agenda and look at it and if you have a question, you could always email. Uh but there is some good topic items that are that fly through CAC and then also some good ideas that the board listens to when we move forward in the form of district or board
goals. So, you can do that. And then obviously, the elephant in the room, policy 9125. I want to start by saying this. Just to be clear, myself and the board did not intentionally
want to offend anyone with the original draft. That's not who we are and for the people in the room that know us, I think you know that. Not who we are. The public comment section, we listened in June 9th, that's part of good governing. We heard,
we processed, and we revised accordingly. So, I hope for folks, if you actually do a comparative, you'll see the difference. There are no lightning rod words, verbage, semantics, or anything. But, at the end of the day, understand this.
Parents need to parent, starting with me. And I am the leader. And I don't, you know, apologize for that. Everybody has the right to parent the way they wish. Parents need to parent. Okay?
We need to move things forward. It's not an I got you at all, in any form of the sense. And so, I would hope for our non-residents that are here, I'll start with you first. I don't know who you are, but if you're here, you're welcome for now, as a citizen.
Please, respect our school. We're in school, and that's how I'm going to run this meeting. For our residents, regardless of where you stand, just remember, the sun's going to come up tomorrow. You're going to see each other, you're going to bump into each other. Please refrain from saying things that
might be negative during public comment. Okay? And I don't mean to talk to the adults as children, but I just want you to remember, we are in school, our children are here, so let's just do the right thing. Everybody can have an opinion. We will have public comment. The first section
is 30 minutes. We will revise from 3 minutes per public comment to two. So, if you have a speech, I'd recommend now that you look at it and review it. Non-residents will have the opportunity to speak in the second public comment. We want to hear from our residents,
parents, taxpayers in the town. Okay? So, those are the rules during public comment on agenda items. So, I leave you with that. Everything has been revised. You've had ample time. You've had 100 hours to look
at it, to review it. But again, our intent was not to offend anybody. If we have, we apologize. No different than the term Nazi being sped in my direction. I would hope the same. So, more district business.
Regular business of the district. District-wide updates on projects. Starting with the high school, you could see we're on their way. Culinary arts, the bathrooms at the calf, the art room relocation. Phase two of this very room and the auditorium. This will be held with the
vendors until an October start date. Paving, cafe outside, we're waiting on our architects. More to come. The cafe C units are installed and ready to roll. Gym floor resurfacing and instant ID swipes for the bathrooms. So, once again, if you're here as a parent and
you have a high school student like I do and many of us on the board do, they would that's another reason why, outside of when they leave high school and they leave the nest and they're in the world, you need ID. So, starting in August, they'll need their ID to swipe into the bathroom
to utilize the bathroom. So, um you could have that conversation now. I'm sure Mrs. Allaway will put that out there publicly next month. Uh PRM, we have our paving, we have our gym floor and the first floor AC units are in. We're waiting on the electric, um but they'll be good to go, I promise, for
the start of school. Kiel Cissna we have paving, we have the emergency boiler replacement progressing in the Cissna building. And then Stony Brook has the gym floor and now again with those leaks, we have to we're continuing to look into that. So, that's quite a bit. I know folks sometimes
don't think, you know, school districts, you're working and moving in the summer, but this board and my office and our team, we work. We always have, as long as we've been together collectively for four years. So, uh that's what we have. This will all be sent out to our community with the BOE highlights tomorrow, so you don't have to worry
about, "Hey, where can I find it? Where can I see you can go to the website and if you are online with us an email as a parent, you'll receive the information to follow. So now I'm going to sit down and Mr. Shivers who is our director of special projects and transportation will
be reporting out on the second half SSDS report. It'll be brief and then the board will take over and we'll have our public comment. Mr. Shivers, come on up. >> Good evening everybody. Thank you for the applause. Was not expecting it at all.
Uh twice a year we're required by the law to report on our school safety data systems. Basically it's the more egregious incidents that occur throughout the district. Uh the violence, vandalism, substance and more recently they added HIV both founded and
unfounded to this report. Um it's to make sure that everybody in the community is aware of what's going on and all the data is accurate before we submit it to the state. Um there's two reporting periods and I always like to compare first period which is the first half of the year up through December 31st depending on when
we start. Says September 1 here. Next year it'll be obviously late August. Um and then again from January 1st through June 30th. So um this slide there's three parts. There's the top
top part, middle part, and bottom part. The top part is the first half of the school year from September 1 through December 31st. For and uh second part is the middle. That is from December 3rd I'm sorry, January 1 through June 30th. And then at the end it's just a total of
the year. The reason I put it up here so you can compare first to second and you can see there are a lot of improvements. Uh you might not be able to see it cuz it's tiny. I get it. But it will be posted on the uh website for you tomorrow if you're interested in getting into the details of this report. but
there's been a lot of uh improvements as far as numbers getting less and less and less over time, which is what I wanted to see and I'm sure all of you want to see as well. The next slide is the really important one. This compares all of 24-25 to this past school year 25-26.
The green columns are 24-25 and the white columns are 25-26. So, if you go across the bottom first, that's the entire district as a whole. You can see the total incidents went from 23 to 18. Uh the violent incidents dropped from
four to one. The vandalism, we had two incidents, so it went up a little bit from zero to two. Uh substance remained the same, weapons remained the same, HIBs confirmed, which is always a hot topic, they dropped from 14 down to 10.
And then we have another column, which is other incidents. That is basically anytime a student gets put into suspension in school or out of school for uh actions that are not egregious. So, it might be a repeat offender or somebody roughhousing or if the administration felt it was necessary to
reset the environment, that type of stuff. And as as we saw with the other types of incidents, they too went down. So, overall, everything seems to be going in the right direction and that's what we want to see from year to year and the administration will be using
these reports to identify areas that they need to train students and staff to keep those numbers dropping to as little as possible. Does anybody have any questions? Okay, thank you for your time, everybody. >> Thank you, Mr. Shivers.
Okay, uh we have committee reports. We'll start with finance, facilities, and security. Mr. Pepe. >> Thanks, Jane. It's nice [clears throat] to see everybody tonight. Um I guess everybody's really excited for finance, facilities, and security. Um first and foremost, we
met a week ago, and we want to update you on some capital projects. Uh we are resurfacing the gym floor in the high school. That will be kicking off on the 20th. That was in budget. Um it's going to take about 2 weeks, and we don't expect that there to be any delays or any overruns. Um it's really going to
make our gym floor pop. Uh it's going to be excited to be an athlete uh here in Kinnelon. Um as far as other summer projects, uh there's 19 on the docket in the summer, so uh as you saw with Dave's slides, which a lot is going to echo what I say in finance, facilities, and security, uh
we're doing a lot of work. Uh the culinary arts room um has two pending change orders, uh but we're still going to be within budget, uh and we're still going to be uh on time to open that up before school starts, and um obviously, get excited about our first ever culinary arts
classes uh back in Kinnelon, which is what the students asked for. Um we are relocating and updating um some of our bathrooms, which I think is important. Uh we are changing a bunch of other small things um from a capital perspective, outdoor signage, cafeteria seating, um
AC, concrete work, and that's all at the high school. At PRM, much like Dave mentioned, uh I feel like he took my notes, >> Sorry. >> from me, that's okay, Dave. Um AC units, paving, gym floor resurfacing, um some changes in the main office, um but all in all, uh all of this capital work was
approved as part of our budget. We're doing it uh effectively uh and within budget, uh and kind of beautifying our schools to make them uh a safe place uh to learn, um and an exciting place to be. As Dave mentioned, uh in regards to other facilities, we've
tested the air quality uh in three rooms that had leaks uh in Stony Brook uh and there's currently no contamination or hazardous material therein. We also as a board are required to approve regular recurring or annual
service agreements. So we did agree with train to sign service agreements for tonight for our HVAC systems both in the school and on the roof. There was a couple unique things that we
needed to do from a governance perspective. We do have to do a fixed asset appraisal and that's required as part of our audit and that remediates one of our audit findings. It's been maybe eight to 10 years since we had it last. I don't think we're going to wait that long. We will build that into the
budget and do it on a regular recurring schedule. We did have to we will have to spend a little bit of time evaluating the property line of one of the schools. We're going to have to do a survey because there's some discussion around trees infringing on a property line. So before we do anything, we're going to
get the survey. As Dave mentioned, uh you know, and I think apologize for and I will also apologize for. When we got our transportation bids, they were 900k more than we expected. Um so we have to
basically vote today on the going back to the old start times for some of our elementary schools and I think it's an exciting goal for next year to try to tackle the cost of budget cost of busing. Lastly,
you know, we we started to roughly talk about the calendar, but that'll be in the education committee. That's all for me. Thank you, Jean. >> Thank you, Frank. Um personal negotiations did not meet because we didn't really have anything
going on right now. Um but we do didn't education and student activities did meet. Jonathan unfortunately had a work issue and could not make it. So Carl is going to brief for us. Thank you, Carl. >> Yep, yep. So, we did meet this week. So, the first topic we talked about some of our some of our
counseling hours, just increasing those so the counselors have more time more time and access to students. Bring that a little closer. We talked about junior and senior year privileges, just the ability for them to leave school for certain things. Um
junior year would be kind of limited to uh doctor's appointments, those kinds of things. If they have a driver's license and such. Um we also talked about we also reviewed the new gym design. I will agree with Frank that they looked pretty good. Um we looked we also talked about
the KHS home school athletic eligibility. So, this is more of a bookkeeping thing, but it's more to also better know who the home schooled students are in the district so we can better know them and more integrate them into the um the athletic programs that we have.
We also discussed some IXL um uh research overview things. Um we looked at the just the virtual plans if God forbid something like COVID were to happen again. Um we did look at some early drafts of the district goals and
of course the calendar drafts as well. Um so, yeah. Pretty much it. >> Thanks, Carl. Policy and governance, Kelly. >> Yes, so the policy committee met on July 8th. We talked about current hib. We talked about the K 12 parental resource
and toolkit guide. Um we talked about a revision to our home instruction policy. We talked about a revision to the home schooled athlete policy as as Carl had mentioned. And then we talked about some things that all the committees talked about, which was um a draft of the upcoming goals for
district and the BOE. Some things that are coming through legally and also the calendar drafts for the next year. Thank >> Thanks, Kelly. Okay, so New Jersey School Boards Association, Carl, did you have anything from there? >> No. Okay.
>> Morris County School Boards Association, did you have anything? >> No. >> Um Jonathan's not here. Morris County Education Service Committee, Kelly? >> They did have a brief meeting. Um they went over uh the election of the Board of Directors and who the new members
are. >> Uh Community Relations and KE Liaison did not meet. Okay, so now we're up to the um petition hearings of citizens for agenda items. Um just to reiterate what Mr. Mango
said, we're going to limit this part of the um public comments to residents, 2 minutes per resident, and we're going to cap it at 30 minutes because as I said, some of the board members have something that they have uh personal obligations that we have to meet tonight and we do want to get to
board business, which is um taking action and voting. So, at this time I will welcome people to come up and speak about agenda items only, please. Agenda items only, please, and um 2 minutes per and we'll start It's 19:23
and we will finish at 19:53. >> All right. Good evening, Board. Matthew DeBreno. Um I want to say good evening to the members of the board. This evening is simply not about whether or not we agree or disagree with the particular policy. It's about how the Board of Education should approach
difficult discussions when competing rights are involved, and that's what we have here. Clearly, the board has an incredibly important and delicate responsibility in shaping the policies for the Kinnelon School District. The decision before you is amongst the most significant you will make because it requires
balancing competing rights and determining whether either of those rights should be limited. When faced with a responsibility of magnitude, I believe the best decisions are made through a disciplined process one grounded in facts, careful reasoning, and the law while as hard as it may seem setting
aside our personal emotions as much as possible. And the first step is to clearly identify the competing interests. On one side the rights of parents to have a transparent and trustworthy relationship with their children's school. Every school day parents place their trust in the district by
entrusting you with the care, education, safety, and well-being of their children. That trust carries with it a reasonable expectation that parents will be informed of significant matters affecting their children and that communication between home and the school remain open, honest, and
transparent. And on the other side is the important interest of students in being able to seek guidance and support from trusted teachers, counselors, nurses, administrators regarding issues affecting their well-being. That interest deserves thoughtful consideration and respect as well.
But once we take those competing interests and identify them, the next question becomes how to balance them. Whenever government action affects competing rights, the objective should not be to elevate one right while unnecessarily diminishing another. Rather, the objective should be adopt
the policy that accomplishes this purpose while placing the least possible burden on fundamental rights. I respectfully submit that this principle provides a sound framework for you guys to evaluate the policy before you. As I read the proposed policy, it does not prohibit counseling. It does not
prevent students from speaking with trusted adults at schools. Are my 2 minutes up already? >> Yes. >> All right. >> Thank you very much for your comments. >> the tough decision you guys have tonight. >> Thank you. >> Good. >> Yes. >> My name is Richard DeBello, and I am a resident, and I have three children in
the school system. Good afternoon, Mr. Mango and members of the Board of Education. I am reading this to express my strong support for policy 9125, the parental bill of rights, which is now changed to K-12 family partnership,
transparency, and resource policy. After carefully reading the policy in its entirety, I believe it represents a thoughtful and balanced commitment to transparency, communication, and the partnership that should exist between parents and our schools.
At its core, this policy simply reinforces what many parents already believe, that they, we, have both the right and responsibility to actively be involved in their children's education, health, and overall well-being.
Following the last board meeting, I have seen and read a number of statements claiming that this policy somehow targets or harms members of the LGBTQ community or creates an unsafe environment for students. Respectfully, I do not believe
that characterization reflects what is actually written in the policy. Much of the language simply reaffirms rights and procedures that already exist under federal law, New Jersey law, and current district policies. The policy
repeatedly states that it must be implemented consistent with all applicable state and federal laws and does not supersede those protections. Much of the public discussion has centered around Article 3, specifically parental notification regarding
significant changes involving a student's health or well-being. While I understand that people have deeply personal experiences and sincere concerns surrounding this issue, I believe the fundamental question is whether parents should be informed about
significant matters affecting their minor children. In my opinion and 99% of the people in this room, the answer to that question is yes. >> Okay, thank you, sir. >> As a parent, I am ultimately responsible for our children's upbringing, safety, medical decisions, and emotional
well-being. >> Rich. >> We are entrusted this school district for nearly 8 hours each day with the expectation that they will actually >> Okay, you got it. We we got it. Thank you. Yep. Yep, got it. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank thank you. Thank you, Rich. >> Everybody sees you. We appreciate you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Thank thank you, Rich. Um >> Thank you. We see you.
>> Hi, my name is Meredith McNerney Chen and I have two children in the Kinnelon public schools. I appreciate the recent revision of the parental bill of rights by the board. However, I still have concerns. Article 2.2, access to health and counseling records, states that
parents have the right to be informed of and review any student health record maintained by the school. This includes logs or history of any counseling or psychological services provided to the student. As a psychiatric nurse, I know the value of confidentiality and trust in the
formation of a therapeutic relationship. Children will not be forthcoming if they know their parents can access their records. Children in the US are facing a mental health crisis. The most The more trusted adults they can talk to, the better. But the trust needs to be established and
maintained. I ask the board revise the wording of article 2.2. Thank you. >> [applause] [cheering] >> Carrie Weibel. Um One, I want to thank the board for um looking at a policy again. I think that's important. I think you heard a lot of our views and I appreciate that.
Um I do want to talk about a few things. Um when my son was in eighth grade, uh he was chased up and down PRM hallways because he was gay. In ninth grade, a person posted the f a g g o t word
on Snapchat. And then, people whose parents it was are supporting this. Annabelle was spit on because she voted when she was in fourth grade for Joe
Biden over and over again for weeks. A few week Can I finish? A few weeks ago, my daughter was sent a text message about from 20 kids at the high school with a poll, which I didn't know you
could do in message, who's worse, Jews or the n word. You don't have a run on transgender children. They're not taking over the school. You have a bullying problem. And this is a distraction.
Out of 29 rights that you put in that parental rights, 25% of them deal with political views right now that are going on in the nation. There are over 100 parental rights. You
didn't include more than 75 of them. So, I don't think this is about parents' rights. I don't think this is about transparency. This is about issuing a public agenda in a non-political governmental place.
And it's wrong, and you need to continue to revise it before you vote. >> I Jen Portman, 30 Highlands Drive. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or bridging the freedom of speech or of the
press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. First Amendment of the US Constitution. We are all blessed to have this First Amendment. It's what allows us to gather tonight peaceably and
express our words with the expectation that government will not infringe upon our religious views. Words are interesting. What one person might describe as gender-affirming care, another calls it genital mutilation.
What one person calls assisted suicide, another calls it compassionate end of life. What one could categorize the COVID vaccination as medical advancement, another identifies it as a path to destroy health and against their own
religion. People might be uncomfortable, perplexed, even angry about how someone expresses their views, but they have a right to their views. And parents are tasked with the role of
teaching their values to their children and safeguarding their children. Schools, public schools, instead have the task of educating students with academic skills. The school certainly cannot choose to keep some things secret and others
celebrated, some values shunned and others promoted. Policy 9125 provides guidelines to parents all in one place for all parents on how to engage the school to safeguard their child. And while I think the second reading
version might be softened a little too much in some areas, particularly Article 1.2, where they remove the major course topics and assignments, and in Article 3.3 by not providing
examples. So, I appreciate all your work and I ask you to to pass the policy so everyone can move on. Thank you, Jim. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Jessica Romola, Kinnelon resident. The P9125 revisions to language,
structure, tone, and title show the board listened to parents' concerns and I appreciate that. Like all parents here, there is nothing more important to me than the health and safety of my child. I too want transparency around what he learns.
I am grateful that laws and policies already exist to afford parents crucial rights within Kinnelon schools. Yet, have we been so focused individually on what is best for our children that we have lost sight of what is best for the student community as a whole?
Many children have supportive, loving parents, but some children live in abusive households. Others fear being kicked out of their homes, cut off from their family after sharing intimate parts of themselves. Just because that isn't your child's reality doesn't mean it doesn't
happen in our community. Even children with amazing family relationships can reach a point in adolescence where they simply feel uncomfortable coming to their parents with big news before having the opportunity to process it elsewhere first. Where this policy falls short is a lack
of active guardrails to ensure all students have clearly identified avenues for safely disclosing sensitive information to trusted adults. This was a concern raised by parents in June that the board admitted is important. Not so that the school can keep secrets from parents about their
own children, but so that if a student needs help figuring out how to communicate something big to their parents safely, they have a pathway to do so. While many things were removed during the revisions, very little was added to reassure the community that the changes made will lead to substantive
differences in implementation. Did the actual policy change in practice or were the controversial buzzwords simply removed to pacify critics? These revisions are a start. Tonight, I respectfully urge the board to table the final vote until a version can be
established that empowers parents while still honoring the rights, safety, and well-being of all of our students. Thank you. >> Kim Zurquitz, 11 Hillside Road. For those of you who were not involved in the school system at the time, and it was only like 5 or 6 years ago, these
events happened in our school system. A trans activist was invited and paid for it to speak at a soar assembly at PRM. A promo- A promotional video called titled uh 10 Years on Testosterone was shown in social studies class without
parental knowledge or the ability to opt their child out. At KHS, a survey was sent to language arts freshmen asking about family income and gender views without parental awareness or consent. A threat of violence was misunderstood
to be targeted at our school. Our leadership at the time appeared unprepared and did not communicate with families in a forthright manner. Thousands of dollars was spent to bring Ken Shelton to KHS.
Ken Shelton promotes views that include SAT and claim class rank are racist. A bus driver was discovered to be endangering students and it was supposed to be their secret.
And then as the new and controvers- controversial health standards were being rolled out, there was practically no effort to engage with parents for input. Since then, many improvements have been made to increase transparency,
make school safety a priority, provide a clear understanding of how the money is being spent, and being allocated, to receive community feedback through citizen advisory committee. We have a brand new administration, we have a brand new superintendent, we have brand new board
members, we have a brand new attorney, and we have a brand new administrator. This is how we make sure all the students in our system don't have to go through those things again, because that was done without
parental knowledge, consent, and so you couldn't even your your child was just subject >> Okay, sorry. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Adam, and I'm a parent in this district. Despite the recently proposed wording changes,
policy 91.25 >> Sorry. Sorry, Adam. What's your last name? >> Edelhauser. >> Okay. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. >> Despite the recently worded changes, policy 91.25 is not merely a harmless opt-out. Parents may already review
curriculum and excuse their children from certain instruction. If this policy creates no meaningful new right, we must ask what purpose it serves. The policy's author introduced this initiative with a specific appeal to Genesis 1:27. It also explicitly follows
the strategy of Moms for Liberty, an organization with an openly political, conservative, and religious agenda. Do not take my word for it. Listen to theirs. Co-founder Tiffany Justice was direct. On Steve Bannon's War Room, she said, "We're going to take over the school
boards, but that's not enough." She then called for, quote, "conservative search firms" uh to select new educational leaders because incoming parents would, quote, want to set fire to everyone once they found out what they were up to. This is not simply one child leaving one
lesson. It is an incremental strategy for changing public education. A school cannot realistically operate two curricula, one based on professional standards and another repeatedly modified around ideological or religious objections. As objections multiply, teachers face
uncertainty, administrative burden, and professional risk. They will not create endless parallel lessons. They will avoid disputed material. That is how individual opt-outs become collective censorship. Each step appears modest.
Over time, comprehensive instruction becomes increasingly difficult and ultimately untenable. Every child receives a narrow curriculum. I am not claiming every board member supports every Moms for Liberty objective. I am saying this policy advances the same mechanism and their
leaders have told us where it is intended to lead. Public school policy every family, not become an entry point for national political or religious campaign. I urge the board to reject or significantly amend policy 9125. Thank you.
>> [applause] >> Hello, my name is Daniel Schwartz. I'm from Kinnelon. I have a second and fifth grader who love going to school in our town. I'm speaking up regarding policy number 9125. I appeal to you that this bill contributes no actual real substance which isn't already there to help the community, but instead includes provisions which intimidate teachers
from providing the best education they can provide. While the verbage is a bill about transparency, it's a thin veil attempt to referencing many of the policy points mentioned by Moms for Liberty, a political group. This bill will scare and intimidate younger families which may be thinking about moving to Kinnelon by showing
education is politically motivated. I believe Kinnelon is made up of grounded, smart citizens, not ones that make up extreme political factions. The inclusion of this bill, even as written, will impact property values, increase our tax bills with unnecessary litigation, which will take away from
the great community we have. Coltsneck, which recently passed passed the bill Parents' Bill of Rights, which was heavily influenced by Moms for Liberty as well, is currently facing many lawsuits eating up a lot of taxpayer money. I fear the same could occur in Kinnelon should we pass this policy.
Let's focus on United Kinnelon and making our education the best it can be. Let's keep politics out of education and stop this now. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Kerry Waldberger. I have a child in Kinnelon schools.
And uh I want to speak out against 9125 because it's the politics of this that concerns me. And these Bill of Rights and I realize that we changed the name of it, but it's still a Bill of Rights. They come from a place of partisan
um politics by those who want to engage in culture war. And I don't want to see that in this community and I don't think the parents here want to see that in this community. And if we look at the ledger of what happens if this passes, on the plus
side, it summarizes policy that already exists. That seems to be of limited value. On the negative side, you introduce politics into our educational system. I don't want politics in our educational system. So, what I would like to see the board
focusing on is maintaining the high-quality student-centered education that we have in this town. And not, whether intentional or not, set stage for potential uh for potential culture war.
Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hello, my name is Emily Monroe Wallberger. I'm a Kennelon resident and have a rising second grader at Kiel. I'm here to voice my opposition to the newly named policy 9125. I acknowledge and appreciate the board
has made changes to the previous version after hearing public comments in June. This shows a willingness of the board to listen to community members. On the surface, the bill seems innocent. Even the new name makes it sound harmless. Parents should be allowed to know about
the curriculum, opt out of programs, and in general be informed about what is going on with their child at school. However, these are already policies and the board has stated this document summarizes current policy.
Therefore, if this is truly a summative document, it is redundant and unnecessary. The board has not provided sufficient justification for the need of this new policy. As I said, on the surface, this seems reasonable. But this is where educating yourself on
the history of these parental bill of rights come in. These policies have come about from far-right groups who make claims about what is going on in public schools that are not based on facts. Moms for Liberty is a national group who's made it a goal to elect members to boards of education across the country
to promote parental rights. They've endorsed three recent board members, including two currently serving on the board, and this is where this policy has come from. >> Okay, I I I'm going to stop everybody right now. I'm I'm I want this No.
I would like this to be about agenda items and not about Moms for Liberty. >> I will move on. >> Please. Please refrain. We're Excuse me. Please stop. You are all making this political.
You are. You're bringing up Moms for Liberty. We have nothing to do with it and this is about They've endorsed candidates. >> you read the policy? All right. I'm just asking you to keep this about the policy and not bring in political entities that have nothing to
do with the policy. Please. That's all I'm asking. Please. I don't want to get into an argument about a an a group I have no any information about. I've had a lot of people have informed me about it. They've informed the sport at the last
two meetings. We have nothing to do with them. >> So, my concern >> That's You can infer what you want from it, and you're entitled to that that opinion, but this is about the policy before us. So, if you could just refrain from talk bringing in outside e- actors this group.
>> Okay. That is my concern. You can bring that And you want to come at the end of the meeting and bring that up, that's fine. You can come back up at the end. We I would like you to just focus on the policy itself. You brought up a good point. You're saying you think it's redundant and unnecessary. >> appreciate that. Okay.
>> the board So, can you please stay with that? >> I will I'm I will finish. Thank you. That's all I ask. I will finish. I urge the board to consider the need for this document. >> Okay. Thank you. >> is redundant. >> Okay. Thank you so much. I think that's a very good point. Thank you.
Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Paweł Nowicki. >> Shh. Excuse me. Shh. I can't hear him. He Everybody's had their time. Sorry, sir. Go ahead. What's your >> Uh I have two kids in the >> Please sit down. >> school system, and one coming to join soon.
Um I'd like to speak quickly about an experience. I was raised in communist Poland. And um back then uh we were indoctrinated about communism in schools uh and on TV non-stop. So, the only way our parents could reverse what we were
taught what were lies, obviously, was to teach us the opposite or correct all that uh indoctrination. So, I'm afraid if we don't review the material and the kids come to our school come home and
say something to the parents that the parents don't like, they will try to reverse it or correct it in the wrong way because we're not educators. So, maybe a review by parents of the material being taught before uh would be better than trying to reverse what we
don't like them being taught. Thank you. >> Sir, sorry. Sir, what was your name? Okay, thank you. >> Weinstein Kilaf Kilong. >> What's your name? >> Wayne. >> Wayne >> Stein, S T I N E. >> Thank you.
>> Kilaf. >> Thank you. >> First, I'm going to say happy 250th to our great nation. Can we get an applause for that? How about a standing ovation? 250th. On your feet, please. All right, we'll see what we got here. Thank you.
Uh continuing on. I'm getting to that. Thank you. I'd like to thank our first responders, who I see here today, our SROs who protect our children every single day during the school year here. They're way underrated. Great staff here.
Appreciate that. Thanks for police officers, first responders, SROs in this town. I want to thank our teachers for educating our kids. Special thanks to our school board up here today. Um especially for starting school in August. I love that. Mr. Mango touched
on that. I'm actually full disclosure, I'm jealous of his hair. But, uh trying to get some laughs here and not so good. Um but, I want to tell you something. Thanks for voting the way you do. We the people have your back. Once again, we the people have your
back. Do what you have to do. Don't be intimidated with the votes. President Ronald Reagan, April 15th, 1982, stated, "Our leaders must remember that
education doesn't begin with some isolated bureaucrat in Washington. >> Thank you. >> It doesn't begin with state or local officials. Education begins in the home, where is it a parental right and responsibility." I'm quoting a president
of the United States. I will not be cut off. May God bless America. May God bless the moms here in the room and in Liberty. Thank you so much. God bless America. >> Okay, that's that's it. We're we're done with comments. Thank you.
>> No, no, I'm sorry. >> parent, I trust our schools and our teachers. I do not need a policy specifically not >> Okay, that's it for public comment on the agenda items. Thank you all for bringing up some valid points. You are welcome to come at the end of
the meeting and share your thoughts with us when we open the meeting back. >> It is the responsibility of the sport to maintain a decorous public meeting. And when it gets to the point where it does not continue to do that way, then we end it. I'm sorry.
I think I think that we got the gist of what everybody's thinking and we have had a lot of opportunity for people to correspond with the board and to give us their feedback. And we have listened. I have engaged personally with people. I have engaged
via email. I have opened up my phone to have conversations with them. I've been very open-minded. Now, the board doesn't feel this is a redundant policy. We were trying to make this easy for folks to find all the policies that we thought were relevant
to them. It's not all of them. It's the ones we felt that were that were that they would need access to instead of searching through our policy library. And I think it serves that purpose. I could be wrong. We board could be wrong. And you know what? You can
interpret it any way. You are free to have your own opinion and to tell yourself a story about what you think it means. The board is telling you what we think it means and we represent the people that elected us. Okay? Now, that said, please sit down.
And that's what this that's what our country is about and we've opened it up. Now, what I would like to just share because I'm I'm sorry. Are you Do you Do you have Do you want to leave? I'm not I'm not going to have this You can talk to us at the end of the meeting during public comment when I reopen it.
Okay, then please be quiet or you can leave. I'm not I'm not I'm not having a back and forth. Uh can you Do you want to leave? Then please stop talking. >> Folks, we said at the onset 30 minutes. We're at 30 minutes. That's it.
>> Okay, so we had 27 emails from people since the last board meeting that were in favor of it and we had 11 that were not. So, just just I'm I'm just sharing as relates to this specific policy. I'm not reading them all because we have to
move on, but that's that's just sharing other comments that were made via the email email. Thank you all for coming up. Some people had very thought out comments and I appreciate it and I know that it's hard to speak in public and I really do appreciate you coming up.
Okay, so the board is going to move on with the rest of its business. Okay. I would So, we have agenda items A, B, C, and D. I'd like a motion for a block vote a roll roll call on a block vote for agenda items A, B, C, and D. Can I have
a motion? >> I motion. >> Second. >> Okay, discussion on these agenda items. Anybody have anything? I know we went over most of this stuff in committee and we've talked about it in our committee briefs. Is there anything anybody has specifically they want to bring to anyone's attention?
I'll just give you a second. We do see that our BA assistant, Ms. Lauren Haggett, is going to be resigning, which is a great loss for us. So, we wish Lauren well. Um she's moving on to other personal things, but we will miss her. So, thanks Lauren for all your hard work in our district.
Again, it was very distressing that we had to change the times for the start times for Stony Brook and Keel. We are really trying to get those kids home earlier. Um so, one of the big objectives of the board is to look at how we can do a better job with transportation and kind
of come up with a way maybe we can purchase our own buses. We're going to have to really look at that over the summer. We were really disappointed about that. I hate these little kids coming home after 4:00 p.m. Um so that was a real bummer. Um which is a real technical term by the
way, bummer. Anybody have any any other comments? No? Okay. Could you pull the board, please? >> Mrs. Geiser? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Leonard? >> Yes. >> Mr. Myers? >> Yes. >> Mr. Pepe? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Perella? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Donaldson? >> Yes.
>> Thank you. Okay. Um so we have committee of the whole, nothing for committee of the whole, right? No, okay. Unfinished business anybody? No? >> I have something. >> Okay. >> We're looking at August 12th. We could do another round robin of committee meetings if we want to secure that date.
I'm just throwing that out. >> Okay. >> Cuz the 19th is our public meeting. >> Yeah, um and we also wanted to do a tour of the facilities, so that would be new business. Um Caitlyn, if you could put that under new business, too. Um so if uh what I'll do is I'll poll all
of you and if you're interested, then we'll have to do it as a public meeting. If if it's just three people that can make it, then we don't have to do that. Are you >> Are you suggesting that August 12th will be the facilities tour as well? >> No, that would just be regular business. >> No, that'll just be the regular
committee meetings, but um is everybody interested in a tour of the facilities? Yeah? Okay. All right, so then we'll have to create a public meeting for that. So I will send an I'll send an email out for some dates and you guys let me know and maybe we could get the architect.
>> I I yeah, I could get that rolling. And then we could just we'll open like we did for our retreats or strategic plan and then we just go building to building. We'll have to coordinate also with Ralph, our buildings and grounds. >> Cuz one thing that um I really want to look at is widening the entrance to Kinnelon High School because coming in
with parking on both sides and access for emergency response is a real issue. And that's something that I wanted to take a look at when we're walking around. And just I want to do that too with all the buildings. I know Stonybrook's just really a problem when people are pulling in
there. But that that I don't think that can be changed. Okay, so new business will have facilities tour. Correspondence, um yeah, we we had a lot of emails from people and I'm sorry, but I'm just not going to read
them all, but um it was some of them were really thought out and a lot of the people that communicated with the board, I did those people that had constructive input to me, I responded to them directly and thanked them for their input. And I really appreciate the people that reached out with constructive input. So, thank you for
taking the time to do that. Okay, so now we're going to do petitions and hearings and citizens for whatever you want to come say to us. Um again, I'm going to limit it to 2 minutes and half an hour um because um I'm want to go see my family.
Um so, and Carl? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. >> I appreciate it. Louis Weibel. Do we have to do the address, right? >> No, I don't need your address. I know where you live. >> Okay. Um first I want to thank you, Mrs. Donaldson. You have been a tremendous
influence in cultivating me the last couple years, what would it be, six, eight years now? Um and we've disagreed a lot. You and I both know this, but every single time you have been willing
to explain and sit down with your reasoning and your thinking and you are truly an amazing leader. And I got to know you a lot more when we went actually for a school assignment in my UMass Amherst public health program, I had to sit down and interview you and it was a really awesome discussion and I
got to know a lot more of you. I got to see the more human side behind the Board of Education member, but that is one thing that I appreciate most is your transparency and ability to do that. But, I do want to be able to talk about
something that was brought up by somebody who had previously come up um and it's not about you because you've been really awesome and really transparent with all of this, but um Mrs. Perella, Mr. Myers who I believe stepped out and Mrs. Leonard. I know that we did just talk about Moms for Liberty
and this is now the non-agenda items and whatnot. Not debating what this cause is for or anything like that, but just to set the facts straight cuz I am public health, evidence-based research and whatnot. If you go on to the Moms for Liberty website in the web archives for the 2022
Board of Education wins, you Kinnelon was actually tied for first place with endorsed candidates saying that in Kinnelon Portman, Leonard, and Myers um were endorsed by y'all when went to the bathroom and whatnot, but
I think that if y'all were running on fundamentals, values, and transparency, we should be transparent and be able to say that you're at least endorsed by these people instead of hiding behind your table. And I would I would I totally open at least my a lot of time for y'all to
respond if you are willing to and if you do not want to respond at this time, please respond to me after the meeting. I'll be here. Yeah, no problem. >> I would like to respond to you because this is the second time it has been brought up and I know it was brought up in the last meeting. This is the first that I'm hearing that they endorsed me. They have not reached
out to me. They have not had a conversation with me. I have had nothing received via email, no conversations. I mean, anybody out there can say that they endorse me, but unless I'm in agreement with it and I partner up with
that, I don't think it's fair to say that I had anything to do with that. >> I appreciate your transparency. Thank you. Ms. Leonard. >> Um I have nothing to hide. My name is Dana Leonard. I have three sons. I grew up I was born in Kinnelon. I've lived here for 20 years with my
husband raising three children. When chaos uh was brought into the schools about five years ago, six years ago, I had to make the hard decision to do what was right for my sons and I removed my three children from this school system which I have continued to serve
on this board because at the time the superintendent, the director of curriculum, and the board went in a what I'll call a different direction. Not focused on academic excellence. This board, this education subcommittee that I've sat on for a few years, has focused
on academic excellence, objective and measurable outcomes and measures, metrics for students, all students. We have worked on facilities that were not tended to. We have worked on process and procedure, including these meetings,
highlighting academic excellence in students and achievements. Uh there there's the core values of the schools, sports, the arts. Okay, we needed to refocus on a lot of those things that made our school system great
years ago and to focus on things like the failing facilities. This board has worked so tirelessly on raising up students to meet goals, to prepare them
for beyond, and I think that's all being lost, but as far as I'm concerned, if a group endorsed me because I stand for rights as a parent that my values won't be undermined by a school system which brought in chaos, okay? It affected my children in a tremendous
way. They had to find a new school and that was my choice as a parent because at the time I could not get the information. I couldn't trust anymore. They lost the trust. >> Can you respond to the endorsement? Did you Were you aware of it though? That's the question. >> Totally aware.
>> Thank you. >> Richard DeBello. I'm back. I'm going to finish here. As parents, we are ultimately responsible for our children's upbringing, safety, medical decisions, and emotional well-being. We entrust our children to the school district for
nearly 8 hours each day with the expectation that they will receive an excellent education in a safe environment. Not with the expectation that important aspects of their lives will be intentionally withheld from us. Supporting parental involvement should
never be interpretated interpreted as opposing any particular group of students. I firmly believe and let me say this again, I firmly believe every student deserves to be treated with dignity, kindness, and respect regardless of their background or
identity. Protecting students and respecting families are not mutually exclusive goals. Schools can create I'll get to it. We'll get to it. Welcoming environments while also recognizing that parents remain the
primary decision-makers in their children's lives. I also believe that schools are educational institutions first and foremost. Their primary mission is to educate students while keeping parents informed and engaged. When schools begin assuming
responsibilities that traditionally belong to families, it risks undermining the trust that is essential to successful successful partnerships between parents and educators. This policy is about transparency, and I could tell you that half the people in this room didn't read it. It is about
communication. They didn't read it. It's about ensuring that parents have access to curriculum, student records, health information, and significant decisions affecting their children, our children. These principles should not be controversial. They should be the
standard. You are setting the standard up there, and we see you, every one of you. I appreciate the board's willingness to affirm the role of parents as partners in education and to strengthen transparency through the district. Thank you for your time and your service to our community. We see
you. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Alan Wright from the New Jersey Family Policy Center. I want to I've been to many school board meetings. This is the most efficient, well-run Alan Wright and organized school board committee I've ever seen. You guys are on point. Thank you for the work that
you're doing. And the fact is that parents are the primary educators of their children. Uh moms and dads nurture, protect, and guide their students and their children every day, and they deserve transparency. And again, the the parental bill of right policy does not create new rights. It
simply recognizes and organizes the rights parents already have under existing laws. So, we are here to address something much more basic, whether parents should be informed about the laws and policies that already exist. So, we thank you for doing that. Sadly, I think some voices will argue
that parents should not be notified of what the law actually says, and instead would remain to prefer I would prefer that parents remain misinformed or unaware of the rights they currently have. With many school boards, members like you are afraid to run because of
policies that do hide and shield parents in a a culture of secrecy of what's going on in the classroom with the parents. So, we appreciate you, the work you do, and about 77% of New Jersey adults believe parents should be fully informed on what's happening at the
school. So, again, thank you so much for your service, and again, this is you guys run a great ship here. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Kevin Flynn. I am a um Yes, my name is Kevin Flynn. I am a
graduate of Kinnelon High School, class of 2011. I was also the class secretary of the class of 2011. Kinnelon education means the world to me. It made me who I am today. The one thing that I would like to bring this board's attention to um is uh
Article 4, Section 1, pertaining to the rights of parents to opt out of sex education. Now, I can understand if a parent has a sincerely held religious belief that they may want to consider that. But, what I want to bring attention to is
there are topics brought up in sex education that fundamentally stay with children well into adulthood. What I am talking about, of course, is the concept of consent, the right of individuals to obtain consent, as well as the
responsibilities of individuals to obtain it, as well as the rights of people to withdraw or limit that consent. Can the board provide assurances to parents of this community that consent will always be taught, and
that these exceptions will not limit the teaching of consent, which benefits and protects all of our children? Thank you, and I appreciate the work that you have done in facilitating this and welcoming back an old-timer like
myself. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Kevin, for coming. We comply with state and JSLS standards for curriculum. And I believe that's one of the stat- the statute requirements. >> Thank you.
>> Hi there. My name's Katie Saravello. I live at Round Hill here in Kinnelon. I have two kids in the school system and um really what I wanted to bring up is that maybe something that a lot of people aren't thinking about is Sorry, I have a disability, so it takes
me a second to breathe. Um when I was in fourth grade, I was required to read The Lovely Bones, which I think we can all agree is not necessarily something that is age-appropriate for fourth graders. Had
my mom known that that was necessary for me to read, she would have stepped in, but she didn't know. That wasn't something that she could step in about. I really like the fact that we have the ability using this Bill of Rights to step in if we see something that's not age-appropriate.
Another thing. I don't think that everybody read the Bill of Rights that's in this room and they're looking for a sound bite based on emotion. What's written is that if a parent calls the school and asks for what is what's
going on with my student? Are they having some sort of challenge? Are they having any kind of issues where I need to step in or anything like that? They're required to give truthful responses. They can't hide something from the parents.
And I support that. I don't think that this in any way hurts anybody. I don't think that it has any kind of problems. I started the LGBT club in my school when I was growing up. I have a gay brother. I I have I have a lot of support for the LGBTQ community. I don't
think that this is something that has any kind of impact in a negative sense on that community. And that's where I stand on that. Thank you. >> Okay, hi. Uh my name is Rich Lorenzo. I'm a Montville resident. Thank you for hearing my statement. I
oppose the pending uh proposal. To the parents who are worried about their children, I understand your concern, but this proposal will harm your kids, wreck your relationship with them, and drive them away from honest conversations with teachers and friends, and straight towards bots and predators
online. Please talk with your children, not at them, about this very important subject. Your kids need someone to confide in, not someone to snitch on them. To those propo- pushing this proposal to
score political points, shame on you. You're putting kids at risk to advance an agenda that was never about protecting them. New Jerseyans do not snitch on each other, and I urge you to vote down this proposal. Thank you.
>> Rich. >> Good evening. Um first I would like to say thank you very much to the board, Superintendent Mango, especially to the board. Any All of us are elected officials, and we know how much time we take from our families, our everyday
life, our work to pump into the community, uh the community we love, and the community we serve. Um so much has been made about this, and uh a lot of good statements back and forth on both sides. It's a it's a little bit
of a a shame that you could politicize a thing like parental rights. I mean uh any of us that were here 5 6 years ago, it's been mentioned, it was a train wreck. There's no other word for the disaster that this
was the board and the former superintendent. Between the maintenance, between the lack of transparency, and the whole COVID disaster. So, I I commend you all and you know, all this talk about Moms for Liberty, it's all a reset to offset what they're
trying to push. That's why they hate them so much. That's all I've got to say. God bless Moms for Liberty. >> Paul Sisco from Whippany. Uh want to congratulate you guys. I Paul Sisco. >> Paul Sisco. >> I think you guys are doing a great job.
I support my board in my town and you guys are doing, you know, look pretty sharp. Um I want to start out with uh the state in Trenton. There's a lot of distrust, especially after COVID. Look at all the loss of learning. And the kids learning remote. My kid used to sleep in his room and not care at all.
We had to help him, you know, pass. And thank God he went back to school. Our school, you know, was a little bit quicker in getting back. So, there's a lot of distrust in the state and a lot of things we noticed, you know, in that period coming down, I call it indoctrination. And it was a whole new thing. And you have all classes of
people and and you took one class of people and you forgot about the rest. You have bulimics that have a higher rate of suicide than LGBTQ than uh those kids. So, you know, let's think about everything and you can't take away one group's right to give another group some rights. So, it's got
to be equal. So, we appreciate this, but um Let me just get back in here. So, um This is all common sense. If parents uh give birth to their child according to God and Supreme Court briefs, they're responsible for the upbringing of their
God's theirs and God's children. We parents take that responsibility seriously. Feel it is our God-given right to be the ones responsible for our children's future and the future of our country. That's what we're talking about. Um
I just lost my place here. Yeah, you know, you have uh the movie industry set uh standards for parents. Uh G, PG, let's stop there. Parental Guidance. So, the movie industry, which I have a lot of respect for, is willing to give us more rights than
the state. So, you know, it's the state doesn't own our kids. So, there's a lot There's a Supreme Court ruling, uh Pierce versus uh Society of Sisters. And uh a very famous 1925 uh ruling. And they were specific. They were nine to zero voting that the parents have the
rights for the upbringing of their children. So, there's And there's plenty of other Supreme Court rulings there, too. But uh But yeah, I I think you're doing a great job. And um you know, there's there's a CPS that I just went over real quick. CPS, if there's any problems at home, they're automatically
you guys are required to call up. So, there's safety things set in in there, right? >> But thank you very much, sir. Thank you. >> you. >> [applause] >> Hello, Reverend Gregory Quinlan, Center for Garden State Families. Uh we're a Christian family advocacy group here in New Jersey. And I understand that being Christian is a problem here for some
people, but I am a Christian and I'm not ashamed of that. I was here called in when my hair was not as gray uh to the situation that took place a few years ago. Uh I met in people's houses. Uh one in particular would had almost 30 people there. And
other parents who called us to uh tell us what was going on. It was an absolute disaster. I've never seen so much confusion and deception. So, that's what this policy is about, to stop that. Yes, there's redundancy in all policies. No matter what you do, there's redundancy in New
Jersey law, there's redundancy in federal law, and that's a good thing cuz then you have to trip over it to ignore it. Parents have rights. Parents deserve and besides that, you know, the as was said already, government doesn't own our children.
Our children belong to us. They belong to their parents, period, end of discussion. It is very good that you put it that you're trying to put in some mandatory prior notification for any curriculum lessons, assemblies, materials, and
human sexuality, gender identity, transgenderism, or any related topics. Transgenderism is a very, very serious issue. There transgenderism also can include and many times does include the
transitioning of a child in the school including surgical. That does happen in New Jersey. It has happened in New Jersey. That's why there's a lawsuit now. But I do want to do this. As much as you don't want to hear it, it's true. There as already said, there's Pierce
versus Society of Sisters, Wisconsin versus Yoder, and Mahmoud versus Taylor. All those things are important. Thank you for doing what you're doing. Redundancy matters and so does the religious liberties of the people in your district. >> Excuse me. >> Thank you very much.
>> Excuse >> [applause] >> Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me, ma'am. Behind you. The >> He just hit He just walked into me, by the way. You don't care about that? >> Look, listen. >> He just He just walked right into me.
You don't care? >> Okay. I'm going to I'm going to cut it off. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. I Everybody has had their time to talk and I am I have a timer.
Excuse me. Excuse me. >> Are you excused? >> Please stop. >> Okay. >> Or we're done. >> All right. I I'm ready. >> I don't want anybody cheering from the the audience here. I'm letting everybody have their time. I'm listening to
everybody equally. And I really would respect other people to do that. You don't have to agree. That's fine. I don't agree with all of you. I don't agree with probably everybody in this room 100%. So, just listen respectfully.
Everybody has their point of view. They have 2 minutes to say it. If you're going at the end of your thing and you have you're done, I'm going to tell you to wrap it up. I'm going to give you another second to say it. And then you're done. And I've been doing that all night. So, please. Thank you. Go ahead.
>> Um my name is Cass. Um last name Mihawk. Yeah. I grew up here kindergarten through my junior year. Got good grades, played sports, played in the band, honors band. The second I veered from conformity, I was ousted by the community. I came out as transgender when I was 17 and I left the school. And
thank you again for showing tonight that that was the greatest decision I ever made in my entire life. And you've displayed that and the constituents here have displayed that. The gentleman who was just speaking about transgenderism and walked right into me physically and nobody seems to care. Um this guy has been taking pictures of me and staring
at me and nobody seems to care. So, thank you for showing that that was the greatest decision I ever made. The parental bill of rights has been around for decades. What remains consistent is its use to push back against secularism and inclusive education. This bill conveys that candle on schools are not a guaranteed safe space for youth. I saw
it. I watched for 17 years while any child that deemed slightly outside of the quote norm was ostracized by students, parents, and administration. Um you said parents need to parent, right? And I agree. But the problem is that not all parents are safe. We know that. Over half a million children are
abused in the US every year and that's just reported cases and over 75% of those children abused are abused by their parent in the home, including sexually and LGBTQ community is four times more likely to be abused sexually by their parents. So if their students don't know that maybe they're trying a
different pronoun or a name or whatever the case may be, it's for a reason. It's because it's not safe for them to tell them. So if you mandate that you're allowed to tell them those things, you're making it dangerous to be at home potentially and that's not okay. We need to prioritize the students' well-being, not the parents' well-being. The parents
should be concerned about the student as well, but we need to You need to use your professionals to talk to the students and understand them, not just defer to every parent because some of them abuse their kids and we know that for a fact. 45% of LGBTQ youth consider suicide in
2025. 15% attempted suicide in 2025. LGBTQ youth report that having supportive schools lowers suicide attempt rates. This bill states students can be excused without academic penalty if the curriculum Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank Thank you. Rich. Rich. No.
Jen Jen, would you Excuse me. Excuse me. I I Didn't I just tell him to speak up? Excuse me. Okay. Um How many We're going to This This is it. Please, no one else get up. We're done. Okay? These last few people,
we're we're going to be finished with these last people standing up. Um and so thanks. Ma'am, go ahead. >> Okay. Thank you. Audrey Solarino. Can I line? Okay. I was one of the people who wrote in, who gave constructive feedback, who heard back from you.
>> Thank you very much. >> And I have to say, I very much appreciate it. I appreciate the back and forth that I had. Um I think some of my some of the advice was actually taken. Um some of it I'm still very concerned about, and I want to raise an issue. I
mean, personally, I I saw the genesis of this whole thing a couple of years ago with the sore presentation. I loved that sore presentation. I loved that my kids got to see somebody what somebody went through who's transitioning. That's my family values, and I don't want them
blocked, either. Um so, and that's a lot of family a lot of values of the families that I know. Uh so, you know, keep everybody's rights in mind. I'm urging you to not vote on this tonight. I think this is too emotionally fraught. It's dividing the town, and I want to raise one more issue that I don't think
people here have really thought about. The other towns in New Jersey that have tried this, uh Manalapan, uh well, all those four towns, right? The New Jersey Attorney General came in, and those were immediately stopped. Hanover wasted tens
of thousands of taxpayer dollars fighting the New Jersey Attorney General and in the courts. Okay. Coltsneck passed theirs after massaging the language, like I am afraid that we just did. Okay, I I I my hope was that we were all going to come together as a community
and make some kind of grassroots document, and not have it echo any kind of national political movement. But, I still hope that you take my offer. I'm an editor, I'll help. Um but, you know,
Coltsneck passed. Coltsneck massaged the language, it's now more general, just like this, but that is not out of legal peril. And what I'm worried about is that we're now going to be we're now that that we're on the news now. Uh Channel 7 just had us on. I am very
worried that the good progress that you guys have made is going to get squandered, and this is going to become a mess. It's already ugly on Facebook. >> Thank you, Audrey. Thank you so much. I I I appreciate your comments. Thank you. >> Louise Solomon,
a resident for 40 years. Um and uh a a a person who is happy to spend my taxes on the school system. After reading the notes in the policy
policies, I realized it was a great amount of work, and I applaud you. And since this is an open meeting where other people's thoughts are welcome, I thank you because they also make suggestions, and hopefully you're listening.
Input and feedback, as you know, is very constructive. And we are all here to make the school system a success, and possibly even a template for other schools. And I thank you. You are hearing us and our suggestions and questions,
hoping without ego you can open your hearts and minds to be able to rise among the fray and misinformation. We We shall all speak the truth because we are all here because we love our community, and we love our school
system, and we love our children. We cannot go by politics or our own agenda, but what is right and fair and best for our children's needs. Needs that are not just basic subjects,
but social needs. As you all know and remember, I'm sure, social and social belonging is on most of students' minds. We teach not only reading, math, history, etc., but we are teaching them
how to be inclusive and to be kind, to have empathy to people who may be different by showing understanding. That will take the children far. And a few lessons of life because it is all of our jobs, especially the school
board, the system, the family, and also the structure that we have in our community. There shouldn't be, I know you're going to hate this, but there shouldn't be any kind of like moms for liberty or any kind of um evangelical There shouldn't be any
public politics or or religion. Um no. No, I'm going to just say because I started students >> We're at 2 minutes. Are you almost done? >> I am almost done. Okay. So, I want to ask you about something,
and I do believe that parents need to know what's going on with their children, absolutely. Um but what happens if a child needs to talk to an adult about a possible about abusive
home life? >> That's covered under law, ma'am. We We have to report that. >> if a child is young and wants to talk to an adult and goes to the adult, and the adult says, "You need to call the police."
>> Ma'am. >> Ma'am, that's not that's not protocol in the state of New Jersey for school districts, just so you know. >> Okay. All right. And also, what happens >> that's been 2 minutes. We can if you really have a >> I just wanted to just say something cuz I have a transgender in my family.
What happens, first of all, a trans- transgender children are not the boogeyman, okay? And neither are their parents. They're They're navigating navigating new waters. I I I
I you to all do research and read some books about transgender. >> Okay. Ma'am, ma'am, I really appreciate your comment. I really I that's 2 minutes. Thank you, ma'am. Please please take a seat. Okay, next
Okay, ma'am, please please Please Okay. Hi, Albert. >> Hello. Um I'm Albert Ott, for a I'm a former high school student, and I just want to say that I am a bit disappointed in where our focus is right now. I just
want to discuss where our focus should be, which is in academics excellence, and I think with what's going on right now, we're not heading in the right direction. So, I think what we should do, we should focus on um trying to make
our rankings high with um education. And also, another issue is that I notice that there's bullying still going on in the school. I've seen others go through it, even some of my friends, and even me personally. I'm disappointed that it is still happening in this high school, and
we should also focus on getting rid of it. Thank you. Thank you, Albert. >> Barbara Hale, I'm a resident of Kinnelon. >> Hi, Barbara. >> Um and I'm speaking actually reiterating what I think two people said. Um I'm a therapist, and it is really important
for kids to be able to say honestly what they need to say to a nurse, a teacher, or a therapist, social worker, whatever in the school, and know that that information is protected. I raised a now teacher
and so I also speak to the concern about teachers feeling that it's just not safe for them to talk about certain things because of um being being cut off. And even if the school isn't doing it, it can happen in a
roundabout way. So, I would vote to or ask you to not necessarily vote it down, but just keep looking at this and listening >> Thank you, ma'am. >> and talking about it much more with community who don't have kids in school
anymore. Thank you. >> Thank you, Barbara. >> Hello. I'm Sam Roberts. I graduated here in 2017. Um I ask you >> Oh, thank you. Uh I ask you, what is the oldest crisis among our kids? We could name dozens of issues around technology,
bullying, loneliness, slipping grades, etc., etc. But the oldest and the core crisis at the heart of tonight's discussion is about autonomy. What auto- What autonomy do our kids have? Most cannot visit their friends because they cannot drive and our roads are treacherous to walkers and cyclists.
They do not have control over their own schedules or their workload. And now they're losing the last vestige of privacy. In this bill of rights, children lose the right to trust their counselor, their teacher, their advisor, or even just to be open openly who they are among their friends at the risk the
panopticon of parents' rights might overhear. I ask you, who were you as a kid? Did your parents know everything? Did you have autonomy? Do your kids deserve that autonomy that you had? Thank you.
>> The last speaker. >> I did not expect the last word. My name is Wendy Wright. Um, I have three relatively brief points. Um, one, uh I think this policy is sloppy. I think that their points it does not uh acknowledge that there are adult children in this school and it requires
that you disclose confidential information from 18-year-olds uh to adults that they have legal autonomy on. New Jersey also has a graduated uh right over uh certain kinds of medical information, particularly say things um like uh
around sexual health and um STDs that is not acknowledged in this policy. I think you're inviting some real challenges here. Uh number two, no matter what you mean, queer children and queer families are going to hear that you hate them. That is what is heard with this policy.
That is what is felt with this policy. Number three, I would like to remind uh everyone that there are multiple seats uh up for election this November and nominating petitions are due on July 27th. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you. Thank you for all your
comments. Um I'm sorry that people hear that or read that. They I can't control what you feel or think when you read a policy. That's not what the policy says and that's not what the policy intends. It doesn't out anybody out. It doesn't
look down on anybody. It treats all kids the same and it treats parents and what the policy intends to do is pres- preserve the important role of parents while providing guidance to families and staff so that different situations are handled thoughtfully, consistently,
compassionately, and lawfully. Not through automatic rules, but through careful, individ- individualized decision-making. Still, the children are still the students are still entitled to talk to their counselors and there's no requirement to divulge those private
conversations and that this policy does not state that. So, I I don't know why people read that. That's not what it says and we are we are compelled to comply with state law and statute and we will continue to do so.
The intent was to be provide something for parents that would be easy for them to find policies that related to them. Is it all encompassing? I'm sure we missed something. We made a plan. We're going to enact the plan. We're going to review the plan and
if in citizen advisory committees and board meetings and reach out to us, you've identified something that needs to be reviewed or addressed, we will look at it and see if it is in keeping with what the intent of the policy was. That's all. It's a give and take and you're a community and we're going to listen to
you. Okay? And I really really appreciate everybody coming, sticking to the thoughtful conversation, comments, and respecting one another because that's what makes this country great. We are community. We don't agree on
everything, but we are going to do our best together to raise these provide a district that gives our kids the best education possible. So, thank you so much for coming. That is the end of our comment period. Do any of our board members have any comments?
Go ahead, Frank. >> Hello. Uh Frank Pepi. I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. Uh to echo what Jean said, I absolutely love uh the civic engagement that we have. Uh I think it was exciting that this policy went out for reading. Uh I think there was a lot of feedback. I
think it was considered. We worked through it. I think there was additional civic engagement today. Um so, what I encourage everybody to do going forward, I know a couple people said that this may be a distraction and you you should focus on other things that are driving education. Um I encourage this same civic
engagement when it comes to other meetings where we're celebrating that we're the 12th best public school in the state. I encourage you to come out and support our arts and humanities and our athletics and show civic engagement there. I encourage you to come to the Citizens Advisory Committee. I encourage you to get out and vote and I encourage
you to run for the Board of Education. I know when I ran, there was only there was two seats available, only two people ran. So, this same civic engagement you're bringing today, I encourage you to bring it with you everywhere and we can continue to make Kinnelon great. Thanks, everybody.
>> Dana? Melissa? Kelly? Dana? >> I'll just add some very personal, probably too personal information, but I think for those of us maybe with older children, um we've experienced some things outside of the school district as well with
regards to uh parental responsibilities and rights and I'll just go back to a few years ago. Um one of my sons, 15 at the time, emergency surgery after an injury, cardiac arrhythmia uh reported by the anesthesiologist after the surgery.
Um few days later, I need to get his records to bring to a different doctor and lo and behold, even the surgeon was shocked. I no longer had the right to obtain my then 15-year-old son's medical records.
Okay? We went through every level of management at Atlantic Health in Morristown. I could not access my son's medical records with the cardiac arrhythmia who was recovering from surgery
until he authorized and gave consent for me to see them. Okay? And so, when you say this is political, that you could not be further from what some of us have experienced outside the school system. This is a larger overarching issue. Okay? Trust me.
I don't put my faith in any of the political parties. I put my faith in God and I I I I'm so grateful to the board that we work together and we do not agree on everything. But as far as parents go, I'm so happy that many of you came out tonight. Thank
you. >> Dave. >> Well, uh kind of like what Mr. Peppy said, I I like the crowd. Um truthfully, I I anticipated more tonight. But uh but I'll take this. I like the crowd. I like when folks come
out. I say that all the time, especially if there's a rumor mill going on. Uh I agree with what uh Mrs. Leonard just said that that's the furthest thing from the truth because there are some other truths out there about what has been the uh sticking point to tonight's
meeting where the state of New Jersey requires districts to take on policies during COVID, under the guise of COVID, to school districts. And while I wasn't the superintendent here at the time, um where we were required to mandate policies, which actually oops, 2 years
later, you come to find, no, they're recommended. That's nonsense. So, if you want to talk about politics, and I'm I don't want to go up and down that rabbit hole, go there. Within this document, it's a policy, but it's a document for parents. Before I arrived in this board was here
and prior boards, we didn't have guest speaker forms. That's how we got into that trouble then. Okay? There was nothing. The board There were no checks and balances. We fine-tuned it. The state gave us flexibility as far as
the health curriculum. And yes, to to folks that came up here, you know what? Yes, my parents knew everything. And when they didn't and they found out, it was a whole different kind of conversation at home. And I started the meeting by saying, I I make no apology. And when my wife and I
chose Kinnelon in 2017, the first conversation I had in Kiel School that follows right into the high school, I need to know. I don't care what it is. I need to know. My wife needs to know. That's who we are. Don't apologize for that.
Parents have rights. We're not demons. We're not devils. And to one of the person's points tonight, you're right. Children do get abused. And guess what? There's reporting in schools. Happens all the time. Some of our principals are right here. Doesn't have to be about one item that everybody stood up and spoke about
tonight. How about some other things that parents abuse for? And how about reporting purposes that we're required to have? Bulimia, anorexia, depression, anxiety, aggression, failing grades, drugs and alcohol, weapons. It goes on.
It's all here. Make no bones about it. It's all here. We don't live in a bubble. So, again, I'm happy and pleased that everybody was here. We'll continue to do our work. I heard plenty of folks, took some good notes.
But let's move off just one topic. And let's look at the work. That's right. >> Excuse me. Excuse me. That's not true. Please please sir Please sir. Please. >> That's all. >> We're all being respectful. Please
Rich Rich Please. We're all being respectful. >> It's not about one thing. It's about everything. Parents have rights. Have a good night. Have a good rest of your summer. >> Thank you all for coming. Can I have more